George Barna, he of the ARIZONA CHRISTIAN UNIVERSITY, may well be the most respected Christian surveyist in America. In a survey he conducted, released August 6, 2024, on CHRISTIAN EVANGELICALISM and Christianity in America, the Barna survey said the following:
“The cultural awareness sparked by the Covid pandemic and the 2024 Presidential campaign has led millions of Americans to realize just how depraved American society has become. Corrupt politicians, dishonest journalists and media outlets, broken social institutions, immoral religious leaders, unconstitutional government programs and policies, and more, have generated non-stop headlines highlighting the decadence of American society and the demise of the United States.”
That, my fellow Americans and fellow Christians, may be the most damning judgment of our great country in many years. The depth of the depravity in America, says Barna, is shocking. And it really is with no end in sight. The real reason for this satanic cultural decline says Barna:
“is a direct result of the spiritual collapse of Christianity in our nation.”
Barna is right. The once dynamic of Christianity in America does indeed seem gone, tarnished, diminished, of little force and effect, not only nationally and generally, but individually as well.
The survey found that this steep cultural decline emanates from the dramatic transformation in the evangelical community in the United States during the past 30 years. Real evangelicals, however that is defined, seem to be far fewer in number and even more importantly far less biblical in their thinking and beliefs. There has come about the growth of SYNCRETISM, which is a worldview that combines core beliefs and behaviors from a variety of other well-defined worldviews such as Marxism, Secular Humanism, Eastern Mysticism, and Postmodernism. Individuals, in other words, offer their own worldview, belief system, and ultimate values with core beliefs gathered from any number of sources and the Barna survey indicates that as many as 9 out of 10 adults are in fact categorized by this CUT-AND-PASTE approach to their philosophy of life. That also means that any absolute truth claimed by scripture, THE BIBLE, is unacceptable or only acceptable in part, and Christianity, once a dynamic, monolithic force in America and the world, no longer exists. SYNCRETISM has won out over Christianity!
Christians, evangelical Christians, what is left of them, now vote in far fewer numbers than once believed. They are simply far less active in the political process and seem to have little concern for results, so says Barna.
And more, most evangelicals do not possess a biblical worldview with only about one third of so-called evangelicals doing so. In fact, says the Barna survey, evangelicals are more likely to be shaped by the culture around them, than they are to influence that culture or even more importantly, evangelize it.
So then, the ultimate question then becomes:
WHAT IS AN EVANGELICAL?
If the absolute truths of the Bible, the gospel message, the old and new testaments are at best guides and syncretized with other religions and worldviews, and beliefs and values, and that affects evangelicals, what really is an evangelical and what does a real evangelical believe?
Several decades ago, it was thought that there was some 60-70 million adults who were in fact bible believing evangelicals. Barna estimates that today, that figure could be as low as 25-30 million adults. I, for one, do hope and pray that is wrong, for an aggressive, moral, committed, right-thinking and living evangelical is a critical component of the American society.
Barna then goes on to state, as a result of his most recent survey, that the following priorities and beliefs are foundational for the current day evangelical.
First, God is the all-knowing (omniscient), all-powerful, just and perfect creator of the universe.
God is the basis of all truth, and those truths are conveyed to us through the Bible.
The purpose of life is to fully know, love, and serve God with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength.
Jesus Christ is the way, the truth, and the life, and there is no other besides him.
Satan, representing all evil, truly exists and is the author of the current immoral society.
All humans are born into sin and can only escape the consequences through Jesus Christ.
All such beliefs are incorporated in the Bible, its 66 books, and do in fact comprise basic tenets of belief which a real and true evangelical must embrace and adopt. Do you, as Christian, real Christian, believe in those Christian fundamental and basic tenets, do you?
The Barna survey then concludes that as many as 7 out 10 so-called evangelicals do not believe in all of those tenets and of more concern, reject the idea that truth is absolute and biblically based. Small wonder that Christianity is on the decline and no longer acts as the antidote to the immoral decline in American society.
It is indeed tragic that there are millions of evangelicals who do not vote, so concludes George Barna, are not active in the political process, do not seem to care about political happenings, candidates, or events, and otherwise totally ignore and walk away from their citizenship responsibilities. When these good men and women abandon the political arena, the very bad, immoral men and women take over, exercise power, work to foster things anti-Christian, and further enhance the immoral decay and slide of this once great country. Time, survival time, for all of us, for American democracy, runs out.
More Barna findings. As many as 50% of so-called evangelicals believe that eternal salvation can in fact be earned through good works, something directly contrary to the strong teachings of scripture.
Almost 50% believe, says Barna, that there is no absolute moral truth, again something absolutely contrary to biblical teaching.
And this survey found, shockingly so, that somewhat more than one out of every five so-called evangelicals prefer SOCIALISM TO CAPITALISM! In short, it seems that even the modern-day evangelical has been syncretized, believes something from scripture but otherwise believes whatever they want to believe or whatever they think is right to believe. Small wonder, my fellow Christians, that there is an amazing, considerable, seemingly irreversible immoral decline and slide in America, its culture, politics, and beliefs.
Are you a Christian, and are you an evangelical Christian, and if so, what do you believe, what do you really believe and what is the foundation for those beliefs, the source, the reality of those beliefs? The power of the gospel at work in the lives of individuals, individuals by the millions, is the only real thing which can impact, change, and reverse the immoral slide in this once great country. So that, say many, our motto should not be GOD BLESS AMERICA, but GOD HELP AMERICA! And powerful, moral, people of faith, at work, in control, and dynamic in influence are the only ones who can reverse and save this once great country. I do hope and pray that you are one of those Soldiers of the Cross. That you are ready to put all on the altar and that you will be an active force in politics and culture in America.
And, that you will vote and be active and outspoken in elections 2024!
The CRAWFORD STAND podcast
CHRISTIAN EVANGELICALISM IN AMERICAN SOCIETY GEORGE BARNA RECENT SURVEY
The Crawford Stand with the President of Crawford Media Group, Don Crawford. George Barna, he of the Arizona Christian University, may well be the most respected Christian surveyist in America. In a survey he conducted released August 6 of this year, on Christian Evangelicalism and Christianity in America, the Barna survey said the following, here these words carefully. The cultural awareness sparked by the COVID pandemic and the 2024 presidential campaign has led millions of Americans to realize just how depraved American society has become. Corrupt politicians, dishonest journalists, and media outlets, broken social institutions, immoral religious leaders, unconstitutional government programs and policies, and more, more than all of that, have generated non-stop headlines highlighting the decadence of American society and the demise, demise, of the United States. Incredible, isn't it? That my fellow Americans and fellow Christians may be the most damning statement and judgment of our great country in so many years. The depth of the depravity in America, says Barna, is shocking, and it really is with no end in sight. The real reason for this satanic cultural decline, says Barna, is a direct result of the spiritual collapse of Christianity in our nation. Once again, that's a direct result this depravity is, of the spiritual collapse of Christianity in our nation. I think Barna is right. The once dynamic of Christianity in America does indeed seem gone, or at least tarnished, and diminished, and of so little force and effect like it used to have, not only nationally and generally but individually as well. The survey found this steep cultural decline emanates from the dramatic transformation, get this now, in the evangelical community in the United States during the past 30 years. The evangelical community has declined in influence, and numbers, and power. Real evangelicals, however that is defined, seem to be far fewer in number and even more importantly far less biblical in their thinking and beliefs. If you are an evangelical, does that describe you? Boy, I sure hope and pray not. And there has come about, says Barna, the growth of syncretism. Syncretism, that's a big word, huh? And that's a worldview that combines core beliefs and behaviors from a variety of other well-defined worldviews, such as Marxism, secular humanism, Eastern mysticism, and postmodernism. Whew, boy, that's a handful, isn't it? Those in other words offer their own worldview and their own belief system and ultimate values with core beliefs gathered from any number of sources. And the Barna survey indicates that as many as nine out of ten adults, nine out of ten, are in fact categorized by this cut and paste approach to their philosophy of life. Syncretism, a whole bunch of stuff to believe in, that also means that any absolute truth claimed by scripture, the Bible, is unacceptable or only acceptable in part. And Christianity, once a dynamic monolithic force in America and the world, really no longer exists as such. Syncretism has worn out over Christianity, oh, Lord help us. Christians, evangelical Christians, at least what has left of them, now vote in far fewer numbers than once believed. They are simply far less active in the political process, and they seem to have little concern for the results. So says Barna, if you are a Christian, are you involved in politics, at least to some extent? Do you vote? And do you have some concern for the results and what happens to America? Oh, I sure hope and pray you do. And more. Most evangelicals says Barna, do not possess a biblical worldview with only about one-third of so-called evangelicals doing so, one-third unbelievable. In fact, says the Barna survey, evangelicals are more likely to be shaped by the culture around them than they are to influence that culture, or even more importantly, evangelize it. That's scary. I mean, that's really scary. So then the ultimate question then becomes, really, what is an evangelical? What is an evangelical? Do you know the definition of that? If the absolute truths of the Bible, the gospel message, the Old and New Testaments are at best guides and syncretized with other religions and worldviews and beliefs and values, and that affects evangelicals, really, what is an evangelical? And what does a real evangelical believe? If you consider yourself an evangelical, what exactly do you believe? Several decades ago, it was thought that there were some sixty to seventy million adults who were, in fact, Bible-believing evangelicals. Barna estimates that today, that figure could be as low as twenty-five to thirty million people. Boy, I sure hope he's wrong, and I do hope and pray that is the case, that he's wrong, for an aggressive, moral, committed, right-thinking, and right-living evangelical is a critical component of the American society. It really is. Barna then goes on to state, as a result of the most recent survey, that the following priorities and beliefs are foundational for the current day evangelical. First, he says, God is the all-knowing and omniscient and all-powerful and all-just and perfect creator of the universe. Do you believe that? Do you? And then he says, God is the basis of all truth, and those truths are conveyed to us through the Bible. Do you believe that? I do. The purpose of life is to fully live and serve and know and love God, and to do that with all of our heart and all of our soul and all of our mind and all of our strength. That's the great saying in the Torah, affirmed by our Lord Jesus Christ. Do you believe that? That's the purpose of life for you? And then he says, Jesus Christ, Jesus Christ is the way, the truth and the life, and there is no other besides him. I believe that. Do you? And Satan, representing all evil, Satan truly exists and is the author of the current immoral society. I do believe that. I wonder if you do. To all humans, says Barna, this is a core and fundamental tenet of a real evangelical. All humans are born into sin and can only escape the consequences through Jesus Christ. Amen, and amen. And all such beliefs as indicated above are incorporated in the Bible. It's 66 books, old and new. And they do in fact comprise basic tenets of belief, which are real and true characteristics of a real evangelical. Do you believe that? Do you as a Christian, a real Christian, believe in those Christian fundamental and basic tenets, do you? The Barna survey then concludes that as many as seven out of ten so-called evangelicals do not believe in all of those tenets, and of more concern reject the idea that truth is absolute and biblically based, unbelievable. How can you be a Christian and not believe that tenets like that that come right from the Bible are not real? If all of this is true, if this survey is accurate, small wonder that Christianity is on the decline and no longer access the antidote to the immoral decline in American society. It ought not to be God bless America as our slogan, but God help America. Ah, it is indeed tragic that there are millions of evangelicals who do not vote. Boy, I sure hope you are not one. They are not active in the political process. That's really hard for me to believe, especially those who have children. And they do not seem to care these so-called evangelicals about political happenings or candidates or the events of the times, and otherwise totally ignore and walk away from their citizenship responsibilities. I pray you are not one. And when these good men and women abandon the political arena, the very bad men and women, the immoral ones take over, and they exercise power, and they work to foster things anti-Christian, and further enhance the immoral decay and slide of this one's great country. Time, survival time, for all of us for American democracy, time begins to run out. And many think these are the end times, the last days, do you? And even more from George Barna, as many as 50% of so-called evangelicals believe that eternal salvation can in fact be, get this now, earned through good works, earned through good works. Getting directly contrary to the strong teachings of Scripture, by grace are you saved through faith, and that not of yourself. It is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man or woman should boast. Again, almost 50% of so-called evangelicals says Barna, believe that there is no such thing as absolute truth. Unbelievable, just unbelievable. And this survey found, shockingly so, that somewhat more than one out of every five so-called evangelicals prefer socialism to capitalism. Are you one of those? In short, it seems that even the modern day evangelical has been syncretized, believes something from Scripture, but otherwise believes whatever they want to believe, or whatever they think is right to believe. Small wonder, my fellow Christians, that there is an amazing, considerable, seemingly irreversible, immoral decline and slide in America, the America of post-truth, and its culture and politics and beliefs. Oh, what a sad time. What a sad time. Are you a Christian and are you an evangelical Christian? And if so, what do you believe? What do you really believe? Do you know that? And what is the foundation for those beliefs, the source, the reality of those beliefs, the power of the gospel at work in the lives of individuals, individuals by the millions, is the only real thing which can impact, and change, and reverse the immoral slide in this once great country. So that, say many, again, our motto should not be God bless America, but God help America. Boy, I pray for that, and I hope you do too. And powerful, moral, people of faith at work, in control, and dynamic influence are the only ones who can reverse and save this once great country. And I do hope and pray that you are one of those soldiers of the cross and the country, that you are ready to put all on the altar and that you will be an active force in politics and in culture in America, and that you will vote, vote, and be active and outspoken in elections and politics in the great years 2024. Well, absolute truth of the gospel, salvation by faith in Jesus, is very much alive here on the Crawford Stand. And if you're glad about that, tell Mr. Crawford in your email to Stand at Crawford Media Group dot net. When you want to review what you hear, go to our website Crawford Media Group dot net. By the way, when you write to Mr. Crawford, be sure to tell him on what station you hear the stand. His email address again is stand at Crawford Media Group dot net. Remember, you can hear the entire Crawford Stand each week by going online to myhopenow.com. The Crawford Stand is a public affairs presentation of Crawford Media Group and this station. Serving God and Country, I'm Bill McCormick.