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It's time for churches to duke it out with the devil

The Rev. Dr.

John Hatcher

Religion Columnist

I'll never forget what a native Ugandan pastor said during

a Prayer Summit in Kampala: "There's nothing wrong

with Uganda. There's everything wrong with the church

in Uganda." It stunned me, yet as I permitted the truth of

his words to sink deep, it transferred immediately to

similar circumstances in the United States. Mind you,

seemingly Uganda has its problems. Inadequate, if not

non-existent, infrastructure; scant international monies flowing into

the economy; their first compassionate government for

many years (remember Idi Amin); 65 percent of college

students HIV positive. But the native pastor said, "There's

nothing wrong with Uganda." Perhaps a native German pastor

could have said in Berlin in 1940, "There's nothing wrong

with Germany." Perhaps history will record a native U.S.

pastor saying in 1999, "There's nothing wrong with the

United States of America."

Although I appreciate their convictions and motivations,

I believe the various Christian coalitions have their focus

all wrong. Rather than pointing to Washington and

demanding that a carnal, if not unregenerate, government get it right,

I believe they should be pointing at the casual, carnal church

to get it right. Maybe more SAC (spiritual action

committees) monies need to be spent on waking up the church. Maybe

it's easier to focus on Washington as the eternal spring

of America's problems rather than America's churches.

Now, don't get me wrong. I love the church. I work for the

church. And, yes, I'm on the take. But, the big problems that

are surfacing in Washington and polling centers indict the

church for lack of influence and presence in the making of

the American mind.

What needs to happen? What does the church need to

do? How can the church make an about-face? It won't be easy.

It could mean that the 21st-century church just may have

to reclaim some guts, repent of accommodating culture, and

put on boxing gloves for several rounds with the world, the

devil, and popular opinion. Either America will look more and

more like Sodom or the church will look less and less like a

religious supermarket (refer to last week's column; available

on The Citizen's web site: www.thecitizennews.com).

If your pastor is preaching about sin and he's against

it, why not say an encouraging word. He could be a

endangered species.

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