Google runs what is called an N-gram. It compiles the many hundreds of thousands of books written over many years - in this case, from the 1800's on up to present day - and analyzes how many times a particular word or words were written about in all the books published within a given time period.
The graph you see up there shows a surge of books containing the words "gospel" (in red) and "grace" (in blue) in the 1800's. Then, the mention of those words experienced a pretty dramatic drop off, followed by a near flat-line in modern times.
Friends, we and our parents and their parents before them, have lived through a dearth of gospel and grace. And that completely explains the condition of the church today.
But do you see the very end of this graph? That is what Tim and I are a part of! That is what you can be a part of, should you so choose! Do you see the little "uptick" at the end? I have said it before...Tim and I have long sensed that what we are preaching and teaching and standing for is of historic proportions for the modern church. "A great door of opportunity has opened to me, but there are many adversaries", in the words of Paul the Apostle.
Many, many others join us in that prophetic analysis. There is about to be a tsunami of New Covenant gospel, and a resurgence of the grace doctrines, as the church begins to experience a massive return to "first things".
THAT is what "returning to the old paths" will look like.
And I have even proved it to you via an impartial graph.
(many thanks to Jonathan Trentham for showing us Google N-gram searches...)
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