Is There Still Hope For America?
Many are hoping and praying for revival in America, including me. While it looks as though things are getting darker and darker spiritually, I still have hope that America could turn back to God.
The Scripture says in these last days, however, that there will be a “falling away from the faith.” (II Thess. 2:3) We sure do see that every day in America and the world.
Pew Research, Barna Group and other surveys tells us definitively that Christianity, church attendance, & Bible reading etc. are quickly declining while a new group is on a meteoric rise. The “NONES” are those when asked about their religious affiliation and say they have “none.”
Not only are those who have no religious affiliation on the rise, but even those who attend many churches are not hearing anything related to The Gospel any longer!
There are several types of churches that have strayed so far away from anything remotely representing the truth of the Bible.
One type of heretical church is typified by old mainline churches such as Glide Memorial Church in San Francisco or Foundry United Methodist Church in Washington D.C.
Cecil Williams, (now 91 years old and still pastor emeritus and active in the church) was and is the driving force behind Glide Church, once proudly boasted, “Glide Church sets the tempo for night clubs. We do our own thing and then the night clubs of the Bay Area pattern after us.”
Way back In 1967, Glide Church hosted a weekend `Happening’ sponsored by the Artists’ Liberation Front. It drew large crowds of young people, from drag queens to members of Hell’s Angels. Naked men and topless dancers moved easily around a sanctuary filled with clouds of incense, the smell of pot, the sounds of drums and horns, all against a mood background of candles and flashing lights. Downstairs, this event provided sex films and beds. All of this, along with dancing, singing and the chanting of Hindu mantras, the church intended to use to build bridges of understanding between polarized groups.
As far back as 1972 Rabbi Abraham L. Fineberg was installed as “Rabbi in Residence” while exotic dancers danced provocatively in celebration of the occasion.
In 1974 Glide Church played host to a convention of prostitutes who proudly wore medallions with the inscription “74 the Year of the Whore.”
“Rev.” Williams has also been quoted as saying he is, “tired of hearing about Jesus.” That is the most disturbing thing I have ever heard a so called pastor say.
I can’t even imagine what is going on at Glide Church today. I shudder to think.
Any church would have to try awfully hard to keep up with the antics that regularly go on at Glide, but Foundry Memorial Methodist Church (which is only about a mile from the White House) does a good job of trying to do just that.
Jesus has been spoken of as a “drag queen.” The Ten Commandments were declared immoral. The keynote speaker of one event promoting promiscuous sex was the infamous Episcopal Bishop John Spong who has trashed every Christian doctrine held dear by the true church since its birth in the first century.
Bishop Spong made fun of the star which led the wise men to the baby Jesus and then went on to make fun of all Biblical prophecy claiming that, “People can’t predict future events. It’s a magical view of the Bible.” If that wasn’t enough he then attacked the virgin birth and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Spong said that events in Jesus’ life didn’t happen the way they are reported in the Bible, but were just “interpreted” that way.
We have removed the Bible and prayer from public schools and removed the Ten Commandments from public buildings. Even manger scenes have been removed from city property in some communities at Christmas. Crosses have been removed in some places as offensive.
While the Bible, prayer, manger scenes, the Ten Commandments, Jesus, and crosses have been called offensive and have been removed from public life, abortion has become a religious “right” to over half of our population who vote Democrat! There used to be such a thing as a pro life Democrat, but not any more.
Even way more heinous than the removal of religious symbols is the mass murder of over 60 million unborn American babies since Roe V. Wade in 1973. If we believe that there was no voter fraud on November 3rd even our beloved Arizona has narrowly been taken over by those who would kill the most innocent and defenseless of all human lives in the womb. Arizona is now a blue state.
America has been in decline for decades, and so has the church. In an article this short there is no space to detail other types of perversions of the gospel, but maybe I could at least mention a couple.
Many so called churches have become nothing more than self help, feel good, entertainment centers with dozens of televisions showing NFL games in the foyer and nothing more than a rock and roll concert with fake smoke and light show, followed by a pep talk to boost self esteem from a hip “pastor” with $100 haircuts, wearing skinny jeans and $600 tennis shoes.
The Bible may or may not be mentioned at all. Google a YouTube of “pastor” Steven Furtick of Elevation “church” doing a rock concert followed by him preaching more about himself than anything else for an hour if you have any doubts!
Then there are those pastors on late night television promising that if you send them $100 God will have to send you back a $1000, a ten fold blessing.
While all of this and much more is waxing worse every day in America there are still those few people, a “remnant” of pastors and churches who are still believing and preaching the true Gospel of Jesus Christ no matter what is going on around them.
Is it too late for revival in America? I don’t know. I hope and pray not. But the hour is late and time is short, the way things are headed if we don’t repent. My hope is that as it gets darker and darker spiritually that the true light of the Gospel will shine brighter and brighter.
