Pastor Eddie Anderson leads a chant with fast-food workers and supporters during a protest outside a McDonald’s restaurant in Los Angeles, California. ( REUTERS/Kyle Grillot)
“Everyone is a liberal until they have something to conserve. Then they become a conservative.”
—Ronald Reagan
I’ve discovered most people are liberal until they grow up and get a job. Many are also Democrats until they get some money and start raising a family.
It’s been observed, “It’s easy to be a liberal when you’re getting free stuff. It’s hard to be a liberal when they’re taking it!”
I’ve also found many younger liberals do not engage in long-term thinking. When you’re in your 20s and very idealistic, it’s easy to believe you can make it on a shoestring budget. When you’ve been underwritten except maybe for a cell phone, coffees and concerts, it’s understandable to live in unreality.
All of us who genuinely care about America’s future must come to grips with these three facts:
- Millennials represent the largest voting block today.
- They are now 2-1 Democrat.
- Polls show they prefer socialism over capitalism.
They can turn the tide in elections as they did recently in Virginia and Alabama.
The Tide Is Turning
Look at what’s happened to California, once home to Ronald Reagan and historic conservatism. Check out demographic trends in states with mushrooming illegal immigration and youthful populations. Also, look at what’s happening to our universities being overrun by “progressive” instructors propagandizing gullible students in leftist ideology.
Many conservatives are dismissive of this development and reassure themselves with the famous quote, “If you’re in your 20s and not a liberal, you have no heart. If you’re in your 40s and not a conservative, you have no brains.”
We’d better be careful of complacency and misguided optimism.
America needs a Third Great Awakening or at least another “Reagan Revolution” like the one in the 80s, when he said, “Within the covers of the Bible are the answers for all problems men face, if we’d only look there.”
The Democratic Party platform advocates abortion on demand, illegal immigration, LGBTQ agenda items, Planned Parenthood and a myriad of causes damaging our families and freedoms. We must reach the influential Millennial generation before it’s too late.
Suggestions to Salvage Millennials
First-century Christians faced false teachings undermining God’s Word and bringing confusion. “God is not the author of confusion” (1 Cor.14:33a) but He is the revealer of it, so Paul got to work!
In Colossae, the apostle salvaged the saints falling prey to the emptiness of human philosophy. His strategy in Colossians 4:2-6 reveals principles transferable in dealing with ensnared Millennials today.
1. Pray
“Continue in prayer … while praying … that God would open to us a door of utterance to speak…” (Col 4:2-3).
“For our fight is not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world” (Eph.6:12a).
Humility draws God’s grace, so we’re anointed with wisdom, discernment and winsomeness, attracting versus repelling people.
2. Communicate “clearly as I ought to speak” (Col. 4:4b).
Abe Lincoln said, “I will prepare myself, and one day, my time will come.” We must prepare to address issues with clarity, conviction and common sense.
My son graduated from Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government and turned me on to Ben Shapiro, who dismantles falsehoods deceiving students today. Dennis Prager offers videos at PragerU. equipping us for engagement, while Dr. Michael Brown and I serve multitudes through our ministries.
3. Learn to Discern
“Walk in wisdom toward those who are outside, wisely using the opportunity” (Col. 4:5).
Charles Spurgeon said, “Discernment is not simply telling the difference between what is right and wrong; rather it is the difference between right and almost right.”
“I’m for social justice! You’re against immigration!” a Millennial yells angrily with eyes glaring and veins bulging.
Rather than assuming the role of a combative flamethrower, I recall, “…let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, and slow to anger, for the anger of man does not work the righteousness of God” (James 1:19b-20).
Allowing my liberal opponent to spew out his venom, I respectfully inquire, “Ok to share my perspective?” I’m intentional and charitable, heeding the wisdom of George Washington Carver, “I will never let another man ruin my life by making me hate him.”
“Bill, I’m totally for immigration—legal immigration. My dad was an immigrant from Poland. Just as you wouldn’t like someone barging ahead of you in a restaurant line, we need to help folks follow our guidelines for their good and our security amidst terrorism threats. How would you feel if a couple snuck into Disneyland ahead of you and, when caught, demanded lifetime passes for all their dreamy-eyed kids?”
4. Be Gracious
“Let your speech always be with grace, seasoned with salt…” (Col. 4:6a).
As Biola University president, Barry Corey writes in his book, Love Kindness, “Keep your center firm and edges soft.” He wrote his book “out of frustration that those who represent the gospel are often caustic and harsh, picking fights with those whose views are hostile to theirs.”
John Piper interviewed Rick Warren, “Do you dislike the name ‘Calvinism’ because certain doctrines are wrong or connotations they carry?” Rick responded, “I say this in love … I wish those who believe in the doctrines of grace would be more gracious.”
“If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not love, I have become as sounding brass or a clanging cymbal” (1 Cor.13:1).
5. Be Biblically Informed
Paul challenged the Colossians, “that you may know how you should answer everyone” (Col. 4:6).
I developed the “Bullseye Challenge” —30 free 3-minute videos and the companion book—with one purpose: “to equip us to become informed influencers in today’s changing culture.” This resource is even more critical due to this dangerous development with Millennials.
While I was working on the project, 265,000 primarily young people, attended three music events in my Nashville “neighborhood.” Two hundred thousand were at Bonnaroo and the CMA Music Festival, while 65,000 filled our stadium for a rock concert. A generation was being propagandized further into indulgence and deception.
Who will counter ideas transmitted at these events? Who will stand in the gap to reach a generation being influenced by liberal politicians, educators and pop idols?
Daniel prophesied about this time, “But the people who know their God will be strong and take action. The wise among the people shall instruct many” (Dan.11:32b-33a).
Will you be one of the “wise,” winsomely instructing Millennials with truth that can set them free? Take the “Bullseye Challenge” for 15 minutes daily for one month to be on the frontline.
“It is up to us in our time to choose, and choose wisely, between the hard but necessary task of preserving peace and freedom, and the temptation to ignore our duty and blindly hope for the best while the enemies of freedom grow stronger day by day.” —President Ronald Reagan
