When I see photos of myself back in high school or college days and then look in the mirror it is hard to believe all the changes that have taken place. I actually used to have dark brown hair and smooth skin and…. What happened?  How did my hair turn white and my skin wrinkle?  Well it was a gradual process. It was hard to notice any change in just a day or week or month or barely in a year.  But somehow I got to where I am now, a white-haired, aged man!  

      As I read about the beginnings of our nation with the desire of our early settlers for a place to worship and serve God freely without interference from government, leaders who had a biblical world view of the sanctity and value of life, whether in the womb or in the latter stages of life, scientists who had a core belief in a universe and all of life as created by Almighty God, not evolving through vast amounts of time by random chance, public schools that emphasized patriotism and a love of country and pride in our history and encouraged prayer and Bible reading, teachers who allowed students to share their opinions and beliefs without embarrassing or making fun of them, and who used pronouns when addressing students that reflected their biological beginning as male or female…I wonder, how did we get to where we are today with the LGBTQ and transgender agendas and the teaching of Critical Race Theory and the making fun of or even punishing of those who stand up for biblical values?  

     It took place, much like my hair turning from dark brown to white, little by little over time, without any dramatic difference from day to day.  In the 17th Century, thousands of Puritans migrated to New England, built homes, established government, and founded churches. They soon recognized the need to train the next generation of pastors, so “established universities to equip young men for ministry. For example, in September of 1636, classes were first held at New College in New Towne, Massachusetts. In 1639, the school was renamed Harvard College in honor of English minister, John Harvard. Their original motto? ‘Truth for Christ and the Church’ ” (Today In The Word, Aug. 16, 2021). The mission statement was clear: “Let every student be plainly instructed and earnestly pressed to consider well the end of his life and studies is to know God and Jesus Christ, which is eternal life, and therefore to lay Christ in the bottom, as the only foundation of all sound knowledge and learning.”  My, how things have changed. Today, it is difficult for a Christian student at Harvard to even express his biblical values without negative consequences.  The same is true of other early universities such as Dartmouth, Yale, and Princeton which just 100 years ago had a philosophy of education similar to strong Christian colleges today. But something happened to these great universities. Through a series of circumstances over time, they gradually left their moorings. Progressives like John Dewey stealthily and methodically have made great changes in our philosophy of education, using the classroom as a soapbox for their ‘gospel of new social order,’ and as writers of textbooks, they are to a large degree responsible for the mass departure from traditional ideals and biblical morals. They scoff at the concept of a vital, personal faith in God, they belittle the framers of our Constitution and decry our system of government as out-of-date and create racial tension with their “Critical Race Theory” that you are either a suppressor or suppressed because of your skin color.  

     As we look in Scripture at the history of Israel, we see a similar pattern. Over time, Israel formed alliances with other kings and assimilated the worldview of other nations–their thinking, their morality, their values, their worship. These foreigners had slowly sapped Israel’s strength, but the people–like a frog in heated water–was not even aware that it was happening. It was a process of “Creeping Compromise” that occurred one small choice at a time, moving them further and further away from God and His purposes for them. Each small compromise had led to a huge move away from the one true God.

     Our Christian colleges today are facing some very challenging times. Do they compromise to “fit” into what is happening in our culture or do they stand firm on their biblical moorings and face whatever the consequences may be.  Some of the things coming down in our nation will make life very difficult for those who maintain their Christian foundation.  What choices will they make?  Will they go the way of Harvard, Princeton, Yale, etc., or will they stand firm and hold to biblical truth?  I pray that they will!

     It is easy for “creeping compromise” to happen in our lives as well. We make little compromises of our biblical convictions and pretty soon we have strayed a great distance from our Christian “moorings.”  Someone said that “sin doesn’t leap upon you, it creeps upon you.”  That is pretty true. It is the daily, moment by moment decisions we make that soon result in a change in the direction of our lives.  It is one thing to be a “Bible-believing Christian.” It is another to be a “Bible-behaving Christian.”  We need to daily, moment-by-moment, heed the admonition given by the Apostle Paul to the Roman believers (who lived in a culture much like ours today): “I urge you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship.  And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect” (Ro. 12:1,2). 

Forever His,

Pastor Dave