Creation of a Pagan Cult

So, we have seen how religion has broken down from a central authority to a point where today, we have individual authority.  Yes, we do have the Holy Spirit to tell us right from wrong, but I am not so sure that it gets as much listen time as does the constant drone of the media of the pagan culture in our lives.

So, you have a country, America, established by Christians, fleeing migratory worker conditions in the Netherlands, landing in a new world where opportunity abounds, not the least of which is the freedom to worship God without governmental intervention.  Of course, it was not to stay that way for long.

Now not everyone was a Christian, but most had a culture which they came from having had Christian grandparents or parents, so values were passed on and the outcasts were constantly pushed to the west.  (another story for another time!)

There was a point where this America, was to eclipse Great Britain as the sender of missionaries to the world, the publisher of volumes and works to help the individual understand whom God is, to help the brethren the world over, in their time of crisis.  There was a time when America was getting it right.  But, politics and a pagan worldview were to eclipse what America had been.

Bythe 16th century, the Roman Catholic church had become corrupt and worldly.  It had sold its soul for power and to greed.  Yes, the magnificence of what that church created is awe inspiring, but they did it under the banner of a god they no longer knew.  Tradition had replaced faith, money had replaced relationship with God, and often the basest of men held the title of Pope and priest.  Martin Luther, a Catholic priest, discovered that God was real, that He was personally discoverable, that he had been lied to by the church universal.  His call for Scripture Only, was to call the church back to its roots and faith.  But, he was to find a pagan faith had captured his church and politicians were playing it for what they could - gain, just as the church was playing them.  Luther's epiphany was to realize that man could know God apart from the permission and rites of the church.

16th century brought the believer a knowable God, Bibles in native languages and the printing press.
17th century brought believers to a land where they were free to worship apart from government.
18th century brought the concept that government should behave in line with Scripture.
19th century saw the explosion of a worldwide witness, the concept of literal Biblical interpretation.
20th century saw the end of Christianity.

Huh?  This past century has assailed Christianity unlike any other in our 2,000 year history.  Unlike early attempts to control Christianity, Christians did not rise up against a government bent on stripping the religion of its basis.  No, it joined in with the government and when it realized where they were going, it was too late to herald a call of concern, they had lost the validity of their witness.

World War was the cause for a female work force.  Biblically, women have always worked in and outside of the home!, have always run businesses, read Acts if you disagree, read Paul's salutations to his fellow tent makers!  Women worked, women worked along side their husbands, women played an interesting role in the nuclear family for thousands of years, until a corrupt Christianity told them their place was in the home, subservient to men.  But war changed that, the culture of the day, the government called women to work outside the home, to run businesses, to be the support for themselves and their family - just the way it had been before a corrupt Christianity had decided otherwise.  By the end of the 20th century, woman was expected to be holding her own, often at the expense of her family - lost was the ability to decide for herself without being judged by her own kind!  The concept of servitude had become slavery, submissiveness by a female some form of mental illness, conversely, to be a business woman was sneered at by the church and those whom still held to the corrupt tenants of faith.  Today we are in the middle of change concerning allowing women to free choose their own way: this question has brought us relationships where we might get married, if even that, meeting for the purposes of having sex, sharing of property and not much else.  The Christian church of the post war years took a stand which was not Biblical and now reaps the harvest of professional woman not very comfortable with the local church; and if the church was wrong about work, obviously they are wrong about marriage as well.  The Christian Church lost its validity by refusing to accept woman's historical role in life.

Marriage was something mature responsible adults engaged in.  Yes, Miriam, Jesus mother, might have been all of 12 or 13.  That has little bearing here because America created the sickness called dating where two people, too young to be trusted alone, are put together and guess what?  Yeah, disasters are created.  When in some states a 12 year old girl could be passed off in marriage in my lifetime, with the parents consent of course( $$$$!), there is an evil in this land.  Sure, we now have that number up to 16, but it is doubtful that any female is any the more responsible for it.  We have a culture built upon the sex trade and the pushing of sex to younger and younger ages in our schools and in our society (not to mention films!).

Divorce laws were very one sided and draconian in their application.  Yes, anytime man is involved in a practice, it is going to be gummed up by their lies and stupidity.  We are told that divorce was allowed by God due to the hardness of man's heart.  No doubt, those pre-mid-20th century laws caused many unhappiness's, hospitalizations, and killings.  Then there are the children whom had to deal with the mess their parents have made.  My grandmother was married 5 times, my father 8, my uncles numerous times.  I hate divorce, I hated the mere thought of marriage because of it.  Yeah, it messed me up, I realized that even as a 16 year old.  Divorce is now common place amongst the Christian community.  No I honestly do not have an answer to the hardness of our own hearts.  It kills me to see how people can change and how what once was love, is now hatred.  I was on the receiving end once, I tried to stand, I honestly tried ..... to no avail it seems.  And the open divorce law changes gave both feminism and the sexual revolution a big boost.

Adultery was considered wrong by the church.  The 1960's brought us the sexual revolution.  In content, there was no real revolution, sex outside of marriage has probably always existed.  But, what had not before existed was a toleration by the culture and by a church which was unable to reach out and not condemn them for their sin, while ignoring their own.  But, hey, everybody does it!  Well that is what they said when I was in high school and judging by the number of pregnant girls, they did, but equally, I did not know of a single guy in my school whom would admit they had, even in private.  So, just whom was EVERYBODY?  Today, while I was still employed, rampant sex was common place in the office, at all managerial levels.  Long lunches common and one director I know of even would drive his camper to work so he could be more comfortable during those long lunches..

Christianity once held that life was precious.  Yet, court approved abortions led to a culture shift where by the killing of the unborn was justifiable if a woman was willing to approve this to be done.  Even if the court case was a total farce, as later claimed, the flood gates to murder the unborn had been opened.  Life was no longer precious.  This allowed the likes of Dr. Kivorkian to set up machines so that people could commit suicide easier.  We now allow routinely for non-resuscitation in hospitals.  Although, I believe this evil, I could not prevail upon my father's doctors not to end his life when he had pneumonia and was in a drug induced coma (so could not change his mind!).  And let no one forget the Terri Shivo disaster with the court ordered starvation of someone whom may have only existed at a child's intelligence level, but all the same, she was alive and could relate as a child.  She is now dead and forgotten by the culture of death which ordered her starvation.

Paul's words, which you can not bend, state: women are not to hold authority over a man.  ie: women do not hold an office in the Christian church.  And yet, America, across the denominations have all educated women for the priesthood with interesting comments:  Women are needed in the mission field, We have no men to send.  (then send NO ONE!)  Women are only being educated - we are not going to ordain them (really? and where is that in the Bible?). Even J Vernon McGee, a man I have tremendous respect for said that he knows, when he sees a female pastor or missionary, that there are least ten men whom did not step forward to do what they were called to do.  A valid observation, but it allowed for rebellion within the church all the same.  Today, forty years after these practices, we have women in the pastorates, we have women Bishops in many denominations, it is not really all that uncommon.  And Paul said that this would not be accepted by the Christian Church.....

But America's cultural attack on Christianity was not over.  Two tenants of faith remain for cultural acceptance to percolate into the faith:

Biblically, homosexuality was dealt with severely.  Personally, I recognize that my friends whom are "gay" need Jesus just as much as I did before I became a Christian.  Killing them or banning them from culture is not going to witness God's truth to them.  Conversely, accepting their CHOSEN way of life is not going to either, but it will destroy one more facet of Christianity in its call to godliness.  Luckily we no longer kill homosexuals, except in parts of Texas, however I live in a state which has now defined marriage as being between adults, not a man and a woman.  So, we now are legally forced to accept that homosexuality is normal.  The argument used this past election?  It will bring more tourist dollars to our state as "gays" come here to get married.....  Yeah, Christianity lost its validity in this state long ago.

Sanctity of the Priesthood was important.  But with all of the above which has changed the Church in America, it is no wonder we now have divorced pastors, gay pastors, adulterous pastors, pastors whom are not even Christian, etc in our churches today!  The perfect storm has been declared against the pastorate.  I recently heard a local pastor comment that it was okay if the youth pastor had fouled up with one of the girls, as long as there was only one girl involved.  Huh?!?!?!?  It is okay that the guy had breached his role as pastor to youth, his witness as to the reality of God, to have sex with one of them .....we will just keep it quiet - and keep him as well because he is a great guy?  That is just plain messed up!  And I expect to see God quietly move against that church, that pastor and that youth pastor....  And the girl?  Yeah, write off another one whom could have been living their life for God.

So:

Women were first pressed into being completely dependent upon their husbands by the church, then called out into the workforce by the government, and then judged by the church for doing what had been natural before the corruption!
The church was willing to accept dating as being valid since the whole buying and selling of a bride or slaves could be seen as a correlation.  And well, kids will be kids, so let's get them married quicker!
The church lost its credibility by attempting to conscript women to a role of slavery through marriage.
Divorce is now common in the church, we have no answers for our own, much less a culture bent upon throwing one another away.
Adultery is not even considered a sin any longer.  It is hormones, a poor choice.  Your are not responsible!
Thus the church's stand on life could not be accepted by those whom accepted the rampant sexuality of culture.
To be politically correct, to address the numerous lawsuits, my own mother being one of them, women are serving as pastors in the American church.
Homosexuality is now an accepted norm, not a group for whom outreach is important to.
And finally, there is no acceptable standard for a pastor to have to meet.

So what now?  Well check back tomorrow and lets see where this line of reasoning goes.