WHAT A WASTE!
By Chuck Baldwin
July 30, 2015
NewsWithViews.com
There is
NO DOUBT in my mind that the biggest failure in America is the
establishment church. It's a bigger failure than even the federal
government. Now that's saying something.
No
people in Church history had been given the rich heritage of the
churches of America. The Church of America was birthed by the courage
and sacrifice of men such as Jonas Clark, John Peter Muhlenberg, James
Caldwell, Joab Houghton, et al. These men stood in the gap and rallied
the Christians in Colonial America to dispose of a tyrannical British
Crown and to help create a land of liberty such as the world had never
before seen.
Alas,
the courage of the patriot pastors of Colonial America has been
forgotten; their sacrifice wasted. Everything they purchased with their
dynamic and powerful preaching has been squandered by generations of
gutless, ear-tickling men-pleasers in these entertainment playgrounds
known as churches. What a waste!
However,
as far gone as we are, if even a significant percentage of the
300,000-plus evangelical churches (not to mention Catholic,
Episcopalian, etc.) would stand up NOW and begin sounding the clarion
call of national repentance and constitutional liberty, the ship of
state could yet be turned around. But there is NO SIGN of that happening. NONE!
What would it take to get the pastors of America to take a stand?
One would have thought that expunging prayer and Bible reading from our schools back in 1962 and 1963 would have done it. It didn’t.
One
would have thought that copying the Nazi playbook for gun control back
in 1968 would have done it. It didn’t. One would have thought that
legalizing the cold-blooded killing of unborn babies back in 1973 would
have done it. It didn’t. One would have thought that beginning the
construction of a Police State back in 2001 would have done it.
It didn’t.
And one would have thought that the legalization of same-sex marriage would have done it. It hasn’t.
At
this point, it does seem obvious that the vast majority of pastors in
America are content to allow this country to nose-dive into destruction
without as much as a whimper.
Again, what a waste!
It is
one thing to be born in an enslaved country with the weight of the state
forbidding public dissent or freedom of assembly, worship, and speech.
It is
one thing to be born with the shackles of bondage firmly fastened around
your neck from the time of your entrance into the world.
It is
another thing altogether to be born in a land of liberty where one’s
ancestors broke the shackles of tyranny at the cost of their very
lives--thus allowing us to live in a land where the freedom of dissent,
the freedom to elect our civil magistrates, the freedom of speech,
assembly, and worship (not to mention the freedom to keep and bear arms)
are sacrosanct--only to then turn around and squander our liberty and
to allow would-be tyrants to take it from us without a fight.
What a waste! What a horrible, terrible, awful waste!
And that is exactly what the last few generations of so-called
“preachers” have done.
Think what these pussyfooting preachers have lost: they
failed
to preserve the sanctity of life; they failed to preserve the sanctity
of marriage; they failed to preserve the sanctity of the Holy
Scriptures; they failed to preserve the sanctity of liberty; they failed
to preserve the sanctity of honesty and decency; they even failed to
preserve the sanctity of the Church itself.
Truly, “Ichabod” is written over the establishment church in America. And, as a result, “Anathema” is being written over the entire nation.
I
am convinced that any spiritual renewal that might still come will
mostly bypass America’s establishment churches and will be carried by
nontraditional, non-aligned, unincorporated, unaffiliated--maybe even
underground--fellowships. This is what is currently happening in
communist--and other--oppressed countries. And America is fast becoming
an oppressed country.
In
fact, if the pastors in America had even a fraction of the man-stuff
that the pastors in Colonial America had, they, too, would be sounding
the clarion call of independence and secession.
Like
King George’s England, Washington, D.C., has become a corrupt cesspool
of wickedness that is using every means possible to wrap its tyrannical
tentacles around every State, city, hamlet, and village in the entire
country. At some point, the only options
freedom-loving people in this country will have are slavery or
secession. And that point may come a whole lot sooner than most of us
expect.
So, what has happened to the Church?
How did our pastors become so timid?
How could the direct descendants of the Pilgrims, Puritans, and Patriots become so cowardly?
Here are the reasons:
1. The
Church, which is the Bride of Christ, entered into an adulterous
relationship with Caesar when it put on the state’s official wedding
band: otherwise known as the 501c3 non-profit, tax-exempt organization
status. At that moment, it became a “creature of the state” and left the
sanctity of its spiritual wedding to Christ. That happened in 1954. In
just a little over a short half-century later, the Church has lost, not
only the virtue of its own spiritual institution, but also the virtue of
the most fundamental institution of all: Holy Matrimony.
Yet,
instead of sounding forth the message of truth regarding this attack
against Western Civilization itself, our pastors stand mute and
apathetic, holding onto their precious tax-exempt status with their last
waning breath.
In practice, our pastors are saying exactly what the Pharisees said in Jesus’ time: “We have no king but Caesar.”
2. The heretical misinterpretation of Romans 13 that teaches
Christians must submit to civil government “no-matter-what.”
This fallacious doctrine has damned America.
Our pastors and churches are following the Nazi playbook verbatim.
True
resistance to evil must, by nature, come mostly from spiritual sources,
because the battle between good and evil is mostly a spiritual battle. Therefore, it is obligatory that our spiritual leaders be the ones leading this battle. Alas, for the most part, this is not happening.
In the name of Romans 13, our spiritual leaders
have abandoned the battlefield.
They have sounded retreat.
They have waved the white flag.
They have capitulated.
They have surrendered.
And the enemy has taken the field.
I
submit that at the judgment bar of God, these squeamish milquetoast
preachers are going to have to apologize, not only to Clark, Muhlenberg,
Caldwell, and Houghton, but also to every courageous man and woman
throughout history.
Think of Gideon
and Samson and Samuel and David and Vashti and Esther and Daniel and
Micaiah and Jeremiah and Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.
Think of Simon Peter and James and John, and even Paul, the man who penned Romans 13.
Think of the Anabaptists, the Waldensians, the Protestant Reformers, and the martyrs of the Dark Ages.
Think of the Scots and Irishmen and Americans.
Think of the persecuted people of Tibet and Burma and Sudan and Saudi Arabia and China and Palestine.
Think of
the millions of people throughout the centuries who stood against
oppressors and tyrants of all stripes and types--be they political,
religious, or military--and said, “No!”
I say again: what a waste!
3. The heretical “feel-good,” entertainment-oriented Prosperity Theology that has infested America’s churches.
Men such
as Joel Osteen are Pied Pipers of a sleep-walking church whose music is
only serving to march these unsuspecting souls into the gulags of a
modern inquisition. Yet, these sycophants lead the largest churches in
the country.
“Like
priest, like people.” People have heaped to themselves teachers having
itching ears. They have sown to the wind, and they are reaping a
whirlwind. They are like the Israelites of old who refused to listen to
God’s prophets and, instead, gave heed to the hireling-prophets of Ahab.
4. Then, there are the folks who think they must help God fulfill Bible prophecy.
First, there is Mr. Warmonger himself: John Hagee.
This man, and thousands like him, have convinced their churches that
they must help God establish His Kingdom on the earth. They have
appointed themselves judge, jury, and executioner of all things
pertaining to the Middle East. Their loyalty does not reside in America; it resides in the modern state of Israel--a nation that has absolutely NOTHING to do with Biblical Israel.
Their erroneous interpretation of Genesis 12 has created a climate of war and hatred that is tearing the soul out of America. All
of these perpetual wars that are being fomented in the Middle East are
done in the name of Genesis 12, in much the same way that our domestic
internment is being facilitated in the name of Romans 13.
Folks,
God didn’t need anyone’s help when He sent His Son to earth the first
time, and He doesn’t need anyone’s help when He decides to send His Son
to earth the second time.
Secondly,
there are those well-meaning Christians (I think) who actually believe
it is their God-ordained duty to do nothing to resist evil.
I received this post on my Facebook page just this week:
“None of these things [the evil, calamitous things happening to our
country] could have been prevented, nor should they have been. All these
things must come to pass before the Lord returns. In this world,
nations rise and nations fall, and this one just happens to be falling
right now. Praise God! I praise God for the destruction of this evil
nation! I wish the Lord would return right now! But unfortunately, he
will not return until ‘everything that must happen, has happened.’ The
sooner these things happen, the sooner the Lord can return.”
I wonder
if this Christian gentleman is going to be praising God when his
children or grandchildren are put to the rack or his mother and father
are tortured or his wife and sisters are molested and ravaged.
Yes, I
realize that our sainted forebears often endured the most hideous
treatment with spiritual and moral courage, but no one in their right
mind would wish such treatment on their loved ones--especially if they
had the power to prevent it. This man rejoices over his country’s destruction? This man is NOT in his right mind.
The prophets of old wept over the destruction of their beloved nation.
Jesus wept over the impending destruction of the city of Jerusalem.
But
this is the kind of rationale one gets from these pastors and churches
who use the Scripture to brainwash people into attitudes of fatalism.
They are the ones who become nothing more than their own self-fulfilling prophecies.
They stand back and do nothing and then claim to praise God when their own indifference grows into their own destruction. Such people are NOT in their right minds.
Famed Nineteenth Century revivalist Charles Finney is widely reported as saying,
“If there is a decay of conscience, the pulpit is responsible for it.
If the public press lacks moral discernment, the pulpit is responsible for it.
If the church is degenerate and worldly, the pulpit is responsible for it.
If the world loses its interest in Christianity, the pulpit is responsible for it.
If Satan rules in our halls of legislation, the pulpit is responsible for it.
If
our politics become so corrupt that the very foundations of our
government are ready to fall away, the pulpit is responsible for it.”
Amen!
The Church is to blame for legalized abortion on demand;
the Church is to blame for the SCOTUS decision to legalize same-sex "marriage";
the Church is to blame for the growing Police State in this country;
the Church is to blame for America's war-mongering abroad;
the Church is to blame for the growing influence of false
religions in America.
When America is lying in the graveyard of history, the epitaph
on its tombstone will read,
"Here lies the United States of America: killed by the apathy
and indifference of its pastors and churches."
As I
again reflect on the giants who thundered forth liberty from the
pulpits of Colonial America, and I see the behavior of so many of our
pastors today, I can only repeat:
What a waste!
•
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© 2015 Chuck Baldwin - All Rights Reserved
Chuck
Baldwin is a syndicated columnist, radio broadcaster, author, and
pastor dedicated to preserving the historic principles upon which
America was founded. He was the 2008 Presidential candidate for the
Constitution Party. He and his wife, Connie, have 3 children and 8
grandchildren. Chuck and his family reside in the Flathead Valley of
Montana. See Chuck's complete bio here.
E-mail: chuck@chuckbaldwinlive.com
