I am not a pessimist. In fact, I have a very positive view of life. After all, with the firm conviction that God is sovereign, that I am redeemed, have a new song in my heart, have been adopted into the family of God and have a new name written down in glory, why should I be discouraged?

Maybe it is not discouragement, but I get extremely concerned about the kind of world in which my ten grandchildren may have to live. My generation, much to my chagrin, is giving to the next generation and succeeding generations a postmodern world.

Consider the cold, hard facts. Postmodernism has taken the humanistic rationalization of modernism to a new dimension and the buzzwords are: tolerance, diversity, and pluralistic. Postmodernism would suggest that it is no longer acceptable to talk about Jesus, because there are other faiths in addition to Christianity; and referring to God is no longer politically correct, because there are those who do not believe in God. And we can no longer talk about theology, but only about religion, because to study theology presupposes that there is a God and we ought not to be presumptuous.

Those of us who believe in moral absolutes and the exclusivity of the gospel of Jesus Christ are regarded as narrow and “out-of-touch” with the ebb and flow of a pluralistic society. It is in this atmosphere that many churches are acquiescing to the pressures of postmodernism, compromising their message, and in many cases just abandoning ship.

Jim Griffith, founder of Griffith Coaching Network, says that from 1990 to 2000 more than 100,000 churches have closed their doors. That is an average of 833 per month or 192 per week. It has also been reported that 85 to 87 percent of all churches in America are in the reclining (plateau) or declining stages.

On March 23rd Dr. Stephen Olford spoke in chapel at Southern Seminary and said, “Churches in America are hemorrhaging, losing up to 50,000 people each Sunday at the hands of a watered-down gospel that has failed to enliven their hearts with a steadfast, Spirit-wrought faith.”

The Associated Press released the results of a July survey indicating that the U.S. will no longer be a majority Protestant nation in years to come, due to a precipitous decline in Protestant church membership. Between 1993 and 2002, the share of Americans who said they were Protestant dropped from 63 percent to 52 percent.

Furthermore, the survey revealed that the number of people who said they had no religion rose from 9 percent to nearly 14 percent, and many are former Protestants. While the number of Protestants is declining, the number of people who belong to other religions – including Islam and Eastern faiths – has more than doubled in the past ten years.

David Mills, consultant with the GBC Executive Office for Evangelization, confirmed that in 2002 there were over 10,000 Southern Baptist Convention churches reporting no baptisms.

To make matters worse, a George Barna survey indicates that while 38% of Americans believed in the existence of absolute moral truth in January of 2000, that only 22% believed in absolute moral truth in November of 2001.

According to Barna, at least three out of ten born-again adults say that co-habitation, gay sex, sexual fantasies, breaking the speed limit or watching sexually explicit movies are morally acceptable behaviors.

What do all these statistics reveal? They remind us that American culture as well as people’s faith is constantly changing; and the trends are really alarming. What shall we do?

I think we have three options:

(1) Throw in the towel and just give in to the postmodern world that seems to be gaining new converts at an astounding rate. This first option is really not an option for the serious Christian, because our orders have nothing to do with retreating, but everything to do with standing firm and fighting the good fight of faith.

(2) We could just keep on doing what we are presently doing and hope for a better outcome, which is foolish, because you cannot keep doing the same thing you have been doing and expect different results.

(3) Finally, we could seek to genuinely repent of our sins, earnestly pray for revival, passionately go after the lost, and expectantly live in the light of His imminent return.