From the late 70s onward....up to maybe ten years ago....when we talked about the Republican conservative base....the Evangelicals would be the first group that came to mind.....and they indeed were the biggest grouping within conservatism. That political assumption has of late been blown out of the water. The MAGA people are now not only the biggest group....they dominate everything. Republican candidates running for either a first-time election or reelection have tied themselves....chained themselves.....to President Trump and to MAGA.
The 80s were something special. I've written whole posts on this. I related in a very recent post how in the early 80s we had prayer meetings....at our workplace....in a coal-fired power plant......after a midnight shift! Folks....after working a midnight shift in a coal-fired power plant you want to go home and go to bed. I retired a year and a half ago but to this day an old sticker announcing a Billy Graham Pittsburgh crusade.....from 1973.....still sticks....what's left of it.....on duct work in a highly traveled work area.
Jerry Falwell....love him or hate him.....was a frequent guest on news shows. Pat Robertson was a few years away from his own candidacy for president. Billy Graham was everywhere. Gideon Bibles were in every hotel and motor inn room....not so today. Christian bookstores were everywhere....try to find one today.
It's not the same Evangelical base today. Those who came to Christ in the 70s and 80s are only a small part of who the Evangelical is....and they are at least in their fifties. The church building didn't matter back then....the unction to preach Christ and the passion to hear Christ preached is what mattered. Controversy concerning truth was not avoided. We defended the truth of the Gospel and the truths within the Gospel.
Yes we were political....Ronald Reagan actually used the phrase 'make America great again' in 1980 but try to find someone who can even recall that. We were trying to make America productive again in the 80s....and God-fearing again. Today we have become consumed by the quest for greatness. Can you imagine Donald Trump running against Ronald Reagan in 1980 or 1984....or even George H. W. Bush in 1988? Actually he was very well-known back then and his name was mentioned. Democrat voters might have been interested....Evangelicals would not have.
Where its stands right now is that the Evangelicals are not the force that they once were. They vote more MAGA than gospel....which brings everything back to....(where it has always been).....the American pulpit. Should God will it....and should an unction to defend the gospel and to save souls....not recruit or cajole souls....but save souls.....should that return to the American pulpit.....there would be no economic statistic....no summit....no pep rally.....no series of tweets....and no powerful conservative talk radio host.....that could sustain the level of unconditional....unconditional support the President now receives. We would not be looking forward to November elections as much as looking forward to the next Lord's Day.
Politics is not for the pulpit. Christ and Christ alone is thereunto reserved. Preach Christ in the fullness of all that is written about Him in the Bible....(and that is in effect all of the Bible)....including the judgment He will bring upon His return....and not only will the Evangelical return....but return in the classical definition of what an Evangelical is.....and their numbers would be added to as God wills it....and America would then at least be informed that we can do nothing without Christ....are nothing without Christ....and our hope should be in nothing but Christ.
The 80s were something special. I've written whole posts on this. I related in a very recent post how in the early 80s we had prayer meetings....at our workplace....in a coal-fired power plant......after a midnight shift! Folks....after working a midnight shift in a coal-fired power plant you want to go home and go to bed. I retired a year and a half ago but to this day an old sticker announcing a Billy Graham Pittsburgh crusade.....from 1973.....still sticks....what's left of it.....on duct work in a highly traveled work area.
Jerry Falwell....love him or hate him.....was a frequent guest on news shows. Pat Robertson was a few years away from his own candidacy for president. Billy Graham was everywhere. Gideon Bibles were in every hotel and motor inn room....not so today. Christian bookstores were everywhere....try to find one today.
It's not the same Evangelical base today. Those who came to Christ in the 70s and 80s are only a small part of who the Evangelical is....and they are at least in their fifties. The church building didn't matter back then....the unction to preach Christ and the passion to hear Christ preached is what mattered. Controversy concerning truth was not avoided. We defended the truth of the Gospel and the truths within the Gospel.
Yes we were political....Ronald Reagan actually used the phrase 'make America great again' in 1980 but try to find someone who can even recall that. We were trying to make America productive again in the 80s....and God-fearing again. Today we have become consumed by the quest for greatness. Can you imagine Donald Trump running against Ronald Reagan in 1980 or 1984....or even George H. W. Bush in 1988? Actually he was very well-known back then and his name was mentioned. Democrat voters might have been interested....Evangelicals would not have.
Where its stands right now is that the Evangelicals are not the force that they once were. They vote more MAGA than gospel....which brings everything back to....(where it has always been).....the American pulpit. Should God will it....and should an unction to defend the gospel and to save souls....not recruit or cajole souls....but save souls.....should that return to the American pulpit.....there would be no economic statistic....no summit....no pep rally.....no series of tweets....and no powerful conservative talk radio host.....that could sustain the level of unconditional....unconditional support the President now receives. We would not be looking forward to November elections as much as looking forward to the next Lord's Day.
Politics is not for the pulpit. Christ and Christ alone is thereunto reserved. Preach Christ in the fullness of all that is written about Him in the Bible....(and that is in effect all of the Bible)....including the judgment He will bring upon His return....and not only will the Evangelical return....but return in the classical definition of what an Evangelical is.....and their numbers would be added to as God wills it....and America would then at least be informed that we can do nothing without Christ....are nothing without Christ....and our hope should be in nothing but Christ.
