The more secularized a culture becomes, the less life has any meaning, hope or purpose. Consider France, one of our world’s most secularlized countires.
In a recent interview with Pastor Louis DeMeo, who along with his wife, Janey, worked and lived in France for 22 years, I learned that the ills of socialism, the high rate of unemployment and the rise of terrorism, have produced a culture of sheer hopelessness. This is demonstrated in the fact that the suicide rate in France is among the highest in the world.
Pastor Louis DeMeo, having recently returned with his family to live in America, stated he was shocked to see the changes in the American culture, specific to the Christian faith. Without hesitation he expressed that he sees America following in the path of France. He included that the recent San Bernardino, California tragedy, where 14 people lost their lives, was predictable given the secularization of the American culture.
Without God, there is no hope. Neither is there any restrain of evil.
To all who are suffering dispair, I earnestly reach out to you. I know you’ve been indoctrinated to believe that “religion should not simply be tolerated but should be countered, criticized, and exposed by rational argument wherever its influence arises.”1 You’ve been taught that to profess a belief in God is evidence of one being utterly and woefully unenlightened. The French Revolution and the Period of Enlightenment greatly influenced France, Britain and much of Europe, as well as America, and contributed to the theory of Evolution believed to be the origin of life.
If you are experiencing any measure of hopelessness, I implore you to reconsider what you believe and why you believe it. I’m confident that anyone who is intellectually honest when seeking to discover truth, will find the gloriously wonderful reality that not only does God exist, He is a good and loving God who wants all the best for you in this life and your life hereafter. I am making a strident call to everyone who would like to have their hope renewed to bravely and intentionally seek to discover truth.
To all who profess to be Christian, I implore you to also examine what you believe and why you believe it. Based on the demographic research conducted by Barna Research Group, while there may be as much as 75% of Americans who claim to be Christian, in reality only 7-9% actually live their faith in a way that influences others. By mandate of the very One whom Christians claim to follow, Christians are to share the gospel truth with the world. If we were doing what we are commissioned to do (Matthew 28:18-20) hopelessness and despair would be utterly overcome. The real and certain hope, and our profound purpose for living, would be realized, and joy would replace mourning. I am making a clarion call to everyone who professes Christ, to follow the DeMeo’s example. Through community evangelism, becoming engaged with people, sharing the love of God and the hope of Christ, they helped innumerable people find hope.
You are my focus. You are my passion. You are why I am writing my Faith to Live By book series. The first two books are published, and the third is expected to be released by the end of the first quarter next year. I have sought to anticipate your questions in my books and this blog and to bring you the truth and hope you need. I would love to hear from you and be a help leading you to discover and live in the same life-giving truth that I have been blessed to find.
Not only does God exist, but He made the way possible for you to personally know Him, through faith in Jesus. The very Jesus whose earthly birth we celebrate at Christmas. It is God’s deepest desire that You discover truth, because only with the Truth can any of us be freed from the evil of this world, and live in hope eternal.
1. Hooper, Simon. “The rise of the New Atheists”. CNN. Retrieved 16 March 2010.
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