“We have met the enemy and he is us.” This is the line Walt Kelly popularized in his Pogo comic strip in 1970 and 1971.¹ Kelly appropriated and modified a famous quote from Master Commander Oliver Perry regarding the American defeat of the British Navy in 1812. The cartoonist was making a point about the growth of pollution in America’s national parks.

There is an analogy here to the culture wars. American Christians are rightly concerned about what is happening around them in the culture. The reasons for concern are many and obvious. The sexual revolution has eroded social norms that we considered fundamental only a generation ago. Americans have killed upwards of sixty million infants in the womb. The scourge of illicit and deadly drugs (e.g., fentanyl) continues to afflict families and communities across the country. In the recent primaries in New York, voters selected candidates who espouse communist policies. Looking at some American cities, it seems as if these policies might already have gone into effect.

In response, members of American churches demand that the church “do something.” They demand that the church petition the magistrate to adopt different policies. Other American Christians seem to have given up on the American system of free, voluntary churches and have called for the establishment of the church. Still others react to communism by embracing its cousin fascism and, as we have seen, even Nazism.²

Christians have good reason to be concerned about all the issues listed and more besides. For example, the pervasive materialism of our culture would shock the conscience of earlier generations of Christians. Those born since 1990 probably cannot appreciate how prosperous American life has become since the Reagan administration. Not even the tech bubble of 2000, 9/11, the housing bubble of 2007–08, the maladministration of the Covid crisis, or runaway government spending has been able to stop the engine that is the American economy. The astounding level of wealth enjoyed by most Americans, even the poorest (who carry seven-hundred-dollar iPhones as they panhandle for cash for narcotics), is illustrated by the reactions of Europeans and British people to what they have seen on their visit during the World Cup. Our guests cannot believe the scope and quality of American choices in cars, shopping, and food. This is particularly true of my British friends, who, if they have not traveled to the Continent or America, have perhaps never before tasted food with flavor. In America biscuits and gravy is breakfast, but our British and (Northern) European friends seem ready to build a shrine to Buc-ee’s, Chick-fil-A, In-N-Out Burger, and Rudy’s Country Store and Bar-B-Q—and they have not even imagined the glories of a Runza Burger, fries, and shake.

Please do not misunderstand. I have no interest in returning to the Carter malaise. I am happy not to pass out in a pool of sweat each night, but all that prosperity and air conditioning, which we take for granted, carries with it a potential spiritual cost. The Lord Jesus warned us:

And Jesus said to his disciples, “Truly, I say to you, only with difficulty will a rich person enter the kingdom of heaven. Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.” When the disciples heard this, they were greatly astonished, saying, “Who then can be saved?” But Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.” Then Peter said in reply, “See, we have left everything and followed you. What then will we have?” Jesus said to them, “Truly, I say to you, in the new world, when the Son of Man will sit on his glorious throne, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or lands, for my name’s sake, will receive a hundredfold and will inherit eternal life. But many who are first will be last, and the last first.” (Matt 19:23–30)

Wealth is not evil, but it is dangerous. Wealth makes us comfortable in this world, in this life. One of my undergraduate professors once asked, “Who needs heaven when we have air conditioning?” When he said that, I did not have air conditioning and did not entirely appreciate what he was trying to say, but I understand his point now. Wealth produces comfort, and comfort is seductive—that is, it threatens to lead us away from the Savior who suffered for us.

It’s Not What Goes In

The greater point here is that as grave as the social challenges we face, the spiritual challenges we face are even greater. If we pay close attention to the New Testament, we notice that our Lord himself and his apostles said very little about what was wrong with the world out there. The overwhelming focus of attention of our Lord and his apostles was on what is wrong in here.

Our Lord said,

“Hear and understand: it is not what goes into the mouth that defiles a person, but what comes out of the mouth; this defiles a person.” Then the disciples came and said to him, “Do you know that the Pharisees were offended when they heard this saying?” He answered, “Every plant that my heavenly Father has not planted will be rooted up. Let them alone; they are blind guides. And if the blind lead the blind, both will fall into a pit.” But Peter said to him, “Explain the parable to us.” And he said, “Are you also still without understanding? Do you not see that whatever goes into the mouth passes into the stomach and is expelled? But what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this defiles a person. For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander. These are what defile a person. But to eat with unwashed hands does not defile anyone.” (Matt 15:10–20)

The Pharisees demonstrated that they were the blind guides because, according to Jesus, they identified the human problem as external to the human heart when, according to God the Son incarnate, our problem is not out there but in here. This is why it is not what we eat that defiles us. The Pharisees had confused the temporary Mosaic ceremonial (religious) regulations (not the abiding moral law) with true religion. They thought that hand washing and food laws were the substance of our relationship with God when, in fact, the point of the ceremonial and judicial laws was to serve as a harsh schoolmaster (Gal 3:24), whipping sinful Israelites at every turn to teach them the greatness of their sin and misery and to drive them to Christ.³

You Are Here

Our focus on the culture war can be a distraction from the real problem: our sin, our need for grace, forgiveness, and sanctification. Our most basic problem is not what the pagans around us are doing and saying. Remember, when our Lord ascended to the right hand of the Father (Acts 1:9) and the Holy Spirit was poured out on the church (Acts 2:1–13; 10:44–48), virtually no one in the ancient world believed in Jesus. In the early years of the apostolic church, it was a mostly Jewish movement identified with Judea. There were some converts who held responsible positions in the Roman government or who had access to the corridors of secular authority and power (Acts 10:1; Rom 16:22–23), but for the most part the earliest Christians were outsiders to secular power and influence, and that would be the case from the death of Christ until Christianity was legalized by Constantine in the early fourth century.

As dispiriting as our late modern culture can be—it helps to remember that the media does not regard good news as genuine news and their business model more or less requires them to frighten us as often as possible for clicks and views—we are in a far superior position to our earliest brothers and sisters in Christ. Though Christianity was not illegal until late in the third century, for most of two and half centuries, Christians were subject to private and government-sponsored harassment, intimidation, and persecution. For most of the third century, with some relief in the last quarter, Christians were subject to relentless and brutal suppression.

In the United States we have, if we will exercise our civil liberties and make use of the avenues of redress afforded us by the Constitution, a remarkable degree of religious liberty. We may meet openly for prayer and worship. We may speak freely and openly about our faith and even criticize other religions. This is not true in every place in the world, not even in every Western country. Remarkably, in parts of the United Kingdom, praying without saying a word is regarded as a crime. How wonderful to have an established church in England.

Sexual immorality was rampant in the world into which Christianity first emerged. Slavery and human trafficking were commonplace. Prostitution was considered perfectly normal. Chemical abortions were relatively common. It was common to abandon infants. Indeed, the early Christians distinguished themselves by not aborting their children, by not abandoning their infants, and by not practicing sexual immorality. In contrast to the pagans, they regarded females as sisters in Christ and fellow image bearers. The Christians were noted for their generosity even to pagans. About AD 150, in what was likely a speech to a government official named Diognetus, a Christian apologist said,

For Christians are not distinguished from the rest of humanity by country, language, or custom. For nowhere do they live in cities of their own, nor do they speak some unusual dialect, nor do they practice an eccentric life-style. . . . But while they live in both Greek and barbarian cities, as each one’s lot was cast, and follow the local customs in dress and food and other aspects of life, at the same time they demonstrate the remarkable and admittedly unusual character of their own citizenship. They live in their own countries, but only as aliens; they participate in everything as citizens, and endure everything as foreigners. Every foreign country is their fatherland, and every fatherland is foreign. They marry like everyone else, and have children, but they do not expose their offspring. They share their food but not their wives. They are “in the flesh,” but they do not live “according to the flesh.” They live on earth, but their citizenship is in heaven. They obey the established laws; indeed in their private lives they transcend the laws. They love everyone, and by everyone they are persecuted. They are unknown, yet they are condemned; they are put to death, yet they are brought to life. They are poor, yet they make many rich; they are in need of everything, yet they abound in everything. They are dishonored, yet they are glorified in their dishonor; they are slandered, yet they are vindicated. They are cursed, yet they bless; they are insulted, yet they offer respect. When they do good, they are punished as evildoers; when they are punished, they rejoice as though brought to life. By the Jews they are assaulted as foreigners, and by the Greeks they are persecuted, yet those who hate them are unable to give a reason for their hostility.⁴

The world around the earliest Christians in the apostolic and early postapostolic periods gave every cause for Christians to focus their attention on all the terrible things being done by the pagans, and yet we see the New Testament giving virtually no attention to these issues.

Notes

1. Walt Kelly, “We Have Met The Enemy and He Is Us,” in Tales from the Vault, Billy Ireland Cartoon Library and Museum, curated by Caitlin McGurk, Jenny Robb, and Amy Chalmers.
2. R. Scott Clark, “These Are Not Illinois Nazis,” The Heidelblog, June 17, 2026.
3. This language is drawn from Galatians 3:24: “So then, the law was our schoolmaster (παιδαγωγὸς) until Christ came, in order that we might be justified by faith” (my translation) and by Heidelberg Catechism 2: “How many things are necessary for you to know, that in this comfort you may live and die blessedly? Three things: the first, the greatness of my sin and misery. Second, how I am redeemed from all my sins and misery. Third, how I am to be thankful to God for such redemption” and by Heidelberg Catechism 115: “Why then does God so strictly enjoin the ten Commandments upon us, since in this life no one can keep them? First, that as long as we live we may learn more and more to know our sinful nature, and so the more earnestly seek forgiveness of sins and righteousness in Christ; secondly, that without ceasing we diligently ask God for the grace of the Holy Spirit, that we be renewed more and more after the image of God, until we attain the goal of perfection after this life.”
4. Epistle of Diognetus, chap. 5, in Michael William Holmes, The Apostolic Fathers: Greek Texts and English Translations, updated ed. (Baker Books, 1999), 541.

©R. Scott Clark. All Rights Reserved.

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Post authored by:

• R. Scott Clark

  

  R.Scott Clark is the President of the Heidelberg Reformation Association, the author and editor of, and contributor to several books and the author of many articles. He has taught church history and historical theology since 1997 at Westminster Seminary California. He has also taught at Wheaton College, Reformed Theological Seminary, and Concordia University. He has hosted the Heidelblog since 2007.

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