Church Life: What Or Who Are We Dealing With Anyway?

You know, the Bible talks about the law of God as being written on our hearts. Because we are all created in God's image, we do intuitively know the difference between right and wrong. We also have consciences, which tell us when we are doing wrong. But there is something strange in the environment today. We have people who seem to have no conscience. How does this happen, and can it be fixed?
Let me throw out a couple of thoughts first. I know there are people who have been in places where those who are experts in the mind control business have basically ruined people's minds. One particular thing that happens to children is that they could end up with multiple personalities if they experience some type of trauma. If it is ongoing trauma, they could end up with many different personalities. Some adults deliberately traumatize children in order to put mind control programming into them. That way, when the child is older, if the mind control programming is going to be effective, the child, possibly as an adult, will respond to a 'key word' which will cause him or her to take on one of the personalities that developed because of the trauma. For example, there are people who look like robots and just get into a bus or go inside a building and blow it up. That is most probably caused by a key word the bomber heard, and with the mind control programming that was put into him or her, he or she also received detailed instructions on how to build a bomb. This person acts like they don't have a conscience. The reason is because they have had their mind destroyed and rebuilt by those who wanted to make them robots.
But this is not primarily the problem of a conscience that doesn't work, that I am referring to. I am fortunate to have lived through many changes and have observed some drastic changes in our culture over the last 50 years. One of the things I noticed is that in our society, the fear of God has disappeared. That was the beginning of our spiritual problems as a church in America. For example, when I was in elementary school, we said the pledged and sang songs with God's name in them. I could be wrong, but I think we even had prayer every day in school. Our television was black and white. An interesting thing was that when a man and a woman were married in a television show, when they went to bed, they had separate beds. If a person ever said a bad word on television, they were fired. When I was a teenager, if a girl got pregnant, she was taken out of school and stayed somewhere else, probably with other family members. It didn't happen too often, but it did occasionally. Divorce was rare. Women stayed at home when they had babies and nurtured their children while they were in the home. People didn't have a lot of money to spend. Although I don't remember this, my mom told me that some nights they had cream of wheat for dinner! Neither set of grandparents had money. But we all stayed together as a family. So, what happened? How does this tie in with not having a conscience?
In the 1970s, Madeline Murray O'Hair was successful in getting prayer and the 10 Commandments out of school. Someone else took out 'Americanism vs. Communism'. Instead of standing up to young lustful men, now women just gave into them and gave them what they wanted, even though we used to know that doing that was very wrong. Women were getting pregnant out of marriage and it became apparent that something needed to be done, because society believes the lie that says that the earth is over populated and we need to stop populating the earth. Doctors came up with the idea of abortion. It used to be called a 'D and E' in which they sucked a baby out of the womb in the early stages of pregnancy. But today, a baby is cut up in the womb with a sharp knife because, by law, it has to die inside the womb, or else the abortionist will be charged with murder. If the baby survives the abortion, legally, the abortionist cannot touch the baby.
Once the 10 Commandments were gone, people started shacking up. Guys would butter up a girl and stay with her for sex, until she got pregnant. Now she just goes down to the clinic and gets rid of the baby. She doesn't care about the baby and that the baby will be sliced up in her womb. She just wants to do anything to keep her man around, and if that means killing a baby, she will pay the price. Instead of trusting in God, she wants to be in control of her life.
The standard of right and wrong is long gone. You can talk to young people about the Gospel and they just give you a blank stare when they hear that living together outside of marriage is wrong. Yes, the conscience of many people is gone. Their idols are set in place now. Nothing will be able to move them, not even the Gospel, and if you get in the way of their idols, you will experience the brunt of their anger. We are dealing with perverted people, people who have been turned over to their wickedness by God.
The question I have is, what happened in the church, that the church allowed all of these things to happen in our society? Wasn't the Gospel precious to Christians? Or did church members start making their own idols up? Why did we stop fearing God? Why do so many today believe that when culture and Scriptures don't agree, then Scripture must bow to the culture? Since when did culture get to call the shots? When did we start listening to the voice of the Enemy instead of the voice of Truth?
I don't have the answers to the questions above, but I know all this has happened. I also know that there are still people who do have a conscience. They can still be reached with the Gospel.
We can bring the standard back. We need to bring the standard back. We might not ever be able to reach those who are perverted, but we can spend time ministering to those who are humble. Many have seared their consciences because they are bent on doing wrong, but, that hasn't happened to everyone. We need to preach the Gospel and not be discouraged because of those who have been turned over by God to their own lustful desires. Others need to hear and they will be changed.
All I know is, if my ancestors knew what is going on today, they would turn over in their graves! Even though many feared God, they were not necessarily believers in Jesus Christ. But they did know the difference between right and wrong, good and evil, light and darkness, truth and error. When people can separate the good from the bad, the Gospel can make sense to them. That's why we need to pray for the church, pray for our country, and preach the Gospel to those who are around us.

Pray for revival in our hearts. Pray for the healing of our land.
Pray for God's mercy on us. Pray for the church to become
strong in faith and holy.

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Josiah was eight years old when he began to reign, and he reigned thirty-one years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Jedidah the daughter of Adaiah of Bozkath.And he did what was right in the eyes of the Lord and walked in all the way of David his father, and he did not turn aside to the right or to the left.

Josiah Repairs the Temple

In the eighteenth year of King Josiah, the king sent Shaphan the son of Azaliah, son of Meshullam, the secretary, to the house of the Lord, saying, “Go up to Hilkiah the high priest, that he may count the money that has been brought into the house of the Lord, which the keepers of the threshold have collected from the people. And let it be given into the hand of the workmen who have the oversight of the house of the Lord, and let them give it to the workmen who are at the house of the Lord, repairing the house (that is, to the carpenters, and to the builders, and to the masons), and let them use it for buying timber and quarried stone to repair the house. But no accounting shall be asked from them for the money that is delivered into their hand, for they deal honestly.”And Hilkiah the high priest said to Shaphan the secretary, “I have found the Book of the Law in the house of the Lord.” And Hilkiah gave the book to Shaphan, and he read it. And Shaphan the secretary came to the king, and reported to the king, “Your servants have emptied out the money that was found in the house and have delivered it into the hand of the workmen who have the oversight of the house of the Lord.” Then Shaphan the secretary told the king, “Hilkiah the priest has given me a book.” And Shaphan read it before the king.

Hilkiah Finds the Book of the Law

When the king heard the words of the Book of the Law, he tore his clothes. And the king commanded Hilkiah the priest, and Ahikam the son of Shaphan, and Achbor the son of Micaiah, and Shaphan the secretary, and Asaiah the king's servant, saying, “Go, inquire of the Lord for me, and for the people, and for all Judah, concerning the words of this book that has been found. For great is the wrath of the Lord that is kindled against us, because our fathers have not obeyed the words of this book, to do according to all that is written concerning us.”
So Hilkiah the priest, and Ahikam, and Achbor, and Shaphan, and Asaiah went to Huldah the prophetess, the wife of Shallum the son of Tikvah, son of Harhas, keeper of the wardrobe (now she lived in Jerusalem in the Second Quarter), and they talked with her. And she said to them, “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: ‘Tell the man who sent you to me, Thus says the Lord, Behold, I will bring disaster upon this place and upon its inhabitants, all the words of the book that the king of Judah has read. Because they have forsaken me and have made offerings to other gods, that they might provoke me to anger with all the work of their hands, therefore my wrath will be kindled against this place, and it will not be quenched.But to the king of Judah, who sent you to inquire of the Lord, thus shall you say to him, Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: Regarding the words that you have heard, because your heart was penitent, and you humbled yourself before the Lord, when you heard how I spoke against this place and against its inhabitants, that they should become a desolation and a curse, and you have torn your clothes and wept before me, I also have heard you, declares the Lord. Therefore, behold, I will gather you to your fathers, and you shall be gathered to your grave in peace, and your eyes shall not see all the disaster that I will bring upon this place.’” And they brought back word to the king.
The Story of Josiah, an 8 year old king, who found a copy of the 'book of the law' and had it read to all the people. Taken from 2 Kings 22 ESV