Going Forward

The culture wars are over. In the half-century struggle between the Left and Right, the Left won. Secularism is ascendant while Theism is marginalized.

While Middle America remains fairly traditional, the Coasts, where most culture-shaping takes place, are bastions of The New Morality where that which not long ago was condemned as immoral is now celebrated. Theo Hobson’s description of moral change is complete. He said that for a moral revolution to succeed, what was condemned must be celebrated while what was celebrated must be condemned. Evidence the revolution is complete is when those who won’t celebrate the New Morality are condemned.

That iss where we are, and the evidence the culture war is over. Secularism won.

This contest, as momentous as it is for those of us living it, is but one of many in history; a history, I remind you, the end of which is already secure in the Plan of our God.

We may have lost the battle, but the outcome of the war is already determined. God wins. And because He wins, so do we.

So, what do we do? We are still here, watching from the sidelines as a self-destructive ideology eats itself. We do what the Body of Christ has done for two thousand years. We love and serve God wherever He directs us. For some, that means staying engaged in the public square, using whatever means to remain open while pushing for more to be made available. For others, it means backing out of the public square to quietly but diligently prepare for the day when totalitarianism has closed the public square altogether.

After much prayer and reflection, I’ve decided it’s time for me to take the second option.

I pause here to remark—I realize what I just said is going to upset and anger some friends. There are people I dearly love who will be disappointed that I’ve taken this position. They believe it is not too late to turn things around politically and culturally. Their fight is not over. Because the Constitution is still the Law of the Land, they see hope for a national reformation.

While I agree that nothing is too hard for God and genuine revival could fundamentally alter the moral and spiritual climate of our nation, as it has before, my understanding of what the Bible says about the last days suggests what lies ahead is growing darkness, not light. Revival may come. I pray for it. But if it comes, it will take place concurrent with increasing social chaos and moral meltdown.

We are headed into a time when the middle ground shrinks to nothing, and people align in two camps, the People of God and the Earth-Dwellers, to use a term from Revelation.

I applaud and support those who stay in the fight, leveraging their influence to obtain what they can in the civil arena. I ask that they show the same respect for those like me who hear a different call, to pro-actively prepare for the day when The Church meets covertly.

Having said that, there is an unhealthy tendency in the Evangelical Church in the US that needs to be addressed. Because politics is the religion of a secular society, The Church has aligned itself with partisan issues that have interfered with its Gospel Mandate.

The Evangelical Church has blurred the line between our citizenships in heaven and on earth. We have made the same error as Israel in the First Century by thinking our salvation lies in the political arena. Instead of looking for and trusting in Christ alone to bring His kingdom and reign over the earth, we have invested our hope in politicians to install a system that mirrors God’s Kingdom. We made an idol of politics and thought an election would “save us.”

God will not let His people put their hope in an idol. He tolerates no substitutes. So He shook us loose from our fascination with the idol. That so many were devastated by the results of the last election is proof of how tightly their hope was attached to it. But it seems many haven’t learned from that disappointment. They still hope in a fallen idol.

We must decouple from the political arena and unhitch from investing hope in politicians and parties.

This extends to ideologies like Conservatism as well. We are not Conservatives. We are disciples of Jesus. We are a people who live by His grace and truth. Our business is to Make Disciples, not register people for a party or win them to an ideology.

In many Evangelical minds, being a Conservative Christian IS a Christian, the best manifestation of a Jesus-follower. Many think that the Founders made a “Christian nation,” one that is an express manifestation of The Kingdom of God, if not in fact, at least in ideal. In this view, the Left is a manifestation of the “power of hell.” Now that the Left is dominant, operating the levers of culture-shaping, they are cast by Evangelicals as “the enemy.” Biblically thinking, the loss of whatever ideological stripe is not the enemy. They are the opportunity. Our ONLY enemy is the devil with his tactics to sideline us and dilute The Gospel.

Now that the Culture War is over, we must embrace our identity as subversive dissidents to a secular culture. But we must “de-militarize” our rhetoric. It is time to forsake labels like, Conservative-Liberal, Left-Right, Traditional-Progressive. We need to see people as God does. Let it be only Saved and Lost, Kingdom and World, Darkness and Light. That is the only distinction we ought to make, then remember God wants the Lost to be saved. If we began seeing the Lost as the Not-Yet-Saved, how differently would we treat them?

Reducing labels to this single distinction puts us squarely in the place the Church has been throughout history and when it has had the greatest impact on culture. We best influence society AS OUTSIDERS, not by working from within. Salt acts ON something, not in it. Light shines INTO darkness, not from it. Our mission is to call people OUT of the world. We can only do that when we take our stand outside it first.

Lance Ralston

Lance is the founding and lead pastor of Calvary Chapel Oxnard where he has served since 1982. Lance & David Guzik co-pastored the church for six years before David planted a church in a nearby community.

Lance & his wife Lynn were married in 1980 and have three adult children and five grandchildren. Lance loves teaching the Bible, History, and Leadership. He holds Masters-of-Arts in Biblical Studies and Ministry.
Lance serves as a chaplain for both the Oxnard and Port Hueneme Police Departments and enjoys backpacking, wood-working, working out, gardening, home improvement projects, reading, and graphic design.

The popular Communio Sanctorum: History of the Christian Church podcast can be found in both audio and video at the Into His Image website along with a growing inventory of Lances teaching.