What Is Happening in Our Churches and the Culture?

Is America under divine judgment?

Well, it’s a question I’ve been pondering recently, especially after an evangelical pastor was reported to have said the following according to a Christian news outlet:

“Materialism, drunkard pleasure seeking, arrogant conceit, defiant sinfulness, moral perversion, and corrupt leadership . . . . Do you not see [them] in America? . . .

“[P]eople [ask] what is wrong with this country? . . . They have rejected the Word, the law of the Lord, the Holy One Himself.”

In explaining the use of his words arrogant conceit, this pastor added that America was largely guilty of this sin because: “When a society does not want to hear from God, but wants to be its own authority where every man does that which is right in his own eyes and feels that he is the ultimate authority, he is the ultimate source of truth.”

The pastor further observed: “We are not a covenant people in America, but we have been a privileged people.” He stated that while America did not have a “divine promise as a unique nation called out,” it had nevertheless been given “exposure to the divine promises of the gospel in Jesus Christ.”

The pastor further explained: “No other nation has literally been born out of a desire to be faithful and obedient to the living and abiding Word of God.”1

Yes, I believe America is under divine judgment. To show you how, just consider some of the ways America has progressively been trying to remove God from this culture:

• In 1962, school prayer was ruled unconstitutional by the U.S. Supreme Court.
• In 1963, Bible reading in public schools was also ruled unconstitutional.
• In 1973, restrictions on abortion were lifted, and abortion clinics began to permeate the nation (through the infamous Roe v. Wade decision by the Supreme Court).
• In 1985, nativity scenes in public places were ruled to violate the so-called “separation of church and state.”
• In 2003, laws against homosexual sodomy were ruled unconstitutional.
• In 2004, a federal court held it was unconstitutional for a school to teach intelligent design theory as an alternative to evolution.
• The New York legislature recently legalized “gay” marriage—joining other states.
• The list goes on.

Promised Judgment

The “blessings” and the “curses” seen in Deuteronomy 28 embody the principles of our Holy Creator and Judge. While they were meant for the covenant people of Israel, I can’t help but see the similarities between what has happened in America to what we read in the Bible concerning Israel:

Blessings

“The Lord will cause your enemies who rise against you to be defeated before your face; they shall come out against you one way and flee before you seven ways” (Deuteronomy 28:7).

“Then all peoples of the earth shall see that you are called by the name of the Lord, and they shall be afraid of you” (Deuteronomy 28:10).

“You shall lend to many nations, but you shall not borrow” (Deuteronomy 28:12).

Curses

“The Lord will cause you to be defeated before your enemies; you shall go out one way against them and flee seven ways before them; and you shall become troublesome to all the kingdoms of the earth” (Deuteronomy 28:25).

“The alien who is among you shall rise higher and higher above you, and you shall come down lower and lower” (Deuteronomy 28:43).

“He shall lend to you, but you shall not lend to him . . . .” (Deuteronomy 28:44).

Today, I do believe America is under divine judgment. We could basically summarize today’s culture with this one verse from the book of Judges:

“In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did what was right in his own eyes” (Judges 21:25).

I was pondering all this while watching a TV news item about a very high profile case in which a mother was charged with murdering her daughter, and was found not guilty by the jury.

Regardless of what really happened, I couldn’t help but shake my head at the hypocrisy of this nation as it was glued to the TV to watch a courtroom drama unfold. Millions of dollars were spent on this sad and tragic case about the death of a dear child.

Now, in no way do I want to diminish the shocking nature of this tragedy. But I did not hear the secular media or the general public cry out that while the nation was focused on the death of one child, 3,700 children a day were being murdered in the U.S. by their mothers in their wombs! Think of it another way: during the two months of this trial, about 222,000 babies were “legally” murdered in America.

How does God look at this? He cannot turn a blind eye. He is a Holy Judge.

How does God look at this? He cannot turn a blind eye. He is a Holy Judge.

Yes, over the decades America has been singularly blessed as a nation. After all, it was originally built on the authority of the teachings of the Word of God. But I think of this verse: “Everyone to whom much is given, from him much will be required” (Luke 12:48).

Yes, I do believe this nation today is under divine judgment.

But next I must ask: Where is the church during this time of immorality and rejection of the Bible?

Well, that is another sad story.

Failures Within

At our Apologetics Mega Conference last month, I gave a keynote talk that centered around two AiG books, Already Gone and Already Compromised. The first publication is based on research that explained why two-thirds of young people are leaving the church. We discovered that one of the main reasons was “hypocrisy.”

Now, hypocrisy was defined as being told to believe the Bible by some Christian leaders who don’t fully believe it. Those people surveyed who no longer go to church had grown up seeing compromise all around them in church, particularly in regards to the book of Genesis (i.e., how so many Christians rejected creation in favor of evolution and millions of years).

The second book, Already Compromised, was based on research that was conducted into what Christian colleges are teaching about the authority of the Bible. This huge study found that compromise, particularly in Genesis regarding the acceptance of evolution/millions of years, is rife in Christian academia—even in many of our so-called “conservative” Christian colleges.

Another Christian leader recently lamented:

“I’m writing this while returning from . . . the annual Christian book convention. Reflecting on some of my conversations the past four days . . . one person passionately made their case to me that we really have no way of knowing whether Muslims or Buddhists or Hindus will go to Heaven when they die (not former adherents to those religions, but current ones, those who have never responded to Christ).”

He continued, “I hear this more and more, not just among theological liberals, but among evangelical Christians. I saw it at ICRS [the Christian book convention] in Atlanta, in books prominently displayed in the booths of some evangelical publishers. I’ve heard it at ‘evangelical’ colleges. I’ve seen it at ‘evangelical’ ministries who, in their attempts to be more broad and inclusive, seldom share the gospel of Christ with anyone.”2

How can we call society to repentance when much of the church itself has compromised God’s Word in Genesis and other parts of the Bible? Sadly, we see this low view of Scripture permeating Christendom in this nation.

The Place for Change

I have heard many Christians declare: “We need to change this culture!” Actually, though, the Bible does not command us to go into all the world and change the culture, but to go and preach the gospel and to make disciples. It is changing hearts and minds for Christ that influences and changes a culture. “For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks” (Matthew 12:34).

Unfortunately, much of the church has allowed the secular world to capture the hearts and minds of so many of their children in church—and, thus, it has changed the culture for the worse. Also, the world has captured the hearts and minds of many of our Christian academics, who in turn train our future Christian leaders. That’s another major reason why compromise with unbiblical ideas so permeates the church today.

At Answers in Genesis, our goal has always been to try to influence the hearts and minds of people first if we want to see society change. As God’s Word instructs us:

“For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ” (2 Corinthians 10:4–5).

In fact, I believe both church and culture are under divine judgment today.

Please be a part of AiG’s call for a new reformation in both our churches and Christian colleges so that generations of young people will be raised up who will stand on the authority of the Word of God and thus help change this culture. We need your prayers and financial help more than ever to reach even more people in the church (and the culture as a whole) to help bring hearts and minds into captivity to the obedience of Christ.