The man who founded one of the world’s greatest social service organizations, one that was focused on the Gospel, issued what can only be seen as a prophecy and fateful warning to Western civilization. It is a warning the West has failed to heed, and the results are devastating.
William Booth, who lived from 1829 to 1916, was the founder of the Salvation Army. As the 20th century began, he was asked by someone what he saw as the greatest dangers for the next hundred years. His response is chilling, when taking into account the cultural and political condition of the world through the 20th century and into today. This is how he responded:
“In answer to your inquiry, I consider that the chief dangers which confront the coming century will be religion without the Holy Ghost, Christianity without Christ, forgiveness without repentance, salvation without regeneration, politics without God, and heaven without hell.”
Within a year his prophecy and warning began to play out. The first government without God was founded in 1917, the year after Booth’s death. The atheist government of the Soviet Union, trying to bring about a utopia under central control, killed more of its own citizens than died in all the wars in the 20th century. Tens of millions were slaughtered or deliberately starved to death, including millions of Ukrainians. Other godless governments followed, including Mao’s murderous rampage in China. In Cambodia, the atheist government of Pol Pot killed one out of every three of its citizens.
Now we have those who want godless governments in Europe and the Americas.
William Booth also predicted “forgiveness without repentance,” in other words a church that would not only offer forgiveness to the sinner, but to the sin as well, changing the words of Jesus from “go and sin no more” to “go and sin as you please.”
Today in America, as the government becomes godless, our churches are becoming Christless. Rainbow flags welcoming homosexuals adorn churches, and lesbians have become deacons and pastors. Many of the Protestant churches now promise heaven to everyone without the threat of hell. What Booth feared would one day happen has become a reality not just in godless governments and politics, but in a church corrupted by sin and false forgiveness.
Gov. Mitt Romney and President Barack Obama are wrong to assume it is all about the economy; it is not all about money.
The collapse of the family and the disintegration of the authority of the church predicted by William Booth have done more damage to the economy than any other factor. Government replacing fathers and hot-lunch programs replacing mothers, while printing presses never stop printing money – these things are destroying our nation. The problem is the increased social spending that causes nothing but damage to the families of this nation, as a permanent underclass of fatherless children is created. Worse, those unchurched fatherless children clog the jails and bring about the militarization of the police force.
Politicians can’t fix the economy by juggling the numbers. The repair needs to be done at the family level, and the repair needs to be done by the church, not the government. We need politicians who will get government out of the way so the repair work can begin, and right now nether political party seems to want to offer that solution.
