The Church has never been interested in the romance of modern culture. She stands contra mundum, which means she stands contra counterfeits of the mundum. The non-Christian culture presents many counterfeits to the good, true, and beautiful. As Vern Poythress observes, the Book of Revelation offers several counterfeit ideas:
“We can detect distortions in the function of government (the Beast), economics, pleasure, and sexuality (the Prostitute), education, and media (the False Prophet).”
The modern culture with its zeal for counterfeits is eager to engage the Christian culture and find its least orthodox expression in order to treat it as the golden standard of modernity. Therefore, their religious “stalwarts” are figures like Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton, and whatever Bishop will speak favorably of the Critical Race Treaty, which is a treaty made among conglomerates of leviathans fit for the book of Revelation, but more appropriately centralized in the CNN screen.
The Church cannot take counterfeits however gracious their offers are. She cannot bow down to the golden calves of elitism for a spot at the table. Now, this is nothing new for our blessed history. The Church has always feasted in her own bread and wine and not on borrowed food stamps from D.C. She has always been first and foremost a different city whose faithfulness keeps her away from the Beastly figures of Revelation and closer to the Supreme Figure of Messiah Jesus. She does not live off the crumbs of the Leftist tables and she does not compromise her pulpit for political speeches that “comfort cruel men.”She sings to a different tune, she smells a different incense, and she savors different food. In fact, whenever she is praised by the present culture, she is most likely doing something wrong. She has been bribed by counterfeit gods and she is slowly assuming a posture of compromise. The Church is entirely counter-culture.
This entire affair simply proves that the church “limps into victory” (James B. Jordan). She moves and plods along without the aid or benediction of government agents, and therefore, her bruises are healed by Another, whose healing does not endanger her immune system, but enlivens her to continue her journey towards full renewal.
3 Replies to “The Church and the Culture’s Counterfeits”