Save America Ministries

Chuck Crismier: The year was 1982, October 4th. The Congress declared the Bible to be the Word of God. I have it right in front of me, the joint resolution, authorizing and requesting the president of the United States to proclaim 1983 as the year of the Bible.

Let me read the resolution to you: Whereas the Bible, the Word of God, has made a unique contribution in shaping the United States as a distinctive and blessed nation and people, whereas deeply held religious convictions springing from the Holy Scriptures led to the entire settlement of our nation.

Whereas biblical teachings inspired concepts of civil government that are contained in our Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States. Whereas many of our great national leaders, among them Presidents Washington, Jackson, Lincoln, and Wilson, paid tribute to the surpassing influence of the Bible in our country's development, as in the words of President Jackson that the Bible is the rock upon which our Republic rests.

Whereas the history of our nation clearly illustrates the value of voluntarily applying the teachings of the Scriptures in the lives of individuals, families, and societies. Whereas this nation now faces great challenges that will test this nation as it has never been tested before. And whereas that renewing our knowledge of and faith in God through Holy Scripture can strengthen us as a nation, as a people.

Now, therefore, be it resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled that the President is authorized and requested to designate 1983 as a National Year of the Bible. Wow. Our nation needs to study and apply the teachings of the Holy Scriptures. What a declaration. What a joint resolution. So what happened? Almost nothing.

Why did they issue that declaration? Because at that time it was perceived that the Word of God was taking very short shrift of the life of the American people. In fact, it was losing influence so quickly that they felt that they had to have a joint resolution to somehow declare the Year of the Bible in order to try to stop the flood of people from leaving the authority of the Scriptures.

In 1997, 14 years later, George Gallup, heading up that great polling organization, Gallup Polls, said one of the clear challenges facing churches is how to transform spirituality into faithful committed witness that is biblically rooted. He said, "Americans revere the Bible but do not read it. We are a nation of biblical illiterates."

That was in 1997, the same year that US News and World Report, then publishing a hard copy magazine, a news magazine, declared premarital sex the sin Americans wink at. All 14 years after Congress declared the Year of the Bible.

Now, friends, we are told that there's going to be another, shall we say, Year of the Bible. They're not calling it that. It's an 84-hour Bible marathon that it is believed and hoped will spark America's next spiritual shift, i.e., a great awakening. We want to talk about that here on the program today, and I'm glad that you've joined us. Our conversation is always with ever-increasing conviction, talk that transforms.

You see, talk is cheap. You can even read the Bible, but if you don't obey it, if it doesn't mean that much to you and you just read it, you might as well just read Shakespeare. So, what does it mean to read the Bible? Did you know, by the way, that the Bible never commands us to read it? We're commanded to study it, to obey it, to submit to its authority, but not to read it. Isn't that interesting?

We're told to meditate on it day and night, to observe, to do all, obey everything that it says, but we're not told to read it. Why is that? Because it's possible to read something, in fact, it's likely to read something and have almost no comprehension of it. You're just reading it to read it.

One of America's most respected, or at least listened to personages today, Tucker Carlson, said that even though he grew up in the church, the Episcopal Church, he had never really read the Bible until 2023. Sometime in 2023. We don't know how much of it he read then, but he said for the first time he had read the Bible in 2023. That was three years ago, and he's now 54 years of age and grew up in the church, where he still attends even though he says he puts no confidence in it.

You see the problem that we're in? We're at a very, very serious problem in our country. And we have all these arguments going on about Israel, arguments about Iran, arguments about Europe, arguments about Russia and China, and all of these different kinds of arguments, but we have no rootedness in the Bible. No rootedness in God's viewpoint on any of this. And even those who do have some rootedness in it choose different positions based upon their desire or willingness to agree to certain portions of the Scripture while ignoring others.

We've got a problem. So is the whole idea of Christian revival a myth? An article came out just a couple of days ago from the Christian Post asking the question, "Is the Christian Revival a Myth?" Well, revival itself is not a myth. We know, at least we know of a great awakening that took place in the mid-1700s to the later 1700s. It was called the First Great Awakening. Something really profound happened in the United States of America along the East Coast.

It began with Jonathan Edwards and his famous sermon, "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God." We don't like to think of God being angry today, even though the Bible says he is, does get angry, and will be angry at sin, and won't put up with it anymore than we're willing to put up with Iran having a nuclear reactor, or having nuclear power, nuclear armaments, rather.

So, we have a situation in our country where we are biblically illiterate, biblically illiterate, while owning more Bibles than any other nation on the face of the planet. We are biblically illiterate. Even in our churches, biblically illiterate. And quite frankly, our churches are actually catering to more and more biblical illiteracy by people not even bringing their Bibles and they post selected Scriptures up on screens so that people don't even have to look at their Bibles. We're actually facilitating biblical illiteracy.

We'll be right back after this, friends, to look more deeply at what's coming and the 84-hour Bible reading. Once upon a time, children could pray and read their Bibles in school. Divorces were practically unknown, as was child abuse. In our once great America, virginity and chastity were popular virtues, and homosexuality was an abomination. So what happened in just one generation? Hi, I'm Chuck Crismier, and I urge you to join me daily on Viewpoint where we discuss the most challenging issues touching our hearts and homes. Could America's moral slide relate to the Fourth Commandment? Listen to Viewpoint on this radio station or anytime at saveus.org.

Again, I welcome you back to Viewpoint. I'm Chuck Crismier, asking the question, is revival a myth? And if it's not a myth, then how do you get there? Is it anything that we do that helps to facilitate revival? Can you and I create revival? The answer, quite frankly, is no, we cannot create revival, but revival is a move of the Holy Spirit, but we have to be willing to, shall we say, respond to the Holy Spirit.

If our minds and our hearts are not responsive to the Holy Spirit, if we don't consider, for instance, the Word of God to be of much efficacy for us other than to say, "Yes, I believe the Bible from cover to cover and the cover, too," it doesn't mean much. The whole purpose of the Bible is to set a stage from God's viewpoint as to how we're to live, how we're to understand why God created human beings, what we were created for, how we're to live according to that pattern, and how we fell from that pattern through Adam.

How Jesus Christ was sent in the fullness of time to give us redemption, the hope of redemption, if, if, if we would submit to His Word, His will, and His ways, and repent and be converted. You see, it's always a matter of if, like we quoted for so many years right there in Second Chronicles 7:14, "If My people." If My people, which are called by My name, would humble themselves. Notice it's talking about God's people, not talking about the pagans.

It's got to start with God's warmest audience. If My people, if My people which are called by My name, first that would be Israel, and then it would be Gentile believers who claim to be believers in Yeshua the Messiah, the Redeemer, who is the hope of Israel, enabling us to be grafted in as Gentiles. If My people, which are called by My name, would humble themselves and pray, and seek My face, and then turn from their wicked ways, then I would hear from heaven, forgive their sin, and heal their land. Notice it's all if.

Every promise of God, including salvation itself, is predicated on the word if. It's all predicated also on the words the fear of the Lord. The reason the fear of the Lord has virtually disappeared from American life, even in God's own house in many respects, is because we do not revere the Word of God. We don't believe it. We say we do, but the proof of the fact is we don't because we don't live according to it. We decide to equivocate with it. We decide to superimpose our own viewpoints over what God has said.

So, George Gallup again in 1997 said, "The churches of America face no greater challenge as we approach the next century." That would be the century we're in now, than overcoming biblical illiteracy. The prospects for doing so are formidable because the stark fact is, many Americans don't know what they believe or why. He said, "We revere the Bible, but we don't read it. The Bible has not in any profound way penetrated our culture," he said.

Going on, he said, "No church can be effective to bring clarity and commitment to a world when it is ignorant of its own basic principles, as is our church today." He said, "There's no need to treat biblical illiteracy in this country with all," he's no, excuse me, he said, "There is a need to treat biblical illiteracy in this country with all the urgency of a medical emergency." In other words, our failure to read, meditate on, believe, and obey the Word of God is far worse and more dangerous to the country than a COVID-19 repetition on steroids.

Gallup went on to say, "Many people do not read anything of what has been described as a post-literate society. A lack of time, frantic lives, do not have the discipline to make time for the Bible." One of the best ways to bring the Bible into our lives, he said, is to become soaked in Scripture. Could be through the burgeoning small group movement, described as a quiet revolution by Robert Wuthnow. Small groups that involve Bible discovery would seem to be particularly suited for America today, since these groups, called Covenant Groups, meet these needs to open up with each other.

Well, the problem with the small group movement is, they don't read the Bible. Most of the small groups are based upon books written by other men about the Bible, but not the Bible. Why is that? We just don't like the Bible. We don't like to read it. We don't believe it. We don't we're not responsive to it. We'd rather hear from somebody else than God.

So, that's kind of where we are, and I know it's tough talk for troubled times, but that's exactly where we are, and it isn't something new. It goes all the way back to 1997. In fact, it goes all the way back to 1982 when Congress gave us that declaration, the joint resolution of Congress to declare 1983 the Year of the Bible.

Again, we're going to discuss this matter of the 84-hour Bible marathon that is hoped will be a spark for America's next spiritual shift. So, let's get into that before we go further. Because people will say, "Well, we have to do something. We can't do everything, but we can do something," as George as Edmund Burke said, "What I can do, I should do, and by the grace of God, I will do."

Alright, I don't disagree with that. So, let's talk about what this Bible marathon is about. It's not about you reading the Bible, it's about somebody else reading the Bible. That's what's fascinating about this. On the cusp of America's 250th birthday, national leaders from every sphere of society will be reading the entire Bible from cover to cover across 84 hours in Washington, D.C., starting on April 18th. Now, they're not going to read for the Capitol. They're not going to read from the White House. They're not going to read from the Senate or from the Congress. They're going to read from the Bible Museum.

Now, I want you to think about this. I'm not opposed to the Bible Museum, but the very fact that there has to be a museum in America for the Bible tells us that what Congress saw in 1982, calling for a 1983 Year of the Bible, had already taken place, and the Bible had needed a museum because it was being ignored in American life. So now the Bible's going to be read from the museum, not from the life center of the country, but from a museum.

Now, it's a beautiful place. I've been there. I'm not faulting the museum in and of itself. But the interesting thing is that the museum itself doesn't really promote much in terms of the actual change that occurred in America as a result of the Bible.

So, we go to the 84-hour Bible marathon. The announcement came two days ago. Actually, it came last Thursday. On the cusp of America's 250th birthday, national leaders from every sphere of society will be reading the entire Bible. Now, notice it's not we the people that are reading the Bible. It's selected national leaders. In other words, this is a celebrity event. That's part of America's problem. Celebrity-ism, even in our churches. It's about celebrity. It's not about we the people. It's about celebrities. Celebrities on television, celebrities on radio, celebrities here, celebrities there. Everything is a celebrity.

How about we the people? When George Whitfield was such a profound promoter, shall we say, and instigator of the Great Awakening back in the 1700s, he reached we the people. The leaders were resistant. Almost all of the leaders were resistant. The Christian leaders were resistant to the Great Awakening because it affected their power, perks, and position. It affected their celebrity status.

Jesus isn't interested in celebrity. In fact, he even said, "Call no man father." Why? Because in the church he doesn't want celebrities. He doesn't want emoluments and titles and so on. Even the United States of America, we rejected emoluments and titles. But not in the church. It's interesting. Celebrityitis. God wants the Word of God to take hold in the life and heart of the least of us.

Beginning with an opening celebration, Bunny Pounds, the president and founder of Christians Engaged, a ministry of the Family Policy Alliance, said she has inspired was inspired to create this after a powerful encounter that she had with the Holy Spirit at the Museum of the Bible. I found this interesting. She had a profound experience with the Holy Spirit at the Museum of the Bible. Not out where people live, not in her home, not in her congregation, not anywhere else, it had to be in a museum. If it had to be in a museum, fine, but it seems strange that everything has to happen in a museum.

Having devised curricula on the book of Nehemiah for government leaders, when Ezra read the scroll to the people, the Israelite remnant, despite being mired in grievous sin, remembered who they were as God's people. After years of exile in Babylon, she said, and despite heavy opposition, the Israelites were empowered to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem in a miraculously speedy fashion in only 52 days. Pounds explains that such is our monumental our moment today in our national story.

It's about a return to the simple things. When asked what she hopes the reading of the entire Bible accomplishes in the realm of the Spirit, her team has been praying for several things. Number one was that complacency and apathy are broken off the hearts of the body of Christ related to the Bible. Notice it has to begin with the body of Christ. I agree with her wholeheartedly. The body of Christ is God's warmest audience. It doesn't begin with the pagans. The pagans are condemned already, Jesus said in John chapter 3.

He's concerned. The primary message of the Bible is to those who profess to be His followers, whether it be Israel or whether it be Gentile followers of Yeshua. Yes, we're to reach out and bring others into the kingdom through evangelism and then discipleship, teaching people to obey everything that God has commanded. But the problem is we don't want to do that because we hate the word obey in a church today. It's the it's deemed to be a virtual four-letter word in our churches today. How in the world can we expect to read the Bible for 84 days or 84 hours over America and expect any change if we despise the very word that Jesus said is necessary to please Him? Obey.

We've got a problem. We have an attitudinal problem. It's a spirit of rebellion. It's a spirit of, "We want your blessings, Lord, but we won't don't want to do the things that you want us to do. We won't obey the people you want us to be in order to get those blessings." We have a sense of entitlement. "I claim to believe in God. I claim to believe in Jesus. I go to church." Okay, now I should get everything I want. Doesn't work that way.

Having to get a sip of Java there in order to kind of give a moment of pregnant silence for us all. Bunny Pounds went on to explain that such a moment today is in our national story. We have to return. Return to what? How do we get there? By reading the Bible for 84 hours? Or by humbling ourselves before God and His Word and agreeing with it and responding accordingly? That is what we'll talk about when we get back. Stay tuned.

Guest (Male): There is so much more about Chuck Crismier and Save America Ministries on our website, saveus.org. For example, under the marriage section, God has marriage on His mind. Chuck has some great resources to strengthen your marriage. First off, a fact sheet on the state of the marital union, a fact sheet on the state of ministry, marriage, and morals. Saveus.org. Marriage, divorce, and remarriage. What does the Bible really teach about this? Find all of this at saveus.org. Also, a letter to pastors, the Hosea project, saveus.org, and many more resources to strengthen your marriage. It's all on Chuck's website, saveus.org. Again, you can listen to Chuck's Viewpoint broadcast live and archived. Save America Ministries website at saveus.org.

Chuck Crismier: Again, I'm so glad that you joined us here on Viewpoint today. Viewpoint does determine destiny, and there's no way to avoid it. There's no way to avoid it because God is God, He sees it all. He knows our downsittings and our up-risings. I am more and more aware of that every day, and that's why I'm more and more aware and grateful for God's mercy. Are you grateful for God's mercy? You know why we need to be grateful for God's mercy? Because we're guilty as sin, and the wages of sin is death. That's why. That's why salvation is good news. It's good news because of the terrifying bad news.

So, even the Apostle Paul said, "Knowing the terror of the Lord, we convince men." The Apostle Paul said that, "Knowing the terror of the Lord, we convince men." Now, you won't hear that preached much because it doesn't market well, but that's what the Apostle Paul said. That's what motivated him. That's what motivated the apostles. And by the way, that's what motivated Jesus to the cross, knowing that God is God, and judgment was pronounced upon the face of the earth because of man's rebellion against God, starting with the first Adam.

In the fullness of time, He sent forth His only begotten Son, the last Adam, to obey His voice, to be tested as to whether or not one in the flesh could obey God, and would obey God. And Jesus did. When He was tested in all manner like as we, the Bible says, "Yet He obeyed." That's why He's qualified to be our Savior. And that's why He is the one who's going to judge the earth in righteousness, not the Father, Jesus. Because He's the one that's qualified. He's the one that obeyed, and therefore, He's the one that's qualified to judge the world, the earth, humankind in righteousness.

That's what the Bible teaches from the Old Testament to the New Testament. So, can we read the Bible in a great exposition for 84 hours from Washington, D.C., in a museum and expect revival? Well, let me put it this way. I am not a cynic. You may think I'm a cynic, but I'm not a cynic because I do believe that God wants to bring a spiritual revival that would have unbelievable moral effect upon this country. It would completely transform this country. That's how God works.

We had a first great awakening that involved, well, it involved George Whitfield. You can avail yourself of the movie that's on in the film in the theaters right now, called The Great Awakening. I urge you to do it. It'll inspire you. And John Wesley, and Jonathan Edwards, all of the first great awakening. But then the nation after the revolution, and the the declaration of independence, and the Constitution, America got spiritually slovenly again. It was horrible. The nation was becoming corrupted.

And God, in His mercy, sent a second great awakening. Again, a lawyer God used to bring the second great awakening. His name was Charles Finney. He called him out of the practice of law. It was said that when he preached, it was as if a gun went off. His words were so pointed. Rochester, New York, considered the wild West of the day, was completely transformed because of the six-month preaching of Charles Finney, a former practicing trial lawyer.

Like this former practicing trial lawyer. We are on trial, friends. God needs a voice to plead with the jury of our peers, that is, we, the professing Christian community in America. That's the jury that God is pleading with. And always has been pleading with. First, it was Israel, and then it's the Gentile professing Christians. If My people, you see. So, is Christian revival a myth? No. But if we think we can produce it just by reading the Bible for 84 hours and having a bunch of celebrities do it to get their names in the limelight, it's not going to work that way.

It's got to start with you and with me. It's got to start in our homes. It's got to start in our hearts. It's got to start with a conviction of the Holy Spirit that brings a shaking deep inside our moral and spiritual imaginations. Much like the shaking of Mount Sinai when God showed up. That's what has to happen. And when that happens, all heaven will break loose. But until then, all hell will continue to manifest itself, and revival will be resisted. You can't have revival and continue the same way. You'll either be revived or not.

Now, it is said that when Charlie Kirk was assassinated, that that was a great event that produced a shaking in the country. To a certain extent, that's true. Right after his assassination, Bible sales skyrocketed, particularly among young people. Did it change their lives spiritually? There's no clear evidence to this date that that is true. There's a lot of hope. There's a lot of speculation. There's a lot of want-to-be beliefs. It seemed like something mysterious was spiritually stirring amid the tumult.

So, the question was, was is all that chaotic activity the precursor of a great move of God? Perhaps another great awakening. Could be. But the same thing happened with 9/11, in case you forget. Immediately after 9/11, this whole country was shaken deeply. People were flooding back to church. Even Time magazine noted and said, "Is this a spiritual revival?" And then he concluded, "No, not really." Because within a month or two after 9/11, all of the so-called awakening went back to sleep.

Spiritual leaders thought this was the great awakening, the great revival that we've been praying for. It didn't happen. The country went back to spiritual sleep. In fact, worse than it was before 9/11. Even the liberal news magazine Time said, "Still didn't get a spiritual awakening. No revival."

So, Time magazine in its cover story, featuring a cross on the front cover, April 5th, 1993, the very year we formed Save America Ministries, Time magazine said, "Well, did we have a great spiritual awakening?" Their answer was, "No." They said, "Church will never again be the same." Why? Because they said, "Americans are flooding back to church, but they're searching and embracing a custom-made God, one made in their own image." That's why.

So, on the front cover, with a great cross featured there, and hundreds of pictures of American citizens, in the lower right-hand corner, it said the generation that forgot God. That was in 1993, friends, talking about the generation that preceded 1993. And this was after the 9/11 disaster that supposedly had awakened the nation. Even the liberal news magazine Time said, "Still didn't get a spiritual awakening. No revival."

Now, that's not cynicism. The truth of the matter is, we have to be honest before God. Bunny Pounds, talking about the 84-hour Bible marathon, uh, talked about Ezekiel and Nehemiah, and Ezra, Ezra particularly. Back there in the Old Testament, and they had not been reading the Word of God. So, he discovers the Word of God. He brings it out before the people and calls them to a public reading of the Word of God in the rain.

They stood there for hours and hours and hours as the Word of God was read to them publicly. And guess what happened? The Holy Spirit brought upon the people such incredible conviction of hearts. Because they were in sexual immorality. They had married pagans. "Now what are we going to do? We have disobeyed God and entered into marriages that God forbade us to do. And now what are we going to do? We even have kids by these marriages." They had to respond.

It's the same kind of situation that America has now with regard to the serial divorce and remarriage issue, with kids trailing in the background. "Now what are we going to do? When the Holy Spirit begins to quicken us according to the Word of God, that says specifically what the problem is, are we going to respond or are we going to play pretend and say, 'Yes, but'?" At that time, the people responded. In fact, they were so seriously caught by the quickening of the Holy Spirit and the Word of God, that they actually said, "We've got to have some time now to decide how we're going to respond to this in as much of a righteous way as possible because we've married outside of God's will. And we've got kids now that are the product of these marriages that are outside of God's will. What are we going to do?"

And so, you know what the Holy Spirit is saying to you right now? "What are you going to do? What are your friends going to do? What is your pastor going to do?" This is not a matter for celebrities. This is a matter for we the people. This is serious business, friends. It really is. And the latest report is nearly half of Americans say they have read just about half the Bible. Only a third of Americans say the Bible is totally accurate. We're in so much trouble. But there is hope. The hope is based upon righteousness. Righteous response to the Word and will and ways of God. What will we do? Get a copy of the book, renewing the soul of America. It'll be so inspirational and helpful to you for $15 on the website, saveus.org. Call us 1-800-SAVE-USA, and become a partner, friends. These are urgent times.

Guest (Male): You've been listening to Viewpoint with Chuck Crismier. Viewpoint is supported by the faithful gifts of our listeners. Let me urge you to become a partner with Chuck as a voice to the church, declaring vision for the nation. Join us again next time on Viewpoint as we confront the issues of America's heart and home.