The twenty-first century has brought unprecedented change to societal norms and global civilization, with few institutions left untouched. Christianity, credited with stabilizing and influencing much of the essential structure of the United States and Western civilization, is experiencing a significant decline. Despite its historical role in promoting morality, sacrifice, hard work, and ethical behavior since the first century, the basic tenets of mainstream Christianity, including those of Protestants, Evangelicals, and Catholics, have undergone a deteriorating transformation with the passing of the WWI and WWII generations. Surveys from 2020 reveal a severe erosion in fundamental beliefs, with nearly one-third of Evangelicals failing to recognize the divinity of Jesus Christ, sixty-five percent believing He was a created being, and forty-four percent of Christian respondents believing He sinned. Research also indicates that nearly fifty percent of Americans who claim to believe in God are not convinced of His existence, reflecting a shift from absolute moral truths to conditional truths and a focus on self rather than others. Among Catholics, a plurality now supports the legalization of abortion, marking a significant shift, while recent papal comments endorsing same-sex civil unions further highlight changing perspectives within the church. Secularization poses a grave danger, threatening Christianity not from external attacks but from within its own society and church. As nominal Christians increasingly abandon fundamental precepts, the modern church drifts into irrelevance, contributing to the continued disintegration of societal morality.

The modern church's long tradition of discerning false forms of Christianity, exemplified in Christ's commendation of Ephesus in Revelation 2, extends today to recognizing "Cultural Christianity" as a counterfeit faith and a sign of the times. This movement is worldly and carnal, valued not for its doctrines but for its perceived positive effects on Western civilization. Figures such as Richard Dawkins, Elon Musk, Jordan Peterson, and Ayaan Hirsi Ali, along with celebrity converts like Russell Brand, Shia LaBeouf, and J.D. Vance, illustrate this trend—embracing Christianity's cultural or moral benefits, often through liturgical traditions like Catholicism, while rejecting its core doctrines, salvation, and submission to God. Historically, such cultural allegiance is not new; figures like Winston Churchill, Clement Attlee, Benjamin Franklin, and Thomas Jefferson supported Christianity for its societal usefulness rather than genuine belief. What distinguishes the modern form is that it strips Christianity of Christ and His demands, using a syncretic version of the faith to prop up a declining culture rather than to bring people to salvation. This phenomenon is tied to biblical warnings about discerning the "signs of the times," as seen in Daniel's account of Belshazzar's feast, where the handwriting on the wall foretold Babylon's judgment for exalting worthless gods and disregarding the true God. Similarly, Jesus rebuked the crowds and Pharisees in Luke 12 and Matthew 16 for failing to discern the significance of the times despite clear evidence before them. Paul's warning in 2 Timothy 3 about people having "a form of godliness but denying its power" directly describes Cultural Christians, who desire the benefits of Christianity—its ethics, blessings, and cultural authority—without submitting to God's power or accepting the miraculous, doctrinal, or disciplinary aspects of true faith. They treat Christianity as a brand, using it to advance personal, cultural, or political agendas: combating Islam, promoting political movements, defending free speech, or making atheism more palatable, as Dawkins openly admits. This distortion echoes Satan's temptation in Eden, where Eve was persuaded to define good and evil for herself, rejecting reliance on God. Titus 1 similarly condemns those who "profess to know God, but in works deny Him." C.S. Lewis and Nietzsche are cited to show that stripping Christ of His divinity or morality of its Christian foundation is incoherent, since one cannot retain Christian ethics while discarding the God who established them. Paul's prophecy in 2 Thessalonians 2 about the "mystery of lawlessness" and the coming "man of sin" is applied to this trend, suggesting Cultural Christianity may evolve into an end-time false religion—a "big tent" movement uniting people under moral pretenses while excluding true submission to God. Psalm 50 provides the divine verdict: God rejects those who invoke His covenant while hating His instruction, declaring that such counterfeit faith has been "weighed and found wanting," its days numbered as a further confirmation that Christ's return is approaching.

America was founded by Protestant Calvinist colonists who sought religious freedom and held a theological vision of building a new Israel under the sovereign God of the Bible. This foundation has disappeared from mainline Protestant denominations. People in those groups now perceive God much more closely to the thinking of a deist who created all things and then stepped back. The practical effect has been to detach them from God and to make loyalty to a spiritual cause disappear from their lives. Evangelical groups retain a stronger strain of the former approach yet remain the most divided group among Protestants. Born again Christians have largely embraced teachings of tolerance and inclusion. Twenty six percent of them believe that all religions are essentially the same. Fifty percent believe that a life of good works will enable a person to go to heaven. Thirty five percent do not believe that Jesus rose from the dead. These patterns show that many who call themselves Christian create their own religions by picking and choosing beliefs. The result is that the God of the Bible is not the god of both Christianity and Islam. Both sides are badly divided and warring within their own religions. The evidence indicates that they share the ruler of this world rather than the God of the Bible.