Anthony Pritchard
Member
A Missive of Clarity
There is a difference between what we confess and what we absorb. Creed belongs to the realm of the eternal, for the Lord Himself prayed, “Thy word is truth” (John 17:17). Culture belongs to the realm of the moment, shifting with every wind of doctrine, just as Paul warned that we should be no more children, “tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine” (Ephesians 4:14). Creed calls us to believe because God has spoken. Culture urges us to behave because the crowd has spoken. One demands allegiance to what is unseen. The other demands adaptation to whatever is seen and celebrated.
When a nation abandons creed for culture, it trades covenant for chaos. The principles that once shaped its laws, its families, and its worship become negotiable, then disposable. In time the people forget not only what they believed, but why they believed it. The foundations crumble, and the righteous are left asking, “If the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do?” (Psalm 11:3). Lips may still honor God, but the heart drifts far away, fulfilling the Lord’s own words: “This people honoureth me with their lips, but their heart is far from me” (Mark 7:6).
Creed is costly. It requires repentance, submission, and courage. Culture is cheap. It flatters, bends, and betrays. And when God is no longer welcome, culture fills the empty space with idols, ideologies, and slogans that promise much but deliver nothing. The vacuum never stays empty. Something always rushes in to take the place of truth.
This is why we must return to creed, not out of nostalgia, but out of necessity. We must confess again not what is popular, but what is true. We must hold fast the form of sound words, as Paul wrote, “Hold fast the form of sound words, which thou hast heard of me, in faith and love which is in Christ Jesus” (2 Timothy 1:13). We must stand in the old paths, the good way, the way that brings rest to the soul, for the Lord said, “Stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls. But they said, We will not walk therein” (Jeremiah 6:16).
Creed remains. Culture fades. Only one can carry a people through the storm.
Veritas supra mores - Truth above customs.
~Tony
© A.K. Pritchard 1979 –
Free to use with proper attribution.