Staying or leaving is not the main issue. The realities we are talking about are pervasive. They are not limited to one denomination nor are they confined to one issue. We are living as a God-fearing, Bible-believing, Christ-confessing remnant in the midst of a land where self is exalted, truth is relative and pluralism embraced

In the story of Rip Van Winkle, a well-loved, joyful, albeit lazy and unproductive villager literally sleeps through the American Revolution. He unwittingly follows the lead of a spirit and drinks in the tonic of those who are quite literally dead in their sins. He sleeps through the war. He sleeps through the growth of his children. He sleeps through the death of his wife and his friends.

Twenty years later, when he finally awakes, Rip Van Winkle is understandably disoriented. His proclamation of loyalty to the King gets him into trouble since America now bows not to King George III but to George Washington. Rip walks around in a fog, unable to reorient himself to the new reality.

Many in the Presbyterian Church (USA) remain asleep to the realities of a post-modern world, let alone the theologies of a post-Christian denomination. Drinking the tonic of apathy and placing blind trust in people whose motives have not proven to be pure, hundreds of thousands of Presbyterians went to sleep in Christendom and are now waking up in Babylon.

Consider everything that these slumbering saints have missed. Consider for a moment the scope of what has happened while they were sleeping:

• Supernaturalism yielded to naturalism producing a skepticism that replaced faith. The church adapted by abandoning the exclusive veracity of the Gospel, diluting the message and delivering it through means designed to make the church “more culturally relevant.”

• Divine revelation was exchanged for human speculation. The church adapted by abandoning the authority of Scripture and its historic interpretation. God was “re-imagined;” Christ was reduced to an idea; and the church was robbed of her primary calling of evangelism and discipleship.

• Kingdom callings gave way to progressive socialist kindom agendas. The church adapted by setting aside her Biblical view of history and her genuinely prophetic message for politically correct social engineering and a “progressive view” of history. Along the way she yielded her place of sacrificial service to governments guided not by God but by utilitarianism.

If you’re nodding your head in agreement, you are not among those who fell asleep in Christendom and are waking up in Babylon. If your brow is furrowed and you know not of the realities of which I speak, let me be the first to welcome you to the openly hostile exilic reality of Western Christianity. As you rub the sleep from your eyes and emerge from the fog, you will find yourself horribly disoriented. You will be tempted to deny the veracity of the evidence. Some will choose the half-life of sleep walking and tragically, others will choose to actively suppress the truth in an effort of self-protection through isolation.

Living in exile
Staying or leaving is not the main issue. The realities we are talking about are pervasive. They are not limited to one denomination nor are they confined to one issue. We are living as a God-fearing, Bible-believing, Christ-confessing remnant in the midst of a land where self is exalted, truth is relative and pluralism embraced. How then shall we live? The life in exile is marked by the need to be mutually assured of God’s presence, preparing to live faithfully in the midst of persecution and finding ways to transmit the faith to others.

Some of our number will acquiesce and embrace the dead-end dynamics of a denomination that is held culturally captive. They will learn to adapt to life as exiles in a land where mutual forbearance is lauded as the greatest hope, and unity – even at the expense of truth – is the highest value. Others, as has already been pointed out, will choose to avoid the truth. They will function as isolated communities, indifferent to the larger issues, seeking to preserve for themselves a sense of living in Goshen as the rest of the world spirals toward death. They will have some positive impact on the people and the area immediately outside their doors, but they will cease to care about the larger body of which they are a part, as if every part of the body is not ultimately corrupted by the systemic disease now coursing throughout.

The third option is to work to alter things. Standing firm, speaking truth and praying for revival. Even if an individual or a congregation “leaves” the PCUSA, they will not be leaving the cultural exilic context wherein Christians need to be equipped to confront a secular worldview. The agenda being pursued that will destroy the PCUSA is also at work to undermine the foundations of the culture at large. Many folks are still sound asleep to that reality.

Who do you know that is still asleep? Might you share this article with them as a gentle wake-up call? If you don’t tell the truth, who will? Be assured, you will not be alone. The Lord is faithful and there is a remnant that has not bowed the knee to Baal. We at the Presbyterian Lay Committee will be with you in exile and we will work to equip you for both the exilic and the promised post-exilic realities.

Carmen Fowler LaBerge is president of the Presbyterian Lay Committee and executive editor of its publications. This article appeared on The Layman website and is used with permission.

[Editor’s note: the original URL (link) referenced in this article is no longer valid, so the link has been removed.]