Madeline Crabb
Deceiving and being deceived: The Church
By Madeline Crabb
There is a spirit of deception plaguing America, and it has penetrated all facets of our society. While we will be addressing how this spirit affects the nation, we will first examine how Americans are deceiving and being deceived in the Church.
Despite what the anti-Christ crowd and revised history books tell us, America was founded on Judeo-Christian values. While a few of our Founders may not have been evangelical Christians, they at least acknowledged and respected/feared God. The proof can be found from numerous and plentiful writings of these men. For example, Benjamin Franklin has been called a Deist, but still believed in God.
Regarding our founding, he said: "The longer I live, the more convincing proofs I see of this truth, that God governs in the affairs of men. And if a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without His notice, is it probable that an empire can rise without His aid?" Until the past few decades, an overwhelming portion of Americans claimed to be Christians, and like Franklin, at least paid "lip service" to the Judeo- Christian God.
Why do I say lip service? Because in the past 70 years, while most Americans reported being Christians (95 percent in 1950 according to Gallup polls), our society has been plunging into an increasingly hedonistic post-Christian society.
According to a 2014 poll by Pew Research Institute, only an average of ten percent of confessing evangelical Christians (those claiming to be born again in Christ Jesus) have a biblical worldview. What?!? As we can determine from the table below, evangelicals who still believe in basic Christian doctrine averages about 15 percent. And yet, as of 2014, Pew reports that 70.6 percent of the population still confess being Christians!
So supposedly two-thirds of the population is Christian, even though only about ten percent have a Christian worldview. Look around. My eyes tell me that a whole bunch of folks are either deceiving themselves or have been deceived. In fact, our last president enraged the Christian community by claiming America was no longer a Christian nation. This is one time he may have been correct. While this may be upsetting for us to hear, if we truly assess the state of our society, we know it is true.
It has been my goal for nearly two decades to teach and exhort people to awaken, arise, and act in restoring one nation under God. Sadly, this is not happening. What it requires is repentance, on a major scale. That means every believer must repent for their own sins, and yes, for the sins of our nation and its leaders. Then we must turn from our old sinful ways/mistakes and begin doing things God's way. But alas, we have been deceived by evil men and impostors into believing we don't need God. In short, we have fallen into a trap Scripture issues a warning about: "Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes and clever in their own sight!" (Is. 5:21 NASB)
In our republic we elect people to represent us in our local, state, and national governments. When we do not use discernment, instead acting on emotions or even greed, bad people are put in charge of how our governments are run. And for far too long, perhaps the past 100 years, we have made some very bad decisions. Now is the time to repent, and then begin making right choices. But again, if we are not really Christians with a Christian worldview, then we are not seeking God's direction in our choices and instead are relying on what we are being told from deceivers and imposters, aka politicians. (In the next column we will address in depth the deception in the political realm.)
The Bible speaks a lot about deception and deceivers. In fact, one of the first sins in the Bible was committed when Satan tempted Eve by deceiving her into eating the forbidden fruit. Jesus told us that Satan is a liar and the father of lies (Jn. 8:44). We read that in the Last Days "evil men and impostors will grow worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived" (2 Ti. 3:13 NKJV).
So, if evil men and impostors are growing worse and worse, much of the populace is Christian, and our society is going to hell in a hand basket, could it be that some of the deceivers have been in the pulpit and seminaries? What is being taught to all the people sitting in the pews that has caused them to have a hedonistic worldview instead of a biblical one? What has caused them to reject biblical doctrine?
Much of this change can be attributed to political correctness, which has been accepted by much of the Church. There is some unwritten rule that we can't say anything, even represent our faith through sharing the Word of God, if it might offend someone. I submit that the PC push was meant to do exactly what it has done – silence Christians. And far too many believers have acquiesced.
So then, the masses of so-called Christians wring their hands in supposed anguish over things like abortion, homosexual marriage, the rise of gender confusion, the drug epidemic, and myriad other sins. But just where was the biblical stand for righteousness and a just-say-NO response to these abominations before they grabbed a societal foothold? The National Right to Life website reports that nearly 61 million babies have been aborted since 1973. Travesty! And now, little children lucky to have been born, even pre-school age, are having homosexuality and transgenderism foisted on them by the LGBT coalition. Abominable!
Years ago, remember that homosexuals just wanted to have the same rights as everyone else. They didn't think anyone should say what they could or couldn't do in their own bedrooms. Uh huh. Word: They never intended to keep their behavior in the bedrooms.
Acting on emotion/feelings, not common sense, our elected representatives deceived us and passed laws granting special protections/rights to protect homosexuals. State laws that had long been on the books were erased by the Federal Government. Now even churches are reluctant to speak out against the sin, and the homosexual movement is being celebrated by all sectors of society as being normal. One cannot watch any television show without the perfect homosexual being portrayed. Of course, the proverbial icing on the cake came when the U.S. Supreme Court declared homosexual marriage must be accepted as law by all states, thereby erasing states' rights in determining the issue. Where on earth they found the "right" to homosexual marriage in the U.S. Constitution is rather baffling. Perhaps it was hidden in the same penumbras and emanations where the right to murder children in the womb was found to pass Roe v. Wade. But I digress...
Of course, political correctness is not the only way in which we have been deceived. There has also been a gradual watering-down of the Word of God. When we watch TV interviews with pastors being asked about biblical principles, men who are unable to unequivocally reaffirm God's Word, just what do we expect out of their congregations, many of which are so-called mega-churches. Unfortunately, I have visited some of these churches that have more in common with country or social clubs than with the Church of the Living God. Moreover, the pastors have little or no interaction with the congregation.
In a certain Ohio church, because the pastor didn't want to be bothered with the "little people" in his congregation, there were armed guards who kept the people from praise and worship, or even prayer, at the altar. People were not able to go to the altar, being physically stopped by the guards. And the church offices were separated from the "public" area by a steel fence/barrier. Hmm...quite a difference from Jesus Christ who walked amongst the people. Whereas He was humble, far too many of our church leaders have been deceived into believing they are better than the congregation.
For decades in my own Christian walk I have watched while church congregations have been deceived into thinking the pastor/man of God can do no wrong, and therefore refuse to hold him accountable. So, lack of accountability has also plagued the Church, and thus, is negatively affecting our society. Everyone is accountable to someone else; and ALL of us are accountable to God.
What is America's future? Scripture says that if we who call ourselves Christians indeed choose to humble ourselves, pray, seek God's face, and turn from our wicked ways, then God will hear from heaven, forgive us, and heal our land (2 Ch. 7:14). But we've got to stop deceiving ourselves and being deceived. The Bible says, "Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap" (Gal. 6:7 NKJV). Just what do we want to reap? To anyone willing to hear....
© Madeline Crabb
September 23, 2019
There is a spirit of deception plaguing America, and it has penetrated all facets of our society. While we will be addressing how this spirit affects the nation, we will first examine how Americans are deceiving and being deceived in the Church.
Despite what the anti-Christ crowd and revised history books tell us, America was founded on Judeo-Christian values. While a few of our Founders may not have been evangelical Christians, they at least acknowledged and respected/feared God. The proof can be found from numerous and plentiful writings of these men. For example, Benjamin Franklin has been called a Deist, but still believed in God.
Regarding our founding, he said: "The longer I live, the more convincing proofs I see of this truth, that God governs in the affairs of men. And if a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without His notice, is it probable that an empire can rise without His aid?" Until the past few decades, an overwhelming portion of Americans claimed to be Christians, and like Franklin, at least paid "lip service" to the Judeo- Christian God.
Why do I say lip service? Because in the past 70 years, while most Americans reported being Christians (95 percent in 1950 according to Gallup polls), our society has been plunging into an increasingly hedonistic post-Christian society.
According to a 2014 poll by Pew Research Institute, only an average of ten percent of confessing evangelical Christians (those claiming to be born again in Christ Jesus) have a biblical worldview. What?!? As we can determine from the table below, evangelicals who still believe in basic Christian doctrine averages about 15 percent. And yet, as of 2014, Pew reports that 70.6 percent of the population still confess being Christians!
So supposedly two-thirds of the population is Christian, even though only about ten percent have a Christian worldview. Look around. My eyes tell me that a whole bunch of folks are either deceiving themselves or have been deceived. In fact, our last president enraged the Christian community by claiming America was no longer a Christian nation. This is one time he may have been correct. While this may be upsetting for us to hear, if we truly assess the state of our society, we know it is true.
It has been my goal for nearly two decades to teach and exhort people to awaken, arise, and act in restoring one nation under God. Sadly, this is not happening. What it requires is repentance, on a major scale. That means every believer must repent for their own sins, and yes, for the sins of our nation and its leaders. Then we must turn from our old sinful ways/mistakes and begin doing things God's way. But alas, we have been deceived by evil men and impostors into believing we don't need God. In short, we have fallen into a trap Scripture issues a warning about: "Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes and clever in their own sight!" (Is. 5:21 NASB)
In our republic we elect people to represent us in our local, state, and national governments. When we do not use discernment, instead acting on emotions or even greed, bad people are put in charge of how our governments are run. And for far too long, perhaps the past 100 years, we have made some very bad decisions. Now is the time to repent, and then begin making right choices. But again, if we are not really Christians with a Christian worldview, then we are not seeking God's direction in our choices and instead are relying on what we are being told from deceivers and imposters, aka politicians. (In the next column we will address in depth the deception in the political realm.)
The Bible speaks a lot about deception and deceivers. In fact, one of the first sins in the Bible was committed when Satan tempted Eve by deceiving her into eating the forbidden fruit. Jesus told us that Satan is a liar and the father of lies (Jn. 8:44). We read that in the Last Days "evil men and impostors will grow worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived" (2 Ti. 3:13 NKJV).
So, if evil men and impostors are growing worse and worse, much of the populace is Christian, and our society is going to hell in a hand basket, could it be that some of the deceivers have been in the pulpit and seminaries? What is being taught to all the people sitting in the pews that has caused them to have a hedonistic worldview instead of a biblical one? What has caused them to reject biblical doctrine?
Much of this change can be attributed to political correctness, which has been accepted by much of the Church. There is some unwritten rule that we can't say anything, even represent our faith through sharing the Word of God, if it might offend someone. I submit that the PC push was meant to do exactly what it has done – silence Christians. And far too many believers have acquiesced.
So then, the masses of so-called Christians wring their hands in supposed anguish over things like abortion, homosexual marriage, the rise of gender confusion, the drug epidemic, and myriad other sins. But just where was the biblical stand for righteousness and a just-say-NO response to these abominations before they grabbed a societal foothold? The National Right to Life website reports that nearly 61 million babies have been aborted since 1973. Travesty! And now, little children lucky to have been born, even pre-school age, are having homosexuality and transgenderism foisted on them by the LGBT coalition. Abominable!
Years ago, remember that homosexuals just wanted to have the same rights as everyone else. They didn't think anyone should say what they could or couldn't do in their own bedrooms. Uh huh. Word: They never intended to keep their behavior in the bedrooms.
Acting on emotion/feelings, not common sense, our elected representatives deceived us and passed laws granting special protections/rights to protect homosexuals. State laws that had long been on the books were erased by the Federal Government. Now even churches are reluctant to speak out against the sin, and the homosexual movement is being celebrated by all sectors of society as being normal. One cannot watch any television show without the perfect homosexual being portrayed. Of course, the proverbial icing on the cake came when the U.S. Supreme Court declared homosexual marriage must be accepted as law by all states, thereby erasing states' rights in determining the issue. Where on earth they found the "right" to homosexual marriage in the U.S. Constitution is rather baffling. Perhaps it was hidden in the same penumbras and emanations where the right to murder children in the womb was found to pass Roe v. Wade. But I digress...
Of course, political correctness is not the only way in which we have been deceived. There has also been a gradual watering-down of the Word of God. When we watch TV interviews with pastors being asked about biblical principles, men who are unable to unequivocally reaffirm God's Word, just what do we expect out of their congregations, many of which are so-called mega-churches. Unfortunately, I have visited some of these churches that have more in common with country or social clubs than with the Church of the Living God. Moreover, the pastors have little or no interaction with the congregation.
In a certain Ohio church, because the pastor didn't want to be bothered with the "little people" in his congregation, there were armed guards who kept the people from praise and worship, or even prayer, at the altar. People were not able to go to the altar, being physically stopped by the guards. And the church offices were separated from the "public" area by a steel fence/barrier. Hmm...quite a difference from Jesus Christ who walked amongst the people. Whereas He was humble, far too many of our church leaders have been deceived into believing they are better than the congregation.
For decades in my own Christian walk I have watched while church congregations have been deceived into thinking the pastor/man of God can do no wrong, and therefore refuse to hold him accountable. So, lack of accountability has also plagued the Church, and thus, is negatively affecting our society. Everyone is accountable to someone else; and ALL of us are accountable to God.
What is America's future? Scripture says that if we who call ourselves Christians indeed choose to humble ourselves, pray, seek God's face, and turn from our wicked ways, then God will hear from heaven, forgive us, and heal our land (2 Ch. 7:14). But we've got to stop deceiving ourselves and being deceived. The Bible says, "Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap" (Gal. 6:7 NKJV). Just what do we want to reap? To anyone willing to hear....
© Madeline Crabb
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