How To Win Back Christians

Now hope does not disapoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.  For when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly.  For scarcely for a righteous man will one die; yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die.  But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
Romans 8: 5-8 NKJV

It's an alarming statistic to say the least.  From 2007 to 2014, the number of Americans identifying as christians fell 7.6% from 78.4 percent to 70.6 percent {Pew Research}.  That's 7.6 percent in seven years.  In that very same time frame, the numbers of religiously unafiliated people rose from 16.1 percent to 22.8 percent!  What happened to this nation which has been so steeped in christianity for so many generations?  So much were our forefathers devoted to their christian faith, that the influence of the bible and God can be seen countless times in our nations constitution as well as our system of laws we abide by.  Christianity has long had a home in this great nation.  We Americans were never Gods chosen people.  However, we were certainly one of the most blessed nations in the history of the civilized world.  Through many a battle and war, Americans have paid the price for their freedom in blood.  That these United States have remained free of foreign conquest for so long is a testament not only to our resourcefulness but to our willingness to bear the horrors of battle once again.  The nation must, above all else, survive.  Some have refered to our continued prosperity as divine providence, as if God had preordained the blessing of our great nation.  However, I see this as one of the most arogant statements one could make.  For I believe our prosperity rests not in our Lords preordained blessings, but in our willingness throughout our history to acknowledge and follow our heavenly Father.

"Men, all this stuff you hear about America not wanting to fight, wanting to stay out of the war, is alot of bullshit.  Americans love to fight.  All real Americans love the clash and sting of battle.  When you were kids, you all admired the champion marble shooter, the fastest runner, the big league ball players and the toughest boxers.  Americans love a winner and will not tolerate a loser.  Americans play to win all the time.  That's why Americans have never lost and never will lose a war.  The very thought of losing is hateful to Americans.  Battle is the most significant competition in which a man can indulge.  It brings out all that is best and removes all that is base.  You are not all going to die.  Only two percent of you here today would be killed in a major battle.  Every man is scared in his first action, if he says he's not he's a goddamn liar.  But the real hero is the man who fights even though he's scared.  Some men will get over their fright in a minute under fire, some take an hour, and for some it takes days.  But the real man never lets his fear of death overpower his honor, his sense of duty to his country, and his inate manhood."
~General George S Patton Jr.~
June 5,  1944

So, have we as Americans lost our desire to follow our heavenly Father?  I don't believe so, not at all.  Have we as Americans become weary of  that "institution" which our church and our worship has become?  I find this explanation more plausible.  I believe that Americans have become weary of the weekly show that has become the church in these United States.  I have believed for some time that the christian "church" in this country has done we who believe few favors.  We love our Lord, seemingly have a desire to know Jesus, and yet our church leaders try in vain to regale us with sermons of somehow earning our Lords love and salvation.  News flash pastor pulpit pounder, the very death and resurection of Jesus has already given us both forgiveness of our sins AND a life with Jesus Christ {Galations 2:20}.  This is the truth which can be as liberating to each and every christian as it was to me.  So, how is it that we can reverse this trend of christians in America seemingly abandoning their faith?  Well, scriptures tell us that there will be those who turn from the faith {2 Timothy 4: 3-4 NKJV}.  Despite this, I believe that there is a desire in America to know Jesus without the trappings of a orderly weekly worship service.  I believe that those 7.6 percent of people who no longer affiliate themselves with the term christian still have a desire to know the love and grace of our heavenly Father.  Our message should not be that God is one who is so ready to dicipline those who won't tow the church line, but one who loved us all enough that while we were still guilty of sin He would send His Son to be sin in our place.  God is love, and He embraces those who He receives.   That is my God.

~Scott~