A very dark place in need of some light - Greg Laurie - http://www.wnd.com/2015/07/a-very-dark-place-in-need-of-some-light/
Pastor Greg Laurie urges Christians to infiltrate culture, not isolate from it
Years ago I was in Alaska for a speaking engagement with my friend Richie Furay, a singer and musician. During our time there, we began playing pranks on each other at the hotel where we were staying. I collected a number of room service trays from the hallway and put them all in front of Richie's door. In turn, Richie put a large picture in front of my door so that I couldn't see out.
So I thought, I'm taking this to the next level. I called the front desk, gave them Richie's room number, and said, "I need a wake-up call for this room at 4 a.m. Then I need a back-up call at 5. Make sure this guy gets up." They didn't question it. Then I flew home.
Richie called me the next day and told me they called him at 4 a.m. to wake him up, and then he went back to sleep. But the next thing that happened surprised me. Someone went up to his room, unlocked the door, went over to his bed and started shaking him because they didn't want him to miss his wake-up call.
Is that what it will take to wake up America? Is it happening already? I believe we have two choices before us: revival or judgment. We know from the Scriptures that judgment will come to our country and to every country ultimately. But my prayer for America is that we will have at least one more spiritual awakening before that judgment comes.
As Peter Marshall, former chaplain of the U.S. Senate, once said, "The choice before us is plain: Christ or chaos, conviction or compromise, discipline or disintegration."
But what difference could one person possibly make? A very big difference, actually. Here is what Jesus said to his followers about how to live in this world: "You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven" (Matthew 5:14-16 NKJV).
The biblical worldview of this culture is that it is dark, and it is getting darker. By its very nature it cannot get anything but worse. That is because there is no inherent goodness to build on. People are not basically good, as some would say. People are basically bad. In fact, the Bible says, "The human heart is the most deceitful of all things, and desperately wicked. Who really knows how bad it is?" (Jeremiah 17:9 NLT). We have increased in scientific, medical, historical, educational, psychological and technological knowledge to an astounding degree. But we have not changed our basic nature.
I am reminded of a statement by Gen. Omar Bradley's in his Armistice Day speech: "We have grasped the mystery of the atom and rejected the Sermon on the Mount. The world has achieved brilliance without conscience. Ours is a world of nuclear giants and ethical infants."
Well said. Instead of getting better, we have only gotten worse. We have simply found ways to make things even worse than they already are. We go from war to greater war, from crime to greater crime, from immorality to greater immorality, from perversion to greater perversion. The spiral is not upward; it is downward. That is the course we are taking today.
The Bible does tell us that it is going to get worse before it gets better, ultimately before Christ comes back:
"In the last days there will be very difficult times. For people will love only themselves and their money. They will be boastful and proud, scoffing at God, disobedient to their parents, and ungrateful. They will consider nothing sacred. They will be unloving and unforgiving; they will slander others and have no self-control. They will be cruel and hate what is good. They will betray their friends, be reckless, be puffed up with pride, and love pleasure rather than God." (2 Timothy 3:1-4)
Anyone who knows the history of mankind, or even the history of the past 100 years, and thinks that man is evolving upward is being deceived.
Some Christians think the answer is to avoid the culture, to isolate themselves. But that is virtually impossible. We may remove ourselves and our children from our culture, but our culture will find us. And if we retreat into a Christian subculture, then we are missing the point. Jesus has not called his followers to isolate; he has called them to infiltrate. It is possible to impact our culture without being compromised by it. Jesus prayed, "My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. They are not of the world, even as I am not of it" (John 17:15-16 NIV).
It is possible to be sent into the culture without loving the culture. It is possible to invade the culture without having the culture mold you into its image. The apostle Paul said, "I wrote to you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people - not at all meaning the people of this world who are immoral, or the greedy and swindlers, or idolaters. In that case you would have to leave this world" (1 Corinthians 5:9-10).
The point Paul was making is for Christians not to try and avoid the world. Our commander in chief, Jesus Christ, has sent us into this world. And it is a very dark place in need of some light.
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