Buddy Smith
AFA senior vice-president
March 2002 – It’s Easter again. The redeeming message of Calvary and the glorious message of resurrection burn within our hearts. What now? What will we do with this renewed faith? Authentic faith does have consequences, you know – in how we act, and often at no small cost.
Remember the two on the road to Emmaus? Not long after our Lord’s burial and resurrection? How Jesus walked with them and talked with them? And when their eyes were opened and they knew him? “They asked each other, ‘Were not our hearts burning within us while He talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?’” (Luke 24:32) The passage goes on to relate that their faith had tangible results. They got up and returned at once to Jerusalem where they testified of the Lord’s glory.
A few years ago our son, Casey, wrote a letter to his high school principal requesting that the Ten Commandments be posted in the classrooms. Casey wrote, “These are laws, which God gave us to live by, rules everybody needs to know … I strongly believe that the posting of the Ten Commandments in our classrooms would serve as an important reminder of the One who is the refuge from the dangers of drugs, violence and other problems we face at school. Biblical truth provides the answers to all our problems.”
Casey didn’t succeed in getting the Ten Commandments posted in his school, but his actions testified to an authentic faith reflected in his behavior. Like the two on the road to Emmaus, Casey had encountered a personal and eternal relationship with Jesus Christ that gave him a distinct perspective and resulted in action.
Twenty-five years ago, a rural Mississippi preacher made phone calls and wrote letters in order to complain to a large American corporation that was – however unintentionally – attacking Judeo-Christian values and poisoning our society through sponsorship of trash on television. The preacher discerned that the entertainment industry had adopted a destructive agenda aimed at those eternal values on which our country was founded and which keep a society and its families strong and healthy.
At first the preacher didn’t succeed. But his was an authentic faith, a faith that resulted in action. And God blessed his persistence by birthing the National Federation For Decency in 1977, which became American Family Association in 1986. You know the rest of that story because you are now a part of it. AFA Founder and President Donald E. Wildmon has demonstrated an authentic faith by his actions. Subsequently, AFA is an activist organization, urging people to live out their faith in how they behave in the world.
Throughout all of history God’s people have been called to be salt and light to influence government and society to accept God’s moral laws. As Christians, we have dual citizenship, first and foremost as citizens of God’s eternal kingdom, and next as temporary citizens in this earthly nation.
Just as the Resurrection is the central strength of the Gospel, so the Gospel is the central tenet of an authentic faith. The Gospel requires believers to act. Jesus has called us to be salt and light, to engage this present world through the application of God’s truth. However, many have hidden their lights under a basket and shelved their Christian salt until it has lost its flavor.
God’s people can yet make the difference in this nation if we are willing to pay the price of personal involvement. Prayer is part of the price. Holiness of heart and life are part of the price. God-fearing men and women must exercise their privileges and responsibilities as citizens of this nation in order to choose godly representatives and leaders.
It’s Easter again, and authentic faith still brings consequences. It’s time for kingdom living! We can keep our Christian witness confined within the comfortable realm of our local church and denomination, judging our success in baptisms, buildings, budgets, church socials, and activities. But if we do, we will deny the very reality of the living Christ and lose the Christian foundation of Western civilization. Or, as the prophets of old confronted the kings with God’s standards, so today, we can take our stand for God in this great republic by living an authentic faith and speaking truth in our culture. 
