"The night is coming. American Christians have been living as if the sun shone upon them"
I agree that the paradigm has shifted. But I am not sure I would go as far as to say, “even the most generic Christianity representing a minority perspective”. With 73% of Americans claiming they are Christian and 62% as members of a Christian Church Congregation, and 42% of Americans attend church once a week. I wouldn’t say Christianity is a minority perspective. Although I would 100% agree that it is waning from it’s total dominance in public life.
Many Christians view America as some type of Old Testament Jewish Archetype, where the promises of the OT applied to America. It is just that the true intentions of man are showing up. I do agree with Bauder that we need to stop the fun and games and get serious about what really is Christianity and teach that to our families. I am not sure if most Christians are really prepared or even equipped to do that.
This is certainly the best column I have ever read from Dr. Bauder. I encourage everyone to read and heed it…
Church Ministries Representative, serving in the Midwest, for The Friends of Israel Gospel Ministry
I serve God in the one of the most unreached metro areas in the United States of America where less than 3 percent of the population would classify themselves as “evangelical Christian.”
I perceive Bauder’s words as a message from God that ought to bring the church in this Country to her knees. We are living in the most spiritually challenging time in this Nation’s history and most church prayer meetings are on life support with only a small percentage present at any time. On top of this, we continue to be satisfied with fake awakenings where people who simply claim to be converted and revived are counted as such without ever looking at the overwhelming evidence that challenge such claims.
Jesus, Thou Son of David, have mercy on us.
What makes a Dark Age dark? Not the lack of technology. Not the dismantling of governments and other institutions. Not the absence of toys and amusements. Not the paucity of information. A Dark Age is dark because of the decline of virtue and the decay of morals. People who are highly learned, technologically sophisticated, artistically talented, and socially proficient may nevertheless be savages. When their savagery is directed against the people of God (as it inevitably is), all of their advantages merely make them more efficient opponents of truth, goodness, and beauty.
The night is coming. American Christians have been living as if the sun shone upon them, but the shadows are falling and the light grows dim. The time has come to abandon the daylight paradigm and to adopt the paradigm of the Dark Age. Christians must adjust their eyes to see in the night.
What assumptions must Christians adopt during the Dark Age? Their basic perspective can be summed up in a few brief propositions. First, the expression of their views will be increasingly unwelcome, especially in the public square. Second, their ability to operate from the relative insulation of a subculture will be directly challenged. Third, pressure will increase, both officially and unofficially, to call good evil and evil good. Fourth, Christians will have no weight to throw around in either the social or political spheres.
Under this altered perspective, Christians must…view themselves as Mordecai or Daniel, as exiles in a brutal and foreign land—just as they should have all along.
I’ve said it on this site and will say it again. The door is closing for the openness of Christianity, and we will see persecution - open and overt persecution - in the US within a matter of years, and indeed it’s even here now in isolated outbreaks. My guess is that we’ll see in organized programs before the next decade.
Prepare for it now.
"Our task today is to tell people — who no longer know what sin is...no longer see themselves as sinners, and no longer have room for these categories — that Christ died for sins of which they do not think they’re guilty." - David Wells
Prediction:
When the government forces churches to choose:
- Maintain 501(c)(3) status by embracing gay rights
- Maintain church property tax exemption by accepting gay rights
- Continue the pastoral housing allowance by accepting gay rights
That many if not most American churches will cave to the state
Does anyone know what this refers to?
For at least three generations, American Christians have tried to teach their children the meaning of Christianity by offering them fun and games. This program has left increasing numbers of young people unable to resist the perspectives of secularization. The American church has won more and more young people to less and less Christianity
- What happened 3 generations ago?
- How long a generation? (I’m thinking 25 yrs …. but I can’t figure out what happened 75 yrs ago)
It appears, within the context of the quote and within the context of history, to be referring to the beginnings of the youth culture in America and youth ministry in American churches that began on the heels of WW2.
[Brenda T]It appears, within the context of the quote and within the context of history, to be referring to the beginnings of the youth culture in America and youth ministry in American churches that began on the heels of WW2.
I found this interesting: Overestimating Youth Culture
Thomas Bergler’s contention in his book The Juvenilization of American Christianity is two-fold: church and youth leaders overestimated the power of youth and underestimated the effects of accommodating youth culture.
The implication of this contention is that church culture today is deep in that over- and under-estimation.
What’s he getting at? Bergler’s big idea is that the church, from the 1930s onward, began to accommodate itself to youth culture because it saw the future of the church/culture in their hands. He may be right, but the oddest thing about this book is the lack of analysis of what
I believe that Christianity will never shine again in this country, unless one of two things happen.
1. Christians destroy their TV’s and radios and computers in order to free their minds from the filth entering their eyes and ears every day, and devote their energy seeking God, or
2. Christians experience extreme persecution that forces them to wake up and see that we are living in the last days, and must seek God ever more, and work together and build relationships with other believers in order to survive.
A time is coming when we will have to choose between our jobs(money) or staying faithful to God and our convictions. It will become more and more common for people to seek alternate forms of income. We will have to learn to barter, and grow our own foods, and how to survive outside of the system.
[Jim]Does anyone know what this refers to?
For at least three generations, American Christians have tried to teach their children the meaning of Christianity by offering them fun and games. This program has left increasing numbers of young people unable to resist the perspectives of secularization. The American church has won more and more young people to less and less Christianity
- What happened 3 generations ago?
- How long a generation? (I’m thinking 25 yrs …. but I can’t figure out what happened 75 yrs ago)
“After graduating from seminary, Rayburn and four other seminarians collaborated, and Young Life was officially born on Oct. 16, 1941, with its own Board of Trustees. They developed the club idea throughout Texas, with an emphasis on showing kids that faith in God can be not only fun, but exhilarating and life changing.”
If it’s pointing to youth culture, the creation of the “teenager” label and the rise of youth ministry, then we need to consider what accompanied that. Culturally, this marked the beginning of rock music, movies, etc. that catered to young people. Groups such as young life and youth for Christ, as well as churches, began using these cultural (some would term them worldly) things to attract young people. They simply put Christian words to the music and Christian plots to the movies that they created.
[Wayne Wilson]“After graduating from seminary, Rayburn and four other seminarians collaborated, and Young Life was officially born on Oct. 16, 1941, with its own Board of Trustees. They developed the club idea throughout Texas, with an emphasis on showing kids that faith in God can be not only fun, but exhilarating and life changing.”
I’m on my 6th year of volunteering at the local public high schools. I applaud Young Life’s efforts. They are able to reach a population who would likely never step one foot in church. At school, I overhear kids getting excited about meeting with their friends and doing activities sponsored by the Young Life group in our area. Good for them! I can name more than a handful of my friends who found Jesus through Young Life, got connected with great churches and are serving Him some 30-40 years later.
Prediction:
When the government forces churches to choose:
Maintain 501(c)(3) status by embracing gay rights
Maintain church property tax exemption by accepting gay rights
Continue the pastoral housing allowance by accepting gay rights
That many if not most American churches will cave to the state
There is such a thing as “church” (or ekklesia) without dealing with all of those government tax issues.
[Julie Anne]There is such a thing as “church” (or ekklesia) without dealing with all of those government tax issues.
Indeed there is but the vast majority of local churches avail themselves of these government benefits - and I don’t blame them!
The cost of doing church without property tax exemption, pastor’s housing allowance & tax deductions for donations:
- In the city where I reside, there is a small Montessori school within walking distance of my house. They pay $ 29,000 in property taxes per year (4 acres). In same city there is a baptist church on six acres - they pay none
- Take away the pastor’s housing allowance and each church will need to pay the pastor more to make up for the non-taxability of the pastor’s housing costs
- Take away deductibility of charitable donations and one will pay more in taxes
“I’ve said it on this site and will say it again. The door is closing for the openness of Christianity, and we will see persecution - open and overt persecution - in the US within a matter of years, and indeed it’s even here now in isolated outbreaks. My guess is that we’ll see in organized programs before the next decade.
Prepare for it now.”
And you can prove this how?
“I believe that Christianity will never shine again in this country, unless one of two things happen.
1. Christians destroy their TV’s and radios and computers in order to free their minds from the filth entering their eyes and ears every day, and devote their energy seeking God, or
2. Christians experience extreme persecution that forces them to wake up and see that we are living in the last days, and must seek God ever more, and work together and build relationships with other believers in order to survive.
A time is coming when we will have to choose between our jobs(money) or staying faithful to God and our convictions. It will become more and more common for people to seek alternate forms of income. We will have to learn to barter, and grow our own foods, and how to survive outside of the system.”
So the person telling us we should get rid of our computers says so from a …..COMPUTER, ironic:/
Mr Bailey
Discussion