Postcards from Babylon: The Church In American Exile

by Brian Zahnd

And it is only now, now that we have the whole sweep of the book of Acts before us that we can see where we are today, why we have arrived at this point, and perhaps even where we must go. We know that we’ve got to get to Caesar with the gospel, we know today far better than many generations that we have to announce to the principalities and powers that their time is up, that Jesus is Lord and they are not. That the unchecked power of mammon is an idol that has to be named and shamed. That the seductive enticements of Aphrodite are a ghastly lie which must be refuted and resisted. That the horrid trumpets of the war god Mars appeal to all that is worst in us and will make the world a worse place. We know all this. We know we must resist paganism in all these forms in the name of Jesus the crucified and risen Lord. And we are to bring this message to bear, locally and globally. We are not a complacent church. We are struggling to be a faithful church.[1]