Is There Any Hope For America?

Part 1

Dr. Reagan: Greetings in the name of Jesus, our Blessed Hope, and welcome to Christ in Prophecy. Each year our ministry sponsors a Bible conference that is held in the Dallas, Texas area in mid-July. In 2017 our conference theme was “Living with Hope in the End Times.”

The conference began with an overview of the Bible’s end time promises to believers, promises that should provide us with hope. That overview was presented by Dr. Ed Hindson of Liberty University. He was followed by Dr. Tommy Ice who spoke about the promise of the Rapture. Next was Pastor Glenn Meredith who presented a fascinating talk about heavenly rewards. He was followed by Evangelist Don Perkins who spoke about the Millennial reign of Jesus. Dr. Andy Woods explained what the Bible says about the promises of the Eternal State.

And I concluded the conference by speaking on the subject, “Is There Hope for America?” Here now is part of my presentation.

Dr. Reagan’s Presentation

Dr. Reagan: My presentation is a very heavy one, it’s a very tough one, and because of that I think we need a few smiles before we get started. So, I wanted to show you a very clever sign that someone sent me recently. I never cease to be amazed at what they put on church signs. Look at this one, “Adam and Eve, the first people to not read the Apple Terms and Conditions.” This next congregation is very excited about their pastor, “Bring your spiritual marshmallows, our pastor is on fire.” This next one is just short and to the point it says, “It’s too hot to change the sign. Sin bad. Jesus good.” This next one, you know the Bible says we cannot know when the Lord is going to return, but I found a church that thinks they know, look at this, “Are you ready for Jesus’ return? Sunday at 10:30.” Here’s one of my all-time favorites, “Heaven is real. Hell is hot. Mohammed is dead. Jesus is not.” And when you consider all the political nonsense that we’ve been through and are still going through this is the sign you need to remember, “Have the donkey and elephant let you down? Turn to the Lamb.” Amen.

My topic is: Is There Any Hope for America? I would like to start off by asking you some questions. What does a famous Russian novelist have in common with a country preacher from Tupelo, Mississippi? What does a Messianic Jewish woman from Minneapolis have in common with a Canadian pastor of a Chicago church? What does a Pentecostal New York preacher have in common with a member of the White House Press Corp from Arizona? What does a Messianic Jewish Rabbi from New Jersey have in common with an eccentric Pennsylvania theologian who made his home in Switzerland? Well the answer is astounding. All of these people and others are anointed by God to present prophetic messages to our nation. And to understand their messages and to understand the need for their messages we must begin this presentation by considering the religious movement they were raised up to speak against; and that movement is called Humanism. It sounds so harmless. In fact it conjures up images of humanitarianism; an image of people devoted to helping the poor and down trodden in our society.

But Humanism is anything but harmless. It is the religion of Satan, and it has been since the beginning of history. In the Garden of Eden when Satan told Eve that she could be like God. It is characterized by a rejection of God, and in favor of a belief in mankind. A belief in the perfectibility of mankind, and in our unlimited potential to solve our own problems. Faith is condemned. Reason is exalted. God is considered to be an irrelevant myth that has been used by religion to enslave mankind. Absolute truth is rejected in favor of ethics that are based solely upon man’s needs, in other words situational ethics. The ultimate goal of life is considered to be the realization of human personality. Life beyond death is thought of to be absolute, total nonsense.

As I said this philosophical religion has been around in various forms since the beginning of time. But it began to crystalize as a significant movement in this country in 1933 when a group of American Humanists produced what was called, The First Humanist Manifesto. This manifesto began with the assertion that the universe is self-existing and not created. The second principle was an affirmation of evolution. The third principle was the denial of absolute truth. It also rejected all aspects of the supernatural. And the declaration ended with a proclamation that the only hope for mankind was to rely on reason as opposed to sentimental and unreal hopes, and wishful thinking.

Forty years later in 1973 a second Humanist Manifesto was issued, and the authors made is perfectly clear that their number one target was Christianity. Here’s how it began, “As in 1933 Humanist still believe that traditional Theism especially faith in the prayer hearing God, assumed to live, and care for persons to hear and understand their prayers, and to be able to do something about them is an unproved, and outmoded faith. Salvationism based on mere affirmation still appears as harmful, diverting people with false hopes of Heaven hereafter. Reasonable minds look to other means for survival.” This manifesto proceeded to condemn fake theologies of hope, and Messianic ideologies. The manifesto declared that a belief in the supernatural is meaningless and irrelevant. Their belief in man was summed up in one sentence, “As non-theists we begin with humans, not God, nature not deity.” And once again the manifesto declared that reason is the only hope for mankind.

This manifesto then specifically attacked the Christian concept of eternal life. It said, “Promises of immortal salvation, or fear of eternal damnation are both illusory and harmful. They distract humans from present concerns, from self-actualization, and from rectifying social injustices, there is no credible evidence that life survives the death of the body.” The manifesto also attacked Christianity for its view of human sexuality, condemning orthodox religion for unduly repressing sexual activity. The second manifesto even attacked the sanctity of life by calling for a full range of civil liberties including abortion, euthanasia, and the right to suicide. Finally venturing into the world of international politics the manifesto condemned nationalism, and called for the building of a world government.

One of humanisms most significant spokesman in America today is a man by the name of John Dunphy, he owns a second hand bookstore in Alton, IL; this man is very, very eloquent. Well in 1983 he won a Humanist essay contest with an article that has since come to be recognized as the cornerstone of the Humanist Movement. Here’s an excerpt from it, “I am convinced that the battle for humankind’s future must be waged and won in the public school classroom, by teachers who correctly perceive their role as the proselytizers of a new faith. A religion of humanity that recognizes the spark of what theologians call divinity in every human being. There in the classroom teachers must embody the same selfless dedication of the most rabid fundamentalist preacher, for they will be ministers of another sort, utilizing a classroom instead of a pulpit to convey humanist values in whatever subject they teach, regardless of the educational level; pre-school, daycare, or large state university. The classroom must, and will become an arena of conflict between the old and the new, the rotting corpse of Christianity together with all its adjacent evils and misery, and the new faith of Humanism resplendent in its promise of world in which the never realized Christian ideal of love thy neighbor will finally be achieved.”

Let me just say, that again after that and that really shook a lot of people in 2006 he wrote another attack specifically on Christianity and Judeo Christian values. And here is what he said, “I don’t care to live in a nation in which Genesis will someday be uniformly taught as Creation Science, abortion is criminalized, little girls are socialized for careers as housekeepers and baby machines, and homosexuality is stigmatized as a perversion and mental illness. I don’t want an America in which the cross replaces the flag as the national symbol, and the Bible becomes the law of the land.” This is the enemy. This is the enemy that is winning the culture war in the United States of America.

Ever since the 1960’s this nation has been embroiled in a culture war that has been spearheaded by the advocates of Humanism, and that is a war against Judeo Christian values. It’s a war that we have lost.

One of Christendom’s most outstanding Church historians is Jim Garlow pastor of the Skyline Church in Mesa, California. In 2010 at the National Religious Broadcasters convention he presented a startling, and sobering analysis of the relationship between Bible believing Christians and American society. Here’s a summary. He said from 1606-1833, a period of 236 years, Bible believing Christians were the establishment of the United States of America. From 1833-1918, a period of 85 years, they were the predominant force. From 1918-1968, 50 years, they were the subdominant force. Notice how things begin to accelerate. From 1968-1988, they had become a sub-culture, a period of 20 years. From 1988-1998, 10 years, they had become a counter culture. From 1998-2008, Bible believing Christians had become an antithetical culture; which is a culture in full opposition to the predominant values of the culture. And finally from since 2008 Bible believing Christians have become a persecuted culture in the United States of America.

This analysis clearly reveals that Christians have lost the culture war. That Christianity in America is in rapid retreat, and Humanism is in the ascendency. And all of this is in fulfillment of prophecies which state that in the end times, right before the return of Jesus society will become as evil as it was in the days of Noah. And if you go to Genesis chapter 6 and look at what it says about the Days of Noah you will see that there two characteristics of that society; immorality and violence. And everywhere we look at America today, and around the world we see societies descending into the chaos of immorality and violence.

The Apostle Paul painted the same dismal picture of end time society in his famous prophecy recorded in 2 Timothy chapter 3, where he said, “Realize this that in the last days,” the days we’re in, “difficult times will come. For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good, treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, holding to a form of godliness although they have denied its power.”

Notice that in this passage it’s told that in the end times, the times in which we’re living, men will come to love three things. First they will love self, that is the religion of the end times, not only here but around the world, and that is the religion of Humanism, the exaltation of man, the belief in man. It says they will love money that is the god of the end times. Anytime Humanism is your religion, your god will be money that is Materialism. And then there is a third one that goes hand-in-hand, when Humanism is your religion, and money is your god, let me tell you you’re lifestyle will be Hedonism, a style of immorality beyond anything we can possibly imagine, because it is only going to get worse. But God cannot be mocked. And whenever you have Humanism as the religion, Materialism as the god, Hedonism as the lifestyle, the payoff is always Nihilism which is a $64 philosophical word for despair. And that is the reason that American society, and societies all over the world today are literally wallowing in despair is because people have committed their lives to Humanism and all the things that go with it. We see a nation in despair, we see a world in despair.

The Bible teaches that societies committed to Humanism, Materialism and Hedonism are candidates for the wrath of God. Consider these words from Romans chapter 1, “The wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness, and unrighteousness, for even though they knew God they did not honor Him as God, or give thanks. But they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing to be wise they became fools, and they exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man.” In other words instead of worshipping God, they worship man, that is Humanism.

The Bible also teaches that God never pours our His wrath without warning. I want you to consider two of the saddest verses in the Bible written about the nation of Judah after its destruction by the Babylonians. Look at this, 2 Chronicles 36, “The Lord, the God of their fathers,” speaking of Judah, “Lord, the God of their fathers, sent word to them again, and again, by his messengers because He had compassion on His people and on His dwelling place.” Speaking of the Temple. “But they continually mocked the messengers of God, they despised His Word, they scoffed at His prophets until the wrath of God rose against His people, until there was no remedy.” God sent the prophetic voices, He sent the remedial judgments. He always warns before He pours out His wrath. You can almost hear the Lord weeping when you read those two passages of His destruction of the beloved nation of Judah.

My friends like Judah, America is a nation that has been greatly blessed by God. Like Judah America has turned its heart against the very One who has blessed us so mightily. And as was the case with Judah God has sent both prophetic voices, and remedial judgments to call this nation to repentance. Unfortunately like Judah we have turned a deaf ear, and we have responded like Judah in another way. When Jeremiah called the people to repentance do you know how they responded? They always responded in the same way, they’d yell back at him, “The Temple! The Temple! The Temple!” You know what that meant? Jeremiah, you are a false prophet when you say God is going to destroy our nation if we don’t repent, because He will never touch the Temple. He will never allow anyone to touch the Temple. We have a protection because the Shekinah Glory of God dwells in our Temple. But God allowed the Babylonians to touch that Temple and do more than that, He allowed them to totally destroy it. And in like manner today many American’s are responding to the dire warning of prophetic voices with the patriotic chant of, “America! America! America!” It’s as if we think God is sitting on His throne draped in an American flag.

Part 2

Dr. Reagan: At that point in my presentation, I began to present a survey of the prophetic voices God has raised up to point out the sins of our nation and call us to repentance. I began with four voices from the past: First, Pastor Peter Marshall who in 1944 called for God to send a prophet to warn our nation against its embracement of Humanism and Materialism.

God responded to that call 30 years later in 1974 when He gave Pastor Dave Wilkerson a vision of the judgment that awaits our nation. At the same time, He anointed Frances Schaeffer to speak out against Humanism and Materialism and the increasing apostasy in the Church. The decade of the 70’s ended with the fourth voice from the past, Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn who proclaimed that America was on the same path that led to the destruction of Russia, all because we, like the Russians, had forgotten God.

I then turned to the current nine prophetic voices that God has raised up who are active on the scene today. The first being Donald Wildmon of the American Family Association in Tupelo, Mississippi. Followed by Pastor Erwin Lutzer of the Moody Church in Chicago. Pastor David Jeremiah of the Shadow Mountain Community Church in El Cajon, California. White House correspondent Bill Koenig in Washington, DC. Jan Markell of Olive Tree Ministries in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Dr. Albert Mohler, Jr., president of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky. Evangelist Franklin Graham from North Carolina. Pastor Robert Jeffress of First Baptist Church in Dallas, Texas. And Messianic Rabbi Jonathan Cahn from New Jersey. I then turned to the conclusion of my remarks about hope for America.

Dr. Reagan’s Presentation

Dr. Reagan: I wish I could conclude by ensuring you that there is hope for our nation, but I cannot. I believe the man who promised hope has robbed us of it. Some have pointed to the fact that our nation has experienced great spiritual revivals in the past when we had gone cold in the Lord.

But folks, let make a point to you that is very important: this is no longer the case in America, we have not just grown cold in the Lord. We have turned our back on God and His Word to the point that we are a nation in all out rebellion against God, shaking our fist at Him and telling Him that we will do as we damn well please. That is the attitude of America today. God in His grace and mercy has given us a brief respite through the election of Donald Trump, but it is respite only in the sense that our headlong dash into self-destruction will be delayed for a while, but it will not be turned around.

I can prove that easily with three facts; three brutal facts that we have to face up. Just consider that after eight years of the most ungodly administration in American history President Obama left office with a 60% approval rating. After eight years of the most ungodly administration in American history Hillary Clinton his designated heir received 3 million more votes than Trump did. And our nation’s future, the Millennials after 18-29 supported out and out a Socialist, and when he didn’t get the nomination they supported Hillary Clinton overwhelmingly. That’s the future of our nation. That’s where the heart of our nation has shifted.

But there is something more important even than those facts that show you where were headed, consider the ignorance of God’s Word that has come to characterized both our nation and professing Christians. This ignorance is reflected in the latest polls conducted by the Barna Association which show–Are you ready, this is shocking? The latest polls show only 9% of American’s now are Bible believing Christians. And even more shocking only 17% of professing Christians are truly Bible believing Christians. Most Christians in America today are simply cultural Christians, that’s all they are, but they don’t believe the Bible. Nine percent of American’s as a whole, 17% of those who profess to be Christians. And incidentally if you want to know what criteria they use to determine a Bible believing Christian they had to answer, they interviewed over 6,000 people they had to answer the following six questions. Let’s see how you would answer them. Here they go: (1) Does absolute moral truth exist? Is the Bible totally accurate in all of the principles it teaches? Is Satan a real being and not simply a symbolic force? Can people earn their way into heaven by doing good works? Did Jesus live a sinless life? Is God the all-knowing, all-powerful Creator of the world who still rules the universe today? Only 9% of American’s answered those questions right. Only 17% of professing Christians answered those. You would be surprised how many people saying that they were evangelicals said Jesus sinned. It’s just incredible. Just incredible. That’s the kind of Bible ignorance that exists in our country today. So many of our churches are simply in the entertainment business, rather than the discipling business, and it is showing up.

Well, my friends we need to face up to the fact that we have lost the culture war. Humanism has triumphed. We are now a nation begging God to deliver us from judgment, to destruction. But we should not despair for two reasons. First what we are experiencing is a fulfillment of end time Bible prophecy. For the biblical prophets including Jesus Himself all prophesied that in the end times society would disintegrate into violence and immorality. That it would become as evil as it was in the day of Noah and that is where we are today. And thus we are witnessing the very signs that herald the soon return of Jesus. This is why the great pastor Adrian Rogers once said, “The world is growing gloriously dark.” You have to understand Bible prophecy to understand that statement. The world is growing gloriously dark. And this is the reason Jan Markell likes to put it this way, “The world is not falling to pieces, rather the pieces are all falling into place.” The second reason we should not despair is because there is individual hope. For those of us who are believers God has promised that He will never forsake us. We also have the incredible hope of the Rapture which we’ve been hearing about today. And there is also hope for unbelievers, as Robert Jeffress likes to point out, “When the darkness deepens, the light of Jesus will shine more brightly like a diamond on a black cloth, and more and more people will be drawn to Jesus and they will be saved.” Amen.

Meanwhile as the darkness deepens, those of us who are believers must serve as salt and light, standing for God, standing for His Word. Refusing to give into the demands of a pagan society regardless of the cost.

Closing

Dr. Reagan: Well, folks, I said at the beginning of my presentation that this was going to be a heavy one, and it was. I wish I could have provided a more positive conclusion, but when I observe how our nation is literally shaking its fist at the very One who has blessed us so abundantly, I can only conclude that we are literally begging for God’s wrath. What I had to say in that presentation is the reason that prophetic voices have never been popular ones.
Well, that’s our program for today. In a moment our announcer will tell you how you can get a complete copy of my presentation, together with the other five presentations that were made at our 2017 annual Bible conference.

I hope this program has been a blessing to you. And I hope it will drive you into the scriptures and to your knees in prayer for our nation. I hope, too, that you will be back with us next week. Until then, this is Dave Reagan speaking for Lamb & Lion Ministries, saying, “Look up, be watchful, for our Redemption is drawing near.”

End of Program