A LITTLE LEAVEN …

"A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump" (Gal. 5:9). Leaven (yeast), is a type of sin.  Like leaven, sin makes rapid, radical change wherever it is introduced and permitted to stay.

A recent Gallup poll indicates that nearly one in ten adults in the United States identifies as being LGBTQ+, and that this figure has almost doubled since 2020 and nearly tripled since 2012.

This poll also shows that younger generations are more likely to identify their sexual preferences as being other than heterosexual: more than one in five Gen Z adults  (born 1997-2012). And, 14% of millennials (born 1981-1996) identified as being LGBTQ+. But,  just 1.8% of Americans born before 1946 identifying as LGBTQ+.  Furthermore, 14% of Democrats, 11%, of independents, and 3% of Republicans identified as LGBTQ+. Furthermore, 21% of liberals, compared to 8% of moderates and 3% of conservatives, said they are homosexual, bisexual, or transgender.

It's hard for many Americans to grasp it, but up until the last 30 or 40 years anything identifying with LGBTQ+ was illegal and as rare as the proverbial "hen's teeth" in America, existing in minuscule. With the help of government, public schools and the media and entertainment worlds what was a "little leaven" has now permeated and reshaped American society beyond what could have been imagined only a few decades ago

Now for some connecting of dots. 

In 2020, 16% of the U.S. adult population identified themselves as atheists, agnostics or “nothing in particular,” in less than five years this figure has climbed to 28%.It is estimated that less than 20% of our population now goes to church on a regular basis. In spite of (or perhaps partly at least, because of) the "come as you are - leave as you were" contemporary "churches" and the Joel Osteen wanna-be preachers that have multiplied all across America spirituality, morality, and even mere religious affiliation in America is at an all time low and plunging.

"Conservative" preachers have gone tieless and suit-less, many are wearing jeans, polo shirts and sneakers (whatever it takes) for the sake being more "relatable" to the congregation, and making everyone (including themselves) more comfortable — all for the sake of the comfort, convenience, camaraderie of the congregation and what they think is in the best interests of church growth. But this doesn't seem to be helping our nation's spiritual and moral downward spiral one bit. This may be a news flash, and perhaps a little offensive to some pastors and church members, but what people wear and how they worship in church shouldn't be decided with anyone's personal preferences in mind. What needs to be kept in mind is the fact that we are appearing before the Lord God Almighty. (Matt. 18:20) to offer worship that is acceptable to Him (John 4:24). Going to church is primarily all about God; not us.

More importantly, plain but powerful Bible preaching is being replaced with messages and "presentations" considered more in line with the culture; again, for the sake of appeasing the crowd. A well-known Christian ministry leader recently that new methods of presenting the gospel must be used to reach our paganized culture. But the apostle Paul used preaching to reach the totally pagan culture throughout the ancient world, and wrote this to the church in Corinth, one of the worst centers of paganism: "For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God,” and “For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe" (1 Cor. 1:18, 21).

People might be asking, as Solzhenitsyn said Russians at the beginning of the 20th century asked, as they experienced the collapse of their country to communism: “Why has all this happened to us?” The answer was then, as it is now: “Because we have forgotten God.”