The following excerpt is taken from John Piper's recent sermon, the plundering of your property

and the power of hope preached at Passion City Church in Atlanta, Georgia on January 18th.

The sermon was based on Hebrews chapter 10 verses 32 to 36.

Here's what John Piper said.

The Church in America, as I, at age 69, have watched her now for a long time, is slowly

awakening from the distortion of about 350 years of dominance and prosperity in America.

I'm saying that sentence again, paradigm determining for me.

The Church in America, and I'm just thinking right across the board, no particular denomination,

Protestant Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, the Church in America today is slowly awakening

from the distortion of about 350 years, namely the length of our country, of dominance,

distortion of dominance and prosperity.

What I mean by dominance is that in most American history, most of American history, until recently,

being a Christian has been viewed as normal, good, patriotic, culturally acceptable,

even beneficial.

And what I mean by prosperous, 350 years of prosperous, is that by and large, being a Christian

has generally resulted in things going well for you, especially in the south.

I grew up three hours from here in Greenville, South Carolina.

I'm a southerner by birth.

I grew up in the horrors of some of the stuff I'm going to be talking about in a minute.

We're Christian in the south, we're Americans.

And what I mean by distortion, the distortion of 350 years of dominance and prosperity

is that this 350 year history of our dominance and prosperity has created a massively,

...