Above inset, Jerry and Becky Drace.
By Jerry Drace, Pastor/Evangelist
And I looked, and arose and said to the nobles, to the leaders, and to the rest of the people, “Do not be afraid of them. Remember the Lord, great and awesome, and fight for your brethren, your sons, your daughters, your wives, and your houses” (Nehemiah 4:14, NKJV).
The dilemma
What has happened in the past 25 years in our nation? Look at the increase of sexually graphic curriculum in our public schools. Family Research Council states, “Despite studies showing that modern sex education fails to achieve its stated goals and results in increased student sexual activity, school systems are devoting up to 70 hours of classroom time per child to sex education. Parents have two main concerns about sex ed today: It sexualizes children, and it is loaded with LGBTQ indoctrination.”
Consider the constant racial rhetoric of self-appointed social justice warriors who are committed to inflaming racial division rather than reducing it. The “I Have a Dream” speech by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. on August 28, 1963, is still a dream. Those who say they desire it most are often the sources of its deferment.
Reflect on the new laws which are forcing Christian colleges and universities to consider compromising their biblical stance on marriage and accepting the LGBTQ establishment on their campuses.
Who would have believed 25 years ago that drag queens would be invited into our public libraries to read fairy tales to children? Or that Disney’s animation studio, Pixar, would send out a casting call for an authentic [transgender] actress to be the voice of Jess, a 14-year-old transgender character?
The destruction
Unrestricted attacks on our political, social, educational, religious, and family institutions find their source in cultural Marxism. We did not get to where we are today in the past few months, but over the past several decades.
Those who are dedicated to the dismantling of our national institutions are disciples of Karl Marx. He was interested in destroying not only the rights of individuals, but more importantly, the traditional family as expressed in the Holy Scripture.
Many of our universities have professors who are committed to the philosophy of Marxism. They have been teaching the principles of Marxism to generations of students for the past six decades. Its tentacles are now reaching into public education starting in kindergarten. The current administration in Washington is the epitome of the Marxist ideology.
The decision
Bible-believing churches in America are now on trial. We are being pressured to remain silent, avoid compassionate confrontation, and refuse to denounce [all] sins.
The church must take the witness stand and answer these charges brought not by the enemies of the church, but by the head of the church, even Jesus Himself. The same Jesus who commanded five of the seven churches in Revelation to “repent or else” echoes the same words to every church in our nation today.
Are we going to decide to “fight for our brothers, our sons, our daughters, our wives, and our houses” as Nehemiah so eloquently stated? Or are we going to close our eyes, shut our mouths, seal our Bibles, and silently retreat into the shadows?
We are not called merely to enter the fight and then leave the battlefield. When the battle is over, we are to be found standing resolute, holding high the Word of God in our hands with salvation in our hearts.
Let freedom ring in our land, and let it be confessed that Christ and Christ alone is the only hope for the state of our nation!
Source of the challenge
These remarks are from a July 4, 2021, sermon by Jerry Drace, author and pastor of Friendship (Tennessee) Baptist Church. Jerry and Becky Drace’s Hope for the Home devotional airs on American Family Radio weekdays at 4:20 p.m. CT. Learn more about their ministries at hopeforthehome.org or [email protected].
(Editor's Note: This article was first published in the AFA Journal HERE.)
