Tuesday, January 13, 2009


I have a little widget on the side of my blog that posts inspiration and thought provoking quotes...I clicked on it the other day, Worthy News and read a posting intitled "Americans Abandon Christianity, Study Shows"....... evidently a private study group called Barna Research did a telephone study of over 1,000 Christians and found out the following...
1/4 of those called, didn't believe that the Bible was accurate.
1/2 agree that Satan doesn't exist..and
1/3 say that Jesus sinned when He was on the earth..
2/5ths don't think they have any responsibility to share their faith..
and 82% of the younger people (24 or younger) believe you should customize your faith, picking and choosing what teachings you want...rejecting others.
and yet..
3 out of 4 think that their faith is vital and more meaningful than in the past...

It seems to me that Christian Americans are too focused on their emotions and neglecting reading the Bible. I read alot of christian blogs and most of them rarely talk about scripture but rather the latest teaching from a great writer/speaker...this can be very dangerous spiritually speaking....we know first hand how even very respected teachers can be misled and lead their folks in the wrong path...it happened to us and the damage that was done is terrible.
Remember Mathew 24:4-14

Jesus answered: "Watch out that no one deceives you. For many will come in my name, claiming, 'I am the Christ' and will deceive many. You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places.All these are the beginning of birth pains.

Then you will be handed over to be persecuted and put to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of me. At that time many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other, and many false prophets will appear and deceive many people. Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, but he who stands firm to the end will be saved. And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come"

from the looks of the results of this survey, its well started that "the love of most will grow cold"

We check every teaching by the scripture...and if it doesn't match up..reject the teaching not the scripture.....if you want to start this year and read the Bible daily..a great way is to use the One Year Bible Online, every day you will get emailed a section to study.
Here is another link I use quite frequently when I want to look something up..Bible Gateway
Bible Gateway also has a great audio bible reading also and I have that posted on the left side..if you click on the little speaker under the scripture, you will hear a scripture read.


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Before I leave today, I wanted to share this wonderful rare and special photo...this is a sunset at the North Pole with the moon at its nearest point..the sun is below the moon.
After I posted this, it was brought to my attention that this isn't an actual photo..but a digital masterpiece made by Inga Nielsen...You can find it in her gallery
still just as lovely....
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I have quite a few links on the left hand side of the blog, under " Biblical Links and Godly Living" and use many of them often....these are "goodies".
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Tomorrow is Dog the Week!

4 comments:

  1. I so much enjoyed (if that is the right word!) your post, Dani! It is true that Christians today have become so watered down, immune to the world's teachings, and really don't know their Bibles anymore. It was the Bereans in the Bible that quickly went to the Scriptures to "see if these things were so" when they first heard the teachings of Paul. And so, like them, we should check out every teacher or speaker. We can so easily be sucked into cunning and swift teachings!!!!

    Thank you for the reminder to be dilligent and on our toes!

    Cora

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  2. You are so right, Dani. We need to measure every teaching against Scripture. It certainly is more popular today to pick and choose what you want to believe, and our world has moved very far from the truth that is found only in God's Word. Thanks for reminding us that the Bible will keep us from being deceived.

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  3. Dani, I really see that mentally in our churches today. It breaks my heart. Btu reading those stats in print is just downright frightening.

    I was listening to Greg Laurie preach this past week, and he was so adamant about keeping the focus on God's word and using it as guide. Oh the revival we would see if only Christians would do that.

    I always enjoy reading your reflections.

    Love,
    Lea

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  4. Wonderful words, Dani, even though like Lea said, very frightening statistics!!
    I totally agree with you- reading God's word for ourselves is the only way to guard against false teachers.

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