NOTE: Don’t forget this weekend’s Hearing and Doing Conference with Elisabeth Sabaditsch-Wolff and other amazing Spirit-led speakers. Thursday’s event is past but you can still attend our Friday, Saturday, or Sunday events. For times, locations, information about our speakers, and general information about this timely conference, click here. WE BELIEVE THAT YOU WON’T WANT TO MISS OUT ON THIS!
Dr. George Barna’s latest survey asserts that only 4% of American adults hold a Biblical worldview, including only 2% of young adults. Barna noted, “Any increased interest in the Christian faith spurred by [Charlie] Kirk’s assassination has not produced positive growth when it comes to biblical worldview.”
The issue we are really talking about when it comes down to the above numbers; the increasing difficulties we see in government, society, and family; and within many churches with a watered down, feel-good-gospel so as not to offend for the sake of growth and popularity is biblical authority – or the lack thereof.
One of the greatest expositional preachers of the twentieth century and faithful defender of the faith was D. Martyn-Lloyd Jones. Here he concisely describes the problem and how we got here in his message from Ephesians 6:14. “There can be no doubt whatsoever that all the troubles in the Church today, and most of the troubles in the world, are due to a departure from the authority of the Bible. And, alas, it was the Church herself that led in the so-called Higher Criticism that came from Germany just over a hundred years ago. Human philosophy took the place of revelation, man’s opinions were exalted and Church leaders talked about ‘the advance of knowledge and science,’ and ‘the assured results’ of such knowledge.” I urge you to read a longer excerpt from this message which includes some heart-searching questions found at the end of this article or to listen to the entirety of the message preached by Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones.
For too long Christians have been deceived into thinking they should keep their biblical worldview to themselves; this has led to the declining biblical worldview within our culture, society, and even within the church. Many are afraid that if they speak the truth they’ll appear foolish, seem uncompassionate, sound hateful, be scorned or rejected, and the list goes on and on. But our Christ gave these words to us, His disciples: “All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.”
It is ours, in the power and authority of Jesus, to proclaim and teach truth. It is ours, in the strength and power of the Holy Spirit, to live obediently to a biblical worldview. We must trust in God and in His Word if we are going to live it out daily, moment by moment. We must know God’s Word if we are going to live it, teach it, and proclaim it – none of this in our own strength, but by His grace, mercy, and power.
Our Decency Minutes (DM) this week all speak to what happens when we, our culture, and our institutions move away from biblical authority.
DM 1: On occasion, American Decency has warned about the degradation of the Boy Scouts of America, as they have departed from a biblical worldview. Now, as their British counterparts take another step further from their biblical moorings with their Islamophobia Awareness Month Badge, one can’t help but wonder when it will make its way to our shores. Not only does it lift Islam up above other religions, it neglects the fact that Islam is really a politically tyrannical system, focusing on its religious patina. Ironically, how much of the Boy Scout oath and how many of the Boy Scout laws (both found here) are broken in earning this new badge?
When topics like these come up, let us not shy away from speaking into them from biblical authority, shining light into darkness and salt into decay. It’s for our own sake as well as for that of the speaker’s and listener’s. Let us prayerfully take the opportunities God brings to us as America’s various institutions are under attack by Islamists, Communists, Leftists, and those good people who are being deceived. Pray for them.
DM 2: Most advertising was never considered holy or sacred; it’s always been used to pull at our carnal nature – hunger, popularity, sensuality – all good things put in their proper perspective according to biblical authority. For a long time now, advertisers have “pushed the line” to see how far they will be allowed to go – how far can they push before the public pushes back? We’ve witnessed God’s name being used in vain, gluttony, various vices, and the sexuality that our second DM refers to.
When we stand for righteousness, let’s be sure to do so in a winsome way without compromising the truth of biblical authority. There’s a reason David said that God’s Word shines at our feet and on our path; we need to see where we are going. Where do such paths lead for our nation, society, families, and our children? May God use us to show His way and to warn where other ways lead to.
DM 3: This script succinctly points out the dangers of biblical illiteracy: it robs us of biblical authority, biblical worldview, which leads to decreasing numbers of Christians, and makes one susceptible to swallowing heresy as truth. The denial of biblical authority by lifestyle and active declaration will bring (has brought?) our nation, its institutions, and its families to the brink of destruction. Do we have the spiritual intestinal fortitude to fervently pray to the God of Heaven, with repentance, that He would revive this land? I recently heard a message from Kevin Swanson in which he stated, “When churches have praying men, those churches revive.” Being a men’s conference, he used the term “men,” but I am sure he would include the necessity of having praying women and children as well. Great prayer has almost always preceded great revivals. However, we must return to proclaiming, persuading, and living by biblical authority.
“We all therefore have to face this ultimate and final question: Do we accept the Bible as the Word of God, as the sole authority in all matters of faith and practice, or do we not? Is the whole of my thinking governed by Scripture, or do I come with my reason and pick and choose out of Scripture and sit in judgment upon it, putting myself and modern knowledge forward as the ultimate standard and authority? The issue is crystal clear.” (Another short excerpt from Martin-Lloyd Jones from the longer excerpt below)
As you listen to Bill Johnson narrate these Decency Minutes or read the scripts for yourself, consider what you are hearing/reading as compared to what biblical authority states.
One of my accomplishments that I look back on with great satisfaction is becoming a Life Scout. My, how things have changed over the decades.
Today’s scout is encouraged to earn an Islamophobia Awareness Month Badge. Yes, that’s a real thing now – at least in the United Kingdom, it is.
There’s not a Christian badge, a Sikh badge, a Jewish badge, or a Hindu Badge, but there’s a badge to honor Islam, protecting it from those who would rightly question its practices.
Listen to a few of their many suggestions to earn this badge:
* Learn about the five pillars of Islam.
* Visit a mosque.
* Do a joint activity with a local predominantly-Muslim Scout Group.
* Listen to the call of prayer.
This badge goes against the oath I took as a teen and it is a degradation to both scout and country!
NOTE: If you’re interested in seeing what else a scout may do to earn this badge click here.
Sexuality and Burgers: What are we really buying?
For many years, we at American Decency have been informing you of companies which use indecency to advertise their products. One of those companies was the Hardees’s Carl Jr. chain. In years past, their provocative ads portrayed women in skimpy outfits with sexualized moves to sell burgers. After receiving pressure from consumers like you and me, Hardee’s cleaned up their advertisements. But now they’re back to their old ways of objectifying women and using sex to sell.
Hardee’s relies on families to buy their products, but many of us don’t want to support a company that undermines family values. The company needs another reminder that such degrading imagery will hurt their bottom line. Contact Hardees at 906-341-0500 and let them know that having clean advertisements goes a long way.
A Biblically Illiterate Nation
Twenty-four percent of U.S. adults have no religious affiliation – the highest percentage ever recorded. In the 1940s, that number was only two percent. Those with no tie to Christianity only increases with each generation, putting our nation on the path to become even more secular.
In addition, many American churches either water down God’s Word or, even worse, twist Scripture to teach the opposite of what the Bible actually says.
Democrat Texas Senate candidate James Talarico is a prime example – taking a page out of Satan’s playbook to claim God’s Word supports abortion and trans ideology, while blasphemously claiming Jesus is a radical feminist and God the Father is non-binary.
Yet in our biblically illiterate nation, how many will fall for such heresy?
True believers who know God’s unchanging Word need to proclaim it to this lost generation. The fields are white for harvest.
The following excerpt is taken from one of Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones’ published messages based on Ephesians 6:14. To hear this great expositor preach the whole of this sermon from which this excerpt is taken click here. (I would encourage you to listen to his other messages on this verse as well. They are outstanding and can be navigated to from the link provided above.)
There can be no doubt whatsoever that all the troubles in the Church today, and most of the troubles in the world, are due to a departure from the authority of the Bible. And, alas, it was the Church herself that led in the so-called Higher Criticism that came from Germany just over a hundred years ago. Human philosophy took the place of revelation, man’s opinions were exalted and Church leaders talked about ‘the advance of knowledge and science,’ and ‘the assured results’ of such knowledge.
The Bible then became a book just like any other book, out of date in certain respects, wrong in other respects, and so on. It was no longer a book on which you could rely implicitly. There is no question at all that the falling away, even in Church attendance, in this country is the direct consequence of the Higher Criticism. The man in the street says, ‘What do these Christians know? It is only their opinion, they are just perpetrating something that the real thinkers and scientists have long since seen through and have stopped considering.’ Such is the attitude of the man in the street! He does not listen any longer, he has lost all interest. The whole situation is one of drift; and very largely, I say, it is the direct and immediate outcome of the doubt that has been cast by the Church herself upon her only real authority.
Men’s opinions have taken the place of God’s truth, and the people in their need are turning to the cults, and are listening to any false authority that offers itself to them.
We all therefore have to face this ultimate and final question: Do we accept the Bible as the Word of God, as the sole authority in all matters of faith and practice, or do we not? Is the whole of my thinking governed by Scripture, or do I come with my reason and pick and choose out of Scripture and sit in judgment upon it, putting myself and modern knowledge forward as the ultimate standard and authority? The issue is crystal clear.
Do I accept Scripture as a revelation from God, or do I trust to speculation, human knowledge, human learning, human understanding and human reason? Or, putting it still more simply, Do I pin my faith to, and subject all my thinking to, what I read in the Bible? Or do I defer to modern knowledge, to modern learning, to what people think today, to what we know at this present time which was not known in the past? It is inevitable that we occupy one or the other of those two positions.
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