WHY RELIGION IS LOSING INFLUENCE IN AMERICA

A recent Gallup Poll found 77% of Americans believe religion is losing its influence on American life. This compares with 1957, when 69% thought religion was increasing its influence on the culture. The highest point was December, 2001, when 71% of the folks thought this way. This was right after 9-11.

Reality? For all it's philosophical stance, as a predominantly Christian culture, America has largely paid lip-service to The Gospel. The rise in public opinion about what Gallup calls "religion,' has been largely emotional. the high-water mark of 71% is a case in point. Patriotism [survival?] was running high and God was on everyone's lips. After WWII, the same religious euphoria prevailed. Foxholes tend to clarify the realities of life and death as little else does. Men, coming home from war, saved in many cases while in the military, were zealous about Christ and the rise in Evangelistic zeal, as illustrated by Crusades and Campaigns, reflected that zeal. Additionally, there was a 'Baby Boom.'

By the late 1950's, teenagers were everywhere, with more wealth and leisure time than any society this world had ever seen. Youth Ministries were popping up all over the world. It looked good! It felt good! God was making inroads on every front, or so it seemed.

The late 1960's brought reality home, as social, political and racial unrest erupted in city after city. Stirred by the idealism of college campuses and an unpopular (and frightening) war, fueled by drugs, sensual music, Free Love and radical political rhetoric, America woke up!

The euphoria of the 1950's was apparently not real! The perception of peace and prosperity masked a systemic reality: Religion [Christianity] was not as dominant as we thought.

Why? In large part because of the Peace & Prosperity. To a greater degree, because of the Evangelistic Campaigns, both in churches and in Colosseums. These evangelistic appeals relied too much on emotionalism.

There is an excitement generated by public meetings. Religious meetings tap into a deeper part of our psyche. The atmosphere, the staging, the music, the 'star power' of some preachers as well as simply preaching, as a technique, are all calculated to bring folks to a climax: The Decision!

Herein lies The Rub! Salvation is NOT, strictly speaking, a Decision! That Americans have assumed as much may be why so many think themselves to be Christians, while their lives speak a very different language.

We see it in the divorce rates among Evangelical Christians, the drug rates, the abortion rates, the fashions, the worldliness and greed. We see it in the theatrics, the music, the carelessness of what is now being called worship. We see it in the gullibility, foolishness and strange behaviors of church-goers, not to mention the preachers. It is not uncommon to hear about a popular preacher involved in some form of immorality: sex, drugs, alcohol, thievery, etc.

It may be Gallup has it right when they speak of Religion, because biblical Christianity is not like any other religion. Christianity has always been about a heart change. In this sense, it has always been a minority influence.

Christian Counseling -- Biblical Counseling: What's The Difference?

    I get phone calls every once in a while from folks asking if I do counseling. I do. I have done biblical counseling for over 30 years. 

    The next question is: What's the difference? Is there a difference? The American Association of Christian Counselors doesn't think so. Most of those doing what they call 'Christian Counseling,' don't think so. 

    I usually answer the question in the simplest way, since most folks don't understand the issues: "If you are being charged for the counseling, it's not biblical!"

    That's a Game-Stopper! The Point? If you're counseling from the Bible, how is it you can charge folks for that instruction? If we should, I want to charge folks on Sunday morning! I think the one's who pay would be more likely to listen and learn, than those who simply come out of habit....don't you?

    I mention this because of the issue at Liberty University [it's in the list (below) for this Sunday Night's Show]. Liberty University opted, at their inception, to embrace what is called 'integration,' where counseling is concerned. Noted psychologists like James Dobson, Gary Collins, Lawrence Crabb, Minerth & Meir, and a host of others have taken secular psychological theory and found biblical words, phrases and concepts that support those principles and declared: All Truth Is God's Truth!

   With this one declaration they have suborned God's Word to mans' opinion, in an area which is of critical importance. The biblical counselor does not start where the secularist starts, does not go where the secularist goes, does not point where the secularist is pointing, does not use the techniques the secularist uses and is not looking for the same result as the secularist.

    I remember reading about a court case [late 1970's] where an unsaved, Jewish woman, was sitting in judgment over the California case of a young man who committed suicide, while having been to Grace Community Church [Jn. MacArthur] for counseling.

   After having heard testimony from secular psychologists and from Pastor John re: counseling philosophy and technique, she declared: If what you men are saying is what you believe, these two systems are not even friends! They are enemies of one another.

   How is it an unregenerate person understands and well-trained Christians can't? Perhaps she was listening for differences [that's her job - she was The Judge] and the Christians weren't. Why else would they seek training in secular philosophy, when they have in their Bibles all anyone needs for "life and peace," through the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ?  God says so!

   What IS the difference between what a trained 'therapist' does and what a pastor [or others] do in dealing with the same issues?

   We're going to be talking about these issues this Sunday Night on The Bible Forum. You can listen, over the internet, at www.portcityradio.com -- or you can watch / listen from this website -- or from our Facebook Page.

   We'll be talking about it during the 9:00 hour.

THE SKY IS FALLING....

    If you've been paying attention, this week, you might have noticed the atmosphere of concern regarding a number of key issues in our life: The Economy, North Korea and Our Children.

    What do they all have in common? They are symptoms of America's slide into relativism, selfishness and fear. In terms of the children, we are apparently willing to sacrifice them on the altar of our own selfishness. More of them are on Ritalin [and similar drugs] than ever before. Even after 10 years' of warnings.

    In terms of the economy, we are apparently willing to spend ourselves into bankruptcy and then blame citizens for consuming too much. Our leadership is arguing over 'saving' less than 3% out of a bloated budget. They think they're being fiscally responsible in so doing. Our President thinks that sort of saving is going to destroy The Recovery.

    In terms of North Korea, should North Korea follow through with their threats, officials of our government are talking about 'Regime Change.' Do the words, Vietnam and Iraq mean nothing to them? Do they not see where North Korea is? Are they foolish? Arrogant? Ignorant? Or just disconnected from reality? 

    It is symptomatic of morally challenged individuals that they do not see the difference between possible and necessary. Roman Catholic Archbishop Charles Chaput, once said, "competence without character is a good recipe for wickedness." He was talking about the lack of virtue in leaders and how that determines their decisions.

    America is on The Brink. We do not have time for mistakes. War is brewing in a number of Hot-Spots around the globe. Our economy teeters on the brink of disaster. We cannot educate out children and now a Federal Judge has just ordered that 11 / 12 year old girls must be able to walk into a Drug Store and simply buy, over the counter, The Morning After Pill. A pill that aborts the fetus and brings lethal complications in some users.

    If we need more evidence of America's decadence and spiritual malaise, I can't imagine what it would be. More people in America believe they are Christians, than actually are. More actual Christians are embracing more of the world than ever before. More Christians are suffering the same illnesses and mental problems as do the unregenerate....and for the same reasons. More preachers are in sin. More churches are immoral in their finances, laws and activities.

    Our Churches have abandoned Doctrine. They won't preach it. They don't live it. They won't even list it under 'What We Believe,' on their websites. Look for yourself. Increasingly Doctrinal Statements are becoming shorter and shorter, more generalized and 'safe.' Otherwise people won't come to their church!

   What does that say about "Christian America?" We have been the bastion of Christian values for over 200 years! We have been the engine of peace and prosperity, the envy of the world. We have been the world's conscience. We have led the way in equality and individual prosperity. Now, we are leading the way in decadence and division. 

    What changed? Our churches changed! They gave into greed, just as our political leaders have. The Cult of Success co-opted The Church. In politics, wealth determines our leadership. In the church, wealth determines success and the leaders that bring that wealth are the ones we want. 

    Religion has abandoned God. Has God abandoned America?

WE'LL TALK ABOUT IT THIS SUNDAY ON THE BIBLE FORUM

www.thebibleforum.net         

On This Resurrection Day....

    Fully 50% of self-identified evangelicals say they do not plan to attend services this Sunday! What does that say?

    It says that fully 50% of self-identified evangelicals have no idea what it means to be a Christian! Christians don't miss worship, unless it is unavoidable. Christians know they need corporate worship. Christians know they are need of corporate worship, as well as other meetings of the church.

    What we see are church-goers who go to church when it's convenient, easy, or they don't have anything else to do! Many self-identified evangelicals will use Easter to spend time with unsaved family, believing they are doing a good thing. Those family members aren't interested in Church or God and a large percentage of those who say they are will reinforce the idea that none of it is important, by skipping Church and spending the time entertaining themselves.

    Legalistic? Not at all! Easter is the highlight of the Christian Calendar! If you can't get to church on Easter, you are ill, contagious, have to work, traveling on an unavoidable journey, in the hospital or home-bound. In communist countries and moslem countries, throughout the world, Christians will brave horrible deaths to get to church on any Sunday. Americans can take it or leave it!

    What's so special about Church? You mean, other than it's where God's people gather to worship their God? Or, where we minister our spiritual gifts, one with another, in order to build one another up and further our growth in Christ? Or, where we meet to pray and to testify before a dying world of that which is supremely important?

    It's a topsy-turvy world where the good "guys" bow to the rest, forsaking the one meeting a week that really means something, in order to satisfy the fleshly desires of the unsaved, and call it ministry. Ministry to the unsaved is sharing the gospel with them; living a godly life before them; demonstrating that God is The Most Important Person in your life; showing them what it means to be a Christian. 

    There are exceptions: wives of unsaved husbands, children of unsaved parents and the like. But they are exceptions, not The Rule. If you talk with these folks they will tell you how much they'd rather be in church than at the beach or a park or a family party. 

    On the Bible Forum, this week, we're going to talk about the wiles of the devil. Just what does he do to win people over to his side? The answers are few. Not because he lacks imagination but because it doesn't take much and he's been at it for 6000 years, refining his craft. 

    A large percentage of self-identified evangelicals are part of the popular expressions of evangelicalism, a group largely devoid of any understand of, or instruction in, doctrine. This condition sets them up for all sorts of problems, spiritual, emotional and relational. Problems they don't see coming. Problems they don't understand as spiritual. 

PREVIEW? FORERUNNER? TEST?

    The president of the strongest nation on earth, a Western nation, paid his first visit to Israel, this week. For the entirety of his first term he did everything but refuse Netanyahu's phone calls. He visited every major Islamic country in the Middle East, bowing deeply in their leaders' presence, required by Muslims when approaching one of higher rank or greater respect. He did all this without taking his non-muslim wife.

    This time around, he appeared at Passover time, charming the Prime Minister and bringing him almost to tears, as he praised his son for his bravery. There was no mention of Pre-1967 borders, although the official White House website still boasts a map of the region that reflects those borders.

    He snubbed the Knesset in favor of what was called a 'hand-picked' crowd of college students, for his next major speech. Here he challenged them with a Saul Alinksy quote about the need of every society to hold their leadership accountable for what they [the citizens] want. It reflects the policy of governance from the ground, up.

    Then he went to Gaza, where he told those folks they need to 'get over it!' The 'it' is there condition for peace: Israel's abandonment of the "occupied territories.' This turn of events shocked the entire world! It enraged Hamas and it's fellow-travellors, caused Israel to wonder and the world to begin thinking in terms of a possible Peace Settlement in the Region.

    At the same time, the Western World was celebrating the installation of a new Pope! A pope from the Western Hemisphere, of Italian ancestry, who is a Jesuit! President John Adams wrote that no group was more deserving of hell, than Jesuits. What was his problem? Simple: Jesuits are committed, by oath, to the domination of Catholicism over the religious beliefs of the entire world!

    So...here we have a Western Political Leader charming the Israelis, offering the only viable alternative to the stale-mate that is The Palestinian Situation and a Western Pope charming the entire world with his magnanimous personality and commitment to the down-trodden and disaffected.

    Sound familiar?  I'm not prophesying the end of the world! However, it is very interesting and gives us a glimpse of how really easy it will be for a Western World Leader to be embraced by Israel, with the promise of bringing peace to Jerusalem. It also shows how easy the world will be accepting of a False Religious Leader, who comes on the scene during the Great Tribulation.

    One of the things Jesus told us, when He was here, is how the world will never see it [the end] coming, but how believers will be able to read the events and not be caught napping. One wonders if this isn't God showing His people just how easy it will be. Or....?

    One last interesting note: Our newest CIA Director was Jesuit-trained, as was the President of the E.U., while the Chaplain of the House of Representatives is a Jesuit priest.  Add to that St. Malacy's prophecy and, well you get the idea.   I'm just saying. 

What Evil Lurks?

   Senate Majority Leader, Harry Reid, said this week, he would not allow a gun bill on the floor that banned assault rifles and large magazines because the votes just weren't there.

   What's going on? What's going on is an effort to secure the barn door long after the horses have fled!

   The horrific events of Sandy Hook have once again stimulated our leaders to "do something!" The "something" which must be done is too 'Christian,' too Rational, too Fundamental to be considered. Instead, we seek to limit gun ownership, a fundamental American Right.

   In 21st Century America it is the mirror which is The Enemy! Look at ourselves: fat, lazy, immoral, debauched, drugged and satiated with inane TV shows about people who think they have talent or can dance!

   To resolve our 'gun problem,' we would need to look at what we've done:
            Destroyed the Traditional Family
            Destroyed Objective Moral Standards
            Destroyed our Educational System
            Exalted the Psychological Community
            Become dependent upon drugs
            Become enamored of Government Largesse
            Forsaken Personal Responsibility

   We acquiesced to the destructive powers that be, in all of the above areas, and more. What we are apparently not yet willing to do is let the government take away our guns! Why?

    One reason is our Right to Bear Arms, guaranteed in the Bill of Rights. The First Amendment to our Constitution was deliberately written to guarantee the basic rights which make Americans Free. It includes Speech, Assembly, The Press, Association AND Religion!

   These are fundamental rights, without which we cease to be Free! They, along with the other Rights in the Bill of Rights, were enacted to protect citizens from an abusive government. The Founders knew something about abusive governments and how they can / will carefully and systematically draw all power to themselves if no one stops them.

   The Battle in America is NOT Guns! It's Religion: what or Who we worship and why? Christianity, rooted in Old Testament principles of governance, formed the basis for our Founding Documents. Because of this we have enjoyed unbridled success. The United States of America rose to be the pre-eminent nation on the earth because of it's fundamental structure!

   Now? Now we want every religion on the planet to be honored EXCEPT Christianity! Why? Because it is dangerous; injurious to the Self. When the Self wants access to unbridled sex, it's Christianity that says, No! When the Self wants free expression in all areas of life, it's Christianity that stands in the way.

   Of course, noted "Christian" leaders are rising to speak out against the Bible they profess to believe and teach. Increasingly, Christian-looking preachers are siding with The Enemy on Gay Marriage, Sodomy, Debauchery, Mysticism, Psychology, Infanticide, Divorce, Collectivism and a host of destructive societal trends.

   So, the next time someone takes up a gun and mercilessly kills someone, think about it. Oh, it just happened!  A State Corrections Official in Colorado answered a knock on his door and was met with someone who simply shot and killed him where he stood!

   Ascribing that sort of 'evil' to an inanimate object is it's own form of insanity! If there were no guns, do you not believe [know for certain] that some other object would have been used? The evil lies in mens' hearts, not in cold steel. What are we doing to control the heart? What are YOU doing?
       

THE LAST LAUGH

    Hugo Chavez died this week. He was 58 years of age. He was a Communist Dictator. He was an open critic of the Roman Catholic Church. He essentially disavowed Catholicism, claiming that Christ would whip some church leaders for lying, and incurring the face-to-face criticism of The Pope. He called Christian missionaries "part of a broader conspiracy in Washington to topple" him

    Before he died, knowing it to be soon, Hugo Chavez went on public television and prayed to God: "Give me your crown, Jesus. Give me your cross, your thorns so that I may bleed. But give me life, because I have more to do for this country and these people. Do not take me yet."

    One of the things he did 'for his people' was to enrich his family to the tune of at least a billion dollars, U.S. 

    Hugo Chavez also joined Iran's Ahmedinajad in praying that the Muslim messiah, "The Mahdi," would come soon! Islam's 12th Imam has been living either in mountain caves or at the bottom of a well, depending on who is telling the story, for the last 700 years. He will emerge at the end of the age, along with Jesus, who will join him in bringing about a world-wide Caliphate. 

    His coming will be in the midst of world-wide chaos and war. He, alone, will be able to kill the anti-Christ and usher in a perfect peace. Shiite tradition requires this global upheaval to bring the Mahdi out of hiding. Iran's president is on record, publicly and in State documents, as committing his administration to creating this chaos in order to bring about the Mahdi.

    In a world increasingly secular and humanistic, it's interesting how both Western and Eastern societies are focused on a strictly religious End-Time Scenario. One to bring world-wide peace out of humanistic chaos, the other to create the chaos in which a muslim peace might emerge. A 'peace' that limits rights to male muslims who are committed to the principles of world-domination.

    Apparently the world can run but it cannot hide from religion. It simply remains which religious belief we all have. In truth: even the secular-oriented Darwinianist is a religionist at heart. His system's logical end is godhood. Creatures [oops -- animals] evolving upward toward better and better forms until they reach the ultimate: Godhood. 

    The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD, and against His anointed, saying: Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us." He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh: the Lord shall have them in derision. [Ps. 2:2-4]