This transcript is taken from a Stand in the Gap Today program originally aired on 4/16/21. To listen to the program, please click HERE.

Sam Rohrer:                      Well, hello and welcome to this Friday edition of Stand in the Gap Today. I’m Sam Rohrer and I’m going to be joined again today by Dr. Gary Dull. Now, today is also our monthly, what we call our culture update. It is a feature edition with Dr. George Barna, who is at this moment a professor at Arizona Christian University, and he is the director of research of the Cultural Research Center there at Arizona Christian University. This program, every day, we select headline news, that’s our focus, and major cultural events. And we approach them from a news analysis perspective, uniquely built on two legs. One is a biblical worldview, that’s a filter through which we look and examine, and then the constitution, because most of what we deal with have some kind of a civil impact.

                                             As we regularly highlight, every individual’s actions, every public policy, every judicial review, every law, every aspect of the enforcement of law, every decision about the definition of justice, or right and wrong, or every sermon delivered from the pulpits of every church, every Hollywood movie, every instruction delivered by every teacher in every classroom of America, all rise out of a person’s set of values and beliefs. And this set of values and beliefs are referred to as a person’s worldview. The point we make so regularly on this program is that it’s not a question of if a person has a set of values and beliefs and therefore a worldview, but it’s which set of values and beliefs, which worldview. And we approach our view of life and living on this program and individually, as individuals that are here connected with this program, we do it from what we refer to as a biblical worldview.

                                             Now, today we’re going to examine some breaking research conducted by Dr. George Barna. He’s entitled his report America’s Dominant Worldview. And I’m entitling today’s program slightly different, but America’s New 94% Religion. America’s new, by 94%, our new religion. And we’re going to look at the reality of it and the implications from it. Now, today’s program, we’re going to share the top line results of this research. We’re going to make a connection between beliefs and behaviors, worldview and religion. We’re going to identify and describe the reality of America’s dominant worldview that I’m describing as America’s new religion, embraced by that 94%. It’s startling. And we’re going to conclude in segment four at the very end with the implications and the what to do about this information. And with that, I welcome to the program right now. Dr. George Barna. George, thanks for being back with us again.

George Barna:                  Oh, always good to be with you. Thank you.

Sam Rohrer:                      George, for the sake of our listeners and this particular program, if you could, explain briefly the purpose, that would be the keyword, the purpose for this report that you have just done on America’s Dominant Worldview, and this question, how it fits into the ongoing American Worldview Inventory research, which you are doing as your involvement as a director of the research for the Cultural Center at Arizona Christian University.

George Barna:                  Well, Sam, as you may recall, a few years ago, I tried to figure out what’s the most important thing that I could spend the rest of my career doing. And in looking back over the last 300 or so national surveys I’ve done, trying to figure out what have I learned and what does it mean, the thing that became very clear is that if America doesn’t get worldview right, it’s not going to get anything right. And so that’s when we started the Cultural Research Center, and every year we do this annual survey of America’s worldview. Now in last year, the first year of the study, we looked at what percentage of people have a biblical worldview. This year, because so few people have a biblical worldview, we wanted to [inaudible 00:04:06], okay, if they don’t have a biblical worldview, what worldview do they have?

                                             And that’s what this year’s survey was designed to understand, is if it’s not a biblical worldview, then what is it that people are buying into? And that worldview is so important because that is the basis on which people make every single decision that they make in their life. So if you want to understand and define America, you want to understand a person, be able to define their life, you’ll look at the worldview, because that’s what’s going to delineate it for you.

Gary Dull:                           George, it’s a delight to have you back with us on the programming again today. And based on earlier research that you’ve done, we’ve talked about it on this particular program, you’ve identified the shocking result that only about 6% of American adults possess a biblical worldview, and around two to 3% of Millennials and Gen Z who hold a biblical worldview as well. Could you confirm those numbers for us here today? And then also, define and identify the criteria you normally use to determine if a person actually embraces a biblical worldview.

George Barna:                  Yeah, sure, Gary. The way that we go about measuring this is we’ve got a little more than four dozen different questions where we look at both beliefs and behaviors. And so we’re looking at their perspectives on truth, meaning and purpose, success, the existence and nature and character of God, all of these kinds of things and more. There are roughly 50-some questions that we ask people. And it’s a combination of beliefs and behavior, because we know that you do what you believe. And so we’ll measure the beliefs, but then we also want to look at the consequent behaviors. Because if you’re not following up on what you believe with consistent behavior, you don’t really believe that element that you told us you did. Maybe it’s a socially desirable answer. Maybe it’s what’s expected of you, whatever it may be, but we’re looking for consistency in that. If the beliefs and behaviors are not consistent, then you’re confused. You’re still trying to figure it out. And so that’s how we look at it. We look at the behavior as kind of an internal validation process related to your beliefs.

Sam Rohrer:                      George, I have just a little bit here before we go into this first break. Do you have a quick way to define what a biblical worldview is?

George Barna:                  Well, it’s where the vast majority of the decisions that you’re making are made to be in concert with God’s truth and his truth principles. And so the idea is you must understand what the Bible teaches and what it looks like in practice. People who take those principles and convert them into a lifestyle consistently, not every once in a while, not when it’s convenient, not simply when it’s expected or you have to other choice, but no matter what the consequences may be, when you determine I’m going to do exactly what God’s Word says I should be doing, this is the way to live that brings honor and glory to God. Because my purpose being here on Earth is to know, love, and serve God with all my heart, [inaudible 00:07:26] strength and soul. The individual who is committed to that type of a life, they’re the ones who have a biblical worldview.

Sam Rohrer:                      And ladies and gentlemen, I hope you consider and walk with us as we go through this program, because I would throw a question out to you even here right now. What do you really believe? Do you really believe a biblical worldview? How consistent is what you say you believe with the way you actually live? This is going to be the heart of this program today, and this touches on some very, very real things. The next segment, we’re going to go into connection between belief and the behavior that George Barna, our guest, was just referring to.

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Sam Rohrer:                      Well, welcome back to Stand in the Gap Today. I’m Sam Rohrer accompanied today by Dr. Gary Dull, again, as often, and most of the time on this program, and our special guest on this, our culture update feature edition, with Dr. George Barna. I’ve entitled today’s program this. This is our culture update, as I said, but this is the title: America’s New Religion by 94%. You’re going to say, “What is that?” Well, we’ll tell you what that is in the next segment. But the determination of that is built off of a couple of very, very critical elements. It’s a worldview. We’ve been talking about that. But an identifiable worldview, which Dr. George Barna has been investigating, and he said he’s committed his life to helping. If he could help the nation the most in his life, it would be the exposing of and bringing attention to a worldview.

                                             And an identifiable worldview is made up of two distinctive parts, beliefs, and values, and then the resultant behaviors and actions. And we’ve already talked about it. George talked about it. I did in the first segment. But all actions of all people at all times are based on the strength of their worldview, their beliefs and values, and then combined with their discipline and ability to connect their actions and values and choices with their beliefs and their values. Now, the more consistent one’s choices and actions are, the more impactful their beliefs and values. Makes sense, right?

                                             Now, in a biblical sense, I was trying to think about how I could illustrate this, but in a biblical sense, the principle is mentioned by the Apostle James in James chapter 2, verse 17, where he says, in effect, “If you say you have faith, but your faith does not produce consistent works or actions, your faith is dead.” In the same book, in chapter 1, verses 26 and 27, it makes another reference. He says, “If you say you are religious and therefore you hold to a set of Christian beliefs,” that’s what he was talking about. He said, “but you can’t control your tongue, you deceive your own heart,” and he says, “your professed religion and set of beliefs in effect are a lie.” Now, the principle or the proof of one’s embracing  values and beliefs is always confirmed by one’s actions.

                                             Jesus said, “If you believe me, obey me.” The scripture says, “Throughout, if you have a talk, then let your walk demonstrate it.” Now, the practical question for all people, and certainly all professing Christians is this, and it applies to you who are listening to me right now. How defined are my beliefs? How defined are your beliefs? And how consistent are my actions? I’ll look at myself. And looking at you, how consistent are your actions with your stated beliefs? So George, the goal of this program and what you want is to take valid research and make it applicable. And that’s what I’m trying to do here. And let’s try and do that as we continue to work through. But before you get into identifying and naming this dominant 94%, what I’m calling American worldview that you defined, you already have proven, and you referenced it, that only about 6% of American adults have a biblical worldview.

                                             But in this report, you wrote this. You said, “Americans embrace points of view or actions that feel comfortable or seem most convenient. Those beliefs and behaviors are often inconsistent or even contradictory. But few Americans seemed troubled by those things.” I found that a shocking statement, but not necessarily surprising. So here’s my question. What gives rise to this ability, George, to in effect live a hypocritical life, which is, I think what you’re explaining there, and yet feel good about it?

George Barna:                  Well, Sam, as you know, I’ve been doing this kind of research more than 40 years. And I would say that there are a number of big picture perspectives that have emerged from all of that research, more than a million interviews with people. And one of the things that I’ve come to learn is that Americans really don’t like to think. We’re a people of action more than we are people of reflection. And so I think when we examine the worldview of Americans, what we find is something that’s very consistent, and that’s that we’re driven by feelings more than by logic. And when you put it into context, you say, “Well, how did we get that way?” Well, think about your own life. I thought about my life and the lives of most of the people that I know. We don’t have any formal worldview education.

                                             Worldview basically is formed by default in America. And it’s based on how we feel about our purpose or meaning or success in life. Essentially, what we’re trying to do is to make sure that we’re happy and satisfied, rather than worrying about am I doing everything I can to know, love and serve God with all my heart, mind, strength and soul. That’s not on the table for us. What we’re worried about is do I feel good about myself? Can I live with myself? And we just assume that God’s going to have to deal with it.

Gary Dull:                           You know, George, I was just reading over this survey that you did and we have before us. And you mentioned there that most Americans don’t even think, they don’t even know what a worldview is, that most schools’, or very few schools’ curriculum focus directly on a person’s worldview. And I would think it would be the same in the local church, that most churches put very little focus on the biblical worldview. And I think that’s a shame to all of us, and just an observation I wanted to make there. And again, thank you for bringing these things to light. But getting back to your research, you have a chart in which you show that a number of about 31% of the United States adults lean either strongly or moderately toward a biblical worldview. And yet you also show that only 6% of American adults maintain a dominant biblical worldview. So my question is what creates that huge difference between the 31% who lean toward a biblical worldview and the 6% of whom a biblical worldview is very dominant?

George Barna:                  Well, Gary, as I was indicating earlier, what happens is we get exposed to many, many different worldviews. And one of the things that this report talks about is the fact that Americans that are drawing from many different worldviews. And so they’re taking elements of postmodernism, elements of secular humanism, elements of Eastern mysticism, elements of Marxism and so on and so forth. And we’re blending all those things together into kind of a unique, customized, very highly personalized worldview. And so a lot of Americans are aware of different elements from the Bible, but they’re also aware of elements of other worldviews.

                                             And so the reason why you’ve got 31% of people who are drawing from the Bible, essentially, but they’re not embracing the Bible as their determinant for who they are, how they want to live, where they want to go with their life, how they view themselves and the supernatural. They’re just going to pick out those things that feel most comfortable to them, those things, perhaps, that they can make the greatest sense out of, those things that they think are going to operate in their own best personal interests based on their own feelings. And so that’s where that’s coming from. People do know more elements from the Bible than they’re willing to embrace. People know more about what the Bible teaches than they’re willing to follow. Instead, what they’re doing is they’re choosing elements from postmodernism, secular humanism and so forth, because that makes them feel better.

Sam Rohrer:                      George, that makes me think of this question. In some earlier research you’ve done in the past, you had identified that the average American, and I don’t know if the numbers changed too much, but around 74%, 73% of all Americans say they’re Christians. But yet you’re finding, and you’re saying, that really there’s a 94% number, which we’ll identify in the next segment, where you gave it a name. We’re going to talk about this new religion, where 94% of all of Americans are in this new category, which of necessity is not Christian. And I’m going to say and ask you for your comments on this, if something is not true biblical worldview, true biblical understanding, therefore true Christianity, than anything other than that would have to be an anti-Christian worldview or a religion. How do you think a lot of those folks of that 74% you’ve talked with in the past, if you were to tell them, “Well, you said you’re a Christian, but probably you’re not,” how do you think they would respond to that initial concept?

George Barna:                  Well, honestly, I mean, most Americans wouldn’t care. We’ve become an abundantly selfish society. And so we simply want things to make us feel good, make us feel happy, make us feel like we are the person that we ought to be. There’d be a lot of denial, and a lot of people who’d say, “Well, maybe I’m not operating according to your version of Christianity, but I think of myself as a Christian, therefore I am. I’m doing the things that I think are right for me. And if you don’t think they’re right for me, that’s your choice. But I’ve got to live with myself, so I’m going to make the choices that make it a positive experience for me to live with myself.” I think that a lot of people would say, “You’re talking about old time Christianity. Things have changed and I’ve had to change the along with the world. So I’m doing the best I can to get through life every day. And I’m pretty darn sure that God is going to be happy with me because I’m happy with myself.”

Sam Rohrer:                      Ladies and gentlemen, are you in that category where you would say, “Well, God will be happy with me because I’m happy with myself” or are you concerned about really being a true Christian, according to biblical truth? We’re going to talk about it because throughout time humankind have wanted to do their own thing. Results have never been good. We’ll be back in just a second.

Sam Rohrer:                      Well, if you’re just joining us right now on Stand in the Gap Today, this is our midpoint, and we’ve got a lot to go yet on this program and I encourage you to stay with us. If you have not contacted us, perhaps you’re a new listener, perhaps you’re a listener who has been listening to us for a long time, but you’ve never contacted us, and you say, “Ah, well, do they really care?” Yes, we do really. We really care. We need to know that you are listening. We need to know what you are thinking. We need to know. We really, really want to know how this program is meeting the needs of your life, what we are saying and doing, the kinds of topics that we bring. Is it impacting your life? We hope and pray that it is, but we need that feedback from you. So I hope that you do that.

                                             Go to our website, standinthegapradio.com. You can communicate to us there. Download our app. If you’ve not done that, please do. It’s so convenient. Just put in the phrase stand in the gap. And then on both locations, then you can access all of our programs in archive form. You can search the programs by topic and theme, and you can participate with us financially, which is so very, very important. I don’t say a lot about that on this program, but I do want you to know it is essential. And so I pray that you combine your finances with your prayers, but let us know what God is doing in and through this program for you and your family.

                                             Well, in the Garden of Eden, the serpent, as we all recall that story, appealed to Eve that she could really become like God. And we all know the result. She took the bait. Well, then things happened. There was a great flood. And then after the flood, there was a thing called the Tower of Babel. The people then gathered again under the leadership of Nimrod, took the same demonic bait, rejected God, and decided that they really become God and do all that themself. They established their own definition of God, and created their own religion based on their chosen set of values and beliefs. This tendency of humankind to walk away from God in our own wisdom continues to this very day.

                                             Now we have, in America, a new religion that has developed, a new set of beliefs and values. And at 94%, this new religion, this dominant worldview, is literally shocking, and it should startle every God-fearing person in America. So George, we’ve held off up to this point. We’ve not shared exactly what you’ve uncovered in this research, but I want you to share it now. If only 31% of all American adults even lean toward a biblical worldview and 6% actually hold a biblical worldview, but 94% actually hold a dominant worldview, and thereby embrace a new religion by 94%, everybody’s saying, “Well, what is it?” So I want you to identify it and define it, if you would please.

George Barna:                  Well, Sam, in looking at all the numbers, what we concluded is that syncretism is maybe the best description of this new worldview in America. And essentially, about 88% of Americans don’t have a singular worldview that they latch on to. Instead, what they’re doing is they’re using a cut and paste approach to a variety of worldviews. And so they’ll take some things from secular humanism. They’ll take some things from moralistic therapeutic deism. They’ll take some things from postmodernism, nihilism, Eastern mysticism, Marxism, and others, and they’ll kind of blend them all together into this personalized worldview.

                                             And so what you wind up with is something that’s unique for every person, which kind of makes sense, given that most Americans don’t care what other people think. All they care about is themselves. What they care about is, how am I going to make it through life? How am I going to make it through the day? I’ve got to have a way to make sense of reality and who I am in the midst of that reality, and what’s important to me and having the opportunity to see those things come to fruition. And so syncretism basically is this combination of beliefs and behaviors that’s unique to the individual, that draws from many other sources, but really doesn’t fit any one of those perfectly. And that’s what’s going on in America today.

Gary Dull:                           You know, that’s kind of interesting. 88% don’t have a singular worldview. No wonder we’re so confused in America these days, and no wonder the church is so confused today. When you put different worldviews together and try to come out with one particular train of thought, you’re just going to come up with confusion and corruption. That’s an interesting statement that you made there, George. But the question that we have then is how did we get to this place in America? As a matter of fact, one of the quotes that you have in your research is this. You say, and I quote, “Our studies show that Americans are neither deep nor sophisticated thinkers.” Now again, George, how did we get there? And how does this finding or other findings help explain the cause of this very real problem that we’re facing today?

George Barna:                  Well, Gary, a lot of it has to do with the fact that right now, the vast majority of Americans say there is no such thing as absolute moral truth. There’s no objective truth. There’s no consistent truth. Truth is not predictable. Truth can’t be known. Your truth is your truth. We’ve all heard that in our culture. And I think that’s really the foundation of this kind of new worldview that we latched on to, which is in many ways an anything goes kind of worldview. I’m feeling it right now, therefore it’s part of my truth. Therefore, it’s right for me. Nobody can say anything about that. And I think a lot of the reason we got this place is because in America, worldview is more, let’s say, caught than it is taught. It develops essentially by default, when we’re exposed to a lot of different ideas and we grab onto the ones that we like and we just bolt them together and that becomes our worldview.

                                             So we’re in a situation where most Americans have no idea what postmodernism is, have no idea what nihilism or Eastern mysticism or even popular things right now, like Marxism. People couldn’t sit down and write a paragraph for you defining what that is. They have no idea what these things mean, what they refer to. And if you think about it, it’s not surprising because we haven’t had any classes in these kinds of perspectives. Churches really are not devoted to teaching people any one worldview. Hopefully it will be a biblical worldview, but that’s not what churches do. And families don’t sit around the dinner table or out in the backyard or down at the beach and talk about worldview. And so what happens is we get exposed to it from television and movies and music and conversations and law. And we just grab onto the things that we like.

                                             So it’s a sad reality, but that’s where we’re at in America today, where we don’t have formal training in worldview. We don’t have anyone looking over our shoulder and helping us to think clearly about what goes into a worldview and whether or not the things that we’re buying into are even internally consistent. Often they’re not, they’re contradictory. But that’s the nation we are. And that’s why there’s so much confusion, so much tension, so much misunderstanding in America today, is that each of us, as the scriptures would say, is doing what’s right in our own eyes. And we can see the implications and the outcomes that that’s producing in our society today.

Sam Rohrer:                      George, that’s the logical point. I was going to bring it to that point. It sounds like you’re describing exactly just a smorgasbord approach to life. Go and pick and choose what you want because we have so many choices and we fall into that trap. But when we talk about 94%, George, that’s of the whole nation. But of necessity, you’re also talking about much of the church in America. [inaudible 00:27:43] talk about some implications of this as it relates to that in the next segment. But speak to it about that. Apply that to the church. I mean, the church is silent, I would say pretty much, all tied into this, is it not?

George Barna:                  Well, very much. I mean, we’re in a situation where only about one out of five people who are born again Christians, and by that, I mean people who don’t call themselves that necessarily, but they would say that after they die, they know that they will go to heaven only because they’ve confessed their sins and accepted Jesus Christ as their savior, with that particular group, which is less than three out of 10 Americans, but with that particular group, which is commonly thought of as the backbone of the local Christian Church, only one out of five of them have a biblical worldview. So that means that roughly 80% of all born again Christians do not think biblically. They don’t live biblically. They’re not concerned about Bible principles. They don’t know most Bible principles. And so when you’ve got a church nationwide that is filled with people who don’t get it, aren’t concerned about getting it, don’t know that they don’t have it, they’re just going to keep on doing what they’ve been doing.

                                             And frankly, what’s happening is that the culture is affecting the Christian Church more than the Christian Church is affecting American culture. And so we’ve got to have leaders understand what discipleship is and willing to commit to teaching God’s truth consistently and holding people accountable to it and consistently modeling it for them so consistently that people see it and they say, “Wow, there’s something different about that. I have to think about this.” Because right now we’re not even thinking about it.

Sam Rohrer:                      Ladies and gentlemen, I hope you are thinking, when George is talking about that, salt and light. If the salt has lost its savor, the distinctiveness that George’s talking about, does not the scripture says, “What good is it but to be cast out and trodden under the feet of men?” So I ask you a question I ask myself, are we any good? Are we doing any good at all for a decaying culture? Because if we’re a part of this 94%, and I hope our listeners are not, we’re no good, and it’s not a wonder that we have trouble. When we come back, we’ll finish talking about some further implications. And then again, what can we do about it?

Sam Rohrer:                      Well, we’re going to conclude our program now, ladies and gentlemen. I have to tell you, when I work on putting together program agendas of this type, it generally takes, I don’t know, three hours, four hours, sometimes more depending. And I found it difficult on this program today, trying to decide exactly what area do we go for a focus and an application. The problem, I find, before we get into the conclusion here, is that we’re often so confronted with so much information, we end up rejecting everything because we just can’t process it. We already heard a quote from George where he talked about Americans are not well known for either thinking or processing things. I think we’re into a trap. We don’t even think things through.

                                             But I would ask you if you think about the implications of this, that 94% of Americans… 94%, pretty close to a hundred percent, isn’t it? 94% embrace a new religion, a composite of every little bit and piece of anything they want to pull together. And not only that, they feel good about it. And according to George’s research, don’t have a real problem with the fact that many of aspects of it are contradictory. So we can say one thing, we can do something totally different and not feel anything bad about it. That’s devastatingly impactful. It made me stop and bow my head and pray a number of times, even in putting this together. And I hope this information you take and apply and the Lord applies it to your heart. But let’s take and we try to wind this thing down here. At the foundation of every worldview is one’s definition of truth. We’ve talked about that. In a biblical worldview and true Christian religion, as James would talk about, it is the understanding that God is the author of truth.

                                             The Bible is the written truth and all are true, no error. And that truth is personified in a person. And that person has a name. Jesus Christ, Yeshua the Messiah, who says himself that he is the life and the way and the truth. And the scripture makes it clear that believing this leads to life everlasting. Believing this and mirroring our behavior with this view is the same as choosing life. And it leads to civil freedom, blessing and security as defined in Deuteronomy chapter 30. Go and read that chapter, please. But it’s also clear that in our nation, 94%, by their own words and actions, have rejected this truth. And therefore, when you reject the truth, what happens? It means you’ve embraced a lie. Well, the implications of that are enormous.

                                             So George, I’ve got two questions for you in the remaining minutes of this segment here. And that is this. First, what are the implications? You’ve already touched on some of them, but what are the implications of this research which shows that America now is embracing an antichrist religion by 94%? Idolatry is what you’ve described in syncretism. And then this, how does this impact the condition of Christianity in the world, and how does it impact our civil freedom that’s been handed to us, which is so under attack right now and how this should shock every person listening to this program? Then we’ll come back in just a moment. How should it impact the implications to church generally to our nation, to the pulpit? And then Gary will come back and ask you to conclude this in application.

George Barna:                  Well, as I’ve been saying, I think basically what we’ve done is put ourselves in a situation of moral and spiritual anarchy, where right now in our culture, everything is up for grabs because there is no objective truth that people are willing to embrace. We become the truth to ourselves and for ourselves. It’s an incredibly selfish way of living. And of course, when you have a nation where people are not thinking about God, people are not thinking about others, they’re only thinking about themselves, ultimately, what you’re going to have is a life filled with conflict, filled with inconsistency, where there can be no justice because there’s nothing greater than yourself on which you could base such justice, where there’s no foundation for freedom, because there’s nothing bigger than yourself that would define how that freedom could work.

                                             So sadly, we’re in a situation where we’re rewriting the rules of society right now, and we’re struggling with important concepts like authority and control and supremacy and way of life. It’s a very, very tenuous, precarious and dangerous situation for American society right now. The church should be the solution, but the church is not acting like the church.

Gary Dull:                           That’s interesting, and I agree with you. The church should be the solution, but the church is not acting like a church. I think it’s 2 Timothy 3:16 is it, were tells us that the church is the pillar and the ground of the truth. And we need to get about knowing the truth and speaking the truth and living the truth. In light of everything that we’ve discussed here today, George, we’ve got people in the pew listening. We’ve got pastors who are listening. And I think that what you shared today is very important information. So in these last couple of minutes, speak to the people who are listening. What should we do with this information that we’ve shared on the program today? What should the person in the pew do and the pastor the pulpit do with it to make the church act like the church?

George Barna:                  Well, I don’t want to seem simplistic, Gary, but I’ve got one word of response, and that’s basically repent. Turn away from your selfish ways. Turn back to God, study his Word, pray for guidance. Be willing to be held accountable for your thoughts, your words, your actions. Put God first, let him be on his throne. Don’t think that you deserve to be there, that it’s all about you. Nothing is about us. We were created by God to know him, to love him, to serve him with all our heart, mind, strength and soul. That is our obligation on Earth. And so we can’t rely on ourselves to make it right. Only God can make it right. We’ve got to repent. We’ve got to turn back to him. That’s our only hope.

Sam Rohrer:                      And ladies and gentlemen, George says that’s our only hope. That is our only hope. But ladies and gentlemen, it is our hope. And can I encourage, and I’m going to ask, George, you to pray just in close in just a second here. One challenge here is that we’re all looking around, everyone listening to me right now, we’re all looking. We all sense what’s going on in this country. I know we are. But we often say, “What do we do about it?” What George just said, it’s repentance. And that is difficult, but can I submit you can’t repent until you’re willing to name your sin? And your sin may be quite hidden. When it’s reflected on these surveys, it’s quite open.

                                             And that’s just simply, we have a lot of other things before God himself. So rather than thinking about the guy down the road or the folks in California if you’re in Pennsylvania or vice versa, when you look in the mirror, I’m talking to myself, when you look in a mirror, say, “What’s my sin? Where am I not right with God?” And get it right. We’re in trouble. There’s only one solution, but it is a solution. George, would you close us in prayer, please?

George Barna:                  Lord, we drop to our knees. We ask you to forgive us. We’ve blown it. We’re fools, and we need you to cleanse us, to direct us, to teach us. Ultimately, Lord, use us for your glory. Help us to be the people that you created us to be, people who know you and love you and serve you, people who exist solely for the purpose of honoring you and glorifying you and worshiping you and doing your will. That’s why we’re here, Lord. Help us to have the strength and the determination and the will to do that. And may it ultimately raise you back up where you need to be. We thank you for all this in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Sam Rohrer:                      Amen. Thank you, George, so much for being with us, for the work that you’ve done, for the sharing of your heart. Gary, yours, ladies and gentlemen, take this truth. Pray, ask, seek the Holy Spirit’s leading. We’re all a part of the problem, but we all can be a part of the solution. Repent and turn it back to the Lord himself. You can get all this information and research at culturalresearchcenter.com. The survey and more is posted there. Going to the weekend, ladies and gentlemen, stand in the gap for truth where you are.