The Church in Babylon: Heeding the Call to Be a Light in the Darkness

Praise for The Church in Babylon

Few pastors combine prophetic boldness, biblical fidelity, and cultural insight as well as Erwin Lutzer. As with his other books, not only did I read and enjoy it, I filed it at arm’s length for frequent use as a teaching resource.

J. D. GREEAR

The Summit Church

This book sheds a hopeful light on the cultural battles we must encounter today. Pastor Lutzer has been able to combine fidelity to the Scriptures along with compassion as he speaks about issues such as sexuality, the pressure the church faces in a pagan culture, and the danger of losing the gospel. He ends by showing that the ancient church of Laodicea has a message for us and that we must invite Jesus back into our churches. This book is clear, convicting, and points the way by which the witness of our churches can be revitalized.

TONY EVANS

Senior Pastor, Oak Cliff Bible Fellowship

President, The Urban Alternative

The church was founded by Jesus in the contrary culture of the first century. In The Church in Babylon, Erwin Lutzer provides a clarion call for the church to make a midcourse correction in the contrary culture of the twenty-first century. This book astutely exposes the dangerous winds blowing against the Christian faith, and effectively resets the sails toward a godly and biblically informed conviction for the individual Christian and the church alike to survive and thrive in an ungodly world.

MARK L. BAILEY

President and Sr. Professor of Bible Exposition

Dallas Theological Seminary

Before I even had time to put up my bookish, evangelical defenses, I could feel the conviction of the Holy Spirit in the pages of The Church in Babylon. I truly wish that every Christian I know could read this book. Why? Because it gives us an unclouded view of where we find ourselves in today’s culture. Moreover, it shows a clear path as we navigate issues that are manifestly new to the Christian church. Erwin Lutzer brilliantly isolates the key concerns that confront us and gives us the right balance for maintaining a tightrope walker’s stability in a lopsided society.

SKIP HEITZIG

Senior Pastor of Calvary Church, Albuquerque, NM

Author of The Bible from 30,000 Feet

Every book Erwin Lutzer writes, I read. He’s never disappointed me. This timely book is no exception. He has his finger on the pulse of the culture and the church, providing sage insight in a balanced, biblical manner. Every page of this book will engage your mind and stir your heart. It will enlighten you, warn you, and equip you to discern and withstand the siren song of Babylon that surrounds us. I’m glad I read this book. Read it, and you will be too.

MARK HITCHCOCK

Senior Pastor of Faith Bible Church, Edmond, OK

Associate Professor of Bible Exposition, Dallas Theological Seminary

Erwin Lutzer has been my pastor for over thirty-five years, and my walk with Christ has been challenged and changed by his ministry time and again. But his words in this book have powerfully confronted me even more and to a deeper degree than the hundreds of sermons I have heard him preach. This is not a comfortable book to read, because it simply doesn’t let you off the hook and allow you to shift the blame for the condition of the church today to anyone or anything else than yourself. And, for that reason, every Christian—and especially all of us in church leadership—need to open our minds and hearts to the urgency of its message and the personal transformation needed for us to stand true to Jesus in our ever-deteriorating culture. Yes, it is convicting, but Pastor brings great hope and encouragement to see how we can be the people we should be in our Babylon.

MARY WHELCHEL LOWMAN

Founder and Speaker of The Christian Working Woman radio ministry and Director of Women’s Ministries at The Moody Church

Defining moments call for biblical insight, societal understanding, and prophetic boldness. One must be willing to emphatically declare truth with extraordinary power. In The Church in Babylon, Erwin Lutzer delivers a deeply relevant message that has the force to turn the pages of history and spawn a great spiritual awakening. This is a cry of both desperation and hope and an invitation to join in the battle for the soul of our nation.

BYRON PAULUS

President, Life Action Ministries

In my Sunday school days, we used to sing This Little Light of Mine, motions and all. Erwin Lutzer reminds us in this important book that it’s no longer just a Sunday school song but a call for Christians to engage the increasing darkness in our world with the penetrating and victorious light of Christ. And more importantly, he tells how this engagement is put into practice. I’m impressed with the wide berth of darkness issues that he addresses, leaving no stone unturned. And impressed as well with how he takes us from despair to a solid hope in the power of the light and the ultimate victory we have in Christ. This is a must-read book … take it to heart and then take the light into your world!

JOE STOWELL

President, Cornerstone University

Grand Rapids, Michigan

Erwin Lutzer reminds us how to live in a dark and dangerous world by shining the light of God’s Word on our situation. Like one of the men of Issachar who understood the times and knew what Israel should do, with clarity and relevance, insight and practicality, The Church in Babylon shows Jesus followers how to survive, and even thrive, in these troubling times.

MICHAEL RYDELNIK

Professor of Jewish Studies and Bible at Moody Bible Institute, Co-General Editor and Contributor, The Moody Bible Commentary, and Host/Bible Teacher on Moody Radio’s Open Line with Dr. Michael Rydelnik

Erwin Lutzer is a senior leader in the Body and a watchman on the wall. In this, his latest book, he pulls no punches as he confronts a compromised American church and a lost American generation. Yet he does so with pastoral wisdom and with living faith. You will be convicted by his sober words, but you will also be moved to holy action. This is vintage Lutzer, delivering the burden of a lifetime. Read this book and be changed.

MICHAEL L. BROWN

Author, Saving a Sick America

Host, The Line of Fire broadcast

As usual, Erwin Lutzer can be relied upon to give Christians a laser-sharp analysis of the spiritual state of our culture, as well as the response required by the faithful, witnessing body of believers. In The Church in Babylon, he furnishes a devastating diagnosis of the spiritual maladies that afflict us, as well as a spot-on biblical and spiritual prescription for how we can inoculate ourselves and our neighbors against the deadly afflictions engulfing us, and emerge victorious.

RICHARD LAND

President, Southern Evangelical Seminary

Erwin Lutzer has just given a challenging wake up call to the twenty-first century church that finds itself in such a sad condition. May we heed his warning. Read and reread this book. It will encourage you to shine in a world that is dark and getting darker.

MICHAEL A. YOUSSEF

Author of the bestselling book The Hidden Enemy

The New Testament word for church is ecclesia, which means called out. That is fitting since Christians are called out to represent Jesus in this sinful world. Erwin Lutzer’s new book, The Church in Babylon, is a much-needed resource for every who seeks to navigate the turbulent, secular times in which we live while seeking to maintain a biblical worldview and witness for Christ. Dr. Lutzer forthrightly and biblically addresses current controversial, societal topics without pulling punches, yet does so in a warm and kind manner. This is an excellent resource for any Christian seeking to live for Jesus in a society that looks more like ancient Babylon every day.

STEVE GAINES

Pastor, Bellevue Baptist Church, Memphis, TN

President of the Southern Baptist Convention

When God’s people in the Old Testament found themselves in exile in Babylon, the memory of what they had lost caused them to lament and to cry out, How shall we sing the LORD’s song in a foreign land? (Ps. 137:1–4). Today as followers of Christ, we often find ourselves asking the same question. Drawing on decades of faithful study of God’s Word and pastoral ministry, Dr. Lutzer helps us grapple with what it means to love and honor Christ in a world that rejects Him, and calls us to return to our distinctive identity and calling.

NANCY DEMOSS WOLGEMUTH

Author, teacher & host of Revive Our Hearts

© 2018 by ERWIN W. LUTZER

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form without permission in writing from the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews.

Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked NLT are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

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Scripture quotations marked NIV are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com. The NIV and New International Version are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica, Inc.™

Scripture quotations marked NASB are taken from the New American Standard Bible,® (NASB), Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation Used by permission. www.Lockman.org

Scripture quotations marked CSB have been taken from the Christian Standard Bible®. Copyright © 2017 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission. Christian Standard Bible® and CSB® are federally registered trademarks of Holman Bible Publishers.

All emphasis in Scripture has been added.

Some details have been changed to protect the privacy of individuals.

Edited by Amanda Cleary Eastep

Interior design: Erik M. Peterson

Cover design: Faceout Studio

Cover photo of city and sun copyright (c) 2014 by Vera Lair/Stocksy (473394). All rights reserved.

ISBN-13: 978-0-8024-1308-6

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Lutzer, Erwin W., author.

Title: The church in Babylon : heeding the call to be a light in the darkness / Dr. Erwin W. Lutzer.

Description: Chicago : Moody Publishers, 2018. | Includes bibliographical references.

Identifiers: LCCN 2018013316 (print) | LCCN 2018026397 (ebook) | ISBN 9780802492432 (ebook) | ISBN 9780802413086

Subjects: LCSH: Christianity--United States. | Christianity and culture--United States. | Babylon (Extinct city)--In the Bible.

Classification: LCC BR517 (ebook) | LCC BR517 .L88 2018 (print) | DDC 261.0973--dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2018013316

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To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood and made us a kingdom, priests to his God and Father, to him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.

(Revelation 1:5b–6)

CONTENTS

Foreword

Heeding the Call, From My Heart to Yours

1. Welcome to Babylon

We Have Arrived, and We Are Here to Stay

2. A Light to the City, a Heart for God

Finding God in Enemy Territory

3. Conflicts of Conscience

Keeping the Faith in a Hostile Work Environment

4. When the State Becomes God

Standing Strong While Others Bow

5. The Church, Technology, and Purity

The Courage to Confront a Deadly Enemy

6. Transgenderism, Sexuality, and the Church

Calling Out the Lies of the Culture

7. Islam, Immigration, and the Church

Balancing Compassion and Security

8. Five False Gospels within the Evangelical Church

Defending the Faith Once Delivered to the Saints

9. Taking the Cross into the World