Once upon a time, the vast majority of all Americans believed that the Bible was the Word of God, but now things have fundamentally changed.  With each passing year, the Bible is becoming less important to most Americans.  The results of the most recent State of the Bible survey are absolutely shocking.  The survey was conducted by the Barna Group on behalf of the American Bible Society, and it clearly shows that the Bible is becoming less important in the daily lives of Americans.  Sadly, young people are rejecting the Bible and rejecting Christianity in higher percentages than anyone else.  The Bible tells us that there will be a great apostasy in the last days, but to see it start to happen is incredibly sad.  The following are some of the most noteworthy results of the survey….

• In 2011, 54% of American adults said that the Bible has too little influence in society today.  In 2012, that number was only 47%.
• The survey found that 55% of all American adults read the Bible to be closer to God.  That was a 9% decline from 2011.
• In 2011, 53% of American adults believed that “the Bible contains everything a person needs to know to live a meaningful life”.  In the 2012 survey, that percentage fell to 48%.
• Last year, 67% of all American adults said that they want to read the Bible more.  This year, only 60% of all American adults said that they want to read the Bible more.
• 54% of all respondents to the survey this year were not able to correctly identify the first five books of the Bible.
• 46% of all American adults believe that the Bible, the Quran and the Book of Mormon “are different expressions of the same spiritual truths”.
• 36% of all American adults read the Bible less than once a year.
• According to the survey, younger Americans consider the Bible to be less important than older Americans do. Only 34% of Americans in the 18-27 age bracket believe that “the Bible contains everything a person needs to know to live a meaningful life”.  In the 66 and older age bracket, 62% believe that “the Bible contains everything a person needs to know to live a meaningful life”.

As the Bible becomes less important to most Americans, they are also increasingly coming to believe that all major religions are acceptable paths to God.

In fact, a movement known as “Chrislam” that is attempting to draw together Christianity and Islam is making inroads in churches all over America.  For example, last year dozens of churches publicly read from the Quran during their worship services one Sunday as part of an interfaith project promoted by the Interfaith Alliance and Human Rights First.

Most Americans simply do not believe that there is a single way to God anymore.  One survey that was conducted a while back discovered that 52 percent of all American Christians believe that “at least some non-Christian faiths can lead to eternal life”.

For many other Americans, religion is simply not important at all.  A survey that was conducted by LifeWay Research found that 46 percent of all Americans never even think about whether they will go to heaven or hell at all.

Without a doubt, Christianity is losing its dominant role in American life.  Most Americans still consider themselves to be “Christian” in one sense or another, but the percentage of Christians in the United States is falling fast.  Back in 1990, 86 percent of all Americans considered themselves to be Christians.  In 2008, that number had plummeted to 76 percent.

So where are all of those people going?

Well, certainly a number of other religions have grown rapidly, but so has atheism.  In fact, according to the U.S. Census Bureau the number of Americans with “no religion” more than doubled between 1990 and 2008.

This is particularly true among young Americans.  According to one survey, 25 percent of all Americans in the 18 to 29 age bracket say that they have no religion.

Survey after survey has found that the younger a person is, the less likely they are going to be Christian.

Young adults in America today are far less likely to be engaged in religious activities than their parents or grandparents.  The following are some of the results of a survey of young adults that was conducted by LifeWay Christian Resources….

•65% rarely or never pray with others, and 38% almost never pray by themselves either.

•65% rarely or never attend worship services of any kind.

•67% don’t read the Bible or any other religious texts on a regular basis.

There appears to be a huge drop off in church attendance during the transition from the teen years to the young adult years.  The following comes from a CNN article….

David Kinnaman, the 38-year-old president of the Barna Group, an evangelical research firm, is the latest to sound the alarm. In his new book, “You Lost Me: Why Young Christians Are Leaving Church and Rethinking Faith,” he says that 18- to 29-year-olds have fallen down a “black hole” of church attendance. There is a 43% drop in Christian church attendance between the teen and early adult years, he says.

But that doesn’t mean that young adults in America are fully rejecting spirituality.

In fact, spirituality and the supernatural have been at the very heart of some of the biggest entertainment phenomenons that we have seen in recent years.  Harry Potter and Twilight both captured the imaginations of millions upon millions of young Americans.

Our young people seem to have a craving for the supernatural, but they do not seem to have much of a desire for Christianity.

In fact, many music superstars have found great success by using dark imagery that fully rejects Christianity.  Satanic imagery seems to have a great allure for many young Americans today.  The following comes from a recent Fox News article….

Lady Gaga, for example, frequently uses satanic imagery in her music videos. A simple Google search of Gaga’s name yields results that suggests everything from her being a servant of the dark lord, which she does little to dispel, to her involvement with the Illuminati, an alleged secret society of powerful musicians, CEOs and politicians rumored to worship the devil.

Similarly, Kanye West has garnered attention with controversial satanic images in his music videos and joking that he is involved with the Illuminati. West’s frequent collaborators Jay Z and Beyonce are rumored to be involved with the group as well.

Rapper Tyler Okonma, better known by the stage name Tyler the Creator, has even branded himself the son of Satan in his song “Bastard.”

And with Satan’s imagery arguably translating to remarkable success for these stars, who have Grammys and gold records under their belts, experts don’t see it going away any time soon.

We need to reach these young people with the truth while there is still time.

Large portions of the church are sleeping and this generation of young people is rapidly slipping away.

We desperately need a true spiritual awakening in this country.

So what do you think about the things that you have just read above?  Please feel free to leave a comment with your opinion below….

God really does work in mysterious ways.  This season Tim Tebow has led the Denver Broncos to last minute victory after last minute victory, but none was more dramatic than the 29-23 overtime win in a playoff game against the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday.  On the first play of overtime, Tebow dropped back and threw an 80 yard touchdown pass to win the game.  It is estimated that an astounding 45 million people watched Tebow throw that pass.  It is being called “Tebow 3:16″ (for reasons that will be explained below) and it is already one of the most famous plays in NFL history.  For many hours afterwards, the victory by Tebow and the Broncos was the number one news story in America.  But what makes all of this even more amazing are some of the incredible numbers from the game.

Back during his college career at the University of Florida, Tim Tebow would often write “John 3:16″ on the eye black under his eyes.  But in the NFL they do not allow players to write messages on the eye black under their eyes.

So God found another way to get the message out….

-During the victory over the Steelers, Tim Tebow passed for exactly 316 yards.

-Tebow also set an all-time NFL playoff record with 31.6 yards per completion.

-According to John Ourand of the Sports Business Journal, the final quarter-hour television rating for the Broncos-Steelers game was 31.6.

In addition, the first name of his head coach is John (John Fox) and the first name of his general manager is John (John Elway).

In the past, Tebow has said that John 3:16 is his favorite verse.  For those not familiar with it, John 3:16 says the following….

“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”

After the Broncos won, John 3:16 quickly became the most searched term on Google.  The following comes from an article in the Washington Post….

When he wore the Scripture verse on his eye black during the National Championship Game in 2009, the term “John 3:16” was reportedly Googled more than 90 million times.

The Bible verse quickly became the most searched Google term Monday.

God certainly does have a flair for the dramatic.

If you have not seen “Tebow 3:16″ yet, video of it is posted below.  As mentioned above, this is already one of the most famous plays in NFL history….

So what is Tebow saying about all of this?

The following comes from a CNN article….

“As I was running around the field I just wanted to thank my lord and savior,” he said in a post-game interview. “And then I jumped in the stands which is something I’ve never done, but I was pretty excited, then got back on one knee to thank the Lord again, and tried to celebrate with my teammates,” he said.

After the win, Tebow posted the following on his Facebook page….

Praise the Lord! Thanks to all my teammates, coaches and fans…This win was for Bronco Nation! We couldn’t have done it without all of us working together as one. And yeah, Demaryius Thomas is a beast!

Needless to say, the social media universe absolutely exploded after the game was over.  According to Twitter, an almost unbelievable 9,420 sports tweets per second were sent in the moments immediately following Tebow’s touchdown pass.

That set a brand new all-time record.

By the way, if you would like to follow Tim Tebow on Twitter, you can follow him here.

As we get even deeper into the last days, a lot more things like this are going to happen.

As the darkness gets darker, the light is going to shine even brighter.

The world is going to become incredibly unstable and times are going to get really tough.

A lot of people are going to take the cowardly route and will totally give in to fear.

But others will stand up for the Lord Jesus Christ no matter what the cost and will boldly testify for Him.

Thank God that we have heroes out there like Tim Tebow that are willing to share the simple truth that we find in John 3:16….

“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”

What in the world has happened to the church in America?  Today most “Christians” do not still even hold to the most basic Christian beliefs.  For example, some new data has come out that reveals that the majority of evangelicals do not believe that Jesus is the only way to God anymore.  Yes, you read that correctly.  David Campbell, the author of the new book American Grace, How Religion Divides and Unites Us, surveyed 3,000 Americans and he found that 54 percent of “evangelical Protestants” said that people from religions other than Christianity can get into heaven.

Unfortunately, this is not the only survey in recent years that has shown that a majority of evangelical Christians now believe that “Jesus is not required” to get to heaven.

For example, last year USA Today reported on a stunning survey that found that 52 percent of Christians in the United States believe that eternal life is not exclusively for those who accept Jesus Christ as their savior.

Another example of this phenomenon is a poll that was conducted by the Pew Research Center’s Forum on Religion & Public Life that found that 57 percent of evangelical Christians in America believe that “many religions can lead to eternal life”.

So what in the world is going on here?

There seems to be a growing consensus among evangelical Christians that all “good people” will go to heaven.

Unfortunately, this directly contradicts the Scriptures.

The Bible tells us that all have sinned and that all of us stand guilty before God.

The Bible tells us that none of us are “good” enough to make it into heaven on our own.

That is why Jesus had to come and die on the cross.

If we could just be “good people” and there were lots of ways to get to heaven, then Jesus did not need to die.  Jesus could have just pointed out a bunch of other ways to be “good enough” and then could have gone back to heaven.

But that is not what happened.

Jesus died on the cross for our sins because that was the only way our sins were going to be forgiven.

There is no way that any of us can ever be “good” enough to make it on our own.

As I wrote about in an article on another website entitled “What Does The Bible Say About Judgment?“, we will all face the judgment of God one day….

The truth is that God is a God of perfect love AND of perfect justice, and according to the Bible the judgment of God is very real.

In 2 Timothy 4:1, the apostle Paul tells us that God will indeed judge us all….

In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who will judge the living and the dead

In 1 Peter 4:5, the apostle Peter also tells us that we will have to give an account of what we have done to God….

But they will have to give account to him who is ready to judge the living and the dead.

Romans 14:10 tells us that we will all stand before the judgment seat of God one day….

You, then, why do you judge your brother? Or why do you look down on your brother? For we will all stand before God’s judgment seat.

Hebrews 13:4 explains that God will judge all those who have sinned sexually….

Marriage should be honored by all, and the marriage bed kept pure, for God will judge the adulterer and all the sexually immoral.

In Revelation 11:18 we are told that God will judge and destroy those who destroy the earth….

The nations were angry; and your wrath has come. The time has come for judging the dead, and for rewarding your servants the prophets and your saints and those who reverence your name, both small and great— and for destroying those who destroy the earth.

In Hebrews 9:27 we are instructed that we only get one life (no reincarnation) and after this life we will face the judgment of God….

Just as man is destined to die once, and after that to face judgment

But perhaps you think you are “good” enough to get into heaven on your own.

Perhaps you think that God would never send you to hell.

Well, the truth is that if any of us took an honest look at how guilty we truly are we would be horrified.

Take a moment and imagine this – one of the biggest television networks wants to do a huge 2 hour prime time special starring you.

Doesn’t that sound great?

But instead of a two hour documentary about how wonderful you are, the network has discovered all of the most evil and horrible things that you have ever thought, said or did and they are going to broadcast them to millions of people all over the world for two hours during prime time.

What would you do if that happened?

That reality is that whoever that happened to would want to run away and never show their face to anyone ever again.

Why?

Because we have all done, said and thought things that are unspeakably evil.

We are sinners in the eyes of God, just as the Scriptures tell us…..

“All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23).

Are you ready for the day when you will stand before God and be held accountable for your sins?

In John 3:36 it tells us this….

Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God’s wrath remains on him.

Without Jesus, you will be facing the judgment of God by yourself.

In 1 John 5:11-13, we read that whoever receives Jesus as Savior and Lord will not face an eternity away from God.  God wants to give us eternal life, and it is free for whoever has the Son….

And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life.  I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life.

Jesus died on the cross to pay the penalty for our sins, but now the majority of Christian evangelicals believe that the death of Jesus on the cross was not even necessary.

So where did all of this nonsense come from?

Well, all over the media Christians are told to be “tolerant” of other religions and that it is “bigotry” to say that your religion is the only way to God.

For example, Oprah Winfrey is teaching her millions of viewers that Jesus did not come to earth to die on the cross and that Jesus could not possibly be the only way to a relationship with God….

For much more on the emerging “Church of Oprah”, please see this article: “Is Oprah A Christian?”

Any Christian that doubts that a relationship with God is only possible through Jesus should read John 14:6 where Jesus says the following….

Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

But not only are Christians denying salvation through Jesus Christ, they are also denying creation in record numbers.

A new Gallup poll has found that only 40 percent of Americans believe in creationism.  Gallup says that number is the lowest it has ever been since they began asking that question back in 1982.

Sadly, the truth is that America as a whole is becoming less Christian.

According to the American Religious Identification Survey by the Institute for the Study of Secularism in Society & Culture at Trinity College, the number of Americans that have “no religion” is exploding.

According to that survey, 15% of Americans now say they have “no religion” which is up from just 8% in 1990.

That would be bad enough news for evangelical Christianity.

But there is some more news from that survey that is much worse.

In that same survey, 46% of Americans between the ages of 18 to 34 indicated that they had no religion.

Just think about that.

46 percent of our young adults now say that they have no religion.

The church in America is not just in a little bit of trouble.  The truth is that the church in America is coming apart at the seams.

Those under 40 years of age are leaving the established church in droves.  The younger generations are looking for something “real” and they are not finding it in our houses of worship.  They are not finding real love, they are not finding real holiness, they are not finding real integrity, they are not finding real passion, they are not finding the power of God and they are not finding people who really live out what they believe.

The watered-down, lukewarm nonsense that passes for “evangelical Christianity” in most of our churches today is not going to get it done.  We are losing an entire generation and those running our churches are asleep at the switch.

We would all do well to heed the words of Jesus to the church of Laodicea in Revelation chapter 3….

These are the words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the ruler of God’s creation. I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth. You say, ‘I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.’ But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked. I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire, so you can become rich; and white clothes to wear, so you can cover your shameful nakedness; and salve to put on your eyes, so you can see. Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest and repent.

Yet another survey has been released that reveals how shockingly little Americans know about religion in general and Christianity in particular.  It is called the “U.S. Religious Knowledge Survey” and it was conducted by the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life.  According to the survey, 86% of Americans believe in God or at least in some form of “higher power”, but when it comes to the specifics of what various religions actually believe, most Americans are blindingly ignorant.  Perhaps this should be no surprise considering the rate at which our society is becoming secularized, but you would think that the American people would still have a little basic knowledge about Christianity and some of the other major religions around the world.  But they do not.  On average, respondents of the survey answered half of the questions wrong.  Only 2% of those surveyed were able to answer at least 29 of the 32 questions correctly.  And the sad thing is that these were not difficult questions.  They were the kind of questions that any half-educated numbskull should be able to answer with ease.

But today most Americans do not care about religion or about God.

In fact, while most Americans still identify themselves as “Christians”, the truth is that most Americans are seemingly complete dunces when it comes to even the most basic facts about the Christian faith.

In fact, do you want to know what group scored the highest on the survey?       

Atheists and agnostics.

Not that they did incredibly well – it is just that everyone else was just shockingly ignorant.

The following is a sampling of what the survey found….

*Only 19% of all U.S. Protestants knew the basic Christian tenet that salvation is through faith in Christ alone.

*Just 55% of respondents knew that the Golden Rule is not one of the Ten Commandments.

*Only 45% of those responding to the survey could name all four of the gospels.  The correct answer: Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.

*45% of all Roman Catholics did not know that, according to Catholic doctrine, the bread and wine used during the Mass is not just a symbol, but rather literally becomes the body and blood of Jesus.

*Over half of all Protestants could not identify Martin Luther as the individual that inspired the Protestant Reformation.

*Only 8% of all respondents knew that Maimonides, one of the most famous rabbis in history, was Jewish.

*Just 54% of the respondents could identify the Quran as Islam’s holy book.

*Fewer than half of the respondents correctly knew that the Dalai Lama is Buddhist.

How disturbing is that?

Most Americans know all about American Idol, Dancing with the Stars and their favorite sports teams, but they can’t correctly answer even the most basic factual questions about faith and religion.

We have a major, major problem.

So was there any question that almost all respondents got right?

Yes, 89% of those surveyed knew that public school teachers cannot lead their classes in prayer.

Isn’t that sad?

If there is one thing that Americans know about religion it is that it must be kept out of the classroom at all costs.

That is how far we have fallen as a society.

And the truth is that we are losing younger Americans at a staggering pace.

According to a survey by America’s Research Group, 95 percent of 20 to 29 year old evangelicals attended church regularly during their elementary and middle school years. However, only 55 percent of them attended church regularly during high school, and only 11 percent of them were still regularly attending church when they got to college.

Yes, you read the correctly.

11 percent.

When young evangelicals finally have the opportunity to decide things for themselves, they are deciding to leave our churches in droves.

In fact, young Americans are abandoning all religions in unprecedented numbers.

According to the American Religious Identification Survey by the Institute for the Study of Secularism in Society & Culture at Trinity College, 46% of Americans between the ages of 18 to 34 say that they have no religion.

46 percent.

Overall, only 15 percent of Americans say that they have no religion.

So for 46 percent of Americans between the ages of 18 to 34 to say that they have no religion is extremely troubling.

We are losing an entire generation.

The Christian faith is in a state of deep, deep decline in the United States and it is time to stop denying it.

So what do you think about all of this?  Feel free to leave a comment below with your opinion….

Recently, Comedy Central started censoring episodes of South Park after the network and the producers of the series received a large number of violent threats from radical Muslims.  In fact, in one recent episode every instance of the words “Prophet Muhammad” was bleeped out by the network, and whenever the character of Muhammad appeared in the episode it was covered by a large block labeled “censored”.  The producers of South Park were upset about this censorship, but apparently Comedy Central is taking no chances when it comes to dealing with Islamic extremists.  However, apparently making fun of Jesus is still fair game on Comedy Central.  In fact, Comedy Central is developing an entire animated series that mocks Jesus Christ.

Yes, that is right.

An entire animated series that does nothing but mock and degrade and make fun of Jesus Christ.

The working name of the show is  “JC”, and it is scheduled to be a half-hour show about Jesus wanting to escape the shadow of his “powerful but apathetic father” and live a “normal” life in New York City.

What in the world?

It is being reported that the show will depict God as being preoccupied with playing video games while Jesus tries to adjust to life in the big city.

How disgusting is that?

How dare they openly mock the God of the universe?

But that is exactly what they plan to do.

They are scared to death to make fun of Muhammed, but Comedy Central’s head of original programming Kent Alterman considers making fun of Christianity to be “comedy in purist form”….

“In general, comedy in purist form always makes some people uncomfortable.”

Yes, I am uncomfortable with someone mocking my God. 

But this is not new for Comedy Central.

Jesus has been openly mocked on South Park and on other Comedy Central shows for years and years.

But still millions of Christians have no problem watching that filth.

But we should expect that the mocking of Christianity will get even worse.

In Matthew 24, Jesus told us that in the last days “you will be hated by all nations because of me” and that “the love of most will grow cold”, so we should not be surprised when these things happen.

By the time all of this is over, Christians and Christianity are going to be greatly hated around the world.

If you watch carefully, you can see the persecution starting to grow around the world.  You can see hearts growing cold from the hardness of sin. 

God is being pushed out of all aspects of public life in the United States, just like He is in most other nations around the globe.

In fact, Franklin Graham recently said that he believes that Christians in America may lose the right to preach the gospel outside of the walls of a church during his lifetime….

“I think its coming to this country where we (will) have the freedom to preach inside a church wall, but we will lose the freedom to do it outside. That day will probably come – maybe in my lifetime.”

The truth is that things are going to get a whole lot worse than even Franklin Graham is imagining.  Those who follow Jesus Christ and stand up for righteousness are now commonly depicted as “evil” or “deluded” or “morally wrong” on television, in movies, in our popular music and all over the Internet.  Standing up against abortion and homosexuality and sex before marriage will now get you labeled as being part of a “hate” group.

The sad thing is that Christians have participated in constructing this godless society, and now we are so amazed when our children grow up completely godless.

But we should not be surprised that record numbers of  young people are turning away from the Christian faith.  We recently examined how young people are dramatically leaving Christianity and are rapidly being secularized on our sister site…. 

Our public schools teach our children day after day after day that they evolved from monkeys, that abortion, sex before marriage and homosexuality are perfectly moral and that anyone who disagrees is a bigot.  Then they go home and they are surrounded by entertainment for the rest of the day (television, radio, video games, Internet, movies) and the overwhelming message regarding the Christian faith in these forms of entertainment is that either Christianity is irrelevant, not true or should be openly mocked.

The tide of public opinion is radically shifting against the Christian faith.  Those who still hold to Biblical Christianity should expect that persecution will only get a lot worse as time rolls forward. 

It is time that we started learning from the great martyrs of the past in order to start preparing ourselves for what is coming.  One great book that we recommend is Extreme Devotion by The Voice Of The Martyrs.  That book contains a ton of amazing testimonies from persecuted Christians that have gone before us.  There is a lot that we can learn from them. 

Since the first century, millions upon millions of Christians have been slaughtered for their faith, and Christians all over the world are being killed for their faith today.

While persecution in the United States is not that bad yet, the truth is that the Scriptures promise us that the persecution of Christians will be absolutely horrific in the last days.  Now is the time for all of us to start preparing ourselves mentally to be able to endure whatever persecution we are to face while we are still on this earth.

Did the headline above get your attention?  It should.  The truth is that approximately 400,000 U.S. nonprofit organizations, including thousands of Christian ministries, are just weeks away from losing their tax exemptions.  Why?  Well, a very sneaky provision buried in a 2006 pension reform bill required all nonprofit organizations to file tax forms the following year.  Prior to that, only nonprofit organizations that had revenues of $25,000 or more had to file tax returns.  The problem is that hundreds of thousands of nonprofit organizations did not realize this.  This new provision, which was deeply embedded in the 393 pages of the Pension Protection Act of 2006, also instructed the IRS to revoke the tax exemptions of all nonprofit organizations that failed to file tax returns for 3 consecutive years.

Well guess what?

The three years are just about up and hundreds of thousands of nonprofit organizations are about to experience a financial doomsday.

The New York Times recently quoted Diana Aviv, the president of the nonprofit trade group Independent Sector, as saying the following about the impact that this deadline is going to have….

“It’s going to be an unholy mess once these organizations realize what’s happened to them.”

And that is what this is.

A gigantic mess.

Have the Christian ministries and organizations that you are affiliated with been filing tax returns with the IRS?

Are you sure?

If not, they may be about to lose their tax exemptions.

The reality is that many politicians in Washington have been trying to figure out for a long time how to start sucking some revenue out of the nonprofit world.  In particular, many liberals have long resented the tax exemptions that churches and other religious organizations have enjoyed.

But coming out and openly proposing a repeal of the tax exemptions for churches and religious organizations would not be popular at all.

So they have to find backdoor ways to do it.

The truth is that it would be really easy for Congress to repeal this stupid provision so that hundreds of thousands of nonprofit organizations do not suddenly lose their tax exemptions.

But they aren’t going to do it.

They have got thousands upon thousands of unsuspecting victims in their legislative trap and that is just where many of the folks in Washington want them.

The reality is that we have become a nation that has so many thousands upon thousands of laws that it is literally impossible to comply with them all.

Trust me on this – I went to law school. 

So what should a ministry do that finds itself trapped by this situation?

Well, you need to contact the IRS immediately and try to get this straightened out.

For those individuals who are very upset about this, you can try contacting your representatives in Congress, but with Barack Obama and the Democrats in control, the odds that this provision will be repealed are somewhere between very slim and none.

The truth is that this is yet another example of how the U.S. government is literally getting their fingers into every aspect of our daily lives.  But as we move into the last days things are going to get far worse.  Right now in America we are only facing “soft” persecution.  In other areas of the world they are already facing torture and death for the cross, and that will happen in this country some day as well.  But in the midst of the persecution millions will turn to Yahshua (Jesus) and be saved.  This is going to be one of the most exciting times in all of history to be alive, so let us be thankful and let us take the gospel forward no matter what the opposition is.

The church in America is a complete and total mess.  A shocking new poll of the largest Presbyterian denomination in the United States has revealed that only 39 percent of the members of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) believe that Jesus Christ is the only way to salvation.

39 percent?

Yes, 39 percent.

This figure comes from the latest “Religious and Demographic Profile of Presbyterians” report which was recently released by the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.).

What is even more stunning is that when you look at only the pastors, the numbers are even lower.

Only 35 percent of the pastors surveyed agreed with the statement that “only followers of Jesus Christ can be saved.”

So almost two-thirds of the pastors in the largest Presbyterian denomination in the United States believe that there are other ways to be saved other than through Jesus Christ.

At this point it would be really east to jump all over the Presbyterians, but the truth is that this type of apostasy is common in many Christian denominations.

For example, USA Today recently reported on an almost unbelievable new survey that found that 52 percent of American Christians believe that eternal life is not exclusively for those who accept Jesus Christ as their Savior.

So not only do a majority of Presbyterians not believe that Jesus is the only path for salvation, a majority of Christians throughout the United States believe this as well.

In fact, a different survey taken last year by the Pew Research Center’s Forum on Religion & Public Life found that 57 percent of evangelical Christians in the U.S. believe that “many religions can lead to eternal life”.

What in the world?

What is happening in our churches?

How far have we gotten from the basics of the Christian faith?

In John 14:6, Jesus told us the following….

“I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”

There is no other way to salvation.

Just think about it for a minute.

If there was any other way for our sins to be forgiven, then why did Jesus need to die on the cross?

If there were many other ways to salvation, then the death of Jesus on the cross was totally unnecessary.

Jesus could have simply come down to earth, pointed out a bunch of other ways to get to heaven, and then could have gone back up to heaven without ever having to deal with the cross.

But the truth is that there was no other way for our sins to be paid for.

Jesus Christ, being the sinless Son of God, died on the cross to pay for the sins of all humanity.

All other religions reject this, and most of them involve jumping through “hoops” and doing good works of some kind or another in order to try to obtain the favor of a deity.

But the reality is that without the sacrifice of Jesus Christ there is no path to heaven.

Without Jesus to pay for our sins we are all still guilty.

Why can’t Christians in the United States understand this?

The truth is that the church in America is a complete and total mess.  But we knew that these days would come.  2 Timothy 4:3 tells us this…..

For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear.

There were also other results from the PC(USA) survey that were almost equally as shocking.  Just consider these numbers….

*Only one in six members and even fewer ministers believe that the Bible is to be taken literally, word for word.

*Only 44 percent say that they have had a “conversion experience” when they committed themselves to Christ.

So what are we to make of all this?

The reality is that the PC(USA) is not the only denomination out there that is a total mess.

Most churches do not teach Biblical Christianity anymore.

Most churches do not teach the basics of the Christian faith.

Perhaps you attend one of those churches.

If you are confused about what the Bible says about God and about salvation, then we encourage you to check out the new website that we are putting together that answers some of the most basic questions about the Christian faith.

In particular, we would encourage you to read an article that we put together entitled “What Does The Bible Say About Salvation?”

The truth is that the Bible is very clear about God’s plan of salvation, and it is the most important message that any of us will ever hear.  If you do not know where you would go if you died tonight, please do not let another day pass without finding out what God has to say about your future destiny. 

Nothing could be more important.

Did that headline get your attention?  It should.  A new law is dangerously close to becoming law in the U.K. that would essentially outlaw evangelical Christianity and Roman Catholicism.  Not that “The Equality Bill” specifically designates those faiths as illegal in the legislation itself.  Rather, the bill outlaws specific beliefs and practices that are fundamental to both evangelical Christianity and Roman Catholicism.  In fact, experts are saying that “The Equality Bill” would create a volcanic eruption of litigation in U.K. courts and would ultimately force those who wish to continue to practice anything that even looks like traditional Christianity to go underground.

So just what is the Equality Bill? 

The Equality Bill allegedly aims to consolidate all existing anti-discrimination laws into a single legal framework.  However, it actually goes much farther than any “anti-discrimination” laws in the U.K. have ever gone before.

On the surface, this legislation seems like a good idea.  After all, who wants to discriminate against old people or people of other races?  You can read a summary of this legislation put out by backers of the bill right here.  It actually contains a few good proposals. 

But it is also a vicious attack on traditional Christianity.

The Telegraph quotes a top level official from the “Ministry for Equality” as saying the following when he was asked whether the Equality Bill would lead to legal action between churches and atheists….

“Both need to be lining up [their lawyers],” he said. “The secularists should have the right to challenge the church.”

Secularists should have the right to challenge the beliefs and practices of the church?

What in the world?

So exactly what would the Equality Bill mean for churches in the U.K.?

Evangelical Christians and Roman Catholics would be wide open not only to lawsuits but also to unlimited government fines and even criminal prosecution if….

*They are found to discriminate against homosexuals or transsexuals in any area of employment – including the hiring of pastors and priests.

*They are found to discriminate against homosexuals or transsexuals in any preaching or teaching. 

*They are found to discriminate against hiring married men or women as priests as the Roman Catholics have done for centuries.

*They are found to insist that pastors or priests remain celibate (as in the case of Catholics) or only have sex within marriage (as in the case of evangelicals).

*They are found trying to prevent any of their clergy from entering into same-sex civil partnerships.

*They are found to be trying to prevent their pastors or priests from having sex change operations, living openly promiscuous lifestyles or engaging in any other form of sexual expression.

So essentially, if the Equality Bill is fully implemented, no religious organization is the U.K. will be able to preach or teach against sexual immorality, will be able to discriminate against the sexually immoral when hiring clergy or will be able to take a formal moral stand against sexually immorality in any way whatsoever.

Some analysts are even claiming that if the Equality Bill is adopted, all hiring for church positions that do not spend at least 51 percent of their time leading worship and preaching would be subject to regulations that would ban discrimination against those from other religions.  So, for example, a Baptist church would be forced to consider an Islamic candidate for a position that ministers to the youth but that also performs other non-teaching functions much of the time as well.

Basically the Equality Bill would be a total nightmare for both evangelical Christians and Roman Catholics in the U.K.  The fact that the law is written in such vague terms would open up the floodgates for all kinds of endless litigation.  If the Equality Bill becomes law, free speech and free expression in churches in the U.K. would be deeply chilled as church leaders struggle with the never ending threat of lawsuits, fines and criminal prosecution.

The days when churches in the U.K. could openly preach against sexual sin would be over.

The days when churches in the U.K. could openly have any say over the sexual behavior of their clergy would be over.

The days when churches in the U.K. could openly discuss what the Bible says about “right” and “wrong” would be over.

Thus this would essentially mean that end of legal evangelical Christianity and legal Roman Catholicism in the U.K.

That sounds quite dramatic, but that is the truth of the matter.

In fact, Baroness O’Cathain, a Tory lawmaker and an evangelical Christian, said last week that the Equality Bill is the “single most damaging Bill to come before the House in my 18 years as a Member”.

Are you starting to get the idea?

We are living in the last days, and the truth is that Christian persecution is exploding all over the world.  Christians in western nations have always thought that it was something that happened “over there”, but now Christian persecution is moving forward with blinding speed in places such as the U.K.

Ultimately, there will be no escaping persecution.  If you plan to be a Christian in the last days you will face persecution as long as you are on this earth.

You better get ready for it.

If you are a Christian and you are not already being persecuted, you will be soon.