I was reading with interest the findings of a Pew Research Center survey the other day. In an article: “The U.S., Decline of Christianity Continues at a Rapid Pace.” “An update on America’s changing religious landscape.”
The article comments: ” In Pew Research Center telephone surveys conducted in 2018 and 2019, 65% of American adults describe themselves as Christians when asked about their religion, down 12 percentage points over the past decade. Meanwhile, the religiously unaffiliated share of the population, consisting of people who describe their religious identity as atheist, agnostic or “nothing in particular,” now stands at 26%, up from 17% in 2009.”
It goes on to say: ” Both Protestantism and Catholicism are experiencing losses of population share. Currently, 43% of U.S. adults identify with Protestantism, down from 51% in 2009. And one-in-five adults (20%) are Catholic, down from 23% in 2009. Meanwhile, all subsets of the religiously unaffiliated population – a group also known as religious “nones” – have seen their numbers swell. Self-described atheists now account for 4% of U.S. adults, up modestly but significantly from 2% in 2009; agnostics make up 5% of U.S. adults, up from 3% a decade ago; and 17% of Americans now describe their religion as “nothing in particular,” up from 12% in 2009. Members of non-Christian religions also have grown modestly as a share of the adult population.”
As I read these findings, I did not curl up in the corner with my blanket, sucking my finger and crying; “The sky is falling.” Instead, the words of Jesus as He was ascending to His Father echoed through my thoughts:
Matthew 28:18 – And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
We were made for a time like this!
Remember, when Jesus proclaimed these words to Peter, James and John, the world was under the iron rule of the Romans. The percentage of Christians in the world was miniscule. However, the World was changed with this simple Gospel…the birth, death and resurrection of Jesus the Christ.
The last commandment Christ uttered to the disciples rings true today. Let us not look at the numbers as insurmountable. The Truth is still the Truth! And we Christians hold that Truth. Jesus is the way the Truth and the Life. No man comes to the Father, but by Him.”
Fear is the weapon of the enemy, Satan. Truth overcomes fear, every time.
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