What would it look like if Satan took over a city?
It's an interesting question, and one that we shouldn't answer too quickly. It's not a question you sit and wrestle with in a theology class or in a small group. But it is an interesting question; one that I believe is essential to what we term "good" and what we term "evil".
What would be the characteristics of a society of people if the Devil had absolute control over it? How would the people act? What would be the new social norm? What would happen to churches and Christians? What would it look like?
If we're honest with each other, we would think very quickly and rush with our answer. It seems like a very simple question. We all have a great picture of what that would look like immediately come to mind.
Would it look like a much more open Las Vegas? A literal sin city? Would murder and abortion not just be legal across the board at will, but also government funded and encouraged? Would there be war? Would there be raping and fighting? Would all illicit drugs be legal and sold in vending machines? Would marriage be thrown under the Bus of Society and go dishonored? Would sex be public? Would pornography be on every channel? Would there be thefts and suicides every minute? Would homosexuality be encouraged publicly? Would everyone swear and make obscene gestures?
What of the churches? We would be forced underground, right? Would Christianity be illegal? Would our churches become brothels? Would we have to hide? Would pastors be outlaws? Would the government ban them from preaching? Would they be forced to marry homosexuals or be fined? Would we lose our tax exempt status? Would we be tortured, wounded, stolen from, beaten, mocked, locked up, or killed? Isn't that a clear picture of what life in Satanville would be?
No.
That is much too graphic, too intense to be a picture of the city in the full sway of the Devil. It is too much. It isn't deceptive enough. It would scare us too easily. The people would rise up and revolt before anything got out of hand. I fully believe people are totally depraved. But depravity isn't just total; it's also cunning. The beautiful about Satan and our depravity is that it's deceptive. It lies. It is not that I am sinful, only a sociopath feels no remorse for murder or rape. The issue with depravity, the way that it kills most is that it convinces me that my sin is really a good, "Christian" action.
Instead I think a society controlled by Satan would look much more like this:
I think the homosexuality, pornography, and abortion would all be outlawed by the government. I think jails would be essentially empty. Bars, nightclubs, strip joints, drug dealers, gangbangers, would all be a thing of the past. I believe that all religions other than Christianity would be outlawed. I believe that all the children in the city would say "Yes ma'am" and "No sir". We would have neat and tidy streets where everyone smiled and waved.
The Church would have voted all these ways in a long time ago. All of our politicians would fight for the banners and fanfares to God. Everyone would be a Christian. There would be no other option. If the Devil took over a city, every church, across the land would be packed in shoulder to shoulder, we would sings our hymns loud and our preachers would tell us how we all need to keep voting in good men and women who love Jesus so that we wouldn't see the loss of society. They would slam drinking, and Liberalism, and Muslims, and people would say, "Amen" and "Praise God". And we would have no doubts that God was smiling down on us, all the while people by the pew fulls never hear the Gospel, and slide into hell. It would be Christendom, it would be beautiful, and it would kill us all spiritually.
The more that I hear the modern Evangelical talk, the more I see what some pastors tweet or post on social media, the more I listen to how Christians would have society, the more I realize that we love Christendom, not Christ.
By Christendom I mean a society that is essentially Christianized. I mean a society in which we have achieved a moral upright society through the voting booth and not through evangelism. I mean a society in which the Religious Right would have at the end of the day. I mean the Falwell/Roberson utopia, where everyone loves Christ if they like it or not.
This is a society we want as Christians. I'm not saying we shouldn't use the Bible for our moral compass. I'm not saying we shouldn't vote or vote for those whose proposed values lie closely to Scripture. I'm certainly not saying we shouldn't advocate for a Christian world or for morals or that Christians shouldn't involve themselves in the political ring. If you take that away, you've missed the entire point.
What I am saying is that that society will never come through the voting booth. It never will. We will never make good Christians through the ballot. At best we will make wonderful, clean cut, well mannered Pharisees who believe God is pleased because they eradicated all the heinous deeds while all the while realizing that they are resting in their damnable good works. The more that I read what other people are reading, the more that I read or hear what other people are saying or thinking, I realize a major problem in the American church.
We don't think the Gospel is enough anymore.
Oh we would never say that. We would never stoop so low as to actually mumble those words. That is far too heretical for us to put into words. But it's not our words that damn us; it's our actions. That which we tweet about, read about, most. That which we fight for the hardest, that which we cling to the strongest. That is where our hope is found. We have given up the ghost on the Gospel, because the Gospel is too dangerous for us. I'm too scared to go tell my new neighbors about Jesus, so instead I'll just sit here and write this blog some more because it makes me feel good to tell you how wrong you are without dealing with all my failures. In the same vein how it's easy for you to sit there and watch Sean Hannity tell us what's wrong and how we should blame Liberals, Muslims, Hollywood, and the media, and the Taliban, and Al-Jezeera and Al Sharpton for the mess that we as a nation are in because you and I (especially me) are too afraid that the Gospel is actually going to work. Because then, as holders of that Gospel, the problem is that we're not evangelizing. The problem isn't out there with society, the problem is in here with you and I.
So, because we've given up; we must find a way to make America a nation of Christians, we fight for Christ not to reign in our hearts, but in the Oval Office. We think that God has joined a political party and everyone in that party is a Christian. We have, though we would not admit it, believe that God has changed his name to GOP. You're free to disagree; but how many pastors advocated for a Mormon president? What makes us that that a Mormon President stands for Christian values? Because he's better than Obama? Lesser of two evils? One doesn't think the Bible's infallible. How's that for Christian values? We voted for him, not because of he was a Christian, but because he was a Republican. We voted out of fear. We voted for him because we believe that God is setting up Christendom.
Jesus didn't want to be an earthly king. He refused, though the people wanted to make Him one in John 6:15. He tells Pilate that His kingdom "is not of this world". Jesus wasn't about the political. We, like Judas, want Him to be that way. But we, like Judas, miss the point. Jesus did not come to set up a physical nation, but a spiritual one defined by the Gospel.
If we want to see a Christian society, then it will start when you and I (especially I) trust in the Gospel alone to save people. It will come when we stop thinking that God needs America to be a lighthouse for God, and realize it's not about America, but it's about the Church being that lighthouse. It's not about our nationalism, it's about the proclamation of the Gospel; that Christ came to save a people for Himself by faith alone in Christ for the propitiation of our sins, by grace. That is more powerful than a vote. We need pastors and faithful members who evangelize. We need to realize that we have brothers and sisters who really know persecution, not just harassment. We should be faithful to the Gospel, more than we bellyache about the government. We are wasting our time. We're not saving anyone through a voting booth. And until we realize that, we will never impact our cities for Christ.
Oh, by the way, my neighbor is pretty cool.
SDG
