What Is Going On In America

Jon Meacham, managing editor for Newsweek magazine wrote a cover story entitled, “Who really killed Jesus?” editorializing what they described as Mel Gibson’s troubling movie, “The Passion of the Christ.” Troubling are the words of Meacham when he states, “Though countless believers take it as the immutable word of God, Scripture is not always a faithful record of historical events; the Bible is the product of human authors who were writing in particular times and places with particular points to make and visions to advance.”

On an almost daily basis the onslaught seems to have begun and one is left to wonder what is going on in America. It is not just about the Passion they have dug in to express hostile feelings toward Christianity, the very fabric of our faith has been beaten upon, hammered away at and condemned by not only the media but the liberals in our society. I am left to wonder if the secular media is really trying to continue with the message that America doesn’t need God anymore.

All the clamor over a movie which seems from all reports to portray the Gospel narratives of the crucifixion centers on a quote from the crowd in Matthew 27 where Pilate sentenced Jesus but told the people he was innocent of this Man, Jesus, blood, and in verse 25 the multitudes responded, “His blood be on us and on our children.”

The media has perpetuated the claim the film contains anti-Semitism because some have claimed the Jews killed Jesus. Said Gibson to the critics, "This film collectively blames humanity [for] the death of Jesus. Now there are no exemptions there. All right? I’m the first on the line for culpability. I did it. Christ died for all men for all times."

Obviously there is something more at work in this swirling debate than just a line in a film. In fact, it has become a growing problem which predates the film, and has nothing to do with being anti-Semitic, it really has to do with a nation becoming anti-Christian.

On September 11, 2001, America took a corporate pause and prayed. Since World War II there has been a continual erosion of Christianity in this nation. Tragedy draws people into prayer, into realizing there is a power Higher than ourselves, a power we know personally as Jesus Christ. Once again people gathered and sang “God bless America” from the steps of Congress, to the playing fields of America’s favorite pastime, baseball and churches became a gathering place for people to come for prayer and healing as something so far out of our control, the action of terrorists, brought planes crashing into the World Trade Center, the Pentagon, and a field in Pennsylvania. America fell to her knees and cried out to God in prayer and repentance. But it was only a pause, and then back to business as normal in regard to spirituality. Lost in this embrace was a true understanding of what god we prayed to.

In reality, America never really went back, it moved forward. Forward from a secular society to a pluralistic one. From a society that once embraced the One True God, and His Son Jesus Christ, to one that is not really sure what it embraces. Reflect back to the prayer gatherings that took place after 9 11 and it becomes even more evident of a shift. Who gathered to pray at national prayer gathers from the other Washington to Washington state? Was there not a Muslim, a Christian, and a Jew? That is what you do when you are attempting to be politically correct. What god do we worship in America? The god of Islam? The god of Hindu’s? The god of the New Age? The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and their Son through the linage, Jesus Christ the sole Savior of the world? What has been happening, embraced by the media, carried on the shoulder of the liberal agenda is a call to worship God, just not Jesus Christ. And we need to recognize this fact in our gathering of believers. How often have you heard in gathers prayer done in the name of Jesus Christ? Society has asked us to deny Christ for the greater religious cause of unity. It is not just about cutting a line out of a movie, it is about revising history, rewriting the Bible, ignoring truth to develop plurality. It is about widening the road instead of honoring the words of Christ who say the way is narrow. And if you don’t, you will be called narrow minded, bigoted, anti-Semitic. I will confess to being narrow as Christ said the way is, but to be called bigoted, and anti-Semitic is to be accused falsely for we have been commanded to love one another, to love our neighbors as ourselves. Love commands us to throw a life ring to a drowning person but the world would rather kill the message and the messenger than face the stark reality they are without hope without Christ.