A Pagan America Is Cause for Excitement

"But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us" (II Corinthians 4:7).

I saw my first Catfish television show this week. My son told me about it. Very few people over thirty years of age have probably seen the show, but most people under thirty probably watch every episode. It is a documentary about people creating false on-line profiles and then engaging in on-line relationships with other people, all the while pretending to be somebody other than who they really are. The show is raunchy. The show is ridiculous. The show is revealing.

Our world has hit rock bottom.

Our world is filled with bottom feeders.

Bisexual, transsexual, homosexual, asexual -- it matters not; all that matters is that you feel good about yourself. The idea that there is a God to whom a human being is accountable is laughable. To teach young people that the world revolves for a purpose, and that purpose is not self-indulgence, is like teaching a foreign language. Christians are a minority in America. Make it known you believe in Jesus Christ and remind people that every human being will one day give an account to Him for the way they have lived their lives, and you will be called a racist, intolerant, homophobic or any other number of epithets. America is pagan. Americans are pagan. Paganism reigns.

It's about time.

Christians have had far too much political power for far too long. Christians have been way too comfortable for way too long. Worldly power and comfort are to Christianity what diesel is to gasoline cars; it might fit in the gas tank, but over time the engine always sputters and stops. Christians need to suffer a little persecution and feel what it is like to be in the minority. The all-surpassing power of God is never seen or felt when our clay jars look like jewel encrusted golden bowls.

Jesus took twelve disciples in the middle of a pagan Roman empire and transformed the world. For the first few hundred years disciples of Christ were beaten, abused, tortured, and even murdered for their faith. Some were thrown in vats of boiling water, others were crucified upside down, some were stoned, and a few were thrown to the wild animals in arenas filled with pagans laughing and betting how long the poor Christian would last. No follower of Jesus Christ in those early days expected power, riches or worldly goods. Rare were the Lydias who sold purple to the elite or the Christian noblemen who walked the corridors of power. Those ancient Christians were weak by the world's definitions. They had no fame or fortune. They were despised and ridiculed. They experienced penetrating physical and psychological pain from people who perpetually protested their purity. To follow Christ may have meant heaven in their hearts, but it was definitely hell in their hoods.

Yet, in those early days followers of Christ didn't fight those who offended or abused them; they loved them. They didn't bitterly renounce their earthly countries. How could they? They were looking for a better country and a city not built with human hands. They never thought in terms of a material kingdom because they had entered into a kingdom not always seen with the physical eye. The power they had was spiritual. The aura of their presence was Divine. The inner strength they possessed was priceless. Those early Christians may have looked like little ole inexpensive and weak clay jars to the world at large, but the world soon came to see that there was a treasure within them--a treasure missing in the lives of bottom feeders. 

That's how the world will be changed. We followers of Jesus Christ don't need to moan that America is now pagan. We need not complain over our loss of political or economic power. We must simply walk among bottom feeders and show that the Divine Treasure is within us.

Let the show begin.