"Why I am not yet optimistic though would like to be" from jan 19 2017

I am hearing much optimism form commentators regarding a revival now that trump will be president while I would like to share this I have a few reservations. so far we have only been treating the symptoms not the underlying disease and as such have not moved America forward but have watched her fall backwards. the Political, Economic, and Social problems facing the nation are but symptoms of the underlying SPIRITUAL disease. Treating them is like treating the headache you get when you have a growing brain tumor you eliminate the headache but don’t get rid of the tumor. I think God Gave us a chance with Trumps election, a VERY underserved one, but if we blow this we would have been better if we had elected Hillary and gotten the swift judgment out of the way quickly rather than waste a new chance and get even worse judgment.

The two major issue I see are thus: 1) we are a house divide against itself. there is the liberal/progressive side of the church believing little if any of the bible and beliefs of christianity some even being effectively atheists while calling themselves christian and many believing that being good gets you to heaven and everyone regardless of their faith goes to heaven. on the other side we have the conservative/fundamentalist. We have the fundamentalist holding true to the faith and conservative christians believing most to some of the principles of the bible. Those closest to the middle on the spectrum have little difference from those on the L/P side that are close to the middle. With this kind of division in the church it will be very hard to change America and bring her to God. We have each side fighting each other and the C/F side fighting the non-christian elements as well. It is like we are the antibodies and the world is the body but since we are divided half the antibodies are attacking the disease and the other half are attacking the first half of antibodies. Since we end up fighting each other we can’t effectively fight the disease and it metastasizes. 

If we are TRULY serious about revival we must unify the church. This is easier said than done as satan has taken a long time to greatly influence the L/P’s and will not give them up without a fight. This will be a long protracted battle and the big question is does the church have the stomach for this battle?? As bad as things are now for the church they will be far worse when we fight satan for control of the whole church. As they say “you ain’t seen nothing yet”! 

2) Most children go to public schools which long ago kicked God out in favor of satan under the guise of humanism. These children are under the influence of these humanist (possibly communist or at least socialist) mentions for about 7 hours a day and that is 35 hours a week. compare that to the 1 hour a week of Sunday school most get and you can see who the bigger influence is. I think even todays dumbed down kids could still tell you 35>1. Many families are forced to have both parents work leaving little time for interaction with the children to combat the anti-christian message at school and add to that the large number in single parent homes whose only parent works during the day, and might even have a second job in the evening or at night, and has very little time for countering the negative messages at school and you have a generation growing up with satan raising them through his humanist/socialist proxies for 13 years at least and usually another 4 post secondary years. With all the time satan’s people have with these kids compared to the parents and the church is it any wonder they come out of school hating God??? These are the future leaders and if we neglect to properly educate them the trump effect will be short lived. What is taught in schools today become the public philosophy of tomorrow. As long as satan is teaching the children the philosophy won’t change or will only get worse. Too many of my Generation (Gen X) and the Millennials (Gen Y) are already screwed up and on board with the agenda  and we are losing Gen Z (03 or 05 start) rapidly. 

Something that can be done is the creation of a huge, multi billion $$ fund to help people get there kids OUT of satan's schools and into Gods. One part of the fund would help people send their kids to christians schools who can’t afford to send them there and the other part would make up for the loss of income for those who wish to home school. Two parents who need both incomes could them afford to have one stay home and teach the children and then take a part time job in the evenings when the first parent returns from work and would keep the families form loosing income. Also it would allow single parents to stay at home and teach the children and then have a part time evening job to make some money. Religious sponsored charter schools would help too but by far homeschooling is the best option.

Make no mistake this will be a hard long battle, more than even 2 trump administrations, as satan knows his time is short and has work very long and very hard to get things to the point they are at and he won’t simply "go quietly into the night" because we are now fighting. He will fight back and fight back hard. Are we prepared for such a fight?? It would mean possible going against family, friends, co-workers, neighbors, even people at our church. It would mean being hated by the world and being pariahs. It could mean losing our jobs and being unable to find another. As satan's side gets more angry and/or desperate it could mean being severely beaten or even killed. Right now I don’t think the church is up to the task. We have all been comfortable all too long and many would not stand under the immense pressure. For too long the church has thought being loved by all was so important that it was worth compromising principles. Can she now stand on principle while being hated by all???? 

I am reminded of a quiet by Lincoln “The fiery trial through which we pass will light us down in honor or dishonor, to the last generation. We shall nobly save, or meanly lose our last best hope of Earth.” If we can’t take care of these two major issues I don’t see us getting through this trial with honor. Right now there is a Fire of Judgment that awaits America at the end of her journey and if we can’t fix these things we shan't avoid it.

Many in the church I have spoken with don’t want to hear that the church bear responsibility in the current situation America is in “it is all satan’s fault we have done nothing wrong”. I point out that had we treated homosexuals better in the 40s-70’s and before and not beaten them or at the very least allowed it to happen by either looking the other way or believing it was for the best because they have to be punished for their sin before they are brought to christ it would have been difficult for them to militarize since they wouldn’t have been able to claim victimhood status if they weren’t being victimized. Unfortunately the church as a whole has sometimes thought it was the church's job to be God’s instrument of punishment on people rather than helping them with God’s love. (remember the catholic church and the jews) I would point to those who say "we did our job" what one Charles Finney said:

Brethren, our preaching will bear its legitimate fruits.

If immorality prevails in the land, the fault is ours in a great degree.

If there is a decay of conscience, the pulpit is responsible for it.

If the public press lacks moral discrimination, the pulpit is responsible for it.

If the church is degenerate and worldly, the pulpit is responsible for it.

If the world loses its interest in religion, the pulpit is responsible for it.

If Satan rules in our halls of legislation, the pulpit is responsible for it.

If our politics become so corrupt that the very foundations of our government are ready to fall away, the pulpit is responsible for it.

Let us not ignore this fact, my dear brethren; but let us lay it to heart, and be thoroughly awake to our responsibility in respect to the morals of this nation.

If we admit, or should I say confess, OUR fault in America’s decline then we can start fixing things but these two areas need the most attention. Without changing them we CANNOT change our nation. You’ll notice that I put the divided church first as if we can’t get our own house in order how can we get the nations house in order??? If we can get these two areas taken care of I could be optimistic about America’s chances of avoiding that fire that awaits her. Revival starts from the churches out not from DC out. Trump can’t Christianize this nation, nor can the GOP, only we the church can. We must Christianize one neighbor at a time, one neighborhood at a time, one part of town at a time. We haven’t much time left, the end of days is NIGH at hand, and the clock IS ticking. 

Paul Wilson