Why Do We Sit Here Until We Die?

 
The departure from God, church, Christian values, wisdom and common sense in our nation is increasing exponentially. The ‘one nation under God’ heritage that makes all countries great is under siege. Unless something changes, history has shown the people who believe in God and godly values will be the next victims of the siege. We need to be alert, not but alarmed.     
 
The siege is building momentum. No one knows what the next landmark decision will be. No one knows where this is taking us. This affects us today. It will affect our children tomorrow. I can’t imagine what my four grandchildren will face.  
 
Leaders in most sectors of society seem compelled to outwardly embrace this path with an unexplainable blindness to the consequences thereof. Most sit on the sidelines and let it go on like an ostrich with its head in the sand. Others recognize they and everything they stand for is under siege but are intimidated by the consequences of non-compliance. Secular humanism has even frozen some of the most ardent followers of Christ and believers in Judeo-Christian values.
 
Times like these remind me of an Old Testament story in the Bible in 2 Kings Chapters 6-7. The King of Syria had laid siege against King of Israel in the city of Samaria. They surrounded the city and cut off all supplies. The siege was so bad that cannibalism was happening. Of course, the king of Israel blamed the whole thing on Elisha, God’s prophet in the area. Where is God? How come God is not protecting us?   
 
There were four leprous men by the gate of the city who said, “Why do we sit here until we die?” They knew they were either going to die doing nothing so they figured they might as well go outside the city and see if they would be spared by the Syrians.
 
When they arrived at the Syrians camp, no one was there. The Lord caused the “sound of horses and a great army” to come in the middle of the night to the camp of the Syrians. They left everything in their camp and fled for their lives. The four leprous men found their camp well stocked with food, water and horses. They celebrated and ate. Then they thought about something. This celebration should be shared by the whole city.
 
They returned to inform the gatekeepers of the city their story. The gatekeepers investigated the leper’s report and it was true. In twenty-four hours, the whole climate of the city had changed. The starving people were fed. Grocery prices were back to normal. The ones who caused the siege had disappeared. They even left their assets restoring that which had been lost. Why? All because of four lepers who said, “Why do we sit here until we die?”
 
My exhortation for us today is let’s not get frozen or paralyzed by intimidation. Let’s not become lethargic or depressed. Move from anabolic to catabolic. Remember, until the pain or need exceeds the fear there will be no change. That’s what happened to the four leprous men. They had the power to effect change but didn’t know it. We do too!    
 
If you don’t like what secular humanism is doing to our nation, change it. Get unfrozen. Be the change or at least try. Those four lepers who changed the whole city discovered God was not frozen.  
 
Why do we sit here until we die?
 
Our old strategies of engaging or influencing society and culture aren’t working like they once did. Traditional missions are fine but in most cases don’t have the power to affect change in culture. The vast majority of churches are not growing in numbers or Godly influence. Even growing churches, while having bigger numbers inside their church, are losing the culture outside of the church. We have output but little outcome in influencing culture.
 
The solution? We need to become more strategic. In my opinion, we who believe in “one Nation under God” need to consider engaging and influencing the leaders of society. We need to influence the influencers of our nation. In most cases, you change a nation from the top down, not the bottom up.
 
I’m not talking about lobbying here. I’m talking becoming the leaders. We need to incarnate. Christ, and Christian thinking, in a person can change anything, even an errant society. The Word, in us, has to become flesh in government, education, media, business, arts and sports. How? By helping pastors and churches to equip today’s leaders and influencers sitting in their churches to become tomorrow’s leaders and influencers in societal spheres of influences. Their roots are in church, but their fruits are in the community.
 
This is what we do at Nationstrategy. We envision and empower community and church leaders on how to engage and influence society in a constructive way. We are a resource to the community and the church. We influence leaders who influence culture. We understand, like God, the only way to change a culture is to change it from the inside out. Jesus was not a spectator. He came to the world to change it from the position of a participant, a fellow human being. The same is true today.
 
     Let me summarize:
 
* We shouldn’t be surprised by where our civilization is taking us. As humanism takes the place of Christianity, expect things to become less civil. You have to evangelize in order to civilize. 
* This shift in society is not political, it’s spiritual. It’s about Theism and humanism. Humans have always tried to take the place of God. The flesh can only produce the flesh. Humanism may seem ‘educated’ and ‘contemporary’ but ultimately implodes. The flesh cannot produce the Spirit.
* While some existing political leaders may be sincere, they ultimately end up serving themselves. These leaders are not the enemy, they are victims of the enemy.
* Traditional missions are fine, but not strategic in changing culture.
* Don’t give up, look up!
* “One nation under God” people need to influence our culture back to its roots. What made the United States great? While not all of the founders on our nation were Christians, all of the leaders embraced Judeo-Christians values. The belief in God and godly values creates wealth and blessing.
 * In times like these, we must engage the top levels of society like Joseph and Daniel. We need to get involved. We need to scale the mountains of society…education, government, media, business, sports, arts, church, and family. It took us years to lose the culture. It will take years to regain the culture for the benefit of all.  
* If you don’t like the direction our culture is taking, change it.