"Only Saints can Sanctify a Society"

In my last post, there was something Wurmbrand said that I think about a lot. "Only saints can sanctify a society." I would think that if we have a large number of born again people who follow Jesus in America that it would have some positive effect on society. Now that I am free of the Word of Faith and all it's hyperbole, I have become more aware of the worsening state of morality and ethics in the Evangelical movement and society as a whole. I become somewhat annoyed when people comment how awesome their churches are. If everybody is so awesome, why can I go into the local Wal-Mart in my rural area and regularly see people with the tell-tale signs of methamphetamine abuse? We've also seen recent displays of immoral behaviour that I have never observed in public before out here in Podunk. We've also watched people we grew up with who were raised in "good Christian homes" live lives adrift from the foundation of their upbringing.

This is just a little food for thought here.

Are we really that awesome?

Is what we are doing in our churches working?

The fruit of it does not bode well.

All out war on Evil

We must strive to convert not only the prostitute or drunkard, but prostitution, alcoholism, the prisons, man's exploitation of other people, war - all these things must be abolished, and this can only be done if the Christian fights his battles in the social as well as personal sphere. Evil has made great strides; there is a long line stretching from Cain, who killed a man with a staff, to the gas chambers of Auschwitz and the Communist extermination camps. the satanic powers have transferred their attack from the individual to an offensive on a large social front. the powers of good must do the same.

In the old days Paul could preach from the same pulpit as his enemies. We have a pulpit today, but our enemies have the schools, the press, large publishing concerns, the cinema, radio, television. We, too, have a right to all these things, and if we are to achieve them, then we must realize Daniel's prophecy that "the kingdom and dominion, and the greatness of the kingdoms under the whole heaven, shall be given to the people, the saints of the Most High." (Daniel 7:27)

The conditions necessary for the establishment of God's kingdom on earth are now present; this was not possible when material conditions were so wretched. Modern means of communication could ensure that the gospel of Christ is disseminated throughout the world.

The coming into power of communism has meant prison, torture, and death for thousands of Christians, but it has helped our thinking enormously - Communists think on a global plane and in terms of future generations. The children of God, quite wrongly, have a reduced horizon. Often their thinking is narrow, and they look only one step a head. Was it for nothing that the leaders of the Church in the New Testament were called "presbyters," that is, people who see far ahead?

The Christian Jews, too, have learned to think on the universal plane, and to strive to achieve a distant goal. the Roman Empire threw Christians to the wild beasts, but it also taught them to think on an imperial scale. Christianity became the religion of the empire, instead of isolated individuals. Communism has played the same role for us.

...The evangelism of the individual still remains the priority. Only saints can sanctify a society. A social gospel preached to unregenerate men is a fake. But men who have been born again must bring their new life into society.



from the book Christ on the Jewish Road by Richard Wurmbrand pp 201-203 as published in The Voice of the Martyrs magazine Oct. 2008 issue.