Do you have concerns about the direction America is taking both socially and politically? Do you know in your heart that America is being attacked by Satan, and you wish to be able to take a stand for why our country needs to get back to the roots of our founding fathers, but you don’t feel confident about what you know about our cultural history?
In Tea Party Culture War: A Clash of Worldviews, author Stephen Johnston asserts that there are three basic worldviews — theism, naturalism, and pantheism — and that the cultural wars we face today are driven by these worldviews.
“. . .the cultural war comes down to a battle between good and evil. Satan attacks on many fronts, and worldviews such as pantheism and naturalism — and their many offshoots — provide the means by which he attempts to undermine belief in God and bring about the destruction of people’s hearts and minds.”
Enter the Tea Party, a conservative political movement. Just like the Boston Tea Party of Revolutionary War days, the current Tea Party represents “this spirit of protest against big government spending and increased taxation.”
The author begins his book with a nice overview of the three worldviews mentioned above, making a case for the heritage of the United States being rooted in Biblical self-government and personal responsibility, and then moves swiftly into an explanation for the rise of liberalism and postmodernism in America. He equates what is happening to America today to what happened to the Israelites as they wondered in the desert. As they stood on the brink of entering the promised land, Moses reminded them of their covenant with God (Deuteronomy 11:26-28), hoping that they would remember to keep God’s laws and teach them to their children.
They suffered the consequences of their disobedience and idolatry, as is America today, for the same exact sins.
The book continues on in a similar fashion, discussing topics such as the attacks against the family and the breakdown of morality, attacks against children through the education system, the economic crisis, problems caused by an open interpretation of the Constitution, the welfare state, declining oil reserves, the new age movement, the emergent church, and false teachers in the church.
After reading Tea Party Culture War, you’ll have a good grasp on the history of how America’s worldview has changed from one founded on a Christian worldview, based on God as Creator and author of absolute truth, to one that is humanistic, removing God from our culture, our government, our society. And that this change is caused from an attack by Satan.
A long-time resident of California, author and economist, Steve Johnston, B.S., J.D., earned a Juris Doctorate degree from Western State University of Law and a Theological degree from Calvary Chapel School of Ministry. Mr. Johnston has over 20 years experience in prison ministry and Bible teaching, and has served as a chaplain in Orange County and Los Angeles jails as well as Pelican Bay, a California maximum security prison. The author of When Is Judgment Day? (Anomalos, 2008), Mr. Johnston describes his book, Tea Party Culture War (WinePress, 2011) as a systematic manifesto of the Tea Party Movement. Mr. Johnston and his wife of 38 years divide their time between homes in Palm Desert, California and Brookings, Oregon. They have one adult daughter and one granddaughter.
