2 Timothy 3:3-5 NIV
3 But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. 2 People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, 3 without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, 4 treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God— 5 having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with such people.
Estimating how many evangelicals there are in America is more than just difficult. If you define evangelical one way....which some surveys have done....they come to the conclusion that there may be as many as 100 million evangelicals in America. If you ask specific questions on the survey....for instance the direct question....'are you born again'....as some other surveyors have done....the figure can be as low as 8% of adult Americans. It seems today that just about everyone....other faiths and agonistics and atheists excluded....claims to be Christian.
The Republican Party is at the mercy of the former figures. Therefore....it is not the gospel of Jesus Christ that determines where it will go....but rather the populist definition of Christian. So here we are....by 'we' I mean the redeemed....our beliefs have to be kept somewhat under wraps. Conservatives....that word once meant social and economically conservative....now primarily means....patriotic....and our own definition of patriotic at that.
Our fellowship thus has to lower itself to this level. Our churches and our pulpits have to follow suite....conform to the accepted definitions....and if the populist conception says that closing church doors in a pandemic was evil....well that is what they have to say also....or lose a good percentage of their people. The stronger opinion is always going to win out....and as I've mentioned in recent posts....if we choose to remain silent to keep the peace....we are indirectly affirming that which we do not even believe....and encouraging more of the same.
Whatever the exact percentage of evangelicals who are Christian may be....only God knows that....it is small. Few are saved....few go through the wicket gate. God's Word tells us that.
We have been this way in America for upwards of seventy years now. The Fundamentalist....and even the Reformed and the Pentecostal....have either been pushed to the side....or they conformed to one degree or another. Simply put....we do not have to be born again anymore. Mortification in conversion is not a necessity. The result is that the light for our path is gone....and we have stumbled onto a different path.
This could go on indefinitely....except for one thing.....Jesus is coming back now....by 'now' I mean that this is the chapter.....the last chapter of the book. The rubber is going to hit the road....very soon. The truly born again believer is going to be forced to search out other truly born again believers....or they will fall into despair....for there are absolutely no answers....and no hope....in a patriotic Christianity.
