Prepare for a Hostile Culture
Over the last several years, I have heard an increasing number of Christians express concern over the direction of our country. It’s not just a concern that the country is becoming more and more immoral but that it seems our leaders are becoming more and more anti-Christian. At the very least, they are purely apathetic to Christian morals and virtues.
Paul Nyquist is President of the Moody Bible Institute in Chicago and has recently written a book, Prepare: Living Your Faith in an Increasingly Hostile Culture. It is a good book to prepare Christians and Bible class teachers for the coming overt antagonism.
The book is divided into three parts: The New Reality; Understanding Persecution; and Reasons for Hope.
In “The New Reality,” Nyquist gives a brief history of the movement away from Christianity in our society and culture. He briefly reviews some of the Supreme Court cases, like Engel v. Vitale in 1962 that removed prayer and Bible reading from the public schools. The book was published in 2015 but before the infamous Obergefell v. Hodges decision on June 26 that found the right to same-sex marriage in the Constitution. But he does give an overview of the DOMA law (overwhelmingly passed with bipartisan support and signed into law by Bill Clinton) and its downfall.
In “Understand Persecution,” Nyquist presents what he calls “five counterintuitive biblical principles.” The heart and strength of the book lies in this chapter. His five “counterintuitive” principles are: The persecution of believers is normal, not strange; Persecution means you’re blessed, not cursed; Believers can expect to be exposed, not protected; God calls us to respond to our persecutors with compassion, not anger; and We’ll be rewarded, not forgotten.
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In the final part of the book, “Reasons for Hope,” the author shows that God is our “hope,” through His own work, the work of the Son and the work of the Spirit. In this latter section, Nyquist applies passages to us today that I believe are limited to the apostles, prophets, and Christians of the first century. Yet, he has some relevant points to make.
In chapter 9, a letter from a Protestant who lives in Pakistan is provided. This Protestant lives in a (Muslim) society that persecutes, even kills, those who leave the faith. That letter ought to challenge us to deepen our confidence in God’s saving power.
Finally, in chapter 10, the author calls for a revival across the nation. This revival, according to Nyquist, will consist of: humble confession, fervent prayer, vibrant faith, and bold evangelism.
The best preparation for the coming antagonism is to walk closely with the God of the Bible by walking closely with the faithful men and women of the Bible. In the words of Nyquist (191): “Now’s the time to prepare.”
–Paul Holland
