THE GATHERING STORM: SECULARISM, CULTURE AND THE CHURCH by R. Albert Mohler, Jr. is an excellent, but disturbing new book that every evangelical Christian should read. It is not primarily about politics; rather, it is about truth, God’s truth as revealed in the Bible. This book review was written by Hank Griffith of South Suburban Evangelical Free Church in Apple Valley, Minnesota.
In my opinion, theologian Al Mohler, President of Southern Baptist Seminary, has done an outstanding job of researching and analyzing what is happening in our country and in western culture at large. The title, “The Gathering Storm”, was borrowed from Winston Churchill, the great British statesman who saw the brewing of WWII before it actually began. Like Churchill, Mohler is courageous, wise, and prophetic.
Each chapter in this 220 page book looks at a different aspect of American culture and seeks to demonstrate how it has departed from our biblical roots. The chapters deal with changes in the church, in human life, in marriage, in family, in gender & sexuality, in the values of younger generations, in engines of culture such as Hollywood, social media, academia, and in religious liberty. A word of warning: if you do not have a strong belief in the sovereignty of God, this book may shake you. It may even keep you up at night. However, if it does, I would counsel you to use that time to pray!
A reoccurring theme of Mohler in this book is that many Christians and many denominations in America have given up too much in order to be relevant to the changing values of modern times. Instead, we should stand firmly on God’s never changing Word, the Holy Scriptures. We should stand for the totality of the Christian worldview, and we should recommit ourselves to the Great Commission to make Christ known to the nations and to teach believers to be obedient to ALL the teachings of God’s Word.
