I recently read one of my good friend George Barna’s surveys that indicates: Four out of ten Christians (40%) strongly agreed that Satan “is not a living being but is a symbol of evil.” 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.”
So, the question I have is how does one arrive at this point? Assuming that Christians reading this post fall in line with the foregoing survey, 40% of you do not believe Satan is a living being, and 58% do not believe the Holy Spirit exists?
Did you read this somewhere? Did someone teach you this? Did you arrive at this conclusion on your own? Many people develop their spiritual belief system according to what their parents believe and their parents before them, i.e. My great grandpa was a Catholic, my grandpa was a Catholic, my daddy was a Catholic, and by golly I’m a Catholic.
Okay, but what if your great grandpa was wrong? Your forefathers could have been atheists, Pentecostals, Methodists, Mormons, Hindus, or whatever, and if you merely follow their lead, you are putting your faith in flawed human beings, not to mention your eternal destiny.
I put my faith in the Holy Bible and have read it word for word numerous times and have studied it for over five decades now, but I wondered how many join me. I again consulted a Barna survey: For the purposes of the survey, a “biblical worldview” was defined as believing that absolute moral truth exists; the Bible is totally accurate in all of the principles it teaches; Satan is considered to be a real being or force, not merely symbolic; a person cannot earn their way into Heaven by trying to be good or do good works; Jesus Christ lived a sinless life on earth; and God is the all-knowing, all-powerful creator of the world who still rules the universe today. In the research, anyone who held all those beliefs was said to have a biblical worldview.
The research indicated that only 9% of all American adults have a biblical worldview as defined above. The Barna study also indicated that a minority of people who describe themselves as “born again” actually share this worldview. So while “they were twice as likely as the average adult to possess a biblical worldview . . . even among born again Christians, less than one out of every five (19%) had such an outlook on life.”
Perhaps you believe there is safety in numbers and you are safely with the majority. In that case you should be plenty worried because the Bible has many examples where the majority is wrong and in fact Jesus warned in Matt. 7:13 You can enter God’s Kingdom only through the narrow gate. The highway to hell is broad, and its gate is wide for the many who choose that way. The people in Noah’s day and certainly those living in Sodom and Gomorrah were not safe and in fact were destroyed.
The Bible has withstood the test of time, and I urge you to put your faith in it. Don’t bet your life on a hunch, or some innate human belief system of flawed logic, even if it comes from a pulpit. As for me, I don’t care what my daddy, grandpa, or anyone else believes. When I die I will face God all alone and none of those people will be advocates for me. I will stand alone, (or kneel). I have put all my faith in the Bible and will continue to do so. If it says something, I believe it.
Read the Bible for yourself like I did. Study it daily and believe what God is saying to you through it. The Bible was here before we got here and will be around long after we are gone. It will stand forever. Don’t allow Satan to plant seeds of doubt.
John 1:1 states: In the beginning the Word already existed. The Word was with God, and the Word was God. The “Word” described here refers to Jesus. My friends enter by the narrow gate, Jesus Christ, and follow Him to a life of peace, joy, and love forever. He is our only hope.
John 1:14
The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us. We have seen His glory, the glory of the one and only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.