Pushing Back the Darkness

“The mighty heroes of the world...conquered nations for themselves and made them miserable, the apostles conquered them for Christ and made them happy.” --Matthew Henry


We are witnessing great social upheaval in America. Long-trusted private institutions are being nationalized at a breathtaking pace. It seems history is moving at warp speed.

But noted historian Dr. Marshall Foster says that without the Church, there is no history! He argues that history is linear, not cyclical. It is cosmic in purpose, and God-centered, not the chance accumulations of a series of unrelated events. Each generation advances or attempts in vain to inhibit the growth of the Kingdom of God.

Great battles are raging in our communities that cause many Christians to shrink back from either confronting our “cultural” opponents or ministering to their needs. In some ways, we have allowed resignation to creep into our sermons and our mindset, conveying that we should remain inside the walls of our church buildings and just “hold on til Jesus comes.”

But history bears witness to the fact that the work of the Church has always been hindered. Following the Roman era, missionaries to Northern Europe confronted some of the most barbaric practices imaginable—often resulting in their death—yet they overcame.

In A.D.432, [Saint] Patrick confronted Ireland, a nation lost in the worship of the gods of darkness. Defiantly, he lit huge bonfires on hilltops and invited the people to worship the God of light. Much of Ireland was converted by the time Patrick died in 461. Similarly, in the eighth century, Boniface, an English Benedictine missionary, found people in Germany worshipping their god, Thor, under a great oak tree near the city of Geismar. Some historians say he took an ax to the tree and used it to build the first tabernacle in Germany. More-to-the-point, fear of false gods among the people was broken.

Certainly, each generation has its Goliath or Thor. The great evangelist Charles Finney became president of Oberlin College in Ohio and from that platform became one of the first national voices to speak out consistently against slavery in America.

Like the Apostles before them, they turned their world right side up through faith in Jesus Christ and obedience to his commands to ...teach all nations...to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you... (Matt 28:19, 20)

What wonderful purpose illuminates us and moves us to action when we realize we have not been appointed to ride out the storm. We are commissioned to push back the darkness.