christian faith and society

This is how society would save money

A letter to a politician on how the Christian faith has affected and is affecting society

The following is a letter I sent to some politicians. It deals with the impact of the Christian faith on society. In modern times, it is modern to attack against the Christian faith, but if the faith is genuine, it should always have a positive impact on society. It should affect interpersonal relationships as well as reduce social costs due to wrong lifestyles.

This is how society would save money

Honorable Member of Parliament!

I myself am a former atheist and evolution-believer, but now I believe in God and in Jesus. On this basis, I will write and highlight a few important points about the development of society and the significance of the Christian faith. Indeed, I am convinced that Jesus Christ and the relationship with him is the best thing an individual can experience, because it brings forgiveness of sins and change people's lives in a more positive direction. (I don’t mean that any human being becomes perfect in this life because evil is present with us at least to some extent and we often fall.) In addition, when individuals change, it has a positive effect on the development of whole society. Personally, I see that the best and most positive force for change in society is that Jesus Christ is allowed to make a big impact on people’s lives.

In any case, I'm a little worried about the development both in Finland and throughout the world. I see an increase in confrontation and outrage in the world and within states. Jesus' teaching on loving our neighbors is not very popular, and we do not always honor our neighbors, even as the apostles admonished (1 Peter 2:17: Honor all men). So I see that the world is slowly moving towards anarchy, towards totalitarian societies and a somewhat similar state that prevailed in the early part of the last century. In addition, the increased xenophobia that manifested itself against Jews in Germany is still a common phenomenon today.

I will first raise a few prophecies related to the development of societies. These are negative trends in society. Personally, I consider the reason for these developments to be that there has been an increasing abandonment of the Christian faith, that is, less and less is respected for God's commandments and the Bible's teachings about loving one's neighbor.

First, an old woman’s prophecy from the late 1960s, and passed on by the Norwegian evangelist Emmanuel Minos. It mentions e.g. change in television programming and attitudes towards strangers. This prophecy has not been fully fulfilled, but progress in that direction has been seen all along:

People will accept what they see and they will not have only one alternative to watch on TV; instead, they will have plenty to watch. The TV will work just as the radio. We will be able to switch from one show to another, and all of them will be full of violence. People will consider this entertaining. The worst imaginable murders and scenes of violence will be staged for people to see, and such behaviour will spread through society. Sexual intercourse will be shown on TV. The most intimate of things that should only be part of a marriage, will be shown onscreen. This will happen and you will see it taking place. The laws we now have will be broken and amazingly lecherous things will be shown to us.

People from poor countries will flood to Europe. They will also arrive in Scandinavia and Norway. People will not like the refugees being here, and they will be harsh towards them. They will treat them more and more like Jews before the war. This is when the debt of sin will be filled. This will happen right before Jesus Christ returns – and before WWIII. It will be a short war. Everything I have experienced about war will be like child's play compared to this. It will start like a regular war but it will spread and end with atomic bombs. The air will be so polluted that people will not be able to breathe, and this will happen on several continents. America, Japan, Australia – the rich countries. Water will be polluted. We will not be able to cultivate the land in these places. The people still left in the rich countries will try to escape to the poorer ones that are undamaged. They will be treated there like we treat them here, and they will not be willing to accept us. (1)

Then prophecies from David Wilkerson’s book The Vision. Wilkerson received this vision in 1973, and there are several fulfilled prophecies in this book. The first is the moral collapse, the same thing that was told in the above prophecy

Moral collapse is on its way - 1

Oh, all residents of the earth and sea, for the devil has come down to you in his great anger to deceive, if possible, even the elect of God. And how does Satan try to tease and deceive even the elect of God? I believe that Satan will try to tempt mankind by bringing about a collapse in morality. He will open the floodgates of hell and try to sink the world under erotic dirt, indecency, and sensuality.

This collapse in morality can be won by nothing the human mind can conjure. Already, the demonic spirit of lust sweeps over many nations bringing about nakedness, perversity, and the flood of dirt. (...)

Wilkerson predicted economic recession and depression. The current corona crisis may be leading to this state. At least, corona does not improve the economy of societies. Deep economic depressions can also lead to an increase in anarchy and chaos, as in Germany in the 1920s.

We are facing a global economic turmoil. In my vision, this is the clearest thing what I have seen. Many praying people have seen the same.

The US dollar is not the only one to depreciate, but other world currencies are in the same position. I see economic turmoil striking Europe first, and then it affects Japan, the United States, Canada and, before long, all the other nations.

Actually, I don’t see any real recession coming, but a large-scale economic downturn that will affect the lifestyles of almost every employee, both in America and around the world…

Despite all the signs of imminent economic destruction, the coming years (since 1973) are the luckiest times in human history. They will be lucrative and thriving years. Despite tight monetary policy, people are constantly spending a lot of their money. Sales are at an all-time high, and people are consuming more than ever before in recent history. Credit debt is growing to almost impossible proportions. (3)

Wilkerson also predicted in 1973 that homosexuality would be accepted in both society and the church. This prophecy has also come true, as the secular media has sided with this issue as have the liberal clergy. This turnaround has only taken place in just over ten years.

There are two forces that prevent gays from dedicating themselves completely to their sin: society does not accept them and the church's teachings are against them. But these barriers will disappear, when society no longer resists their sin and deems it abnormal, but on the contrary encourages them to continue, and when the church no longer preaches about their sin, but supports them in their sexual activities. The floodgates will open, and the gays will be encouraged to continue in their sin. I have seen in my vision that these two obstacles will be wiped away and when they are taken away, chaos will follow. (4)

In modern times, there is constant talk of climate change, and Wilkerson’s book also refers in one chapter to special meteorological phenomena. He e.g. predicted that the northern regions would experience “particularly hot waves”:

The weather is harder to predict. Sudden storms occur without warning. The southernmost regions are in the grip of record cold waves, and the northern regions are experiencing particularly hot waves. (5)

Dear Member of Parliament! Previous prophecies told of the development of society and seem to have been fulfilled quite well.

What, then, is the significance of the Christian faith in the midst of all this? Personally, I understand that the Christian faith is the best hope and force for change in society, as I said above. It eliminates many of society’s problems as well as reduces unnecessary costs.

I will take the example of Africa here. It’s about Stanley Jones ’biography. In this book, he spoke of the influence of the Christian faith in the Congo. The example shows that if the Christian faith is genuine, it has a positive effect on society:

Asking for a revival for his tribe, one chief said:

- We are grateful for the leaves and fruits of Christianity - education and hospitals - but we would really like the root - the renewal of the moral character. That sentence should be posted on the wall of every religious center in the world. And so said the chief who came straight from the paganism...

Moise Tshombe told me when he was Prime Minister of the Congo:

- In my opinion, Africa's only hope is the Christian church. Where the Church is strong, we have little, if any, trouble; where the church is weak or non-existent, we have nothing but problems.

Another foreigner said to me in the Congo: -- It is the missionaries and the Christians who have kept the Congo together. They have built islands of goodwill and service in a sea of hatred and selfishness. (6)

Let's talk more about Africa. Education (literacy) and hospitals were already mentioned in the previous example, and the following examples touch on these issues as well. Where is genuine Christian faith and where spiritual revivals have taken place, the position of the people will improve. The first is a comment by Nelson Mandela, the second by a British atheist, Matthew Parris.

In church the affairs of this life were as much taken care of as were the affairs of the future life; it seemed that everything that the Africans accomplished, originated from the missionary work of the church. (Nelson Mandela in his autobiography Long Walk to Freedom)

It inspired me, renewing my waning faith in developing country philanthropy. However, traveling in Malawi also refreshed another perception, one that I have tried to banish all my life, but it is an observation that I have not been able to avoid since my childhood in Africa. It confounds my ideological concepts, stubbornly refuses to fit my worldview, and has baffled my growing belief that there is no God.

Now, as as an accustomed atheist, I am convinced of the enormous impact that Christian evangelism is having in Africa – completely separate from secular civic organizations, government projects, and international aid efforts. These are simply not enough. Education and teaching alone are not enough. In Africa, Christianity changes people's hearts. It brings spiritual change. Rebirth is real. Change is good.

…I would say it is a shame that salvation is part of the package, but both white and black Christians working in Africa are healing the sick, teaching people to read and write; and only the most secularized person could look at a mission hospital or school and say that the world would be better without it... Taking the spread of the Christian gospel out of the African equation may leave the continent at the mercy of the nefarious combination: Nike, the witch doctor, the cell phone and the machete.

Let's still stay in Africa. The following news item refers to the connection between missionary work and democracy, literacy, low levels of corruption, and the health situation. The example shows how a genuine Christian faith reduces society's problems and unnecessary expenses:

Scientist: Missionary work set off democracy

According to Robert Woodberry, the assistant professor at Texas University, the impact of Protestants’ missionary work in the 1800s and in the beginning of 1900s on the development of democracy has been more significant than originally thought. Rather than having a minor role in the development of democracy, missionaries had a substantial part in it in many African and Asian countries. Christianity Today magazine tells about the matter.

Robert Woodberry has studied the relationship between missionary work and the factors affecting democracy almost for 15 years. According to him, there where Protestant missionaries have had a central influence. There the economy is nowadays more developed and the health situation is relatively much better than in the areas, where missionaries’ influence has been smaller or nonexistent. In the areas with prevalent missionary history, child mortality rate is currently lower, there is less corruption, literacy is more common and getting into education is easier, especially for women.

According to Robert Woodberry, it was specifically the Protestant revival Christians who had a positive effect. In contrast, state-employed clergy or Catholic missionaries before the 1960s did not have a similar impact.

Protestant missionaries were free of the control of the government. “One central stereotype in missionary work is that it relates to colonialism. - - However, Protestant workers, who were not funded by the government, reacted always critically to colonialism”, says Woodberry to Christianity Today.

The long-term work of Woodberry has received praise. Among others, research professor Philip Jenkins of Baylor University has noted the following about Woodberry’s research: “I really tried to find gaps, but the theory holds. It has great influence on the worldwide research on Christianity.” According to Christianity Today magazine over ten studies have reinforced Woodberry’s findings. (8)

Then an example from the 19th century. In his book “Ihmeellisiä herätyksiä” Charles G. Finney describes how crime fell relative to one-ninth part of what it had been before.

Even today, crime imposes enormous costs on society. In addition, there is undeclared work, tax evasion and other activities where society loses money. The best way to reduce and prevent crime is for God Himself to make a difference in people’s lives.

I have told that the moral situation changed greatly through this revival. The city was new, economically prosperous and enterprising but full of sin. The population was especially intelligent and ambitious but as the revival swept through the city by bringing large crowds of its most remarkable people, men and women, to conversion, there happened a very miraculous change concerning the order, peacefulness and morality.

I had a talk with a lawyer many years later. He had been converted in this revival and was a general prosecutor in criminal cases. Because of this office, the criminal statistics were thoroughly familiar to him. He said about the time of this revival, “I have examined documents of criminal law and noticed a surprising fact: while our city has grown three times larger after the times of the revival, there has not been even a third of the indictments than there were before. So miraculous an effect did the revival have on our society.”(…)

(...) Both public and personal opposition gradually abated. In Rochester I did not know anything about it. The salvation had its own great visitation, the revivals were so powerful and moved so widely, and people had time to become acquainted both with themselves and the results of them to such an extent that they feared to oppose them as before. The priests also understood them better, and the wicked were convinced that they were acts of God. This idea of them became almost common, so clear was the sane nature of the conversions, so really transformed, “new creations”, were the converts, so thorough a change occurred both in individuals and in the society, and so permanent and undeniable were the fruit.

What about family problems? One of the biggest reasons why society's expenses have increased is related to broken families. At the beginning of the last century, there were only a little over a hundred divorces a year in Finland, but now almost every second marriage ends in divorce. The reason for this development is certainly the fact that society has given up more and more of the Christian faith and the related teaching about the lifelong marriage. However, this development constantly increases society's expenses. First, I will take the news about how divorces become expensive for many and for society as a whole:

Divorce is costly for many

Economist Pasi Sorjonen of Nordea Bank wonders why the financial impact of divorces is not discussed much even though divorces are very common and the financial impact caused by a divorce can be great for the people involved.

A study by Nordea Bank suggests that a divorce can lower the living standard of a family even more than unemployment. It is a very extensive social phenomenon: almost half of marriages now end in divorce.

"Divorces are very costly to the society," says Executive Director Heljä Sairisalo of the Finnish single-parent family association. (Newspaper Etelä-Suomen Sanomat, 25 January 2011)

The rate of giving allowances is accelerating in Finland…

Housing allowance is being paid at a more and more rapid rate. In November Kela paid public housing allowances for over 93 million euros, when the same amount last year in November was a little under 87 million euros and in the year before that it was 65 million euros. The total sum of the money that goes into public housing allowances has doubled in the 21^thcentury.. (Etelä-Suomen Sanomat, 8.1.2017)

One consequence of the breakdown of families is also that there has been a huge increase in children’s problems, mental health and other problems, as the following news shows. This costs a huge amount of money to society.

It is also worth noting that at the end of the 1960s, only 5% of children in Finland were born out of wedlock, while now the figure is over 50%. I consider this to be one of the biggest reasons why children’s problems have grown. That is, if the parents are not properly committed before having sex, the position of the children being born is awkward.

In addition, another deterioration was the Divorce Act of 1987, which made resigning very easy. This increased the number of divorces tremendously, and many such marriages with no major problems broke up. So here is the news about the deteriorating situation of children and the rising costs of society:

Almost a billion euros will soon be used in institutional care for children and youth

Children's problems have escalated dramatically since the early 1990s

The expenses arising from institutional and family care in child welfare are currently increasing by more than 10% per year.

This year, institutional and family care for children and the young will cost around EUR 670 million. If the sum continues to increase, it will exceed the billion-euro limit in five years.

The number of children in institutional care has doubled since the early 1990s. Problems with children have increased to such an extent that most custody decisions are now urgent.

...The institutional care of one child can cost up to EUR 100,000 per year while proactive supporting measures in outpatient care could be offered with a couple of thousand euros. (Newspaper Etelä-Suomen Sanomat, 31 October 2010)

Intoxicants take younger and younger to institutions. The number of notifications and the cost of institutional care have increased enormously. (ESS 7.11.2019)

Young people's minds faltering. Mental health: Referrals to specialised medical care in youth psychiatry have increased dramatically... (ESS, 25.9.2018)

Youth referrals almost doubled

Psychiatry: The mental health problems of young people have increased in recent years across the country. In Päijät-Häme, the number of referrals of young psychiatry increased by 40 per cent per year. (ESS, 30.5.2017)

What about abortion? One of the commandments in the Bible is, “You shall not kill” and it is related to abortion. It is often argued in the media that abortion is a woman’s right to decide on her body, but it is a lie because abortion destroys a living child with the same body members as an adult. Human life always begins with fertilization, and this was also acknowledged in a recent study asking 5,577 biologists around the world when life begins. Of these, 96 percent said it begins with fertilization (Erelt, S., Survey asked, 5,577 biologists when human life begins. 96% said conception; lifenews.com, 11 Jul 2019). Similarly, the Geneva Declaration of the World Medical Association in 1948, when the unethical behavior of Nazi doctors had been exposed, stated that human life begins with fertilization.

Thus, human life begins with fertilization, and abortion is murder, even if something else is claimed. Personally, I see it as a similar evil when the Canaanites burned their children in the fire, and this raised the wrath of God.

So what are the social consequences of abortion? The more abortions performed, the more the state’s tax base crumbles as the population pyramid is distorted. The number of the elderly is growing, but there are fewer and fewer young people and people in work. Thus, for example, at least 700,000 people of working age are missing in Finland, because abortion was legalized some decades ago.

Then to a completely different matter, ie the use of alcohol, which causes a lot of costs to society (Kauppalehti reported on 16 September 2011: "alcohol causes about one billion euros of direct costs to society per year. Indirect costs are up to five billion euros"). How has the Bible and the Christian faith affected this area? Has it helped people to get rid of alcohol addiction? The following quote says something about this. Erik Edin was an alcoholic himself, but he experienced a change and as a result began to help other alcoholics. As a result of his actions, an estimated 10,000 alcoholics were freed from their addiction. It meant huge economic savings for Swedish society:

It was the year 1954. Erik Edin met Lewi Pethrus and from these events the LP organization started working in Strandgården. There began wonderful work of helping alcoholics. Over the next 30 years the work developed with a fast rate. Erik Edin was said to have saved 10 000 people and their families in a program in Swedish Television.

Erik Edin was also awarded with a medal and he was elected into the Swedish Parliament. He was valued by the whole country, because the largest amount of alcoholics had been saved and become sober through him. None of the other institutions taking care of alcoholics came near the kind of results that Erik Edin had. (9)

What about drugs? Their use in Finland has been increasing all the time and they can be very enslaving. A person who is their slave is usually incapable of long-term work. In addition, many drift into crime in an attempt to pay for their precious lust. In general, hard drugs are a worse problem than alcohol.

How has the Christian faith and the Bible affected this area? If we compare how people are freed from drugs by worldly methods and how they are freed by God, there is a relatively big difference. Secular methods are often expensive, treatment outcomes are poor, and addiction may be replaced by another addiction (Drugs, such as subutex or methadone, are offered in place of another drug.) Instead, God’s power can touch any drug user who seriously wants it and who surrenders his life to God. David Wilkerson, who worked for years with drug addicts in New York and whose prophecies were referred to earlier, shares his own experience. The state has saved a lot of money through such activities, where hundreds or thousands of drug addicts have freed themselves from their addiction:

We specialize in desperate cases and will reject no-one, although we worked at first only with teenagers. Those who need help come to us voluntarily, usually when they have lost all hope. (...)

We simply believe in God's power of breaking the Shackles of habit and also making the Victory thus achieved last through faith. I'm not interested in whether other professional organizations fighting drug addiction accept my method or not. I know that drug addicts accept it. I challenge anyone in the world to bring a hundred people cured from drug addiction to the same event, as we have done. As of yet, nobody has responded to this challenge. We can present to you thousands of former drug addicts who were completely freed from drugs and filled with the power of God. (10)

Dear Member of Parliament! The previous examples show how genuine Christian faith is a positive and good thing. It reduces crime, drug use, social problems, and the costs to society.

However, there is one but. If the decision-makers of society and the media oppose God and the Christian faith, the spread of the gospel will be much more difficult. That is why I hope that all the doors will remain open so that there will be an opportunity for Christian work and the proclamation of the gospel in schools, prisons, the media, etc. This would contribute to reducing society’s problems and social costs, which seem to be increasing all the time.

So what happens if the Christian faith is rejected? I'm pretty sure that society will go the same direction as what happened in the last century, Nazi Germany and the communist countries where rejected God. I've written on this topic in the latest nettikirjoituksessani "The Communists, Nazis and modern value liberals," and I see that values of today's value liberals are very similar to those of the early Communists and the Nazis. Therefore, the same type of development is possible here as well.

It is worth remembering that the Communist Soviet Union has been our border neighbor and that Germany is only a few hundred kilometers away. The people there have not been genetically any different than we are. In addition, Finland has also been divided into red and white about century ago. So I see that a negative development is quite likely if decision-makers and the media take a stand against God, as the early communists and Nazis did. Personally, I believe that spiritual revivals, in which God changes people’s lives, are the best antidote to anarchy and all kinds of lawlessness. Genuine Christian faith, following the teachings of Jesus and the apostles, reduces many problems.

Respecting and blessing you:

Jari Iivanainen

My website can be found online with my name on Google search

MORE ABOUT THE TOPIC:

I happened to see an article in Sana magazine on the same topic as what I brought up in the lines above. Namely, in the following article, Teemu Keskisarja, a docent in Finnish and Nordic history, explains how important the Christian faith has been in the development of society. This is not known by many who question the Christian faith. For example, literacy in many countries is largely the result of the Christian faith, as are many other good things.

… Teemu Keskisarja, a docent in Finnish and Nordic history at the University of Helsinki, has become one of the leading popularizers of history in our country.

The scholar, who cultivates the rich and lush expression of fiction in his nonfiction and media, has also got critics for his cutting-edge language and strong interpretations.

An outspoken man doesn’t leave you cold either when kicking wrong obsessions about Christian faith.

- In Finland, the church has not committed any atrocities. Religion has not been a dam of development in the history of our country but was a source and force for change, the Keskisarja sums up.

The Doctor of Philosophy refreshs our memory by listing how many vital activities in Finnish society the church has been a key influence and initiator of.

Folk education. Health care. Administration before the municipal reform of the 1860s. Not to mention the spiritual responsibilities and soul care that are among the core tasks.

- The church was also crucial for the development of public education. In the circular schools, children were not brainwashed, but important basic skills were taught.

- In the 19th century rural village, the priest was the guy who was the first to teach potato growing, subscribe to newspapers, set up a primary school and fire brigade and arrange vaccinations… No childhood milieu has raised as many great men in different fields than vicarages. You know how many presidents, generals, painters and writers have worked from that background.

- The vicarage was not a narrow circle of life. The priests were refreshingly multi-faceted and modern heralds, Teemu Keskisarja emphasizes…

The historian has woken up to notice a strange ideological issue in his circle of friends and acquaintances.

- Many people who support the rights, equality, democracy and freedom of expression of women and homosexuals are very sympathetic to religions that trample all these values on their feet.

- At the same time, they squeak at the Finnish Lutheran Church about every single thing, even though human rights have been treated in the best way in the world in Lutheran countries! ...

- The tree is known for its social fruit, and Finland is the fruit of Lutheranism in many ways. Atheists, people of other religions and immigrants must also be infinitely grateful that this is a Christian country. (Sana, 4/4/2019, Finland got the faith it ordered, Janne Villa)

References:

1. Prophecy received in Norway and passed on by Emmanuel Minos

2. David Wilkerson: Näky (The Vision)

3. David Wilkerson: Näky (The Vision)

4. David Wilkerson: Näky (The Vision)

5. David Wilkerson: Näky (The Vision)

6. E. Stanley Jones: Pyhiinvaeltajan laulu (A Song of Ascents)

7. Parris, M., As an atheist, I truly believe Africa needs God, The Times Online, www.timesonline.co.uk, 27 December 20088.

8. Matti Korhonen, Uusi tie 6.2.2014, p. 5

9. Carl-Gustav Severin: Rohkeasti täysin raitis (It Is Never Wrong To Be Totally Sober), p. 100

10. David Wilkerson: Kukkaislapsia löytöretkellä (Purple-violet Squish), p. 9