Prepare, by J. Paul Nyquist

J. Paul Nyquist wants to have a word with you, you prosperous, comfortable American Christian.  You have enjoyed generations of preferential treatment, stability, and cultural dominance in the United States.  But things are changing.  Nyquist's word for you: prepare.  In Prepare: Living Your Faith In an Increasingly Hostile Culture, Nyquist, president of Moody Bible Institute, wants to remind us that the culture is changing, Christians will find themselves pushed to the margins, and none of this should be a surprise.

In recent years, high-profile news stories have shown the extent to which "the culture war is over--and we lost."  Cultural attitudes are embracing abortion rights, extra-marital sex, drug legalization, and, more than any issue, gay rights and gay marriage.  Not only are these minority positions gaining ground, their advocates frequently demand exclusion of alternate opinions.  Thus it's not sufficient to allow gay marriage, it must be embraced and advocated.

Christians who defend and practice traditional Christian values have begun to suffer persecution for their beliefs.  Nyquist believes they will to a greater and greater extent.  He turns to scripture to remind us that for Christians, persecution is the norm, as Jesus promised and as the experiences of the early Christians demonstrated.  Yet we "should face trials with joy because they produce spiritual fortitude."  They bring blessing and heavenly rewards.

However, Nyquist's bottom line is that while "America seems to be in the low ebb between revivals," it may be that we may be due for a revival.  It's certainly something we can be praying for and looking expectantly to God for.  He conclude, "If God graciously visits this land in a powerful way, the current cultural trends will be immediately arrested, biblical values will return, and the threat of persecution will disappear."

Nyquist's presentation is orderly and systematic.  His Dallas Theological Seminary classes trained him well to find the three points of every scripture passage, and to pay special attention to the significance of the verb tenses in the original Greek.  Thus, even when he is being thorough, he isn't very nuanced.  This isn't really meant to be a criticism, simply a comment on his style.

However, I do have a bit of a criticism.  As he winds up the book, after spending a lot of time telling the reader that persecution is to be expected, he turns to giving us an out through revival, and the message of the book becomes muddled.  He lists several periods of renewal in U.S. history, and indicates that each movement lead to changes in cultural mores.  So there is this circular dilemma: culture rejects Christianity, Christianity is strengthened by persecution, persecution decreases and Christianity gains cultural prominence, cultural prominence leads to a weakening of Christianity, a weakened Christianity leads to culture rejecting Christianity, and the cycle repeats.

Wherever we are in the ebb and flow of Christian history and cultural prominence, Nyquist is certainly right to point out Jesus' words.  We should never be surprised if the world despises us as Christians.  Nyquist includes a lengthy letter to the American church from a Christian leader in Pakistan.  American Christians are beginning to feel themselves being pushed to the margins culturally, but in Pakistan, generations of Christians have experienced life as second-class citizens, suffering actual physical, legal, professional, societal harm because of their faith.  While we comfortable Christians in the U.S. find it hard to relate to such a state of things, perhaps we should prepare ourselves for it.


Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the complimentary electronic review copy!