Charles H. Spurgeon [1834-1892] in his magnum opus The Treasury of David writes that the sweet psalmist of Israel was a man of extreme passions, a soldier, and an Oriental monarch with despotic powers. As a battle-hardened man, David had likely grown accustomed to violence, death, and strategic elimination of enemies.

By that, he would likely have had no compunction for behaving as he did with Bathsheba and then with her husband Uriah, David’s friend. There were no restraints around the backslidden King David, as he exercised absolute power without interference from others.

William S. Plumer [1802-80], the American clergyman, theologian, and one of Princeton Theological Seminary’s most well-known students, noted that “the word Spirit” in Psalm 51 “is used in application to the Holy Ghost.” In verse 5, David in resolute repentance says, “Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me.”

David reverts to the earliest moment of his being, “not to traduce his mother, but to acknowledge the deep taproots of his sin. It is a wicked wresting of Scripture to deny that original sin and natural depravity are here taught. Surely men who cavil at this doctrine have need to be taught of the Holy Spirit what be the first principles of the faith.”1

Of course, contemporary America doesn’t believe in Biblical truth or man’s depravity, having forfeited its Judeo-Christian heritage and Biblically based culture established by the American Founders throughout the 17th and 18th centuries. Modern secularism’s pillars of influence now man public education, higher learning, Big Media, Big Business, half of the Supreme Court, the majority of Federal Courts, and Hollywood.

All of them seek to convert the nation with a heretical false secular gospel.

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Preaching anything but the Gospel, we hear them say:

• I’m a pastor. Of course, I believe that all lives matter, but right now, black lives are the ones under attack.

• I’m a pastor. Of course, I take God’s command to welcome foreigners into your land seriously because you, too, were once strangers in a strange land.

• I’m a pastor. Of course, I believe in the separation of church and state, which means theology is never codified into law.

• I’m a pastor. Of course, I believe in healing brokenness, but you will never hear about shame, judgment, or even sin at this church.

• I’m a pastor. Of course, I believe that all lives are sacred, which means that women and those who can bear children should make the decisions that they, their doctor, their family, and their God believe are best for them.

• I’m a pastor. Of course, I believe in the salvific nature of the cross, but it was because Jesus nonviolently stood up to the empire and refused to fight back or back down, not because some immature, unhealthy parent of a God required blood and guts.

• I’m a pastor. Of course I believe we should be exactly as God designed us to be, which means that queer lives are worthy, divine, beloved, and acceptable exactly as they are. No exceptions.2

Progressive America is like a blind man looking for a black cat in a dark alley on a moonless night.

Spurgeon’s insightful wording offers an ecclesiastical counterweight to progressive folly: “Reality, sincerity, true holiness, heart fidelity, these are the demands of God. He cares not for the pretense of purity, he looks to the mind, heart, and soul. Always has the Holy One of Israel estimated men by their inner nature, and not by their outward professions; to him the inward is as visible as the outward, and he rightly judges that the essential character of an action lies in the motive of him who works it.”

From a biblical perspective, America resembles ancient Ephesus due to the loss of its once Biblically based culture. Spiritual syncretism and occult fascination are just the beginning, as sex, ego, wealth, entertainment, celebrity culture, and political ideologies take on godlike status.

Much like ancient Ephesus, modern America reacts malevolently when these idols are challenged, just as the Ephesian silversmiths rioted in Acts 19 when Paul’s preaching threatened their livelihood.

Modern culture is saturated with prosperity gospel preachers, celebrity gurus, and Oprah-like influencers who commodify spirituality. Spirituality is marketed as personal empowerment, instead of as submission to a holy God. Like Ephesus, America is flooded with random noise but little truth. A spiritual Awakening is likely the nation’s only hope.

Last year’s national election reinforced that America finds itself in the midst of a spiritual battle, with a Biblically illiterate general population and its confusion over gender, morality, and Biblical truth.

Yes – America is becoming like ancient Ephesus: a powerful, prosperous, and pluralistic society, filled with inane idols, magical thinking, false teaching, and spiritual obfuscation.

Which brings us back to Scottish biblical scholar William McKane’s [1921-2004] insight, quoted by Jewish Hebrew scholar Michael V. Fox [1940-2025]: “Wisdom, as McKane notes, delivers her message where the competition is fiercest, not from competition from other orators but from the everyday distractions of business, politics, and disputes. Far from being esoteric or academic, Wisdom plunges into the midst of this hustle and bustle to reach people where they are. The same accessibility is claimed for God’s commandments in Deuteronomy 30:11-14.”

Thankfully, Gideons and Rahabs with spiritual wisdom have entered America’s public square.

David Lane

American Renewal Project

1. Charles Spurgeon, The Treasury of David.

2. pjmedia.com/chris-queen/2025/05/16/progressive-christianity-watch-preaching-anything-but-the-gospel-n4939831