Independent-Bible Believing-Fundamental Baptist

I can always tell it. The leaves are off the trees, the temperature is dropping below my personal comfort level (it even gets chilly in Florida, kind of), and the stores are getting uniquely red and green with a tinkling of silver and gold. Yes, it’s Christmastime again! A time when children’s hearts race with anticipation, moms and dads practically melt their credit cards from overuse, and the ACLU gears up for action! Yes, it’s open season on “religion in the public square.” It’s their time to attack the evils of nativity scenes, the use of the word “Christmas” and any other semblance of religion. (We’ve yet to see them take on Islam in any serious way. Won’t that be fun to watch! Muslims have a little different approach to these things than Christians who turn the other cheek).So here we go again.

Please don’t misunderstand my position about this holiday season. I’m not a Scrooge, but close to it. On a scale of one to ten, Scrooge being a ten, I’m probably a good seven to eight. The things that irk me about this whole season are numerous. I can’t stand the name “Christmas.” What a disgrace to attach such a practice as the cannibalistic Roman Catholic mass to the precious name of Christ. There is no such thing as Christ’s mass! Then, of course, is the jolly fat man, good old St. Nick, Santa Claus, whatever you want to call him. Someone who possesses the very attributes of Deity i.e. omniscience, omnipresence, etc. I wonder how many parents, even Christian parents, will lie again to their children about this jolly superman from the North. We’ll be bombarded again with drunken Hollywood and Nashville filth trying to sing “O Holy Night” and “Away in a Manger” and other good songs meant to honor the Lord Jesus. Paganish practices will abound while parties will lead to more drunkenness and fornication and whatnot. Just give me a church service that glorifies the incarnation, that preaches the “why” of the Virgin Birth, and tells the account as stated in the scriptures. And give us preachers that have enough sense to realize that the wise guys weren’t there and there probably weren’t three.

Having said that, I’m sick and tired of the way Jesus Christ gets pushed around this time of year in our country. Whether His portrayal is scriptural or not, I’m fed up with businesses cowering to the ACLU and any other similar group. Trying to take out the very one for whom the holiday is (supposedly) about is at best ludicrous and hypocritical and at worst, Marxist! To loosely quote an old adage, “I’m mad as the Lake of Fire and I’m not going to put up with it anymore!”

This time of year (and election time, also) makes me want to stand up and shout at every business owner and politician two simple facts. In fact, I’d like to design a bumper sticker that says this simple yet profound truth. “I am an American and a Christian. I spend money and I vote. Now you figure out what to do!” is my mantra for these trying times. I wish I could get this simple message to all the business owners and gutless politicians that stand in fear of the dreaded ACLU. Very simple plan. If your store or business doesn’t like “Christmas”, I will spend my money somewhere else. I don’t have to shop at your store or do anymore business with your company. If you’re the only one that has what I want, I guess I won’t want it anymore. I’m not advocating a boycott of all such businesses, but it would work. If businesses lost 10 - 15% of their profit, I’m sure there would be a change of heart about “Christmas”. By the way, for a list of stores that are for and against Christmas, see Tim Wildmon’s See who's Naughty, who's Nice - Retailers and Christmas 2009, at the American Family Association, Nov. 13, 2009. Then plan your shopping trip!

Now I know what some will say. If they’re all doing it, a boycott would never work. Such a statement hasn’t been thoroughly evaluated. If they’re all guilty, then pick one, usually the worst offender. Target that one and let the others watch what happens. When that business is substantially financially hurt, take aim at the next one. No one wants to go out of business, especially at this time of economic woe. Businesses will begin to make “good choices” about what Christians value. By the way, it doesn’t take a total boycott. From what I understand, all that needs to happen is about a 20% loss of profit. That’s enough to financially cripple a lot of businesses. Whatever the percentage, loss is not good for anyone.

The politicians also need to understand that we Christians vote. If we don’t like your decisions about our Christian values, you can be voted out, no matter what ACORN does to rig the election. Evangelicals have been awakened and are passionately ready to storm the voting booths in 2010 and 2012. So I’ll say it again to all businesses and politicians, “I am an American and a Christian. I vote and spend money. Now you figure out what to do!”

The expression “shooting themselves in the foot” is believed to have originated with soldiers who have shot themselves in the foot causing a non life threatening injury. This cowardly deed was done to get them out of active duty and be able to go home. We use the expression today to mean “acting in a way that harms our best interest.”

As an evangelist/missionary to America, I have the task of learning about the various Baptist churches in different locations across the country. Much of my time is spent viewing church websites. Websites are a great and cost effective way to advertise the church. Some websites are great while others are, well, not so good. I’ve nicknamed church websites as the “good, the bad, and the ugly!”

This article, however, is not about web design. I would like to address, however, a certain phrase that appears on many Fundamental Baptist websites. I believe this phrase has a tendency to be overused, and injurious to our cause. In other words, we’re shooting ourselves in the foot. The phrase is “old fashioned.” Now don’t get me wrong, I am “old fashioned” in doctrine and practice. I believe and advocate “the faith, which was delivered unto the saints.” My family, by their old fashioned dress standards, has been mistaken for Amish or Quakers on more than one occasion (not that we dress exactly like the Amish). My belief in “the old book” (AV 1611) goes back to when Bible believers were debating with Dr. Rice and others. My practice involves “old time” evangelism like preaching in the open air and on street corners across this great land. I am an old fashioned Baptist!

Here’s the problem as I see it. “Old fashioned” appeals to those of like minded belief. That’s O.K. if these are the only people you want your ministry to influence. I hope that’s not the case! We’re supposed to be “all things to all men” which includes young, middle aged, as well as the seniors. Yet the younger couples are absent from the church. Maybe it’s a matter of perception.

It’s unfortunate that in America today perception seems to take the place of content.

We all remember the Greek columns in Denver when Obama made his speech that lacked any real content. I believe it was Rush Limbaugh that coined the phrase, “symbolism over substance” to describe what it takes to reach the politically naive. Perception, symbolism, and politically correct words are the wrappings that seem to have more of an influence on this generation than truth!

But what if truth was “wrapped” in a way that appealed to the younger as well as the older folks? For example, what if, instead of using “old fashioned”, we used the word “traditional?” One thesaurus I have gives the following words for traditional, “long-established, customary, time-honored, established, classic, accustomed, standard, regular, normal, conventional, usual, orthodox, habitual, set, fixed, routine, ritual; old, age-old, ancestral. (italics mine). Don’t you think that “traditional” (or some of these other synonyms listed above) would be more appealing to younger couples than “old fashioned?” Yet you’re saying the same thing! Why not say that our beliefs are traditional? Our worship services are traditional? Why not say that our doctrines are “time-honored”, that we are “honoring our heritage”, etc.?

Here’s another word we can use. Conservative. Our practice as Christians is conservative. Our music is conservative. Our dress standards are conservative. That doesn’t mean that we all dress like Little House on the Prairie, but advocate a modest, conservative approach to fashion. Now look at the thesaurus again for synonyms of conservative, “traditionalist, traditional, conventional, orthodox, old-fashioned, dyed-in-the-wool, hidebound, unadventurous, set in one's ways; moderate, middle-of-the-road, buttoned-down; informal stick-in-the-mud. Doesn’t that sound like us? Yet the word conservative is much more palatable. So “traditional in doctrine, conservative in practice” would probably be perceived in much better light by those we’re (hopefully) trying to reach and influence than “old fashioned, old-time, etc. and yet be saying the same thing! One more word, and it’s a bad one. The word “contemporary”. Ouch!!! Is there any way to salvage this word? Let’s go back to the dictionary one more time and see what we find. “Contemporary society - modern, present-day, present, current, present-time.” Well, let’s see. By these synonyms, I am a contemporary American! I’m living in 2009 (A.D.), typing on a Mac computer, cell phone on my belt, and, yes, connected to the World Wide Web with a USB aircard which is bouncing a signal off a satellite somewhere in outer space. I own an iPod, bluetooth printer, bluetooth phone I can hang on my ear, and other various and sundry gadgets. I am contemporary! And so are you! So would it be so wrong of me to use the term “contemporary in lifestyle”? Could our churches be “traditional in doctrine, conservative in practice, and contemporary in lifestyle”? The majority of us believe that technology is good. I prefer a Keynote presentation (that’s Apple’s superior version of PowerPoint) over the old slide shows at missions conferences, don’t you? By the way, was that a lapel microphone you were wearing last Sunday? And didn’t I see wireless mics on your platform? Oops! We are contemporary in lifestyle aren’t we? So why are we pretending to be something we are not?

Why not consider repackaging your ministry so as to be perceived as something other than “old fashioned?”

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