There are interfaith services [close to the church where I am currently]. When I first got [to this church] twenty-three years ago, I was invited to be a part of not just the interdenominational service, but in interfaith service, so that how we invoke God would be up for grabs. And as it typically takes place, it is thought to be in bad form to use Jesus' name in an interfaith service. And I refused to participate. There were people in the church who were upset with me and there were people in the community who were upset with me…You want me to pray at your public service, but you do not want me to call upon Jesus. I cannot do that. I believe I am taught in my Bible to pray in Jesus' name, and otherwise my prayers are a pious fiction, and I will not pretend and I will not just play along. You might as well invoke mother earth as God if you are not going to approach God in the name of Jesus. Is that not what Jesus taught? Then how can we compromise that? This is the temptation: it is the temptation of a pluralistic and relativistic society to water down our differences and pretend like none of it matters, just so long you are good and religious and have faith—whatever that faith may be. Do you remember President Eisenhower saying that about fifty years ago? Religion is very important and I do not care which one it is. Thus speaks nominal Christianity. We do care about which one it is. We think God cares about which one it is. Jesus did say, I am the way, the truth and the life, no one comes to the Father but by me.

So this is a very dangerous moment for the people of God as they have returned to the land of God and are rebuilding the temple of God. A very dangerous moment, a moment of supreme vulnerability which they perceive and resist as they are tempted to compromise.¹

Terry L. Johnson