Monday, December 2, 2013

Christianity's Decline in America



I'm frequently asked to critique Christianity in America. When I offer my opinion, many folks aren't too happy with me. They don't like what I tell them.

What's wrong with Christianity in America these days? Three things: (1) The American Church has become worldly-focused instead of heavenly-minded. (2) The American Church has increasingly forsaken the cross, and (3) the American Church has increasingly ignored the Bible for secular ideologies and unproven humanistic theories.

All three maladies happen to be prophetic. And certainly, these maladies aren't limited to America's churches. They affect churches throughout the world, and particularly in the western world.

The worldly focus of America's churches underscores a prophecy revealed by Jesus Christ nearly 2,000 years ago concerning the end times: "At that time many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other, and many false prophets will appear and deceive many people." (Matthew 24:10-11)

When people turn away from something, they turn to something else. The "turning away" that Christ revealed concerning the end time church has to do with the increasing rejection of historical biblical doctrine by many professing Christians for a false, experiential form of Christianity. Remember that the second part of Christ's prophecy deals with the rise of false prophets.

Who are these false prophets? They are prophets that proclaim that a great end time global revival is coming that will be predicated upon supernatural events and great miracles. Biblical prophecy speaks of no such end time revival. Rather, the Bible reveals a great end time apostasy where many people will abandon biblical truth to follow "deceiving spirits and things taught by demons." (1 Timothy 4:1)

And so, indeed, a global revival is coming. But it will be a counterfeit revival that will deceive millions. Christ warned: "For false Christs and false prophets will appear and perform great signs and miracles to deceive even the elect if that were possible." (Matthew 24:24)

The second malady that's ruining the American church is its increasing embrace of ecumenicism over the exclusive truth of the cross. Ecumenicism legitimizes all religions by denying the exclusivity of Christ's death on Calvary's cross for all sin. Christ Himself invalidated all world religions with this statement: "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the (Heavenly) Father except through me." (John 14:6)

And yet despite what Christ proclaimed, many churches are embracing false religions such as Islam to promote unbiblical paths to heaven and eternal life. That's not only wrong--that's blasphemy. Remember what Christ stated concerning those who blaspheme the Holy Spirit? (Mark 3:28-29)

The third malady that's plaguing the American church is its increasing reliance upon godless ideologies such as Possibility Thinking, Positive Mental Attitude and humanistic psychology.

For nearly 1,900 years, Christendom relied on its faith in Christ to overcome the power of sin and evil. Christ stated: "I have given you power to overcome all the power of the enemy; nothing will harm you." (Luke 10:19) 

And yet, many churches today no longer believe that. Instead, they look for healing and deliverance in the godless theories of Freud, Jung, Maslow and Rogers. In many churches, the gospel has been superseded by the powerless doctrines of "Christian" psychology.

In fact, Christian psychology is an oxymoron. Christianity and psychology are totally incompatible. The true gospel comes directly from heaven while psychology comes from the world and the minds of godless men such as Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung who hated God with a passion.

Can the American church regain its influence over the nation and reverse the downward trend? Only if it returns to Christ and becomes obedient again to His word in the Bible.

If not, then it's all over for Christianity in America.

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