Ron Paul is much like the stereotype that we have been told would not appeal to the youth. He is a devout Protestant in his early seventies, happily married for half a century, a medical doctor who puts more care into being genuine and persuasive than coming off as being with it. But this honest messenger has gotten more young people visibly excited about the message of liberty than any other single approach or campaign in the history of the movement, certainly in so short a time.
This comes as a shock, and as somewhat of a refutation, to two groups of people: Those libertarians who thought that a veneer of youth, freshness, and modernity was absolutely necessary to appeal to today’s youth; and those curmudgeonly types who dismissed kids these days as a bunch of narcissistic and ill-informed brats with no interest in the direction of their country and future of their families.
What really struck me upon reading this quote was how much "those libertarians" thinking was like those of today's evangelicals. I finally left their fold years ago after realizing what a dead-end their compromising and pandering was. They insisted that in order to reach the youth, we must speak their language. In other words, we must wallow in the gutter of filth and fornication and be like them but with Christian terminology added. No clearer example can be found than that of "Christian Rock" music. That it is almost universally held among evangelicals that we can listen to music that glorifies and worships fornication at the very heart and somehow sanitize it with religious lyrics is incredible. I must also add that the legalist's view that only "old-time" gospel quartets are sanctified in the eyes of God is just as preposterous, but that is another story.
What I want to focus on right now is that Ron Paul has won over millions of young adults, and he has done it without a trace of pandering. He may not have won many of the corrupt baby-boomer generation or the so-called "greatest" generation, but they only seem to respond to who panders most and best. Their hearts for the most part love the lies and those who tell them. Many of this new generation are sick of the lies. They are sick of the compromising, and they are sick of the pandering. I have always maintained that we don't need to water down the gospel in order to be effective in winning souls to Christ. Christ Himself will win souls by the thousands and even millions if we will only preach Him without compromise. As Ron Paul has demonstrated by his success with his message of liberty over socialism - it is not that the gospel lacks power, but that it has never really been preached (in modern times) without adulteration with worldliness. For years my message has fallen on deaf ears.
I see new hope now though. I see hope in this new generation. Granted as many of them are indeed "narcissistic" and so much human wreckage. However, many are not, and even among those who are, there is a longing for the truth. Not phony religion as has been preached for years, but the honest to God truth: the genuine gospel that was preach first by Christ, then by Paul, lost for hundreds of years, again picked up by Tyndale and Bunyan, but lost again until now. I believe either now or soon to come will this message be brought to light again. It is already brought to light today. As many are reading this may read online Tyndale's great treatise on justification by faith. It is called "The Parable of the Wicked Mammon", and you can read it here online.
I am even more emboldened today than ever to preach this gospel. I caught a glimpse of part of Tyndale's book just today, and his message is still wonderfully radical even to me. I hope to share more of this gospel in the coming weeks and months, but I'll share a piece with you now. Jesus didn't die so that you could have a better life as so many preach today. No, Jesus died so that you could have peace with God. If you have peace with God, sure, you won't be a drunkard anymore, but then again, many can become sober even without it. No, getting sober is not the gospel, even though that will happen. The gospel is that we can have peace with God. Many of us have yearned in our hearts for it for many years, but never knew how. In order to start, we must do two things. First we must learn to fear Him - "the fear of God is the beginning of wisdom". Second, we must ask God to show us what we really are. As long as we believe there is any good thing dwelling within us, we are blind and do not see. Only when we see ourselves as the wretches we truly are, only then can we come to God just as we are with nothing to offer Him. Only then can we have peace with God.
I hope I have given you some food for thought. Do not lose hope at the hopeless looking situation today. Ron Paul has preached his message of liberty for 30 years, and only now has anyone noticed. It has been said that success is when preparation meets opportunity. Now is the time for preparation. Tomorrow, perhaps God will provide the opportunity. Let us prepare now for that time. Read your bibles daily. Prepare your minds to answer questions like "why should I follow Christ?" and "tell me why I should believe your religion over others?". If you cannot clearly explain how peace with God is not religion, and what man's religions really are, then go back to the books and study some more.
I have neglected my editing work on Tyndale's book for many months now. I am going to try to finish it before Christmas so I may have copies available for gifts. Heretofore, I have had no plans to get an ISBN number or offer it for sale through regular retail channels. However, with Ron Paul's example before me, perhaps America is ready to receive his message. After being out of print for 150 years, and long ago forgotten, it is again time to bring it (and the gospel he so effectively teaches) to light again.
God's blessings to you all.
P.S. If you want to see what all the excitement about Ron Paul is - go to his website: RonPaul2008.com, and even better read the kind of interviews with him you won't see in the press at lewrockwell.com/blog.
No comments:
Post a Comment