George Barna identifies biggest threats facing the Church: ‘We’ve reached a time of Christian invisibility’

May 21, 2024 — The Christian Post reports: “George Barna, a leading expert in church and worldview trends, has weighed in on some of the biggest issues facing the Church — including the steady decrease in a biblical worldview and dwindling concern for spiritual formation — at a time of ‘Christian invisibility in our culture.’ 

In an interview with The Christian Post, the 69-year-old founder of The Barna Group, a market research firm specializing in studying Americans’ religious beliefs and behaviors, said that over the last few decades, he’s seen certain negative trends increasingly permeate Western Christianity. 

‘People have become more selfish, churches have become less influential, pastors have become less Bible-centric,’ he said. ‘Families have invested less of their time and energy in spiritual growth, particularly of their children. The media now influences the Church more than the Church influences the media, or the culture for that matter. The Christian Body tends to get off track arguing about a lot of things that really don’t matter.’…”  (Behold, the days come, saith the Lord God, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the Lord: And they shall wander from sea to sea, and from the north even to the east, they shall run to and fro to seek the word of the Lord, and shall not find it. – Amos 8:11-12.  There is a famine of the Word of God in America, a famine caused by pastors who as Dr. Van Impe often stated “Preach little sermonettes that create Christianettes.”  There is no substance to their messages.  Hadden Robinson, author of Biblical Preaching: The Development and Delivery of Expository Messages was lecturing his students on preparation for preaching and said “If it’s a mist in the pulpit, it’ll be a fog in the pews.”  Paul wrote to Timothy: I charge thee therefore before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom; Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all long suffering and doctrine.  For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables. But watch thou in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, make full proof of thy ministry – II Timothy 4:1-5.  Pastors, teach your people!  See the next report.)

Only 6% of self-professed Christians hold biblical worldview amid increasing syncretism in the US: survey

May 2, 2024 — The Christian Post reports: “Only 6% of Christians have a biblical worldview as many Americans embrace syncretism, according to a new survey. 

The Cultural Research Center at Arizona Christian University released a new batch of research from the American Worldview Inventory 2024.

‘Syncretism is the term used to describe a customized blend of philosophies of life that a person pieces together for their own satisfaction,’ the report explained. ‘Syncretism is the result of people relying upon their emotions to appropriate elements of various recognized worldviews toward creating an idiosyncratic, personally pleasing understanding of and response to reality.’

Adherence to syncretism has increased since 2021, when the Cultural Research Center found that 88% of American adults subscribed to the worldview…”

Persecution watchdog warns of growing hostility to Christians in US: ‘Frogs in the kettle’

April 30, 2024 — ChristianPost.com reports: “The president of a nonprofit Christian persecution watchdog that monitors hostility to faith and freedom abroad warned that too few Christians in America and the West seem aware of how such trends are manifesting at home.

‘Basically, we are frogs in the kettle, and the bubbles keep coming up under us,’ Jeff King, president of the Washington, D.C.-based International Christian Concern (ICC), told The Christian Post.

Jeff King, president of International Christian Concern (ICC), warned that Americans are like ‘frogs in the kettle’ regarding increasing persecution. | International Christian Concern

ICC, which was founded in 1995 to advocate for the persecuted church around the world, has been speaking out, particularly about Staci Barber’s case in Texas.

Barber is a school teacher who sued the Katy Independent School District near Houston in March after her principal allegedly reprimanded her last September for praying with two other teachers at the school’s flagpole as part of ‘See You At the Pole,’ an annual international event…”  (Jesus stated the reason for the persecution of Christians worldwide.  It is because the world hates Him.  Why? If I had not come and spoken unto them, they had not had sin: but now they have no cloak for their sin… If I had not done among them the works that none other man did, they had not had sin… – John 15:22, 24.  Before Jesus came to the earth, mankind could look at each other and say “I’m not as bad as that person is, I’ve never murdered, I’ve never stolen,” much like the Pharisee did in Luke 18:10 – 14 – I thank thee that I am not as other men... Once Jesus came to the earth, those rationalizations were no longer valid.  As a result, the world strikes out against God, and against Christians.  Jesus also stated in Matthew 5:10 – 12: Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness’ sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.  Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake.  Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you.)     

Three Christian missionaries from Oklahoma-based group killed in Haiti

May 27, 2024 — Voice of America News reports: “Three Christian missionaries from Missions in Haiti were shot and killed in an ambush by a gang in Haiti, the Oklahoma-based group said Friday.

The missionaries were shot by gang members at about 9 p.m. CDT (0200 GMT) Thursday, the group said in two Facebook posts.

Months of gang violence in Haiti have forced the government into retreat, and U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken has warned the country is close to becoming a failed state.

Haiti’s main international airport in Port-au-Prince reopened this week, nearly three months after it shut due to deadly gang-related violence. But gangs still control much of the capital, and Haiti’s main seaport remains closed…”  (Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer: behold, the devil shall cast some of you into prison, that ye may be tried; and ye shall have tribulation ten days: be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life – Revelation 2:10.  Jesus said in the Beatitudes: Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness’ sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.  Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake.  Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you – Matthew 5:10 – 12.)