America's Religious Heritage is Priceless – Commentary by Dr. Paul E. Bellino

The article entitled, "America's Protestant Majority is Fading, A Nation of Minortities, WASP's Dying", is I believe, a further wakeup call to the Gospel preaching churches of this great country; and should be of concern for those of us who cherish our Southern Heritage. We are in line for the ultimate demise of the product of the Reformation begun in the early 1500's by Martin Luther, and other great spirtual giants of that bygone era in church history. The impact that this is having and will have on this society is beyond our comprehension to envisage except to say that it will result in the death of these United States, and the last vestiges of our Southern Heritage.

Canada, to the north of us, has already made the law of the land capable of incarcerating ministers of the Gospel who would preach from the first three chapters of the Epistle of Romans against homosexuality, to be locked behind bars. A nation such as Canada and these United States cannot long survive without the freedom to proclaim the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the acceptance of that message of deliverance from sin by it's multitudes. We who are Christians must take seriously the words of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ to go forward in our generation prepared to proclaim and upheld His words in Mattthew 28:18-20: "...All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost; teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen".

It well may be that we as a nation are at that juncture in the road where the end is near; nonetheless we must proclaim and defend the most holy faith that our Lord and His disciples proclaimed to all the world in the first century of the Christian era. We cannot do more and we should not do less. "All power" has been given unto to Jesus for the purpose of proclaiming the good news of the Gospel that can save mankind from its sin and coming judgement. His disciples went forward with that Gospel and "turned the world upside down" in one generation, and this same Gospel has been effectual for two thousand years, and the same "power" and call to "Go ye therefore, and teach all nations" still stands for us to go and evangelize a lost and dying world.

However, we must begin here at home, in these United States, as our colonial forebears, and the forefathers of our beloved Southern Heritage; to go forth with boldness and good purpose to bring every man, woman, boy and girl in earshot of the good news of the Gospel. If we fail this nation cannot survive because its very vitality provided by the Holy Spirit will depart as the Spirit of God departed from the ancient temple in Jerusalem centuries before the first coming of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

With Christ's coming two thousand years ago, the presence and overcoming power of the Holy Spirit provided us with the wherewithall to see multitudes come into the Kingdom of God over the past two millennia. We must have that same purpose, dedication and proclamation power sent forward with great dependence upon God and His precious word, the Holy Scriptures, in our own day and time. The Gospel is not only capable of saving individual souls here and around the world, but of preserving us a nation.

With the cross-cultural infusion that is being experienced here in the United States, in this decade, we take new courage and determination to reach and bring men of all nations into the blessed air of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We must do this to give them the opportunity to come "... To know Him, Whom to know aright is life eternal, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, Whom Thou (He) hast sent". The Bible says, "The soul that sinneth, it shall die." (Ezekiel 18:4). God's Son, Jesus Christ, took upon Himself our sin as He hung on the cross and died in our place. Having all sinned, we deserve death, but Christ, in love took our place. To receive the benefits of Christ's death, we must believe from our hearts that we deserve death for our sin and then see ourselves with Christ nailed to the cross. It was there that the penalty for sin was paid and the power that sin had over us was crushed. God did not leave His Son in the grave, but raised Him on the third day. He has paid sin's penalty, broken its power, and thus become our Saviour from the consequenses of sin. God's word speaks for itself as St. Paul writes in Romans 6:6 "knowing this, that our old man is crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin."

There it is--God's solution to man's problem, and the problems of this nation, and it's sin! We as a nation must realize that we must individually and corporately, as much as the grace of God will enable, believe that our old self was crucified with Christ. We need as individuals, and as a nation to desire to no longer be slaves to the tyrant, sin. Instead we need to gladly choose to serve Christ who loved us and bought us with His own precious blood. We as individuals and as a nation, must come back to God. We must exchange servitude to sin for servitude to Jesus Christ.

This is practical! This is the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We must ask ourselves, and evangelize others with these words: "Have I by faith appropriated Christ's death and resurrection for myself, and am I offering that Gospel message to those in my household, my community, my state, throughout this nation, and the world, as the Lord may enable me? Though our sins are not all the same, yet all the same we are sinners. Mankinds problem is sin and self, and the only solution to the problem is Jesus Christ. He said in St. John 14:6 "I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me." This is the message of God for us as indviduals and as a nation, and for the whole world. The question is will we turn from our sin to the Saviour? Jesus promises to forgive us, save us, and give us a lasting joy and peace which can only be found by trusting Him. The hour is late, the time is short, we need to be about our Father's business, we need to proclaim the Gospel, to bring this nation back to God, to save our Southern Heritage, before it is utterly too late.

Protestants soon to be minority in U.S., study finds
by Cathleen Falsani, Chicago Sun-Times