In 1944, Rev. Peter Marshall declared, “Surely the time has come, because the hour is late, when we must decide. And the choice before us is plain — Yahweh or Baal. Christ or chaos. Conviction or compromise. Discipline or disintegration.”
That was 1944, 9 years before the first edition of Playboy.
Compare that to the epidemic of internet porn today, affecting even our children. Marshall never could have imagined America falling this low.
1944 was a long time ago.
In 1959, Prof. Robert E. Coleman wrote,
In a day when unprecedented numbers of people have a form of religion while at the same time the church seems unable to stem the rising tide of degeneracy that threatens the land, the question must be raised: Why this paradox? Should not the church have influence for righteousness in proportion to her numbers? However one may seek to answer this question, it is obvious that what we need is not more religion, but more power. In short, we need real revival!
And this was written before the counterculture revolution of the 1960s swept the nation.
How much more urgently do “we need real revival” today?
In 1969 Dr. Bill Bright wrote, “We live in the most revolutionary period of human history. . . . Social band-aids and reform antiseptics give little hope for a cure or even an improvement. A revolution is needed. . . . You can experience this revolution. In fact, you can help bring it to pass.”
Also in 1969, Rev. Tom Skinner wrote, “I’m convinced America is at her crisis hour. Revolution is inevitable. It’s just a matter of which faction is going to prove strongest and will win out in the end. I believe most Americans are so apathetic that they will just sit back and go to whoever wins the struggle.”
What would these men of God say today?