The story can be found in 1 Samuel 24. Instead of building up the people of Israel, and being concerned about the nation’s enemies who were already camped at the border, King Saul wasted his time and energies chasing a young man named David. God had used David in a mighty way, but with no intentions of harming King Saul. However, because of his jealousy and lack of spiritual leadership, King Saul refused to give up the hunt. Finally, David confronted King Saul and asked him, “After whom has the king of Israel come out? Whom do you pursue? A dead dog? A flea?
Beloved, when I read what our evangelical leaders are doing today, especially in the Southern Baptist Convention, I cannot help but conclude they are chasing fleas off a dead dog. The enemies of God are no longer camped at the border of our culture, nor are they still hiding in the trojan horse of the church-growth movement. The Apostasy the Apostle Paul said would occur before the arrival of the Antichrist is here, and sadly, our denominational leaders seem to think the answer is to abandon the gospel and address the deeply-embedded cultural issues for which there is no human solution, and to appease those who are hell-bent on destroying the church by blending it in with society.
By not proclaiming the gospel, and using that divinely-appointed time to address the issues of the day, such as “Critical Race Theory,” “Intersectionality,” and whether or not “Southern Baptist” is a racist name, pastors are exchanging the eternal for the temporal. While verbally supporting these cultural issues may draw praise from those for whom these particular issues are of great concern, the God-called pastor must remember to whom he will give account for his assignment, and His question will be, “Did you preach the Word?”
In his book, “The Church at the End of the 20th Century,” Francis Schaeffer said the Church should be a loving church in a dying culture. In other words, the priority of the Church is not to “save the culture” from its inevitable demise, but rather to preach and practice the gospel of Jesus Christ to “save some” from their eternal damnation. In Schaeffer’s day, the more progressive preachers rejected his warning and launched the “moral majority,” which turned out to be neither. Were they successful in stopping pornography, sexual promiscuity, abortion, drug abuse, or any other societal sins? Did all the railing against the evils of rock music change the hearts and minds of the youth? Did the campaign to elect Christian conservatives to congress change the culture of politics? Not hardly! After climbing the Scala Sancta in Rome and confessing his sins at every step, Martin Luther said he was more aware of his sins than he was His Savior, and sadly, I submit that was the result of the evangelical attempt to Christianize a secular culture.
Beloved, we do not have time to fight against the ever-increasing manifestations of man’s sinful nature. Yes, we are to stand firm in our faith against every attack of the evil one, but as the Apostle Paul said, our fight is not against flesh and blood but against the rulers of darkness and the god of this evil world. However, Jesus said the essential evidence that the Church is that oasis of love in a dying culture is not our battle against sins, but rather our love for one another, and the current agenda in the Southern Baptist Convention is not only divisive, but it is also destructive, and counter-productive to the mission God has given to us.
I realize, that by writing this article, I may be doing the same thing – “chasing fleas off of a dead dog,” for we are living in a post-denominational culture. However, having just completed my 46th year in the gospel ministry, and realizing my influence on such affairs is diminishing, I had to speak now, or forever hold my peace. Like the Apostle Paul, I want to seize each day, and use all of it for His glory, and His glory alone. To do that, as Paul said, we must know what the will of the Lord is, and it is to that end that I submit this commentary.