The American Democratic Faith At first I thought it strange that an authority on the history of American Thought would call his book THE MAIN DOCTRINES OF THE AMERICAN DEMOCRATIC FAITH. However though the years as I have pondered what Bible teachers and believers substitute for the faith of the Bible and of Jesus, it has dawned on me that the substitute is an American Democratic Faith. I use to gainsay what former prime minister of Israel said about Americans and Jews. What he said was that “we in Israel are born Jews just like you Americans are born Christians.” At first it sounded ridiculous, but that the two kinds of faith have been mixed should be obvious. I think there are some overlaps because it is obvious that during this time of the Fulness of the Gentiles, the period during which the Jews are blind to the Gospel, the United States has been the undisputed leader in the spread of the Gospel to every nation. This is another way of saying that God has indeed used the United States to help in the spread of the Gospel to every nation. Some of us also reluctantly accept the observation by a foreign student of the US who said “to be an American is more a religion and a character than a set of beliefs or a mater of citizenship.” More often you will hear from mister average citizen what I heard as a young pastor visiting with a man up the valley in Arkansas when I asked him if he was a believer. “Yes”, the indignant reply was, “I was born in this country!” And, “Did you think I am a heathen?” Quickly I would mention five obvious differences between the American Democratic Faith and the Faith of the Bible and Jesus. (1) The majority is king in the American Democratic Faith while it is the minority in the Bible that goes the narrow way that leads to life eternal. You will note that the schools as the chief custodians of American culture, government, and society do most of their work in terms of the priority for the majority. Always, in the Old Testament, and in any movement or country in history, there has been a “remnant” of real believers, definitely a minority type word and concept. Quite often in the Old Testament, God preferred a dedicated minority to a majority. Jesus taught the parable of the broad and narrow way, clarifying that the many that go the broad way to destruction are the majority and the few that go the narrow way that leads to eternal life are the minority. One might contend that the United States is completely different from the world in which Jesus taught in that now in our country and in our time, the majority of US citizens go the narrow and right way and the minority of US citizens go the broad and wrong way. Perhaps, if it were ever true of this country, in this time in which our country has also become part of the world wide Falling Away movement, it is no longer true. As far as real faith in God, Christ, and the Bible there is little difference between citizens of America and citizens of any other nation, and you can make a much better case for that conclusion. We might put it this way for simplicity and agreement: While the emphasis in America is on the priority for the majority, the emphasis in the Bible is on priority for the minority. What difference does it make? Well, without this Bible concept of priority of the minority, you will be more influenced by the world. Satan, the prince of this world, runs this world whether it is in the United States or elsewhere, and consequently he uses the majority of this world in order to deter and destroy faith in Jesus and the Bible. {By the way if you claimed that the majority in American go the narrow way that leads to life, then maybe you would be inclined to think that Satan only works in other countries. You could have the simplistic concept that all evil is in Korea, Iraqi, and I forget what the other country is.} What difference does it make? Well, without this Biblical majority-minority concept for now and in this country, you will have trouble accepting the Scripture, “all that will godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution”, and this is not limited by any means to physical persecution. The politically correct in churches, government, and society can separate you as a member of that Jesus minority. The greatest danger of all is that you can subject yourself to Bible teachers and believers that have already become victims of the Falling Away. You will tend to become like them, and you will listen to what they do teach and preach even though long ago they came to the point where they would not endure sound doctrine, “they out of their own desires heaped up teachers with itching ears”, turned away from the truth and turned into fables. {One word of caution, look for Bible teachers and believers that are preaching (1) the Falling Away and (2) A 9 month of so new birth, and shun the progenitors of silence on the Falling Away.} (2) A second major difference between the American Democratic Faith and the faith of the Bible and Jesus is on the concept of “toleration”. So much that believers know to be true they will not even speak, for the fear that they will seem non-tolerant and therefore non-American. An extreme example is that the Presbyterian Church a few years ago voted whether to decree that a stop should be made on the claim that Jesus is the only way of salvation, because it seems too intolerant. I don‛t know how the vote came out, but the very fact that a so-called Bible believing denomination would have to vote on such a fundamentals Bible belief about Jesus and salvation is within itself intolerable. |