On the March 28, 2009 Battle Lines broadcast we addressed the New Age Movement. The New Age Movement is not an organized religion but rather a set of philosophies. And it’s anything but new. New Age is the thought of ancient Eastern religions, for instance Hinduism and Buddhism, repackaged for Western culture. It is “a pop form of ancient humanism” (McDowell). And the movement is very popular. According to New Age author Marilyn Ferguson, “…if all [subscribers to the movement] were brought together in a church-like organization, it would be the third-largest denomination in America.” But perhaps more disturbing is the pervasive influence of New Age philosophies and practices in almost every facet our culture. New Age gurus like Deepak Chopra and Rhonda Byrne (the author of The Secret) regularly appear on Oprah. A full 1/3 of Americans believe in the abilities of psychics. Every major newspaper publishes the horoscope. Acupuncture has roots in the ancient Chinese philosophies of Taoism and monism. The self-help movement, leadership and business seminars, and even our education system espouse the New Age philosophy of human potential. The YMCA teaches yoga. And New Age philosophy litters television and the movies, perhaps most clearly in George Lucas’ Star Wars trilogies. In Yoda’s own words, “My ally is the Force. Its energy surrounds us and binds us. You must feel the force around you – between you me, the rock, the tree… everywhere.” New Age philosophies are pervasive in our culture. On the broadcast, we discussed five common philosophies of the New Age Movement.

Christians should have the best sex. I hesitate even writing those words because I know the reaction I might get. Our culture’s idea of sexuality is so twisted that Christians often react to the opposite extreme. An unhealthy sexuality so permeates our culture that our reaction to any discussion of sex is to put our hands over our ears. But God created us and He created us as sexual beings. And though sin has corrupted our sexuality, through Christ we can be redeemed, fully redeemed. Jesus transforms even our sexuality. Through the life-changing work of Christ, human sexuality can be restored to the way God intended it.

On the March 21, 2009 Battle Lines broadcast we talked about the coming evangelical collapse. Our discussion revolved around an article by the same title written by Michael Spenser posted on the Christian Science Monitor website. You can read the article yourself on www.csmonitor.com. Spencer’s projection is that, within 10 years, we will see “a major collapse of evangelical Christianity.” Evangelicalism is a broad category of Christians connected by two things: the basics of Protestant doctrine and an emphasis on evangelism . Evangelicals come from a wide range of denominations, including Baptists, Pentecostals, Lutherans and Presbyterians. Most of the large, well-known churches in the Detroit area are evangelical: Woodside, Northridge, Kensington. Bloomfield Hills Baptist is evangelical. Spencer believes that our way of doing church will soon come to an end. And on some points, we agree. According to Spencer, “within two generations, evangelicalism will be a house deserted of half of its occupants.” Marginal Christians will leave the evangelical church. Small, dying churches will close their doors. Denominations will shrink and vanish. And “fewer and fewer evangelical churches will survive.” Spencer identifies several reasons for this coming collapse.

Christians are living, breathing contradictions. Sadly, I’ve found in my ministry that many, many Christians say they believe one thing, but then they do the exact opposite. This is true in the area of our sexuality. We think we’re different from our culture, but we’re really not. This statistic won’t surprise you: Of church-attending young adults, over 60% say sex outside of marriage is wrong (After the Baby Boomers, Wuthnow). Christians are, in general, disapproving of sex outside of marriage. But this statistic will perhaps surprise you (or maybe it won’t): Almost 70% of unmarried evangelical Christian young adults have had sex with at least one person in the last year (Wuthnow). If you know ten young single adults at church, all but three of them are sexually active! And here’s the really sad statistic…

On the March 7, 2009 Battle Lines broadcast we discussed the importance of apologetics. Most basically, apologetics is defending the faith, giving reasons for your faith. If you believe that the Bible is true and you share with someone why you believe that, you’re practicing apologetics. If you believe that Jesus is the only true God and someone asks you to explain your reasons, your response is an apologetic. An apologetic, a defense of the faith, might include historical or archeological evidence, philosophical arguments, or personal experience. There are two aspects of apologetics, both of which you will hear practiced on Battle Lines.

Gay marriage is now legal in Massachusetts. Before the ballot proposal to ban gay marriage in California, Ellen got married to Portia. In almost all romantic comedies, the guy and the girl on a date end the night in bed. Viagra, Levitra, Enzyte. Products sell sex and products sell using sex. Priests fall because of sex. On Facebook, Myspace, YouTube, and all over the internet, are racy photos, videos and ads. Our culture is sex-saturated. And it’s not a healthy sexuality. In a recent survey of young and middle adults, 50% say that sex outside of marriage is not wrong at all or is only sometimes wrong. I worked in a factory during college. Guys would plaster the inside of their toolbox with pornography. I really just needed an Allen wrench, not an eye-full. During my senior year in college, Kettering University began to make all the dorms co-ed. I went to visit someone in the dorms – it was like walking through a mass orgy. Our culture is sex-obsessed. But how does our culture view the church’s stance on sex?

On the March 7, 2009 Battle Lines broadcast we discussed Mormonism. Also known as the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (LDS), the Mormon Church is a very wealthy and rapidly growing organization. Presidential candidate Mitt Romney, musician and actor Donny Osmond, and 49er’s quarterback Steve Young are all faithful Mormons. You may know the Church from their television commercials featuring positive, family-friendly messages. The LDS Church was founded by Joseph Smith in 1820’s. Smith claimed that an angel, Moroni, appeared to him and told him that all religions were an abomination and that he would have to reform Christianity. The angel told Smith about buried golden plates inscribed with Egyptian hieroglyphics. Smith found the plates, translated them, and in 1930 published them as the Book of Mormon. Smith gathered followers around himself, settled them in Ohio and then Illinois. After Smith was shot by a mob, Brigham Young became the next leader and settled the group in Salt Lake City. Mormonism is a cult – a group that calls itself Christian but denies the essentials of orthodoxy. According to cult expert Kenneth Boa, “Mormonism is one of the most effective counterfeits of biblical Christianity ever devised.” Mormonism presents itself as the renewed and restored Christian church, but denies every major doctrine of historic Christianity.

Last week my wife and I were enjoying a few days of vacation in Florida. Her grandparents have a place in a golf community near the Gulf. We sat out by the pool, we read books on the beach, and, of course, I played golf. It ended about two days too soon. I didn’t do a lick of work… Was I wasting my time? Though I know some workaholics (my wife thinks I’m one), most of us make a little time for leisure. We watch television, we listen to music, we surf the internet, or we read a book. Though the pace of life is a bit frantic, and though we always feel like there’s work to do, we still find time for leisure. In fact, never before in the history of the world has a culture had so much leisure time. What do you think Jesus would say about our use of our time? Would He say that our leisure is a waste of time? Or would He tell us to slow down?

On the February 28, 2009 Battle Lines broadcast we addressed Jehovah’s Witnesses. Jehovah’s Witnesses meet in Kingdom Halls around the world and conduct aggressive evangelistic campaigns. But Jehovah’s Witnesses are a cult. They claim to be Christian but deviate from the essential doctrines of Christianity. Charles Russell founded the Watchtower Tract Society in late 1800’s in response to his disagreement with and deviance from Adventism. He was succeeded by Joseph Rutherford who first called the group Jehovah’s Witnesses (JW’s) and who embellished the doctrine of Russell. JW's deny every major doctrine of historic, orthodox Christianity.

Submission. It sounds like a bad word. Especially in the context of the relationship between husbands and wives, it is, to our culture, a bad word. According to Webster’s Dictionary, to submit is to yield to authority. The one with the right to tell you what to do tells you what to do and you do it. Submission is a good thing. First, we submit to God’s authority. God has ultimate authority over everything and everyone, the power to rule over everything and everyone, and the right to tell everyone what to do. So we must submit ourselves to God’s authority (James 4:7,10). Submitting to God’s authority is not submitting to the domination of some mean and wicked person. When we submit to God, we are submitting to His protection and provision – God takes care of us. Submitting to God’s authority is good for you. Most of us don’t have a problem with this in principle. The problem is with the way in which God’s authority intersects our lives… through people.