Bring God Back To The Forefront

Word-Of-The-Day: ‘<God said to Jeremiah,> “Why then have these people turned away? Why does Jerusalem always turn away? They cling to deceit; they refuse to return. ‘’’ (Jeremiah 8:5)

One thing I remember as a kid, growing up in an otherwise God-free home, was Saturday morning cartoons, and Sunday morning TV evangelists like Katherine Kuhlman and Rex Humbard.  Rex Humbard stood out as he was Mom’s favorite; preaching from the Cathedral of Tomorrow in Akron, Ohio, with the choir’s main song, ‘God Is Greater’, where the main line was ‘Greater is He that is in me, than he that is in the world’ which as a young boy made no sense at the time , but of course it does now. 

There were of course others, especially Billy Graham and his crusades that often came on periodically on broadcast TV during prime-time and the yearly ABC broadcast of the Ten Commandments at Easter (which continue to this day) and legitimate stories on Christmas (including ‘Merry Christmas, Charlie Brown’ where Linus Van Pelt became possibly the most watched evangelist of all time, giving the story of the Gospel through the story of Jesus’ birth (Luke 2:8-14)). 

Belief in God was waning in the 1970’s, but there was a healthy fear of God and His wrath that overcame many of the counterculture movements on the early part of that decade.  Even mainstream rock songs celebrated Jesus, like the Doobies Brothers’ ‘Jesus Is Just Alright’ or Godspell’s ‘Day by Day’.  But it was the start of the decline of Godly evangelism, as many families no longer held onto going to church or reading the Bible.

Fast forward to today, we see a world that no longer really talks about God.  Cable/satellite TV has brought many Christian-only channels but unlike the 1970’s when there were only four or five options for channels (ABC, NBC, CBS, and a couple independent UHF channels), Christian channels now compete with Fox, Fox News, FX, FXX, Fox Business, Fox Sports 1, Fox Sports 2 – and those are just a portion of the Fox channels.  It’s the same with NBC/Comcast, ABC/Disney and CBS/Paramount.  You also have on cable MTV, VH1, Discovery, Travel, USA, CNN, HLN, AMC, TCM, History – and the list goes on.

There are even more ‘niche’ channels on the Internet through streaming services, and social media.  It’s not only God that has been minimalized, it’s American history and culture, civics, and civil justice.  We as a people have turned away from God, starting in the roaring 1950’s and now in 2025 we see the results.  We as a people look at the ‘Flavor of the Week’, the shiny new item in our eye, and turn away from ‘the same old God’ to the point where God (and the fear of God) is forgotten. 

Even Christmas is no longer enjoyable as it has turned into a meaningless six-month long commercialized greed-fest (Sam’s Club starts with Christmas stuff in its aisles in August.)  We are where the Jews were in Jeremiah’s day.  God was out-of-favor and nearly forgotten.  This wasn’t the first time; in 1 Kings, God was forgotten about in Elijah’s time as well.  We look at the rise of activists in support of illegal immigration, LGTBQ, ANTIFA, pro-abortion, ‘freedom from religion’, non-Christian religions, new-age, etc.  Look no further than to see that God has been nearly taken out of the equation of public thought.  In general, people fear losing social standing but we don’t fear losing their souls as the people don’t remember that God exists. 

Like Jeremiah, though, we as Christians – true committed Christians – must have the Faith that God is who He says He is.  We don’t need drive-in theatres to come back, but we need God to come back into the lives of the people.  It starts with us.  Not only to evangelize, but to also show we Christians can be open about Faith to other Christians.  I heard some snickers one time walking through Sam’s as I wore my ‘Tap Me’ shirt.  But then I got a ‘tap’ for prayer from a couple, who were behind us in the exit line.  They didn’t have a particular prayer, but they asked if they could also pray for us, as well.   We need to remind Christians it’s OK to be Christians – to be open and say, ‘I believe in God and the Gospel of Jesus Christ’. 

We need to be that walking ad for Jesus, to remind people that He’s still here running the show.  Our lives, our voices, our attitudes, our walk – all should be a billboard for the cause of Christ.  We then be as Paul, who declared in Acts 19 he was innocent of the blood of others, in part from his past as a persecutor of Christians, but also innocent in those lives who he gave the Gospel message of Salvation but did not accept it.  We are innocent when we share the Word of the Lord and introduce them to the Holy Spirit – that is our job under the Great Commission.  Salvation itself is the work of the Holy Spirit upon the free will of a person who we introduce the Gospel to. 

Be the reminder that there is a God, who loves His creation enough to have sacrificed His son Jesus; but this same God also expects us to obey His precepts and that we need to fear His retribution when we deviate from His will.  Not all will turn to God, but it’s better that some do if we try than none do if we don’t.