A reasonable answer
2 Tim 3:13 But evil men and impostors will grow worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived. 14 But you must continue in the things which you have learned and been assured of, knowing from whom you have learned them, 15 and that from childhood you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. 16 All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, 17 that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work. (NKJ)
2 Tim 4:1-5 I charge you therefore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who will judge the living and the dead at His appearing and His kingdom: 2 Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching. 3 For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; 4 and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables. 5 But you be watchful in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry. (NKJ)
A cockroach can live nine days without its head before it starves to death.
I thought this was amazing till I realized how many believers seem to live for years without using their head, about how many men have jettisoned their ministry, their family, their lives by not using their head—being carried away into the mystical, the emotional, the pseudo-spiritual and miss destiny.
The noted atheist Bertrand Russell quipped: Many people would rather die than think. In fact, they do!
DUMBING DOWN TEACHERS: A reader sent to his local newspaper a list of teacher education courses at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, along with a note: This probably explains why 59% of prospective teachers failed a basic literacy test…” [1]
Our schools of education have been a national scandal for many years, but I wonder what would happen if we gave a doctrinal theology test to those who have aspirations for ministry…those who want to preach God’s Word…who want to pioneer a church; who want to teach God’s people how to be Christians?
1Pet 3:15 But in your hearts set Christ apart as holy [and acknowledge Him] as Lord. Always be ready to give a logical defense to anyone who asks you to account for the hope that is in you, but do it courteously and respectfully. AMP
As long as the devil can keep us terrified of thinking, he will always limit the work of God in our souls. Oswald Chambers (1874-1917)
It is this issue of thinking, of the need for correct doctrine that I wish to address this morning!
I. what happened to sound doctrine?
2Tim 3:13 But evil men and impostors will grow worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived.
2Tim 4:3-4 For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; 4 and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables.
A book that agrees with our views may be gratifying to the ego, but it does nothing to develop flexibility of mind or independence of judgment. Moreover, it makes us narrow and rigid in the defense of our most warmly held opinions. Sydney J. Harris (1917-1986)
In our generation it has been observed and remarked that the idea of "The thinking Christian" seems to be an oxymoron. Historically--though not in this decadent century--Christians had been criticized for being "too logical." Even today some mock the theologian, the Bible school student, the nerdy scholar with his pile of books all the while they’re barking like dogs and shaking on the ground calling it a new move of the Holy Spirit!
Bill Randles in his book Weighed and Found Wanting identifies this problem about the mystical revival that demeans any intellectual analysis.
One concept underlying all of this mystical revival is experience over doctrine, in seeking the knowledge of God. Taking their cue from this wicked and perverted generation, too many spiritual leaders show a disdain for dogma, or teaching, as being cold, dead, or restrictive. The new authentication is experience. People are being lured into trying to "feel God," and "know Him intimately." Words like "passion," "abandonment" and "radical love affair with Jesus" are being held up as viable options, as opposed to cold, dead, "head knowledge" of God.
This mockery of theology and learning is found in surprising places:
Watchman Nee: Whenever we act on the basis of doctrine we are not touching reality. We must recognize two very different ways of help before us. First, there is a way that seemeth right in which help is received from the outside through the mind by doctrine and exposition. Second, we must see that God’s way is the way of spirit touching spirit. Instead of having our mentality developed or acquiring a storehouse of knowledge it is by this contact that our spiritual life is built up. Let no one be deceived. Until we have found this way we have not found true Christianity.
That my friend is mystical gobblety-goop and directly contradicts the Word of God, Note our text:
2 Timothy 3:16 All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It straightens us out and teaches us to do what is right. NLT
The idea that “you don’t need any Bible School” is literally true but willful ignorance is not a ministry requirement either.
The weakness of the bible school in many cases is the neglect of moral character and the spiritual dynamic of actual practice, however, the weakness of in-church discipleship is often the lack of mental discipline and academic mindedness. It doesn’t have to be this way. It shouldn’t be this way and I don’t believe Jesus intended it to be this way. Tom Payne
I believe Romans 12:2 specifically addresses this issue of giving our mind a makeover.
Romans 12:2 Don't copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will know what God wants you to do, and you will know how good and pleasing and perfect his will really is. NLT
Changing the way it works and the way it thinks is critical. More than an exchange of information but in processing that information. A world view…a perspective!
John Wesley once received a note that said, "The Lord has told me to tell you that He doesn't need your book-learning, your Greek and your Hebrew."
Wesley answered, "Thank you, sir. Your letter was superfluous, however, as I already knew the Lord has no need for my 'book-learning,' as you put it.
However, although the Lord has not directed me to say so, on my own responsibility I would like to say to you that the Lord does not need your ignorance either."
1 Cor 1:21 For when the world with all its earthly wisdom failed to perceive and recognize and know God by means of its own philosophy, God in His wisdom was pleased through the foolishness of preaching to save those who believed on Him. AMP
This is the real war – it’s a spiritual war! A war for faith and truth!
Rom 10:17 So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. (NKJ)
Faith doesn’t come by the act of hearing but through hearing a message worthy of being believed—
Albert Barnes re: this passage writes: This shows us at once the importance of the message, and the fact that people are converted by the instrumentality of truth, and of truth only. (from Barnes' Notes,)
John 8:31-32 Then Jesus said to those Jews who believed Him, "If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. 32 "And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free." (NKJ)
Faith comes by the true knowledge of God, not some mystical encounter or experience. I’m not preaching against experience, I’ve had plenty of them but faith is not in an experience it’s in believing the Word of God!
There’s little chance of the church being accused of too much logic today with "Christian" leaders:
· who say: "all evil will be ripped out of the world" by such and such a date;
· who insist that God is holding them ransom for eight million dollars;
· who claim to hear God's voice telling them to run for U.S. President;
· who can pitch the "anointing" into crowds like a baseball;
· who can "slay" enraptured followers "in the Spirit" simply by blowing on them;
· who sell God and spiritual trinkets like a commodity at the swap meet.
All this is nonsense but tragically professing Christians flock after such things by the eager and gullible millions.
Can salvation really be packaged so that it’s palatable to those seeking the fast track to riches?
Does the modern gospel come labeled with "Common sense not included"?
Does salvation mean that delivering the soul also turns the brain to mush?
The modern believer knows quite well how to defend the newest faith-healer, but knows little to nothing of defending the faith. He’s far too easily impressed by the "signs and wonders" done by the latest televangelist, and yet virtually illiterate when it comes to sound biblical doctrine.
Jesus prophetically asked a pertinent question of our generation:
Luke 18:8 “… when the Son of Man comes, will He really find faith on the earth?" (NKJ)
II. we’re in a battle for the mind
2Tim 3:14 But you must continue in the things which you have learned and been assured of, knowing from whom you have learned them, 15 You have been taught the holy Scriptures from childhood, and they have given you the wisdom to receive the salvation that comes by faith in Christ Jesus.
Tim 4:2 Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching. (NKJ)
We sing that song “Making War In The Heavenlies” but the real battle is fought between the ears! Spiritual warfare is located in the minds of men. The strongholds are patterns of thinking, that allow men to “hold out” against God’s Gospel.
J. Gresham Machen - False ideas are the greatest obstacle to the reception of the gospel. We may preach with all the fervor of a reformer and yet succeed in only winning a straggler here and there if we permit the whole collective thought of the nation or of the world to be controlled by ideas which by the resistless force of logic prevent Christianity from being anything more than a harmless delusion. Under such circumstances what God desires us to do is to destroy the obstacle at its root.” J. Gresham Machen Christianity, Education, and the State
An erroneous thought or opinion not refuted becomes knowledge against the knowledge of God. An imagination or dream not examined for validity becomes a fantasy which develops into a stronghold. These strongholds are places of blindness to truth or correction. They’re barriers to learning and growing. They’re all designed to alienate from God. All of the battle is in the minds of men, in their patterns of thinking.
George Barna and his staff interviewed some 10,000 believers in America and he wrote:
Christians don’t act differently because they don’t think differently. They don’t think differently because we’ve not taught them, trained them, nor held them accountable to do so.
Colossians 1:27-28 To His saints, God willed to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles: which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. 28 Therefore Christ we preach, warning every man and teaching every man in all wisdom, that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus. (NKJ)
Many believers and even large numbers of pastors are being swept away from truth by the misconception that the supernatural is something emotional or mystical. That doctrine is antagonistic to the spirit; that it goes beyond the Word of God; that the miracle power of Jesus is at odds with the logical, rational, intellectual pursuit of truth; that the mind is secondary to the spirit.
A station manager of a Christian Radio Program was surprised at the hours a prominent Bible preacher spent preparing for each sermon. He asked, “Preparing for a sermon…why don’t you let the Spirit lead you?
It seems in many places that study and preparation are viewed as contrary to the real thing which is the leading of the Spirit. The attack on study, theology, doctrine, or at least the inference that one opposes the other or that the Spirit can’t be found in study and preparation is absurd! This mystical emphasis on some subjective ethereal leading and guiding gives rise to all sorts of insane and stupid ideas about God.
Several ministries offer continuous play subliminal tapes that promise you freedom from doubt, fear, failure, fear of death, guilt, grief, depression, temper, pride, lust, temptation, pornography, procrastination, unforgiveness, rejection, drugs, alcohol, smoking, anger, rebellion, anxiety, panic, judging, homosexuality, scars from child abuse, and molestation‑‑all for $19.95!
There are other tapes that promise to speak things into being like prosperity, weight loss, peace, healing, self‑esteem, salvation, marital harmony, surrender to God, acceptance of God's Love, and a closer walk with God. Their ad reads:
These "Bible‑based subliminal messages hit controlling spirits where they live and command them to leave in Jesus' name and then the void is filled with the Word of God.
Our battle as pastors and disciples is to overcome the erroneous patterns of thinking that keep us blind to the truth. It is our task to become literate in the Word of God, in the doctrines of Christianity. To become “theologians”, if you will – men with answers for a lost and dying world, able to debate and refute the multitude of voices clamoring for the minds and souls of men!
This is not a new problem but certainly one that’s escalating!
Isaiah 5:13 Therefore my people have gone into captivity, because they have no knowledge; their honorable men are famished, and their multitude dried up with thirst. (NKJ)
Hos 4:6 My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. Because you have rejected knowledge, I also will reject you from being priest for Me; because you have forgotten the law of your God, I also will forget your children. (NKJ)
I am not advocating that we become fruitless intellectuals sitting in ivory towers but neither am I condoning ignorance that mocks education and learning. Paul wrote what many commentators describe as the greatest doctrinal thesis known to men—the book of Romans—and it was written to be read in a church consisting primarily of the uneducated, the slaves and the more humble classes of Roman society.
It’s not about formal education or Bible School. But it is about learning to know God better and better.
2 Peter 1:2-3 May God bless you with his special favor and wonderful peace as you come to know Jesus, our God and Lord, better and better. 3 As we know Jesus better, his divine power gives us everything we need for living a godly life. …!
We live in a generation that has rejected the need to know God in favor of the right to feel something.
A generation no longer interested in thinking or evaluating the truthfulness or validity of something as long as it feels good, tastes good, and makes them feel good about themselves. Truth is no longer absolute but some nebulous intangible that changes with the weather.
And the result: listen to this poem from 1978 by Steve Turner called “Creed” (see attachment)[2]
Logical thinking is out; experiencing "Holy Ghost goose bumps" are in.
III. a strategy for winning
Many are no longer willing to study the Scriptures themselves. They prefer instead to let others do their thinking for them. As our text says, as long as their ears are tickled, they will keep listening. But again our text says:
2Tim 3:14-15 But you must continue in the things which you have learned and been assured of, knowing from whom you have learned them, 15 and that from childhood you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.
2Tim 4:2 Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching. (NKJ)
The Westminster Confession is one of the defining documents of the Protestant faith. In Ch.1; Art. 6:
The whole counsel of God concerning all things necessary for His own glory, man's salvation, faith and life, is either expressly set down in Scripture, or by good and necessary consequence may be deduced from Scripture: unto which nothing at any time is to be added, whether by new revelations of the Spirit, or traditions of men.
This principle among others guided the Reformation and changed the world. As did the ancient Bereans in the days of Paul's ministry (Acts 17:11), we are also to diligently "search the Scriptures daily" to see whether or not the things we’re being told and taught and see and hear are indeed true.
WE are not told to run to the corner bookstore to search the latest "Christian" bestseller for the newest revelation from God or comb the internet for a ready made sermon. I use books and read sermons and material from other authors. There’s nothing wrong with that to a point.
But it is to the Bible alone that we are to turn for answers relating to our faith; it is the instruction of Scripture that we are to cherish above the opinions and fancies of men. Jesus told the devil:
Matt 4:4 "It is written, `Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.'" (NKJ)
Paul explains:
2 Cor 10:4-5 “…the weapons of our warfare are not physical [weapons of flesh and blood], but they are mighty before God for the overthrow and destruction of strongholds, 5[Inasmuch as we] refute arguments and theories and reasonings and every proud and lofty thing that sets itself up against the [true] knowledge of God; and we lead every thought and purpose away captive into the obedience of Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed one), AMP
Notice how logic and rational thought and learning stuff are the foundation of our victory.
Our text in Timothy says we are to: “convince them, rebuking and correcting, warning and urging and encouraging them, being unflagging and inexhaustible in patience and teaching.” AMP
This is what faith is all about! It’s learning truth, believing truth, speaking truth, living truth. Faith comes by hearing correct and true knowledge and believing it.
People are healed when we lay hands on them because God has spoken. This IS rational in God’s economy.
I contend that the only way to win this battle is to reclaim the ability to think!
Lamentably, irrationalism has greatly affected the visible church. … The primacy of the intellect and of truth has been replaced with emotionalism, ecstatic utterances, incoherent experiences, and anti-doctrinal statements (e.g., “give me Jesus, not exegesis”). Today, it seems that Faith has nothing to do with thought, let alone logic.
2 Timothy 3:16 All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It straightens us out and teaches us to do what is right.
17 It is God's way of preparing us in every way, fully equipped for every good thing God wants us to do. NLT
The problem is not that we don’t have the available resources … we do. But we suffer defeat when we are either ignorant of truth or refuse to obey truth. Neither is incurable.
We have all the information, promises, and knowledge we need in the Word of God. We have men gifted to equip and instruct us “that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting.”
There has to be an objective standard of truth. There must be in order to believe right things.
Paul writes:
Romans 12:2 Don't copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will know what God wants you to do, and you will know how good and pleasing and perfect his will really is. NLT
Ephesians 4:22-23 throw off your old evil nature and your former way of life, which is rotten through and through, full of lust and deception. 23 Instead, there must be a spiritual renewal of your thoughts and attitudes. 24 You must display a new nature because you are a new person, created in God's likeness--righteous, holy, and true. 25 So put away all falsehood and "tell your neighbor the truth" …”
It is in our thinking, in knowledge of God, in His wisdom that we find the right change and a new life.
John 17:3 And this is the way to have eternal life--to know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, the one you sent to earth. NLT
The real war is in the realm of the mind…thinking, speaking, preaching and debating. Refuting the insane ideas of the world. This is our call.
A. Paul’s advice to a young preacher named Timothy.
2 Timothy 2:15 Study to show thyself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. (NKJ)
This verb study means: “Do your best…” it refers to the act of putting the utmost effort into this activity; hence "make every effort," "try as hard as you can," and so on.
“Rightly handling” literally it refers to the act of cutting something in a straight way; figuratively it refers to expounding something rightly, or teaching something correctly. Here, what needs to be handled correctly is the word of truth -- "the true word" or "the true message"
We’re called to know this Word in such a way that we can bring truth to minds lost in darkness.
2 Corinthians 4:3-4 “…if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, 4 whose minds the god of this age has blinded, who do not believe, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them. (NKJ)
Paul gives us an example of his method of spiritual warfare and evangelism:
Acts 17:2 Paul, as his custom was, went in to the synagogue, and for three Sabbaths reasoned with them from the Scriptures, 3 reasoning, debating, explaining and proving that the Christ had to suffer and rise again from the dead, and saying, "This Jesus whom I preach to you is the Christ." (NKJ)
Paul knew that before the Thessalonians could be saved, their vain imaginations, reasonings, and high thoughts that exalted themselves against the knowledge of God had to be challenged and destroyed.
Acts 17:17 In Athens, Paul reasoned and disputed in the synagogue with the Jews and with the Gentile worshipers, and in the marketplace daily with those who happened to be there.
This is not some mystical battle in the ether but a real battle for thinking correctly and believing correct stuff.
What we believe must come from the Bible or else it’s a doctrine of devils.
This is the real nature of the roaring lion looking for someone to devour.
It’s an unguarded mind; a mind with no godly strongholds. A mind given to other ideas.
Jude 1:3 Beloved, while I was very diligent to write to you concerning our common salvation, I found it necessary to write to you exhorting you to contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints. (NKJ)
Principles are like a fountain from which other beliefs / actions flow. The closer you are to biblical beliefs, the better able you will be to carry out the commission of the Lord Jesus Christ—to make disciples of all nations.
Barna’s survey shows that only 9-13% of those claiming to be believers actually have a Biblical world-view![3]
Spiritual education is very important and, as a fellowship, we can make a major mistake right here, and that is by not insisting that our disciples learn how to think, read, study! That they become learned men in the doctrines of God as well as developing the character of God. You can train a dog to sit up, beg, / shake hands but it’ll never be his idea. I believe discipleship is more than training a man to take up an offering, put chairs in a row, or say a few pithy sayings. I believe it involves training a man to think, to investigate, to create, / to innovate, TO BE A scholar, a theologian, a MAN OF GOD!
IV. “I don’t have time”
This is a common lament! However, consider the following individual:
The name of Adam Clarke is synonymous with biblical scholarship and rightly so. His Commentary and Critical Notes on the entire Bible was completed in 1826 and it represented more than 30 years of intense research and writing. All this work was done while Clarke was a busy, itinerant Wesleyan preacher who never had an hour's secretarial help in his life.
Adam Clarke was converted in 1779 at age 19 through hearing a Methodist preacher. Three years later he left home to attend Wesley's school in Kingswood, Bristol, England. Five weeks later he was appointed to his first preaching circuit and for the next 50 years he was a self-taught Wesleyan preacher who, among other academic accomplishments, made himself master of at least 10 languages, ancient and modern.
He served on 24 Methodist circuits in England and Ireland, worked for 3 years in the Channel Islands, was three times president of the English Methodist Conference and four times president of the Irish Methodist Conference. In 1808 the University of Aberdeen conferred on Adam Clarke the honorary degree of LL.D., the university's highest academic honor.
As well as his Commentary, Clarke's publications ran to 22 volumes, including Reflections on the Being and Attributes of God, The Manners of the Ancient Israelites, 4 volumes of sermons, 3 volumes of miscellanea titled Detached Pieces, a volume on Christian Missions, A Concise View of the Succession of Sacred Literature, and A Bibliographical Dictionary. Clarke's literary output was phenomenal when it is recalled that he was a full-time itinerant preacher.
He was elected a member of six of the most learned societies of his day, including the Antiquarian Society, the Royal Asiatic Society, and the Royal Irish Academy. In spite of all the distinctions given to him, Clarke remained a loyal Wesleyan preacher and a devout, humble believer.
Learning I love,” he once wrote, “learned men I prize; with the company of the great and the good I am often delighted. But infinitely above all these and all other possible enjoyments, I glory in Christ--in me living and reigning and fitting me for His heaven.”
Clarke was a preacher of rare power and gifts and, particularly in his latter years, he preached to crowded churches. To his pulpit ministry he brought all the warmth of his Celtic upbringing and all the vast resources of his encyclopaedic learning.
Essentially a textual preacher, he made little formal preparation before he entered the pulpit--a method that we lesser mortals should not emulate! “I cannot make a sermon before I go into the pulpit,” he confessed to his friend, Robert Carr Brackenbury, “therefore, I am obliged to hang upon the arm and the wisdom of the Lord. I read a great deal, write very little, but strive to study.” “I ... strive to study”--that was the secret of Clarke's success both as a preacher and a writer.
[1] *Dumbing down teachers A reader sent to his local newspaper a list of teacher‑education courses at the University of Massachusetts‑Amherst, along with a note:
"This explains why 59 percent of prospective teachers in Massachusetts flunked a basic literacy test."
The courses listed were:
"Leadership in Changing Times;'
"Social Diversity in Education" (four different courses),
"Embracing Diversity,"
"Diversity & Change,"
"Oppression & Education,"
"Introduction to Multicultural Education;'
"Black Identity,"
"Classism,"
"Racism,"
"Sexism;'
"Jewish Oppression,"
"Lesbian/Gay/Bisexual Oppression;‑
'Oppression of the Disabled,"
and (get this one) "Erroneous Beliefs."
The test they failed was a basic 10th‑grade test in language, math, and other subjects, given to 1,800 would‑be teachers in Massachusetts.
Among other things, the 59 percent who failed often couldn't spell simple English words like "burned" and "abolished." Apparently they went into ed school without knowing much about anything, and came out the same way.
But at least they are prepared to drill children in separatism, oppression, and erroneous beliefs.
Our schools of education have been a national scandal for many years, but I wonder what would happen if we gave a similar test to those who have aspirations for ministry.
[2] CREED – POEM BY STEVE TURNER 1978
We believe in Marxfreudanddarwin.
We believe everything is OK
As long as you don’t hurt anyone,
To the best of your definition of hurt,
And the to best of your knowledge.
We believe in sex before, during, and after marriage.
We believe in the therapy of sin.
We believe that adultery is fun.
We believe that sodomy is OK.
We believe that taboos are taboo.
We believe that everything is getting better
despite evidence to the contrary.
The evidence must be investigated.
And you can prove anything with evidence.
We believe there's something in horoscopes, UFOs and bent spoons;
Jesus was a good man
just like Buddha, Mohammed, and ourselves.
He was a good moral teacher
although we think His good morals were bad.
We believe that all religions are basically the same
at least the one that we read was.
They all believe in love and goodness.
They only differ on matters of
creation, sin, heaven, hell, God, and salvation.
We believe that after death comes the Nothing.
Because when you ask the dead what happens they say nothing.
If death is not the end, if the dead have lied,
then it's compulsory heaven for all
excepting perhaps Hitler, Stalin, and Genghis Khan.
We believe in Masters and Johnson.
What's selected is average.
What's average is normal.
What's normal is good.
We believe in total disarmament.
We believe there are direct links between warfare and bloodshed.
Americans should beat their guns into tractors
and the Russians would be sure to follow.
We believe that man is essentially good.
It's only his behavior that lets him down.
This is the fault of society.
Society is the fault of conditions.
Conditions are the fault of society.
We believe that each man must find the truth that is right for him.
Reality will adapt accordingly.
The universe will readjust.
History will alter.
We believe that there is no absolute truth
excepting the truth that there is no absolute truth.
We believe in the rejection of creeds,
and the flowering of individual thought.
"Chance" a post‑script
If chance be the Father of all flesh,
disaster is his rainbow in the sky,
and when you hear
State of Emergency!
Sniper Kills Ten!
Troops on Rampage!
Whites Go Looting!
Bomb Blasts School!
It is but the sound of man worshiping his maker.
[3] “Spiritual Progress Hard To Find In 2003” – George Barna –
10,000 interviews show “contradictions and confusion permeate the spiritual condition of the nation.
While people are clearly spending less time involved in religious practices such as Bible reading, prayer, and…church activities,
70% claim that their own religious faith is consistently growing deeper…at the same time 84% claim to be Christian…only ¾ claim to be somewhat committed…3/5 believe the Bible is totally accurate while the moral foundations of our nation are crumbling.
Again Barna Claims:
Only 38% claim they have confessed their sins and accepted Christ as Savior, but 99% claim they will NOT go to Hell after they die. His research showed that while most people own a Bible, only 4% of adults and just 9% of “born again Christians” have a Biblical worldview. JUST 9% interpret their life through Bible truth!
Large percentages of believers claim that cohabitation, adultery, homosexuality, abortion, pornography, use of profanity, and gambling are “morally acceptable behaviors.”
