The Opening Ceremony for the 2024 Olympics

The events of the last few weeks have prompted a lot of discussions pushing me to comment again on our role as Judeo-Christians in the political arena, and I want to frame this well. By now, I’m sure you’ve seen or at least heard about the abomination of the drag queen opening ceremony to the Olympics in Paris sparking international drama: it was originally thought to be a mockery of the Last Supper, but later said to be a depiction of The Feast of the Gods by Jan H. van Biljert. However, the unofficial title of the ceremony was La Cène Sur un Scène Sur La Seine (meaning The Last Supper on a Stage on The Seine); when asked if this referred to the Last Supper, Barbara Butch, the woman playing the central figure in the display reportedly said on Instagram, “Oh yes, yes! The Gay New Testament!” but then retracted her statements, replacing them with a statement implying her faith is LGBTQ+ ideology, but has criticism toward Christianity; the creator of the ceremony acknowledged that his intent was to have a pagan display honoring the gods of Olympus, but said he meant no disrespect to any other religion; the Olympic Committee ‘apologized’ for any resemblance to the Last Supper; and finally, Biljert’s painting may have been a mockery of the Last Supper by DaVinci in and of itself.

Just before all of this hullabaloo, in America we had the near assassination of former President Trump and the Republican National Convention, which promises a restoration of the Judeo-Christian worldview in the public square; the forcing of Joe Biden to relinquish his position as the Democrat nominee for President, but not the Presidency itself, and the crowning of Kamala Harris as the presumptive nominee in his place. We’ve had pro-Hamas demonstrators openly defacing national monuments in our capital, a dramatic increase in antisemitic activity across our nation, and a spike in persecution of Jews and Christians around the world. Generally speaking, Western culture in particular has rapidly become even more hostile to the Judeo-Christian worldview than it already was.

Vandalized Christopher Columbus monument in Washington D.C.

While this hostility seems to be exponentially increasing, it is most certainly not new, nor are the questions we’ve been forced to ask ourselves; but it’s important that we answer them accurately, because our answer will define what the future looks like. In doing so, I want to address a disconnect that Western Christianity seems to be having as I’m watching our responses on social media. Does the Bible address the attitude we should have toward those who hate us? As Judeo-Christians, what should our goals be? How should we confront this battle that we’re faced with? Do we even have an accurate assessment of our own society to begin with? Let’s explore some of these questions and frame our answer.

Is America is a Christian Nation that Must be Preserved at All Costs? Is Europe Christian?

Since Barack Obama declared in 2007 that ‘no matter what we once were, we are no longer a Christian nation’, it has become very popular to suggest that America was never a Judeo-Christian nation in the first place, but instead is a nation completely founded by Deists and Freemasons who were intrinsically religiously pluralistic. I am not saying that Deism and Freemasonry had no impact on our founding, but America was overwhelmingly founded with an understanding that America was and should continue to be a Christian nation; this idea that Christianity was not somehow the majority factor in our nation’s formation is laughable.

It was fully intended by our Founding Fathers for the Christian religion to continue to be the dominant worldview in our culture; the misnomer of ‘separation of church and state’ as is currently parroted ad nauseam is not found anywhere in our founding documents. Instead, it was a side note in a private letter from Thomas Jefferson to Danbury Baptist Church in 1802, with the intention that the government would not be allowed to create a state-mandated denomination of Christianity―not that Christianity should have no place in government or even in public life.

It is precisely the Judeo-Christian worldview that is the glue holding our civilization together; we cannot expect our nation to endure without it. There is a reason why John Adams made the statement, “Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other,” and why Alexis de Tocqueville observed that “America is great because she is good. If America ceases to be good, America will cease to be great.”

Before the founding of America, the idea of a self-governing nation was unknown. So as people who are self-governing, we have the unique responsibility to determine for ourselves whether we will act to preserve this Judeo-Christian foundation or not. Since the mid-1800’s, however, anti-Christian forces including Communism have stealthily sought to undermine the influence of Christianity in our culture, and they have been winning. The Church has failed in its mission to preserve its influence in both American and European culture, simply remaining dumbfounded as our families, friends, co-workers, and neighbors become less and less Christian.

We are rightly disgusted by a drag-queen show at the Olympics―only the latest symptom of a society whose morality is bleeding out uncontrollably. We are shocked that there are persons in our country and across ‘civilized’ Europe who want to be able to terminate the life of even a newly born child, let alone an unborn child. We are incredulous that there seem to be so many people who are in favor of blurring even the very definition of male and female, and the false Marxist divisions of ‘oppressed’ and ‘oppressor’ classes. Moral relativism has produced a system of unequal standards, where people feel justified saying and doing horrible things to people who disagree with their views, but demand that there be no reciprocation. There is undoubtedly a war against the Judeo-Christian worldview as the Western status quo.

Nick Freitas: Has the U.S. Constitution Failed?

This video on YouTube (pictured at right) was an excellent conversation asking whether the classically liberal philosophical foundation on which America’s Bill of Rights was crafted is sufficient to combat a Leftist movement bent on destroying the Judeo-Christian values, foundation, and freedoms that are hallmarks of American culture. My answer is simply that while the excellent framework built into the American Constitution may act as a cast holding our broken bones together, ultimately this isn’t sufficient for healing without the Judeo-Christian worldview as its foundation. We’re seeing the collapse of Western society because of our wholesale rejection of this worldview.

The Problem

We need to understand that one huge reason the Marxists are currently successful is because Christianity was largely forced on Europe―and America to a lesser degree, beginning with the Constantinian era all the way back in the 300’s A.D. From the day that Theodosius I declared that Christianity would be the Roman state religion in 381 to the dethroning of the European monarchies in the 18th century, Christianity was mandated across Europe through the chokehold of fear—in complete contradiction to the teachings of Scripture. (At least America was founded by people who were concerned with religious freedom!)

Since The Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen, published in France in 1789, the Judeo-Christian worldview has been steadily, increasingly rejected by a people whose culturally shallow religious convictions were forced by the edge of a sword rather than forged in the depths of the heart. It is a rejection that has, thankfully, taken a long time to arrive; but it was always inevitable. The fact that the Olympic Committee even made a half-hearted attempt at an apology for their overtly pagan skit is remarkable to me, and is a testament to the lasting influence we have had, despite its imperfections.

Meanwhile, the Church in the West has become so comfortable, blind, and out of touch with society that it hasn’t even caught up to the idea of its own irrelevance in the lives of those who hate it. We still think that somehow we live in a Christian society that should think, behave, and legislate like we would. Even after the 1960’s when the moral bottom fell out of America, the Church continued its program as if nothing happened, stunned that there would be those in America who dared to be irreverent toward God. Even now, nearly 60 years later, the Church has failed to counter the loss of three generations, only adapting its strategy to a disastrous ‘seeker-sensitive’ model in an attempt to lure people back to church attendance. But why would a society that doesn’t worship God, has no personal connection to Christianity, and is quite comfortable worshipping themselves care about coming to a church service? For music, coffee, and to listen to someone talk about things they don’t even relate to? Please.

After finally acknowledging this crushing defeat, bewildered as to how we got here, the Western Church is living in one of two paradigms: either cowering in the corner away from our neighbors, lashing out like a threatened animal as God’s values and our rights are systematically challenged and/or erased while gearing up for end-time prophecies to be fulfilled, or by actually dropping God’s standards in our own lives, adapting our values to those of the sinful culture around us―following this ‘seeker-sensitive’ model to its catastrophic end in a vain attempt to win the hearts of these unbelievers who no longer care. If you can’t beat ’em, join ’em, right? (HINT: wrong. If salt loses its saltiness, it is worthless except to be thrown out and trampled by men―Matthew 5:13-14!)

Greg Laurie on the Olympic opening ceremony

This short video by Greg Laurie encapsulates the first paradigm of what I’m describing. It’s not that I disagree with anything Greg is saying concerning the morality of the Gospel as the only viable framework for our society, nor am I attacking him personally for his approach; it’s just that our society—especially in Europe—already rejected God several generations ago. It’s not like we currently have a Judeo-Christian society that is simply slipping; unfortunately, Barack Obama is correct in that we aren’t a Christian society anymore, and our approach needs to begin with that deficit in mind.

The Spiritual Reality

At the Tower of Babel, the whole world rebelled against God, choosing instead to worship the demonic spirits and to ‘make a name for themselves’. (Genesis 10-11, Jubilees 7-10) So God separated mankind into the nations, confusing their language and setting them against each other until the end of time. Even though God’s chosen people Israel fell into idolatry and rebellion themselves, causing them to be temporarily kicked out of the Land, God promised that He would make a New Covenant with them, and all would be restored, so that all the nations would know that He alone is God. All throughout the Tanakh (the ‘Old Testament’), it was prophesied a time at the end of days when the Messiah would rule over the nations (Psalm 2:9, Revelation 2:27); Israel’s enemies would be defeated and they would return to a place of prominence, God Himself would rule from Zion, the Torah would stream from Zion, and the Gentiles will seek out the Jews for their relationship with God. Regardless of what Jesus said to Pilate in John 18:36-37, the rest of the Bible clearly depicts Jesus as physically ruling over all the nations in this present material world.

Now, here’s the thing: it’s Jesus Himself who returns to do this. Nowhere in the Scriptures do we see that it is Israel who will conquer the world by their own might or power; nowhere does Jesus command His Church to take over the nations in some geopolitical crusade (which is why I am against the so-called ‘Seven Mountain Mandate’―but that’s for another article). When Jesus’ disciples asked Him after His resurrection about all these prophesies in the Tanakh, saying, “Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?” He answered, “It is not your place to know the times or seasons which the Father has placed under His own control. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be My witnesses in Jerusalem, and through all Judah, and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” (Acts 1:6-8) He didn’t say the restoration wouldn’t happen; He said it would happen on the Father’s timeline, and implied that we shouldn’t worry about it. Before the LORD judges and destroys His enemies, He is extending grace to the entire world to show His mercy.

So, we have a different strategy: the Great Commission. We are completing the job given to Israel all the way back in Exodus 19:5-6: to represent the LORD as His kingdom of priests and His holy nation, to be a light to the Gentiles, and to invade the nations, rescuing people who are in bondage to the gods of this world by making disciples who change their citizenship from the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of God. Jesus promised that the gates of hell would not withstand us: the gods cannot stop the transfer from happening, even though they try desperately to stomp us out.

This means that the normal way of things is that we are facing a world system that is naturally predisposed to hate us and our message. But the LORD is sending us in anyway; the price of being part of His people is that we are constantly swimming upstream, and we should expect persecution. Occasionally, the LORD has moved and we have been successful enough of an influence in society where a whole nation decided to follow the LORD voluntarily. Countries like Armenia, Ethiopia, the Roman Empire (though this was enforced in an anti-Biblical way), England, the United States, etc. all made decisions at at least one point in history that they would follow the LORD. That’s great! Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD! We as believers should take whatever responsibility we are allowed within the freedoms we have to encourage and protect that decision whenever it occurs. But this state of affairs is not normal, and we shouldn’t expect it to be.

In fact, the Bible is clear that as the time approaches for Jesus to return, the nations will become more and more apostate while His Bride will become beautified, without spot or wrinkle. As the world system readies itself for Babel 2.0, God’s people rise to the occasion and shine like never before. Both aspects are expected. We shouldn’t be dismayed or troubled; we should rejoice that events are unfolding just as the Bible predicted they would―and we should be emboldened to rise to the challenge! The gods of this world stand ultimately defeated, but this doesn’t mean they’ll go down without a fight.

The Solution

We are so used to living in a Christian society that we have no idea how to impact an unbelieving one. Instead of saying, “How dare those unbelievers be unbelieving,” we need to learn from our counterparts in China, Iran, Afghanistan, India, and Africa about how to rub shoulders with unbelievers in an oppressive environment. Even in an environment where are still the majority, we need to act as though we’re in the minority. It is not for us to mandate belief in Jesus by force (as if that was even possible). Our job is to be a witness―a person who testifies to the saving grace we have received in Messiah. I appreciated this post on Facebook, which opined that in order to win the world for Christ, we must be willing to ‘sit in the smoking section’, meaning we must be willing to associate with those who don’t share our values. As my friend Mitchell responded, “the world is gonna world. Caesar is gonna be Caesar!” The important thing is for us to represent the LORD as His priests. When they look at us, they have to see Him.

We are on display. We can’t compromise on God’s commands to us. Even though we’ll always be imperfect this side of Revelation, and God’s grace is abundant toward us when we fail, we must say “Yes” to the LORD; we have to have His heart, and put Him first in everything we do. If we’re to be effective witnesses―competent priests in service of His kingdom, we need to demonstrate His values in our own lives so the world can see them in action.

We need to reclaim Scriptures teaching us to love the world the way God loves the world, like Matthew 25:37-40, Isaiah 58, and Luke 6:35. It’s hard to think of someone as your enemy when you choose to love them. So we have to intentionally choose to have compassion even when we’re being mocked and ridiculed. And I get it—that’s not easy. But once we make the choice, the LORD floods us with His grace to love when we are hated.

But it’s love that makes the difference. By the way, I’m not talking about accommodation (the word ten years ago was tolerance). Loving someone doesn’t include tolerating their hurting themselves or others. But we can be firm yet gentle—we can direct people to the One who is their solution. Where we should be zero-tolerant is in the house of God. How can we have any kind of moral authority when we’ve got rampant sexual abuse, financial scandals, greed, turning a blind eye to those who need us, egotism in leadership and having a model that tends toward selecting egotistical and abusive people, tolerating sin among the members of our congregations, and covering over these sins rather than upholding holiness in the presence of God.

Finally, we need to go where unbelievers are rather than demanding they come to us. We need to be bold and yet winsome and relatable—at the gym, at the office, at school, at the grocery store, wherever. And whenever we can, we need to make friends first—to love first. That way, we’re earning the right to speak into people’s lives instead of just blasting them with an unwelcome earful. And don’t ask them to come to church until they have come into covenant with God through Messiah.

Here’s the set of values I believe God shared with me that the Western Church needs to adopt if it wants to keep its lampstand of influence in Western society (I did a summary article and a video series). God is allowing us to participate in the kingdom harvest that He wants to have—it’s up to us to decide how hard we’re going to work, and that has a lot of bearing on its success.

At this point, I’m not sure Europe will ever be brought back to ‘Christendom’ before Jesus returns. I think it’s too far gone. I hope we can still save America. Even if we don’t, though, this doesn’t mean the battle is lost—Jesus will still return, the nations will still be ruled by Him, and we still win. It just means that less of humanity shares in that victory. Either way, we still have to change our perspective. This will be hard, but it’s the only way forward.