The Christian Journey

from Changing Times Summer 2022 Issue

From the Editor

What If We Have Been Wrong?

By Pastor Doug Gilford

Mental illness is high in America. The National Institute of Mental Health says that “in 2020, there were an estimated 52.9 million adults aged 18 or older in the United States. This number represented 21.0% of all U.S. adults that suffered from AMI (Any Mental Illness). Added to that number, another estimated 14.2 million adults aged 18 or older in the United States with SMI (Serious Mental Illness). This number represented 5.6% of all U.S. adults.” See nimh. nih.gov. These two statistics are a combined 67 million people that have acknowledged mental illness and are seeking treatment.

This statistic is heartbreaking. Nearly one-third of our fellow citizens feel they cannot fully function because of anxiety, depression, or other serious mental illness. These are only the people we know about while there remain countless people who have not yet sought out treatment.

Whether because of genes, disability or environmental issues at play, we should all be concerned about this.

Since the start of 2018, crime everywhere has been up; murder and rape are common, and violence is used to make political points. Over the last few months of 2022, we have been shocked to find out that some eighteen-year-olds were at home designing and then carrying out their hate-filled plans to murder innocent people. First, at a grocery store in Buffalo, New York, followed by an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, these murderers were effortlessly able to destroy lives.

What is going on? Are we shocked yet? When I was eighteen, the only thing I was thinking about was my new adult life. I am sure that you can agree.

What can we do? And what if we have been wrong…about the need for God, specifically Christ, in our lives? What if we have been wrong about how to treat the social and mental ills of our children and those around us? What if we have been wrong about Freud’s method or even Oprah’s worldview on life? Maybe it is time for us to say, “I am bringing Christ back to my worldview.”

As a pastor who loves people and loves life, it is tough to stand by and not say something to the vast audience that may read this. Let us all wake up to what is before us and do our part to calm the tide that we are in. This tide of godlessness, humanism, and self-focus has led us to the very edge of social eruption.

One may ask, are we not a religious nation…why worry? God is going to handle it.

I dare say that God has a part, and we have a part. Sometimes, God says to stop praying and start doing something.

In Exodus, we are told, “As Pharaoh drew near, the sons of Israel looked, and behold, the Egyptians were marching after them, and they became very frightened; so, the sons of Israel cried out to the Lord” (Ex. 14:12).

Next, we read, “Then the Lord said to Moses, “Why are you crying out to Me? Tell the sons of Israel to go forward” (Ex. 14:15). In other words, “Get up and do something.”

Why has our culture become increasingly religious yet more godless at the same time? Because we have not done our part. We have not lived our faith in Christ out in the public square. We have been relegated to living out our faith inside a building or home study and not at the office, the plant, or school. They told us in the nineties that we should stop praying in schools. So, we have virtually taught our children that our faith is a private matter, not one to be displayed for others to read, learn and grow. I still remember hearing people talk about how they saw folks praying while growing up and how it helped them. Today, who do they see outside of church?

Why have we become less able to cope with life mentally? Because religion, on the surface, is not what is needed, a change in the depth of our heart towards the Living Jesus is what can change our way of life today.

The Apostle Paul tells Timothy about a time like this over two millenniums ago: “But mark this, there will be terrible times in the last days. People will be lovers of themselves lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God. having a form of godliness but denying its power.”

(2 Timothy 3:2-5a)

Paul goes one step further to say, “But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of…and how from infancy you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus” (2 Timothy 3:14-16). Paul says Timothy, although things are wrong and look like they are getting worse, continue in the Bible and what you have learned from it.

What conclusion should we make about this? What action is needed? Maybe we have been wrong in our past and present approaches to what ails the human soul. Let us get back to the old song by Andre Crouch, “Jesus is the answer for the world today.” >