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Written by: Rex M. Rogers

Published: 23 September 2024

In our hyper-sensitive culture, we’re afraid to note the real source of our problems, but is this making us happier, less anxious or medicated?

Hi, I’m Rex Rogers and this is episode #170 of Discerning What Is Best, a podcast applying unchanging biblical principles in a rapidly changing world, and a Christian worldview to current issues and everyday life.

Current culture, even pop theology, suggests that everyone is OK, and no one is responsible for the bad, wrong-doing, sin, or evil in their lives or in this world.

We hear it regularly. “You are perfect just the way you are.” Or “God accepts you as you are.”

Idea is no change is necessary. But wait, isn’t the Gospel about transformation?

This is another of mankind’s theories that come at us one after the other, and which come and go, while God’s Word never changes.

In March 2018, actor Chris Pratt was given the MTV Our Generation Award. In his speech, he shared what he called “Nine rules from Chris Pratt, Generation Award winner." One of his statements was: “You have a soul. Be careful with it.”

Another statement was: “God is real. God loves you. God wants the best for you. Believe that. I do.” After some silly bathroom humor and a few minor tips like how to give medicine to a dog, he concluded with: “Learn to pray. It's easy, and it's so good for your soul.” And finally, “Nobody is perfect. People are going to tell you, ‘You're perfect just the way you are.’ You're not! You are imperfect. You always will be. But there is a powerful force that designed you that way. And if you're willing to accept that, you will have grace. And grace is a gift. And like the freedom that we enjoy in this country, that grace was paid for with somebody else's blood. Do not forget it. Don't take it for granted. God bless you.”

Now I do not know why Chris Pratt shared these comments at the MTV Awards, a venue known for raunchy content, nor do I know if Chris is serious about Christian faith. And I do not know whether his life and lifestyle match his words. I do know that in this instance, what he said for the most part aligns with biblical truth, so I am glad he said it.

He reminded an audience generally focused on hedonism, narcissism, materialism if not also nihilism, that there is a God, he listens if you pray, and you are not perfect, so you need him. In a Hollywood context, this is radical stuff.

Back in 2002, Pastor Rick Warren published what became an international bestseller, The Purpose Driven Life: What on Earth Am I Here For? I have long thought that the genius of that book is its first sentence: “It’s not about you.” The book's chapter one is titled "It All Starts with God.” “Rick Warren described his book as an ‘anti-self-help book.’…(He explains) how the quest for personal fulfillment, satisfaction, and meaning can only be found in understanding and doing what God placed you on earth to do.”

This, of course, is a dramatic contrast to psychology books like I’m OK, You’re OK, published in 1969 by Thomas A. Harris. Books like this and countless others make the same point over and over. They basically say in different words, “Look inside yourself. You don’t need to change.” Or maybe they say, “you can change yourself.” The problem is, neither idea is true.

How can I change myself when I am the problem? Well, I can’t, but current culture and pop theology argue that our problems emanate from places other than ourselves.

It’s the environment – not nature per se, but our everyday surroundings, our culture, our families. Or it’s that we have been cheated and mistreated by something or someone other than ourselves. We are oppressed by oppressors. Corporations or capitalism are high on this list of oppressors. 

We medicalize or psychologize the idea of sin by rooting wrongdoing and hurtful outcomes in mental illness. I’m not saying there is no such thing as actual mental illness, and I am certainly not throwing a rock at anyone who has had mental health struggles. Nor am I against psychology as such. Never have been.

What I am concerned about is that I believe some of what was once considered a spiritual issue handled in the family and the church, based upon an application of the Word of God is now immediately shipped off to therapists. It’s part of the secularization of American culture, also now described as a post-Christian culture.

Meanwhile, “the U.S. has reached peak therapy. Counseling has become fodder for hit books, podcasts, and movies. Professional athletes, celebrities, and politicians routinely go public with their mental health struggles. And everyone is talking—correctly or not—in the language of therapy, peppering conversations with references to gaslighting, toxic people, and boundaries.…by the latest federal estimates, about one in eight U.S. adults now takes an antidepressant and one in five has recently received some kind of mental-health care, an increase of almost 15 million people in treatment since 2002. Even in the recent past—from 2019 to 2022—use of mental-health services jumped by almost 40% among millions of U.S. adults with commercial insurance, according to a recent study in JAMA Health Forum.”

“But something isn’t adding up. Even as more people flock to therapy, U.S. mental health is getting worse by multiple metrics. Suicide rates have risen by about 30% since 2000. Almost a third of U.S. adults now report symptoms of either depression or anxiety, roughly three times as many as in 2019, and about one in 25 adults has a serious mental illness like bipolar disorder or schizophrenia. As of late 2022, just 31% of U.S. adults considered their mental health “excellent,” down from 43% two decades earlier.”

So, despite the fact we have more things, more toys, more financial wherewithal, more health and medical care, we’re living longer, still, we evidence more anxiety, are //medium.com/@kristyznews/americas-pill-culture-how-we-became-the-most-medicated-nation-on-earth-146be203dff6" style="color: #96607d; text-decoration: underline;">the most medicated citizenry on earth via opioids and other drugs, and in terms of happiness, while “the U.S. ranks in the top 10 for those over 60, but for those under 30, it ranks 62^nd.”

American culture has been on a secular slide since at least mid-20^th Century. Americans now believe anything, everything, and therefore nothing. And these ideas have consequences.

This shows up in declining church attendance and thus a decline in the exhortation, encouragement, or accountability Bible-believing churches offer, slow erosion of Christian ideas and values undergirding everyday life, like respect for human life, consensus about law and criminal justice, decline in knowledge of and commitment to Christian values like honesty, work ethic, vision for growth or excellence, loss of moral boundaries regarding sexual behavior or fidelity in marriage with corresponding increases in traumatic emotional upheaval in the lives of both children and adults, disappearing belief in truth in education, science, law, business, a rejection of the presence and blessedness of a belief in divine providence, a breakdown in what I call a backstop or safety net.

In other words, sooner or later we all encounter some circumstance we cannot handle. We run into something we cannot deal with, something that overwhelms us emotionally and maybe otherwise too. It is in these times that we need a backstop or safety net, something we fall back on. If a person is not a Christian believer, if a person does not attend church or have family or other social support, if a person does not believe in God or has no relationship with him, what is their backstop in times of trial?

If there is no Christian beliefs we’ve absorbed like osmosis from our culture, and if we possess no understanding of our own about who God is and how he works in our lives, we are left in emotional freefall. We have nothing to catch us, nothing to turn to, nothing to fill the void or provide solace or encouragement, so we spin out of control. We maybe turn to pills.

Do we look inside ourselves and say, “Keep calm and carry on.” Do we decide, we’re OK and just soldier on? Does this work? Not for most people.

No, we’re not perfect, and our ability to live an abundant life is not about us. What we need is a real relationship with the God the Father, about whom it is said, “When the cares of my heart are many, your consolations cheer my soul” (Ps 94:19). 

Well, we’ll see you again soon. This podcast is about Discerning What Is Best. If you find this thought-provoking and helpful, follow us on your favorite podcast platform. Download an episode for your friends. For more Christian commentary, check my website, r-e-x-m as in Martin, that’s rexmrogers.com. Or check //www.youtube.com/@DrRexRogers" style="color: #96607d; text-decoration: underline;">my YouTube channel @DrRexRogers for more podcasts and video.

And remember, it is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm.

© Rex M. Rogers – All Rights Reserved, 2024   

*This podcast blog may be reproduced in whole or in part with a full attribution statement. Contact me or read more commentary on current issues and events at www.rexmrogers.com/, or connect with me at www.linkedin.com/in/rexmrogers or https://x.com/RexMRogers. 

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Written by: Rex M. Rogers

Published: 16 September 2024

Twisted persons periodically shoot others in public spaces, then guns dominate the news coverage. Should guns be made illegal? What does the Bible say about guns?

Hi, I’m Rex Rogers and this is episode #169 of Discerning What Is Best, a podcast applying unchanging biblical principles in a rapidly changing world, and a Christian worldview to current issues and everyday life.

Guns have been a part of human existence for a long time. Gunpowder and early gun technology were invented in China during the 9^th century, and by the 13^th century firearms were common in Europe.

If you are an American who does not possess a gun, the police usually do, and bad guys certainly do.

Each time someone uses a gun to kill four or more people, excluding the shooter, it’s called a “mass shooting.” When these events occur, advocates are featured on media arguing guns are the primary source of these tragedies and recommending gun control, gun buy-backs, or gun confiscation as the only way to curtail mass shootings or murder in general. Some of these spokesmen say guns exist only to kill people and anyone who believes otherwise is immoral

So, what does the Bible say about guns? Short answer: nothing. Guns did not exist during biblical times.

While it’s true, the Word of God says nothing about guns, gun laws, or gun control, Scripture does talk about weapons, war, murder, self-defense, and even more importantly, God’s definition of morality, sin, law and order, and justice.

What then does God say?

1. He said, fear of the Lord. Respect for others’ lives begins with respect for God.
2. God made it clear human beings are made in his image, eternally valuable.
3. Consequently, God said murder is always wrong.
4. God also said problems in this world do not originate with our toys, nor with our tools, but develop out of our own sinful hearts.
5. Because we live in a fallen, sinful world, evil exists, so God created government to curtail evil, gave us his moral law, and charged humanity with moral agency, meaning an ability to understand right and wrong and accountability to God to preserve life and do justice.

Because our hearts are deceitful and desperately sick, (Jer. 17:9), because “none is righteous, no, not one (Rom 3:10), human beings steal, lie, assault others, fight wars, and take human life. Consequently, self-defense is a moral consideration.

“The Bible records many accounts of wars, battles, and the use of weapons. Warfare is presented as an inevitable part of living in a fallen world (Mark 13:7, James 4:1), and weaponry is a necessary part of warfare…The Bible does not forbid the possession of weapons, and neither does it command such possession.”

“The Bible never condemns a person for carrying a weapon for self-defense (Neh. 4:15-23; Ezek. 33:1-9; Lk 22:35-38), though it does admonish those who are not prepared. It is noted in 1 Sam. 13:19-22 that as Israel was confronted with war with the Philistines, they had no spears or swords, only Saul and Jonathan had them.

It would appear the Israelites had to prepare their farm tools to be weapons (1 Sam 13:20). Even Jesus explained the necessity of self-defense, telling His disciples to be prepared as they departed from Him. He counseled them to bring their moneybags and knapsacks and also said, ‘And let the one who has no sword sell his cloak and buy one’" (Luke 22:35-38).

“The civil liberties of America have readily afforded people the right to "keep and bear arms,” as codified in the 2^nd Amendment of the Bill of Rights. “And while the Bible does not say a person must keep a weapon, it permits a person to do so” (Rom 14:1-4).

“As far as the Bible is concerned…there is nothing unspiritual about owning a gun or knowing how to use one. There is nothing wrong with protecting oneself or loved ones, even if it involves the use of weapons.”

Dr. Mike Austin, author of God and Guns in America observed, “The vast majority of gun owners in the United States of America have never harmed another human being using a gun, and never will. People use guns for hunting, for sport, or for an absolute last resort in self-defense. The fact that criminals use guns to commit crimes does not mean guns are the problem. Criminals are the problem.

If all the guns in the world were taken away, criminals would find new ways to rob convenience stores, commit muggings, terrify people, and commit horrible atrocities and mass murders. No, gun control is not, in and of itself, the answer.”

“While incidents of mass murder via gun violence in the USA have increased dramatically in recent years, it is not due to guns suddenly becoming available. Guns have been readily available in the USA for most of its history. Something else has changed in the culture that is leading people to commit these horrible actions. We have to ask ourselves an important question. Why is it that only recently did people start committing mass murders at schools, bars, concerts, and shopping centers? Again, the guns have always been around. So, what changed?”

Our culture has come to believe any violence is bad, that guns are only instruments of killing, so we hear “violence leads to more violence.” Maybe. But there are times, in fact often, that violence, i.e., use of a gun, is the only thing that stops violence, stops evildoers. In this righteous use of violence via a gun, innocents are protected. Not to protect innocents when we could have done so is itself immoral.

“The core philosophical argument for a moral right to own a gun can be summarized as follows: we possess the right to life, which entails the right to self-defense, which in turn entails the right to a reasonable means of self-defense. Since firearms are a reasonable means of self-defense…it follows that there is a strong moral right to own and carry firearms for self-protection.”

Scripture notes, “When a strong man, fully armed, guards his own house, his possessions are safe” (Luke 11:21). Protecting our lives and our family’s lives is proper stewardship of what God gave us.

“Stricter laws are not a panacea. We need to address the culture of violence and death in the United States not only legally but also at the social, individual, and spiritual levels. A crucial way to do this is with the gospel of Jesus Christ, the gospel of life that also has implications for the issue of gun control.”

Now in this brief consideration about what the Bible say about guns, I’ve stayed close to Scripture, trying to present what the Word of God says, and allows us to conclude.

What I have not done is look at the practicality of gun control, i.e., that cities, like Chicago, with the most restrictive gun laws are still struggling with high murder rates, and that the history of countries where citizens’ guns have been removed is frequently a record of government tyranny.

Nor am I in any way trying to trivialize the use of guns in violence or dismiss deaths resulting from gun violence as inconsequential. Every human life matters. So, there’s nothing wrong with talking about our culture’s use of guns.

But of all the negative social trends present within American culture, guns are not at the top of the list.

Medicalizing or psychologizing or politicizing sin are greater threats. These trends intentionally redefine immoral, sinful choices as mental illness or environmentally determined or no longer a social concern (think legalized marijuana, eliminating the death penalty and cash bail, limiting prosecutions for low-level, nonviolent offenses and scaling back sentences, or not counting crimes that don’t fit the wished-for narrative).

If can’t call sin, sin, how can we expect to preserve liberty or attain justice or peace?

Guns are weapons capable of being used for ill or for good. The Bible places responsibility for the moral decisions involved in the hearts and hands of human beings. You are free not to own a gun, but those who choose to own a gun are not violating Scripture.

Well, we’ll see you again soon. This podcast is about Discerning What Is Best. If you find this thought-provoking and helpful, follow us on your favorite podcast platform. Download an episode for your friends. For more Christian commentary, check my website, r-e-x-m as in Martin, that’s rexmrogers.com. Or check //www.youtube.com/@DrRexRogers>">my YouTube channel @DrRexRogers for more podcasts and video.

And remember, it is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm.

© Rex M. Rogers – All Rights Reserved, 2024  

*This podcast blog may be reproduced in whole or in part with a full attribution statement. Contact me or read more commentary on current issues and events at www.rexmrogers.com/, or connect with me at www.linkedin.com/in/rexmrogers or https://x.com/RexMRogers.

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Written by: Rex M. Rogers

Published: 09 September 2024

Is the Spirit of God bringing revival to the believer and a spiritual awakening to the seeker on the American college and university campus?

Hi, I’m Rex Rogers and this is episode #168 of Discerning What Is Best, a podcast applying unchanging biblical principles in a rapidly changing world, and a Christian worldview to current issues and everyday life.

Revivals, or spiritual awakenings if you prefer, broke out on Christian college, private college, and public university campuses in 2023.

Now in 2024, perhaps we’re seeing the continuation of these experiences with the Lord.

Recently, “a revival event was held on the Ohio State University campus…where a few Buckeye football players gave testimonies and dozens of students were baptized. The event was held…outside OSU’s Curl Market and organized by numerous on-campus Christian student groups, featuring multiple members of the university’s football team leading the worship. Approximately 60 attendees were baptized that evening, reported the OSU student newspaper, The Lantern.

Another report said, Ohio State University’s campus witnessed a bunch of different churches joined together in a public place to worship. Ohio State football “players joined the crowd in worship. (which one attending faculty member estimated at 2,000). “It was all Jesus-based, all focused on Him,” the faculty member said. “Very vulnerable and very moving.”

Soon, ice bathtubs were brought and filled, and Gee Scott Jr. began preaching and baptizing his teammates…This comes just two weeks after over 25 players showed up to fall camp wearing custom OSU shirts that simply said, “Jesus Won.” (Someone at the event said) God is doing amazing things within this team, and it deserves to be publicized and praised.”

In 2023, Auburn University, Florida State University, University of Georgia to name a few, witnessed tens of thousands of students gathering, sometimes spontaneously, sometimes in sponsored events, to worship, praise God, hear sermons on various sins – yes, not just feel-good peptalks but sermons about darkness of the soul, slavery to sin and the freedom from that sin available to all through saving, forgiving, transformative faith in Jesus Christ. Such sermons were often followed by large-scale baptisms of hundreds of students in nearby bodies of water, even available campus fountains.

In a podcast February 2023, I discussed revival services that developed unsponsored and undirected at Asbury University, Wilmore, Kentucky. 

Impromptu nonstop prayer meetings, Scripture reading, public prayers, confessions, arms raised, worship singing, some students being saved by making professions of faith in Christ. Personal testimonies went viral on TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube, racking up millions of views and inspiring carloads of visitors to descend on Wilmore, population 6,000.

The movement then spread to other Christian institutions of higher learning: “Lee University in Cleveland, Tennessee; Cedarville University in Cedarville, Ohio; Oral Roberts University in Tulsa, Oklahoma; and the University of the Cumberlands in Williamsburg, Kentucky.” Also, revival was reported at Samford University in Birmingham, Alabama and Campbellsville University in Campbellsville, Kentucky.

At Asbury, students arrived from other universities: the University of Kentucky, Purdue University, Texas A&M University and Indiana Wesleyan University, Ohio Christian University, Transylvania University, Midway University, Georgetown College, Mt. Vernon Nazarene University, and many others.

Christian author Jennie “Allen, who was a speaker at three…college campus outreaches, in which thousands of students gathered and publicly accepted Christ, and hundreds were baptized, told Think Eternity News via text: “People keep asking us what is happening? How does this keep happening? They want a formula. I get it. I keep thinking the same thing. But we know in our bones, this is a move of God. We [pastors, ministry leaders] all have done the things we are doing now in rooms, and this hasn’t happened. I believe we are watching the beginnings of the next great awakening. At least that is what we are all praying for.”

Adult ministry leaders at these events observed, students “aren't interested in just going to church on Sunday but following Jesus Sunday through Saturday. They are up late into the night worshiping and up early the next morning praying. They are walking their campuses sidewalks and sharing the gospel with classmates.”

A Texas pastor who spoke at the University of Georgia last spring, said he was asked “to talk about finding freedom from sexual sin.” After doing so, he said, “It's not really a “crowd pleaser” message, but I gave it and Jennie Allen went up afterwards, talking about the importance of living in Christian community. The arena was full of over 6,000 students! Jennie wrapped up with an altar call and someone in the crowd wanted to get baptized. Someone else shouted there was a pond by The Red Barn, a notable landmark on campus. Thousands of students went out to the pond, and over two hundred students lined up to get baptized. We were in the water for hours. This was not a “dunk and next” situation. This was two hundred different Gospel-centered conversations. We went slow to confirm that they were believers and baptized past midnight!”

So, based upon what we have in limited media coverage, it appears the Lord did something special on these university campuses last year, and perhaps he will do so again this academic term.

Given what we have seen on college and university campuses in the past few months, it would be easy to write them off as spiritual wastelands: destructive protests, and not simply pro-Palestinian demonstrations calling for care and consideration toward the innocents among the Palestinian population, like children or women, but rather pro-Hamas rages demanding universities divest themselves of all involvement with the state of Israel, along with antisemitic chants aimed both at Israelis abroad and Jews here at home, including on the very campuses where such ethnic hate is being propagated. So, yes, it would be easy to walk away from this, to dismiss them all as unworthy, spoiled, hopeless brats.

But of course, that is not what Jesus would do. God commands Christian believers to love our neighbors, pray for our enemies, speak the truth in love, and act as ambassadors of reconciliation in a sin-drenched world. Surely this includes our youth.

But why are so many American kids so susceptible to hatemongering?

Well, American postmodern, post-Christian culture, writ large on the academic campus, makes no bones about rejecting God, absolute truth, morality, even biological science. In place of moral conscience and critical thinking, students are taught skepticism and cynicism, that nothing deserves their faith, that nothing and no one is worthy of their trust, certainly not the USA. 

For a few decades now, throughout academia, students have been systematically taught the rubrics of Marxist ideology, that everything boils down to oppressor vs oppressed, class conflict seen in rich vs poor or as race or gender conflict, 

victor vs victim, and the one who has power—not necessarily righteousness—is the victor. Radical professors, and so their students, reject the US Constitution and the Bill of Rights because they believe freedom from law is preferrable to liberty in law.

Students are taught something called nihilism: the idea life is meaningless. Think about this. If you truly believed life was hollow, inconsequential, that your own life was pointless, that it had no purpose, you have no value or worth, why wouldn’t you seek escape in hedonism, lust or substance abuse? Who cares?

And if your life has no value or worth, certainly other human beings have no value or worth. If we believe this hopelessness, then what’s left?

It is in this academic context that I pray the Lord will send his Spirit upon the land beginning perhaps with the most spiritually bereft of places in America, the college and university campus.

Well, we’ll see you again soon. This podcast is about Discerning What Is Best. If you find this thought-provoking and helpful, follow us on your favorite podcast platform. Download an episode for your friends. For more Christian commentary, check my website, r-e-x-m as in Martin, that’s rexmrogers.com. Or check //www.youtube.com/@DrRexRogers">my YouTube channel @DrRexRogers for more podcasts and video.

And remember, it is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm.

© Rex M. Rogers – All Rights Reserved, 2024   

*This podcast blog may be reproduced in whole or in part with a full attribution statement. Contact me or read more commentary on current issues and events at www.rexmrogers.com/, or connect with me at www.linkedin.com/in/rexmrogers or https://twitter.com/RexMRogers. 

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Written by: Rex M. Rogers

Published: 02 September 2024

We’re commanded in Scripture to love our neighbor as ourselves, but does this include migrants, even illegal immigrants, too?

Hi, I’m Rex Rogers and this is episode #167 of Discerning What Is Best, a podcast applying unchanging biblical principles in a rapidly changing world, and a Christian worldview to current issues and everyday life.

Immigration is a major, divisive, and urgent topic in the United States, especially relative to the 2024 presidential election.

“The unauthorized immigrant population in the United States grew to 11.0 million in 2022, according to Pew Research Center estimates,” about 3.3% of the total U.S. population. “Meanwhile, the lawful immigrant population grew steadily from 24.1 million in 2000 to 36.9 million in 2022,” about 14.3% of the nation’s population.

Whatever one’s political views about US immigration policy, there are about 11M unauthorized and about 37M lawful immigrants in the US.

We can think about immigrants on many levels, but we’ll focus upon two here:  personal or individual, and political or national.

First the personal.

In Scripture, Jesus said to love your neighbor as yourself (Luke 10:25-28), a pretty tall order. A lawyer, seeking clarity, asked Jesus, “Who is my neighbor?” and Jesus responded with the Parable of the Good Samaritan.

In this parable a man is accosted and beaten by robbers and left half-dead alongside the road. A priest passes by but does not help, then a Levite does the same. Finally, a Samaritan—someone whose ethnic identity is not well-regarded by Judeans—sees the beaten man and has compassion on him, taking steps to restore his health. Jesus asks, “Which of these three, do you think, proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell among the robbers?” The lawyer said, “The one who showed him mercy.” And Jesus said to him, “You go, and do likewise” (Luke 10:25-37).

Love our neighbor does not mean we must agree and certainly not endorse wrong or evil belief or practices. It does not mean we do not evaluate or make judgements about good, bad, or ugly culture. It means we love the person. It includes compassion, honesty, impartiality, and justice in our relationships

Jesus taught that we are to love those not like us, those who may not be able to love in return, those who are unlovely – in other words, other human beings.

How do we love our neighbors, immigrant, authorized or unauthorized?

Remember, they likely have experienced estrangement, anxiety, fear, lack of resources, feeling unwelcome. They may feel isolated and alone, sort of lonely in a crowd, because they are detached from family and familiar culture, including language, food, ways of life.

Build bridges, try to build common ground, show the love of Christ, help with language barriers like understanding idioms, be a friend, evangelize indirectly. Talk about life challenges and God but not forcing a decision. Ask if they know much about churches or Christianity. Talk about what Jesus or your faith means to you, how it affects your daily life.

Now, is it possible to be “pro-immigrant” – not so much as a political position but as a Christian or spiritual one, and if so, what does this mean?

Sure, pro-immigrant just means pro-people from another country, just like our ancestors. Legal immigration brings the U.S. new talent, able-bodied workers, new ideas, enriches us. Realize that whatever the problems of our immigration policies, there are all kinds of immigrants. Some may indeed be criminal and dangerous, or political agitators, but many are just families who truly hunger for asylum, freedom, opportunity, and a better life – just like the 2.5M who came through Ellis Island in the 20^th Century.

Now let’s consider the political. 

America has been described as “a nation of immigrants,” yet today immigration is a major tension point in American politics.

But think about this: illegal immigration and open borders are the problem, not so much the idea of being an immigrant as such.

The biblical doctrine, “Love your neighbor” has been co-opted by progressive ideologues in their effort to reduce conservative resistance to progressive views.

These often-anti-Christian advocates work to redefine religious words, then employ them for social justice purposes. This is now happening with “Love your neighbor,” wherein we’re told that one must maintain open borders for to do otherwise is to not love our neighbor.

Among those working hardest to promote open borders are certain elites, meaning typically wealthy, progressive, transnational and political people who think of themselves as “world citizens” or “globalists.” Perhaps they are best-known in their association with the annual Davos, Switzerland confab, the World Economic Forum, wherein they pontificate on climate change, population control, world health, immigration, and technocratic global governance.

Globalists or progressives frequently cite something called “multiculturalism,” a view that all cultures are morally relative and thus not subject to evaluation. They promote open borders and wink at cultural and religious differences, arguing no moral distinctions can be made. This morally relativistic multicultural philosophy is one of the roots of the problems in the non-assimilation, social fracturing, crime and unrest, and street demonstrations we are now witnessing throughout Europe.

Germany embraced this philosophy and is now learning the hard way: open border mass immigration promoted as a culturally neutral economic boon yields social and cultural chaos.

Now the same multicultural philosophy, wedded to the leftist progressive Democrat desire for political power is at work in the U.S. The last few years’ influx across the open southern border of unvetted, unauthorized, mostly male migrants is now producing predictable, similar social fragmentation, unrest, and dangerous circumstances in American cities.

Meanwhile, many Christian leaders argue it would be wrong for the U.S. to consider closing borders or curtailing immigration because to do so is to not love our neighbors or not welcome strangers.

But author Eric Metaxas said, “It’s disturbing that some Christians seem quite happy to twist the scripture that says we are to ‘care for the strangers and aliens among us’ into a carte blanche invitation to enact dramatically destructive immigration policies, as though painting a smiley face over the monstrous reality of encouraging vicious drug cartels and child-sex traffickers. It’s hard to overstate the blasphemy of using God’s Word in this way.”

Author Megan Basham observed, “Of course, believers are to preach Christ crucified to all, no matter how they arrived here. Of course, we should provide for those in real need, no matter how the needy came to cross our path. But ‘welcome the stranger’ was Christ’s command to his followers to personally emulate the Good Samaritan. To insist that it was meant to be used as a blanket immigration policy is spiritual manipulation that cheapens its meaning.”

“The United States should and always has welcomed ‘huddled masses yearning to breathe free’ to share in the blessings God has bestowed on us. But if we incentivize illegal immigration by rewarding those who ignore our laws and fail to ensure that those to whom we grant citizenship understand and respect our founding ideals that made the nation great, the United States will soon look little different from the countries these immigrants are fleeing.”

So, on a personal, individual level, we must love our immigrant neighbors no matter how they got here. This means ignore politics and ideology, build bridges, pray for them, minister to them.

On a political, national level, the U.S., to continue as we are now with open borders is to destroy America’s position as a beacon of hope to the world.

So, the U.S. must develop immigration policy that first, protects and preserves American ideals and identity, rule of law, and borders so that the nation may survive and meet the needs of its citizens, and second, the U.S. must develop immigration policy that provides a legal, orderly, just path for those who desire freedom and opportunity to become Americans.

Both these conditions empower us to love our neighbors.

Well, we’ll see you again soon. This podcast is about Discerning What Is Best. If you find this thought-provoking and helpful, follow us on your favorite podcast platform. Download an episode for your friends. For more Christian commentary, check my website, r-e-x-m as in Martin, that’s rexmrogers.com. Or check //www.youtube.com/@DrRexRogers">my YouTube channel @DrRexRogers for more podcasts and video. 

And remember, it is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm.

© Rex M. Rogers – All Rights Reserved, 2024  

*This podcast blog may be reproduced in whole or in part with a full attribution statement. Contact me or read more commentary on current issues and events at www.rexmrogers.com/, or connect with me at www.linkedin.com/in/rexmrogers or https://twitter.com/RexMRogers.

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Written by: Rex M. Rogers

Published: 26 August 2024

Is it possible leftist, socialist, progressive ideas and values have begun to make inroads into the American Evangelical Church? 

Hi, I’m Rex Rogers and this is episode #166 of Discerning What Is Best, a podcast applying unchanging biblical principles in a rapidly changing world, and a Christian worldview to current issues and everyday life.

In her book published 2024, author Megan Basham asks the question: “Why have so many well-known evangelical institutions and leaders in recent years started promoting causes that no plain reading of Scripture would demand, like lobbying for fossil fuel regulations or dismantling white privilege, while issues that unequivocally call for Christian charity find them silent and stymied?” 

She wonders aloud, are Christian pastors letting culture, rather than Scripture, dictate the content of their preaching?

Ms Basham is a culture reporter for the The Daily Wire, who shares her own spiritual journey wherein she grew up in a Christian home, made multiple professions of faith that didn’t stick, struggled with alcohol and drugs, then finally and forever came to Christ for his transformative reconciling forgiveness and healing. It took some time, but the Word of God, faithful church friends, and a loving family nurtured her toward a maturing faith.

So, like the prodigal son, Basham has some understanding of what life among the pigs, so to speak, is like. She knows the temptation to lie to yourself, to believe even demonstrably failed ideas, to seek the acceptance of the world.

Her concern in what some call an exposé are actions and trends she sees in the American evangelical church. She reviews how in the early 2000s, secular, leftist progressives recognized that conservative, evangelical, biblical Christianity was the primary if not the only real obstacle in American society to their moral views, social goals, and power. So, secular, leftist, progressives shrewdly began to deploy foundations to funnel money toward infiltrating the conservative church with the stated aspiration to modify, even rework, conservative evangelicalism’s stances on political issues. 

Since the early 2000s, these leftist organizations and their billionaire sponsors have worked a thus-far rather effective plan to appropriate Christian values for a progressive rights agenda. 

Leftist activists work to gradually displace biblical values, vocabulary, and goals with those of the left – discarding, for example, “economic equality” in favor of “economic equity,” which is not about opportunity but outcome.

As Basham demonstrates with extensive footnoted quotes, these leftist influencers, and soon, evangelical leaders too, begin suggesting Bible-believing evangelicals should adopt more “nuanced” positions on abortion or begin to affirm same-sex couples because, since Obergefell vs Hodges, it’s the law. In other words, not at first arguing to discard traditional, biblical, or conservative views, but for now, just tone them down, reduce their airtime – don’t talk about sin, but maybe talk about feelings.

Basham has been criticized and the book is controversial in part for naming names. But Basham explains here journalistic approach: she used names when leaders spoke publicly or published or broadcast their words, and when these words could be documented. She did not name names, even if citing a quote, if the persons involved were holding a conversation with reasonable expectation of privacy.

Long ago in my academic days, I learned that a leader who makes a public statement, vocally or in print, should be ready for critique. Scholars know this. Their published work is subject to review and quite often, disagreement. To make one’s comments public, then demand no one criticize them is to want the recognition, the glory as it were of public discourse, without taking responsibility for one’s views.

So, it would seem Basham has endured some pushback she does not deserve, simply for daring to ask legitimate questions and to look for answers.

Basham is a member of a Southern Baptist church, the largest Protestant denomination in the US, so perhaps it is understandable that she spends considerable time in the book detailing what she considers are repeated evidences of cultural accommodation on the part of Southern Baptist leaders.

Perhaps the most useful red flag the author raises is noting how the biblical doctrine, “Love your neighbor” or “Love your neighbor as yourself,” has been adapted maybe co-opted by leftist, progressive influencers in their effort to reduce or remove the conservative resistance to progressive views that persists in the evangelical church. 

As noted earlier, this is a well-conceived, planned initiative intended to change conservative evangelical’s disagreement with a laundry list of leftist, socialist, woke, progressive views. Basham dedicates a chapter to each of the following issues: climate change, illegal immigration, abortion, Christian media, COVID-19 governmental overreach, critical race theory woke DEI views of race and racism, #MeToo and #ChurchToo, and LGBTQ.

In each chapter, she catalogs the sad recent record of various evangelical leaders or pastors who: 

1. softened their statements on these matters, 
2. suggested the church should reconsider its traditional views on these matters, 
3. or suggested the church flipflop to a position of accepting, even endorsing or promoting these views, 

much of it in the name of “Love your neighbor.”

Basham asks, why do some embrace leftist causes? Then she responds with speculation based upon her scores of interviews with these leaders: passivity, fear of reprisal, lack of discernment, maybe just straight out compromise with culture as a trade-off to reduce criticism, gain fame or influence, or be accepted and affirmed by the in-crowd.

Basham does a good job of demonstrating how progressives are adept at hijacking commonly used words or even special-purpose religious words, redefining them, then promoting them for their far-left social justice purposes. This is now happening with the biblical command, “Love your neighbor,” wherein we’re told that one must maintain open borders for to do otherwise is to not love our neighbor. We’re told that one must be gender-affirming for trans and other LGBQ individuals, no matter how outrageous and abnormal their proclivity, because not to be gender-affirming is not to love our neighbor.

During the pandemic, we were told that anyone who truly loves his or her neighbor must wear a mask, get a vaccine, shelter in place, and not go to church.

It gets more out there. If you love your neighbor, you will favor reject the Second Amendment and favor gun controls. Anyone who loves his or her neighbor will want to reduce carbon emissions and purchase and EV.

If you love your neighbor, you will embrace climate change and decide not to have children. Think about this. Globalist climate change alarmists, like former Sen John Kerry and his daughter, Bill Gates, Greta Thunberg, are now saying the quiet part aloud – humanity is the problem. Consequently, the only way to make a dent in climate change doomsday scenarios is to reduce world population, which now stands at 8 billion. They say the earth is only good for 1 billion people, so 7 billion have to go. Did you get this? We want to save the earth for people, so we must do away with billions of people. This is why I say climate change alarmists promote a culture of death. Incredibly, gullibly, some evangelicals are buying into this anti-biblical cult.

What Basham offers is a concise catalog of examples of what is happening and how it is happening across a broad spectrum of institutions within American Evangelicalism, what she calls “Big Eva.” Sadly, we’re likely to witness more Christian institutions bowing to the Baal of Woke progressivism.

But Basham offers a solution to what we’re seeing, a remedy if you will: she says evangelicals have been the toughest nut for leftist to crack because “we have the objective source of truth…We have the Word of God that is living and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword.” 

We must sally forth and speak the truth in love.

Well, we’ll see you again soon. This podcast is about Discerning What Is Best. If you find this thought-provoking and helpful, follow us on your favorite podcast platform. Download an episode for your friends. For more Christian commentary, check my website, r-e-x-m as in Martin, that’s rexmrogers.com. Or check //www.youtube.com/@DrRexRogers">my YouTube channel @DrRexRogers for more podcasts and video. 

And remember, it is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm.

© Rex M. Rogers – All Rights Reserved, 2024   

*This podcast blog may be reproduced in whole or in part with a full attribution statement. Contact me or read more commentary on current issues and events at www.rexmrogers.com/, or connect with me at www.linkedin.com/in/rexmrogers or https://twitter.com/RexMRogers.