September | 2012 | Eradicate: Blotting Out God in America

Archive for September, 2012

The Last Fifty Years in America, Eradicate Overview (Part 1 of 2)

Posted: September 27, 2012 by David Fiorazo in David's Blog

Fifty years ago, the Bible, the Ten Commandments, and prayer were still allowed in public schools. Abortion was illegal. Homosexuality, pornography, and adultery were considered sins by the majority of Americans; and Christians were making a difference in every area of public life – even in politics. Just like you, I love this country and our heritage of faith, family, and freedom, but God is being blotted out of America!

In 1962, we didn’t need a movie rating system, and censorship was not a concern for TV programming because violence, profanity, and nudity weren’t problems. That’s not the case in 2012 where there’s more foul language, sex, and graphic violence in one night of TV viewing than there was in an entire month just ten years ago.

In a 2012 report, there were 76 incidents of full nudity flashing through our TV screens right into our living rooms. Blurring or obstructing certain body parts is about as dumb as bleeping through F-bombs and it doesn’t make it appropriate for kids watching during prime-time hours.

Zenith sold its first color TV in 1962 when a gallon of gas was just 28 cents. There were no CD’s, cell phones, or Internet – so – churches, libraries, and playgrounds were busy places. Kids even knew what ‘go outside and play’ meant! Families also spent more quality time together. You could buy a new home for about $18,000. The media still held government accountable, and most people believed America was an exceptional nation. What changed?

Today, the average American family watches five hours of television a day; that’s 35 hours a week. If we do the math it’s pretty scary because this means the average family watches TV, non-stop for 1,825 hours or 76 days straight in a year! Some day, every one of us will stand before a holy God and we’ll have to answer for how we used our time, talents, and treasure.

In the decade that brought us I Love Lucy, The Flintstones, Johnny Carson, and Elvis Presley, a Gallup poll showed “almost 70% of Americans said premarital sex was wrong” and just 21% said it was okay. Fast forward to a few years ago when the same question was asked; only 32% said sex before marriage was wrong and over sixty percent said it was fine!

In 1962, there were still divorce laws. In order for a couple to divorce, laws required a charge of adultery, extreme cruelty, willful desertion, insanity or felony conviction. Today, when it comes to abortion, divorce, the kind of television shows we watch, and the language we use, it can be hard to tell a Christian from a non-Christian at times.

The Bible teaches that we are to resist sin and to separate ourselves from immoral influences. One of the most important and divisive battles in America is over the lives of babies in the womb. Abortion is not only allowed today, but funded by our tax dollars! Same-sex marriage is practically accepted, and public schools encourage sexual openness and experimentation. What changed?

We have. In the Bible it says God’s Word is perfect, flawless, and that He is eternal. God never changes. We read the same Bible our Founding Fathers read. The difference is they focused their lives and built a country around the teachings of Jesus Christ, and we’re so distracted in modern America we barely take the time to memorize Scripture let alone apply it to our lives.

According to Pew Research, 78% of American adults identify themselves as “Christians”. With this many people professing Christianity, shouldn’t we see a dramatic reduction of abortion, adultery, depravity, divorce, homosexuality, alcoholism, gambling, pornography, occultism, depression, and suicide? We’re not.

So the question then needs to be asked, ‘How did America reach the point where the Church is having less impact on culture than culture is having on the church?

**This is a Transcript of the Video Overview to Eradicate: Blotting out God in America. Continued in Part 2…

(American family in 1962)

Book Signing, October 25 in Appleton, WI

Posted: September 25, 2012 by David Fiorazo in Events

Special Presentation and Book Signing with David Fiorazo

WHAT: Come and hear a short presentation by David about ERADICATE: BLOTTING OUT GOD IN AMERICA.

Learn important history and what events led up to the war on Christianity. Find out who, what, and why! I’ll share how you can more fully understand, combat and overcome the anti-Christian agenda in our country, apathy in the Church, and the decline of morality and culture.

[Copies of the book will be available for purchase, of course!]

WHEN: Thursday, October 25, 7:00 PM – 8:30 PM

WHERE: Freedom Project Education’s new headquarters in Appleton, Wisconsin. 800-807-7292

750 N Hickory Farm Lane, Appleton, WI 54914 (South of Wisconsin Ave. and West of Lynndale Drive)

FREE ADMISSION, but come early to get a good seat!

Questions? Please cal (920) 747-3793 or email info@FreedomProject.com

LINK: MAP to Freedom Project in Appleton, WI

Identify Your Enemy

Posted: September 21, 2012 by David Fiorazo in David's Blog

You are from God, little children, and have overcome them; because greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world. They are from the world; therefore they speak as from the world, and the world listens to them. We are from God; he who knows God listens to us; he who is not from God does not listen to us. By this we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error. 1 John 4:4-6

As Christians, we know there is a spiritual battle going on around us at all times and the enemy will use anyone he can to come against us in some way – even other Christians. This can happen when we step out in faith or try our best to use our talents to do God’s work. When you decide to make a public stand for Jesus Christ and Bible truth, there will be people who will be offended or irritated. There may even be Christians who are upset that you’re stirring the pot, shaking the sleepy-eyed, and trying to seek, hear from, and obey the Lord. There may be lukewarm believers who feel badly about what they’re not doing for Jesus. Some have conformed to the world while others may simply be apathetic, jealous or insecure. That’s not your problem.

As much as we’d prefer everyone love us, it’s not realistic, even if we’re talking about other Christians. I have an easier time understanding a non-Christian than I do a Christian who has a dramatically different worldview than I have. If you’re wondering where believers in your circle of influence stand, write a blog or a book. Recently I learned how much more prepared I need to be for upcoming attacks and am reminded how much more I need to be in prayer. Being criticized or insulted is nothing new if you’re a Christian conservative and it doesn’t surprise me at all when it happens. However, it’s still disappointing when it comes from other Christians.

Henry Blackaby said, “When you meet opposition to your faith, your first reaction may be anger toward your antagonist. This may divert your attention from the deeper, spiritual dimensions of your conflict. Your adversary may be hopelessly in bondage to sin. Rather than retaliating, you should immediately and earnestly intercede for that person. Your opponent’s hostility is your invitation to become involved in God’s redemptive work to free him or her from spiritual bondage. Be alert to the spiritual warfare around you.”

This new season of spiritual division is another opportunity for me, maybe for you as well, to decide to dig even deeper in the Good Book and trust God knows what He is doing. Some people don’t even know they’re being used by the enemy of the faith they proclaim. Our struggle is not with people, but attacks come through people and sadly, we can’t always expect more from believers than we do from the world or we’ll set ourselves up for disappointment. God is our authority and there has been too much compromise in American Christianity. Our lives reflect whether we’re striving to please man or God. As the Apostle Paul wrote in Galatians 1 verse 10, “If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ.”

INTRODUCTION TO ERADICATE (excerpts)

Posted: September 13, 2012 by David Fiorazo in David's Blog, Eradicate - Blotting Out God In America

Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind…. Therefore be careful how you walk, not as unwise men but as wise, making the most of your time, because the days are evil. So then do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is. (Romans 12:2, Ephesians 5:15-17)

Christianity is not the thriving, influential power it once was in America. With a majority of people claiming the Christian tradition, why does our godless culture barely reflect the light of Jesus Christ? Someone recently said, “God may not be dead, but I think a bunch of his people might be.” There are two things going on at the same time that contribute to America’s decline: Christians are conforming to the world and the agenda to blot out God in America continues to advance at full speed. In this book, we will examine how this is happening and investigate the people and organizations that are the driving forces of immorality. We will scrutinize the major reasons America has fallen away from God.

We’re living in sad times when professing Christians know less about the Bible than ever before. Why is this? Many believers are receiving little more than their Gerber’s on Sunday mornings and pastors must shoulder some of the responsibility, but individual believers will be held accountable for how we use our time. It’s up to us to study God’s Word on our own. Decade after decade, the church has been less and less active and vocal in American society and today we’re suffering the consequences. We’ve backed out of culture and have made it easier for those who are hostile toward Jesus Christ to gain control of our country

There are many whose ultimate goal is to destroy our Judeo-Christian way of life and wipe out evidence of the foundational principles that made us a great nation. The enemy has pawns in his control; some of them are knowingly being used for evil and others naively. In this book, we will examine Hollywood, media, government, public education, and the church. With a background in radio and television, one of my biggest disappointments is in the lies, omissions, and propaganda of media today. The enemy is working from within to ruin America and instead of contending for the faith and resisting, Christians have compromised. Charles Spurgeon once said, “I believe that one reason the church of God at this present moment has had so little influence over the world is because the world has so much influence over the church.”

…We have lost our moral compass and I’m not just talking about rampant profanity, marketing sex to children in public schools or garbage-infested primetime television programming. I’m not just referring to Hollywood, the lewd lyrics in much of today’s music, or the fact our culture has practically accepted baby killing and homosexuality. I’m talking about hostility toward Jesus Christ and open rebellion against God. Americans today justify sins that never, ever would have been allowed fifty years ago. Apathy is killing us, but God’s people are also destroyed because of a lack of knowledge (Hosea 4:6). These are desperate times. We must have a sense of urgency, and we cannot remain neutral any longer!

Dietrich Bonhoeffer was a German Lutheran pastor, theologian, and anti-fascist. He was involved in a plan to assassinate Adolf Hitler which led to Bonhoeffer’s arrest in 1943 and hanging in 1945. This was just 23 days before the Nazis’ surrendered. Bonhoeffer’s view of the role of Christianity in the secular world has been very influential. One of his famous quotes is:

“Silence in the face of evil is itself evil. God will not hold us guiltless. Not to speak is to speak; not to act is to act.”

…Jesus Christ lived a radical, counter-cultural life. He obeyed God the Father and transformed the world. He overcame the power of the enemy. Jesus relentlessly resisted sin, opposed legalism, and confronted hypocrisy. He loved unconditionally, he forgave freely, and he sacrificed himself completely. He spoke the truth boldly, exhibited humility, and lived with integrity. He is the Light of the world. He is our standard and our goal; the only way to the Father. Following his example may cause people to ridicule and hate us. What an honor!

… Christians are suffering from complacency and many have grown lukewarm. In this book, we will examine why approximately 50 million Americans claiming to be born again appear to have such a marginal impact on society. If it is often difficult to tell the difference between a Christian and an unbeliever outside of Sunday morning, the enemy is winning. He is waging an effective campaign, but the final battles have yet to be staged.

“There is no neutral ground in the universe; every square inch, every split second is claimed by God and counterclaimed by Satan.” – C.S. Lewis

The church must reengage in the culture war. America is in disarray, and people are losing hope. There are two paths America can take: one leads to further moral erosion and socialism, ultimately ending in destruction, while the other path leads back to God and a revival of Christianity. There will always be opposition, but you and I believe in an unshakable God and with Him, we can make a difference.

… Wake up! Strengthen what remains and is about to die, for I have not found your deeds complete in the sight of My God. Remember, therefore, what you have received and heard; obey it, and repent. But if you do not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what time I will come to you (Revelation 3:2-3).

How Can They Hate Kirk Cameron?

Posted: September 4, 2012 by Amy Spreeman in David's Blog, Hollywood

Fame can get pretty crazy. There were times when young Kirk Cameron had to be driven from his home to the set of the hit television show Growing Pains in a bulletproof car. This was not because Kirk was a Christian; it was because he was a TV star with some fanatical fans. From 1985 to 1992, Kirk Cameron starred as the lovable teen troublemaker Mike Seaver, and Kirk became a worldwide teenage idol at the peak of his teen success on the popular sitcom. The downside of fame is that Kirk’s family also had to deal with kidnapping threats, stalkers, and a lack of privacy. When Kirk Cameron was growing up as a child star in Hollywood on Growing Pains, he was not a Christian. Therefore, he was not controversial.

But his experiences caused him to start thinking about salvation and his own mortality. In his testimony, he talks about having it all according to the world’s standards, but still feeling empty, like he was missing something. Kirk later shared:

“I was rich, I was young, I was famous, I could do anything I wanted with whomever I wanted…I thought that I was too smart to believe in a fairy tale like that [God].”

The Way of the Master web site reads “About Kirk Cameron”: But much more noteworthy than his acting career was his conversion to Christianity. Kirk was not raised in a church-going home and describes himself as a devout atheist from a very young age. By the age of 14 he was so convinced there was no God that he laughed at those who thought there was. But that all changed one afternoon as he sat in his sports car pondering the first Gospel message he had ever heard.

When he was 17 years old, Kirk met a young girl that he liked and her father invited him to go to church. Her father told Kirk that he didn’t have everything because he didn’t have the Lord. Because he really liked the man’s daughter, he decided to go along to church with them one Sunday. Kirk shared that as he listened to the message on the holiness and the love of God, he felt guilty, but he also felt a sense of hope. He really wanted to believe. Cameron started reading the bible and going to church; changing his language and changing his life.

In more recent years, Kirk played “Captian Caleb Holt” in the 2008 blockbuster movie, Fireproof. Kirk played “Buck Williams”, a character from the Left Behind series. He has grown as an actor, but more importantly, Cameron has shared the Gospel with millions on television, radio, through his Way of the Master ministry, and at churches and public appearances. Senior Pastor of Shadow Mountain Community Church, Dr. David Jeremiah said that he had never heard the gospel presented more powerfully, more correctly, or more clearly than when Kirk Cameron shared with their church.

Fast forward to March 2, 2012 when Kirk Cameron appeared on CNN’s “Piers Morgan Tonight” to promote his new film, “Monumental”. During the television segment, Piers Morgan steered the interview away from the movie and to the subject of homosexuality. I am proud of Kirk Cameron for not avoiding the trap and for answering honestly when Morgan kept prodding him about his views on gay marriage.

Cameron responded to Morgan by saying, “Marriage is defined by God in the garden between Adam and Eve, one man, one woman for life, till-death-do-you-part.” He said that he would never attempt to re-define marriage and that he did not support gay marriage because of his Christian beliefs. The statement ignited outrage from homosexual activists, Hollywood, and liberals in the elite media.

Gay gossip columnist and activist, Perez Hilton, labeled Kirk a “bigot,” “disgusting,” and called him a “homophobe.” GLADD (Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation) stated that Cameron was “out of step with the majority of Americans.” The classy Rosanne Barr tweeted “kirk or kurt or whatever cameron is an accomplice to murder with his hate speech…their peers r killing gays in uganda.”

In an L.A. Times blog, the lone conservative voice on The View, Elizabeth Hasselbeck sadly noted that she did not agree with Cameron at all, but did go on to say, “I do believe that the beauty of this nation is that he can, upon being asked, or of his free will, stand up and say what he believes.” Co-host Joy Behar finally agreed that Cameron had a right to free speech, but said she thought he should “just shut up.” Behar is a consistent example of liberal intolerance.

GLADD spokesman Herndon Graddick concluded “his views are harmful and have no place in modern America.”

Notice the recurring theme that Christians and our faith are not welcome in the Christian nation of America. Not surprising, ABC’s George Stephanopoulos set up a segment by saying that Cameron “kicked off a Twitter feud with his condemnation of homosexuality, and the heat is blowing back on him…”

NBC’s Ann Curry got into the act by saying that Kirk “set off a firestorm” with his comments on gay marriage. Curry began her interview with Cameron – which was supposed to be to promote his movie “Monumental” – by asking if he was “encouraging people to feel hate towards gay people”. Starting with his response, here is part of the interview:

Cameron: “When you take a subject and reduce it to a four-second sound bite and a check mark on a ballot, I think that’s inappropriate and insensitive…”

Ann Curry: “Do you feel any responsibility, saying words like that, that it might encourage people to feel it’s okay to mistreat gay people?”

Cameron: “Nobody should mistreat anybody. Homosexuals, heterosexuals, bisexuals should not be mistreated…the interviewer that asked me this question used the words with me saying “I think your views are destructive.” We all have our convictions formed by different things and mine are informed by my faith. They’re formed by the word of God, and I found that to be an anchor for me, a compass, and a guide for me. When people start bullying one another and calling each other names for those different convictions, then I think you get into problems. I’ve also been on the receiving end of that.”

Ann Curry: “Why do you even talk about it then…This is not the first time you’ve made comments that have caused people a lot of alarm.”

Cameron: “That’s a good question. I was surprised, frankly, that people were surprised by the things that I’ve said. I have been consistent for 15 years… I’m a Bible-believing Christian. What I would have thought was more newsworthy is if I had said something that contradicted the word of God, if I had contradicted my faith.”

It’s hard to miss Curry’s elite attitude in the way she framed the questions, as well as asking Kirk why he even talks about his beliefs. This is astounding because interviewers ask the questions and the interviewee responds with an answer. They think that even though a Christian is asked a specific question, they don’t need to “stir up hatred” by answering the question! You can also tell which side of the issue she is on by noting that she said his “comments have caused people a lot of alarm.” This is her opinion; it is not journalism.

Jesus Christ is divisive and doctrine divides. Either the entire Bible is true and Christ is the Way or Christianity is wrong. There is no middle ground and this is one reason things get so heated. Because the Christian-bashing went on and on, Kirk released a statement to ABC News to clarify his position. He reinforced the fact that it is his life’s mission to love all people. He wrote:

“I should be able to express moral views on social issues, especially those that have been the underpinning of Western civilization for 2,000 years — without being slandered, accused of hate speech, and told from those who preach ‘tolerance’ that I need to either bend my beliefs to their moral standards or be silent when I’m in the public square.”

“I believe we need to learn how to debate these things with greater love and respect… “I’ve been encouraged by the support of many friends (including gay friends, incidentally).”

I have a greater respect Kirk Cameron, not only for what he stands for, but because of how much class and love he has shown in his handling of this “controversy”. Let’s get in the bunker with him as soldiers of Jesus Christ and do our best to promote the truth of God’s Word in bold and loving ways. We are called by Him to stand for truth.

Finally, I thought it was interesting that in an interview with Christianity Today about Kirk’s movie, Monumental, he was asked what he thought was the biggest problem in the church today. The very first thing he said was, “Apathy in the church.” Most of us understand that our time is short. We understand that we are here to proclaim the true Gospel of Jesus Christ. There will always be people who hate us. Will we be faithful or fearful?

But flee from these things, you man of God, and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, perseverance and gentleness. Fight the good fight of faith; take hold of the eternal life to which you were called, and you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses. 1 Timothy 6:11-12

notes:

[i] http://www.wayofthemaster.com/about_kirk.shtml

[ii] http://www.wayofthemaster.com/about_kirk.shtml

[iii] http://www.mrc.org/articles/lefties-accuse-kirk-cameron-hate-speech-christian-beliefs

[iv] http://www.lifesitenews.com/news/hollywood-piles-on-kirk-cameron-for-gay-comments-roseanne-calls-accomplice

[v] http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/gossip/2012/03/kirk-cameron-anti-gay-comments.html

[vi] http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/entertainment/2012/03/exclusive-kirk-cameron-responds-to-critics-hate-speech/

[vii] http://popwatch.ew.com/2012/03/20/kirk-cameron-today-show/?cnn=yes