In recent decades, God has been pouring out His Holy Spirit especially in Brazil, Chile, other parts of Latin America, China and in many countries in Africa and Asia, leading multitudes to surrender their lives to the Lord Jesus Christ. The fulfillment of Jesus’ marvellous prophecy about the preaching of the Gospel to all nations is getting closer to being fulfilled. All believers should thank God for these things and pray for their continuation and expansion in the period up to the Second Coming of Jesus Christ.

Also recently, there have been pockets of revival in the U.S. among the Church of God in Christ – a Pentecostal group which was the fastest growing denomination in the U.S. in the 1990’s – and among some local churches. But sadly some of the attitudes and practices of compromising liberal Protestants have spread in recent decades among many Evangelicals, Pentecostals and Charismatics in the United States. This trend is still continuing. Similar things have occurred in other Western countries.

This liberalising and backsliding has occurred in relation to attitudes to the Bible, creation, the purpose of life, absolute verses relative truth, the existence of hell and eternal punishment, how to evangelise the unsaved, the philosophy of humanism and numerous moral issues.

I find no pleasure in writing the facts recorded in this chapter. What I have to say makes me feel very sad and grieved. God deeply loves all the people referred to here. My aim in writing this chapter is not to revile people but by Jesus’ love to correct them so they will hopefully repent. Revelation 3:19 records Jesus’ Words: “As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. Therefore be zealous and repent.”

 

A survey of 10,000 Protestant ministers in the U.S. in 1982

 

Even back in the 1980’s, many of the churches in the United States were declining, liberalizing and backsliding. For example, in 1982 in the U.S., researcher Jeffrey Haddon did a survey of 10,000 Protestant ministers of which 7,441 ministers responded. The results of this survey were as follows:

“Jesus born of a virgin?

60% of Methodists said ‘No’

49% of Presbyterians said ‘No’

44% of Episcopals said ‘No’

19% of American Lutherans said ‘No’

 

Jesus the Son of God?

82% of Methodists said ‘No’

81% of Presbyterians said ‘No’

89% of Episcopals said ‘No’

57% of American Lutherans said ‘No’

 

 

 

Bible – inspired Word of God?

82% of Methodists said ‘No’

81% of Presbyterians said ‘No’

89% of Episcopals said ‘No’

57% of American Lutherans said ‘No’

 

Existence of Satan?

62% of Methodists said ‘No’

47% of Presbyterians said ‘No’

37% of Episcopals said ‘No’

33% of Baptists said ‘No’

14% of American Lutherans said ‘No’

 

Physical resurrection of Jesus?

51% of Methodists said ‘No’

35% of Presbyterians said ‘No’

30% of Episcopals said ‘No’

33% of Baptists said ‘No’

13% of American Lutherans said ‘No’” [1]

 

Also note when Campus Crusade did a poll of Christians in the U.S. in the early 1980’s, 95% of respondents stated: “I am carnal”, or “I am a babe in Christ.” [2]

 

Pollster George Barna’s research

 

In his book “The Index of Leading Spiritual Indicators”, [3] pollster George Barna presented the results of many of his statistical research studies done between 1982 to 1996. I recommend you read this book. In the following, I will list many of his findings recorded in the above-mentioned book. Also I will list some of Barna’s research results recorded in some of his other books.

 

Good indicators about what Americans believe

 

In his research, Barna discovered:

 

·         In 1995, 93% of American adults said they believed God exists. Of these, 63% had a relatively Biblical view of God. [4] Only 11% believed “God” is “a state of higher consciousness that an individual may reach” and 8% believed “God” is the “total realisation of human potential”. Three per cent believed there are many “gods”. Three per cent said everyone is their own “god”. [5]

·         In 1994, 74% of American adults agreed that we can only receive forgiveness of our sins through faith in Jesus Christ. [6]

·         In 1994, 85% of Americans believed Jesus Christ had a virgin birth. [7]

·         In 1993, 85% of Americans believed Jesus Christ was crucified, died, rose from the dead and is spiritually alive today. [8] (According to the most extreme teachers of the false gospel of easy believism, this means 85% of Americans are saved.)

·         In 1994, 39% of Americans agreed that those who choose not to receive Jesus Christ as their Saviour will be eternally condemned to hell. [9]

·         In 1992, 70% of Americans believed that someday Jesus will come back. [10]

·         In 1993, 86% of Americans agreed that every person will one day be judged by God. [11]

·         In 1994, 82% of Americans stated they believed that the Holy Spirit resides within those who have received Christ as their Saviour. [12]

·         In 1994, 82% of Americans agreed that prayer can alter what occurs in our lives. [13]

·         In 1992, 68% of Americans believed that the Christian faith has every answer necessary to living a successful life. [14]

·         In 1996, 58% of American adults agreed that the Bible is completely accurate in every one its teachings. [15]

·         In 1994, 73% of Americans agreed that every miracle recorded in the Scriptures really occurred. [16]

 

Good outward signs about American Christian practices

 

In his research, Barna also found that:

 

·         In 1993, 92% of American homes owned at least one copy of the Bible. [17] Even many atheists and non-practicing churchgoers owned Bibles. [18]

·         In 1996, fewer than one half of 1% of Americans during the week read one of the main books of major non-Christian religions: the Muslim Koran, the Hindu Bhagvadgita, the version of the Old Testament read by Jews and the I Ching. [19] In 1993, only about 2% of Americans read the Book of Mormon. [20]

·         In surveys in 1994 and 1995, it was found that each week 24% of American adults watched Christian television, 27% listened to Christian preaching or teaching on the radio, 22% listened to Christian music on the radio and 27% read Christian books other than the Bible.[21] In an average month, 49% of American adults watch Christian television, 39% listen to Christian teaching or preaching on the radio, 45% listen to Christian music on the radio and 34% read a Christian book other than the Bible. [22]

·         In 1992, 60% of American adults said they had volunteered time or money during the previous month to help needy people in their region. [23]

·         In 1994, 78% of American adults claimed to pray each week. [24] In 1993, 52% said they prayed several times a day. [25] 1n 1994, 33% of American adults said that each month, they participated in a special prayer meeting with other believers. [26]

·         In 1994, 50% of Americans said they were in or sensed God’s presence at least once each week. [27]

·         In 1994, 70% of Americans stated they “consistently allow (their) lives to be guided by the Holy Spirit”. [28]

 

Signs of decline

 

But Barna also stated:

 

·         In 1991, 49% of American adults attended a weekly church service. [29] By January 1995, this figure had declined to 42%. [30]

·         In 1991, 23% of American adults attended adult Sunday School but by 1996, this figure had dropped, to 17%. [31]

·         In 1992, 47% of Americans read the Bible at least once during the week. [32] By 1996, this figure dropped to 34%. [33] Bible reading by Protestants dropped from 62% in 1991 to 48% in 1996 and by Catholics from 31% in 1991 to 21% in 1996. [34]

·         In 1991, 27% of all American adults said they had devoted some free time to helping at a local church during that week. In 1996, this figure had declined to 21%. [35]

·         In 1988, 14% of American adults held leadership positions in their local church. By 1993, this figure dropped to 9%. [36]

 

Signs of superficiality

 

Barna also wrote:

 

·         In 1996, 80% of Americans believed the Bible included the statement “God helps those who help themselves”. [37]

·         In the United States, “fewer than 10% of all born-again Christians possess a biblical worldview that informs their thinking and behaviour” in 1998. [38] Barna also said that most American Christians had “a deep-rooted ignorance” about the teachings of Christianity and “show little concern about their ignorance.” [39] He stated that this ignorance of the Bible has resulted in most believers being unable to apply their faith in Christ to their daily living and to sharing their faith effectively with others. [40] Barna said most American churches have given in to the desire of most American Christians to keep all teaching and discussion about Christianity “at an elementary level” and to “paint happy faces on the Bibles.” [41] In other words, tragically a high percentage of American churches are very appealing to the majority of American churchgoers because these churches cater to the superficial carnal type of Christianity these churchgoers desire.

·         In 1995, only 15% of Americans said that the Bible is the most significant influence on their beliefs about whether there are absolute moral standards. [42] This is even though 39% of adult Americans claimed to be born-again in 1994. [43]

·         In 1991, more than one half of American Evangelical supposedly born-again Christians supported the unbiblical statement: “The purpose of life is enjoyment and personal fulfillment.” [44] Such people were either backslidden to varying degrees or have never really been converted. They were examples of worldly religious people similar to that mentioned in 2 Timothy 3:1-2 and 4-5: “But know this, in the last days perilous times will come: For men will be lovers of themselves…lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having a form of godliness but denying its power. And from such people turn away!” The Bible teaches the purpose of life is glorifying, trusting in and loving God and Jesus Christ and seeking first His Kingdom and righteousness. The self is fulfilled as a secondary result of doing the above will of God.

·         Only 4% of all Americans could correctly describe the Gospel, John 3:16 and the Great Commission. This is despite the fact in 1995, 35% of all Americans claimed to be born-again Christians. [45] Barna said that a greater percentage of Americans can accurately name the highest rating television shows, name the main actors in fictional movies like “the Godfather” or T.V. shows like the Three Stooges and remember the advertising slogans of United Airlines and American Express than the percentage of Americans who can accurately describe the Gospel, John 3:16 and the Great Commission. [46]

Barna said out of born-again Christians only half could correctly describe the content of John 3:16, 6 out of 10 knew what the Gospel was and just 2 out of 10 knew what the Great Commission was. [47]

·         Out of the adult Protestants in the United States who shared their faith in 1994:

 

a) About one third believed that if people did enough good things for others, they could merit going to heaven.

b) Four in ten believe it does not really matter what religion – Christianity and others – you belong to because all religions teach similar lessons about life.

c) One quarter believe Jesus made mistakes.

d) One quarter believe the Bible has errors in what it teaches. [48]

 

·         American churches donated more than $50 billion to their churches in 1989, the majority of this occurring in Protestant churches. [49] But only 5% of this money was used for evangelism. [50] Here we see another tragedy. American Protestant churches seem to be good at collecting tithes and offerings but spend very little of it on ministering to those heading towards eternal punishment.

·         Most of the cutting-edge evangelistic churches in the U.S. have very low retention rates of converts. Barna said that these churches focused so strongly on obtaining decisions for Christ that they failed often to lead people to having real conversions to Christ which have post-conversion fruit.” [51]

 

Worship centred on self and not on loving God

 

In his book “Habits of Highly Effective Churches”, George Barna wrote about his statistical research in 1998 into many key aspects of American churches. One of these areas of research is worship.

Then when giving the results of his 1998 research into the worship attitudes of American churchgoers, Barna said: “Millions of adults who frequently attend church believe that the purpose of attending is to have a pleasing experience. There are more people who believe that attending worship services is for personal benefit or pleasure than those who believe worship is what we do for God. [52]

Barna also pointed out something else which he believes is a problem in the worship of the majority of American churches. He said that most American churches have “no desire to confront sin” in their church services but instead evaluated these services according to the levels of personal “comfort and professionalism achieved”. [53]

It is wrong to minister condemnation to justified born-again believers. But it is also wrong to not co-operate with the Holy Spirit in His continual desire to lead believers to turn from their known sins.

 

Exaggerations about growth in many American mega-churches

 

For many years, I was like multitudes of others who had been brainwashed to believe all fast-growing American Evangelical, Charismatic and Pentecostal mega-churches experienced an enormous revival and a massive increase in new converts in the 1980’s. Mega-churches are those local churches with many thousands of attenders and usually get much publicity in the Christian media.

It seems that many like myself gullibly believed the positive confessions, exaggerations, part-truths and sales talk of numerous American preachers at church growth and pastors’ conferences and in their books about the “great revivals” which was supposed to have occurred in their local churches during that decade.

It is true that during the 1980’s, a certain number of non-churchgoing Americans turned to the Lord. Also during that time, many unconverted churchgoers moved from dead liberal and traditional churches to Evangelical, Pentecostal and Charismatic churches where they experienced real conversions to Christ. But it seems that a high percentage of the rapid increases in numbers in most American mega-churches was a result of the transfer of born-again believers from other churches. There were obvious exceptions to this, but this was generally true.

George Barna’s research into many of the fastest growing Evangelical, Charismatic and Pentecostal mega-churches in the United States in the 1980’s is expressed in his following words: “Perhaps it is not surprising then, to report that our studies of the Protestant churches that are growing the fastest are expanding primarily by incorporating people from other declining churches. This is growth by transfer, rather than by conversion. Thus while many churches across the nation receive attention for their explosive growth, relatively few of those churches are attracting adults who are newcomers to the faith. Most frequently, they are simply enlisting individuals who have left their existing church to be part of the ‘happening church’. This is such a common behaviour that an estimated 90 million adults in America have been ‘church shopping’. Although the ‘mega-churches’ and super-churches’ bask in the media spotlight, the reality is that most churches in America have fewer than 100 people in attendance on any single day of worship.” [54]

In the 1980’s at pastors’ conferences and in their books, many leaders of large American churches often created a false impression by not admitting that most of their growth was transfer growth. They conveniently left out important facts to promote their image of success. Image was more important than integrity before God. Not all pastors of large fast-growing American churches did this, but many did.

 

Results of false gospels and half-hearted “commitments” to Christ

 

The tragic results of the preaching of various types of easy believism, cheap grace, legalistic and other false so-called “gospels” in many American Protestant, Catholic and Orthodox local churches can be seen in some of Barna’s statistical research.

In 1995, Barna found that 67% of American adults said they had made a “personal commitment to Jesus Christ that is still important in their life today”. [55] Probably over one-half of this 67% were non-churchgoers or from churches which were not Evangelical. This is considering in 1990, only 30.3% of the American population were Evangelical regular church attenders. [56]

This 30.3% figure included Pentecostals and Protestant Charismatics. Pentecostal/Protestant Charismatic-type Evangelicals comprised 13.4% of the entire American population in 1990. [57] Patrick Johnstone also recorded there were about 2,300,000 members of Catholic Charismatic groups and 35,000 members of Orthodox Charismatic groups in the United States in 1990. [58] These Catholic and Orthodox Charismatic groups comprised roughly 1.3% of the entire American population in 1990.

Evidence that the above 67% figure for supposed personal commitments to Jesus Christ that are still important in Americans’ lives today includes many non-Evangelicals and non-Pentecostal/Charismatics is the fact in 1994, Barna found 39% of adult Americans claimed to be born-again Christians. [59] So about 28% of American adults say they have made a personal commitment to Jesus Christ which is still important in their lives today, while at the same time not wanting to be regarded as born-again Christians.

Some Catholic Charismatics say they are born-again, so they would be included in this 39% figure. It is possible as well that some other non-Evangelical, non-Charismatic and non-Pentecostal Americans classify themselves as born-again.

Note also that the percentage of Americans who claimed to have made a “personal commitment to Jesus Christ that is still important in their life today” rose from 60% in the early and mid 1980’s to the 67% figure mentioned previously. On the surface, this sounds like proof of great revival in the U.S. But when we compare these figures with those about American attitudes to morals, moral absolutes, the authority of the Bible and so on, we instead see evidence of:

 

·         millions of easy believism false “conversions” to Jesus Christ and/or

·         an almost unbelievable rate of backsliding.

 

Barna’s survey of different types of Christianity

 

Barna’s survey suggests that the number of churchgoers who are committed to Biblical Christianity in America is a small minority. He drew distinctions between three types of Christianity in America: Biblical, conventional and cultural. He defined them as follows:

·         “Biblical Christianity: emphasising that we are saved by faith, having a strong acceptance in the authority of the Bible, being involved in evangelism, actively participating in the activities of a local church, seeking continual and intense spiritual growth, having their daily living based on the teachings and commands of the Bible and believing God’s commands contain moral absolutes.

·         Conventional Christianity: emphasising that we are saved by faith, being involved in a local church, appreciating the Bible, keeping their faith in Christ private, having their daily living only vaguely influenced by their faith in Christ and believing that ethical standards are not absolute but need to be adapted to changing human culture.[60]

·         Cultural Christianity: this involves believing all people will go to heaven or that people are saved by good works, being Christians in name only or Christmas Christians, not practicing Christian teachings and morals in their daily lives and believing that ethical standards are not absolute but need to be adapted to changing human culture. [61] Universalism is the view that all humans will go to heaven and none will be eternally punished in hell.

 

It would be an over-simplification to suggest there are no churchgoers in the conventional Christianity category who are truly converted to Christ. But the fact their life is only vaguely influenced by their faith and they do not have absolute moral standards is not the normal subjective fruit of converted persons. If they are converted, they show the fruit of being backslidden to varying degrees. Here are Barna’s findings [62] about the percentages these above three groups had in certain years:

 

Type of Christianity                            1995        1994        1993        1992        1991

Biblical Christianity                             10%        7%          8%          9%          7%

Conventional Christianity                  25            33            30            28            29

Cultural Christianity                            28            21            33            21            27

 

We must make allowances for sampling error in such surveys. But the above still provides a general idea of the state of American churches.

 

Multitudes have an unbiblical view of commitment to Christ

 

The above figures about Biblical, conventional and cultural types of Christianity contradict how millions of Americans themselves classified their own commitment to Jesus Christ and to the Christian faith. As stated earlier, Barna found in 1995 that 67% of American adults said they had made a “personal commitment to Jesus Christ that is still important in their life today”. [63] In 1995, Barna found 27% of American adults said they were “absolutely committed” to the Christian faith. [64]

Many Americans have an unbiblical view of what personal commitment to Jesus Christ and absolute commitment to the Christian faith mean. Multitudes seem to think it means just putting your hand up at a church meeting or merely going up to the altar or crying about your past sins or just asking Jesus to forgive you of your sins or only believing in some Biblical truths about Him or just being baptized, confirmed and attending church each week. Many Americans have a false view of conversion which has been fostered by years of preaching of easy believism and other false “gospels”.

The attitude of many Americans to commitment to Jesus Christ is similar to their idea of commitment to the person they marry. About two in every three Americans believe that a successful marriage is one in which both partners have total freedom to do what they want.[65] Also, at present, about one in two American marriages end up in divorce.

Tragically, the attitude of many American churchgoers in the depths of their hearts is, “I am committed to Jesus Christ only on certain conditions. If these conditions are not met by Him, I will reduce or abandon my commitment to Him. I am committed to Him only on the conditions He provides what I define as my needs and He does for me what I want.”

The commitment of such people is only very superficial. They may outwardly appear to be very religious, enthusiastic and even Spirit-filled, but their roots are very shallow.

I have met some extremely godly American believers and pastors in Australia and while I was in America, Sweden, Egypt and Malaysia. I have heard preaching by some very spiritual American pastors and preachers who have deep commitment to Jesus Christ. There are pockets of revival in various parts of the U.S. today.

But sadly, only a minority of American churchgoers show the subjective outward signs of being converted. Of these, large numbers still seem to be babes in Christ even after having been converted so long ago. Many others appear to be relatively very carnal believers similar to many of the Corinthians (see 1 and 2 Corinthians).

Also, too many American ministers preach what one would expect of infants in Christ. I do not say this to revile or slander them. I feel God’s love for such people and pray that He continues to minister to them so they can be freed or matured. You and I also need to mature much in Christ.

 

Barna’s research about American moral attitudes

 

George Barna stated [66]:

 

·         one-third of all adult Americans believe adultery is a right behaviour. (It is little wonder their previous President has such very high public support even after his sexual immoralities were exposed.)

·         one-third of all children born in the United States that year were born out of wedlock.[67] Also note about half of all marriages in the United States were ending in divorce in the early 1990’s. [68]

 

We must regain a reputation for honesty and integrity

 

Tragically in recent times, the words “Pentecostal” and “Charismatic” have come to be associated with greed, corruption, deception, using others and dishonesty about money in the minds of countless unbelievers. This has been a result of numerous television preachers, pastors of local churches and well-known Christians becoming “famous” in the secular media for their love of money and corrupt financial dealings with others.

Such lack of integrity has greatly affected the witness of many godly Pentecostal, Charismatic and Evangelical leaders and churchgoers to unbelievers. Many unbelievers identify the godly members of these groups with the greedy compromising money-lovers who bring disgrace to the names of “Pentecostal” and “Charismatic”.

Compare this to the Salvation Army. The Salvation Army has a reputation among unbelievers of not loving money and not being greedy, corrupt or dishonest.

There must be much turning from sin and firmer church discipline in order to restore the good witness of the Pentecostal and Charismatic movements. Forgiving fallen church leaders is a good thing but this alone will not restore integrity to the Pentecostal-Charismatic movements. Pentecostals and Charismatics need to become known for their love for God and love for others. Such love includes honesty, integrity and unselfishness.

 

An American Pentecostal pastor writes about America’s spiritual state

 

In August 1993, an American pastor who belonged to one of the largest Pentecostal denominations in the United States wrote the following after I had written to him asking about the spiritual state of the American church: “we are in a dreadful state! We have become terribly apathetic and spiritually lazy. Churches have become ‘consumer oriented’ to build attendance, rather than relying on the anointing from the Holy Spirit. Our new Presidential Administration has taken a very agnostic view of morality and God. People are pleasure/recreation minded, rather than commitment minded. It has become easy to toss a dollar in the offering plate to support missions, rather than be a soul-winner. What was once spontaneous worship has become a routine rehearsal of dead choruses.”

In August 1994, the same pastor wrote about a local Pentecostal church in the United States of about 250 people which he believed was a product of many current worldly trends influencing many other American churches: “They are also very conservative, and very much a product of the religious system of our country that I absolutely detest! They place a lot of value on numbers, programs, award-oriented motivation, image etc. They want a nice little church that they can wear pretty dresses to on Sunday morning to hear a cute little message and hear sweet hymns.”

 

John Wimber and Patrick Johnstone’s comments on America

 

John Wimber was the American founder of the Vineyard Movement. His comments about American churches are very relevant also:

                “Author Joseph Bayley notes, ‘I don’t think any observer would dispute the fact that the evangelical Protestant subculture has been overrun by the general American culture’s values. If divorce rates have risen in the general culture, they have also risen among evangelical Protestants…(They) follow a similar pattern of TV viewing, of materialism, and other cultural changes…George Gallup, in his report, ‘1984 Religion in America’, was more stinging in his observation of the level of Christian living in the United States: ‘Religion is growing in importance among Americans but morality is losing ground…‘There is very little difference in the behaviour of the churched and unchurched on a wide range of items including lying, cheating, and pilferage’.

There could be other explanations for these discouraging figures and observations. For example, they could also indicate that the world is more effectively evangelising Christians than we are evangelising the world. In other words, the figures could point more to secularisation trends within the church, which is not necessarily an indictment on our missionary methods.

More significantly, these figures could also indicate that there are problems not with the methods so much as with the message: a ‘cheap-grace’ gospel is frequently preached producing weak Christians who do not stand when powerful and persuasive attacks come from the world. I believe this is a serious problem; many Christians do not understand or know how to communicate the gospel of the kingdom of God.” [69]

Patrick Johnstone is the author of the book “Operation World” which contains the results of statistical research about Christian churches in each country. Johnstone concluded the following about the U.S:

 

“The spiritual heritage of the USA is being steadily eroded-

The spiritual attacks are on two major fronts:

a)        External. An unholy alliance of minority rights groups such as humanists, homosexuals, New Age enthusiasts and pro-choice abortionists exploit the provisions of the constitution and control of the media to disparage and mock Christians and limit or remove anything Christian in public life. The aim is to replace ‘intolerant’ Christian values with a permissive pagan culture.

b)        Internal. The greater challenge is for commitment among Christians. Lack of it has had devastating consequences – a respect for the Bible without knowledge of or obedience to its contents and an interest in religion without a holiness to recommend it. The tragic fall of famous televangelists has proved this and provided ammunition for the enemies of the gospel. The word ‘revival’ has been debased to mean slick mass evangelism – the need of the hour is a true revival with conviction of sin, repentance and an outpouring of the Holy Spirit.” [70]

 

When reading the above, if you are not inwardly spiritually grieved like Paul was about similar sin (see Acts 17:16 and 2 Corinthians 11:29) but instead say, “This is too negative”, I believe you need prayer.

 

Study Question

 

1.         List some statistics which indicate the liberalizing in moral attitudes of many American Pentecostal, Charismatic and Evangelical Christians in recent decades.