America, judicially and politically, has become decidedly anti- Christian, and the Bible shows that persuading the faithful to collaborate in their own spiritual destruction is one of our opponents’ oldest tricks. The Book of Daniel, for example, the Book of Daniel deals with the subject at length.
It tells how Nebuchadnezzar, King of Babylon, following his conquest of Jerusalem in the 6th Century BC, was confronted with a problem remarkably similar to that facing today’s anti- Christian secularists..
He ruled a sophisticated empire and the Jewish people were obstacles both to civil order and economic and social progress. They clung to a primitive and intolerant religion that asserted that there was only one God and that they were his Chosen People.
This God, moreover, held them to a ludicrously rigid moral code that made it difficult for them to live harmoniously with the far more enlightened subjects of the Babylonian empire.
Nebuchadnezzar decided win the hearts and minds of Judah’s brightest young people with an intensive three-year course in Babylonian liberal arts and sciences at the University of Babylon.
Everything was free: housing, education and clothes, as well the singular honor of food and wine from Nebuchadnezzar’s own kitchen. Those who graduated with honors would be given the glittering prize of a senior post in the imperial civil service. And Daniel and his companions took full advantage of these educational opportunities. They became star students.
Daniel was well aware that the purpose of the exercise was eradicate his Jewish faith by overwhelming it with Babylonian culture and he accepted it without demur. However Daniel 1:8 records: “Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with the portion of the king’s meat, nor with the wine which he drank.” Instead, he asked to be fed only vegetables.
What Daniel was doing was drawing a line beyond which he would not cross; establishing a point beyond which he would not compromise with the Babylonians. It was intended serve as a constant reminder of his faith. Equally important, Daniel and his companions maintained their spiritual purity through constant prayer and worship.
Daniel’s example provides today’s Christian with a blue-print for survival in an anti-Christian nation. It’s vital to draw a line beyond which you will not cross. It’s hard to avoid some elements of compromise with the secular world — at school, in business, in personal relations, in politics.
But it’s important to establish the point beyond which you will not go. If you don’t draw that line, you’ll find yourself on the slippery slope to apostasy. You can worship God made man or man made god, but you can’t have it both ways. That’s the way it was for Daniel. And that’s the way it is today. GPHX✠
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