I see Chick-fil-A is in the news again. They seem to get more press than an angry and ignorant Swedish schoolgirl who thinks she’s a credible environmental activist.

When those on the right don’t like something, they don’t buy it. They quietly shift gears and go another way.  It’s their display of maturity.

When the left doesn’t like something, they insist you shouldn’t like it either. They’ll stop at nothing to malign it, ban it, outlaw it, and condemn everyone who doesn’t see the issue the same way they do. It’s their display of “tolerance.”

So let me tread carefully here by stating I’m not a big fan of Chick-fil-A.   It’s nothing personal – I just don’t care much for chicken sandwiches.

But I am impressed with Chick-fil-A’s chutzpah. They promote traditional family values, and they defend the institution of marriage as being between a man and a woman. They close their stores on Sundays so their employees can spend time with family and go to church. They hire solid kids who can talk in complete sentences, smile naturally, work hard, dress modestly, and fill orders properly.

According to the 2022 QSR50 report, Chick-fil-A ranks third nationwide in fast food chains.  Their average store’s annual sales exceed Burger King, Taco Bell, Dunkin’ Donuts, and Wendy’s. This “plucky poultry” empire with the Christian values and abbreviated workweek is nothing short of an economic phenomenon!

It is why Chick-fil-A earns a predictable frenzy of media wailing and public criticism from anyone as liberal as a dog’s hind leg.  New York City mayor, Bill de Blasio unsuccessfully tried to boycott Chick-fil-A in 2016, and “Windy-City” mayor, Rahm Emanuel summed up the left’s views by stating, “Chick-fil-A values are not Chicago values.”

Duh!

It’s just another illustration of our cultural corrosion, and none of it shocks me anymore. If you stand for truth and common-sense values, you are at personal risk if you preach a sermon, cast a vote, start a school, bake a cake, or wear a certain red cap.

But – why am I not surprised?  Simply put, it’s the Bible here that’s really under attack, and I expect that. I see more attacks on the Bible today than I saw yesterday, and I expect to see more tomorrow than I do today.

If your choices are defined by the righteous standards of the Word of God, you are part of an ever-shrinking population.  It used to be that most of our culture interpreted right and wrong the way the Scriptures did, but even in our churches that’s hardly true anymore.

According to a 2012 article by Barna President, David Kinnaman, young Christian singles are as sexually active as their non-churched friends. Given that was more than a decade ago, I’m sure things are no better now.

Today, our young Christians are leaving the faith because they feel it’s out of touch with science and out of step with a pluralistic, humanistic, socialist, and multi-cultural world view. Naïve churches can go on and sing all they want about “….a generation rising up to take their place with selfless faith,” but I don’t believe that’s a lyric based in reality.

The brouhaha that never quite seems to leave Chick-fil-A entangles well-meaning (and sometimes “misguided”) folks on our side of the equation too. Many Christian leaders get all worked up over Chick-fil-A’s regular scraps with the press, and they’ll even declare a “Chick-fil-A Day” here and there to lend some support. “Go git yerself a ‘sammich.”

It’s really just the latest version of we-don’t-like-the-movie-so-we’re-going-to-boycott-it. While publicly urging support for a company because you approve of it, or publicly withholding support for a company because you disapprove of it, makes for interesting financial reports for said business, it doesn’t do a whole lot to change lives.

And – getting back to my earlier point – that is precisely why the Bible is under attack. It changes lives!  If it’s properly studied, properly understood, and properly applied, it changes lives both now and for all eternity.

God’s Word shows what is right and it shows what is wrong.  There is an absolute standard no matter how much our culture tries to prove there isn’t. The devil knows this better than most of us do, and so he’s doing just about everything he can do to roll out the red carpet over the way that is broad.

This is why I cringe when so-called “Christians” join with the voice of mainstream media and challenge the proper interpretation of the Bible.  I’ve read several “Christian” blogs recently where it was argued that plain passages in the Bible about marriage and relationships don’t mean what they are clearly saying. The church doesn’t need enemies when it has “friends” like these!

I maintain that one of the reasons the world will not believe the rapture has actually taken place when it does, is because so many “Christians” will still be found in the churches they had always attended.  I believe this fact will further feed the unprecedented deception of that time.  The circumstances of those who are left behind will be used to argue that the Bible does not really mean what it says.

We live in a time when the pressures to abandon a life of faith are incredibly strong.  It is incumbent upon each child of God to “rightly divide the word of truth” (2 Timothy 2:15).   Another translation states we need to “correctly explain” what God has chosen to reveal to us.

I believe God wants us to get it right!  Our comfort, our hope, and our eternal glory is at stake.  God does not waste words!

For whatever it is worth, I hear Chick-fil-A’s sales always enjoy a pretty good bump when they tangle with the press. The left can’t stand it when that happens, and so they scream bloody murder once more. The result is Chick-fil-A has more sales!

The whole dynamic seems to be a pretty good formula for success. I have a friend who bought 8 “sammiches” at Chick-fil-A the other day, and he hardly ever eats there. Good for him – and good for them!  Really, I mean that.

Just give me a pastrami on rye, please.