to http://flyerthanangels.tumblr.com
it's just way more fresher, haha.
the flyest thing:
Jesus said in Matthew 22, 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'"Kingdom living is all about these two commands. Even Jesus said Himself, "All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments." Love the Lord your God, and love and value your neighbor as you would yourself. Jesus commanded us to become vessels, individuals who grasp the love of God, and then project that back to Him, and then from that place, project it onto the world.
But oh, how far we often fall in doing this! It's really been a message that has just now begun being beaten into the minds and hearts of people at New Philly, and as I continually meditate upon this word, it really is speaking to me about the Father's heart. He wants His kingdom to come on earth as it already exists in heaven, but how often do we get that mixed up. Instead of God's Kingdom coming, we try to implement our own kingdoms, our own rules, our own personal monarchies at the expense of other people.
So often I realize we sacrifice love at the expense of being right. We sacrifice loving on those around us so that we ourselves can instead feel superior, in control, and secure. We sacrifice the Kingdom of God for our own kingdom. We'd rather feel righteous than execute justice. We'd rather be kings of our own dominion than be servants that lift someone else up. And it's largely because our society thinks that one exists at the expense of the other.
We believe that it's impossible to be loved (and love and value ourselves) while also loving and valuing the people around us. That you cannot be both a king and a servant. We view love as a precious commodity that can only be hoarded and harnessed by a select few. Even the Church (actually, primarily the Church) views love as something that only a certain few people can attain and receive. We think that God only loves us. That God has somehow reserved love for the Christians, while the rest of them are just out of luck. That we got the Good News before anyone else, and because we took that step of faith, because of what we did, we're better than them, and well... we'll just leave "those people" to their own devices.
But here's a mindboggling concept: God loves "them" too.
"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life." - John 3:16
So many of us have grown up in homes with parents who failed at showing love to us AND our siblings simultaneously (because our parents, unlike God, are human), and therefore we think that God cannot love multiple people at once, at the same intensity. Not just that, but for some reason we think that God cannot love the bad and the good kids at the same time (really in our flesh we're all bad kids, lol). I'm not falling into a universalist theology (don't worry), I do believe that God will judge both the righteous and the unrighteous, but I do believe that the call for us, which reflects the heart of God, hasn't changed: Love God, and love your neighbor.
God loves each one of us, regardless of our sin against Him. His heart is passionately desiring after each human on this Earth, the sinner and the saint. In each one of us He sees inherent value because we each are made in His image. He loves us, all of us, yet there will come a day in which from that place of love He'll have to judge those who scorned Him. I know that, that is what a righteous and loving God has said would take place. But what I am talking about is where you and I step in. God is calling us to be vessels of His love to all of those we encounter, being vessels of blessing not just for the believer, but for the unbeliever as well.
Imagine the heart of a Father, seeing His children whom He made and loved so much, turning against Him, turning towards pride, religion, debauchery, immorality, murder, war and greed. Imagine being a lovesick bridegroom being crucified with criminals, experiencing shame and dishonor, and not seeing a change in the hearts of those whom You love. Would you not reach out to them? Would you not call out to them for them to return to your love? Would you not call them to remember and see, to open up their eyes?
Jesus said that we are to be His hands and feet on this earth. His representatives. To be the light to the world, salt to the earth as He was. To represent Christ.
The church today in our pride has taken on much of the appearance of Christ without the heart. We have the flesh, the garments, the robes of righteousness, but we lack the inner, more vital organs. We've lost the heart. God is calling us to speak from His heart to a generation, to a people that has given themselves over to destruction, to call them into the Father's love. But not from a place of prideful judgment. Not from a place of "righteousness" that is anything but. Not from a place of high posterity that looks down upon a world filled with lost prodigal sons and tells them how dirty and wretched they are, guilt-tripping them into making decisions that they are not truly willing to follow-through on, but instead by calling out to them from a place of love, of anguished passion and desire, for a hurt and blind generation to awaken to how loved and valued they really are.
And that requires loving on people who don't believe what you believe. That requires understanding that God calls you to love on those who are atheist, agnostic, Muslim, Mormon, JW, Moonie, or whatever ever else not because it makes us feel good, but because He loves them, and He's calling out to them to turn away from destruction, and to turn towards the Father's love.
The establishment of the Kingdom is about seeing love flow onto this earth, as it is in heaven. It's about love to all mankind, seeing His Kingdom come. We're to be lovers of all, blessings to all that we see, that the nations, the world is blessed by our presence.
flyer than timidity, flying in power!
Back for a minute, it's been awhile with midterms and conferences going on here at school. But check this article out from the Bethel Church (www.ibethel.org) website... I sincerely believe that this is the word to the Church not just in this hour, but from now! Stop walking in defeat and despair and start walking in Kingdom partnership! HallelujahhH! -marc
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Declarations Make a Difference
Kevin Dedmon - Bethel Church
It is important for us to realize that when we declare God’s Kingdom coming, we are releasing Heaven to earth with our words. In fact, the Bible tells us that we have the power of life and death in our tongues (Proverbs 18:21, James 2). The reason Jesus warned us that we would be judged according to the words we speak is that our words make a difference in people’s lives and circumstances — our words can either curse or release the Kingdom to bring blessing.
Recently, I was backpacking in the Tahoe Desolation Wilderness area with some of the other pastors of Bethel Church. As we arrived at the trailhead, we were told by a group of guys who had just finished a week in the wilderness that we would not catch any fish. Everyone they met had shared the same sad tale. Without hesitation, I declared, “But we have favor!” Everyone laughed.
Amazingly, when we arrived at the first lake, the first cast produced a miraculous 14-inch rainbow trout! In fact, we caught so many fish every day that anything under 12 inches was thrown back. They were so plump that we were able to filet them into trout steaks. Each delectable bite resulted in rowdy rejoicing as we were reminded of the extreme favor we had experienced from God through a simple off-the-cuff declaration.
It is important to keep in mind that our words, like those of Jesus, have authority. Often, Jesus simply spoke to a situation or circumstance and Heaven invaded and brought change. In Matthew 8:26, He spoke to the storm, and the wind and the waves stopped. The disciples responded, “What kind of man is this? Even the winds and the waves obey him!”
The Roman centurion understood the authority Jesus carried when he said, “Just say the word and my servant will be healed. Jesus declared, “Go! It will be done just as you believed it would (Matthew 8:5-13).”
Jesus spoke to the paralytic, saying, “Pick up your mat and walk,” and the man did so and was healed. Jesus stood outside Lazarus’ tomb and spoke, “Come forth,” and Lazarus was raised from the dead. Our words (our declarations) create an avenue by which Heaven’s resources and power are released.
I’ll never forget an occasion in which a woman, who was completely bald and gaunt from many radiation chemotherapy treatments, approached me at a conference at Bethel. She explained that the doctors told her that they could do nothing else for her, and that she had approximately one month left to live. I immediately looked her in the eyes and declared, “I don’t even need to pray for you. The glory of God is all over you, you’re going to be just fine!” I went on to explain that my declaration over her was in response to a gift of faith that had come to me as I heard about the destiny of doom the doctors had declared over her.
Five months later, at another Bethel conference, a shorthaired woman approached me with a grin from ear to ear. She jubilantly shared that she was the woman I had declared life over. Thanking me profusely, she shared that not only was she obviously still alive, but she had no cancer in her body to the amazement of the doctors!
As royal priests, representing God on earth, our declarations make a difference. Our declarations determine our destiny and the destiny of those around us. Our declarations unlock Heaven.
I was playing golf with a pastor in Yuma, Arizona, along with a medical doctor friend, who was very skeptical of the reality of supernatural divine healing. The pastor had arranged for us to golf together so that I could share testimonies that would convince the doctor otherwise.
By the sixth hole, we had not made a whole lot of headway in convincing the doctor, despite sharing several testimonies of people being healed in God’s presence. The pastor teed off on the par three hole and hit a great looking shot headed right toward the flagstick. Amazingly, and sadly, his ball struck a bird about twenty feet in front of the pin, causing both the ball and the bird to fall onto the green!
At first, we were joking around about the pastor getting a literal birdie, but after realizing that the bird was lying on its side with it’s wing fixed straight up without moving, we became concerned that the bird was dead.
Meanwhile, the doctor and I hit up onto the green, while the bird continued to lie motionless. As we drove our carts toward the green, the other birds landed near the dormant bird. Once we got to the green, all of the birds flew away, except for that one bird, still lying on its side.
Observing this, the doctor pronounced the bird dead, to which the pastor expressed that he should dispose of it since being a doctor he seemed the most qualified to deal with the carcass. At that, I responded, “No way. Let’s raise it from the dead.” I then declared, “I release you into new life.” Just when I got to “re,” the bird jumped up and flew away!
The doctor looked at me in total shock, as he witnessed the supernatural power of God first hand, as the bird was seemingly raised from the dead! Regardless of whether the bird had been dead or just knocked out, the reality was that as I declared God’s Kingdom come, the bird recovered, and the doctor had no more problems with the issue of supernatural healing.
God is just waiting for us to co-labor with Him in releasing His Kingdom. Living naturally supernatural is simply unlocking the doors leading to breakthrough with the Kingdom keys we have received. Partnering for breakthrough, then, requires us to take responsibility to release God’s presence, power, and resources into every situation and circumstance in which people need His intervention.
That is the power of partnership. When we pray (declare), He comes.
We have been given the keys to the Kingdom to be able to unlock Heaven whenever we need His presence and power. In Matthew 16:19, Jesus promised, “I will give you the keys of the kingdom….” In other words, we can unlock the door to the resources of Heaven to get whatever we need, whenever we need it. That is an amazing privilege!
I oversee several ministry responsibilities at Bethel Church, which require that I have several different keys to access needed rooms and resources. There are several people on my leadership team who need to have the same access as I do. There was a time, however, when I was the only one with the keys.
Each time one of my team needed to access a room, he or she had to come to me and borrow the keys, and then afterwards would have to bring them back. Sometimes, he or she would forget, and I would have to go out of my way to track him or her down when I needed to access something. It got to be such a hassle trying to juggle one set of keys between our entire team that I finally wised up and got them their own keys!
Jesus did not say, “I will lend you the keys.” Jesus gave us the keys, meaning He no longer has them. It is now up to us to open up Heaven so that His presence and power can be released through the opening we have made for Him to come.
How often do we hear Christians pleading with God to open up the Heavens and rain down His power to intervene, when all along, God is pleading with us to use the keys we have been given to release His rule so that intervention can come? We cannot expect God to do what we are expected to do in the partnership.
When we do what is expected of us to unlock Heaven, then He faithfully does His part. It is His good pleasure to give us the Kingdom (Luke 12:32).
Often, as I begin a conference, I announce that there will be many miracles and healings. The reason I am so confident is that I have been given Kingdom keys to unlock Heaven in order to access the resources needed. In reality, when I pray, He comes, and when He comes, He does good things because He is a good God in a good mood!
The natural question, then, is if we have the authority and power to represent and bring God’s Kingdom to earth, why don’t we see more breakthroughs in the miraculous?
Many Christians wrongfully believe that God just sovereignly intervenes in our lives whenever He chooses, or does not. Their response is, “Well, I guess it was just God’s will that I remain sick, debilitated, or dying.” As a result, many Christians do not pursue divine intervention or they stop short of getting the breakthrough they desire.
Many Christians believe that God chooses (predetermines) who will be healed and who will not be healed. They state that God is sovereign — that He is in control of everything — and therefore, nothing happens outside of His predestined will.
Therefore, if someone becomes sick, it must be God’s will because nothing happens outside of His sovereign control. As a result, the prayer, “Your will be done…” is a concession to accept whatever God has sovereignly predestined, instead of a declaration: “…on earth as it is in heaven.”
People all around us are waiting for Heaven to come to earth. God is waiting for us to bring Heaven to earth. I want to encourage you that you have the ability to make a difference in someone’s life and the world around you. Your declarations make a difference!
//////////////////////
Declarations Make a Difference
Kevin Dedmon - Bethel Church
It is important for us to realize that when we declare God’s Kingdom coming, we are releasing Heaven to earth with our words. In fact, the Bible tells us that we have the power of life and death in our tongues (Proverbs 18:21, James 2). The reason Jesus warned us that we would be judged according to the words we speak is that our words make a difference in people’s lives and circumstances — our words can either curse or release the Kingdom to bring blessing.
Recently, I was backpacking in the Tahoe Desolation Wilderness area with some of the other pastors of Bethel Church. As we arrived at the trailhead, we were told by a group of guys who had just finished a week in the wilderness that we would not catch any fish. Everyone they met had shared the same sad tale. Without hesitation, I declared, “But we have favor!” Everyone laughed.
Amazingly, when we arrived at the first lake, the first cast produced a miraculous 14-inch rainbow trout! In fact, we caught so many fish every day that anything under 12 inches was thrown back. They were so plump that we were able to filet them into trout steaks. Each delectable bite resulted in rowdy rejoicing as we were reminded of the extreme favor we had experienced from God through a simple off-the-cuff declaration.
It is important to keep in mind that our words, like those of Jesus, have authority. Often, Jesus simply spoke to a situation or circumstance and Heaven invaded and brought change. In Matthew 8:26, He spoke to the storm, and the wind and the waves stopped. The disciples responded, “What kind of man is this? Even the winds and the waves obey him!”
The Roman centurion understood the authority Jesus carried when he said, “Just say the word and my servant will be healed. Jesus declared, “Go! It will be done just as you believed it would (Matthew 8:5-13).”
Jesus spoke to the paralytic, saying, “Pick up your mat and walk,” and the man did so and was healed. Jesus stood outside Lazarus’ tomb and spoke, “Come forth,” and Lazarus was raised from the dead. Our words (our declarations) create an avenue by which Heaven’s resources and power are released.
I’ll never forget an occasion in which a woman, who was completely bald and gaunt from many radiation chemotherapy treatments, approached me at a conference at Bethel. She explained that the doctors told her that they could do nothing else for her, and that she had approximately one month left to live. I immediately looked her in the eyes and declared, “I don’t even need to pray for you. The glory of God is all over you, you’re going to be just fine!” I went on to explain that my declaration over her was in response to a gift of faith that had come to me as I heard about the destiny of doom the doctors had declared over her.
Five months later, at another Bethel conference, a shorthaired woman approached me with a grin from ear to ear. She jubilantly shared that she was the woman I had declared life over. Thanking me profusely, she shared that not only was she obviously still alive, but she had no cancer in her body to the amazement of the doctors!
As royal priests, representing God on earth, our declarations make a difference. Our declarations determine our destiny and the destiny of those around us. Our declarations unlock Heaven.
A Birdie
I was playing golf with a pastor in Yuma, Arizona, along with a medical doctor friend, who was very skeptical of the reality of supernatural divine healing. The pastor had arranged for us to golf together so that I could share testimonies that would convince the doctor otherwise.
By the sixth hole, we had not made a whole lot of headway in convincing the doctor, despite sharing several testimonies of people being healed in God’s presence. The pastor teed off on the par three hole and hit a great looking shot headed right toward the flagstick. Amazingly, and sadly, his ball struck a bird about twenty feet in front of the pin, causing both the ball and the bird to fall onto the green!
At first, we were joking around about the pastor getting a literal birdie, but after realizing that the bird was lying on its side with it’s wing fixed straight up without moving, we became concerned that the bird was dead.
Meanwhile, the doctor and I hit up onto the green, while the bird continued to lie motionless. As we drove our carts toward the green, the other birds landed near the dormant bird. Once we got to the green, all of the birds flew away, except for that one bird, still lying on its side.
Observing this, the doctor pronounced the bird dead, to which the pastor expressed that he should dispose of it since being a doctor he seemed the most qualified to deal with the carcass. At that, I responded, “No way. Let’s raise it from the dead.” I then declared, “I release you into new life.” Just when I got to “re,” the bird jumped up and flew away!
The doctor looked at me in total shock, as he witnessed the supernatural power of God first hand, as the bird was seemingly raised from the dead! Regardless of whether the bird had been dead or just knocked out, the reality was that as I declared God’s Kingdom come, the bird recovered, and the doctor had no more problems with the issue of supernatural healing.
God is just waiting for us to co-labor with Him in releasing His Kingdom. Living naturally supernatural is simply unlocking the doors leading to breakthrough with the Kingdom keys we have received. Partnering for breakthrough, then, requires us to take responsibility to release God’s presence, power, and resources into every situation and circumstance in which people need His intervention.
That is the power of partnership. When we pray (declare), He comes.
We Have the Keys!
We have been given the keys to the Kingdom to be able to unlock Heaven whenever we need His presence and power. In Matthew 16:19, Jesus promised, “I will give you the keys of the kingdom….” In other words, we can unlock the door to the resources of Heaven to get whatever we need, whenever we need it. That is an amazing privilege!
I oversee several ministry responsibilities at Bethel Church, which require that I have several different keys to access needed rooms and resources. There are several people on my leadership team who need to have the same access as I do. There was a time, however, when I was the only one with the keys.
Each time one of my team needed to access a room, he or she had to come to me and borrow the keys, and then afterwards would have to bring them back. Sometimes, he or she would forget, and I would have to go out of my way to track him or her down when I needed to access something. It got to be such a hassle trying to juggle one set of keys between our entire team that I finally wised up and got them their own keys!
Jesus did not say, “I will lend you the keys.” Jesus gave us the keys, meaning He no longer has them. It is now up to us to open up Heaven so that His presence and power can be released through the opening we have made for Him to come.
How often do we hear Christians pleading with God to open up the Heavens and rain down His power to intervene, when all along, God is pleading with us to use the keys we have been given to release His rule so that intervention can come? We cannot expect God to do what we are expected to do in the partnership.
When we do what is expected of us to unlock Heaven, then He faithfully does His part. It is His good pleasure to give us the Kingdom (Luke 12:32).
Often, as I begin a conference, I announce that there will be many miracles and healings. The reason I am so confident is that I have been given Kingdom keys to unlock Heaven in order to access the resources needed. In reality, when I pray, He comes, and when He comes, He does good things because He is a good God in a good mood!
The natural question, then, is if we have the authority and power to represent and bring God’s Kingdom to earth, why don’t we see more breakthroughs in the miraculous?
Many Christians wrongfully believe that God just sovereignly intervenes in our lives whenever He chooses, or does not. Their response is, “Well, I guess it was just God’s will that I remain sick, debilitated, or dying.” As a result, many Christians do not pursue divine intervention or they stop short of getting the breakthrough they desire.
Many Christians believe that God chooses (predetermines) who will be healed and who will not be healed. They state that God is sovereign — that He is in control of everything — and therefore, nothing happens outside of His predestined will.
Therefore, if someone becomes sick, it must be God’s will because nothing happens outside of His sovereign control. As a result, the prayer, “Your will be done…” is a concession to accept whatever God has sovereignly predestined, instead of a declaration: “…on earth as it is in heaven.”
People all around us are waiting for Heaven to come to earth. God is waiting for us to bring Heaven to earth. I want to encourage you that you have the ability to make a difference in someone’s life and the world around you. Your declarations make a difference!
oh you bring!
Oh Lord! How good You are to us! You continue to bring forth streams of Your goodness and mercy, following us all the days of our lives! Even when the cords of Sheol entangle us, and opposition assails against us, You are good! Your mercy and steadfast love endures forever! It never fails! All honor, glory, praise unto the Lamb who was slain, rose again, and now sits on the right hand of the Father! Forever and Ever! You reign Jesus! You are the hope for all mankind, the light that overcomes the darkness, the victor over all diseases, the arm of justice for all the oppressed, the great fear of the wicked, the ruler of all things, the One true God, it is You and You alone! Forever and Ever!
Oh You open my eyes Lord! Bring more and more and deeper and deeper revelation unto this lost world that needs you so dearly! Bring Your goodness Lord God that the world will know that Jesus is Lord and that death is defeated! That Jesus reigns, and Satan has no domain! Open our eyes Lord, to see that You are everything we need, that You are everything worth dying for and worth living for! You are the life and the life abundant, the stream of living water welling up to eternal life, the hope of glory, the beginning and the end through whom all things were made! It was and is and will always be YOU! Glory to the King! Jesus Christ, God incarnate, the very Son of God!
Oh You bring hope to the hopeless
And light to those in the darkness
And death to life
Now Im alive
Oh You give peace to the restless
And joy to homes that are broken
I see You now
In You Im found
And You opened the door for me
And You laid down
Your life to set me free
All that I am will serve You Lord
And You opened my eyes to see
All the wonder and awe of Christ in me
Jesus Youre everything I need
Oh You fill those who are empty
And rescue those in the valley
And through it all You calm my soul
Oh You find me in my weakness
And heal the wounds of my heartache
I worship You in spirit and truth
All honour
All glory
All praise to You
can the real christians please stand up?
Check out this article I read today from The Barna Group:
| Most American Christians Do Not Believe that Satan or the Holy Spirit Exist | | |
A new nationwide survey of adults’ spiritual beliefs, conducted by The Barna Group, suggests that Americans who consider themselves to be Christian have a diverse set of beliefs – but many of those beliefs are contradictory or, at least, inconsistent.
The survey explored beliefs about spiritual beings, the influence of faith on their life, views of the Bible, and reactions to faiths other than their own.
Views on Spiritual Beings
The Barna survey asked questions about God, Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit, Satan, and demons.
All 1,871 self-described Christians were asked about their perception of God. In total, three-quarters (78%) said he is the “all-powerful, all-knowing Creator of the universe who rules the world today.” The remaining one-quarter chose other descriptions of God – depictions that are not consistent with biblical teaching (e.g., everyone is god, god refers to the realization of human potential, etc.).
For the other survey items a four-point opinion scale was used to measure people’s reactions to statements about each spiritual entity.
Four out of ten Christians (40%) strongly agreed that Satan “is not a living being but is a symbol of evil.” An additional two out of ten Christians (19%) said they “agree somewhat” with that perspective. A minority of Christians indicated that they believe Satan is real by disagreeing with the statement: one-quarter (26%) disagreed strongly and about one-tenth (9%) disagreed somewhat. The remaining 8% were not sure what they believe about the existence of Satan.
Although a core teaching of the Christian faith is the divinity and perfection of Jesus Christ, tens of millions of Christians do not accept that teaching. More than one-fifth (22%) strongly agreed that Jesus Christ sinned when He lived on earth, with an additional 17% agreeing somewhat. Holding the opposing view were 9% who disagreed somewhat and 46% who disagreed strongly. Six percent did not have an opinion on this matter.
Much like their perceptions of Satan, most Christians do not believe that the Holy Spirit is a living force, either. Overall, 38% strongly agreed and 20% agreed somewhat that the Holy Spirit is “a symbol of God’s power or presence but is not a living entity.” Just one-third of Christians disagreed that the Holy Spirit is not a living force (9% disagreed somewhat, 25% disagreed strongly) while 9% were not sure.
A majority of Christians believe that a person can be under the influence of spiritual forces, such as demons or evil spirits. Two out of three Christians agreed that such influence is real (39% agreed strongly, 25% agreed somewhat), while just three out of ten rejected the influence of supernatural forces (18% disagreed strongly, 10% disagreed somewhat). The remaining 8% were undecided on this matter.
Influence of Faith
Most self-described Christians contend that their religious faith has significantly impacted their life. Almost six out of ten adults (59%) said their faith had “greatly transformed” their life, while 29% said their faith “has been helpful but has not greatly transformed” their life and 9% stated that their religious faith “has not made much of a difference” in who they are and how they live.
Christians were asked if they believed that a person must either side with God or with the devil – that there is no in-between position. A large majority strongly agreed with the notion (61%) while an additional 15% agreed somewhat. Just one out of ten adults disagreed somewhat (10%) and a similar proportion (11%) disagreed strongly. Surprisingly few adults (3%) did not have an opinion on this matter.
A large majority of Christians also proclaimed that the most important purpose in their life is to “love God with all their heart, mind, strength and soul,” a notion drawn directly from the Bible (Mark 12:29-30). In total, three out of four self-described Christians (74%) strongly affirmed that idea, while 15% more agreed somewhat with the statement. Just 4% strongly disagreed and 7% somewhat disagreed with the statement. Three percent said they were not sure.
Thoughts on Other Faiths
Among self-identified Christians, few held a positive opinion of Wicca. Overall, just 5% had a positive opinion while 55% had a negative opinion of Wicca. However, a huge segment (40%) did not know enough about Wicca to have formed an opinion of it, despite it being described to them as “an organized form of witchcraft.”
Survey respondents were asked whether they believed that Mormons are Christians. Mormons themselves claim to be Christian, but most evangelical leaders say that they are not. There was no clear-cut perspective among the self-described Christians: four out of ten felt Mormons were Christian (18% strongly agreed, 21% somewhat agreed), three out of ten disagreed (17% strongly, 12% somewhat), and three out of ten were not sure what to think.
When asked whether it was important to them to have “active, healthy relationships with people who belong to religious faiths that do not accept the central beliefs of your faith,” about two-thirds of the self-professed Christians claimed it was important. Thirty-six percent agreed strongly with the notion, and 29% agreed somewhat, while 11% disagreed strongly and 16% disagreed somewhat. The other 8% did not have an opinion.
Views on the Bible
A slight majority of Christians (55%) strongly agree that the Bible is accurate in all of the principles it teaches, with another 18% agreeing somewhat. About one out of five either disagree strongly (9%) or somewhat (13%) with this statement, and 5% aren’t sure what to believe.
There is no similar clarity among self-defined Christians regarding how the Bible compares to other holy books. When faced with the statement that “the Bible, the Koran and the Book of Mormon are all different expressions of the same spiritual truths,” the group was evenly split between those who accepted the idea (19% agreed strongly, 22% agreed somewhat) and those who rejected it (28% disagreed strongly, 12% disagreed somewhat), while leaving a sizeable portion (20%) undecided.
Inconsistencies Noted
The study also identified a number of instances in which people’s beliefs seemed inconsistent. Among those were the following:
- About half (47%) of the Christians who believed that Satan is merely a symbol of evil nevertheless agreed that a person can be under the influence of spiritual forces such as demons.
- About half (49%) of those who agreed that the Holy Spirit is only a symbol but not a living entity also agreed that the Bible is totally accurate in all of the principles it teaches, even though the Bible clearly describes the Holy Spirit as more than a symbolic reference to God’s power or presence.
- About one-third (33%) of the self-defined Christians who agree that the Bible, Koran and Book of Mormon all teach the same truths simultaneously contend that the Bible is totally accurate in its principles, even though the three sacred books have very different ideas about truth, salvation, and the nature of God.
How Born Agains Differ
The study examined how one segment of the Christian population – those whose beliefs about salvation categorize them as “born again” – differ from the beliefs of people who describe themselves as Christian but do not base their view of salvation solely on confession of sin and God’s grace received through Jesus Christ. (The Barna Group has labeled the latter group “notional Christians.”) For each of the 13 questions examined in the study, there were statistically significant differences between these two segments of the Christian population. Among the most significant gaps in belief were the following:
- Born again adults are at least twice as likely as notionals to strongly agree that the Bible is accurate in all the principles it teaches; that their life has been greatly transformed by their faith; that a person can be under the influence of spiritual forces such as demons; and to hold an unfavorable opinion of Wicca.
- Born again adults are more than twice as likely as notionals to strongly disagree that Satan is just a symbol of evil, and that Jesus sinned while He lived on earth.
- Born again adults are more than three times as likely as notionals to strongly disagree that the Holy Spirit is merely a symbol of God’s power or presence; that Mormons are Christians; and that the Bible, Koran and Book of Mormon teach the same truths.
- Born again adults are one-third more likely than notionals to possess a definition of God as the omniscient, omnipotent creator and ruler of the world; nearly 60% more likely to believe that you either side with God or Satan because there is no in-between position; and slightly more than 50% more likely to say their chief purpose in life is to love God with all their heart, mind, strength and soul.
- The smallest difference between the two segments related to the importance of having active relationships with people who reject the central tenets of the person’s faith. Born again adults were slightly more likely to strongly agree that such relationships were important to them (39% versus 31%).
Americans Are Struggling to Make Sense of Their Faith
George Barna, the author of nearly four dozen books analyzing research concerning America’s faith, suggested that Americans are constantly trying to figure out how to make sense of biblical teachings in light of their daily experiences.
“Most Americans, even those who say they are Christian, have doubts about the intrusion of the supernatural into the natural world. Hollywood has made evil accessible and tame, making Satan and demons less worrisome than the Bible suggests they really are. It’s hard for achievement-driven, self-reliant, independent people to believe that their lives can be impacted by unseen forces. At the same time, through sheer force of repetition, many Americans intellectually accept some ideas – such as the fact that you either side with God or Satan, there’s no in-between – that do not get translated into practice.”
Barna also noted that Christians tend to be open to co-existence with other faiths. “Most people understand that America’s religious life is diverse,” explained the author of a forthcoming book about the nation’s faith segments, The Seven Faith Tribes. “A majority of Christians are generally open to maintaining relationships with people of other faiths, and most are not predisposed to judging people of different faiths, such as Mormons or Wiccans. But that open-mindedness is sometimes due to their limited knowledge about the principles of their own faith and ignorance about other faiths as it is to a purposeful acceptance of other faiths.”
About the Research
This report is based upon telephone interviews conducted by The Barna Group for two surveys among people who described themselves as “Christian.” A total of 1,871 adults were randomly selected from across the 48 continental states, with the first 873 interviews conducted in January and February, 2008, and the remaining 998 interviews conducted in November 2008. The aggregate sample The range of sampling error associated with a sample of 1,871 people is between ±1.0 and ±2.2 percentage points at the 95% confidence level. The range of sampling error associated with the sub-sample of 873 adults is between ±1.5 and ±3.4 percentage points at the 95% confidence level. The range of sampling error associated with the sub-sample of 998 adults is between ±1.4 and ±3.2 percentage points at the 95% confidence level. Minimal statistical weighting was used to calibrate the aggregate sample to known population percentages in relation to several key demographic variables.
“Born again Christians” were defined as people who said they had made a personal commitment to Jesus Christ that was still important in their life today and who also indicated they believed that when they die they will go to Heaven because they had confessed their sins and had accepted Jesus Christ as their savior. Respondents were not asked to describe themselves as “born again.”
The Barna Group, Ltd. (which includes its research division, The Barna Research Group) is a private, non-partisan, for-profit organization that conducts primary research on a wide range of issues and products, produces resources pertaining to cultural change, leadership and spiritual development, and facilitates the healthy spiritual growth of leaders, children, families and Christian ministries. Located in Ventura, California, Barna has been conducting and analyzing primary research to understand cultural trends related to values, beliefs, attitudes and behaviors since 1984. If you would like to receive free e-mail notification of the release of each new, bi-monthly update on the latest research findings from The Barna Group, you may subscribe to this free service at the Barna website (www.barna.org). Additional research-based resources, both free and at discounted prices, are also available through that website.
© The Barna Group, Ltd, 2009.flyer than tv
I guess the essential question is: What am I feeding myself with? Triviality breeds contempt. For God.Read this:
"I think relevance in preaching hangs very little on watching movies, and I think that much exposure to sensuality, banality, and God-absent entertainment does more to deaden our capacities for joy in Jesus than it does to make us spiritually powerful in the lives of the living dead. Sources of spiritual power—which are what we desperately need—are not in the cinema. You will not want your biographer to write: Prick him and he bleeds movies.
If you want to be relevant, say, for prostitutes, don’t watch a movie with a lot of tumbles in a brothel. Immerse yourself in the gospel, which is tailor-made for prostitutes; then watch Jesus deal with them in the Bible; then go find a prostitute and talk to her. Listen to her, not the movie. Being entertained by sin does not increase compassion for sinners.
There are, perhaps, a few extraordinary men who can watch action-packed, suspenseful, sexually explicit films and come away more godly. But there are not many. And I am certainly not one of them.
I have a high tolerance for violence, high tolerance for bad language, and zero tolerance for nudity. There is a reason for these differences. The violence is make-believe. They don’t really mean those bad words. But that lady is really naked, and I am really watching. And somewhere she has a brokenhearted father.
I’ll put it bluntly. The only nude female body a guy should ever lay his eyes on is his wife’s. The few exceptions include doctors, morticians, and fathers changing diapers. “I have made a covenant with my eyes; how then could I gaze at a virgin?” (Job 31:1). What the eyes see really matters. “Everyone who looks at a woman to desire her has already committed adultery with her in his heart” (Matthew 5:28). Better to gouge your eye than go to hell (verse 29).
Brothers, that is serious. Really serious. Jesus is violent about this. What we do with our eyes can damn us. One reason is that it is virtually impossible to transition from being entertained by nudity to an act of “beholding the glory of the Lord.” But this means the entire Christian life is threatened by the deadening effects of sexual titillation.
All Christ-exalting transformation comes from “beholding the glory of Christ.” “Beholding the glory of the Lord, [we] are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another” (2 Corinthians 3:18). Whatever dulls the eyes of our mind from seeing Christ powerfully and purely is destroying us. There is not one man in a thousand whose spiritual eyes are more readily moved by the beauty of Christ because he has just seen a bare breast with his buddies.
But leave sex aside (as if that were possible for fifteen minutes on TV). It’s the unremitting triviality that makes television so deadly. What we desperately need is help to enlarge our capacities to be moved by the immeasurable glories of Christ. Television takes us almost constantly in the opposite direction, lowering, shrinking, and deadening our capacities for worshiping Christ.
One more smaller concern with TV (besides its addictive tendencies, trivialization of life, and deadening effects): It takes time. I have so many things I want to accomplish in this one short life. Don’t waste your life is not a catchphrase for me; it’s a cliff I walk beside every day with trembling.
TV consumes more and more time for those who get used to watching it. You start to feel like it belongs. You wonder how you could get along without it. I am jealous for my evenings. There are so many things in life I want to accomplish. I simply could not do what I do if I watched television. So we have never had a TV in 40 years of marriage (except in Germany, to help learn the language). I don’t regret it." ~John Piper
