The intersection of digital technology and the church is a profoundly important issue in the 21st century. The COVID pandemic resulted in an explosion of livestreaming church services, with Zoom being the preferred platform for board meetings, Bible studies, mentoring sessions, etc. Digital technology enabled the church to continue its various ministries during that deadly pandemic, But, the end of the pandemic did not end the use of digital technology. It continues to have a deep impact on the church. Digital technology that accesses the various forms of social media has had a deleterious impact on the “flock” of the typical church. I want to address both aspects of the digital revolution and its impact on the church.

In past editions of “Issues,” I have referred to this summary of American religious history I wrote in one of my books: To fully understand the development of American civilization, one must come to terms with the strategic role revivals have played. Colonial America was shaped and transformed by the First Great Awakening of the 1740s and the Methodist revival that followed. America of the early national period (1815-1850) was impacted by the Second Great Awakening. You cannot understand the energy for the abolition of slavery, the passion for women’s rights, the temperance movement and other social reform movements without coming to terms with this revival.

The Bible reminds us that at the core of the human condition is sin. And, if we are intellectually honest, the evidence is abundantly pervasive and compelling. The Bible defines sin as “lawlessness” [anomia] (1 John 3:4). Sin is defiant, intentional, deliberate disobedience of God’s revelation to humanity (be it in creation, conscience, His moral law, or Jesus). There has always been a clearly understood standard against which sin is committed.

The Release of Satan, the Great White Throne and the New Heaven and New Earth round out this magnificent book.

What has happened to American civilization? Shared moral values used to define the uniqueness of America (e.g., virtue, a sense of community and compassion). Columnist David Brooks provides a framework for understanding the enormous shift away from these shared values that has occurred within America over the last 50 years or so

The triumphant return of Jesus, the defeat of His enemies and the establishment of His 1,000 year reign.

The Founders of this nation argued that democracy could survive only if citizens could restrain “their passions, be obedient to a shared moral order and point their lives toward virtue. They relied on religious institutions to do that moral formation. As John Adams put it, ‘Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.’” Indeed, Alexis de Tocqueville in the 1830s concluded that “For the Americans, the idea of Christianity and liberty are so completely mingled that it is almost impossible to get them to conceive of one without the other.”

The religious, commercial, and financial dimensions of the Beast’s empire are unraveling.

In his quest for meaning and purpose in life, King Solomon used his God-given wisdom and extensive experience to find purpose. In Ecclesiastes 2:12-23, he pursued wealth and material abundance as the keys to meaning and purpose. Solomon tested the two extremes of the human condition—wisdom on the one end and foolishness on the other. It was obvious that wisdom was better than folly. The wise man sees the dangers and avoids them, whereas the fool does not. But this begs the question, why be wise, because both die? What sense does that make? Perhaps it really was better to eat drink and be merry, because tomorrow we die, he reasoned. Was it not in fact “wiser” to be a fool? For both the wise and the fool, everyone will forget them. “I hated life,” he declared. There seemed to be no reason to work hard, to be wise—it was ultimately, in light of death, meaningless!

The 7 bowl judgments detail the unraveling of the Beast’s empire and his hold on rebellious humanity.