Subject: Why Professing Christians
Endorse Wickedness
Why Professing
Christians Endorse Wickedness –
and its
Implications for America and its People
Six million evangelicals
voted for Barack Obama in 2012.
42% of Protestants
voted for Barack Obama in 2012.
52% of Catholics
voted for Barack Obama in 2012.
Exit polling
statistics beg the question, Why do professing Christians endorse wickedness ?
Here is the revealing
paradox . . .
A
January-to-November 2011 Gallup survey found that 78% – an overwhelming
majority – of Americans consider themselves Christian.
Jesus said “wide is the gate and broad is the
road that leads to destruction, and many
enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life,
and only a few
find it.”1
Gallup and Jesus are at odds – both cannot be correct.
How does God define
a non-Christian ? How does God
define a Christian ? Jesus answered
both questions in a single verse: "Not
every one that says to me ’Lord, Lord’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven. But he who does the will of My Father
in heaven."2
Therefore, conformance to God’s will – not merely profession of the lips
– defines the Christian. A
person is a Christian if they try to obey Jesus' teachings. “And
anyone who believes in God's Son has eternal life. Anyone
who doesn't obey
the Son will never experience eternal life but remains under God's angry
judgment.”3
Churches corrupted
the gospel to increase their attendance, and evangelism compromised the gospel
to advocate easy-belief, leading millions to buy into a cheap grace.
Too many who claim Christianity confess Christ with their mouths, but
then continue in deceit, theft, adultery, backstabbing, sexual immorality,
covetousness, arrogance, maliciousness, evil-mindedness, and every other form
of wickedness. “They
profess to know God, but by their deeds they deny Him.”4 Converts are
lulled into the deception of a Savior who is not Lord.
They have been deceived by a corrupted gospel.
Apostles of cheap grace advocate salvation without repentance and
without lordship of Christ. “Unless
you repent, you will all likewise perish”.5 They take
Christ as Savior, but reject Him as Lord.
The collapse in the
practice of faith in America is evident in the under-30 age demographic. 64% say that “anti-gay”
describes present-day Christianity somewhat or very well and 62% believe that
Christianity is “judgmental.” 48%
believe that sex between two adults of the same gender is morally acceptable. 59% of college-age youth favor
allowing same-sex marriage.
24% of college-age
youth say that abortion should be legal in all cases and 30% say abortion
should be legal in most cases. 59% believe that at least some health care
professionals in their community should provide legal abortions.
In just the last eight years, the percentage of young Republicans who
support full same sex marriage rights has grown from 28% to 37%.6
Churches have
responded by changing their messaging .
. . changing the glorious gospel of Christ to fit the culture,
not working to influence the culture to conform with the gospel.
The lordship of Jesus Christ is largely absent in messaging to the
its-all-about-me generation – as well as to the population at large.
“If the foundations are destroyed, what can the
righteous do ?” (Psalm 11:3). American foundations have been
destroyed.
“We
will have to change.”
Barack Obama, at
the Newtown, CT vigil
We will have to
stop electing wicked leaders. “Choose
capable men from all the people, men who fear
God,
men you can trust, men who hate corruption. Put them in charge .
. . “7
Selecting
leaders who have no respect for God never works out well for us.
It cannot work out well for us. Evil
begets evil. Glorification of
evil through endorsement of evil only encourages more Newtowns, more Auroras,
more Columbines, more Fort Hoods. Wickedness
cannot be the new “norm”. “Righteousness
exalts a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people.”8
Patriotism, without
salvation, cannot close the gap between where we are and where we must be. Patriots
cannot save their country without saving its people.
Because everything produces (reproduces) after its own kind9,
righteousness begets righteousness; evil begets evil.
Wicked people will vote to endorse wicked leaders, perpetuating evil. Jesus was correct – those with only an
appearance of godliness10 and yet
live in defiance of its power to exert any influence in their lives outnumber
those who reverence Jehovah. Tens
of millions of wannabe Christians witness no godliness.
“This has been common in the world.
It is much easier for people to observe the forms of religion than it is
to bring the heart under its controlling influence.”11
We WILL have to
change.
What has higher
value – our country or its people ? Jesus
answered that question with another question .
. . “For
what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own
soul ?”12 The epic battle between good and evil
rages. Churches appear unable to
recover that which they have surrendered by default.
If Americans of patriotic disposition hope for any possibility of
restoring our country to its former greatness, they will need to work a genuine
salvation of its people. We live
in a lost and dying world. Every
person’s legacy will include either their choice to merely watch, or to act as
an agent of salvation.
References
1
Matthew 7:13-14
2
Matthew 7:21
3
John 3:36
4
Titus 1:16
5
Luke 13:3
7
Exodus 18:21
8
Proverbs 14:34
9
Genesis 1:25
10 2 Timothy 3:5
11 Barnes’ Notes on
the Bible
12 Mark 8:36