E.A. Johnston warns that America's moral and spiritual decline mirrors the church's departure from biblical truth, urging a return to God-centered preaching and repentance.
In this prophetic sermon, E.A. Johnston examines the spiritual and moral decline of America as a reflection of the church's departure from biblical principles. He traces key historical moments that marked the nation's turning away from God and critiques the church's shift from gospel preaching to man-centered teaching. Johnston calls for urgent repentance and revival, emphasizing that the church must lead the nation back to God to avoid judgment. This sermon challenges believers to recognize the consequences of spiritual neglect and to restore the church's role as a moral compass.
Full Transcript
My Bible says in Proverbs 29 18 Where there is no vision the people perish America used to stand for decency Democracy and dependence upon Almighty God America was a nation washed over by Great spiritual awakenings, and it was a country that maintained a fear of God in the land There was a time in this country when Hollywood had censors and politicians had a conscience It used to be that a man's word and handshake were as good as gold We were a nation that still had integrity and fought against the evil in the world There used to be modesty in Society and how people dressed and there was such a thing as shame in society back then in 1904 in Wales a revival broke out that washed across the continent and churches over here experienced new life as well in 1904 America was still a God-fearing country with lofty ideals and a spiritual hunger for God it was a time before the sinking of the Titanic a time before automobiles a time before Technology a time before world wars and mass genocide What has happened to America in the last hundred years? When did the soul of a nation die? slowly, but surely America has turned her back on the God of the Bible and we have gone from Being a once Christian nation to a pagan one that has outlawed God in our land One can look back to certain dates in history and point the times of early decay Let's begin with 1962 friends It was a year where the Supreme Court kicked God out of our public school system I remember standing as a young child in the public school system and saying out loud with my class the Lord's Prayer before class began I Remember women back then wore dresses down to their ankles and were more concerned about modesty than the latest fashion There were no school shootings back then and parents didn't have to worry about what their kids saw on TV there were still laws in the land against indecency and profanity when we kicked God out of the Public schools by eliminating prayer. We began a turning away from God that has worsened with each new year the 1960s was a time of riots and rebellion in the streets Assassins shot and killed the Kennedy's and Martin Luther King The hippies were high on love and drugs at Woodstock while thousands of our young people died over in Vietnam Society in the 1960s was spinning out of control then came along 1973 and Roe vs. Wade and the legalization of killing our unborn babies It's been estimated by Reliable sources that since the Roe vs.
Wade decision over 50 million babies Have been butchered in America We have animal rights and rights for homosexuals and rights for Transgenders, but we don't mind killing babies who have a right to life We are a bloody country with the blood of the innocent on our hands We are morally indecent society that calls good evil and evil good Our young people today are a godless generation Hooked on sex and drugs and alcohol But we must be aware friends that what happened to America first happened to the church The church used to be a moral compass to society and the country used to look to the church for guidance and direction What happened to the church is the reason for what happened to society? It didn't begin in the pew, but in our pulpits of the land churches became gripped with materialism and the building committee Replaced the weekly prayer meeting with social groups to attract a bigger audience preaching no longer Transformed its hearers because it had become teaching instead of preaching. It went from being God-centered to man-centered the great doctrines of the gospel We're eliminated from our pulpits. We don't preach on room redemption repentance or Regeneration anymore.
We preach a social gospel which elevates man Church has existed for the happiness of man Everything revolves around making our congregations happy We don't preach against sin We don't warn against hell and we don't preach man's duty of repentance nor his utter necessity of regeneration to get to heaven We just have nice little messages that don't offend anybody But they don't save anybody either, but that's not important anymore in our churches We stopped caring about the salvation of souls when we expanded our campuses and Realized we couldn't pay the bills unless we got more members on the church roll So we made it awful easy to walk a church aisle And joined the church so we could get more folks Joined to support it. You don't want to offend any of these nice rich members You don't want to call them sinners and tell them they're going to hell unless they repent We mustn't preach anything disturbing to our nice congregations Why you just upset the good deacons? So the church has watered down the gospel message to where it was a no gospel God has been kicked out of the church because we can get more done with money and manpower Anyhow, the church has become self-reliant and obsessed with its own self-preservation To such a degree. It's a laughingstock to a sin loving society Nobody takes church serious anymore, especially our teenagers who can see right through all the rotten hypocrisy Germany produced Martin Luther and it produced Adolf Hitler as an example of what happened when a country forgets God What happened to America first happened to the church? We are who we are because of what we have become If the church in America fails to lead America back to God then both lose their way and both will fall under the judgment of a Provoked God who has been replaced by no gods Heaven help this once great Republic that has turned her back on the God of the Bible and heaven help the Sleepyheaded pastors who refused to repent and lead their congregations back to the God of the Bible Heaven help this nation Heaven help us all
Sermon Outline
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I
- America's foundation was built on fear of God and spiritual awakenings
- Historical moral standards and societal decency have eroded
- Key historical moments mark the nation's spiritual decline
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II
- 1962 Supreme Court decision removed God from public schools
- 1960s cultural upheaval accelerated moral decay
- 1973 Roe v. Wade legalized abortion, deepening societal sin
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III
- Church shifted from God-centered preaching to man-centered teaching
- Gospel doctrines like redemption and repentance are neglected
- Church focuses on membership and money over salvation
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IV
- What happened to America first happened to the church
- Failure of church leadership leads to national downfall
- Call for repentance and revival to restore both church and nation
Key Quotes
“Where there is no vision the people perish.” — E.A. Johnston
“What happened to America first happened to the church.” — E.A. Johnston
“We don't preach against sin. We don't warn against hell and we don't preach man's duty of repentance nor his utter necessity of regeneration to get to heaven.” — E.A. Johnston
Application Points
- Believers should prioritize God-centered preaching and biblical truth in their churches.
- Church leaders must courageously call their congregations to repentance and holy living.
- Christians are encouraged to recognize their role in influencing society through faithful witness.
