Last week I had an interesting discussion with a guy named Roy who has been a missionary in France for the past 13 years. Ten per cent of the French population are Muslim Arabs who have immigrated or are descendents of immigrants from Northern Africa (France was a colonial power there) and that people group has been his main focus but the need for evangelism is great throughout the entire population.
Roy informed me that France is the most atheistic country in Western Europe with estimates that only one percent of the population have a personal relationship with Jesus. Although legally France has freedom of religion the vast majority of people believe it is ignorant to espouse belief in a higher power and people that do so are often ridiculed. The schools on the one hand teach the history of all the abuses of the organized church and on the other promote reasons not to believe in God.
In 1965 the percent of French claiming affiliation with the Roman Catholic Church was 87%. In 2005 the percent was down to 65%. with only 5% of those attending mass on a regular basis. Catholicism in France is now either only a cultural identification or if practiced is often intertwined with strong Marian belief and practices.
Roy said he knows many Catholics and ex Catholics who are believers. He said it can be difficult for the ex Catholics to evangelize their countrymen because they now recognize the spiritual deception found in certain aspects of Catholic faith and practice such as in Marianism and cannot get past the idea that the only solution is to completely break with the Catholic Church like they did. This of course puts the cart before the horse: First one needs to encounter Jesus personally and then they need to have the Holy Spirit be the One to lead when and where He wills. This is spiritual warfare 101. As an ex Catholic myself I can easily understand the emotions. I know other ex Catholics who at first were very bitter feeling that they had been spiritually deceived in the Catholic Church and bitterness is not a pathway too offer grace to others.
Roy told me that French history has much to do with the current state of Christianity in the country. Church and state were strongly intertwined throughout much of France's past. The Catholic Church were huge landowners, clergy were responsible for education and most civil records were kept by the Church. After the Reformation the Huguenots (French Calvinists) became a small but influential part of French politics and this eventually led to a pogrom in 1572 where tens of thousands of Huguenots were slaughtered. Guilt and slaughters obviously run both ways but in the 1700's a movement called The Enlightenment hit France. This eventually lead to the French Revolution which hated both monarchy and church. The revolution eliminated the monarchy, confiscated all property owned by the church, made the education system secular and controlled by the state and transferred all record keeping to the state. Reason was the new god, the Enlightenment authors the new apostles and woe to any who did not believe.
The Catholic Church initially survived in France but as a whole became much more focused on any of the practices and beliefs rejected by the Reformers. The Catholic Church's response to the rapid changes in science, industry, education and all the rest of the dawning new age was to embrace all that was "mystical" in Catholic practice and doctrine, especially regarding Mary. A religion emphasizing works, devotion and obedience which did not have as it's core the need to have a personal relationship with Christ, both recognizing Him as Savior and desiring Him as Lord, could not compete with a society and education system that was not just secular but anti faith as well.
Today the French value education above all else. They believe that education is the key to everything. Roy told me that the roads were getting bad and the French solution was to put more money into education so that people could learn to be better drivers. After years of that not working someone came up with the idea that maybe we should fix the roads. They did and the auto death rate dropped dramatically. Who knew?
Roy also told me that the French are the most pessimistic people in all of Europe. Yes they love and enjoy life but when it's over that's all there is. They grieve terrible when someone they know dies because they will never see them again and that's the end of that person's existence. If someone's wife were to die let's say in an auto accident and the person responsible were to get a slap on the wrist and only serve a few years in prison the family will be very bitter toward that person because he robbed them of the only time they could ever have with her. They feel cheated.
From time to time I have prayed for revival to come to France. It is the country of my name sake, Robert de la Berge who emigrated to New France (Canada) from the Normandy region in France in the 1600's. He and all the generations of LaBarges were Catholic until me. After my conversation with Roy I am struck by another concern as well. It seems that our country is where France was not that long ago. The government is moving more and more into controlling the education system and the influence of the state into all areas of life is continuing to expand every year. Gradually all references to God are being removed and people who defend traditional values are being ridiculed.
This is not an accident. Our society in America is being deliberately moved toward what atheistic and liberal Christian leaders see as the French ideal. Our countries spiritual DNA saw rights and freedoms as coming from God and treated man and government as imperfect. Many leaders prayed for guidance and gave public thanks to God for His blessings. Today we are being taught to believe that rights and freedoms come from the state and man is on the path to being more noble, albeit through education. And in the course of this all, step by step, we are surrendering our precious freedoms. This happens when anything like government or religion substitutes for the move of the Holy Spirit and has been wisely called the tyranny of Utopianism.
Utopia needs a strong leader over a strong state so that conditions will be "fair" for all. Although history has show us time and time again that it doesn't work the idea of Utopia motivates the man without faith who must also believe that man is basically good and will do what is right for society if he is only shown the perfection of reason.
But man cannot build a perfect world because he is imperfect and was designed by God to be dependent on Him and to be led by His Holy Spirit. Man cannot build a perfect world because the god of this world is in rebellion against the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. Man cannot build a perfect world because the greatest minds of this age are in the end not wiser that a simpleton who has trust in God.
I pray for revival to come to France and to come to America as well. I see in this not the tyranny of religion which demands obedience to a creed or belief but rather for the power of redeemed and changed lives to infuse society with faith, hope and love - and a rebirth of true reason.
No comments:
Post a Comment