Revised: A nation divided; a church delusional
\nBy Tavares Robinson<\/p>\n
An article I wrote in 2012 that seems clearly to be prophetic four\u00a0years later.<\/p>\n
I have never seen, in my adult life, so much division in the U.S. like I see now. This year’s presidential election has the ability to produce another Civil War in the 21st century. I will understand it better if this division stemmed fromunregenerate individuals who are in control and governed by the works of the flesh. But a large portion of this strife and chaos comes from those who say they believe and live by the teachings of Christ and claim to be\u00a0born-again believers.\u00a0I am appalled and ashamed by fellow pastoral leaders who use their influence, ethnic race, charisma, power\u00a0and popularity to sway those under them to their own personal political parties.<\/p>\n
The U.S. is divided because the church in this nation is under a delusion! This nation has forgotten about God because the church disregarded God. This nation’s immorality stemmed from the church’s lack of morals; the U.S. has gradually become anti-God because the church has become anti-Christ. This land bleeds self-centeredness because the church promotes narcissism. The people are drowning in humanism because the church’s main focus and objective is self-love. Society despises the Bible because the church doesn’t live and teach the Bible. People have evolved to shun God because the church in America doesn’t know God!<\/p>\n
The pulpit is supposed to be the resource and dispenser for the truth of God to mankind, according to 1 Timothy 3:15. The voice and moral conscience of a nation that once flowed from pulpits have ended abruptly.
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\nI’m reminded of\u00a0Alexis de Tocqueville, a famous 19th century French statesman, historian and social\u00a0philosopher.\u00a0He traveled to the U.S. in the 1830s to discover the reasons for the incredible\u00a0success of this new nation.\u00a0He was impressed especially by the nation’s religious character.\u00a0Here are some excerpts of Tocqueville’s observations:\u00a0<\/p>\n
Upon my arrival in the United States, the religious aspect of the country was the first thing that struck my attention; and the longer I stayed there, the more I perceived the great political consequences resulting from this new state of things.\u00a0In France, I had almost always seen the spirit of religion and the spirit of freedom marching in opposite directions. But in America I found they were intimately united and that they reigned in common over the same country.\u00a0Religion in America…must be regarded as the foremost of the political institutions of that country;\u00a0for if it does not\u00a0impart a taste for freedom, it facilitates the use of it. Indeed, it is in this same point of view that the inhabitants of the United States themselves look upon religious belief.\u00a0I do not know whether all Americans have a sincere faith in their religion — for who can search the human heart? But I am certain that they hold it to be indispensable to the maintenance of republican institutions. This opinion is not peculiar to a class of citizens or a party, but it belongs to the whole nation and to every rank of society.\u00a0In the United States, the sovereign authority is religious…there is no country in the world where the Christian religion retains a greater influence over the souls of men than in America, and there can be no greater proof of its utility and of its conformity to human nature than that its influence is powerfully felt over the most enlightened and free nation of the earth.\u00a0In the United States, the influence of religion is not confined to the manners, but it extends to the intelligence of the people…\u00a0Christianity, therefore, reigns without obstacle, by universal consent…\u00a0I sought for the key to the greatness and genius of America in her harbors… in her fertile fields and boundless forests; in her rich mines and vast world commerce; in her public school system and institutions of learning. I sought for it in her democratic Congress and in her matchless Constitution.\u00a0Not until I went into the churches of America and heard her pulpits flame with righteousness did I understand the secret of her genius and power.\u00a0America is great because America is good, and if America ever ceases to be good, America will cease to be great.\u00a0The safeguard of morality is religion, and morality is the best security of law as well as the surest pledge of freedom.\u00a0The Americans combine the notions of Christianity and of liberty so intimately in their minds that it is impossible to make them conceive the one without the other.\u00a0Christianity is the companion of liberty in all its conflicts — the cradle of its infancy, and the divine source of its claims.<\/p>\n
Great is the fall of our preaching today!<\/p>\n
Pulpits have become weakened because we were sold a secular version of love that has placed a muzzle on many mouths. In our attempt to be more liked and accepted by society, we stopped proclaiming the hard truths concerning Christ and his word so we can appear more loving and less judgmental. This diabolical scheme was sold to the church, and we paid full price for it. Now, men, who the apostle Paul would have never placed in charge to be the voice to the nations, have hijacked the church\u2019s leadership. Preachers are now businessmen and life coaches. These men no longer preach on sin, but instead, they proclaim and motivate self-esteem.\u00a0<\/p>\n
God doesn’t need or want politicians in this hour; He needs prophets! He is looking for those individuals whom Jeremiah mentioned in Jeremiah 23:18:\u00a0\u00a0“But who among them has listened to the Lord that he should see and hear His Word? Who has given thought to His Word and listened?”\u00a0<\/p>\n
Knowing what God is saying to America should be an important role of churches today. Clearly, the handwriting of the Lord is on the wall, and time is approaching quickly when popular celebrity preachers will be called on to diagnose the signs. They, however, won’t have the answer.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Revised: A nation divided; a church delusional By Tavares Robinson An article I wrote in 2012 that seems clearly to be prophetic four\u00a0years later. I have never seen, in my adult life, so much division in the U.S. like I see now. This year’s presidential election has the ability to produce another Civil War in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false},"categories":[41],"tags":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7XeBW-3c","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.watchmansjournal.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/198"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.watchmansjournal.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.watchmansjournal.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.watchmansjournal.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.watchmansjournal.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=198"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.watchmansjournal.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/198\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":199,"href":"http:\/\/www.watchmansjournal.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/198\/revisions\/199"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.watchmansjournal.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=198"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.watchmansjournal.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=198"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.watchmansjournal.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=198"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}