The sacred canopy used to be Twoism, under which the Gospel was freely preached all over the globe. Today Christians in the West must renew their intention to preach Gospel truth fearlessly under the dulling canopy of Oneism, with no help and indeed with much hindrance from the culture, but doing so with the confidence of Paul who, going to Oneist Rome, said: I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ because it is the power of God unto salvation [Romans 1:16].

The ripping away of the “sacred canopy” is what has happened to Western culture during my lifetime. “Canopy” is an image used by the sociologist Peter Berger to describe a culture’s “state of predictable order,” an order assumed by all, that makes human culture work. Thus we all get along. [Berger, Peter L. The Sacred Canopy: Elements of a Sociological Theory of Religion. Garden City: Doubleday, 1967]. This “ordered structure” is what we have called for a long time Western Civilization or Christendom. Today civilized life is coming apart at the seams.

Some weeks ago I was in South Korea lecturing alongside a very impressive German sociologist, Gabriele Kuby. Mrs. Kuby was a radical Sixties feminist who miraculously converted to Christianity and began to analyze the true nature of the decaying culture her former radicalism had helped create. She has written an important book, The Global Sexual Revolution: Destruction of Freedom in the Name of Freedom (Life Site, 2015). Her thesis is that the recent search for sexual freedom is destroying human freedom. It started with student rebellions in the Sixties and has become the revolutionary cultural agenda of the world’s power elites, like the UN, the European Union and the progressive nations of the West. This attempt to create a new human being through sexual liberation demands a dissolution of any system of norms or morals that opposes it. In so doing, it destroys the very conditions that brought forth European high culture [p.8]. The enemy is no longer class warfare or unjust social structures but the outmoded moral assumptions that impede individual choice [p.9]. Says self-described lesbian feminist Camille Paglia: “What you’re seeing is how, by the elimination of sexual distinctions, a civilization, commits suicide.”^[1]

We are seeing sexual freedom run amok, and this has become the new pagan Oneist canopy that eliminates God and moral standards. It will certainly not be the Christian canopy if Bernie Sanders, a recent and serious presidential candidate, whose wife is being investigated for fraud by the FBI [!], has anything to do with it. Dismissing evangelical Christian Russell Vought’s faith as unacceptable for a nominee for a White House post, Sanders stated: “I would simply say, Mr. Chairman, that this nominee is really not someone who this country is supposed to be about. I will vote no.” His vote implicitly eliminated millions of Bible-believing Christians from public office.

A pseudo-morality based on total sexual freedom animates contemporary culture, as can be seen in the following:

• Gay pride parades, now common throughout the West, that include naked men engaged in public sex;
• LogoTV, a “queer” television network that offers morning to night coverage of homosexual sex, drag queen extravaganzas and the promotion of exotic transgenderism.
• Very modern parents who deliberately expose their children to all sexual expressions. At age 8, Audrey Cisneros was taken by her parents to her first drag show. At 9, she now considers herself an expert and believes: “A drag show is a very, very fun and special event where people can express themselves for who they really are.” [Fresno Bee, June 24, 2017]. This child epitomizes what the rising generation is now being brainwashed to believe.

Pagan sex is facilitated by pagan spirituality. Yoga, which is ultimately the worship of the god within, is taking over the world as a hundred countries recently celebrated yoga day. More obviously pagan, witchcraft is growing in popularity, holding its paganicon conference in the Midwest and claiming that area as “paganistan.” The classy women’s magazine, Vogue, encourages women frustrated by today’s political climate to “awaken your inner witch” by reciting incantations to “call back” their feminist power.

The erection of this new Oneist canopy is facilitated by global technology. The smiling face of CEO Mark Zuckerberg reassures us that Facebook’s algorithm for its 2 billion users can offer a “sense of purpose” and “community” in the face of “declining membership in churches and other groups.” He chillingly adds that this will “strengthen our overall social fabric and bring the world closer together.” Oh for a closer walk with Zuckerberg!

The sacred canopy used to be Twoism, under which the Gospel was freely preached all over the globe. Today Christians in the West must renew their intention to preach Gospel truth fearlessly under the dulling canopy of Oneism, with no help and indeed with much hindrance from the culture, but doing so with the confidence of Paul who, going to Oneist Rome, said: I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ because it is the power of God unto salvation [Romans 1:16]. And we all know what happened to Rome!

Dr. Peter Jones is scholar in residence at Westminster Seminary California and associate pastor at New Life Presbyterian Church in Escondido, Calif. He is director of truthXchange, a communications center aimed at equipping the Christian community to recognize and effectively respond to the rise of paganism. This article is used with permission.