If you would ask a conservative evangelical right now what the condition of the country is....they would certainly express great concern....to say the least....and you probably wouldn't even have to ask....as most evangelicals usually volunteer that concern in a conversation of any extended length. You might think that this is good....perceptive and discerning on their part....but it is misleading.
Let me start with the Democrat Party. It began to collapse thirty years ago....and has since totally collapsed. There is no recognizable connection to the party from the days of FDR to the ascendance of the Clintons. Liberalism is gone....replaced by progressivism....and now really nothing more than an atheistic Bolshevism....even paganism! It could not be worse.
That leaves us....the Republican Party....with it's evangelical base.....and you could add to that conservative libertarians. That is as far as we look at this....us vs them....the patriots vs the socialist/communists....but there are other factors involved that we are not aware of....and when advised of them....we do not want even to consider them....for they expose a culpability on our part....a culpability that we refuse to accept.
Whereas the Clintons were the catalyst for the collapse of the Democrat Party....Trump was the catalyst for the collapse of the Republican Party.....and evangelicalism. I lived this....day by day....as many of you did....and observed what was happening....began to post on it.....and have been warning of it in earnest since the Spring of 2017....but it actually goes a little further back....as I and so many of us back then....saw who we were rallying around....a godless and vacant mind....with a vengeful spirit....consumed by bitterness....and an utter inability to even discern what truth means.....let alone speak it on any regular basis.
I started reading about Trump in the first few months of his administration....when it became apparent that the awesome responsibilities of being the leader of the free world....were to have no effect on his narcissistic and childish vindictiveness. I have read over ninety books on Trump as of today....with a couple sitting on the table that were published in the last few weeks. I could not stop reading. How could a man like this even exist as a serious candidate.....let alone take captive the Republican Party....let alone bewitch evangelicals.....and pastors.....leading them away from trust in Jesus Christ....and making them prime supporters of a genuine biblical false prophet...."We are one glorious nation under God....and the best is yet to come!"....effectively neutralizing churches....and whole denominations as to their calling in the gospel of Jesus Christ? How could this happen?
Returning to the premise of the first paragraph....we evangelicals have no idea how bad this situation really is. We worried about Russia for a week or two....we don't worry about China....oh we in as much as shout....'death to China'....on every radio talk show program....but it is the politics of it....not the existential threat.
World war? Get Real. That'll never happen....besides....it's not all Putin's fault....he's not all that bad....it's the China virus! Pandemic? That's just Fauci....and we're gonna get him. AI? Who cares. Kids with an iPhone and assault riles? Guns don't kill people....people kill people. Widows and children....whole families....making a hike that we wouldn't do without a top brand easy to assemble....comfortable tent....gourmet food-laden backpack.....and a thousand dollar camera to keep the memories of such an exciting adventure.
Twenty years ago we were Christian patriots....defending our constitution.....today we are Christian nationalists....defending our way of life....a life of 401s and football and barbecues. Our pulpits refuse to warn us of this....for the pastors know that if they so much as mention a problem related to Donald Trump....then they will meet stiff opposition....lose some members....maybe many members....and the ten year plan to quadruple the membership and expand the church campus will collapse.
Woe are us! I would wager that pastors pay more attention to podcasters than God's prophets. Where are the tears in those pulpits? OK...no tears maybe....but how about at least some visible concern....and a warning or two of mixing politics with the gospel....instead of the perpetual smiley face.
Thirty years ago John MacArthur put out a book titled....Ashamed Of The Gospel....When the Church Becomes Like the World. I'd like to see one today titled....Ashamed Of The Second Coming....When the Church is Embarrassed to Mention it. The fundamentalists may have some serious limitations and misconceptions on the sovereignty of God....but God blessed them in their simple hope for the return of their Lord and Savior. We on the reformed side may have every 't' crossed and every 'i' dotted....but we have missed the forest for the trees on this one. Pat Robertson may have missed the dartboard so many times that there is hardly enough wood left to hold up the target....but he knows that His Savior is already mounted....and he at least warns on what is coming.
