In 2014, I had a student at Charis Bible College come to me and tell me that the school had radically changed her life. She said she was an extreme liberal when she first came, but by graduation, she had become so conservative that many in her own family had nearly disowned her because of her beliefs.
I asked this woman to explain to me how she had been able to say she was a Christian and loved the Lord, and yet had also been for the killing of babies, homosexuality, transgenderism, and all the other things liberals embrace.
She said, “I loved God, but I didn’t love the Bible. When I came to Charis, I learned to love the Word of God, and that changed everything. You can’t love God’s Word and be a liberal.”
That’s it! The liberal bent in our culture today goes much deeper than a party platform. America has abandoned the written Word of God.
Think about it—What made America great and propelled the United States to be the global leader we are today?
Certainly, godly men and women who founded this nation sowed the seeds of freedom and liberty way back in the Plymouth colony. The clergy impacted the formation of this nation in a way that can’t be overstated. Our Constitution is unlike any other governing document in that it makes the citizens the king. We rule ourselves through representatives. This was the first time in history for such a radical experiment in self-rule.
I could go on and on about the countless sacrifices that Americans have made on the battlefields and in many other ways that allow less than 5 percent of the world’s population to lead the 95 percent in unprecedented ways.
But if you peel all the layers back, I believe the Bible is what lies at the heart of America’s greatness.
The Geneva Bible was the first English language translation of the Bible in wide distribution and general acceptance. It was printed in 1560 and was a major contributor to the Protestant Reformation, which led our forefathers to push for religious freedom and come to these shores. Without the introduction of God’s Word into society, there wouldn’t be religious liberty as we know it. It was the liberty in Christ explained in Scripture that inspired men to seek a better way of life, even at the peril of their own lives.
The early colonists were devoutly religious. Any true and honest search of history will reveal that. Every single colony originally made people swear an oath to Christianity before they could hold an elected position. And the driving force behind their faith was the common knowledge of God’s Holy Word.
“So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.”
— Romans 10:17
Without the proliferation of the Bible in the common language, they would not have had the faith to stand against the largest empire the world has ever known. Even those who were not Christians were influenced by the godly principles of God’s Word, which dominated society at that time.
The written Word of God has not only changed billions of individual lives, but it has influenced governments of the world like nothing else. Some disagree with that statement and credit science and technology as the driving forces of change, but these all had their beginnings in the lives of men and women who were devoutly committed to and influenced by the truths of God’s Word.
America, it is time to get back to what really made this country great: God’s Holy Word. As Jesus said in John 8:32, “Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free” and again in John 17:17, “Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.”
God’s Word is truth, but it’s only the truth we know that sets us free. What we don’t know about God’s Word is killing us.
So, is it any wonder that we have young people coming to Charis Bible College, like the woman I met in 2014, loving God but not loving His Word? This condition affects everything in the entire culture, including their core political beliefs.
This is part of the reason I require every Charis student to read through the Bible in one year. Every student receives a Charis Bible reading plan that spans the school year to help them accomplish this. It is a game-changer.
For whatever reason, the church has been making converts but not disciples. By Jesus’ own definition, a disciple is a person who continues in His word until they are free (John 8:31–32). The church has not emphasized God’s Word, and it’s caused millions of people who claim Christianity to not let the Bible get in the way of what they believe.
A Barna survey revealed over 90 percent of pastors believed God’s Word had instructions on every social issue facing us today. But only 10 percent of those same pastors said they ever ministered God’s Word on these subjects. The reasons varied, but the fear of losing members and the fear of losing the support of those members were high on the list. Many pastors have become nothing more than “hirelings” (John 10:12–13).
The ignorance of the truths of God’s Word lies at the heart of all the turmoil we see in our nation today.
John Adams, the second president of the United States, said, “We have no government armed with power capable of contending with human passions unbridled by morality and religion. Avarice, ambition, revenge, or gallantry, would break the strongest cords of our Constitution as a whale goes through a net. Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.”
Adams also said, “Statesmen . . . may plan and speculate for liberty, but it is Religion and Morality alone, which can establish the Principles upon which Freedom can securely stand. The only foundation of a free Constitution is pure Virtue.”
And the only standard of pure virtue and morality is the Bible. People argue with that and say, “That may be your truth but it’s not my truth.” That’s ludicrous! Truth is truth, and God’s Word is truth (John 17:17).
Because we’ve forsaken the biblical standard of truth, people today can’t even figure out which bathroom to use. They think defunding the police will make us safer. That’s crazy.
“They received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie.”
— 2 Thessalonians 2:10–11
We are living in that day. The love of the Truth (God’s Word) is the only antidote against the deception of the devil.
The youth of this nation used to learn God’s Word in our schools. The New England Primer, which was used for over a century, was full of God’s Word. Even those who didn’t embrace all the truths presented were aware of what God’s Word said, and it had a restraining influence.
Psalms 36:1 says, “The transgression of the wicked saith within my heart, that there is no fear of God before his eyes.” Proverbs 8:13 says, “The fear of the Lord is to hate evil: pride, and arrogancy, and the evil way, and the froward mouth, do I hate.” Proverbs 16:6 says, “By mercy and truth iniquity is purged: and by the fear of the Lord [men] depart from evil.”
When God’s Word is removed, the fear (reverence) of God is removed. We desperately need to return to the knowledge of God’s Word. God’s Word teaches us the fear of the Lord (Deut. 4:10; 31:12–13).
In the 1950s you could order guns in the mail without a background check, and yet we didn’t have the violence and mass shootings we have today. Guns don’t kill people by themselves any more than forks make people fat. It’s the ungodliness and lack of fearing God that is at the root of our problems today.
As Peter said, “According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue: Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust” (2 Pet. 1:3–4).
Again I say, what we don’t know of God’s Word is killing us.
I’ve created my “Read the Bible in a Year” plan to encourage and challenge you to read through the Scriptures during this next year. God’s Word has totally changed my life, and I know it will do the same for you (Rom. 12:2).
And for those who are able to afford it, I have an electronic study Bible that we call Andrew Wommack’s Living Commentary, where I have written over 26,000 study notes on verses from Genesis through Revelation. My staff developed this program over many years, and we are asking for a minimum donation to cover that expense, but it’s well worth it. I’m constantly writing new notes. That’s why it’s called the Living Commentary. Every time you open up the program you will get the latest notes.
If you accept this challenge to read through the entire Bible in this coming year, I’m asking you to go to awmi.net/BiblePledge and make your pledge there. Even if you already have a Bible reading plan, please sign up and let us know this is what you are doing. It will encourage me and I’ll use it to encourage thousands of your brothers and sisters to do the same.
Thanks in advance. Let’s make 2022 the year of the Bible. The Bible—the Truth—will set you free.
Andrew Wommack
P.S. Please go to awmi.net/BiblePledge now—while you’re thinking about it—and pledge to read through the Bible in the coming year. Why make a pledge? It’s making a promise to yourself and the Lord, which I believe will motivate you to stick to your commitment to read the Word. And what commitment could be more important?
P.P.S. Would you like to fulfill your pledge by reading through my Living Commentary electronic study Bible? To purchase, just go to awmi.net/LC or call our Helpline at 719-635-1111.
