Many will look back at 2024 and remember that it was a year of chaos and stress. The tremendously heated presidential race dominated the headlines all year. There were 2 wars going on that potentially could have lead to WW111. There were devastating weather events, our country was overrun with illegal immigrants, people didn’t feel safe and for many it was challenging to even buy groceries because of high inflation.
Despite all the negative happenings last year there were a number of positive changes that occurred. Because of these reversals, I believe that 2024 will be remembered as the year that began a ground swell of positive change in our country that will be felt for years to come.
2024’s most obvious change took place in politics.
After four years of Joe Biden’s failed liberal agenda the country was more than ready for an about- face.
Republican presidential candidate, Donald Trump, promised change and was rewarded with a sweeping victory. On Nov. 5, President-elect Trump won both the Electoral College and the popular vote by over 3,000,000 votes against his Democratic challenger, Vice President Kamala Harris. His big victory helped Republicans retain their majority in the U.S. House of Representatives and regain control of the U.S. Senate. Exit polls showed that 70% of the country thought that the country was on the wrong track and they voted for a new direction.
With his victory, Trump will become the first man elected to serve two nonconsecutive presidential terms since President Grover Cleveland. Trump is also the first convicted felon to win a presidential election.
In Harris, he defeated an opponent that spent over a billion dollars in two months trying to demonize him. She also had the total backing of the mainstream media.
The 2024 US election season produced a number of twists and turns, including two assassination attempts directed at Trump. Because of this, Trump is returning to the White House, convinced that he had God on his side in the election.
While opinions differed on that theological question, Trump clearly drew strong support from voters that frequented pews. As always, Trump fared well with Protestants and “other Christians,” with 62% supporting him, as opposed to 37% for Harris. On the other hand, 82 percent of atheists, 80 percent of agnostics and 64 percent of those who said they had no particular faith voted for Harris.
The “change” candidate won what many are calling the greatest comeback in political history. Let us pray that President Trump and those around him seize this opportunity and turn the “Make America Great Again” slogan into reality for our country.
2024 brought changes in who we trust for our news
Not only did the election bring much needed change in politics, it also brought a resounding defeat for the “legacy media.” The outcome of the presidential election revealed that the vast majority of voters were not influenced by the liberal media’s relentless attacks against Trump.
The mainstream media had incessantly demonized Trump, calling him a fascist and a dictator and comparing him to Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini while tv anchors maligned him live on air as a “threat to democracy.”
According to the Media Research Center (MRC), mainstream media coverage of Trump was given 85% negative coverage, while Harris was given 78% positive coverage.
Not only did the media’s attempt to instill fear in voters concerning another Trump presidency fail, but their endeavor to cover up President Biden’s mental decline completely collapsed after his one debate performance. And their effort to portray Kamala Harris as a moderate and a capable replacement was equally futile.
It is no wonder a recent Gallup poll found that Americans simply do not trust mainstream media that years ago were the hallmark of integrity. You can only lie to the public for so long without getting caught.
Elon Musk, a now-Trump supporter who voted predominantly Democrat in the past, declared to the public, “You are the media now.”
During a podcast episode recently, Joe Rogan commented on the deteriorating viewership of liberal media. He said, “I was just reading something about CNN’s ratings and MSNBC’s ratings post-election — they’ve crashed. All these left-wing kooks on YouTube are hemorrhaging subscribers.”
S.A. McCarthy, a columnist for The Stand, relayed this thought “As we enter a new year, let us celebrate the nation seeing through the veil of misleading and biased reporting, inspiring hope among Americans that we might return to the Christian values upon which our country was founded. And let us give thanks for what we stand to gain: a more independent media landscape that is held accountable to the people.”
2024 saw positive changes in culture issues
The reverse discrimination strategy known as DEI did not die in 2024 but its demise was a newsworthy development as the year came to an end. Nearly 70% of voters said they were tired of woke stances taken and pressed hard for change.
Major corporations such as John Deere, Ford, Toyota, Harley-Davidson, Lowe’s, and Tractor Supply backtracked from DEI in 2024. But the biggest backtracking has come from the world’s biggest private employer, Walmart. The retailer, which has 2.1 million employees on payroll worldwide, announced in late November it was dropping several initiatives related to race, sex, and sexual orientation. Walmart also announced it would no longer cooperate with Human Rights Campaign, the gay-rights lobbying group, and its controversial corporate score card.
The changes at Walmart marked a “huge” win for opponents of DEI and its twisted reasoning, which is to discriminate against some to help others in the name of diversity and equality.
Jerry Bowyer, a veteran political analyst, said, “It’s like the walls of Jericho are falling, and it’s really an amazing thing to see.”
2024 also saw the tide turn on radical gender ideology. For decades, this progressive ideological push to mutilate and sterilize America’s youth under the guise of “gender-affirming care” seemed unstoppable. Yet, 2024 brought a surprising and significant pushback, suggesting a return to biological reality is in order.
The 2024 election was seen by many as a chance to make a national statement about changing direction. And for a large portion of voters, President Trump represented the change they were seeking. An astounding 70% of Concerned Women of America exit poll participants said “Trump’s opposition to transgender boys and men playing girls and women’s sports and of trans boys and men using girls and women’s bathrooms,” was an important issue for them when voting.
In 2024, four states implemented laws prohibiting trans-identified youth from obtaining gender transition procedures, bringing the total up to 26 states.
A study commissioned by the United Kingdom’s National Health Service, delivered a damning critique of puberty blockers and gender transition surgeries for children which resulted in that country banning puberty blockers for children and adolescents under age 18, making it the latest country in Western Europe to limit access to such treatment.
If 2024 has taught us anything, it is that cultural change is possible. The backlash against radical gender ideology suggests that people are hungry for a better story—one that affirms their worth, their bodies, and their God-given identity.
2024 witnessed a new and much needed interest in God
Institutional religion has been in decline for many years in this country. But in 2024 there was a major change in direction. An organization known as UniteUS held a series of revival meetings at college campuses all across the country, and at school after school the response was amazing.
Tonya Prewitt, founder of UniteUS, explained, “We started at Auburn University. We had 5,000 students show up, and over 200 got baptized. We next went to FSU – Florida State, the second biggest party school in the nation. We had 4,500 students come, and I believe about 350 students got baptized at that event.”
The movement then swept through many other universities. At the University of Alabama thousands of students gathered together, and hundreds gave their lives to Christ. At the University of Arkansas, 10,000 sought the presence of the Lord. Close to 6,000 Mississippi State University students gathered together and discovered freedom in Christ.
A student event at Texas A&M saw “nearly 1,500 students” attend and 62 baptisms take place. This was followed by testimonies from students and former students—sharing how God saved them, set them free, healed them physically and is now using them to change the lives of others.
Just a week before the event held at Texas A&M took place, members of The Ohio State football team held a similar event with some 2,000 attended the spiritual awakening.
Similar outbursts happened at universities in Georgia, Tennessee, and South Carolina and many others across the country.
This move of God was completely unexpected and touched the most unchurched age group of people in America, it’s youth. Please pray that this movement will continue into 2025 and turn into a full-fledged revival.
People were also seeking to get closer to God in other ways. Faith based programming thrived in 2024 with Christian television and film having a banner year. “The Chosen” reached new heights of popularity and a number of Christian films out preformed their expectations. In a recent interview the CEO of Greater American Media, Bill Abbott, revealed that while many secular networks saw steep declines in 2024, Great American Family experienced double-digit growth.
In a world grappling with economic uncertainty, global conflicts, and shifting cultural landscapes, the Bible is making a comeback as a best-seller, offering solace and guidance to millions.
According to Circana BookScan, U.S. Bible sales are up 22% through October 2024 compared to the same period last year, a stark contrast to the mere 1% growth in total print book sales.
The popular Bible app YouVersion revealed its most popular verse of the year for 2024 was Philippians 4:6.
“Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God,” reads the verse.
YouVersion Founder and CEO Bobby Gruenewald believes that the popularity of that particular Bible verse is a sign of people looking to God during times of uncertainty. YouVersion reported a rise in interest in prayer via their Bible app, as engagement with the prayer features of the app increased by 46% in 2024 compared to 2023.
Conclusion:
From an earth shaking election, to the massive decline in the influence of the mainstream media, to citizens standing up and finally demanding a change in our woke culture, 2024 will definitely go down as a year of changes. It also was a year that the young and the unchurched began seeking God as a new hunger arose in America for a greater understanding and a closer walk with Our Lord during times of uncertainty and chaos.
Let us pray that these changes are just the beginning and that 2025 will bring a new spirit of hope and thirst for God’s word among believers and non believers alike and that as a result we will see Americans finally walk out 2 Chronicles 7:14. Then we will see real a change that will rock our world.
“If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.”