Cause and Effect

Nearly 2,000 years ago, the apostle Paul revealed the defining prophecy for the last days directly preceding the return of Jesus Christ: "But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days." (2 Timothy 3:1)

Paul went on to describe an end time world of morally bankrupt people who would be "lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy,  without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good,  treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God." (2 Timothy 3:2-4)

When we look back over the past century in the western world, we can see that Paul's prophecy is being fulfilled. Crime, violence and moral depravity have exploded. Families are imploding; divorce rates are skyrocketing and immorality has metastasized like a deadly cancer.

But what's the cause of all this moral and spiritual destitution? The cause is very simple; the influence of Judeo-Christianity has declined throughout the western world. And that decline has resulted in the inevitable increase in lawlessness and depravity.

The reason for Judeo-Christianity's declining influence is very simple and easy to understand. During the 19th century, many Christian seminaries and theology schools began to doubt the Bible as the inerrant and inspired word of God. Instead, they began to embrace the godless ideas of humanists such as Marx, Engels, Voltaire, Robespierre and Locke.

With the Bible downgraded to the status of a philosophy book written by men, many seminaries and theology schools sought new explanations for the origin of the physical universe, life and human behavior.

Darwin was brought in to explain the origin of life; Marx was invited to introduce a new socioeconomic order and Freud, Jung, Rogers and Maslow were brought in to define human behavior.

Absent the Bible, the reality of sin and man's moral accountability to God were replaced by social justice, self esteem and universalism.

The results of Christendom's abdication of God's commandments and laws recorded in the Bible became obvious. By the 1920s, moral depravity had established a foothold in the western world. The 1920s became known as the "Roaring 20s" where partying, pleasure and materialism were considered the gateway to happiness and self-fulfillment.

The generation that reached adulthood in the 1920s became the first fruit of the western world's post-Christian era. The children born in the 1920s produced the children of the 1950s and 60s that produced the counter-culture and sexual revolutions. And the children of the 1950s and 60s produced the children of the 1980s and 90s who embraced Marxism, statism and multiculturalism.

The children of the 1950s and 60s grew up without a moral compass. As a result, crime, violence and moral depravity exploded throughout the western world. For example, in 1965 approximately 75 percent of African American households contained married parents. As of this year, only 28 percent of African-American households contain married parents. That's a catastrophe.
http://www.urbancure.org/subs.asp?PagePosition=2&idsub=0&b=0&c=0&tag=Values Agenda&y=0&m=0

The chart provided above also tells a grim story. Without the influence of biblical values, western society has plummeted into the moral and spiritual abyss. Even though this was foretold in ancient prophecy (Daniel 8:23, Matthew 24:12, 2 Timothy 3:1-5) it's still a tragedy.

Even worse, wicked people produce wicked political leaders that reflect their morally bankrupt hearts. Today's corrupt political leaders are the fruit of a morally depraved generation that no longer fears God nor obeys his laws.

And the root of all this traces back to the 19th century when Christendom began to ignore God and turn away from His inspired word contained in the Bible. And that was because Christendom lost its faith despite the ironclad historical, prophetic evidence that proved God's existence and validated the writings of His ancient prophets.

And so, before the western world can be resurrected from the ashes of the moral destitution that it wallows in, the Christian Church must get out of the religiosity business and make itself relevant once again to the world.

Is it too late? It may be. But it's never too late to try. As Paul exhorted the early churches: "Preach the word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage--with great patience and careful instruction." (2 Timothy 4:2)