(1991) According to research conducted by George Gallup, 12% of Americans are "highly spiritually committed." They are those who truly understand what Jesus meant when he said, "deny yourself, take up a cross and follow me." Gallup says the members of this group are "a breed apart from the rest of the populace in at least four ways:

1. They are happier.

2. Their families are stronger.

3. They are tolerant of people of different races and religions.

4. They are community-minded." (6)

They are involved in service to others. That is cross bearing that really makes a difference.(1)

October 30, 2003

Update:

This sermon is over 12 years old. Since 1991 we have seen a disregard for family values and homes, marriages, are breaking apart in never before seen statistics in America. I don’t know who George Gallup surveyed for these statistics. It would almost seem as though America is going through the messiah syndrome. We are about to be sacrificed at the alter of haterid. We have suffered (10 years after this report) 9/11, September 11, 2001, the devastation in New York City that closely resembles the condition of society in general. We have more than 10 candidates for the Democratic Party’s nomination for president. The haterid that spews froth from the lips of these candidates closely resembles the Islam haterid for Israel, and therefore, America.

We have seemingly lost our regards for our Borders, our Language and our Culture. We are doing everything humanly possible to take God out of all our National Heritage. Even though we have a National Alert Status that has been set up since September 11, 2001, when more than 3,000 souls were crucified in the tragedy in New York and a field in Pennsylvania, rather than turning our faces toward God and seeking his face, we have completely turned away from Him and are bound and determined at a hastened pace, to get God out of every aspect of our lives.

Does this make us:

1. "Happier?" Absolutely not.

2. “Happier Families?” Our families are becoming as devastated as New York City in 1991.

3. “More Tolerant Of Other People of Different Races and Religions?”

Unfortunately this is the only one of the 4 that seems to be the case. We have allowed others to destroy our determination to KEEP the 10 Commandments in places of prominence. We have allowed others (and therefore, our submission to others cause us to be just as guilty) to agree that we should NOT allow our children to pledge allegiance to our Stars and Stripes. We have allowed others to build their temples in our great cities and hold war counsels on how to go about killing more of our countrymen. We have allowed others to cross our borders and are powerless to resist the assault on our infrastructures. Because of our desperation to show “Tolerance” to other we are losing our churches and our families to “Multi-Culture-ism.” The Mainstream Denominations of Churches are at break-neck-speed to be ALL INCLUSIVE. This means that those that are not open to all that entails are leaving the church in flocks. Because our population is growing in such numbers the churches see the fact that their member statistics are holding fast they think it is catching on.

And, 4. “Community Minded?” We are almost afraid to answer our doors. Being “Community Minded” invites the parasites of the neighborhoods to come with palms-up looking for a hand out. Our Liberal leaders in Government are hell bent to drag us into socialism faster than lightning strikes from the skies. The Nation is divided as never before. I am not sure this is what Christ had in mind when he warned about not being "luke-warm", but to rather be, "Hot or Cold." Just as a majority of citizens seemed to hate President Clinton because of his lust and decadency and total lack of respect for the office he held, so, Americans seems to be 50-50 in hatred of President George W. Bush. One half of the nation hates him because he is honest, respectable and forthright. It is almost as though one half of the people are overcome by evil and the other half love him just as much as he is hated by the other . . .

Where does this leave us? It is this writer’s firm belief that this nation will not long survive. We have become so divided on the one hand and yet we are completely immersed in being tolerant of people of different races and religions to the point we are no longer a nation set on a hill. We are no longer focused. Our attention to what made us strong has been weakened by our determination to be open-to-all. I wonder what Jesus really meant when He commanded, “Come apart and be separate?” By being “hot or cold” did he mean to hate OR love? Or did he set forth for us a path to be with Him or against Him? (Him being Christ) Huge gates indeed has the entrance to Hell. Broad is the way that leadeth to destruction and many will be that will enter therein!. As I write these words the president of these United States offers palm leaves to the Moslems and yet offers not a word in defense of the name of God as it represents everything America stands for. It seems as though everyone is not only entering in at the “broad” gate, but we are running to it as though there is no tomorrow.

I am reminded of two things as these words pour out like blood from a wound: 1) The image of a small snow ball rolling down a hill over the soft wet snow. As it progresses it becomes larger until it becomes an avalanche. 2) The other image is that of current events. The State of California seems to be going up in flame. The hotter the flames get the higher they leap. Firemen are completely recognizing that it will “Take an act of God to stop the flames.” Chilling and hellish images, but they go some small way in describing the condition of society as played out before our very eyes with the 24 hour news channels coverage. It seems that the more we are exposed to this down-hill-decline of humanity the more speed we choose to reach as though reaching out to touch the ultimate destination – whatever it may bring.

Less than half of humanity are producers and those that have-not demand a “MORE THAN EQUAL” slice of the pie. No one seems to care. Greed and lust are the catch-words of the day. The filthy is accepted as the norm. Mankind has lost the ability to blush. Nothing shames anyone it would seem. One of the things that concerned me more than 13 years ago was the way that the once holy and set apart little old ladies of congregations, once fervent followers of Christ, were opening their minds to the daily “Soap-Operas.” The sex and violence became addictive to them and today, I can’t even tell you what are on those day-time shows today. They are simply peep shows open to the public. They are financed by everything we buy. In the “As the World Turns,” we find a description of the church and how it has followed their example. Nothing makes anyone blush. Everything is acceptable. Decadency and lascivious choices in living have become re-named as “different-lifestyles. The activities that brought down Sodom and Gomorrah are bringing down the United States of America. I don’t’ know how to say this in a nice way, we are simply “Going-To-Hell” in a handbasket held by a sweet little old lady sitting in a church pew somewhere near you. She or he attends a church near you. She or he may be a so-called-minster, but not of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

One striking example of where America is headed is best illustrated by the following: In 1956, when I entered the service, the United States Navy was a place where we were taught many things. Several of them were duty, teamwork, honor and respect. It was individuals with one goal and that was to define and defend the nation. Today, it is more a place where “don’t ask, don’t tell” is the ideal. When I served our country we didn’t have to ask, we knew, and they were not tolerated.

Today, #3 has become all too preeminent: They are now obsessed more with “ being tolerant of all people of different races and religions” . . . and, lifestyles and sexes, cultures and languages. We now have fulfillment of the recruitment declaration of the U.S. Army a year or so ago, “An Army Of One.” What ever that means? You can’t be an army of one. You have to be a member of a team, a process, a procedure that others are in step with. That is the reason we were taught to march (even in the Navy)! It taught each man that they were part of the whole, and in order to be effective — each HAD by necessity be in step with the company of men. I left out women by intent. In 1956 we didn’t have co-ed barracks.

I shall never forget, as late as 1991, my last year at Duke University, they made the dorms co-habited. It was not unusual, if one chose to do so (I determined not to live in the dorm), to walk into one of the floor lavatories to shave in the morning and find a woman in there combing her hair secantly clad in a towel. I was attending Divinity School. Duke University, although not a parcel of the United Methodist Church, is supported to some degree by the church. As ministers of the UMC we were required to achieve stipulations as laid forth in the UMC Book of Discipline to participate in on-going continuing education at Duke. Is there any question why it is that there is a determined effort by some to eliminate “Onward Christian Soldiers” from their hymnals? . . . an effort being made to eliminate masculine names from the Bible – The Bible is declared by some of the clergy to be sexist in its wording. They have, in the most part, eliminated all words in the UMC Hymnal that would indicate, “He,” “Him,” “Son,” and so forth. No more “Father,” . . . I believe in my heart of hearts that the day will soon be here when God will be thrown out of the house that was once called by His Name. The fear is that, at the age of 66, I shall live to see this prediction come true.

~ Bob Craig

PS: What do you think?

BACK TO "THEY WERE HAPPIER"