We are closing in on the day when we elect a leader for the next four years. The bitter rhetoric will hopefully come to an end. To say that it has been a tumultuous path to this day is an understatement. Once again we swing between the two extremes of thinking politics is everything and thinking politics is nothing. Somewhere in the middle lies the truth. Pontius Pilate and the Caesars thought they were in control. They were not. A rock cut with no man’s hand changed history.

Politics is the process by which we choose to be governed for a season. And yes, quite a bit can be at stake. But the heart of man, often bereft of wisdom, chooses for the now and ignores the long-term ramifications. That’s the peril. Isaiah 3:6 says that in the last days a man shall say to his brother, “You have a cloak, you be our leader; take charge of this heap of ruins!” Evidently in the last days, the Scriptures tell us, all it will take for a leader to be considered qualified to govern over a heap of ruins is to own a cloak. Seems quite ominously close to the present qualifications right now, to say nothing of the cloak and dagger type approaches in sway. It is hard to believe that in a nation with so much ability, so much potential and promise, we are reduced to this. It is a movie-like script, swinging between the Scylla of comedy and the Charybdis of tragedy.

But alas! Let us not lose heart. I always bank on the heartfelt prayers of God’s people. Ultimately, He will overrule and bring about what He deems we need the most for this hour. Whether it be in blessing or judgment, time will tell.

I fly a lot and spend time thinking on the blessings and the risks of air travel. I heard of a flight instructor training a young pilot on what to do in an emergency to conserve power and glide to a safe position. “At the last moment, turn the lights on and if you like what you see, land.”

“What if I don’t like what I see?” asked the student pilot.

“Then turn the lights out,” said the instructor.

That’s the feeling we get right now, I’m afraid. Everyone I talk to has their fears whichever side they’re on. They want to turn the lights out.

Continue reading Ravi Zacharias Ministry – Safe Landing: Keep the Lights On →

In 2010 the Freedom From Religion Foundation launched the largest freethinkers billboard campaign ever to take place in the heart of the U.S. ‘Bible Belt.’ Signs reading “Imagine No Religion” “Sleep in on Sundays” and “In Reason We Trust” were placed throughout the south in one of many attempts throughout the world to bring positive thoughts of atheism into public discourse. The London Bus Campaign a few years prior sent hundreds of buses throughout England, Scotland, Wales, and Barcelona with similar slogans: “There’s probably no God. Now stop worrying and enjoy your life.”(2) The £140,000 multi-media advertising campaign was designed to bring comfort in the probability that God does not exist, a positive contrast to religious advertisements meant to incite fear. The campaign used quotes from influential voices who have shown that embracing atheism, or at least expressing skepticism about the existence of God, is freeing. One quote read, “An atheist strives for involvement in life and not escape into death.” Another, written by nineteenth century American humanist Robert Ingersoll, said, “The time to be happy is now!”

Reactions to campaigns such as these are generally mixed.  With every sign, plans for additional advertising seem to pop up throughout the world. One slogan provoked strong reactions in Barcelona, where critics branded the words as “an attack on all religions.”(3) Christians in London were on all sides of the debate, with some offended—one bus driver refused to drive his bus—and others optimistic at the opportunity for discussion. Posters and billboards of this nature, wrote director Paul Woolley of the theology think tank Theos, “encourage people to consider the most important question we will ever face in our lives.”(4)

Christianity has in fact long been indicted as an emotional crutch for those unable to accept life’s difficult realities, those in need of an escape vehicle to take them to another world. To be fair, it is not an entirely undue critique. The Christian is indeed someone marked by an inability to accept the cruelties of this world as status quo. Like the prophets, Christians are well aware that this life marred by cancer, injustice, poverty, corruption, tears, and death is not the way it is supposed to be. The church lives alert with the distinct notion that humanity was created for something more. Of course, the temptation, then, and one of the more severe misapplications of the faith, is to checkout of this world, living content in Christian circles, and ever-looking upward to better life.  In such a scenario, one’s Christianity is indeed nothing more than wishful thinking, a philosophy wrenched from its founder and marched down an illogical road.

Continue reading Ravi Zacharias Ministry – Signs, Slogans, and Escape Vehicles →