new plymouth press, llc

According to recent surveys, our citizens are abandoning the Christian faith. Our churches are nearly empty. The culture of our once exceptional America is faded and tattered. Each new generation sees less and less value for their lives in Christianity. Is this their fault or is something else happening to cause this decline? Where is the Christian Church in all of this? Where is Christ? How did it come to this?

The repository for virtue and unity should have been the Christian churches in America. But this never happened to the degree that it needed to. The late Reverend Billy Graham even remarked that Christianity in America ＂has become a cheap faith＂ and he was right. It turns out that our Americanized versions of what passes for Christianity bears almost no resemblance to the genuine historical Christian church in appearance, organization, purpose, practice, dogmas or doctrine. We interpret the Bible any way we please and in so doing, have cheated ourselves out of a rich life in Christ. We traded it away for a religion of our own customized comfort.

Regardless of how we think about it, Christianity is not about lines on a map or the flags that we fly. Perhaps it is time for us Christians to pause and learn the history of our faith. Not many American Christians seem to understand that 1,743 years of the recorded history of our faith took place on other continents by people whose languages and cultures we still do not understand. All prior to the Founding of our so-called Christian nation of America.

And while the archaeologists, scholars, and historians all continue to comb both the earth and the archives of the world to unravel the details, we cannot afford to pause our lives in search of the answers for very long. We have families, friends and children all of whom need Christ. Our time is running out; individually and for our nation.

Our pride often leads us to religious conclusions that are as absurd as they are wrong and...entirely illogical. When did the Christian church begin? Where will we discover the truth about the history of our faith? What do we need to know as Christians? Who lead the church after Pentecost? How will we respond once we learn the facts? We can be sure of three things only--that there is One Christ, One Bible, and one Holy Church. There cannot be thousands of opposing versions of these things if they are to be called Christian.

If the lack of virtue and unity is in fact the source for our cultural and political decay in America, then we have to know; Did America ever have these two things? If we did, who were the keepers of virtue and unity that were responsible for maintaining and teaching these principles? Where did these keepers go? How do we restore them back into our society?

This text takes a deep dive into modern American Christianity, providing historical context and thoughtful, candid and personal commentary. It is fully cited, including an historical chronology and bibliography.