In my reading this morning I happen to come across an article called "Breeding for God". It makes a case for the inevitable demise of secular (non-religious) societies but incorrectly uses among other reasons, the rise of Muslim and other so-called religious populations and their devote religiosity for part of the reason of such demise.
To be certain, there is no mention in the Bible of the tenets of the Muslim religion as being a part of the spreading of God’s teaching. This is simply one of many errors in this article. However, the article is absolutely correct in forecasting the demise of the secular societies of Western Europe (as well as those elsewhere in the world), due among many things to simple population redistribution. For one thing, secular societies directly or indirectly promote behavior that suppresses population growth. Abortions do not increase populations - it suppresses them. Gay lifestyles do not produce children - it tangibly reduces the opportunity for human creation. Liberal lifestyles do not promote people producing families - in it's most extreme form, it scoffs at that quaint notion. All told, secularization is a culturally suicidal lifestyle that slowly erodes and exterminates cultures. This extermination however can continue unabated over decades, because it does not happen overnight. It isn’t tangible enough to get people's attention as a news headline.
The article however suggests that as a result of the inevitable decline of secularization, its opposite effect will be a rise in Godly culturalization. The headline reads “God Returns to Europe”. How typically erroneous on the part of today’s social “thinkers”. God never left Europe. Europe left God. As such God is not the one that needs to return to Europe. It is in fact the other way around. This is so typical of a man-centered outlook on life. However man is NOT the center of life; God is! Look at how God referred to another group of people who left Him in much the same way: For forty years I was angry with that generation; I said, "They are a people whose hearts go astray, and they have not known my ways." So I declared on oath in my anger, "They shall never enter my rest." (Psalm 95:10-11 NIV)
The article however suggests that as a result of the inevitable decline of secularization, its opposite effect will be a rise in Godly culturalization. The headline reads “God Returns to Europe”. How typically erroneous on the part of today’s social “thinkers”. God never left Europe. Europe left God. As such God is not the one that needs to return to Europe. It is in fact the other way around. This is so typical of a man-centered outlook on life. However man is NOT the center of life; God is! Look at how God referred to another group of people who left Him in much the same way: For forty years I was angry with that generation; I said, "They are a people whose hearts go astray, and they have not known my ways." So I declared on oath in my anger, "They shall never enter my rest." (Psalm 95:10-11 NIV) In our fallen world, it is man’s ultimate responsibility to return to God…and a failure to do so equals certain death. Spiritual death (which is secular man’s current state), physical death (which is every man’s future state) and eternal death (which is secular man’s guaranteed permanent state). God’s position has never changed. He never moved. We did! Europe did!
You can be certain, that the increase in more “devout” cultures such as Muslims or the rise of more “traditional” religious lifestyles as emblematic by an increase in church-going does not equal a more Godly citizenry. Predictably, as I read through all of the articles, the answer as required by the God of the Bible was glaringly absent. There was virtually no mention of man's need for Jesus Christ! Listen to the words of Jesus about how to produce true Godly behavior: Remain in me, and I will remain in you. For a branch cannot produce fruit if it is severed from the vine, and you cannot be fruitful unless you remain in me. “Yes, I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who remain in me, and I in them, will produce much fruit. For apart from me you can do nothing. Anyone who does not remain in me is thrown away like a useless branch and withers. Such branches are gathered into a pile to be burned. (John 15:4-6 NLT).
How can the people of Europe or anywhere else for that matter live truly Godly lives without Jesus? You cannot "remain in Him" if you are never "in Him" to begin with.
So you have arguments suggesting a “return of God”, yet none talks about the only way of such a return. These kinds of discussions only lend itself to continually deluding people into a lost future. They may go from a lifestyle of being totally removed from God, to one that promotes a false sense of connection to him. We have many in our societies today who are secure in this lukewarm state. They firmly profess a belief in God, but rarely pray to him publicly, are unwilling take a stand against patently godless behavior or are uncomfortable uttering the Name of Jesus in regular conversation. When you read Jesus’ words in the Gospels, you realize that he does not waste words. He says what He means and means what He says. To those who may find themselves in this lukewarm state, listen to Jesus' words and take heed: “Beware of false prophets who come disguised as harmless sheep but are really vicious wolves. You can identify them by their fruit, that is, by the way they act…Yes, just as you can identify a tree by its fruit, so you can identify people by their actions. “Not everyone who calls out to me, ‘Lord! Lord!’ will enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Only those who actually do the will of my Father in heaven will enter. (Matthew 7:15-16; 20-21 truncated NLT)