By Justin CooperI was nearing the checkout stand when it happened.
I had my Aquafina lemon flavored water in my hand ready for my purchase. It was evening and the small Aztec Market at San Diego State only held about a dozen people. The day was winding down. That’s when the song came over the sound system.
“I kissed a girl. I liked it.”
The singer’s name is Kate Perry. I googled her. It was one of those “Where do we go from here” moments. I had hardly even listened to the song but the catchy tune was already attaching itself to my head. It was the moment that I was reminded that my entire culture had changed. The world had turned topsy-turvy.
When did everything that was evil become the accepted norm?
It happened overtime. Slowly. And sadly we have gotten used to it around us. Movies and pop culture have by turns anesthetized us to a world that is beginning to look more and more like a modern Babylon.
So let me write a little bit about the norms of SDSU.
Last semester dozens off SDSU students were arrested for dealing in drugs by Operation Sudden Fall, a large-scale sting operation that made national headlines.
SDSU has been ranked the nations fifth greatest party school by Playboy magazine, reports the Union Tribune. The infamous party reputation has gotten so out of hand that SDSU officials have instituted “Aztec Nights,” a series of college events to keep students entertained and sober.
Last semester the mobile blood banks were almost kicked off campus because they would not allow homosexuals to give blood. The leader of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Student Union has pledged to try again this Fall.
The academic senate (of professors and faculty) is investigating a financial donor because that person supports Proposition eight, which would ban same-sex marriages in California. The message is clear: get behind homosexuality or you will be left behind.
The pressure is on in our personal lives as well. In my Bible as Literature class, the teacher, a very nice man, methodically deconstructs the Bible, gingerly sawing away at its validity-- all this in the name of respect for such a great work of “literature.” But the Bible is the Word of God and has the power to save those who listen to it and obey. But how can the nineteen people in my class ever believe the Word of God after learning that it is all misinformation and legends. So how do we react to a world turned upside down? There are a few points I would like to make.
Point one.
You can either know what you believe or you can have it taken away from you.
The Challenge group of RIOT has been aptly named because this generation of college-going young people will be challenged greatly.
Be secure in your faith, in your walk with God and in your knowledge of the Word. You are going to have plenty of opportunities to give all of that away, in fact you will be encouraged to. Instead I encourage you all to rediscover who you are in Christ and to let His hand guide your life, not the mores of society. I like the way that Paul wrote it in Romans 12:2.
“And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.”
Point Two.
Jesus said in Mathew 5:14. "You are the light of the world. A city located on a hill can't be hidden.” We are the light in the darkness. I believe as the world grows darker, the Church will grow even brighter because we are not of the world.
This comes with a big “IF.”
We cannot become like the world or do the things they do. Otherwise there would be no difference between the Church and the world. Would a sick person go to seek treatment from people just as ill as himself? No, he or she would go to a doctor with a proven track record of been healthy and with a proven cure. Young people, the world is attractive but there is no power in the world. They cannot save, heal or liberate. We, on the other hand, can if we stay true to the Word and promises of God.
Point Three.
Last Sunday, Bro. Wachtstetter preached about bearing a “Bony Burden.” His message was about carrying the rock solid heritage of the past into our often uncertain present.
As Christians, we have to rediscover and keep close the truth that has been passed down to us, purchased by Christ’s sacrifice on Calvary, taught by the Apostles, and carried by saints and martyrs, many of whom paid the ultimate price for what they believed.
So here we are, in the 21st century, in a post-religious society that wants us to join in its sin or at the least give our approval to it.
I suggest otherwise.
Take the flame of God’s presence, the instruction manual of His Word and the kindling of your heart and set yourself ablaze.
People will see the radiance and be drawn out of darkness “into his marvelous light.”
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