By: Pastor Bob Vale, Middlebury First United Methodist Church
Morality goes down when moral people do nothing, are the words of Martin Luther King Jr. years ago, when he fought the struggle of racial equality in America. Billy Graham often said, “when wealth is lost, nothing is lost, but when Character is lost…all is lost.”
I believe the moral character of the United States is fighting for its life these days. The struggle of morality and love for humanity and equality for all is in the balance in the next decade or so of our future. The devil is dancing in the streets of America, my friends.
In my short lifetime, I have seen tremendous changes in our American culture that looks so different, as if I am living in another country. Not a month goes by where the reporting of a deranged individual goes into a marketplace, school, mall, university, train station, or concert and begins shooting and killing people. We cry out for mental health reform with little to no change from our government (And the carnage continues!) Homelessness is at an all-time high all across our nation. The devil is dancing in the streets, my friends.
We’ve become numb to the violence of mobs of people running into stores and malls, smashing windows, and stealing merchandise and valuables. (Ruining small businesses!) People are being accosted, robbed, beaten or killed on the city streets. In some cases, our judicial systems are not keeping the criminals off the streets, allowing criminals to cause more mayhem on innocent people. We’ve seen riots in the streets and businesses burned to the ground in the name of equality and social justice. We’ve justified the burning of our cities as equality and social justice, and in some cases, did not prosecute the rioters. The devil is dancing in the streets, my friends.
Police brutality is on the rise and rioting is increasing in our cities, as our hatred of one another tears us apart. The good and hard work of a police officer these days has placed a target on their back and many have died by being ambushed and killed. It has become harder to hire new police officers in this new “defund & despise the police” environment. America now leads the world in gambling opportunities, with new casinos in nearly every state and online sports betting all over the internet. Currently and in the years to come, many will fall prey to gambling addictions that will tear families apart. The devil is dancing in the streets, my friends.
No longer can friends and family have a friendly discussion about politics, religion, or social issues without division and hurt feelings. Many long-time friendships have been destroyed by disagreements on these three topics, all because we don’t agree with this liberal or conservative point of view. Abortion kills nearly a million babies a year across our country. The rioting and violence of January 6th into the nation’s capital building was not a way towards peace and unity but has divided us as if we are in the middle of a cold civil war of social and political issues. Certain voices and groups are pushing God out of our American culture and all faith groups seem to be seeing more “anti-God” voices and actions against faith groups. The devil is dancing in the streets, my friends.
Racism has been pushed to levels not seen since the American civil war in the 1860s, or the struggles of the civil rights movement in the 1960s. We are again in the midst of an intellectual racial war and can’t seem to find unity and love of brotherhood and sisterhood toward racial reconciliation. We simply point fingers at each other and call each other names of the worst kind. Which does no one any good. The devil is dancing in the streets, my friends. God created all of us to love each other no matter what the color, creed, or background. Red and Yellow, Brown, Black, and White, they are precious in God’s sight. Jesus loves all of us.
Our American media of radio, television, Twitter, cellphone news, Facebook, and other electronic media outlets were supposed to bring us together and unify us. Instead, they have all become platforms to shout their point of view and keep us divided rather than united. It’s no wonder we’re so divided when these television and radio shows point out the extreme positions and call out hypocrisy on both sides and enrage our senses wanting to find honesty and integrity in our culture. The devil is dancing in the streets, my friends.
Drugs of all kinds infiltrate our culture like a flood, killing our younger generation with fentanyl poisoning. It flows across our open southern borders with ease and our political leadership does not seem to mind or care that over 100,000 American youth die each year. The devil is dancing in the streets, my friends.
The sexual revolution of the 1960s has progressed and taken us down a 60-year journey of tremendous change and ultimately given us the LGBTQIA agenda; which is also tearing us apart culturally. Children are being asked to change their gender at the youngest of ages…sometimes without parental permission. Most of the major churches in America are struggling on one side or the other on this issue. (Few know what the bible really says on this topic…or they don’t care what the Bible says. Holding on to a secular inclusion of all mentality.) Meanwhile, the family structure in America is hurting with so many broken families through divorce and so many single-parent situations. It has changed us in so many ways over the past 60 years. The devil is dancing in the streets, my friends.
This past week I watched the 65th musical Grammy awards. It was called the most “woke” and “inclusive” awards ceremony of all time. As I watched the show, there was a couple who sang a song called, “Unholy” in a red devil’s outfit and a top hat with horns, and was applauded as the first transgender winner. (Transgender: Kim Petras and gay male singer Sam Smith.) The performance was certainly unholy in the eyes of God and further illustrated the anti-Christian feeling in our American culture. I wonder if the LGBTQIA community was all that excited about the global audience seeing the red devil costumes and being forever symbolized with satanic overtones to this gay and transgender singing couple. I would expect not. My, how times have changed. The devil is dancing in the streets my friend; (or at least on the Grammy Awards stage!)
Our American church attendance has fallen and taken a hit all across America. Over the past four decades, Christianity in churches has lost the culture war in America. Over the past 20 years, so many churches have closed their doors and the church buildings are being turned into breweries, fraternity houses, daycare facilities, apartments, laser tag buildings, and community buildings. Many churches struggle to find young families to participate, as their Sunday morning attention has turned to youth travel soccer, travel baseball, travel basketball, travel softball, and many other local recreational youth sports that play on Sunday mornings. Our culture has changed drastically on this one issue that has greatly impacted church attendance over the past three decades. American churches are getting older and smaller as the younger population is saying no thank you to attending a worship service. The devil is dancing in the streets, my friend.
How do we kick the devil off the streets of the USA?
Good Question: I believe revival needs to take place in America. America needs to come back to God. Unfortunately, I believe that the USA may need to collapse just like the Russians did in 1989 – 1992 to wake us up. The Russians came to the conclusion that it was not good to push God out of their communist culture since the end of WWII. America needs to come to terms with the words of Jesus about the 2nd greatest commandment…”To Love Your Neighbor as Yourself.” We are not loving each other as ourselves, we are despising one another and fighting with each other on the issues of politics, religion, and culture. There is a new T.V. ad campaign titled, “Jesus gets us.” However, I ask the question, why can’t we get each other and love each other? Why can’t we be like ebony and ivory on the piano and live in harmony? In many ways, this is what the “Jesus gets us” campaign is all about, the 2nd Commandment of Jesus to love one another, rather than fight each other. The devil is dancing in the streets, my friend.
Today, the United States of America is in many ways the Divided States of America. The word indivisible within the pledge of Allegiance has lost its meaning and depth. Indivisible means that nothing can divide America. We are now at war with ourselves. Americans are canceling out each other’s opinions and voices, by getting people fired from their careers or having their views taken off the public square of Twitter or Facebook. Oh, why can’t we just be friends? The devil is dancing in the streets, my friends.
In 1965 Burt Bacharach wrote the song, “what the world needs now is love sweet love,” sung by Jackie DeShannon. The inspired lyrics still ring true today as a voice calling for peace, love, and unity in the midst of fighting and disunity. I believe the Love of Jesus is what can unify us. The Holy Spirit can melt the hardest heart towards repentance and forgiveness. I’ve seen it before.
One side of America wants nothing to do with religion and the other side of America is calling for revival and for the people of America to come back to God. We are in the same situation as the prophets of the Old Testament, crying out to God, asking our nation to come back into a relationship with God. (II Chronicles &:14 says, “ If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.” This week, Revival is breaking out at Asbury college and seminary in Wilmore, Kentucky. Could the dove of the holy spirit land on America again? I hope so. Are we witnessing the seed of change? Because we need God in America again! I believe that Jesus is the answer for the world today. Above him, there’s no other and Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life. (John 14:6) We need Christians dancing in the streets of America for Good and unity for all.
Billy Graham was once asked the question: “If Christianity is so valid, why is there so much evil in the world?” To this, the famous preacher replied, “With so much soap, why are there so many dirty people in the world? Christianity, like soap, must be personally applied if it is to make a difference in our lives and culture.” Notice that Billy said that we need to clean ourselves and not try to clean our neighbors. That is the Holy Spirits’ job and not ours!
Can a country change and come back to God? Yes, indeed. In the 1990’s many countries in the continent of Africa were warring together, as tribe vs. tribe were killing each other by the millions, with swords and knives. Yet a decade later, the dove of the Holy Spirit landed on Africa, and revival broke out. Over the past 20 years, people are finding God and churches are growing like crazy! Africa is now leading the world with the growth of Christianity. 40% of the United Methodist denomination now comes from the continent of Africa. Folks, if revival can happen in several countries in Africa when millions were killed in anger…revival can happen in America also, but hopefully without the loss of life.
I still believe in the good old U.S.A. and the wonderful freedoms we enjoy, including the freedom of religion to worship as we please. I still believe the career dream to do anything or become anything you wish to become is still alive. I still believe there are places and communities in America, like Middlebury, that are wonderful places to live and enjoy the American life. There are still pockets of churches that are growing and still proclaim the name of Jesus to the world and are making disciples for Jesus Christ. There are still amazing people with integrity in our government who are fighting the good fight on our behalf to make America a better place. I am proud to have served in the military during the first Gulf war as a younger man. I know there are military, police, first responders, teachers, hospital workers, farmers, factory workers, truck drivers, and many other hard-working occupations who we lift up as American heroes! I still strongly believe in the goodness of America. America is not perfect, but let us continue to work for a “More Perfect Union” for all people!
Pray for yourselves and for our country that has changed so much over the past 50 to 60 years! Let there be peace on earth and let it begin with me. With God’s help, I believe we can change our own personal corner of the world for Christ. Let’s slowly kick the devil off the streets of America. Let us follow the words of Jesus and let’s become the light of the world and the salt of the earth. (Matthew 5:13-16) You can do it.
Being very excited and enthuistac about the Revival in Asbury College in Kentucky. At church Sunday I was telling everyone about it. Noone seemed to care, one responce was, Oh yes i heard about that, then back to talk about Tursdat Bible Study, this is not wrong. A Revival iscomes first. My preacher did not know either??? The church has towake up some time, before it,s to late.
Sure hope that America does not need to “collapse first” before we wake up. Jesus will need us to help kick some devil butt! The socialists can kiss mine!
excellent. Well done
I know of no church that would have me. Moreover, I know of no church that holds my three key scriptural doctrines; not many hold one of them.
“He that believeth on me [Jesus] hath everlasting life.” (John 6:47)
“yet to us there is one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we unto him; (1 Cor. 8:6a)
“No half-bred [mongrel] may be admitted to the assembly of the Yahweh; (Deut. 23:2a)
It certainly is not United Methodist since it rejects all three. Should I compromise my beliefs to join a church?
No but you may need to start thinking for yourself. Good luck with that.
It was interesting that the works of a corrupt Government and legal system was NOT mentioned. It’s interesting that the word “SIN” is NOT mentioned very often or at all. A three letter word that is being expunged from the English vocabulary and considered a hate crime in certain Countries. The Apostle Paul was quite clear when he wrote to the Corinthians, telling them that he knew NOTHING ELSE except Jesus Christ crucified, buried and resurrected, now in Glory! That’s the Gospel, friends. Christ was clear that little man is NOT bringing peace to this Earth, Jesus Christ is, when He sets foot back on this planet. HE is the Prince of Peace, The Great Hope, not you or me. Before you start taking to heart this, Jesus Gets Us movement, you might want to research their founding funding, doctrines and beliefs. Instead, we might want to ask ourselves the question, Do We Have Jesus Christ?
Yes, SIN is our problem and Jesus Christ is the only Solution. The devil will use his same methods of deception and lies to distract many from the simple and vital source of our salvation, Jesus Christ. He lied to Eve in the garden of Eden and he still lies today. He can appear as and angel of light and can seem so sincere, but death follows him.
Love the article but before the 2nd commandment where Jesus told us to love each other is the !st commandment, which wasn’t mentioned! Love God with all your heart, soul and mind! Without the first you can’t do the second! Selfishness has taken over too much of America cuz too many an shoved God out of their lives! We all must come to Jesus and then learn from Him how to love others! Lent is here for many and coming for others, this is a time for repentance and forgiveness. Let all of us commit to this time for change!
I don’t know how the writer survives in the United Methodist Church. I was once a candidate for United Methodist ministry, but the District Commission on Ordained Ministry kept me hanging for a couple of years, and then finally terminated my candidacy when I said two simple sentences: “The Bible is true.” “Jesus is the only way to the Father.” They appeared shocked and then told me I was unanimously terminated for being “too narrow.” That was very depressing, since I had been saved in a United Methodist church. I am now a pastor in a church belonging to the National Association of Congregational Christian Churches.
Lord Jesus stated in the scriptures that the situation you described, would come to pass. Look at all the denominations that have split over the past several years because leadership has been invoking man’s authority over God’s word. True believers will be witnesses at the last judgement for those who changed the Word — Rev 22:18-19.
Amen, Max. The book of Revelation tells of the church of Laodicea and its condition of being lukewarm.
Take a look at Catholicism. It embraces your two sentences, and was started by Jesus Christ.
Like yur article, but the restraints on the devil are coming off one by one. Tribulation just around the corner.
I believe we are simply seeing the Communist Agenda come to life throughout America. In the 1950’s the Communist party in America stated specifically that it would destroy America from the inside. I believe that ALL of the problems we are seeing can be attribiuted to the Communist’s.
Agree, read the book from 1958 “THE NAKED COMMUNIST’ and look at the goals of Communism & where we are today & I guarantee that it will shock you on how we have fallen into their trap. A lot of of their goals have been accomplished by our lawyers & First Amendment protection interpratations.
Many have fallen into satan’s traps ,believing they are doing good things.
Communism is just another tool of satan.
I believe the reason the left does nothing against crime and actually encourages it is because they want to lower the population. So by citizens killing each other they accomplish what they desire n the name of global warming. As for the migrants, they’re counting on their votes to stay n power. That’s why they try so hard to make laws to legalize them. I’m sure they have plans to ride the world of them also after they’ve gotten what they want especially if they get absolute power. Think like the devil and U’l figure out how they operate.
The Right is not helping the cause, when many believe that the people arrested & charged for storming the Capitol on Jan 6th were innocent people and should be pardoned. You should do the time if you commit the crime.
I’ve seen nothing, deserving the extreme treatment of some who entered the capital building on January 6th. We can have differing views as to whether or not it was appropriate, but not necessarily criminal. The only obvious crime was the murder of the young, unarmed female veteran who was fatally shot by a capital policeman or FBI agent. There was no January 6th, hearing for that offense that I’m aware of.
No, because the policeman was black and she was white. If it had been the other way around we would be hearing about it to this day
The Jan 6 riots (NOT insurrection by the way) was provoked and organized by antifa and their cronies. But I do agree if you commit a crime, you should be penalized, unlike the thinking on the Left.
the churches began FAILING in the late sixties when congregants stopped showing up, unable to find “Bible based” churches; only milk-toast, indulgent churches, full of fear that “The Word of God” was causing the shrinkage in their pews. whatsoever the sowed, they are now reaping. it’s obvious and not complex.
I beg to differ–NOT all the churches did that in the 60s. Churches have been failing for eons. They fail because the church is US! We, as the church, can lose direction. We think God doesn’t mean what He says. We think we know better than God. We think God is merely a loving Father who dotes on us and would never hold our bad choices against us. Some of us think if God loves us then we will be rich and healthy. Some even think He is a distant entity who really doesn’t care about us or get involved. Modern progressive churches are doing much of that; they are endeavoring to make church more palatable to the political climate. God is not merely a God of love. We all need God because He is loving, but He is also the Creator and upholder of all things. He is merciful and great, slow to anger, and abundant in goodness. He is consistent and unchanging. He does not lie: he is a God of truth. God is no respecter of persons. God is a God of love, knowledge, power, justice, and judgment. He says what He means and means what He says. He is the same today, yesterday and forever. Churches will always fail, but God doesn’t. We must stop thinking we’ve GOT THIS, because we don’t.
One of Communism goals is to get rid of our churches & our belief in GOD.
Martin Luther King, who excelled in immorality, was a communist sympathizer and frontman; communists organized and orchestrated his movement.
Apparently Mr. AlGorythm is on duty and has disallowed me to up vote you comment. So tika thankyou for your absolutely on target assessment of the many “ lukewarm “ churches in our country. The church of Laodicea was lukewarm and Jesus was not any too happy about that. See Revelation 3.
I’ve believed and said since Clinton was in office that America has lost her moral compass. It is getting worse. We are in Spiritual warfare. The cure is Spiritual revival. That will begin when Christians repent of our sins, and commit ourselves completely to Jesus and obey Him.
You are late. America’s moral compass was lost in the early 1960s,
In one way I can’t blame people for not attending church, they probably won’t hear the gospel preached if they do go. 2 COR 4-4 The devil is the god of this world. How long has it been since you have heard that scripture quoted?
Last Sunday I heard the gospel spoken over and over. Find a church that does this. THEY EXIST…for now. We may be meeting secretly in homes again, but we will meet.
I agree! Depending on whether we are at home (summer) or nearly a 1000 miles south (winter), we have and help support two churches-a Berean and a Calvary Chapel-both have great pastors who “rightly divide the word of truth” 2 Timothy 2:15, and are teaching word by word through the Word of God. They never fail to put Jesus first and sum up their message with the plan of salvation-clearly stated. I can’t wait for Sundays. JESUS/GOD first then others, then yourself.
Jan, I wouldn’t be surprised if meeting in small groups in our homes will be necessary, as many of the mega sized churches seem to be more interested in inclusion and not the gospel, not wanting to offend anyone. Sin is offensive to God , and it should be to us as well.
With the way that the situation about government intrusion into what can be preached, there will many small groups will be started and hopefully the TRUE WORD of GOD will be preached in these groups. A lot of churches are getting away from the TRUE WORD and those teaching the TRUTH will face PERSECUTION.
Jerry, you have accurately assessed the situation in many churches today. Many are focused on membership and diversity and being tolerant. Revelation tells us what Jesus has to say about churches.
That was SPOT ON !!!!!
We are all experiencing a “fall of the Roman Empire”, except on meth. The United States is falling and all because of its unipolar desires…unipolar with llb-con political machinations. The world has grown tired of Americas forced hegemonic designs on every other country. Finally one country says “no” and the US and its slave countries in western Europe go full bore hysterical sacrificing every male in Ukraine in a failed power tantrum.
The nation as we knew it will soon be gone. We can now only hope that the rebuilders look in any direction but back when rebuilding.
Biden is the new Nero but our version can’t play fiddle
Good article, but I am surprised that a true Christian would consider watching the Grammy’s, or the Super Bowl halftime show…and countless other totally depraved things on the television. If enough people refused to watch this garbage, perhaps the sponsors might take a look at the ratings and sales of their products.
Sometimes it’s good take a peak so you can know the enemy.
Agreed. We are in this world but we don’t need to be OF this world. Know the enemy’s ways and be careful not to be swept into those ways.
Yes, only the love of Jesus Christ can heal us. That’s it in a nutshell.
Thanks for saying this.
Very well written article. Praise God that He is in control and that gives me peace. Keep praying everyone, praying for a great awakening! God is surly moving in America and around the world. Remember, because of Jesus, Satan has already lost!
We’re like the israelites who refused to deal with the evil among them because itwas going to be hard. Evil is never static. Its either on the march or in retreat. Leave a bit of it in place and it quickly grows back. We accepted the lefts right to exist and promote their causes and now we reap the inevitable result. Prayer may be essential to personal growth but it will not do our dirty work for us. Maybe along with prayers for revival we should pray for the return of the spines we lost along the way.
It is called apathy or complacency.
There is only one way to get the devil off the streets and you know who they are! Liberalism (socialism) has been distroying this country for the last 50 years. They have been brainwashing young people and blacks for years. Let them control education and this is what you get: men can have babies, drag queens are good, no responciblity for your actions, on and on and on!!
Liberals. Social, Marxism, Communism, etc. , all tools of satan.