Dangerous Christianity Part 3: Be not Conformed
Dangerous Christianity Part 3: Be not Conformed
Our worldview is being shaped and constantly reshaped by identifiable and specific influences, ideas, values, systems of thought, and ideologies. These are all the product of deliberate agendas, targeted to elicit certain ways of thinking, responses, behaviors and outcomes for our lives. Christianity instructs us not to conform to this world and its influences but be transformed to adopt God’s way of seeing the world and interacting with it. In part one of this series we looked at who sets the agenda which we buy into. Part two discussed who is in power over us. This article explores whose ideologies and influences are most dominant in our lives in order to help us to identify and circumnavigate their deadly consequences and get to safety in wholesome, godly paradigms.
Only a mere half a millennium ago, Christianity was the foremost paradigm or worldview that dominated those countries we have come to know as “western”. The age of “reason” or the Renaissance ushered in a reliance on Science and the Scientific methods of gathering data and information that, in turn, came to shape our understanding of how things are. Science was thought to be antithetical to Christianity and religious perspectives. Therefore, Christianity’s influence began to decline as materialism took root in earnest.
Fast forward to today, Science is increasingly being challenged by postmodernist perspectives which have introduced yet other ways of seeing our world. Sometimes considered post scientific, this way of viewing our world relies on subjective perspectives.
Currently three contending paradigms or ways of seeing the world confront us as believers:
- Religious (influenced by Christianity, Judaism, Islam and other religions)
Modern, (Characterized by Science, the age of reason and the rise of materialism)
- Post- Modernism (Subjectivity and moral relativism, that elevate cultural influences to challenge modernity)
Within these major underlying paradigm influencers, there are a variety of ideas, ideologies, and philosophies. These operate in the social, political and economic spheres of our public and private lives. These influence political ideologies, government programs, policies, laws, regulations, Corporate strategies, choices, behaviors, and the fabric of what we think of as reality, or what we perceive in our daily lives.
One such notable one is secular Humanism, typical of western modern thought. This approach had its beginning in the 19th Century and eventually sought to advance science and rationality in a positivist framework that separated morality from religion.
A discernible effect of such “advancements” in modern, western thought is an increasing resistance and rejection of Christian or religious values in the public sphere. Popular culture, educational systems, laws, and political parties are just a few of the mechanisms which have been used to eschew and expel Christianity from the public realm. These have successfully banished religion from public discourse for example, and increasingly Christianity is being relegated to the fringes of society as secularists and Atheists evangelize the world into godlessness.
Christianity remains an opposing paradigm or system of thought to current social drift into godlessness and depravity. IT is an ever-present irritating obstruction to those with agendas that defy God’s values, principles and laws. For instance, modern progressive movements such as radical feminism would baulk and resist God’s injunction for wives to obey and submit to their husbands (Eph 3:22, Col 3:18). It unequivocally and consistently challenges sources and entities that wield power in many arenas of our lives to promote godly agendas, act with godly principles, and influence those over whom they wield power towards righteousness. It speaks about and operates in key areas critical to the powerful and the status quo such as:
- insertion of alternative sources of information to current orthodoxies
- provision of a well-developed system of thought to counter global system’s attempt at indoctrination into godlessness and moral depravity
- affording of an alternative moral code and values system to negate the shift towards meaninglessness
- presentation of absolute truth to counter the drift towards moral relativism
- Offering of a well-documented history of alternative realms and spiritual realities that helps to explain our world
- Proffering of solutions for major problems and issues that affect us at various levels of our societies.
Christianity stresses that the believer is firstly, born again into the Kingdom of God. As a citizen of this Kingdom, he/she owes allegiance to this King and assumes positions, duties, and responsibilities that are assigned to him /her within God’s Kingdom operations. Secondly, this believer is an ambassador of God’s Kingdom to this world and is obliged to reflect its values, principles, and operations in this world. He or she is to bring to this world God’s message of judgment, love, redemption and forgiveness and to evangelize people with the Good News or Gospel of that Kingdom. Thirdly, in order to carry out these tremendous responsibilities, the Christian is to conform to the dictates and rules of that Kingdom and to resist the influences and values of this world. He or she is to first seek the welfare of the Kingdom of God and its righteousness before his or her own welfare. (Matt 6:33).
Christianity’s counter paradigm makes it a dangerous religion to this world’s current leaders who knowingly, or unwittingly are invested in advancing the objectives of the Kingdom of darkness in all spheres of our social, cultural, political, and economic life. Christianity insists that children of the Kingdom of God must not conform or be conformed to this world, rather, we must be transformed to God’s kingdom by the renewing of our minds or systems of thought and mentality
“And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.” (Ro 12:2 AV)
This insistence on resisting this world through nonconformity diametrically opposes the systematic programming and indoctrination that assails the believer from every sphere of life on a minutely basis. It shields us from the persuasive influences of critical purveyors of “information”, “data”, “news”, “education”, and any other mechanism of ideological indoctrination and programming that we may encounter (Col2:8, Jas 1:27, 4:4, 1 Joh 2:15, 5:4,).
Christianity’s opposing paradigm stresses that Believers owe allegiance to a King whose Kingdom is not of this world (John 18:36), but who also has ultimate authority over this world (Dan 4:17, Matt 28:18). The Christian’s allegiance is to this king who who is invested with the kind of military might and power that boggles the mind just thinking about it. For instance, Jesus, in Matt 26:53told Pilate, the representative of the most powerful earthly empire of his day, that if He wanted, He could command 12 Legions of angels who would fight to take Him away from Pilate’s mediocre interrogation.
A legion of angels comprises about 4,000 to 6,000 warriors according to estimates of Roman legion numbers, and if one angel could be responsible for the deaths of about 185,000 Assyrian soldiers in one night (2Kings 19:35), Imagine what 12 legions would have done to the universe, had Jesus activated this option?
With this amount of might and power at His disposal, King Jesus presents a formidable alternative to earthly authorities, forces or entities who struggle for dominance over the Christian. Daily reading and application of the teachings of the Scriptures provide us with a constant, contrasting source of information which can enable the individual believer or group to resist the attempts by those forces or authorities in the “world” to program us. This constant source of alternative information makes the individual believer dangerous to those who want to practice dominance through shaping of the culture, agenda setting and media manipulation, for example. This rationale probably underlay the attempts by early Christianity’s foes (such as those Roman Emperors) who persecuted and attempted to wipe out this fledgling faith to prevent it from usurping the pagan religion which was the order of the day.
Nonconformity, if followed as the bible teaches, empowers the believer to resist the agenda setting and imposition of inconsistent cultural values for example, by those who want the upper hand over the population.
While for the most part, Christianity is not particularly bent on radical religious uprising, the battle for minds and hearts will be won by Jesus Christ, that alien Sovereign, so long as believers hold true to the directive to “be not conformed”. This is a threat to those who desire absolute control over people’s lives, thoughts and behavior.
At the same time, Believers are encouraged to submit to political authorities (Rom 13:1-7) because they operate to serve our good. In doing so, believers are allowed freedom to spread the Gospel and perform the works of the Kingdom. Submission, not conformity, is seen as the principle which allows the Lord to promote the believer, even within this earthly framework. Submission presents no threat to the ruling authorities as it makes for good, law abiding, civic minded citizens. Non-conformity enables the believer to practice his /her faith within this context to promote God’s agenda in this earth.
For Christians the choice is becoming clearer as the satanic agenda becomes more and more active. Believers are being challenged to declare our positions. We are either for God or against Him (Luke 11:23). We are also being challenged to own Christ publicly in the face of opposition. Christ has set up a dichotomy where Christians will have to choose to be with Him or not. We are also being required to publicly confess Him or run the risk of Jesus returning the favor and choosing not to confess us before His Father (Matt 10:33).
Learn More about the Clash between Christianity and Secular humanism from Answers in Genesis
Learn More about the military power of Angels
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Destroying_angel_(Bible)
Learn More about Secular Humanism from: