Appearances are deceiving. Ever heard that? The Appearing and Judgment of the LORD Jesus Christ will tragically sort out those who thought in error if they just appeared in a church a couple of times a year, or even every Sunday, that they were just all right, cool, in like flint with God and had punched their ticket to heaven.
The Narrow Way
“Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.
You Will Know Them by Their Fruits
“Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thornbushes or figs from thistles? Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Therefore by their fruits you will know them.
I Never Knew You
“Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’
Build on the Rock
“Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock: and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock.
“But everyone who hears these sayings of Mine, and does not do them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand: and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it fell. And great was its fall.”
And so it was, when Jesus had ended these sayings, that the people were astonished at His teaching, for He taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes.
Matthew 7:13-29
If those who called Him “Lord” had prophesied to many, cast out demons by His Name, and done many works in His Name, and are told “I never knew you,” and they are cast out, cut out, thrown into the fire? What of those who pretend, merely go through the motions, and live out lives lacking discernment, malnourished in spiritual food, having existed on watered-down or even unsound teachings, going to enter in as they imagine?
Water down, cut a medicine created to heal and make well, and you’ll never be healed and made well. The illness, the disease contracted, will work its way into you, and you will die foolishly, having believed there was no harm in watering down the necessary medicine for life and health.
Water down the contents of GOD’S WORD, the HOLY BIBLE, THE VOICE OF GOD TO ALL MEN AND WOMEN WHO WILL LEARN AND OBEY isn’t just foolishness, insanity, it leads to eternal death and separation from God. Not to be taken lightly.
Following the words, ways, philosophies of man, of the current toxic tide may sound right, appealing, as it is the same tone and texture of sounds tickling the ears that most beautiful, cunning, seductive of beings, The Serpent, Satan, uttered to our ancestral parents in the Garden a while back.
Look where that lead.
Look where that got us.
Stop believing anything goes, and it’s all right with God. Stop beleiving and living a double life, a pretender among the throng, not really a disciple, not really light, not really bearing any good fruit, but ya show up every Sunday, or you delude yourself that you’re a good person and you are better than _______, and you don’t even need to find and attend, be part of, a sound living body of true beleivers where the whole direct full word of God is taught and beleived, and lived out.
We’re all going before the LORD.
THAT’S a reality. It’s going to happen.
Think you’ll be able to stand?
I know I have to focus daily and course-correct continually in times such as this. Be a constant watchman on the wall, test every spirit, continually turn to the Holy Bible to hear what God says over and above what anyone else — ANYONE ELSE – has said or is saying.
It takes effort. Not just saying, “I believe in Jesus.” The demons believe, Satan believes in Jesus. Satan and the demons have seen and known Him. Are they going to heaven? NO!
It takes living it out, bearing some good fruit, being light and salt.
Not just showing up. Going through the motions.
It takes working out and doing. The precious blood stained the wood on the tree os shame to make the way to Life, yet His supposed followers refuse to get bruised, endure the slings and arrows of the world, to suffer at all for His name’s sake.
God’s, Jesus’, and the Holy Spirit’s medicine isn’t bitter or difficult to swallow. Stop treating it as if it is.
Either be real, be genuine, be a soldier of the LORD Jesus Christ in this spiritual war, living it out rather than hiding out, fitting into the world so as not to offend, cause you any discomfort, having your ears tickled continually along the [wrong] way, thinking all the dung flung out and about in the majority of churches by the majority of pastors today is okay, is the way to live.
It isn’t.
Wake up while the Good and Gracious Ever Patient [for a while longer] God blesses with breath, a beating heart, and the opportunity to repent, to truly see, to truly hear, to truly become alive here on earth so that you can live eternally with Him.
Take the only good, life-giving, sweet, true healing medicine available to sick, messed up, ailing, diseased of mind, spirit, and soul man and woman, God’s WHOLE HOLY WORD without watering it down, or taking it in the prescribed doses, ingesting it all.
Not missing a dose.
Be healed. Be well. Be living in the Light, the Truth, the Way, leading to the Life — Jesus Christ, Yeshua Hamashiac, FOR REAL because pretending, just appearing isn’t going to cut it with His Appearing and our eventual appearing before Him.
Come to know the LORD and truly know Who He is. He isn’t some relative in comfortable shoes out on the porch in a rocking chair.
He is THE LORD.
Find out by reading and believing every word within His WORD to know Him.
Watered-down, worldy Christianity ISN’T Christianity — it’s merely a delusion, a placebo making one feel good for a bit. But not eternally. Don’t learn this before it’s too late.
We need a fire, a flame burning into the darkness, to illuminate, to show the way. Not a time of comfort, of feel good self-help, worldly social justice, false teaching, messaging, of worldly views and ways in such a time as this. Wait for someone else, and well, find out how you missed not just the boat, my friend, not just the next train entering the station, but you’ll have missed the journey the LORD had for you, but you refused to take.
So, deal with the outcome. Without whining or crying, but that may be very difficult to do at His Appearing.
RELATED: The Untold Story of America’s Great Awakening
Read on…
Ken Pullen, Thursday, April 2nd, 2026
Easter Crowds Are Coming – But America’s Christian Worldview Is Collapsing
April 02, 2026
Ny PNW Staff
Reprinted from Prophecy News Watch
This Easter weekend, sanctuaries across America will be packed.
Parking lots will overflow. Extra chairs will be unfolded. Families dressed in spring colors will fill pews, sing “Christ the Lord Is Risen Today,” and hear once again the greatest announcement in human history: Jesus Christ is alive.
And in one sense, that is deeply encouraging.
Pastors are expecting one of their biggest crowds of the year, just as they have for years. More than half of U.S. Protestant pastors say Easter is their church’s highest-attendance Sunday, and for many others it ranks second or third–alongside Christmas and Mother’s Day. In other words, if there is one Sunday Americans still instinctively know matters, it is Easter.
Even better, the doctrine at the center of Easter is still surprisingly strong in the public imagination. Recent State of Theology findings show that roughly two-thirds of U.S. adults agree that the biblical accounts of Jesus’ bodily resurrection are accurate, and among those who attend church at least once or twice a month, belief rises to around 90%.
That is the good news.
Now for the bad news.
A new 2026 worldview study from the Cultural Research Center at Arizona Christian University found that only 4% of American adults possess a biblical worldview–a number unchanged from 2023 and lower than 2020. Even more sobering, overwhelming majorities of Americans lack biblical alignment in core areas such as truth, morality, salvation, relationships, and faith practices.
That means millions of Americans may sincerely say, “Yes, I believe Jesus rose from the dead,” while living Monday through Saturday as though His resurrection has little authority over their money, sexuality, relationships, priorities, convictions, entertainment, or identity.
That is the contradiction.
And it may be one of the defining spiritual crises of our age.
America Has Not Entirely Rejected Christianity–It Has Diluted It
For years, many believers assumed the greatest threat to the church would be outright atheism.
But the greater danger may be something far more deceptive: a half-Christianity that keeps the symbols of the faith while quietly surrendering its substance.
America still likes Jesus at a distance. We like Him inspirational, seasonal, and ceremonial. We like Him in stained glass, in family traditions, in sentimental Easter language, and in vague affirmations about hope and love.
What many do not want is the risen Christ with absolute authority.
Because the resurrection is not merely a comforting church doctrine. It is a declaration of kingship. It means Jesus is not just Savior in theory–He is Lord in practice.
And that is where much of modern Christianity collapses.
A person can say “He is risen” on Sunday and still live by self on Monday.
A church can preach orthodox doctrine and still produce disciples who are being shaped more by TikTok, Netflix, politics, celebrity culture, and therapeutic self-worship than by Scripture.
That is not resurrection power. That is religious familiarity without spiritual transformation.
So Why Is This Happening? Here Are 5 Major Reasons
1. Many people have inherited Christian language without experiencing Christian conversion
One of the biggest reasons for the disconnect is that many Americans know the vocabulary of Christianity but have never truly been changed by the power of the gospel.
They know words like grace, faith, cross, resurrection, blessing, and forgiveness. They may even agree with key doctrines. But agreement is not the same as regeneration.
The New Testament never teaches that merely affirming true facts about Jesus saves a person. Even demons know who Jesus is.
The question is not only, “Do you believe Jesus rose?”
The deeper question is: Has the risen Christ conquered your heart?
Many in church today have had exposure to Christianity, but not surrender to Christ. They have been near the truth without being transformed by it.
That creates a generation of people who can pass a theology quiz on Easter Sunday but still build their lives on the exact same values as the world.
And if the gospel has not changed your desires, your loves, your habits, and your obedience, then what you have may be religion, but it is not biblical discipleship.
2. The modern church has often prioritized decisions over discipleship
For decades, much of American church culture has been very effective at getting people to respond emotionally–but far less effective at teaching them to walk faithfully.
It is easier to count raised hands than to build mature Christians.
It is easier to fill a room than to form a worldview.
It is easier to create a moving Easter service than to cultivate people who actually think biblically about marriage, truth, suffering, holiness, repentance, and obedience.
And that is part of the crisis exposed by today’s data.
According to recent worldview research, even many professing Christians remain deeply confused on foundational matters such as moral truth, salvation, the nature of God, and human identity. That confusion does not happen overnight. It happens when churches become event-driven but not formation-driven.
In other words, we have not only had a culture problem. We have had a discipleship deficit.
The church in many places has taught people how to attend, how to feel inspired, and how to identify as Christian.
But many have never been deeply taught how to deny themselves, take up their cross, renew their minds, and live under the authority of Scripture.
That is why someone can attend Easter every year and still have a worldview that looks almost indistinguishable from secular culture.
3. Christians are being catechized by the world six days a week
Another reason for the disconnect is brutally simple:
The culture is discipling people faster than the church is.
For one hour on Sunday, many hear a sermon.
Then for the next six days, they are immersed in a nonstop stream of messages telling them:
truth is personal,
feelings are authority,
identity is self-created,
sex is sacred but covenant is optional,
comfort is the highest good,
and morality is whatever avoids social backlash.
That is catechism too.
And it is working.
Barna’s worldview findings have repeatedly shown that Americans increasingly blend pieces of Christianity with competing belief systems–a kind of spiritual syncretism where Jesus is kept, but His authority is edited.
That is why so many people can sincerely say, “I believe in the resurrection,” while also embracing ideas that directly contradict Scripture.
They do not see the contradiction because they have absorbed a hybrid faith: biblical language on top, secular assumptions underneath.
And if believers are not daily in the Word, in prayer, in Christian community, and under sound teaching, the culture will shape them by default.
Nobody drifts into holiness.
4. Many people want the benefits of Christianity without the cost of lordship
This may be the hardest truth of all.
A lot of people want comfort, hope, forgiveness, community, heaven, and Easter joy.
They just do not want repentance.
They want a Savior who removes guilt, but not a Lord who demands surrender.
They want resurrection as inspiration, but not as interruption.
Because if Jesus truly rose from the dead, then He has the right to tell us what to do with our bodies, our money, our relationships, our politics, our desires, our homes, our parenting, and our futures.
That is where cultural Christianity begins to crack.
People will often accept enough Christianity to feel spiritual–but not enough to be ruled.
And this helps explain why even many churchgoers still think in deeply unbiblical ways about salvation, morality, and truth. Some still operate as though being a “good person” is what ultimately makes them right with God, despite the gospel’s clear declaration that salvation is through Christ, not self-improvement.
That is not a small error. It is the difference between religion and redemption.
5. Easter attendance can expose affection for tradition more than devotion to Christ
Easter crowds are real. But large attendance does not automatically mean deep allegiance.
For many, Easter remains one of the few moments where Christianity still feels culturally expected, emotionally familiar, and socially beautiful.
There is nothing wrong with that in itself. In fact, it may be one of the last open doors many people still have to hear the gospel.
But we should not confuse attendance with awakening.
A full church does not necessarily mean a spiritually healthy church.
A crowded sanctuary does not necessarily mean a surrendered people.
And hearing the resurrection story is not the same as living in resurrection power.
That is why this Easter should not merely be a celebration of turnout. It should be a moment of reckoning.
Because the church does not just need more people in the room.
The church needs more people who actually belong to Jesus.
The Resurrection Was Never Meant to Be Merely Believed–It Was Meant to Change Everything
This is where Easter becomes deeply personal.
The resurrection is not just proof that Christianity is true.
It is proof that Jesus Christ is alive now–and that every part of life must bow before Him.
If He rose, then truth is not flexible.
If He rose, then sin is not harmless.
If He rose, then repentance is not optional.
If He rose, then holiness is not legalism.
If He rose, then church cannot just be a seasonal ritual.
If He rose, then Christianity cannot be reduced to family tradition and positive vibes.
And perhaps that is the word many in the American church most need to hear this Easter:
You can be near the empty tomb and still far from the risen Christ.
That is the tragedy.
But it does not have to stay that way.
This Easter, churches may indeed be full.
The greater question is whether hearts will be surrendered.
Because the true miracle of Easter is not merely that people still show up to hear about the resurrection.
It is that the same risen Savior still has power–right now–to raise spiritually dead people to life.
And America does not just need bigger Easter crowds.
It needs resurrected Christians.
RELATED:
Celebrating God, Our Founder, at America’s 250th Birthday: By Cynthia Scott
Revolution: The Birth of the Greatest Nation in the History of the World: By Eric Metaxas
George Whitefield: America’s Spiritual Founding Father: By Thomas Kidd
George Whitefield and the First American Awakening
Easter Crowds Are Coming – But America’s Christian Worldview Is Collapsing
Leave A Comment
You must be logged in to post a comment.