Praying for a Few Good Men

"A wise man scales the city of the mighty
and brings down the stronghold in which they trust" (Prov. 21:22).

There is need for such wise men today in the Christian Church like there is need for a drop of fiscal sensibility and responsibility in the United States.  In the public sesspool system, my wife watches the state pour out money on the ground like it's water year after year.  I watch gobs and gobs of money squandered in the healthcare arena day by day.  All of us watch, mouth agape, the political elites and greats dump trillions into never-never land while waving a magic wand over it all.  In short, there is a profound lack of fiscal and financial sense.  And so there is grave need.

There is similar grave need for wise men in the Christian Church who will scale the cities of the mighty and bring them down, bringing down the strongholds in which so many trust.  One of those strongholds that needs to be thrown down--precisely because so many trust in it, including Christians (alas!)--is the naturalistic worldview that pervades our thinking and doing.  The scientific worldview has got a stranglehold, even a death grip, on much of Western society, certainly North American culture, including within the church (alas!).  Yes, even the evangelical wing.

Now I don't mean that right-minded science is bad.  Of course not.  Those who are called to scientific work should pursue it zealously.  And there is much for which to thank the Lord.  Genuine advancements have been made in medicine, the hard sciences, engineering, and so forth.  Immense merices.  Colossal blessings.  And for these we should be grateful.  And yet.  But.  You knew I was getting there in a hurry.  There is a way of viewing all of life and reality that is shot through with naturalistic assumptions.  It is the scientific worldview, where everything is observable as in a test tube, where all is managed by some bright scientist with three Ph.D.s. 

Never mind that his marriage is a shambles.  Never mind that his kids are bearing children out of wedlock.  Never mind that he's in debt up to his neck.  Never mind that he's on his third marriage.  Never mind that he's cheating on her, too.  Never mind any of this wisdom stuff.  Never mind morality.  Never mind God!  Never mind that he created and runs the universe!  Never mind the fear of the Lord!  Why?  Because some fool has three Ph.D.s.  He's got credentials.  The worldly wise say he's an accredited prophet.  And he knows how--brilliantly, I acknowledge--to make life get on in some ways a little better in the here and now.  And, as I said, we should give thanks for the mercies that come to us through the scientist--and I'll now add, especially the pagan scientist.  But all of this doesn't solve or address our greatest problems and life's greatest issues: sin's guilt and power, God's wrath, the coming judgment, man's eternal destiny, the metanarrative of the world, and the like.  And what about the glory of God, that infinite value in the universe?  How does all of this science stuff relate to that?  And how does it relate to God's supreme and all-wise ends in the world?

I fear that so many Christians are far too easily impressed with matters that are relatively inconsequential.  And, I'll add, with many uncertainties cloaked in certainty.  But Eternity and Infinity are great levelers.  But we're earthly, worldly, carnal.  And so we need a few more wise, Spirit-endowed prophets who will scale the cities of the mighty and throw down the strongholds in which they trust.  May God be pleased to raise up some.  Such is my prayer.

(Incidentally and furthermore, it seems that our naturalistic assumptions are integrally related to or are undergirding the rampant functional deism within the North American church.  But the unpacking of this suspicion will have to wait for a future meditation and post.)