Posted on 04/28/2004 12:01:04 AM PDT by JohnHuang2
Why are Christians losing America?
© 2002 WorldNetDaily.com
"I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot. So then because thou art lukewarm and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth."
– Revelation 3:15-16 KJV
Most Americans call themselves Christians.
Twice they chose as their supreme leader Bill Clinton – a sexual predator and pathological liar who regarded the "religious right" as enemies and radical homosexuals as friends, and who by any meaningful and historical measure was a traitor.
After that, millions of Christians came within a hair's breadth of electing Clinton's partner in crime, Al Gore – another pathological liar, a radical environmentalist who reveres "Gaia" but believes the internal-combustion engine should be outlawed (according to his book, "Earth in the Balance").
Christians have stood on the sidelines during the breathtaking transformation of their once-great Judeo-Christian culture into today's neo-pagan, Sodom-and-Gomorrah-style freak show.
Christians have lost the 30-year war to protect the unborn.
Christians have lost the war for America's schools – which have been scrubbed antiseptically clean of the Christian principles and traditions that once guided those institutions, and are now filled instead with every conceivable form of propaganda and perversion.
Christians have lost their former influence in politics, in the press, in entertainment, in literature – in virtually every major area of life.
And now, Christians are losing the war for their very own institutions – their churches. The clergy sex scandal is the tip of the iceberg. Both the Catholic Church and most of the major Protestant denominations are literally being ripped apart – from within – by double agents who pretend to be "faithful" but actually loathe Christianity's historical precepts and values.
It's a harsh indictment – but hey, the truth hurts.
In his recent book, "Abandonment Theology," author John W. Chalfant describes the precipitous decline of Judeo-Christian influence in law, culture and public policy in America, noting the 1947 Supreme Court decision that invented the modern "separation of church and state" and later decisions that outlawed Bible reading and prayer in the nation's public schools. He writes:
Once God was shown the door, America went into chaos. Scholastic Aptitude Test scores plummeted. Violent crime rocketed upward. The abortion mills did an unprecedented business as they devised ever-more-sadistic ways to kill children before and even during birth. Bill Clinton, elected president of the United States in 1992, aggressively advocated homosexuality, which God calls "abomination." The Abandonment Clergy and their millions of undiscerning followers stood mute while America's sudden loss of greatness became obvious even to the world.
What's this about an "Abandonment Clergy"? Chalfont explains:
Abandonment Theology is a term devised by the author to describe a faith which deceptively pawns itself off as Christianity by operating in the name of Christ, but which produces fruits destructive to America's God-given freedoms. It comprises what is left today of the militant, power-filled, full-dimensional Christian faith of America's Founders after decades of erosion, watering down and trivializing of God's action mandates by America's Abandonment Clergy. It is a "feel good" theology that patronizes Jesus Christ and thereby gains legitimacy, while at the same time produces disobedience to the commands of God and desertion of Christian duty.
Chalfont describes how the "Abandonment Clergy" and their followers have responded to increasingly audacious attacks on Christian America during the past half-century:
Incredibly, this was the ultimate hour for the Abandonment Clergy to see the light of truth. They faced blatant godlessness at every turn. They could have abandoned their own ways and made a comeback to the faith of the Founding Fathers. But what did they do?
They observed the horrible, deteriorating conditions in America, determined that she was headed into rubble just like pagan Rome and that we must be living in the prophesied "last days" and "end times." Therefore, with the end and the "rapture of the church" so apparently near, why fight?
"After all," these clergymen said, "We're in this world, not of it, so to heck with it," and "Compared to eternity we're here only for an instant." They told us that all that really counts is that we "lead as many people as possible to salvation and let our corrupted country continue on its death course."
Faulty Christian teaching, says Chalfant, is the only way to explain why so many well-meaning Christians are paralyzed into inaction:
The Abandonment Clergy and their followers have been teaching, preaching and saturating the media and their church members with the doctrine of surrender and political non-involvement. They are not teaching us to surrender to Christ through obedience to the commandments of God. Rather, they tell us that America is finished, that the collapse of our heritage and our freedoms has been predetermined within a definable near-future time frame and is therefore beyond our control.
Chalfont takes direct aim at those obsessed with their own imminent "rapture":
The legitimate study of eschatology (the future in prophecy) has been converted into a doctrine of futility and surrender by the clergy who, in defiance of Christ's injunction (see Mark 13:32,33), insist upon assigning near-future dates to the "last days," the "rapture of the church" and the "second coming" of Christ. … At the very least the clergy should understand that their "last days" teachings are nothing more than personal speculations. Christ taught that futility of attitude denies the faith and leads to enslavement. He promised great rewards for those who endure to the end in His cause of freedom.
Chalfont is right. But the problem with contemporary Christianity goes way beyond mere political non-involvement. Do we dare take an honest look?
One reason for the multitude of attacks on Christianity is that evil always attacks good – because it is good – because good shines a bright and painful light on the works of darkness. Jesus Himself warned His followers to expect to be persecuted, just as He was persecuted. This is the reason, and a profound one, that Christians offer to explain why they, their values and their institutions are always under attack.
However, there is another, and far more decisive, reason for the spectacular decline of Christianity in our modern era: Christianity today is very different from what it once was.
America is full of people who have accepted the idea that Jesus Christ died for their sins, and that this belief guarantees them a place in Heaven.
Some are very sincere. They are truly mortified at their former sins, genuinely contrite before God and those they have offended, and they grieve over their continuing compulsions. They have awakened from their former life of gross sin, and now want nothing more than to do the will of their Creator – whatever that may be, wherever it may lead them, whatever they may suffer. They take seriously the commandments and principles given by their Savior, and make their life revolve around emulating Him, to the best of their ability. They are, quite literally, followers of Christ – that is, Christians.
On the other hand, there are countless "Christians" who believe they have a ticket to Heaven, and nothing else really matters very much to them. Their attitude can only be described as brazen. They live lives of shallowness and selfishness, of petty emotions and jealousies, of distraction and escape, of ego and pride, and sometimes of gross corruption and treachery – remember, Clinton is a churchgoing "Christian." This version of Christianity, more prevalent than you can imagine, literally justifies and excuses dirty rotten scoundrels. Its adherents, while living it up under the smug delusion that they're "saved," drive other people crazy (and away from real Christianity) with their hypocrisy.
And then there are, of course, millions of "lukewarm" Christians in between these two groups. They go to church and sing songs and sometimes read the Bible, and maybe "try to be a good Christian" – but they're basically clueless. Their marriage is on the rocks and their children are wearing tongue studs. They believe in society's atheistic "experts" and they're addicted to Internet porn.
Some Christians are actually worse off after being "saved" than before. At least before they were "saved," they had a natural respect for, or fear of, ultimate justice – an inborn sense that somehow we all reap what we sow. After being "saved," that's gone for the insincere "Christian." For him or her, belief in Jesus amounts to a "get-out-of-Hell-free" card, a sort of spiritual "diplomatic immunity." It's like the profligate teenage son of an important Arab diplomat who knows he won't be prosecuted under U.S. law while living here, so he drives recklessly, molests women and generally lives it up with impunity. And because the natural and necessary fear of consequences has been unwisely removed from his life, he falls that much more easily to the temptations of his lower nature.
For millions of people, Christianity has become a bumper-sticker religion. Simply by saying, one time, a single phrase – "I accept Jesus Christ as my savior and repent of my sins" – you are guaranteed salvation and eternal life in heaven, no matter how insincere or selfish or shallow your motives for doing so.
Is this the kind of salvation Jesus referred to when He said, "But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved." (Matthew 24:13 KJV) Endure to the end? What's with that? I thought this salvation thing was all settled by that altar call back in '89.
Is this what He meant when He said, "If ye keep My commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept My Father's commandments, and abide in His love." (John 15:10) Many Christians don't bother to pay any attention at all to God's commandments. Hey, what the heck difference does it make? I'm already saved!
Is this what Paul referred to when he said, "I die daily"? (1 Cor. 15:31) The apostle's poignant and intensely meaningful reference to the duty of man to give up the life of pride in all its forms, to die to the "carnal mind" – considered central to Christians of past eras – is all but absent from most of today's churches.
Christianity – the deepest, most meaningful and awe-inspiring religion ever, the magnificent driving force behind Western Civilization, and the transcendent hope of mankind's future – has been dumbed down by these types into a comic-book religion. Turn on your radio and listen to some of the pitches: "Do you want to go to Hell – forever? Well, think about this: What if it really is true that Jesus is the Son of God, and that He is the only way to eternal life in Heaven? Do you want to miss out on eternal life? Then why not say yes to Jesus right now, just to make sure? You'll like it – it's a natural high."
Such altar calls are little more than an insurance pitch. "Hey, buy a little extra insurance, then you can go on with your selfish life and be guaranteed a place in Heaven no matter what."
Just repeat the salvation "formula" – like an Eastern mantra – and you're saved. Period.
For this type of Christian, there's no need to do good works, because they're saved by grace, not works. No need to obey God's commands, because they're already saved, so why bother? They don't need to try to help make it a better world, because they're gonna be "raptured" soon and the rest of the suckers who are left behind can sort out the mess.
Is it any wonder the West is dying?
What's missing in all of this, of course, is a love of truth.
"This people draweth nigh unto Me with their mouth, and honoureth Me with their lips; but their heart is far from Me," said Jesus. (Matthew 15:8 KJV)
Truth predates the incarnation of Christ, it predates the Bible. It's the substance of our bond with God. If you have a love of truth, you're just not ever really satisfied with anything else, and you want to know the truth about everything – especially about yourself. If you're wrong about something, you want to know it. If you've been living a lie, you're willing to see it – no matter what the cost.
If you don't have a little bit of this quality, you don't have squat – even if you call yourself a Christian.
To a truth-seeking soul, the story of Christ – not as told by a plastic minister, but as told by someone, anyone, who's real – has an internal reverberation of truth in the listener's soul. It has the quality of a wonderful old story you heard long ago, in your childhood, but had forgotten.
At the core of this life-changing religion is the individual believer's love and appreciation and acceptance and embrace of Christ's sacrifice – the ultimate demonstration of God's love for His wayward children.
But the problem with the way Christianity is "taught" today is that it doesn't require a love of truth. It doesn't require honest introspection, or courage, or self-denial, or patience. The only ingredient it needs is a guilty person who's sick of feeling guilty, who wants relief, wants to feel better about himself and doesn't want to go to Hell. But even the most insincere person wants to feel better about himself, wants relief from guilt, and fears death and what may lie beyond.
So, it's this compartmentalization and trivialization of Christianity – into a mantra of belief – but separated from works, from obedience to God's laws, and even more fundamentally, separated from basic honesty, integrity, love of truth and true repentance, that has ushered in a generation of shallow and ineffectual Christians.
Did you ever wonder why American founders like Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin completely rejected institutional Christianity – what some call "Churchianity"? Maybe even back then too many of the churches were just too pale a reflection of Christ's true message for them to stomach.
The Christian Church in America needs a revival. But it doesn't necessarily need ever-bigger tents with tens of thousands of people swaying back and forth, singing songs, giving speeches and getting pumped up – and then going home and watching television.
America's real revival will happen when those same people go home, go to their room, close the door, take a deep breath – and take a good, long, hard look at themselves in the mirror. And then, quietly and humbly and fervently, they ask the living God for help, for insight, for direction – for salvation.
Of course Jesus was framed with a charge of plotting against the government. That was the only charge the Romans would care about; they didn't care that he might have claimed to be God's son. It also was a believable charge to them, since they had several previous zealot insurrectionists already on a cross.
My point is that the charge wasn't true.
Yes, Chrsitians need to be good citizens and vote etc. That is why I am on this board.
Of course, civilizations require laws and government. But keep in mind they require laws and government precisely because they are East of Eden. God has little interest in helping us get our governments right.
I agree that -- not a little -- a LOT of social reform takes place when hearts are won. But social reform is not the object.
"Heroes of the faith" are different after Jesus than before Jesus. Before Him, they are members of a nation who legitimately consider earthly theocracy the norm; after Jesus, God's attention has shifted. Clear as a bell.
Thanks again for your interest in this neglected issue.
I have to register a note of disagreement here. Mainly, because many of the heroes of the faith who were in government, served in pagan states which certainly were not Jewish theocracies. Joseph was prime minister of Egypt, Daniel served the Babylonians, Queen Esther was queen of Persia. And in serving these ungodly governments is where they had the best influence. (In fact the kings of the Israelite theocracy were mostly a bunch of backsliding screwba'als by comparison!)
This pattern continues after Christ. I could cite a lot of examples, but one will suffice: William Wilberforce, the devout Christian parlimentarian in Britain. His contribution to history: leading the charge to outlaw slavery in the British Empire. Surely such a man would have merited mention in the Scripture if he had done his work before the time that it was written.
So I'm convinced that God cares intensely about government. I just don't see the "clear as a bell" shift that you claim you see.
Of course, government is certainly not His FIRST priority, but, that doesn't mean it has dropped off his list.
Won't we end up just picking those figures which reflect the view of NT we already had before we started picking?
No, the text of the Gospels is what we have. And what we have there is a personality who is CLEARLY different in style and focus from the OT figures you cite. Joseph, Esther, Daniel -- none of them would have said "My kingdom is not of this world". But Jesus did, and you expect Him to change this like He changed everything He commented on, because of Who He Is.
If we don't use the gospel texts to form an attitude to politics, can we just hew the prophets of Baal with the sword (like the prophet did) and be done with it? Why not? He was a "hero of the faith", wasn't he?
By their fruits shall ye know them. That's the NT standard.
" Joseph, Esther, Daniel -- none of them would have said "My kingdom is not of this world". "
True, but it does not logically follow that we are now to sit back and allow worldly kingdoms to fall apart -- that's bad stewardship. And no, Elijah isn't supposed to slay the prophets of Baal - the Israelite theocracy has been superceded. But since the NT clearly tells us that goverment officials are "ministers of God" to keep public order, and that we should pray for them in order to live a quiet and peacable life, God clearly still cares about government, even though it's not the theocracy of the Judges.
I'm not sure why we're arguing. If you mean that individual salvation is a much higher priority in God's view, than government (or anything else), then, we already agree. (BTW, that was also true in OT times, not just in this "age").
We can either ignore government altogether, or, we can regard government as a secondary matter with which we must, sometimes, concern ourselves with. Obviously I take the second view. But since you admit that Christians should be good citizens, vote, etc, then how exactly do you differ from me?
We could really improve society, and worship molech!
No, wait! We already do that. Open your "Yellow Pages", you'll find plenty of his temples advertised in the first few "A" pages...
With all due respect, I believe the overall intent of his post was to demonstrate that, since politics envolves people, money and power, those people, no matter what faith they adhere to, will become (or have a great chance to become) corrupt, greedy, and tyrannical without accountability from the people they serve. At least thats what I got out of it. Christian, Muslim, or Jew...all have the capacity for evil.
I had it put to me another way:
Salvation is the transformation of knowing about God...to knowing God.
Good post. Perhaps this is one of main problems as to why Christians our losing America. Is being a Christian a one time prayer that assures me of my salvation? If so, (and most of your very large and influential fundementalist circles adhere to this as their "altar call" moment) then it is a cheap salvation and a cheap Christianity, it will and won't have any lasting effect. IMHO...(and OK I am biased here because I am a revert Catholic) "knowing one is saved" just does not cut it. If we are to work out our salvation with fear and trembling how can we know we will get to heaven? Its not a cheap ticket...its a lifelong struggle of doing God's will, of living a life more like Jesus. Cheap and ingenuine Christianity produces cheap and ingenuine Christians...and ones who don't practice Christianity in their own life.
Another point in Christianity's decline comes with the notion of moral standards. And, also IMHO...at least in the U.S., it started with the mainstream acceptance of birth control (sexual pleausre w/o responsibility or self control and playing God with God's soverignty), which led to the degradiation of all newborn life (abortion), and further degraded to the total perversion of the sex act itself (homosexuality and other perversions); all which degrade society and the family unit as a whole. If these are our moral standards and this is salvation...its no wonder that we are losing America.
I, however saw the post as a slam on Christianity and I've about had it with that talking point nowadays. I hear enough of it from Hollywood and Madison Avenue and don't particularly have patience for it I used to.
We have a local chapter of NYCF, the only Christian lobbying organization in NY State. We're very small, but we have four pastors and four members who have run for political office. Some Christian friends have tried to tell us that our focus is wrong, that we are commanded to submit to those in authority, and that, being in the Lord's hands, our efforts will likely have a negligible effect.
Your article was truly an encouragement.
Any and all prayers for His blessings upon our efforts would be greatly appreciated!
~The Mayor's Wife
But if a Christian is elected to office, s/he IS the authority. In fact, as voting citizens each of us already has a certain share of governing authority -- a stewardship for which God will hold us accountable.
You might want to make this point to them.
~The Mayor's Wife
From what I heard on the radio the other day, the difference is that many non-Christians simply shack up, while more Christians marry.
I watched a very inspiring yet troubling sermon from Dr. Alan Keyes yesterday, given to students at Liberty Bible College. His answer to the above query was (parphrasing, sorry Alan), 'because in the end times, Christians will be reviled in their own lands' and the message was delivered by the Lord 2000 years ago! Seeing the turn toward reviling us is strong evidence that the end of times for this 'dispensation' are at hand. Those who call themselves Christians are compromising in every direction, rather than stand up for what God says and condemn that which God condemns. The stage is surely set, trim therefore your lamps ...
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