Save America Ministries

Chuck Crismier: Have you ever noticed how important gates are to God? They really are. In fact, if you read in the book of Revelation, you find that there were 12 gates into the city, the New Jerusalem. 12 gates. And those gates were adorned in amazing ways beyond any description that you and I could possibly imagine. The gates into the city. 12 gates into the city.

But then the same Jesus who told us about the 12 gates into the city said, "Wide is the gate that leads to destruction." So there is a gate that leads to destruction, and then there are 12 gates into the city. There are gates into the city of Jerusalem, the earthly city of Jerusalem, and those gates have been very important over history.

But there's one gate that Jesus spoke of that we're going to talk about today, and that's the gate that leads to life or the gate that leads to destruction. Jesus said in Matthew 7:13, "Wide is the gate that leads to destruction and many there be that go in thereat." Now, Jesus was not talking necessarily to unbelievers. He was talking to people who supposedly were his people. These were the chosen people.

These were the people that claimed to believe in God, they claimed to believe that there was a coming Messiah, they claimed to believe in the word of God, the Torah, they claimed to believe in God. And Jesus addressed them and he said, "Wide is the gate that leads to destruction and many there be that go in thereat. But strait is the gate that leads to life and precious few there be that find it."

Now, isn't it interesting why Jesus did not talk about a broad gate that would lead to life? Isn't that what we as Americans would be prone to do? Because we want so many people to come into the kingdom of God, but Jesus put it just the opposite. He said, "Narrow is the gate that leads to life and precious few there be that find it."

Why would he do that? Because he knew that very few would actually embrace the fullness of the Gospel truth. He knew that precious few would actually embrace his message of the way, the narrow gate that would lead to eternal life, so that those who did pass through the narrow gate would be able to have access to the 12 gates into the New Jerusalem.

So gates have shown themselves to be of critical importance not only in the Bible but throughout history. In fact, there's a phrase, "Storm the gates," that reflects the importance of gates in keeping our enemies out. The smaller or narrower the gate to the city, the more secure the city was to enemy invasion.

Maybe you did not know that, but if you look at history and you look at the walls of history and the narrowness of the gates, you find that a narrow gate was much easier to defend than a broad gate. So for this reason, Jesus made clear that the access to his eternal city would be through a strait gate or a narrow way.

The way would be so narrow and the gate access so limited that very few would find it. Now, why would very few find it? Because the majority are going to be going in through another way. The majority always finds the way of least resistance, always. Like a gas, people are like a gas; we flow to the line of least resistance. We're like water; we flow to the line of least resistance.

And so Jesus knew that, and he knew that the majority of people, by far the majority, would follow the way of the majority where all the water seemed to be running, where all the gas seemed to be going into the wide gate that would lead to destruction. And they wouldn't even realize they'd entered the wide gate because that's where everybody was going.

So the wide gate is, you could say, the democratic gate. It's the way of democracy. This is the reason why our founders despised democracy, because they knew that the sheer control of the majority of the people would lead not to freedom but to despotism, to the despotic rule of the majority. They would run over everybody else that was going for the narrow gate.

So even our founders understood the problem with human nature, and that is that we want the wider way, the way that seems easier, and as the scripture says, there is a way that seems right unto a man, but the end of that way ain't so right; it's the way of death. So gates not only exclude access, but they also provide access.

So a shut gate declares a warning that access to what lies beyond it is prohibited. An open gate beckons one to enter. So in all of our lives, as you know, we encounter gates, both actual gates and even figurative gates, things that either provide access or prevent access.

A gateway becomes an entry point for ideas and practices, beliefs, even deception to enter our lives. So the Psalmist David said, "Open to me the gates of righteousness." In fact, he called it the gate of the Lord into which the righteous shall enter. So if there are gates of righteousness, then there must also be Satan's counterfeit gates.

Satan always seeks to open gates that God closes and to close the gate that God opens. Isn't that interesting? So the deceiver's enticement is always to broad and popular gates. So what are some of those gates? Well, one of those gates happens to be the culture.

Now, in the Bible, it talks about the world. The culture is actually the predominant expression of the world and worldliness. It's the world in which we live, it's the water in which we swim. So the Apostle Paul said, "Don't be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds that you might prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God."

So our minds have something to do with opening the broad gate that leads to destruction, the cultural seduction. And there's no question about it, culture is a very powerful and pervasive life influence. So I welcome you to Viewpoint. I'm Chuck Crismier; it's conversation as always with ever-increasing conviction, talk that transforms, and today is no exception.

And I hope it will be edifying to you because it will help us to understand, perhaps in a way that we have not thought of before. Sometimes presenting things in a little different way helps us to enter into a truth that otherwise seems to have escaped us. So we're going to talk about that, we're going to talk about the whole idea of worldliness, the world, cultural seduction, why culture is so powerful and what it does to us, how it is that it seduces us into a broad gate that doesn't lead to life but leads to destruction.

So I hope you'll stay tuned, friends. You're listening to Viewpoint. Viewpoint does determine destiny. No question about it, all of our viewpoints have value and they determine destiny in one way or the other. So what is your viewpoint concerning the culture? What is your viewpoint concerning the power of the culture? How has it affected your life? Or is it affecting it right now? We'll be right back.

One of the most powerful and prominent gates in our lives is the gateway to the world. That's the culture in which we live. The culture defines the world from how we perceive it. And indeed, we can't escape the culture; we live in the culture. So the Apostle Paul said we should be in the world but not of the world. But what does that mean? They are easy words, but they're not easy to apply.

And so that's why we need to talk about it. That's why we need to be honest in talking about it because it has to do with righteousness, and without righteousness, righteousness alone exalts a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people. Righteousness alone exalts a nation. So our whole nation is involved consequently in the issue of the culture, the power of the culture.

Now, we have a culture here in America that's different than the culture in England, that's different than the culture in France and Germany. Every one of these nations has a certain culture. But then there also is a broader cultural influence called the West, that is the Western world, the formerly Christian world.

You know, Europe, Christian Europe supposedly was a Christian culture. You'd never know it today because my understanding is that there are less than 4% of those that inhabit France as citizens in France that could claim to be Christian. Less than 4%. Does that sound like a Christian culture? No.

Maybe it's because the French Revolution resulted there in the late 1700s and was a warfare against God and against God's control in their lives and sought to create a completely godless culture. That is, even defining out the days of the week from seven to ten so as not to fall even close to anything biblical. That's what happened.

And so France has never gotten its spiritual footing since then, and the question is, how about us in America? You see, because we purport to be the leading culture in the West. We have historically wanted the rest of the world to emulate our culture. In other words, to model itself after us in some way, whether it's politically or whether it's spiritually, whatever, the culture.

So culture is an extremely powerful thing. In fact, it's so powerful that it's pervasive throughout every fabric of our lives. Now, with the exception I think of the laws of nature, such as the law of gravity, the culture in which we live, I think exerts the greatest influence on our lives during our earthly sojourn here on this planet.

The power and force of culture is so great that it can literally lord it over our lives. And when culture becomes lord, then what happens to Christ? He's no longer master but our mascot. In other words, we purport to follow Christ but actually follow the culture. The culture is very demanding, very demanding, and it has its own imperatives.

And those actions and attitudes, beliefs and behaviors that are considered a given for the culture, we might say, well, that's just what we do. Or that's just the way we think. I remember speaking in an African nation in a prominent Christian school in a nation that has as its motto, "But for God."

And the school was having an anniversary. It was a very big deal. And so we were invited to attend this particular anniversary and as we sat there watching what was happening during that anniversary, we were shocked because what we saw happening was the students cavorting across the stage in nothing but very sexually provocative ways that were nowhere near consistent with the spirit of Christ or with righteousness or the Gospel.

And so after the performance, I spoke to the leader of that particular school in private and said, "We don't understand how you can allow this kind of thing to happen in the name of Christ. This is being announced; you've got the leaders of the country here. Why would you do that?" And here was the response: "Well, that's just our culture."

In other words, sexual flaunting and not promiscuity, but things that really are just provocative were paraded across the stage in the name of Christ. What if Jesus had been present? We say Jesus is present everywhere. He said, "I'll never leave you nor forsake you." So we say that in words, but what would he do if he were sitting there?

Would he be blessing that assembly? Would he be blessing that that was coming forth in his name that looked much more like a pop culture kind of sexual risque display than anything that would be consistent with the word, will, and ways of Christ defined by righteousness? So culture has imperatives and we just say, "Well, that's what we do" or "That's the way we are."

That's just who we are. So we don't think of it as either righteous or unrighteous; it's just how we choose to think about it. That's who we are. Well, that's our problem, you see. God knows that's just who we are and so he says, "That's not the way I want you to be. I don't want you to be just the way you are. That's why I came to save you. I came to save you from just the way you are."

If Christ came to keep us the way we were, then why did we need redemption? Right? So this is such a big deal that we just don't realize it and we're so absorbed by the culture that we don't even realize how deeply we are invested in it. But if you're a true follower of Jesus, your kingdom is not of this world. Jesus said so.

He said you're a stranger and a pilgrim, like an alien to the earthly culture in which you find yourself. You're not a fellow citizen with the saints if you're a fellow citizen that is adopting the ways of the culture. No, you're an ambassador from his kingdom into a worldly culture, but you're not of it.

So this is the problem that we have as Christians. The culture has for all practical purposes become our lord, leaving Christ as very little but a mascot. And the whole church in America has succumbed. Now, you may think that's not true, you may argue, "Well, that's not true in my church." I guarantee it is.

I don't care who your pastor is, I don't care what denomination you belong to or not denomination. It doesn't matter because the culture has so deeply affected the entire church in America. Regardless of denomination, regardless of how we want to label ourselves, the culture has become so persuasive that it's become dominant.

So the prevailing culture is likely the widest gate into the broad road to deception and destruction. It's not only a dangerous gateway because it's wide, but also because it's so attractive, it's so alluring, so overwhelmingly trafficked. And the sheer pressure, think about it, the multitudes passing through creates an almost irresistible impulse to go with the flow. You know, we hear that phrase, right? Go with the flow.

We've all heard the culture demand to go in thereat, right? And most of us are heeding the call one way or another. We want to be loved, we want to be accepted, we want to feel that we're part of the in crowd. We don't want to be ostracized or marginalized, so what do we do? We conform. We become like the culture.

We first follow reluctantly, but then we make little compromises and the little compromises grow stronger and stronger, and the cultural lure grows stronger until we're embraced fully by its seductive arms. Now, that's where we find ourselves. Consider this on the near edge of the Second Coming.

Now, if we really believe that somewhere near the Lord's return, would we not want to seriously consider this problem that the church has gone to bed with the culture, adulterizing with the culture just like Israel adulterized with the culture around them? Yeah, that's where it is.

So unfortunately, Jeremiah lamented to God 2500 years ago concerning the problem in Israel. He said the church or ancient Israel had committed adultery with the surrounding culture. And so today we're in a situation where professing Christians and their pastors coddle with the culture, finding seductive solace for our souls parched for intimacy with the Lord.

So God said through Jeremiah, "My heart within me is broken because of the prophets. For the land is full of adulterers. Both prophet and priest are profane. Yes, in my house I have found their wickedness," says the Lord. "I've even seen the prophets of Jerusalem a horrible thing. They commit adultery and walk in lies. None does return from his wickedness. They're all to me as Sodom and the inhabitants thereof of Gomorrah."

Now, you may think this is far out and a far stretch. It's not, my friends. I want you to think about this. I'm going to quote some statistics to you. You've heard them before, but I'm going to quote them in this context here so that you will understand that God's word to Israel through Jeremiah is identical to what he would say to us today.

So consider that since no-fault divorce was adopted in California in 1968, it made its way rapidly through the church so that that which up to that time had been scarce in the body of Christ became normalized by 1980. Throughout the whole 1970s under the "God is Love" movement that rejected the God of Truth, that rejected the God of Justice and Judgment, the God of Righteousness, only the God of Love was presented in the 1970s.

So what happened? Divorce became prominent and pervasive throughout the entire Christian community of all ilks and every denomination. By the mid-1980s, it had metastasized into plain out serial adultery. You say, what do you mean by that? Well, Jesus said, remember, "Whoever divorces their spouse causes them to commit adultery and whoever marries the one so divorced also commits adultery."

So what happened in the church? That which up to that time had been absolutely taboo, understood biblically taboo, remarriage while your spouse is still living became normative. In other words, we adopted the way of the culture from pulpit to pew. How do we know that?

Well, for instance, the Harvard Seminary study a few years ago observed, found that the divorce rate among pastors had equaled that of their parishioners. In the Bible Belt of America for the past 25 years, the divorce rate has exceeded the nation as a whole by 50%. And the divorce rate in the buckle of the Bible Belt, Dallas, Texas, the home to numerous mega ministries, had reached 65%.

And you don't think we've been invaded? You don't think that we've adopted and adapted to the culture? But that's not all. And I'm just giving you some statistics to help us to understand how far this has gone and where we really are on the near edge of the Second Coming. You say, well is there any hope for us if we've done that?

Yes, the hope is always repentance. The hope is confessing our sin, coming clean before God, realizing what's happened and then confessing, turning from it, repenting and walking in righteousness from that time on. That's the hope. That's why the grace of God is still active. The mercy of God is still active. But we need to understand the reality of where we are. We have entered the broad gate that leads to deception and destruction and most are going therein.

It's just utterly amazing and so painful for me to have to share with you some of these thoughts. But if I don't, woe is me if I don't direct God's message to all of us because the consequences are enormous. Just take a look at these statistics briefly. Two-thirds of Christian singles admit they're not virgins.

Evangelical college students do not consider anal intercourse to be sex and indulge in it accordingly. 34% of Christian women and 60-70% of Christian men admit seeking pornography. 37% of pastors admit struggling with pornography. Pornography is adultery, friends. Did you know that?

20% of pastors admit to an affair while in the ministry. From 1990 to 2000, cohabitation increased 72% and the greatest increase was in the Bible Belt. Christianity Today did an article that the American church had become a brothel. That American colleges had become brothels.

I'm barely able to hold back the tears, friends. This is so, so painful. And it's not getting better, it's getting worse. Divorce was virtually nonexistent in both the broader culture and the church but became fashionable during the 1970s and then pastors fell in line with the cultural mandate, not willing to resist the people.

So it became "like people like priest," so that the divorce rate among the pastors now equals that of their parishioners and is the second highest of all professions in America. Seems like Jezebel rules. Our culture is not what we think it is. It used to be, it used to be that the world looked at America and its culture as righteous and expression of godly and Christian righteousness.

About 20 years ago as I was flying across the country, I had a layover in Cincinnati. And across from me was a black gentleman, and we engaged in conversation. He told me he was from Zimbabwe. And so he asked me a question. He said, "Mr. Crismier," he said, "The missionaries would come from your country to my country and we would ask them why is it America so prosperous? What is it about America?" And they would say, "Because we obey God, because we're following the ways of the Lord."

So then he asked me this question, "So I ask you the same question: Whatever happened to America?" That was his question 20-25 years ago. Whatever happened to America? Now, the Apostle Paul that people like to rely upon for Christian theology said to the Corinthian church, "Be not deceived, neither fornicators nor idolaters nor adulterers nor effeminate, that is practicing homosexuals, not abusers of themselves with mankind shall inherit the kingdom of God."

He said none of those will inherit the kingdom of God. So what do we do? The answer is very simple: Admit that we fornicate with the culture. We've been seduced by the culture. Admit where we are in painful admission, weeping before the Lord and say, "God forgive me. Forgive me, not forgive us, forgive me."

This isn't about them, it's about me. It's about us, it's about you, it's about our families, it's about our congregations. It's not about politics; it's about principles in our lives. That's where we are. Now, I want to encourage you to again get a copy of the book, *Seduction of the Saints: How to Stay Pure in a World of Deception*.

You see, we have become conformed to this world. Whether we think we have or not, we have. The statistics prove it. George Gallup, going back to 1997, said we have all these Bibles, we don't read them, and we don't obey them. We don't do what they say.

George Barna, pollster to the church for the past 25 years, has said, as have many sociologists and observers, statisticians and so on, said, "You know what? We look just like the world. That the statistics, the habit patterns of professing Christians are almost indiscernible from that of their secular counterparts."

In other words, we've adopted the ways of the world. So the book, *Seduction of the Saints*, will help you to deal with that along with many, many other issues. $15 will put it in your hands. It's on our website, saveus.org, give us a call at 1-800-SAVE-USA, write to us at Save America Ministries, PO Box 70879, Richmond, Virginia, 23255, writing a check add $6 for postage and handling.

Now, you know that I just came out with my 12th book. I did an hour's interview just before this program in Rochester, New York. And yesterday did another hour's interview in Texas, Dallas, Texas. These were on many, many different stations across the country. What are we what's going on here?

Someone has said, well what is it we have to overcome? You mean we don't get it yet? We still don't get it? One person argued, well why should we have to overcome anything? Jesus died for our sins. Yes, he did die for our sins and then he said, "Now walk in righteousness and in holiness without which you're not even going to see the Lord."

You see, we've twisted theology to suit our preconceived notions and our love of the culture. I urge you to get a copy of the book, *The Power to Overcome*. It is so personal, it's so simple, it's so relevant and so needful for such a time as this. How to triumph in troubled times.

The three main things we have to overcome are the world, the flesh, and the devil. And the book actually lays out what that looks like. Today we've unfolded this issue of the culture, which is actually another way of expressing the world. That is the spirit of the world. That is the spirit of the world.

Do you think our culture is anything other than a cesspool? Not really. So why is it we've adapted to it? Why is it we've adopted it? Why is it we follow in its ways and justify what we do based upon, "Well, that's what everybody's doing. Well, that's just the way it is." Or "That's just the way we are."

We're very, very not so subtle in our willingness to justify ourselves. But we're going to stand before a holy God and we're not going to be able to use those kinds of worldly justifications. We're not going to be able to say, "Well, that's what the majority were doing." We're not going to be able to say, "But that's what my pastor told me" or "What my Christian friends told me."

We're not going to be able to say, "Well, that's what everyone everyone's doing" or "That's just the way we are." We're not going to be able to say that because God sees through it all. He discerns even the thoughts and the intents of our hearts. We're not going to be able to do that. That's why this is critical.

This is what it means to prepare the way of the Lord for history's final hour. This is what it means in practical terms to get right with God. Getting right with God is not just a matter of making some confession of faith 30 years ago; it's a matter of living the way that we claim to the God we claim to serve.

And if we don't, we're seen as rebels and God ain't going to have any rebels in his kingdom. Can you imagine what heaven would be like if it was filled with the view of American Christians today that do what they want no matter what and justify it? It's rebellion, friends. And God says rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft.

It's not going to work. I just believe that Jesus is weeping, not just like he wept over Jerusalem, but weeping over America, weeping over professing Christians in America and the whole church enterprise. It's not just the mainline churches, friends; it's the evangelical churches. It's everywhere. Totally pervasive.

How do you explain that in one year and a half period, 13 prominent, some of the world's most prominent ministries out of one area of the country alone, Dallas, Texas, fell from grace so to speak? How do you explain that? There's only one way: We've been seduced by the culture and the ways of the world.

Now, for those pastors and broadcasters and so on, the only remedy for them is repentance. They're not going to regain their ministries. It's too severe. It's an absolutely crushing blow against their spiritual integrity to be able to stand again before people and call them to righteousness.

But they individually can come before God and say, "Lord forgive me, a sinner." And if they're truly repentant and not trying to justify and make excuses, aren't you glad that God is willing and able to forgive their sin and cleanse them from all unrighteousness, just as he's willing to do for you and for me?

Friends, that is the mercy of God. The grace of God is his favor that moves us to obey his voice and do his will. That's the grace of God. The grace of God is not what overlooks our sin. The mercy of God is what is extended to us in our sin so that we can be restored to favor with him.

Where do you stand today? Are you black or white? On the front of the book, *Seduction of the Saints*, is a picture of a woman in a wedding dress. On one side the dress is black, on the other side it's white. And it's the same woman and the same dress. What's the color of your dress?

Are you ready to be presented to the Lord as a chaste virgin before him? And if not, what are you going to do about it? That's really where we are today. I know this is tough today. This is really tough and it's sharp-pointed. I know that. But this is our opportunity. This is why God's good news is good news because without this good news of opportunity, there's bad news ahead.

Get a copy of the book, *Seduction of the Saints*, get a copy of the book, *The Power to Overcome*. $25 will put that book in your hands if you get both books together. There's only $1 or $6 postage handling for one, $2 for the other. I hope you'll avail yourselves of those because that will provide hope for tomorrow.