Since the 1960s and the emerging “Jesus Movement,” evangelical Christians have frequently elevated new converts to a position of near superstardom. My wife and I remember well the elevation of B.J. Thomas in the late 1970s. In his book, The Family Roe, Joshua Prager tells the tragic story of Norma McCorvey (aka the “Roe” of Roe v. Wade fame). McCorvey, an alcoholic, a chronic drug abuser, a lesbian, but also a mother, apparently converted to Christianity and became a “star convert,” paraded before crowds and the media. But her struggle with enslaving sinful habits demonstrated the messiness that goes with sin. She tried to live up to evangelical expectations, but rarely succeeded. She is a monument to the folly of elevating a new convert too quickly.

Years ago, G.K. Chesterton wrote, “When men choose not to believe in God, they do not thereafter believe in nothing; they then become capable of believing in anything.” There is no better characterization of the state of Western Civilization than Chesterton’s acerbic observation. In a culture where we gather in comfortable silos of thinking and the ideology of that silo prevails over everything, truth is no longer important. The obvious, common sense conclusions are ignored and what the Bible calls foolishness reigns supreme.

John F. Kennedy, a war hero running in his first congressional campaign, delivered a speech on 4 July 1946, at Faneuil Hall in Boston. It included a haunting meditation on the American soul: “A nation’s character, like that of an individual, is elusive,” Kennedy said. “It is produced partly by things we have done and partly by what has been done to us. It is the result of physical factors, intellectual factors, spiritual factors. . . . In peace, as in war, we will survive or fail according to its measure.” JFK was speaking of the national character.

What do American Christians believe about God, salvation, ethics, and the Bible? Ligonier Ministries and LifeWay Research partnered to find out. Every two years, these two ministries take the theological temperature of the United States to help Christians better understand today’s culture and to equip the church with better insights for discipleship. Their findings are in a study entitled The 2022 State of Theology. In the Pastoral Epistles of the Apostle Paul (1 and 2 Timothy and Titus) the phrase “sound doctrine” appears nine times. The Greek term translated “sound” means that which is conducive to health—in this case spiritual health. Paul connects sound doctrine with godly living; in God’s eyes, sound doctrine produces righteous living.

The anecdotal evidence for Christianity’s decline in America is not difficult to discern. Broadly speaking, we see it in the decline in church attendance. We see it in the millennial generation’s lack of commitment to institutions such as the church. We see it in the decline and closing of many Christian Bible colleges and liberal arts colleges. And we see it in the divisiveness in many churches produced by the COVID pandemic and the poisonous nature of politics seeping into church life. However, a new study just released by the Pew Research Center confirms some of our suppositions and observations.

In late August, the California Air Resources Board approved a rule that established a year-by-year roadmap so that by 2035 100% of new cars and light trucks sold in California will be zero-emission vehicles (ZEVs), including plug-in hybrid electric vehicles. Many states and nations have set targets and goals to phase out the sale of internal combustion cars. California is the most aggressive state to establish a definitive mechanism to meet required ZEV sales of vehicles. Arguably ambitious, the goal of California is to substantially reduce the carbon footprint of cars and light trucks.

Senior columnist for the Israeli newspaper Haaretz, Ari Shavit, has written that the 20th century was “the most dramatic century in the dramatic history of the Jews. In its first half, we lost a third of our people. But the second half of the century was miraculous. In North America, we created the perfect diaspora, while in the land of Israel we established modern Jewish sovereignty. The Jews of the 21st century have today what their great-grandparents could only dream of: equality, freedom, prosperity, dignity. The persecuted people are now emancipated. The pitiful people are now proud and independent . . . [Israel] is the demography of hope: an almost extinguished people renewing itself.”

The amount of student debt held in America, the New York Times reports, is roughly equal to the size of the economy of Brazil or Australia. More than 45 million people collectively owe $1.6 trillion. That figure has skyrocketed over the last half-century as the cost of higher education has equally skyrocketed. [Student debt has nearly doubled since 2011 to $1.6 trillion, though the number of borrowers has increased by only 18%.] “The growth in cost has substantially been more that the increase in most other household expenses.” The remarkable rise in college education costs has not been matched by increased scholarship support, national government support or state government support to colleges and universities.

With the end of World War II in 1945 and the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, America emerged as the first and only global superpower. America therefore championed the values of democracy, open markets, human rights and the rule of law—and it had the clout of both military and financial power to impose this moral code on terrorists and tyrants. The result was a period of peace, prosperity and progress. That world order championed by the US is breaking down. What are the elements of the new world order now emerging? Who are the primary players in this new order? What will the future look like as the new order unfolds? With this edition of Issues in Perspective, I complete with my three-part analysis of this emerging world order.

With the end of World War II in 1945 and the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, America emerged as the first and only global superpower. America therefore championed the values of democracy, open markets, human rights and the rule of law—and it had the clout of both military and financial power to impose this moral code on terrorists and tyrants. The result was a period of peace, prosperity and progress. That world order championed by the US is breaking down. What are the elements of the new world order now emerging? Who are the primary players in this new order? What will the future look like as the new order unfolds? With this edition of Issues in Perspective, I continue with my three-part analysis of this emerging world order.