WAKE FOREST, N.C. (BP)–Describing the U.S. Supreme Court as nothing more than an affront to God, decorated Vietnam veteran and nationally known evangelist Tim Lee charged uncommitted Christians are equally to blame for America’s moral decadence in the 20th century.
“The Republican Party is not going to save America. The Democratic Party is certainly not going to save America and neither is the independent crowd,” declared Lee, who spoke Oct. 21-23 on the campus of Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary, Wake Forest, N.C., during the seminary’s fifth annual “Sandy Creek Week” revival meetings.
“America is not going to hell because of the abortion crowd, and the pornography crowd, and the drug crowd. America is going to hell because God’s people just don’t care,” said Lee, who lost both legs in a land mine explosion in 1971 while serving in Vietnam as a Marine.
Southeastern’s annual revival is named for a church near Greensboro, N.C., where revival broke out in the mid-1700s under the preaching of Shubal Stearns. That revival spurred the founding of more than 40 churches in North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, and Georgia.
Taking aim at the U.S. Supreme Court, Lee charged that it has declared itself god by taking the Bible and prayer out of the classroom while legalizing abortion and legitimizing homosexuality.
“That’s what we’ve done in America, we’ve kicked God out,” Lee said. “For 35 years the court system has said to God, ‘We don’t need you anymore.'”
Lee blamed the age-old problem of humanism as the impetus for Supreme Court decisions over the last three decades.
“Humanism is not new,” Lee said. “Humanism is as old as Cain. Cain’s problem was he didn’t want to do it God’s way. He wanted to do it man’s way.”
Comparing America’s spiritual condition with that of the Israelites as described in the fourth chapter of the Book of Hosea, Lee said: “We have no guilt, we have no shame, we have no embarrassment. Homosexuals march in our streets by the tens of thousands parading themselves as a normal lifestyle, and I’m here to tell you folks that there’s nothing normal about it. It is wicked and abominable in the sight of a holy and a righteous God.
“It doesn’t matter that the governor may have changed his mind or that the president changed his mind. God has not changed his mind.”
Lee, who received one of only two meritorious promotions among the 96 privates with whom he enlisted in 1969, said “commitment” is a word that must be restored to Christians’ vocabulary.
“Commitment is exciting,” said the Purple Heart recipient from Garland, Texas. “Commitment is taking a risk. Commitment is focusing in. Commitment is sometimes costly. Commitment is stepping out into waters where others will never go because they are so afraid.”
Recounting how he maneuvered his wheelchair through a foot of snow while sharing the gospel door-to-door in Illinois where he served as a pastor, Lee challenged ministers and Christians alike to recommit themselves to winning souls for Christ. When his wheelchair would get stuck in the snow, Lee said, he would have to get out of the chair and dig it out of the snow before continuing.
“I don’t understand people who are called to the ministry and they’re not motivated to go soul-winning. Why did Jesus come to this earth? He came to seek and to save that which was lost.”
Citing biblical examples, Lee warned that people of unfaltering Christian commitment will often find themselves alone.
“Noah built the ark all alone,” Lee said. “Abraham wondered and worshiped alone. Daniel dined and prayed alone. Elijah sacrificed and witnessed alone. Nehemiah built and battled alone. Joseph was sold into captivity by his own family and stood for God all alone. Jesus hung upon a cross and suffered and bled and died (for our sins) all alone.”
Men and women of Christian conviction and commitment will not get lost in the crowd, Lee stated. “It’s human to follow the crowd,” he said. “It’s divine-like to stand alone. It’s man-like to follow the people and drift with the tide. It’s God-like to follow the principle and stem the tide. It’s natural to compromise the conscience and follow social and religious fashion for the sake of gain and pleasure, but it’s divine-like to sacrifice both on the altar of truth and duty.”
Identifying Christian apathy as the church’s ugliest blemish at the turn of the century, Lee said commitment without involvement is worthless. “You can actually be involved without being committed, but you cannot be committed without being involved,” he said.
During the three-day event, Lee preached from his wheelchair before several thousand people who packed into Binkley Chapel on the seminary campus. On Oct. 21, 17 people made public professions of Christ as their Savior during a youth night emphasis. On Oct. 22, the seminary took the revival service out to the community to a neighboring baseball field where about 600 people braved damp weather with the temperature in the low 40s. During the invitation dozens of people made their way to the stage to publicly recommit their lives to serving Christ.
At the concluding service, Lee said that as low as America has fallen spiritually, he remains optimistic for a Third Great Awakening across the country and throughout the world.
“Second Chronicles 7:14 is still in the Book and God is still on the throne,” Lee said. “Do you want revival in your family? Do you want revival in your church? You can have it, but it begins with self.”
