By Michael Hernandez
GOLETA—“We’re living in a post-truth society,” said Andy Caldwell, 24th District Congressional candidate (Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo County) at the Saturday, Jan. 18th “Morality is Crumbling: What’s the Church to do?” event sponsored by Southcoast Church, 5814 Cathedral Oaks Road.
“Today we have a rebellion against authority, values, tradition and faith. The grandchild of that revolution (includes): abortion, infanticide, a porn addition rate off the charts, skyrocketing divorce, the decline of marriage, an opioid culture, and homelessness.
“We live in a post-Christian culture which has rejected Christianity and in its place has put socialism and secular humanism. Where was the Church when all this was happening?”
Caldwell said he wished to speak on the topic of “God in the hands of angry sinners” instead of speaking from the famous sermon delivered by Christian theologian Jonathan Edwards, (to his Northampton, Massachusetts congregation in 1741) known as “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God.”
“Men judge God based on whether they believe in God or not. Our way out of this, is work back to ‘one nation under God.’ Dr. Martin Luther King shared that the Church in not just merely a thermometer recording the ideas and principles of popular opinion but it is a thermostat that transforms the mores of society. We became a thermometer when we are suppose to be a thermostat that adjusts.
“Our society has become lawless. We have a breakdown of our population and this has led to a substitute god, in government. Uncle Sam has become our baby daddy. For the next generation, socialism is superior to free markets and capitalism. This has led us to believe in equality of outcomes. People are giving up their freedom and giving up their liberty. Socialism is a false religion.
“Jesus Christ is the embodiment of truth. Yet, we have been compromised as a Church. We have quit becoming the salt and light—the city on the hill.”
Thousand Oaks Pastor Rob McCoy: “The Church has bought the lie not to be involved in the public square”
“The Church has bought the lie not to be involved in the public square” said Thousand Oaks Pastor and Councilmember Rob McCoy, the opening speaker at the ‘Morality is Crumbling: ‘What’s the Church to do?’ “The separation of Church and State means to keep the State out of the Church, not the Church out of the State.
“We have avoided the public square. Today, we are known for our gas tax. Lead the nation in debt, in poverty and homelessness, no fault divorce, in abortions—We have aborted more children that the entire population of Canada.
“California has (over) 15 million evangelicals. Half of them are not registered. Only half of those registered, voted in the last Presidential election; and only (half of these) 12 percent vote in a non-Presidential election.
“We are a constitutional republic,” said McCoy. “People want us to be divided by color. Identity politics divide us. We can unify under happiness and freedom—life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness are mentioned in the Declaration of Independence.”
McCoy said he wished to introduce a man with seven children “who has labored on our behalf” and who founded COLAB—the Coalition of Labor Agriculture & Business in 1991. Today, COLAB has 1,300 members.
“I love Santa Barbara. I love Goleta,” said McCoy. (I want to introduce) Your future representative—Andy Caldwell.”
Andy Caldwell has a daily radio talk show called “A Voice for Reason” on AM 1440 (Santa Maria/San Luis Obispo) and AM 1290 (Santa Barbara/Ventura) that airs daily from 3-5 p.m. Caldwell is also a columnist for the Santa Barbara News Press and the Santa Maria Sun. Caldwell was raised in Lompoc and graduated from the University of California at San Diego in 1980.
The Southcoast Church event (Senior Pastor Rino Dattilo is speaking Sundays on “2020 refocus: In God We Trust” taken from Malachi 3) was promoted as “Two Men of Action Speaking Out With Biblical Truth.” A secondary theme was “Silence is not an Option” (taken from Ezekiel 33:1-12 and Acts 20:26-27).
Michael Hernandez, Co-Founder of the Citizens Journal—Ventura County’s online news service; editor of the History Makers Report and founder of History Makers International—a community nonprofit serving youth and families in Ventura County, is a former Southern California daily newspaper journalist and religion and news editor. He has worked 25 years as a middle school teacher in Monrovia and Los Angeles Unified School Districts. Mr. Hernandez can be contacted by email at [email protected].
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