Branson: Culture War

Culture War was presented by Voddie Bauham. The main message was Neutrality is NOT and option.

He read through Acts 4. (The Acts of the apostles should be called the Acts of the Holy Spirit). Peter and John were poor pastors (gold and silver we do not have) who healed a man. The Priests and Sadducees were annoyed, they were in power, yet Peter and John were preaching to the people. The Sanhedrin sought to marginalize Peter and John because they had been "with Jesus, they were ordinary, unschooled men (meaning they hadn't been trained the way the Sanhedrin had, thus less qualified). This does not mean they were illiterate (see the other books of the Bible they wrote).

There are three philosophies that you must accept to avoid being marginalized in our culture:

1. Religious Relativism: meaning we all worship the same God, there are many paths to the same destination.
2. New Tolerance: This is not the old tolerance of Voltair (You have the right to believe what want, and me to believe differently. I will defend your right to the death). This is the new tolerance: every belief is equal, we don't even get to disagree. We cannot tell others that they could be wrong.
3. Philosophic Pluralism: There are no absolutes, what's true for you may not be true for me.

Saying "Jesus is Lord" was a crime punishable by death in Rome, it was denying that "Ceasar is Lord". Neutrality is not an option. Religious relativism violates the law of non-contradiction (something cannot be A and not A at the same time in the same way). Christianity has a God, Buddahism has no God. Mulsims kill those who don't worship their God.

The Sanhedrin told Peter and John not to preach in Jesus name anymore. How did they respond? A) "I'll be silent and witness with my lifestyle" B) "You just wait until we get more Godly men on the Sanhedri" C) "If only Tiger Woods would be saved" (God wouldn't become cool, Tiger would become uncool), D) "Wait until there are more of us", E) None of the above, their response was to pray for boldness. See v 29-30

"Now, Lord, consider their threats and enable your servants to speak your word
with great boldness. 30Stretch out your hand to heal and perform miraculous
signs and wonders through the name of your holy servant Jesus."

In this Culture war, all those on Jesus side will be persecuted. Neutrality is not an option. We need the warrior's mentality, the battle is the Lord's.