The Church in Babylon

First sentence: The church in Babylon! Those four words plunge us into the heart of our present cultural context here in the West.

True or false: The church's values should be different from the world's values.
True or false: When traditional church values clash with contemporary cultural values, the church should change to keep in step with the times.
True or false: The Bible's message changes for each and every generation. Each generation is to keep what is relevant and speaks to them and throw out the rest.
True or false: The Bible has been misunderstood by every single generation except this one.
True or false: There is only one absolute truth, and that one fundamental, not-to-be-questioned truth is this: THERE ARE NO ABSOLUTE TRUTHS.
True or false: The greatest sin one can commit is to offend someone.

Erwin Lutzer is not the first or the last to write a strong message to the modern-day church. The Church in Babylon IS a strong message, no doubt about it. Subtlety was not what Lutzer was aiming at! It is a plea to the church--to the collective church, to individuals, to families--to be discerning: to love what is good, to hate what is evil. It urges believers to know the truth, speak the truth, teach the truth, stand up for the truth. The Word of God is to have authority over us, we are not to be ruled by ever-changing codes, values, morals of society, of culture. We are not to call good 'evil' and evil 'good'.

Chapters include: "Welcome to Babylon," "A Light to the City, a Heart for God," "Conflicts of Conscience," "When the State Becomes God," "The Church, Technology, and Purity," "Transgenderism, Sexuality, and the Church," "Islam, Immigration, and the Church," "Five False Gospels Within the Evangelical Church," "Taking the Cross Into the World," "Jesus at the Church Door," "The Church That Will Survive in Babylon."

The premise of the book in Lutzer's own words:
In brief, the purpose of this book is to answer three questions: First, what does faithfulness look like in a nation that has lost its way, a nation that appears to be under the judgment of God? Second, what are those issues that we, as a church, must confront in order to represent the God we worship? Or to put it differently, what instructions might Christ give us as we prepare ourselves for the darkness that is closing around us and the deeper darkness that’s on its way? Finally, Jesus told five of the seven churches of Revelation to repent. Might that not be His message to us? What might He be asking us to repent of ? Where might we have lost our way?
Is The Church in Babylon offensive? Yes. It is potentially offensive. It embraces the idea--the notion--that the very nature of the gospel IS offensive. The gospel always has been and always will be offensive.

The message is that we are all--one and all, nobody excluded--sinners. We are sinners by nature; we are sinners through and through. There is not one person untainted by sin--sin from the inside. We are dead, blind, lost, enslaved. And the natural man loves it that way. Sin is what pleases the natural man. We freely and gleefully cling to sin--even as it kills us.

The message is that we are incapable, unable, unwilling to change. We need a Savior. We don't even know we need a Savior. Our greatest need is to be reconciled to God.

The message is that we can't save ourselves, that we can't contribute anything to our salvation. We are not saved by good works. We have no merit to contribute to our salvation. WE bring nothing but sin. We come as we are: broken, crushed, hopelessly helpless.

The message is that God is God and we are not. Jesus is LORD and SAVIOR. We are to surrender our wills to HIS WILL. We are to OBEY. We are to SUBMIT. We are to live as if we are not our own, but HIS. We are called to live and love sacrificially. We are called to live holy lives. We are called to be humble, to stay humble.

The message is that we are called to live in the Spirit, by the Spirit, with the Spirit. And the Spirit cannot tolerate sin. We are to hate sin as the Spirit hate sins.

The message is that we should cling to the truth--know it, love it, embrace it, proclaim it--and not worry about the world's approval.

Lutzer writes about modern-day culture, the contemporary church, and the glorious truths of the Word.

This is an excellent book and much needed for the church today. We haven't done a very good job of dealing with the culture around us and this book will give you much challenge and think on.
I received this book free from the publisher for the purpose of an honest review.

The Church In Babylon is a wonderful book full of incredible information - it gives you such staggering statistics and also it tells you things that just breaks your heart to learn - like it tells you that most Millennials - 30% who where raised in the church turn out to be agnostic or atheistic because of being raised in the church and seeing for themselves how Christians are - gossips - living one way at church and going home and acting another - and so on - I cried with the tears of a broken heart - I could feel the hurt of CHRIST - what HE must think of us when HE sees us acting this way and seeing how our children see us acting this way and leave the church and beliefs because of it. The way the world is today what it needs more than ever is the LORD - and this book talks all about it - something we all need to read about - if you are open to hear what he - the author - has to say.

This well-written, readable book is eye-opening, convictIng, and encouraging. The author’s purpose in writing this book is to bring believers in our nation to an awareness of all the social and moral changes taking place around us, and then giving Biblical instruction on how to maintain a clear testimony for Christ during these troubled times. Dr. Lutzer compares our situation today with the Jews who lived in captivity in Babylon, and the similarities are striking. The author writes about all of these things in a very forthright and sure manner. By the end of the book, the call to action in a Christlike manner is very clear. I’m thankful for the impact this book has already had on my life.

I received a copy of this book from the publisher. All opinions are my own.

Erwin Lutzer's new book is challenging and helpful to those attempting to live for Christ in an increasingly anti-Christian world. Lutzer introduces his subject by drawing an extended parallel between Christians today and Jews in the Babylonian Exile. Like the ancient Jewish exiles, we live in a godless society while attempting to live holy lives and hold to the promises of God. The first section of the book was excellent, dealing with our responsibilities to God as a remnant, a minority striving to be faithful. I felt that as the book went on, it became progressively less well structured, at times almost a collection of essays on adjoining subjects. However, all of Lutzer's material is thought-provoking and well worth reading. We all need to grapple with what in means to be faithful Christians in today world.

I received a digital copy of this book for free from the publisher and was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I express in this review are entirely my own.

thought provoking and interesting book that is a great read if you either are struggling with trying to figure out what religion means, where it should stand in our world and where it shouldn't have anything to say in.
very nicely done!

In this book Erwin Lutzer compares post-modernity to Babylon, challenging Christians to be Daniels in a world that pushes them to compromise.



Mr. Lutzer challenges his readers to live set apart lives for God, unbending to the culture. He uses the Israelites living in Babylon as an example, how God called them to separate themselves from what the rest of the culture was doing, chasing after idols.



Mr. Lutzer explores how we got to this point in America, and how we can prepare for the future. He looks at our culture, the media, our phones and electronic devices, as well as the government and how we as Christians should respond to the political turmoil.



I really liked how he explained his position on how we as Christians should respond to controversial issues, and there was a lot of good food for thought. Mr. Lutzer has really thought through many things, and rallies Christians to respond to their calling to be lights in the darkness, set apart, and uncompromising on God's word.



Disclosure of Material Connection: I received one or more of the products or services mentioned above for free in the hope that I would mention it on my blog. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's 16 CFR, Part 255: "Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and testimonials in Advertising."