Houston Megachurch Pastor Laments 'A Broken Washington'
"My thesis is very simple: Uncle Sam is broke and he is broken," said the senior pastor of one of the largest churches in the country.
Dr. Ed Young of Second Baptist Church in Houston, Texas, brought politics to the pulpit this past weekend as he preached on what he calls "a broken Washington."
"Far too long we have been in a valley, a deep, dark valley that's been brought on by the indifference and lethargy of the people and by those who are willing to exploit us on so many levels at the highest realm of government – city, state and national," he said.
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His sermon is part of a series on "Healing Broken America." When viewing America today, Young sees what was recorded in the early days of biblical history – that is, a broken Jerusalem.
"We either learn from history or we repeat history," he told thousands at the multi-site church. America is on the latter path, he indicated.
Just as King Solomon from the Old Testament began as a faithful believer and later turned away from God and became an idolater, Young sees many in Washington, D.C., doing the same, placing God on a shelf and making everything of the world an idol.
"Our government is trying to make us into a secular God-free society," he said. "Our government should be secular. I'm not for theocracy. But secular government is ... taking God out of every area of our life."
Moreover, Washington is not listening to the people, Young asserted on Second Baptist's large stage.
Though the majority of Americans claim belief in God, "the courts and much of our legislatures are doing everything for us to be politically correct and to get God out of everything in our life," he noted.
"Washington is not only not listening but they're exercising poor discernment," Young said, alluding to the unstable economy and the current health care reform legislation.
He charged members of Congress of governing by fear and bribery, noting that a number of senators changed their mind to support the health care bill after some "back room" conversations.
Government, Young told Second Baptist congregants, is getting bigger and bigger with every administration.
The solution, he said, is to go back to the worldview, namely a biblical worldview, from which documents like the Constitution were drawn up – documents that clearly state that the power is primarily vested in the people.
"It looks like this: creation (we were created in the image of God; I am special); fall (all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God); and redemption (the answer; salvation)," he explained.
"This is the grid upon which we have to operate. It's the grid upon which our Constitution was drawn up. ... It is the worldview that must be reactivated – a concept of the dignity of man."
Second Baptist Church claims a membership of over 53,000 with campuses in five different locations.
