For Those in Babylon

She who is in Babylon, also chosen, sends you greetings, as does Mark, my son. - 1 Peter 5:13

I am an American. I am also a southern boy. I was converted and immersed in a Southern Baptist Church that sits on land which was donated by my great-grandfather. In 1978, I married my wife in that same church building. For much of my life I have been a member (though certainly not always active in my youth) of a Baptist Church and pastored (including one associate position) five of them. I also served as a missionary in New York and an overseas missionary in West Africa with a Baptist agency. I even chaired two Southern Baptist state convention boards and chaired the executive committee of a national Baptist entity. Some might say that I put the "southern" in Baptist and while I have been an honest critic of that denomination, I am very thankful for the work many have done, and continue to do, but the task is in no way finished. Every church in every town, village, neighborhood, or high-rise needs to wake-up, stand-up, and speak-up.

Life as an overseas missionary was sometimes difficult, but I also understand how difficult it can be to consistently bring the Gospel to the "Babylon" that is Western civilization. To all those who bear the Word in deed and truth in such environments, thank you! Now, please, open your eyes to the "world" that God is bringing to your door.

After the martyrdom of Stephen, the Lord scattered the church in order to impact the nations. Now, it seems, he is scattering the "nations" in order to wake up His church. Be truth. Be light. Be grace. For God's sake, be Jesus.

Popular culture is the new Babylon, into which so much art and intellect now flow. It is our imperial sex theater, supreme temple of the western eye. We live in the age of idols. The pagan past, never dead, flames again in our mystic hierarchies of stardom. - Camille Paglia