It’s understandable that many normal Americans are getting discouraged by the craziness we see taking place across the country. We have avowed communists running for office, advocating for the complete destruction of America as we know it. They want to eliminate the Senate, the Electoral College, our police, our prisons, our borders, and more. This country wouldn’t be recognizable.

How did we get here? As a committed Christian, I think the church needs to take some responsibility. Ever since 9/11, a good portion of the church in America has abandoned the cultural battlefield, refusing to take a stand on moral issues such as abortion, homosexuality, pornography, and the like. Consequently, millions of our children and grandchildren were exposed to propaganda in education, Hollywood, and the media, which completely undermined the values and faith of their parents. Think of all the changes that have taken place over the past 25 years.

Homosexual marriage is now the law of the land — a slippery slope that birthed the radical “trans” movement. Ergo, men can “get pregnant,” participate in women’s sports, and shower with our daughters and granddaughters, but they can’t define what a woman is.

They say it’s always darkest before the dawn. Gen Z is looking for something more — something that touches their hearts and offers them hope. The answer can only be found in a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. Many leftists criticized Charlie Kirk, but his message tugged at the hearts of those who came to hear him.

Right here in my hometown of Chattanooga, Tennessee, my wife and I have the blessing of connecting with a number of young campus ministry leaders. We have become more or less “spiritual grandparents.” We offer counsel, prayer — anything to encourage them in their mission to see college students come to know Christ. We were seeing incredible things happening on our college campuses even before the assassination of Kirk.

My concern after Kirk’s murder was that the interest in his message and what he stood for would fade after a few months. That’s what happened after 9/11: Churches across the nation were filled up, even in places like New York City, because Americans were afraid of what might happen next. But nothing happened, so their spiritual interest faded, and the culture war flared back up with much of the church AWOL.

However, Gen Z’s spiritual hunger has not faded; it has increased! We’re created by God with a hole inside that can only be filled by Christ Himself. Nothing else can fill it: not drugs, not sex, not material things, not success, not education. Nothing else works.

As my wife and I travel, we are seeing a renewed hunger in Gen Z for the things of God. More young people are praying and sharing their faith with others, and they need our encouragement. They need older “saints” to become their cheerleaders.

There is a tremendous spiritual battle taking place in our nation. The Apostle Paul warned us about this in II Corinthians 10:3–4: “For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh, for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses.”

In Ephesians 6:10–18, Paul gives us instructions on how to fight this enemy: by putting on the “whole armor of God.”

This battle is taking place in so many areas of our lives: politics, media, entertainment, and education. If we fail to engage the culture, we will be telling our future grandchildren, as President Ronald Reagan warned, what it was like when America was free.

Something to pray about!
Semper Fidelis