I can remember talking to a Christian lady several years ago now, back in the 1980s, when she told me she felt that revival was just around the corner. I couldn’t see it then. I still can’t. A short time after the 9/11 situation, I read comments from a former television evangelist, stating that he thought America was in the midst of the greatest spiritual revival in our lifetime. I literally cringed as I read his comments. My first gut reaction was “You’ve got to be kidding, right?” I wondered briefly if he and I were living in the same America. If this man could interpret scads of people running up Yankee flags and singing “God Bless America” as revival, then I’m afraid he and I were and are not on the same page. Moreover, if this man’s thinking is reflective of the Church at large, then we have even more troubles than we thought we had. Unless I’ve missed the boat somewhere, I don’t think much has changed spiritually in America. People of all religions can get together and sing “God Bless America,” but what (and whose) “god” are they singing to? Unless the one, true God of the universe and His Son, Jesus Christ, are openly acknowledged, all this stuff that has been going on has been in vain. Only last year, I heard a preacher ask the question “Does the God mentioned on your dollar bill have a Son?” It was a good question. If the answer is negative then, again, we are all wasting our time. As the old Southerner says, “It ain’t worth doodly-squat.”
Lets face it, We don’t really know our history. Of course most folks educated in Marx’s government schools don’t-—and that’s one of the reasons for the government schools. America has a lot of apostate history in her background, all manner of things our so-called history books will never bother to touch on. Our “historians” think we are better off if we don’t know this stuff, and most preachers, if they know, won’t touch any of this. lest they offend someone in some apostate group somewhere. And, in many cases, they just flat-out don’t know the history either.
We’ve had lots of apostasy in “high places” in our history. After all, didn’t St. Hilary (Klinton) claim to converse with Eleanor Roosevelt (about cattle futures, no doubt)? Didn’t Nancy Reagan consult astrologers? And wasn’t Mary Todd Lincoln (and possibly her husband, you know, the “honest” one) also into spiritualism?
God warned, in Leviticus 19:31, “Regard not them that have familiar spirits, neither seek after wizards to be defiled by them: I am the Lord your God.” And in the same book, in chapter 20, verse 6, He continued, in regard to those taking part in such practices; “I will even set my face against that soul, and will cut him off from among the people.”
Our history, if we bother to check it out instead of taking someone else’s word for it, is replete with documentation showing that by the 1830s and 1840s much of the Northern part of this country had apostasized and rejected the Reformation truths that were our bedrock foundation. Only in the South were things moving in a positive direction theologically (which may give you some indication as to the real, foundational, reason for the War of Northern Aggression. Mostly apostate Unitarianism had invaded the New England states over a generation earlier, and Unitarian thinking had spread to the Mid-Atlantic and upper Mid-Western states. Its adherents tried to make some inroads into the South, but had very little success there compared to other areas. Clergymen in the South had long ago warned their congregations against this sort of thing, and against utopian views of human nature, and so the South was skeptical, thankfully.
Along with Unitarianism came the radical Abolitionist Movement, the Feminist Movement, the Public School Movement, and all manner of movements. In 1848 the Spiritualist Movement hit the United States—ironically in the same year that socialist and communist revolutionaries staged their revolts in Europe. These revolts eventually provided Mr. Lincoln with many major generals for his armies. Were there connections between all these various “movements?” You’d better believe it. They interlocked like a jigsaw puzzle. And the one connection for all of them was apostasy from the Christian faith.
The Unitarians, having rejected Scriptural truth, and being apostate, were not exempt from the effects of spiritualism. One Unitarian minister, Harvard-trained Herman Snow, published a volume on “Spirit Intercourse.” He pastored a Unitarian congregation that was well aware of his spiritualist leanings, but kept him on anyway. Abolitionist Theodore Parker’s Unitarian congregation included a practicing medium amongst its choir members. According to the book “Radical Spirits” by Ann Braude (Beacon Press, Boston) the spiritualists were completely individualistic ( or more properly, completely antinomian—against God’s law). In her book Braude stated: “The emphatic individualism that placed spiritualists in opposition to established religion had social and political implications as well. Dependent for spiritual knowledge on the unhindered autonomy of female mediums, believers vigorously applied the principles of individualism to the role of women. As a result, they became ardent advocates of women’s rights.” Braude further stated: “From this time on, spiritualism and women’s rights intertwined repeatedly as both became movements that challenged the existing norms of American life.” Eventually this produced leaders in the 20th century “Women’s Lib” movement who turned out to be Communists.
In short, America, since the late 1700s, has had a history of gradually growing apostasy, especially in the North, and this apostasy is responsible for many of our national problems.
Contrary to what some televangelists and others may have said over the years, I see few signs of true spiritual revival in America (and I would dearly love to be wrong here). I see, instead, some sort of judgment descending upon America before things turn around. This country rejected the Christ of the Bible and the clear teachings of Scripture, and that process was begun long before any of us alive today had even been thought about. We are awash in multiculturalism, “diversity,” and a whole bunch of other “isms” with little sign of change in sight. During our First War of Independence, in 1776, many preachers had the clear insight to lead their people in our fight for independence—some even carrying muskets on the battlefield. Today, most of our preachers have such a perverted perspective on Romans 13 that they would not be capable of such action—and besides, it might appear “unloving” to resist our enemies! National repentance is our only hope and, in the main, the churches don’t seem to be too concerned about that. Until they are, no real improvement will be forthcoming.