Have Conservatives Lost the Culture War?
Brad Stine takes a serious look at the state of affairs regarding American culture
Have we lost the culture war?
Well, I don’t think you lose until you’re dead. So, you never give up. You never quit. But, certainly, Western Culture and what got it where it became so important – where it created such freedom, such benefits, and diversity unlike any other culture in history, all based on a Judeo-Christian ethic that is “the West” – that idea and honor of that tradition is gone. For sure.
I guess that ball has been rolling down the hill for quite a while; and it seems like it’s really picking up steam now and it looks like it may be getting toward the end. Because now we have a complete political party in the United States that is saying, “If two seconds before a baby is born, you can kill it. Or, actually if it is born… kill it if you don’t want it.” They wouldn’t have said that three years ago.
To say that there are certain perspectives on how people see themselves. And, to say that you have to acknowledge them even though you don’t think that it is scientifically true (or even if you simply don’t buy into it). And, to be told that you’re forbidden to disagree with them… that’s post truth.
And, that’s what I’ve been fighting for throughout my whole career. If I have any reason why I am not the biggest, baddest Christian comedian of all time, it’s because I was called to do something more than just make people laugh. And, I didn’t know that going in. I just wanted to be a comedian. I had my little moment in the sun when I was the top guy. God gave me some amazing opportunities in media. There was a New Yorker article that was pretty fantastic and there were several mainstream television moments that were pretty spectacular.
So, I had my place where I was the biggest gun in town, but very shortly after that, God made very clear: “You’re going to do something else for Me. I own your funny. It’s mine. And, I didn’t ask you where to go. I asked you, ‘Will you go?’, and you said, ‘yes’.
And, when God calls you to something and you say “yes”, it’s like being made in the mafia – God uses you until He kills you. There’s no way out.
And, I ran from my calling. I really didn’t know or understand the depth of what God was doing in my life. I wasn’t to be “just a comic”. I was in ministry. I didn’t understand that He had called me years ago – 25 years earlier – when I had just started working churches.
I remember performing at churches, and I would get laughs,and I was used to working in night clubs where I would get laughs and standing ovations or whatever. So, I had pretty much reached what I had been searching for as a comic. So, I’d go into a church and I’d get laughs. But, then I would talk about things regarding my faith, my country and the culture. And, I’d see them stop laughing and just lock in like I was giving them revelation or something deeper. And, I just remember thinking, “This is who I am. That’s the only way I know how to describe it. I’m supposed to do THIS.”
So, I told my wife, “I don’t know what this means, but I think I’m supposed to be in ministry.”
And she was like, “No. That’s not what we signed up for. I was a comedian’s wife.”
That was the beginning. And God had a lot of work to do on me along my journey of refining me to be the kind of man He needed me to be to be prepared for this season in America, and what I was to do.
But, when God calls you to do something and you try to flee, He drops the hammer. And, if you wake up on the beach in whale vomit enough times, you finally go, “Ya know, maybe I’ll head to Nineveh.” I was called by God to be a prophet to the United States and to be a missionary to America.
Is that the most ridiculous thing you have ever heard?
I’m a comedian. But, God said:
“You are what I tell you that you are. Your gift is not comedy. Your gift is communication. I have given you the gift of communicating. The comedy is the flavor that it comes in. But your gift is prophetic (saying hard things to the Church and to the culture), and it’s culturally and Judeo-Christian social commentary centric. You’re talking about how God sees the world. And, you’re going to describe that through comedy or through other means of communication. Whether that means acting, documentaries, book writing, or even this new TV show, Brad Stine Has Issues, this odd, backdoor approach to preaching the Gospel to the culture is your ministry.”
So, I’ve never been afraid to say what needed to be said. And it costs me. But, I also know that there is an uprising of Christians in this country – a small group, maybe – that are ready to say, “OK, it’s time to fight. No more games. No more posing.”
Because there are too many “church-goers” in America; and there are not enough Christians.
Christianity comes with a price. And most American Christians don’t want to pay it.
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