“It is come, I know not how, to be taken for granted, by many persons, that Christianity is not so much as a subject of inquiry; but that it is, not at length, discovered to be fictitious. And accordingly they treat it, as if, in the present age, this were an agreed point among all people of discernment; and nothing remained, but to set it up as a principal subject of mirth and ridicule, as it were by way of reprisals, for its having so long interrupted the pleasures of the world.”

The quote above seems entirely applicable to today’s United States of America, doesn’t it? There are many who seem to write off Christianity as fiction, especially those who desire to be seen as intellectual. While the quote above is certainly fitting for today, you might be surprised to learn that is was originally written by Bishop Joseph Butler, Anglican Church, Analogy of Religion in 1730.

I have taken some encouragement in this, for two reasons:

1. Our cultural indifference toward Jesus Christ, as a secular nation, is not unique in Western history, and
2. Shortly after Butler wrote these words, the Great Awakening of the latter half of the 18th and first part of the 19th centuries occurred, changing world history and spreading to America.

It’s easy, sometimes, to be somewhat of a fatalist as a Christian in post-modern America. But, our privilege, right, and responsibility as Christians is to pray for God’s will to be done on this earth. He can take what seems like the most bleak of circumstances, and by moving in them, cause the world to be changed according to His plan.

We need revival in our society. Let’s pray it down.