Things We Can Learn From Our Enemies

Sometimes, in order to complete a reality check, you need to ask your enemies what they think of you.  One segment of Islam declared, some time back, that many of our pop star idols were “terrorists.”  The Anti-America Party of Islam in Pakistan said: “Your (rock stars) are the torch bearers of American society.  Their cultural and social values...are destroying humanity.  They are ruining the lives of thousands of Muslims and leading them to destruction, away from their religion, ethics and morality...Terrorists are not just those who set off bombs; they are also those who hurt others’ feelings.”  I find little to disagree with in that statement.  In fact, if the word “Muslims” was changed to “Christians” I would be willing to sign my name to that declaration.
I feel we get so used to the corruption that fills our movies, TV and air waves that we fail to realize how deeply embedded in the garbage can our popular culture really is.  As a kid on vacation, I remember visiting a town in northern Michigan that had a pulp mill.   The smell that hung over that town was  so foul that every visitor held his nose and complained about it.  The locals always replied “What Smell?”  I fear our situation is much like that.  We have not only tolerated the odor but too many of us are also consuming the garbage and find ourselves shocked when terrorist countries point to us as a worse threat to the world than they are.  Remember when the Russian Premier Nikita Kruschev visited our country in the 60’s and declared “We won’t need to invade your country.  It will rot from within like spoiled fruit!”  I think he is still right.
Unless a great spiritual revival occurs in this place, I am afraid the land of the free and the home of the brave will truly become the land of the violent and the home of the putrid.  I pray for such a revival.  I urge all of my Christian friends to spend time each day praying for this great land, that the winds of the Spirit of God will blow upon us, bringing in new commitments and sweeping away the vulgar and obnoxious.