I finished reading Seth Gruber’s The Last Stand wherein he provides a powerful clarion call for the Church to take a critical stand for western civilization which now stands at a pivotal point in unfolding history. Western civilization was founded upon the Judeo-Christian worldview, an understanding of reality that is under increasing attack. If that worldview dissolves, western civilization will crumble into the ash heap of history.

When posed the question that “If you could live at any point in history, where would you choose?“, your response should be “the present moment because that is where God in his infinite sovereign wisdom chose to place me to accomplish the greatest good.” The church now stands at a pivotal point, facing a “last stand” moment. If we fail to take a public stand now for the gospel and moral right, western civilization will disintegrate. The early church took a public stand within the failing Roman Empire and refused to worship the idols of the age (for which they often paid the ultimate price), birthing the seed for western civilization. We now have the same opportunity.

The generation of my father is often called “the greatest generation” for their costly stand against Nazism during WW2 (he fought in WW2). Similarly, the contemporary church is faced with a violent spiritual war and will be looked back upon as either (1) the generation of the church that stood by as western civilization collapsed – or (2) the great church generation that took a costly last stand to protect the civilization founded upon the Judeo-Christian worldview.

William Wilberforce took a stand against the evils of slavery in the late 18th century in England. I’m currently reading his 200 year-old magnus opus A Practical View of Christianity. He fought a battle against slavery for over 45 years, most of his life, before achieving victory. Most importantly, he recognized that he could not achieve abolition without first attacking the prevelant and gross immorality of English culture at the time with the gospel. He took a costly public stand.

May we in the contemporary church be faithful to take a costly public stand now amidst fierce spiritual warfare.

“Ranald Macaulay, son-in-law of Francis Schaeffer, who warned that the church’s weakness flows from a single fracture: the failure to connect the gospel commission of the New Testament with the cultural mandate of Genesis . . . When Marxist revolutionists burn cities in the name of justice, or when Islamic law is tolerated under the banner of multiculturalism, or when the church remains silent for fear of losing tax status, we are replaying the end of Judges—no king, no order, no truth. The call is the same now as then: choose whom you will serve. Either the living God or the idols of the age . . . The mistake of modern Christianity has been to treat Christ’s victory as an excuse for passivity rather than a summons to action.” – Seth Gruber in The Last Stand