From the Acton Institute’s Religion and Liberty publication, Summer 2013, Volume 23, Number 3 issue:

The Tipped Scales Against our Youth

By Rodger E. Broomé & Eric James Russell

 “…

Jesters and false prophets (Mat. 7:15) have become saints for some in the Millennial generation, tattoos their stained glass windows, piercings their ornaments, social media their gospel readings, phones their churches, and what feels good their god. They are questioning and often rejecting the notion of organized religion. From their vantage point, such rejection is justified. For example, some churches are becoming concerts and mass group “hang out with Jesus” events, rather than reverent worship of the Almighty and Everlasting God.…

When the minority of forked-tongued fire-and-brimstone extremists becomes the human face of Christianity, they drive those in need of Christ’s love away, convincing them that their sins are greater than God’s mercy.  The zealots feed the argument of the jesters, the two working in unison to build a hollow yet destructive wall between the innocent and God’s Grace…

We as Christians are tasked to protect the innocent, today we are failing in our role. Our failures shine through in the poorly decided choices being made by our youth. Our inaction has empowered the jesters and false teachers. We have allowed manmade issues to drive Christianity and not the Gospel.”

I would suggest that the highly touted political issues of our day ~ social justice, inequality, redistribution, climate change, etc. – are all temporal distractions meant (by the Evil One) to keep us from a knowledge and worship of an Almighty and Sovereign God Who knows the exact number of hairs on your head and the number of muons that make up your body.

After the resurrection of our Lord and after telling Peter to feed his sheep three times Jesus responded to Peter once again when Peter asked “What about him (John)?”  Jesus replied to Peter, “What is that to you…You must follow me!

Here is a pdf of the Acton Institute’s Religion and Liberty publication.  The whole issue is worth your time: http://www.acton.org/sites/v4.acton.org/files/pdf/R&L_23_3_New.pdf

  Now compare today’s face of Christianity with my morning reading of the Acts of the Apostles, chapter 6:

 “…Stephen was filled with grace and power, and performed great signs among the people….Everyone who was sitting in the Assembly looked hard at Stephen.  They all saw that this face was like that of an angel.”