I Am One Of Only Four Percent In America...

who believe the following things:

1. Absolute moral truths exist.
2. The Bible defines these absolute moral truths.
3. Jesus Christ lived a sinless life during His ministry on the earth.
4. God created the universe and continues to rule it today. He is omnipotent and omniscient.
5. Salvation is a gift from God. It cannot be earned through good works or behavior.
6. satan is a real living entity.
7. Christians have an obligation to share the gospel with the unsaved.
8. The Bible is accurate in all of its teachings.

This is according to a Barna poll that I learned about in an excellent article by Harry R. Jackson, Jr.

I must say that finding myself in such a minority in America is shocking to say the least. What was even more shocking was to discover that less than one in ten evangelical Christians hold to these 8 beliefs! (You can also reference the beliefs of those considered "Born Again Christians" by the Barna Group.)

According to Jackson's article,

Shortly after the Civil War, the Protestant church divided over this belief in a literal interpretation of Scripture. Liberals moved away from Scripture as the sole authority in order to accommodate “rational truth,” which they saw as incompatible with the Bible. These liberals embraced the “essence of Christianity” rather than the inerrancy of Scripture so they could synthesize their Christian thought with so-called scientific findings of the day.

One of the preeminent voices to emerge in defense of absolute truth shortly after the turn of the century was a Princeton Theological Seminary professor and Presbyterian minister, J. Grescham Machen, who would later lead a split within the Presbyterian Church over the rejection of biblical orthodoxy. In his definitive work, Christianity and Liberalism, Machen said that liberalism was not only theologically wrong but was not connected at all to true Christianity. “What the liberal theologian has retained after abandoning to the enemy one Christian doctrine after another is not Christianity at all, but a religion which is so entirely different from Christianity as to belong in a different category.” Machen felt that the argument was no longer between two views of evangelicalism, conservative and liberal, but rather a conflict between two religions. Liberalism is “a type of faith and practice that is anti-Christian to the core,” Machen wrote. (Emphases mine.)

I couldn't agree more. Mr. Jackson went on to share the statistics that I referenced at the beginning of this post and pointed out just how serious this problem is. He wrote, "Unfortunately, a growing number of Christians are influenced more by the popular culture than Scripture in terms of their worldview. Even younger evangelicals, who tend to track conservatively on most core social issues, do not consistently view the world from a biblical perspective." (Emphases mine.) If less that 10 percent of all EVANGELICAL believers hold to this definition of biblical worldview we have serious flaws in our foundation.

All standards other than the Bible fall far short of acceptability when judging the culture. The Bible is the only pure standard that we have. When we abandon that standard we are telling God that we are wiser and smarter than He is. That never ends well.

Mr. Jackson went on to say,

In light of these dispiriting statistics, Christians must return to emphasizing God’s truth and God’s love. America currently stands at a crossroad. Many of our national problems are a result of our churches abandoning truth. It is not the institution that needs to seek God – it is every individual in each one of the nation’s pews.

A truly repentant church will experience a spiritual renewal. A renewed church can once again be salt and light to the nation. A critical mass of godly Christians must be reached. If we use the imagery of today’s light bulbs we don’t yet have a high enough wattage light bulb to truly lighten our nation. Once we have reached critical mass, the Lord will pour out tangible blessings upon the entire nation in honor of a faithful church that lives and preaches biblical truth.

I pray to God that the church will repent. The consequences are too great if we fail to.

Thank you, brother for the awesome article.

Revive us O Lord.