A ministry called “Concerned Christians,” comprised mostly of former Mormons, distributed 18,000 copies of a DVD to homes across the state of Arizona last week in an effort to reach Mormons for Christ. AZCentral.com reports that Mormon leaders are outraged. “I'm disappointed. We need tolerance in our community, and religious tolerance is one of those things we need to do,” noted Dave Udall, a Mesa attorney and former church spokesman. Don Evans, LDS spokesman for Arizona stated, “The attitude of the church is there is freedom of religion. Our church would not go after another religion.”

In the contemporary culture of mass media with the emergence of talk radio and the development of the blogosphere, the national conversation concerning politics is now constant and widespread at the same time. Christians are in on the conversation and more than that, exert their influence in a variety of ways. Of course, this state of affairs continues to raise questions concerning Christian political engagement. Those questions are intensified with the approach of each new election cycle. At the same time, with new issues confronting Americans (and indeed the world) on a daily basis and with an aging set of evangelical figures in this arena, conservative Christians find themselves at a crossroads. That crossroads is not only critical in terms of the future influence of evangelicals in the political sphere, but also in terms of the evangelical soul.

When David fled from King Saul, he passionately declared to Jonathan that there was but one step between himself and death (1 Sam. 20:3). David no doubt would have liked to have been many steps far removed from such a possibility. All he could do was that which was right in the sight of the Lord, one step at a time. Sadly, there are many in our land who are but one step from death. The problem lies in the fact that they are helpless as their fate, in human terms, rests in the hands of their uncaring mothers and a pleasure-seeking culture.

We are to take the gospel to the nations. We are to infiltrate this culture with the gospel of peace. We are to be salt and light in a world that is barren and dark. We are to take the gospel to the streets as it were and compel people to come into the kingdom. And yet, at some points, the culture war is being brought to us.

When the Apostle Paul arrived in Athens his spirit was provoked within him as he saw that the city was wholly given over to idols. He could see the outward manifestation of the inward reality he wrote about in his letter to the Romans: apart from God, the hearts of men are foolish and darkened. His response was to reason with Jews and the Gentile worshipers in the synagogue concerning Christ and the things of God. He reasoned in the marketplace daily with those who happened to be there. He received no small amount of criticism for his stance but he did gain a hearing and was ushered to the Areopagus by certain Epicurean and Stoic philosophers that they might hear more of what he had to say. As he reasoned with them and moved to proclaim Christ, some mocked him, some said they would like to speak with him further, and some believed.

“It’s really true that the earth is the Lord’s,” so says Joel Belz, founder and editor of “World Magazine.” He went on to say that a Christian worldview should affect every sphere of life for the believer. At the most recent Pastor’s Fellowship of Greater Greenville, sponsored by Ligonier Ministries and Mountain Bridge Bible Fellowship, Belz called for a measured approach to developing a Christian worldview.