Is it helpful to condemn the world for being worldy?

I had given considerable thought to using this editorial page to write a scathing denunciation of Planned Parenthood. Margaret Sanger, the founder of Planned Parenthood, acknowledged that her entire life’s purpose was to promote birth control.

Sanger embraced the thinking of the eugenicists and insisted that the genetic makeup of the poor and minorities, for example, was inferior. In her book, “Pivot of Civilization,” she referred to immigrants and poor folks as “human weeds,” “reckless breeders,” and “spawning … human beings who never should have been born.”

In 2006 Planned Parenthood abortion mills put 289,650 unborn babies to death (an increase of more than 20,000 from the previous year) and sold more than 1.4 million “emergency” contraception kits.

The Family Research Council states, “While most companies have started to feel the squeeze of our sagging economy, business has never been better for Planned Parenthood. For the first time in history, Planned Parenthood has surpassed the $1 billion mark in annual income, a milestone made possible by $336 million of your tax dollars.”

Then I contemplated using this space in The Christian Index to address the homosexual agenda that is being foisted upon the American people, including our children. I came across a website urging the public schools of our nation to observe “The National Day of Silence” on April 25, thus bringing attention to the anti-lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgendered name-calling, bullying, and harassment in schools. The promoters of the event claim that it counteracts bullying, but it is merely promoting an anti-heterosexual viewpoint.

In a recent memo to the staff at the GBC Ray Newman, our specialist in Civic and Public Affairs, indicated that 28 schools in Georgia participated in this day of silence.

Interestingly, “The National Day of Silence” will be followed by “The Transgender Day of Remembrance” on Nov. 20. I believe the GLBT people of America should be treated fairly and protected by the law, but these special “days” are nothing but a ploy to advance the nefarious agenda of the gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgendered organizations of our society.

Then I thought about writing an editorial on the digital video games that are corrupting the children of America. It has already been determined that these games can harm the development of children’s beliefs and value systems and desensitize them to violence.

I am sure I couldn’t tell the difference between Resident Evil and Alone in the Dark or Sins of a Solar System, but they all sound eerie, violent, and a waste of time, but parents need to monitor what their children are doing with those Sony Playstations.

Then I thought about launching an attack on the pornography that permeates our society or profanity on television or any number of things, because it is always easy to find those things that stir our emotions and wound our spiritual sensitivity, but I decided not to address any of those things.

I decided to reflect on our Georgia Baptist Convention staff retreat in mid-April. We have been having these retreats for nine years and they have been inspiring and challenging. This year’s retreat was particularly well-received because there seems to be a genuine hunger for revival among many on our staff.

One of the featured speakers was Henry Blackaby, who spoke twice and reminded us that God is not old and tired and that He can still do what He did in days of yore. I, along with others, was particularly impressed by his challenge for us to “go further.”

Blackaby was relating Jesus’ Gethsemane experience when He urged Peter, James, and John to go with Him into the Garden and said to them, “My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death: tarry ye here and watch with me.” Then the Bible says, “He (Jesus) went a little farther, and fell on His face and prayed … .”

I was sitting in a room with the employees of the Georgia Baptist Convention – ministers, missionaries, Convention leaders, preachers, and staff – some of the most dedicated Christians I know; and we were being called to go a little further – further in our love for Christ, further in our commitment, and further in our surrender.

For many it was a moment of significant spiritual proportions. It is the sort of thing that can spark the fires of revival. Most of those present seemed to agree that the GBC Missions and Ministry Center is a good place for revival to begin. The GBC staff realizes that to whom much is given, much is required and that we can expect no more of our fellow Georgia Baptists and our churches than we are willing to give.

Hopefully, each of us can demonstrate a return to our first love for Christ, abandon that lukewarm spirit that lacks passion and enthusiasm, and become firebrands for Christ. There were those of us who determined to renew our passion for the Lord.

I abandoned my original intention in the writing of this editorial because it is useless to condemn the world for being worldly and the lost for being sinners for they are doing nothing but demonstrating their depravity. In contradistinction to the nature of the world, the church must demonstrate the mark of holiness. Unless those of us who are a part of the church of the living God begin to live righteously we have no right to expect to see this world rise above the morass of moral madness, lurid lasciviousness, and rancid religiosity.

To my colleagues at the GBC and to those who want to see God truly at work in the lives of His people I would say, “Let us resolve to meet the conditions necessary for revival and ask the Spirit of God to set our hearts ablaze with a passion for Christ so that the holy conflagration will spread to every corner of our state.”