I don’t commonly follow Buchanan’s site, but I found this article illustrative of some significant direction for our country, if not the world. Check this quote:
This weekend, General Social Survey data revealed that Americans who profess to have “no religion,” 23.1%, now exceed Catholics, our largest religion with 23%, and Evangelicals at 22.5%. And the “nones” have grown by 266% since 1991.
As for the mainstream Protestant congregations, together, they are not half as numerous as those Americans who profess no religion.
I can’t tell if there is overlap in the Evangelicals and mainstream categories. But the dominance of the “no religion”, and Catholic is significant. There are very few churches that today teach sound doctrine using the confessions and catechisms of the reformed faith. I mean really, when was the last time anybody in your church read from the Westminster or Canons of Dort in the service? What percentage of your congregation has actually studied any of these, chapter by chapter or question by question?
Thankfully, there are many churches that use the Bible, but few actually, teach verse by verse. I could go on but will stop.
Reach your own conclusion, as for my observation, the many years of liberalizing the church, making it more seeker friendly, or emergent, growing mega-“evangelical”, or “word of faith” churches, the growth of charismatic or NAR churches, might on the surface be still supporting a substantial population of “professing” believers, but what they know, and believe, how they repent and live has not had any effect on stemming the tide of the culture.
Another good friend and I have just finished doing a study of Judges, and the theme in that book is hinged around these words. There are probably more I could quote:
Jdg 2:11 And the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the LORD, and served Baalim:
Jdg 3:7 And the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the LORD, and forgat the LORD their God, and served Baalim and the groves.
Jdg 6:1 And the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the LORD: and the LORD delivered them into the hand of Midian seven years.
Jdg 17:6 In those days there was no king in Israel, but every man did that which was right in his own eyes.
Jdg 21:25 In those days there was no king in Israel: every man did that which was right in his own eyes.
In today’s culture we hear a lot about “Justice”….but we rarely hear the word “Judgment” being used. Everybody wants justice, but nobody wants judgment. One of the reasons I like in reading the Old KJV is the translators were not afraid to us the longer word. If you have a mind to do so some time pick up a copy and compare some of the “Justice” verses in your modern Bibles to the KJV wording. People don’t mention it, and nobody likes being negative, but this too is probably part of progression of the last 150 years or so.
Anyway sorry for the rant.
Here’s today’s news…
Mayor Pete and the Crackup of Christianity
Buttigieg declared his candidacy Sunday, and his bid ensures that America’s deepening moral divide will be front and center in 2020…
“(T)here is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so,” said Hamlet, who thereby raised some crucial questions:
Is moral truth subjective? Does it change with changing times and changing attitudes? Or is there a higher law, a permanent law, God’s law, immutable and eternal, to which man’s law should conform?
Are, for example, the Ten Commandments of the Old Testament, Christian teaching and natural law unchangeable and applicable to all men at all times? Or can some of the 10 be consigned to the dumpster of antiquated moral prohibitions?
This question has been brought straight into the presidential primaries by Pete Buttigieg, breakout star of the spring of 2019. Read more.
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Rainbow Trout 
You can see two sides of this in the debate discussed over at this site:
https://reformationcharlotte.org/2019/04/15/hillsong-pastor-says-christians-shouldnt-judge-god-is-a-god-of-love-acceptance/
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You can probably add this to the list. Rings so like the Judges verses.
“The number of supposedly Christian individuals whose moral compasses are calibrated to the spirit of the age rather than the authority of Scripture has become astounding. Leaning on their own understanding, they choose the attributes of a god they want to worship, one who seems “worthy” of their worship, and they bow to it. The God of Scripture is too narrow-minded.“
I am no fan of either Trump’s or Pence’s particular “Christianity” and would prefer a more pronounced “reformed” faith orientation. But I do see Pence being exposed to some of the wrath of the culture. Here is another example….
https://theresurgent.com/2019/04/16/dont-be-shocked-when-many-christians-cheer-the-criminalization-of-christianity/
(Note: I am not familiar with other materials on these sites, and these articles are used as examples of the issues in the news, not recommendations of their sites.)
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