God's Not Dead: Evidence for God in an Age of Uncertainty (26 page)

10. S
TRONG
S
ERVING THE
W
EAK

The overarching impact of the grace of God on civilization is that the weak are to be protected by the strong, not trampled or exploited. Some of the strongest judgments in Scripture come from oppressing the poor and the helpless. This is far from a view of man simply being another animal and wired by
DNA
to behave in such a primal manner. The Bible calls humanity to live another way, not to act like animals. Skeptics claim that a loving God couldn’t have been responsible for the violent struggle that is so evident in the animal world. Think about it—what is normal for animals is abominable for humans. “We inescapably believe it is wrong for stronger human individuals or groups to kill weaker ones. If violence is totally natural why would it be wrong for strong humans to trample weak ones?”
³³
This is another way of demonstrating who we are as human beings by contrast. We are not animals and are not to act like them. The
strong serving the weak
is the antithesis of evolution
and natural selection
, but it is the heart of the teaching of Jesus Christ.

By the grace of God our hearts as humans are marked by God’s inward law. There is a
sense of right and wrong
that is communicated to us through the faculty of conscience. Without this sense of conscience, humanity reverts to the darkness so evident in the ancient world. Grace brought about a deep sense of civility and compassion for one another. To serve the elderly and give them honor instead of seeing them as possessing little use because they are no longer physically strong. To lack this kind
of grace results in cruelty, which may be the defining trait of the culture that rejects God.

S
UMMARY

Jesus told His followers, “You are the salt of the earth . . . You are the light of the world” (Matthew 5:13–14). As salt is a preservative necessary for our existence, the grace of God coming through the lives of believers is indispensable as well. Grace also flows to society at large through the truths of Scripture. This is what is known as the Grace Effect.

As we look back in history, we can see how grace has made a substantial difference in institutions as well as the lives of people. It is a distorted view of the past that paints religious faith as destructive or a deterrent of progress. Science rose out of a
Christian
worldview and so did education, hospitals, charity, and the concept of individual liberty. One of the most significant areas of influence of this amazing grace is in the area of human rights.
Children
were given their proper value and not treated as objects to be abused or discarded. People of faith have offered the loudest voices of opposition against the horrible practice of
abortion
as well. Grace has been the only refuge for the unborn. Women’s rights have been advanced because of the principles of Scripture that defined women as joint-heirs with men of the grace of life. Jesus lifted women from the obscurity of a permanent underclass to their rightful place of dignity that is equal to men. Our world would be a dark place without the light of God’s truth overwhelming the emptiness of unbelief.

10
LIVING PROOF

My God’s not dead,
He’s surely alive.
He’s living on the inside,
Roaring like a lion . . .

—N
EWSBOYS
, “G
OD
’
S
N
OT
D
EAD”
¹

One poll in 2006—fifteen years after the fall of the Soviet regime—discovered that 84 percent of the Russian population believed in God while only 16 percent considered themselves atheists.

—J
OHN
M
ICKLETHWAIT AND
A
DRIAN
W
OOLDRIDGE
,
G
OD
I
S
B
ACK
²

IF YOU BELIEVED THE MAYAN CALENDAR, 2012 WAS SUPPOSED to be the year that life on earth came to an end. That prediction was obviously wrong and takes its place in infamy along with the other countless guesses as to when the world would end.

Many people have made wild predictions of this sort and
that Christianity would eventually disappear. From Vladimir Lenin, the cofounder of communism, to John Lennon of the Beatles, who shared his views with Maureen Cleave in 1967: “Christianity will go. It will vanish and shrink. . . . We’re more popular than Jesus now.”
³
What history has shown is quite the opposite. The Christian faith is surging globally. In fact, some of the most remarkable growth is coming in places such as
China
and
Russia
where Christianity was once outlawed and atheism was institutionalized. Secular journalists such as John Micklethwait, editor-in-chief of
Economist
magazine, and Adrian Wooldridge, also of the
Economist
, confirmed this in their book
God Is Back
:

Today an unsettling worry nags at Western liberals: what if secular
Europe
(and for that matter secular
Harvard
and secular Manhattan) is the odd one out? They are right to be worried. It now seems that it is the American model that is spreading around the world: religion and modernity are going hand in hand, not just in China but throughout much of Asia, Africa, Arabia and Latin America.
⁴

What’s so ironic about that quote is that there has been phenomenal growth of Christianity in every city that is described as a truly secular city. Tony Carnes, who has studied the trends in religion in
New York City
for the last thirty years, is the editor of the website
A Journey Through NYC Religions
. Tony said emphatically, “This is the time of the rise of faith—it is determining our headlines both good and bad.”
⁵

I sat with Tony for several hours and heard the amazing progress of the gospel in the city. “In 1979 there were only around
eight evangelical churches in Manhattan, and most of them were fairly weak. Today there are over two hundred churches, and most of them are vibrant.” The overall presence of various religious groups has prompted him to call New York, “The Post-Secular City.” A truly remarkable turn of events. This turnaround is taking place as individuals of all ages, educational levels, and cultural backgrounds encounter the truth and reality of the gospel and consider its claims objectively.

I must mention that as I write this I’m sitting in a hotel in the heart of Times Square. It’s the very hotel where I stayed on Sunday nights for most of 2002, as we were beginning our outreach to New York in the wake of 9/11. Over the last decade, I have had a front-row seat to watching people find faith in a city that common
knowledge
says God has abandoned. It reminds me that no one is ever too lost, and it is never too late for any person, city, or nation to turn to God. After all, because He is the Creator of the nations, they will indeed flourish when they recognize Him.

All nations whom You have made
     Shall come and worship before You, O L
ORD
,
     And shall glorify Your name. (Psalm 86:9)

A
FRICA

The growth of Christianity is particularly explosive overseas. Africa is a prime example. In 1900, Africa was 8 percent Christian. In 2000, it was at 45 percent and is still growing.
⁶
Frans Olivier, who works as a campus minister in Cape Town,
South Africa, sees this rise in faith among university students. “Hundreds of students are coming to Christ each month in South Africa. These are people who have heard the arguments both for and against God and are choosing to believe.”
⁷

Nation after nation in Africa is experiencing a spiritual awakening. From the small, such as Burundi and the Central African Republic, to the large, such as Nigeria and Ethiopia, there is a great advance of the gospel taking place. Sam Aiyedogbon from Nigeria writes a regular column for a major newspaper in Lagos and is senior pastor of a church there. He described the phenomenal expansion of the gospel this way: “In Nigeria, the message of Christ is making the difference in the lives of millions. In spite of widespread corruption in every area of society. The gospel is giving people hope that real transformation is possible.”
⁸
In one of the poorest nations of Africa, Sierra Leone, hundreds of new churches are being opened each year. Not only are churches being planted, but also hospitals and schools are being opened. Dramatic results are being seen as people embrace the grace of the gospel and refuse to become victimized by
AIDS
. There is no question that the abstinence movement is energized by the power of the
Holy Spirit
. I witnessed firsthand the growing faith among young people in Egypt. Though the nation has been shaken with political turmoil, Christianity continues to grow. Shaddy Soliman, one of the new generation of Christian leaders who took me to Egypt in 2008, explained, “You won’t hear about the spiritual awakening in the media, but there is a growing movement of Christianity in Egypt and the entire Arab world.”
⁹
Shaddy is a part of a media outreach to the Arab world called
Al Karma
. They are broadcasting throughout the Muslim world and are receiving massive traffic to their website
requesting information, Bibles, and help in learning more about the Christian faith.

For the longest time geographic isolation helped Muslim governments keep their people from exposure to Christianity. Most Muslims in the Arabic countries never had access to the Bible or Christian teaching due to very strict laws. That forced isolation is faltering, and the freedom the gospel brings is rushing in.

A
SIA

In 1984, my college roommate Steve Murrell and I, along with our new wives Deborah and Jody and my four-month-old daughter Elizabeth, journeyed to the
Philippines
to conduct a summer outreach. Accompanied by sixty American students, we conducted nightly meetings and daily discussions with the students in the
University Belt of Metro Manila
.

We contended with the anger and unrest of political upheaval against the oppressive regime of Ferdinand Marcos. The meetings we held would witness an abundance of tears, not from a
spiritual
experience, but from the tear gas that had been released in the streets to disperse the crowds. In the midst of the turmoil, hundreds of students turned to Christ. The openness was so compelling that Steve and Deborah decided to stay and minister in this needy city. In 2013, that small group has grown to more than sixty thousand attending
Victory Christian Fellowship
.
¹⁰
As Ferdie Cabiling, a pastor and senior evangelist in VCF, described: “Each year thousands of students are turning to God because of the overwhelming evidence that Christ is indeed the truth. From the richest to the poorest, our nation is being touched by God.”
¹¹

In the 1950s,
China
kicked out all Western missionaries, and the communist dictator Mao Zedong exchanged Bibles for his
Little Red Book
of communist teaching. Millions of people lost their lives as any potential opposition was eliminated. In spite of the brutal persecution, Christianity thrived. Once again dismissing the myth that faith in God is a crutch, millions of people suffered greatly rather than deny the living Christ. David Aikman, author of
Jesus in Bejing,
attests to this extraordinary explosion of faith in this unlikely place. “The growth of Christianity in China has been astounding. From numbering just a few million in the 1950s to estimates between 80 million and 120 million today.”
¹²

The same year we journeyed to the
Philippines
, we also began an outreach to the nation of
Korea
. It was a very special year in that nation’s history, marking the centennial of evangelical Christianity. In 1900, Korea had no
Protestant
church, and the country was deemed impossible to penetrate. Today Korea is 25 percent Christian
¹³
with seven thousand churches in Seoul alone.
¹⁴

In fact, more than one million people gathered in Yoido (the Manhattan Island of Seoul) in 1984 to celebrate the advance of the gospel in that once predominately Buddhist nation. I had the honor to speak for a few moments in front of that vast audience. It is still one of the highlights of my life. If you have ever been in a giant stadium to witness a sporting event, chances are the crowd didn’t exceed one hundred thousand. Imagine more than 1.2 million people in one place, fervently praying, singing, and listening to messages all day about the power and love of Jesus Christ.

Those who attend gatherings of skeptics, which draw a
few thousand, have no concept of the great number of believers around the world.
Singapore
contains multiple Christian congregations with tens of thousands of members. Its neighbor
Indonesia
, the largest Muslim nation in the world, has experienced tremendous growth as well. The number of Christians in that country has grown from 1.3 million, forty years ago, to more than 36 million today.
¹⁵
Massive churches with membership numbering in the tens of thousands are common.

The majority of the world has no idea of the magnitude of these numbers. With all the fears of potential acts of terror from the ranks of radical
Islam
, God has raised up a people who are praying for His hand of intervention as well as fearlessly proclaiming the gospel of Christ in the face of this very real threat. In fact, in virtually every part of the world where the perception is overwhelmingly negative, such as Iran, God is still working and building His church that He promised the “gates of hell shall not prevail against” (Matthew 16:18
KJV
).