War and Peace
For those who live in the Northern Hemisphere, summer is upon us. Summer vacation plans with the hope of meeting "Ms. Wonderful" or "catching the big one" are bantered about the water cooler. A hackeyed retort from the skeptic would be "Yeah. And I am going to read War and Peace on the beach of Waikiki."
Looking beneath the jest conversation, we see the person wanting to catch someone or something expressed hope, albeit less assured. The skeptic was not going to read Tolstoy. He never intended to read this epic work.
Many Christians and Christian churches today have given up on War and Peace of another kind. They no longer think it is politically correct and culturally relvant to admonish each other and the world against spiritual forces of wickedness (Ephesians 6:14-18). In essence, these people are saying to Jesus that times have changed; they don't believe in supernatural evil forces anymore. They and the world are one.
One can ferret out these "we are the world" churches, however, with a two-fold litmus test. First, there won't be any solar sciptura sermons preached on Ephesians Chapter 6. Second, any "insensitive, unloving, and militant" Christian hymns will not be sung. These include old traditions like: Onward, Christian Soldiers; Soldiers of Christ, Arise; Am I a Soldier of the Cross?; and Stand Up, Stand Up for Jesus.
It would be enlightening also to see how these churches put their haute-theology spin on Revelation Chapter 3. They probably have already.
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3 comments:
yes, that's what i'm going to say, however, i do remind myself not to be betrayed what Jesus said, otherwise, his salvation is meaningless... we know that we are prepared to stand up for Jesus, we are the children belong to God not the world..
Hear, hear. Your reading and commenting on this post are appreciated, Snoopy.
H, we sing this hymn frequently in our worship service. Your question brings back another chapter of the catholic church's fight against liberalism.
Even back in 1866, the author of this great hymn, Samuel Stone, had had enough of the liberal theology promulgated by the Anglican Bishop, John William Colenso. Based on the Apostles' Creed, Stone wrote a collection of 12 creedal hymns Lyra Fidelium to combat the haute-theology of his days.
This particular hymn was based on the Ninth Article of the Apostles' Creed. Charles Wesley's grandson, Samuel, wrote the music.
Changing subject. I should have the last installment on "music and church worship" completed before my two-week summer vacation leave on 7 July.
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