During the last days of World War II, with Europe within the throes of one of the lethal engagements of all times, often called the Battle of the Bulge, it was documented that German SS troops would dress up as American Soldiers and infiltrate behind the road of battle. This effort, combined with other types of psychological warfare, proved extremely disruptive to the Allied cause and wrought great confusion in our troops. Ultimately, all of this led to disorientation amongst the troops that impaired their ability to effectively stave off the attacks of their enemy and infrequently led to their capture and even death. It was said that the Germans were so well immersed in American culture that it was often difficult even for trained observers to establish their true identity. Only through clever questioning about obscure matters, which could be known only by a real American, could they be distinguished from the “real McCoy.”
Certainly, this sort of internal migration of imposters into the realm of a point of homogeneity occurred well before World War II and continues to occur to at the present time. Even in nature, when brackish water seeps right into a freshwater supply, the entire can easily be modified by the osmosis of even a small but regular stream of a counterfeit or polluted medium. Most of the time this phenomenon, whether accidental or intentional, leads to no less than a diluted version of the unique. But, similar to the introduction of poison into an otherwise harmless drink, the result will be devastating and even deadly.
How Modern Influences Are Reshaping Traditional Christian Beliefs
Systems steeped in tradition will be modified over time by the adoption of various thought patterns to develop into almost unrecognizable from their original versions. Even a people’s most cherished religious beliefs can fall prey to insipid assaults of small modifications over time. Behaviorists use the word “syncretism” to explain this merging of various belief systems. As it applies in a non secular context, this idea allows for an “inclusive” approach to the tenets of other faiths. Such inclusivism culminates in a recent religion totally different than either of its original parts, even when among the adopted beliefs seem like contradictory to those of the unique system.
George Barna, a renowned Christian market researcher and founding father of the Barna Group, has studied American culture through the years and has chronicled this observable, continuing event even amongst those that are labeled as Christians. In his bestselling book “Think Like Jesus,” published in 2004, Barna outlined his approach to defining a person respondent as an evangelical Christian. Instead of asking the person’s own view of his or her belief, Barna selected moderately to ask a series of seven pertinent questions from which an objective determination could possibly be product of the person’s religious status based on the answers given to the seven queries. Obviously, this pattern assisted the researchers in avoiding the bias inherent in a potentially rationalized self-identification technique. Based on his findings printed in his book, Barna essentially concluded, amongst other things:
Less than fifteen percent of people sitting in an evangelical church pew on any given Sunday actually knew what they believed spiritually and why.
This figure was actually an astounding wake-up call to the church in America 20 years ago.
Nevertheless, Barna’s group has continued to watch the religious belief system in our nation starting in 2020, particularly because it applies to Christianity. The George Barna-led Cultural Research Center is positioned at Arizona Christian University, a university and research center that is extremely really helpful by many inside Christianity, including me, for its quality and insightful findings. Unfortunately, what they’ve discovered through their annual reviews doesn’t indicate any improvement within the cohesiveness of a biblical worldview inside Christian ranks, but moderately a marked decrease on this cornerstone creedal component of the Christian faith.
Startling Trends in Recent Christian Worldviews
In reporting this most up-to-date information, Barna indicated, “Overall, the range of ideas adopted from worldviews aside from Biblical Theism is staggering.” Pay attention to just a few of those often-contradictory findings from this most informative research showcased in the most recent report released in January of this yr:
- Approximately one-quarter of the adult population firmly believes a messiah has been promised and can make His initial visit to earth to avoid wasting His people. Yet, in addition they say that no one really knows for certain whether a better power or God exists.
- The research also discovered that tens of millions of Americans accept worldview perspectives from several additional, yet contradictory life philosophies equivalent to Marxism, Nihilism, and Islam.
- Indeed, these findings are much more startling by comparison to those reported in “Think Like Jesus.” The recent results now show that the majority Americans (68%) still consider themselves to be Christian. However, amongst these self-identified Christians, only a mere 6% have a biblical worldview — a figure that’s much more alarming considering that it has dropped a whopping 33% for the reason that COVID-19 pandemic.
Based on this newly minted statistical information, we’re simply left with Mr. Barna to “wonder what message persons are getting from churches.” Barna gets more to the purpose when he proclaims,
“Discovering that so many tens of millions of standard churchgoers possess indisputably unbiblical enthusiastic about topics as fundamental as salvation, morality, and sin is an unmistakable sign that church leaders must reconsider how we’re approaching the spiritual development of Americans. Whatever we’re doing clearly is failing.”
In essence, what we’re seeing unfold before our very eyes is that immorality and heathenism are gaining ground in America not only within the name of faith generally but actually and specifically within the name of Christianity — and it just isn’t Christian in any respect.
Confronting the Crisis of Complacency in American Christianity
Without a doubt, there are God-fearing, Bible-based pastors, churches, and believers scattered throughout our nation. However, the whole lot of Barna’s research clearly indicates what the cultural barometers have been telling close observers all along — generally terms, the church in America has been an abject failure. The message that has held sway within the pulpits across this nation for too long has been certainly one of comfort, materialism, acceptance of sin as a norm, avoidance of conflict, and lukewarm putridness of compromise. As Patrick Morley, of Man within the Mirror fame, would say, we as a people have sought the god we wish and never the God who’s, and so they aren’t the identical. We have been led in our unseeing journey by leaders who, like a nasty umpire in a baseball game, are blind in a single eye and may’t see out of the opposite!
The basic problem with Christianity in modern-day America just isn’t that it has been tried and located wanting. Rather, the true issue in America is that it has never been tried in any respect. The Gospel was never intended to be stored behind stained glass windows, but moderately to walk in glorious proclamation amongst the people. Yet while self-identifying Christians sit in air-conditioned pews in creature comfort in America, throughout the remainder of the world true Christianity is under siege. Make no mistake; there is no such thing as a shadow of doubt amongst those blessed believers who’re suffering martyrdom for the sake of the Gospel. There are those that, at this very moment as you read these words, are willingly giving up all the pieces they hold dear, including their very own lives, only for the sweet privilege of naming the name of Christ their Lord. Their stories are resounding through the heavens and are giving poignant witness not only to their honor and the integrity of their firm belief but to the dismal spiritual condition of self-absorbed, so-called American Christianity as well. Just just like the American soldiers within the battle of the bulge, the enemy is in our midst, and we’re ill-prepared to discover his presence much less mitigate his effectiveness.
The Rise to Revive Authentic Faith in America
At Southern Evangelical Seminary, our hearts are heavy. They are heavy for the pain of our brothers and sisters in Christ who’re being tortured within the Middle East, in Africa, in Communist China, and in other areas all across the globe. But our hearts are also heavy because we will see the storm clouds brewing over our beloved nation. We can already smell the stench of persecution that’s coming to Christ’s followers and which, in actual fact, has already reached our shorelines. The time is near on this country when there will likely be a price for proclaiming Christ as Lord, and there will likely be a separation of the counterfeit from the true.
It is simply by the Word of God that we, as individuals or as Christ’s church, will be cleansed from this stain of deceitfulness and sin. That is why we’ve developed a plan for a counter-revolution of biblically-based faith and morality. We are calling it “Truth that Matters,” and it’s our prayer that it’s going to develop into a blueprint for the resurrection of Christ’s church in our nation and a revival of true faith in our families and individuals all across America. By the facility of His Spirit, we will likely be standing within the gap within the sincere hope that God will yet spare our nation and that destruction won’t be our lot until such time as our hearts can turn toward the one truth that matters — the Gospel of Jesus Christ. God knows how desperately the American church needs “to arise from the dead” and permit Christ’s “recent day to dawn” in our midst. As true Christians still have breath, there may be hope for our nation. But to make certain, our time is brief, and we must now “redeem the time” that remains to be left.
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