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The number of people adhering to the Christian faith in America has been on a steep downward spiral since the advent of the current century. That trend is only accelerating. It will not be long and people identifying themselves as Christians will be a distinct minority in this country.
Here are snippets from a recent CBS report:
Christianity has remained at the forefront of the nation's political and social conversations for centuries — but new research shows that could be changing.
A new report by Pew Research Center and the General Social Survey published on Tuesday found that the large numbers of people in the U.S who practice Christianity are declining. The religion's demographic has been dwindling since the 1990s, the report said, as many adults transition to an identity of atheist, agnostic or "nothing in particular."
In the early '90s, about 90% of people in the U.S. identified as Christians, the report said. In 2020, Christians accounted for about 64% of the U.S. population, including children. Meanwhile, those who are not affiliated with a religion have grown from 16% in 2007 to 30% in 2020, according to the research. All other religions, including Judaism, Islam, Hinduism and Buddhism, accounted for about 6% in 2020.
"Depending on the future of religious switching, people who identify as atheist, agnostic or 'nothing in particular' could become America's largest (non)religious group within our lifetime," Pew researcher Stephanie Kramer tweeted.
Look no further than this one report for an explanation as to what happened to our once-great nation.
John Adams rightly warned:
We have no government armed with power capable of contending with human passions unbridled by morality and religion. Avarice, ambition, revenge, or gallantry, would break the strongest cords of our Constitution as a whale goes through a net. Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious [meaning the Christian religion] people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.
The collapse of Liberty in our country is directly related to the collapse of the Christian faith in our country.
Please observe that the dramatic decrease in the number of professing Christians transpired at the same time that megachurches were popping up all over the place and television evangelists were ubiquitous.
I hate to say, “I told you so,” but I told you so.
When I saw President G.W. Bush turning evangelical Christians into warmongers and sheepish slaves of his Orwellian surveillance society in the early 2000s, I said this on my national radio talk show:
G.W. Bush is destroying historic Christianity, and in 20 years evangelicalism will be unrecognizable and Christianity will collapse into a minority faith system.
Per the report at the top of this column: WE ARE THERE!
The Exaltation of War
Evangelicals were the loudest cheerleaders for Bush II’s unconstitutional and immoral wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. They were the loudest cheerleaders for Bush’s “preemptive war” doctrine that expanded America’s Warfare State all over the world—especially in the Middle East, Near East and Northern Africa.
There hasn’t been a bomb dropped, a missile launched, a political assassination, a clandestine military operation, a drone attack or a private contractor murder that evangelicals have not cheered. The war in Ukraine fulfills all kinds of fantasies and fetishes for evangelicals.
Evangelicals’ fascination with war and killing has emboldened politicians from both major parties to literally bankrupt our country in order to feed America’s insatiable lust for war—while enriching themselves in the process, of course.
The war in Ukraine is nothing more than a 21st-century version of the Roman colosseum. Only this time, the Christians are in the stands doing the cheering and pointing their thumbs to the ground.
Warmongering evangelical pastors have never repudiated their support for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. They have never repudiated their support for America’s attacks on Bosnia, Haiti, Iran, Kenya, Kosovo, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Nicaragua, Pakistan, Somalia, Syria, Uganda, Yemen, ad infinitum.
How can Christians expect anyone to take them seriously when, after talking about the love of Jesus in church on Sunday, they go to a political rally and lead the shouts for killing and death on Monday?
The Exaltation of Zionist Israel
In actuality, the exaltation of war and the exaltation of Zionist Israel are one and the same. Most of the wars and conflicts America has fought in the 21st century are directly in support of the Zionist state.
To illustrate the power and influence that Israel has over the United States, take a look at this report from The Times Of Israel:
South Carolina’s treasurer on Wednesday threatened to cut the US state’s ties with the multibillion-dollar investment firm Morningstar over alleged anti-Israel bias, part of an ongoing offensive against the company by Republican officials.
Republican state leaders have repeatedly accused Morningstar of supporting the anti-Israel Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) campaign, in violation of the law in some states, due to the conduct of one of its subsidiaries, Sustainalytics.
In response, the company has investigated anti-Israel bias at Sustainalytics, taken measures to address the issue, and repeatedly denied any support for BDS.
South Carolina Treasurer Curtis M. Loftis, Jr., in a letter to Morningstar CEO Kunal Kapoor, said the firm may be violating state laws that bar BDS support.
“We require proof that Morningstar meets the requirements of the law,” the letter said. “Absent proof of compliance, the [State Treasurer’s Office] will choose to terminate the service.”
South Carolina uses Morningstar guidance for the state’s 529 education savings plan, which has close to $6 billion in assets, Loftis said. The state also uses Morningstar’s Advisor Workstation, a financial research and planning tool.
On Thursday, Loftis said he will sit out annual rating calls with Morningstar to demonstrate “solidarity with Israel.”
What other nation in the world could wield that much power and influence over a U.S. State? And never mind that governmental anti-BDS laws are an egregious violation of the First Amendment, the freedom of commerce, the freedom of conscience and Religious Liberty.
But remember that South Carolina is home to more evangelical churches and Christians per capita than any other State in the Union. So, once again, we see evangelicals promoting war and the welfare of a foreign government (Israel) above the freedom of the people of the United States—and in this case, the people of the State of South Carolina.
Do evangelicals really expect people to not notice?
The Exaltation of Prosperity Preachers
When the average person thinks of evangelicals, they think of America’s money-grubbing televangelists: people such as Jim Bakker, Joel Osteen, Kenneth Copeland, Jesse Duplantis, et al.
Except for the unfortunate evangelicals totally deceived by these conmen, everyone in the country knows these are corrupt charlatans, hucksters, swindlers and snake oil salesmen who worship only one thing: the almighty dollar.
But as they watch the teeming thousands of gullible Christians who follow these fakers and the uber-opulent lifestyles that they are provided, people are left with the impression that they must represent evangelicals as a whole.
The Exaltation of Corrupt Politicians
The almost universal adoration of evangelicals for Donald Trump has cost the Church millions of adherents. Think of it: The only two Republican presidents of the 21st century so far are Donald Trump and G.W. Bush.
What Bush started Trump accelerated.
And it’s really not so much Bush and Trump themselves but the hysterical—almost fanatical—adulation that evangelicals have heaped on these men that disgusts people so much.
What’s at stake here is not the future of evangelicalism, but the future of FREEDOM.
As I have said over and over: America’s problems are not political, they are spiritual. And that means the solutions are spiritual. And that requires the action of spiritual men.
If you visit the Concord Bridge in Massachusetts today, you will find a plaque outside The Old Manse House overlooking the bridge where the colonists began driving back the British troops after they had killed 8 colonists on Lexington Green outside Pastor Jonas Clark’s Church of Lexington at the Battle of Lexington.
Written on that plaque are these words:
During the 1770s, the Rev. William Emerson, grandfather of writer Ralph Waldo Emerson, vociferously criticized Parliament’s colonial policies from his Concord Congregational Church pulpit. He quickly became known as the “patriot preacher,” and in the Concord town center just prior to the clash on the bridge he said, “Let us stand our ground. If we die let us die here.”
It was the men of Pastor Jonas Clark’s congregation who stood on Lexington Green in defiance of tyranny. It was the men of Pastor William Emerson’s congregation who stood on Concord Bridge in defiance of tyranny. THIS is the heritage of America’s freedom and the heritage of America’s pastors.
God gave Liberty to America because of the courage, indefatigable determination and fearless preaching of men such as Jonas Clark and William Emerson. Our Liberty is being stolen from us today due to the lack of this type of preacher.
The retreat of Liberty in our land is directly commensurate with the retreat of “patriot preachers” in our pulpits. And the retreat of “patriot preachers” is directly commensurate with the retreat of people from America’s churches.
If preachers would begin preaching the kind of messages that gave birth to this country, we would not have to worry about the decline and death of this country.
America—and Christianity within America—is dying today because the patriot pulpit died a long time ago.
Resurrect the patriot pulpits, and God will resurrect America.
© Chuck Baldwin
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