It Is Not True that We Cannot
Forcibly Christianize a Society

by Stuart DiNenno

“You can never Christianize society. It is folly to attempt to do so. I would even suggest that it is heresy to do so. Man must be born again.

How can they live the Christian life if they have not become Christians? Good fruit can only come from a good tree, a good root; and the idea that you can impose a Christian life or culture upon non-Christian people is a contradiction of Christian teaching.”

— Martyn Lloyd-Jones

Lloyd-Jones said many good things but he was wrong on this point. One thing we can learn from the Jews in America today, if we have not already learned it by studying the history of the world, is that it only takes a small, dedicated minority to rule a nation. The Jews are something like 2% of the population in America, but not only do they rule our society through their possession of the money power and their consequent influence of the government, but they have also succeeded in judaizing the minds of the people through their control of the news media and entertainment productions, and through their influence over educational institutions. And they have used all of these avenues to subvert Christian morality through the promotion of such things as miscegenation, feminism, pornography, and all forms of sexual/perversion and licentiousness.

But what the Jews have done for evil, the Christians can do for good. While it is true that one cannot Christianize individuals by force and only the Spirit of God can regenerate the heart of man, and all Christians affirm that the mass conversion of the people is the preferred way of taking Christian dominion over a nation, nevertheless the forcible imposition of Christian morality and teaching upon the people, even if many of them are, at heart, unwilling to receive it at first, will bring great benefits to a nation and go a long way to achieve the actual spiritual conversion of many individuals.

How so? It is very simple. First, if a minority of dedicated Christians seize power in a nation, then they can implement a biblical law code in the society, enforced by scriptural principles of justice and punishment. While forcing unregenerate men to live according to Christian morality can in no way save them or gain them any favor with God, it does suppress the outworking of their inward evil, and simultaneously serves to advance those who obey God’s law, and thereby benefits the godly persons in the nation.

Secondly, if they have government control, Christians could outlaw the propagation of false religion, and the multitudes of its manifestations that we find in our society today, and only allow true Christian doctrine to be taught and culturally expressed. This is the means by which many in the nation can be actually converted. God uses the publication of the truth to effect conversion, and in a nation dominated by true Christians where nothing but pure biblical doctrine is allowed to be taught, then, of course, we should expect God to bless that with an increase, and to a progressive degree as succeeding generations are raised without ever being exposed to Anti-Christian propaganda.

So it is not true that “you can never Christianize society.” In fact, not only may we look to a future where we can expect this to be done, but we can look to a past where it already has been done, as is evident by the words of John Chrysostom below, which were spoken sometime around 400 A.D. in Constantinople, in which his reference to Jews, Greeks, reprobates, and libertines makes it clear that many were unconverted, and yet his words also make it clear that the Christians were firmly in control. The church had taken dominion over the culture.

“Let both Jews and Hellenes [Greeks] know that Christians are the guardians, protectors, rulers and teachers of the city; and let the reprobates and libertines learn the same thing, that they should be afraid of God’s servants, and that if they want to say anything blasphemous or mocking, they look around and fear even the shadows, fearing that a Christian might overhear.”
— John Chrysostom

But although it is not necessary for Christians to be a majority population in order to seize control of a nation, any more than it was necessary for the Israelites to be in the majority to overcome their enemies in battle, it is certain that the church can have no power as long as it is in a weak and divided state. There must be a revival of true Christianity and a reformation of the church before Christians can ever hope to take dominion over their nations and crush the forces of Anti-Christ.