National spiritual crisis
Surveys bring scathing indictment of U.S. believers
The church in America is ill, leaving Christ followers saying that a revival–or a spiritual awakening–is the nation's only course correction.
It won't be driven by a politician, program, or policy. It requires the Holy Spirit to convict hearts and minds of sin and people converting to Jesus Christ as Savior.
Recent surveys reveal illiteracy of basic Christian teachings and a failure to connect God’s sovereignty to affecting lives.
The Christian Post’s Ryan Foley reported on the Cultural Research Center (CRC) survey from mid-March. It revealed “that overall, 60% of Americans do not believe God exists or that He ‘affects lives.’ Nearly half of self-identified Christians (47%) and a slightly smaller share of theologically identified born-again Christians (40%) said the same.”
That came on the heels of a stunning CRC February survey that revealed “while 71% of adults believe in the existence of one or more gods or spiritual authorities, far fewer said they believe in the existence and influence of Jesus Christ (59%) or the God of the Bible (40%).”
George Barna, director of the CRC at Arizona Christian University, commented on the March survey:
‘The fact that more than three out of four people who believe God exists and is influential in their lives nevertheless do not get their identity from their relationship with Him explains a lot. The fact that two out of three people who believe in God’s existence and influence do not believe their connection to Him comes with responsibilities, delivers additional insight.’
‘Discovering that fewer than one out of five of the people who acknowledge God’s existence and influence are aware of any life boundaries that God provides to them explains even more. Finding that two-thirds of those who believe He exists and is influential nevertheless say that God has not given them power to serve Him and pursue His agenda reveals even more about the deceptions and weakness of American Christianity. And the list of startling insights into a Christian faith that bears little resemblance to biblical teaching and to God’s intent could continue.’
‘The more time you spend thinking about what this research tells us, the more you are likely to conclude that nothing short of sweeping national repentance and spiritual renewal can save America from itself,’ he said.
Worse, a more recent survey showed Christians don’t believe the doctrine of the trinity, a basic tenet of the faith.
The Christian Post’s (CP) Foley reported Barna’s comments on the survey’s findings:
‘These results are further evidence of the limited or lack of trust Americans have in the Bible, the limitations we place on the authority and influence of God, and our refusal to cooperate with God by living in harmony with His ways and purposes. Even the statistics for the groups that are most in-tune with biblical teachings, such as belief in the nature and impact of the Trinity, are shockingly low for a nation in which most people claim to be Christian.’
The Bible never uses the word “trinity,” but teaches the Godhead of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, being three in one. This doctrine received much debate in the early church, being affirmed at the Council of Nicea in 325 A.D.
None of this should be a surprise because the California-based Barna research organization chronicled how the culture has influenced Christians. In May 2017, Barna reported that “only 17 percent of Christians who consider their faith important and attend church regularly have a biblical worldview.”
Among its findings, Christians were open to beliefs of: New Spirituality, postmodernism, Marxism, and secularism. The study found:
61% agree with ideas rooted in New Spirituality.
54% resonate with postmodernist views.
36% accept ideas associated with Marxism.
29% believe ideas based on secularism.
Brooke Hempell, senior vice president of research for Barna, stated the following about that study:
‘The challenge with competing worldviews is that there are fragments of similarities to some Christian teachings, and some may recognize and latch on to these ideas, not realizing they are distortions of biblical truths. The call for the Church, and its teachers and thinkers, is to help Christians dissect popular beliefs before allowing them to settle in their own ideology. Informed thinking is essential to developing and maintaining a healthy biblical worldview and faith as well as being able to have productive dialogue with those who espouse other beliefs.’
This isn’t the case with all Christ followers, but in too many instances these surveys establish the rule, rather than the exception.
Collectively, these surveys deliver a scathing indictment of American Christianity: seminaries, far too many churches, and whatever is passing as discipleship. Easy believism and false teaching have spawned soft and weak “believers” who are anchored to nothing that resembles biblical Christianity.
The church in America is on course to go the way of Europe, not being “one nation under God, unless what Barna states unfolds.
There have been some positive signs in recent years. God can always do the unexpected because His ways aren’t our ways.
However, it is reasonable to ask: Is it too late?
