Preface: There were 500 people in the hall tonight....without an empty seat. My wife and I traveled about an hour and a half for a dinner and Southern Gospel show....the Booth Brothers. I was in a few conversations but basically just listening....for I didn't think that this was a time for politics....and a couple of the conversations were very pro-Trump. I would imagine that just about everyone present would have great disagreement with much of what I write in these posts....not only on Donald Trump but on evangelicalism....but you know what....I felt totally at home with 500 other people enjoying this music glorifying our Savior....for if you are born again....whether you use that term or not....then we are one. As a side note I would like to add this....my wife commented that we might be the youngest people there....and I'm seventy! That was probably a little exaggeration but I didn't see anyone who looked to be in their 50s. I'm concerned here because we hardly have any Christian bookstores anymore....(please consider reading a recent post titled The Most Beautiful Rusty Filmy Door Handles Ever)....and Billy Graham crusades are gone. When we went to Christian concerts in the 80s.....and we went to a lot of all kinds....all ages were present. It seems to me that our supply lines today....particularly with the young....have been cut....and the evangelicalism of thirty to forty years ago is all but gone.....and that wasn't a golden age to begin with. The new paradigm that we seem to be entering is disturbing in many areas....as we have taken on the thinking patterns of the culture....sound bite conversations....and talking point debate....and the image over the word....which is why I so often in these posts recommend listening to Charles Spurgeon or Martyn Lloyd-Jones sermons on YouTube....to at least see what it was like at a better time. One last thing....a couple of times I was asked if I was enjoying the evening....I get this all the time....why (?)....that picture of me on my profile....that's my smile.
The following post is from 2018:
There's no specific day that I can remember when I came to faith in Jesus Christ.....but O what a time period it was! The gospel was everywhere. I was a coal-fired power plant operator and if I wasn't covered with coal dust then I was ankle deep in lime slurry. New Christians seemed to be everywhere. We had prayer meetings after working a midnight shift! Billy Graham crusades were on television. Christian bookstores were everywhere....and the books.....the books actually addressed the mind....they edified....they warned.
Newsweek Magazine named 1976....'The Year of the Evangelical.' Our President said that he was 'born again.' Charles Colson....one of the Watergate conspirators....became born again. The 700 club was a force with which to be reckoned. R.C. Sproul was introducing the church to the holiness of God which had a transforming effect on Bible study. Sound biblical ministries were everywhere on the radio. An astronaut (James Irwin) who walked on the moon could only see God's glory in the heavens....and one of the best and most fanatical basketball players ever to play the game....(Pete Maravich)....after coming to Christ....regretted that his life up until then had been more basketball than the Bible. Christians were actually reading and studying John Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress....I've read it a dozen or more times and listened to it on cassette an equal number of times....Charles Spurgeon read it 100 times in his day! David Wilkerson preached the glory of Christ like George Whitefield. Christian music was simple yet profound. A wonderful and humble man was our President. Nightline type of television shows would choose Jerry Falwell to interview....and he would keep his head up....smile confidently....look straight into the camera....and proclaim Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior! (Today they choose pastors who proclaim Donald Trump!)
I remember that time period.....and I came in late....I remember it as Jews must have remembered their temple......and I often feel like weeping at what has become of America since those wonderful days. No longer are there Christian bookstores in just about every community....no more Billy Graham crusades.....no more R. C. Sproul......Bunyan's book is never read....but we're really not aware of any of this....and when you're not aware of something.....you don't know what you are missing.
How had all this started? Well I don't know....but I know this....God started it....and if it happens again....then it would be He that starts it again. I know what we need though. We need an unction in our pulpits.....tears if necessary.....we need to dust off our grandparent's books if they are still stored away somewhere....but there is one thing that we must understand....politics cannot save us! If we could only see the mist from the falls that are just ahead....and hear the roar of the water that will soon crush us....then we might look to He whom is our only hope....and call out to Him whom we have so often presumed upon....."Have mercy on us Lord.....for thy name alone....and for thy glory alone!"
The following post is from 2018:
There's no specific day that I can remember when I came to faith in Jesus Christ.....but O what a time period it was! The gospel was everywhere. I was a coal-fired power plant operator and if I wasn't covered with coal dust then I was ankle deep in lime slurry. New Christians seemed to be everywhere. We had prayer meetings after working a midnight shift! Billy Graham crusades were on television. Christian bookstores were everywhere....and the books.....the books actually addressed the mind....they edified....they warned.
Newsweek Magazine named 1976....'The Year of the Evangelical.' Our President said that he was 'born again.' Charles Colson....one of the Watergate conspirators....became born again. The 700 club was a force with which to be reckoned. R.C. Sproul was introducing the church to the holiness of God which had a transforming effect on Bible study. Sound biblical ministries were everywhere on the radio. An astronaut (James Irwin) who walked on the moon could only see God's glory in the heavens....and one of the best and most fanatical basketball players ever to play the game....(Pete Maravich)....after coming to Christ....regretted that his life up until then had been more basketball than the Bible. Christians were actually reading and studying John Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress....I've read it a dozen or more times and listened to it on cassette an equal number of times....Charles Spurgeon read it 100 times in his day! David Wilkerson preached the glory of Christ like George Whitefield. Christian music was simple yet profound. A wonderful and humble man was our President. Nightline type of television shows would choose Jerry Falwell to interview....and he would keep his head up....smile confidently....look straight into the camera....and proclaim Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior! (Today they choose pastors who proclaim Donald Trump!)
I remember that time period.....and I came in late....I remember it as Jews must have remembered their temple......and I often feel like weeping at what has become of America since those wonderful days. No longer are there Christian bookstores in just about every community....no more Billy Graham crusades.....no more R. C. Sproul......Bunyan's book is never read....but we're really not aware of any of this....and when you're not aware of something.....you don't know what you are missing.
How had all this started? Well I don't know....but I know this....God started it....and if it happens again....then it would be He that starts it again. I know what we need though. We need an unction in our pulpits.....tears if necessary.....we need to dust off our grandparent's books if they are still stored away somewhere....but there is one thing that we must understand....politics cannot save us! If we could only see the mist from the falls that are just ahead....and hear the roar of the water that will soon crush us....then we might look to He whom is our only hope....and call out to Him whom we have so often presumed upon....."Have mercy on us Lord.....for thy name alone....and for thy glory alone!"
