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PADDLING UP THE NIAGARA

The neurotic optimism accompanying the American quadrennial election cycle seems as cockamamie and asinine to me as a man attempting to ride his homemade rowboat up the Niagara Falls. With a horde of eager tourists staring on in pure bewilderment, picture the hapless virtuoso of absurdity, paddling with the finesse of a drunken lifeguard, flapping as frantically against the currents as a penguin in a cheer competition, nearing the aquatic torrent of a three thousand ton wall of falling water, thinking he could scale it with such misplaced bravado, only to be consumed by the avalanche of its fury. 

Every four years, we are invited into the same cultural absurdity. Each election, we are presented with a new brand of idealogue who will bring about the "Change We Can Believe In," who will "Make America Great Again," and who will help us all "Build Back Better." Yet, like the magnificent fool, paddling with a boundless reservoir of natural stupidity, change, American greatness, and cultural betterment never come. 

The reason for this could not be any more obvious. We were not meant to rowboat against the currents to travel up waterfalls in the same way culture does not change from a top-down point of view. More simply, politics flow downstream of culture; culture is downstream of the family, and the definition of insanity would be for the American people to get trapped in an endless cycle of mindless optimism, thinking: "Well... This candidate will be different."

But, if there is one thing the American people are good at; they are incomparably resilient. Against all evidence to the contrary, over and against everything we have seen and experienced, every political season, we dutifully don our little row boats once more, falling for the same old lines, expecting this time it will all be different. But it isn't. Each time we come underneath the mountain of watery lies; however, all we have done is drown ourselves in blind political positivism once again. My hope in this article is for us to stop getting wet and to change our perspective. 

Today, I would like to paint a different picture of how to make America great again. I want to posit real change that you and I can believe in. And I want to give us all a robust Christian plan for when America eventually crumbles, enabling us to truly build it back better. If all that sounds good and lovely, then onward, Christian soldiers!

CHANGING OUR PERSPECTIVE

When the faithful pull back the societal curtains to survey the smorgasbord of today's cultural malaise, feelings of disgust, confusion, and shock inevitably rise to the fore. If this is not happening, then stop what you are doing and check your pulse. With that out of the way, it is normal for Christians to feel like aliens in this God-forsaken land. For many of us, and by "the many," I mean those who were not born yesterday, we remember the good old days (just a few years ago) when girls could not have penises, when teenagers at least needed parental consent before they could murder their babies in utero, and where it was biologically impossible for men to have periods and to get pregnant. Apparently, the grown-ups are now in charge, and that "reality" is on full and morbid display. 

Clinging to such antiquated "myths" and apparent "fables" these days will land you in the same company as "flat-earthers" and "science deniers," whatever that means. And yet, the same body politic viewing us as "moral dinosaurs" are the same ilk beckoning us to participate in their futile system. A system that has produced both Democrats and Republicans (ad nasuem) that fill the highest levels of power but without any perceivable change we can believe in. 

This is because top-down politics do not work. Politicians are not the makers of culture; they are the products of culture. We have corrupt leaders because we are an evil people and not the other way around. 

We must understand that the problems ailing this society run much deeper than a ballot box. If we want to change the world, this nation included, we need a plan that runs much deeper than the superficial two-party system we have been offered. We must also realize that we live in a microwave culture that is no longer patient enough to wait for the brisket on the smoker. We want our change to happen yesterday and can barely stomach a solution that has to be worked out over decades. Yet, this is precisely how we got here, refusing to engage this rotting culture for a hundred years while it willingly marinates slowly in its own skubalon. 

We need a bottom-up, Biblical approach with the long view in mind. 

A NINE-STEP BIBLICAL APPROACH

STEP 1: THE CONVERSION OF SINNERS

While the cultural Marxists continue to goad us into joining the next half-baked revolution, Christians must plod along faithfully and locally, sharing the Gospel with anyone and everyone who will listen (Acts 1:8). We do not march into the halls of power and demand anything from our pagan overlords... At least not initially. We humbly labor wherever we are so that men and women will know Jesus, which is precisely the model we see in the book of Acts. Whenever the faithful are parachuted into a world where exactly no one else around them has a Biblical worldview, the first step is always to declare the Gospel. Some will reject that message. Others will be converted by that message. But, our job is to preach it boldly, lovingly, truthfully, forcefully, and joyfully. 

If we want a Christian culture, we must begin with making Christians. 

STEP 2: THE DISCIPLING OF BELIEVERS

After someone is converted, we do not notch our Big-Eva Billy Graham-sized belts, plastering our conversion numbers on an 8k gigascreen, so that an overstuffed room full of mega-church consumers can be entertained. Unlike Lady Gaga and many in evangelicalism, we are not in it for the "applause" of men but for the obedience of God. Instead of letting new converts slip through the proverbial cracks, ill-equipped and unprepared for the Christian life, we have been commanded to disciple them. This means baptizing new believers and their children into the local, visible church, and teaching them what it means to obey Jesus in every aspect of their life (Matthew 28:18-20). 

If we want a Christian culture, we must teach believers how to live like Christians. 

EXCURSUS: THE BENEFIT OF ONE AND TWO

If the first two steps (mentioned above) were undertaken with any degree of regularity, we would not be in our current predicament. If men were taught how to honor God with their masculinity, and if women were shown how to honor the Lord as a godly feminine woman, the vast majority of the stink would not have settled into our nation's wound. If America is lopped off the body by the Great Physician, those who stood idly by when the first whiff of odor surfaced will have some explaining to do. 

STEP 3: THE RESTORATION OF BIBLICAL MARRIAGE

Once men and women understand what it means to walk with Christ following their God-ordained design, the next goal for the local church will be to help facilitate godly marriages. This will undoubtedly involve three things:

1. The church must help teens, young adults, and other singles prepare well for Biblical marriages.

2. The church must help singles shrewdly identify potential suitors, righteously court them, and to make it to the altar in purity.

3. The church must come alongside current marriages to work through their idolatry, slog through their conflicts in God-honoring ways, and to learn the blessing of blissful matrimony so that our marriages image that glorious marriage of Christ and His Church. 

If we want a Christian culture, Christians must be discipled to enter into Christian marriages. 

STEP 4: A REVIVAL OF PARENTING

When God designed marriages, they were not sex-permitting static hangouts for heterosexual adults going nowhere. Marriages were intended to be filled with intimate covenantal love-making that produced godly offspring who would then be equipped to rule over, subdue, and bring God's dominion to the untamed earth (Genesis 1:28). In this way, men and women were designed to become fathers and mothers who inculcate God's mandate for culture into the lives of their children. When this happens, generations of faithful believers join their parents in the offensive, pushing back the chaos and retaking territory for the Lord their God. 

In Eden, that task was simple. If Adam and Eve had not sinned, they would have filled the garden full of people. They would have extended its boundaries to allow for a larger civilization when things became packed. And they would do it repeatedly until the entire world was filled with worshippers. This was God's "very good" plan that we have no good reason to believe He has abandoned today. 

In fact, this plan has been restored in the redemption of Jesus Christ. When pagans are converted and discipled into believers and baptized into the local church so that they may enter into godly marriages, the goal is not childlessness. While some may experience infertility due to the fall, the New Testament ideal is for men and women to produce children and raise them up in the fear and admonition of the Lord (Ephesians 6:4). 

If we want a Christian culture, Christians must be discipled to enter into fruitful, multiplying, ruling, and subduing marriages that produce godly, discipled children. 

STEP 5: THE FAMILY AS MISSIONARY TO THE NEIGHBORHOOD 

While the local church is perpetually committed to doing steps 1-4, mature families will also grow and come alongside the local church as workers in the harvest (Matthew 9:37-38). The men of these families will become deacons and elders (1 Timothy 3) who will serve the body and help it grow into maturity. The older women from these families will become pillars in the community to encourage young wives not to neglect their homes and to raise the next generation of godly children (Titus 2:2-4). And the children from these families will grow up into mature manhood and womanhood, entering into new families through covenant marriage that will fill their neighborhoods with a panoply of children. 

Between the consistent plod of a local church and the mature, fruitful, multiplying nature of covenant homes, neighborhoods will be inundated with converts and covenant children. Considering that our current society fancies dogs over children and sexual identities that can't reproduce, it won't take long for Christians to out-populate communities and neighborhoods to the glory of God.

STEP 6: THE NEIGHBORHOOD THAT LEAVENS CITIES

In addition to out-populating and out-discipling unbelieving neighborhoods, local churches have the added advantage of equipping men and women with spiritual gifts to serve in Jesus' Kingdom. That Kingdom work is two-fold. First, as noted above, Christians must use whatever giftings, resources, and time they have to help build up the local church. They must also, secondly, use the gifts and resources Jesus gave them intending to see His Kingdom take back ground from the serpent of old. 

Some will use the gift of prophecy, to herald Christ within their hamlets on street corners, at water bubblers, at backyard BBQs, and wherever else our Lord is not locally named. Some will employ the gift of serving to meet the needs of the broken; the gift of teaching will be used to bring theology and doctrine to the skeptic and illiterate; the gift of encouragement will be used to comfort the downtrodden and depressed within our towns; the gift of giving used to support the ongoing work of evangelism and missions; the gift of leadership to start Christian businesses, reformed schools, tap houses, breweries, real estate companies, and plumbing businesses that exist for the glory of God. 

Whatever gift the Lord has given His people, they are to use it to build up Christ's Church and tear down Satan's gates. With patience, that small amount of Christian leaven will eventually work its way through the whole local lump (Matthew 13:33). 

Thus, if we want a Christian culture, then converts must be discipled to enter faithful families that produce godly children who will grow up to build up Jesus' Kingdom and tear down the enemy's gates in their neighborhoods and cities to the glory of God. 

STEP 7: A MUSTARD SEED CITY THAT COVERS THE COMMONWEALTH

While a mustard seed begins as the smallest grain, it eventually grows into the largest plant in the garden. It does not overtake the weeds and faster-growing plants in an evening, but with the slow and steady rains, regular tending, and a dash of patience, it becomes the dominant force in a farmer's plot of land. 

In the same way, when churches and families implement steps 1-6, understanding that multiple generations are usually needed to take over towns and cities, then it will not be long until commonwealths and states begin to fall as well. This is because onlooking denominations and parishes will behold the long-standing faithful work of faithful churches. As they produce godly marriages, generations of covenant children, and make Gospel in-roads in their local communities and cities, other churches and denominations will be encouraged to join the effort, to imitate the results, which will make the effort a multiplicative mustard-seed-like mission that spreads from our "Jerusalems" to nearby "Judeas" (Acts 1:8). 

STEP 8: THE PEBBLE GROWING INTO A MOUNTAINOUS REFORMATION 

When Daniel describes the coming Kingdom of our Lord, he portrays it as a small pebble that begins locally but will eventually fill the world full of the glory of God like an earth-sized mountain (Daniel 2:44-45). Forgetting the uninformed dronings of our dear dispensational defeatists, the true Church has every expectation that the Kingdom will continue to advance into all the world. We understand that although the nations dutifully rage (Psalm 2), the Lord will pile their bodies high as heaven, putting every enemy under His glorious feet (Psalm 110). We know that His Kingdom will come to every nook and cranny of earth, as it perfectly already has in heaven (Matthew 6:10). We know He has all authority in heaven and on earth (Matthew 29:18); to build His government that will never end (Isaiah 9:6-7); so that every family on earth will be blessed under His rule according to the Abrahamic promise (Genesis 12:1-3). 

We stand on the Word of God, knowing that His Kingdom will not only capture our cities and commonwealths but when the tale is over, all nations under heaven will be discipled (Matthew 28:19) and will bow before the Lord of glory (Philippians 2). How much less should this expectation apply to our culture, whom we labor to see it redeemed? That reformation in America may take two hundred years since it took us that long to squander it, but if we stopped looking for minute solutions to century-long problems, we would begin to make a little progress. 

Thus, if you want a Christian culture, disciple converts to enter faithful marriages that produce godly children, who will grow up and build Jesus' Kingdom, storm the gates of hell, leaven their cities with Christ, join up with other churches to fill their commonwealths and continue that work long enough to see national revival and renewal. 

STEP 9: THE APPOINTING OF GODLY RULERS

Instead of electing a candidate who will fix all of our problems, we need to catch a vision of a multiple-century effort to build Christendom from the ground up. If the Lord, in His amazing grace, decides to expedite that work, waking a decaying culture with the breath of white-hot revival, then praise be to the Lord! And if we plod along with incremental gains, handing our plowshares and hammers off to our sons who will plod along when we are gone, then blessed be the Lord of Heaven! Blessed be His name! 

In the same way that rowboats work best when traveling downstream, culture will be revived and renewed when the Church and families understand the work God has given us. We declare the Gospel, which is the headwater of revival. We pray that God would convert individuals that we can disciple and help them prepare for and enter into godly marriages. We must encourage those marriages to bear fruit (as the Lord wills), grow into maturity, and take back territory in our local communities through the gifts God has given us all to serve. And then, as we all faithfully and patiently plod along, we must expect that the Kingdom work Christ has given us will spread and take over cities, states, whole nations, and then go to ends of the earth. At some point, we may have a Christian king, but we have a lot of faithful work before we get there.

In closing, if you want a Christian culture, forget American politics. That is as fruitful as drowning yourself under a waterfall. Instead, if you wish for Massachusetts, California, Washington, Nevada, Montana, and all the rest of these fifty states, to bow the knee to the Lord Jesus Christ, then put down your politics, lay down your mail-in ballots, and grab a shovel. We have work to do!