This article has some very disturbing statistics about the state of our great nation and American pastors. I have never heard of the word “Syncretism”. It means:
“the amalgamation or attempted amalgamation of different religions, cultures, or schools of thought. ‘interfaith dialogue can easily slip into syncretism’ “
I liken it to those whose “religion” is environmentalism. They “worship the creation, but not the creator”.
My other reflection on the state of pastors in the United States is what I heard in a homily from the priest at St. John Vianney Catholic church in Mentor, Ohio. His message to the congregation regarding the story of Sodom and Gomorrah was that the people in those cities displayed a “lack of hospitality”, and that is why God rained fire on the cities and destroyed them.
This is not in keeping with my understanding of that Bible story. I thought I would find a clear understanding of the story on-line. News-Flash: It wasn’t because the people lacked hospitality!
Brian Massie, Christian
From Wikipedia, we found this narrative regarding “Sodom and Gomorrah”:
[Note: To “know” someone in a biblical sense means sexual relations.]
Sodom and Gomorrah are two of the five “cities of the plain” referred in Genesis 13:12 and 19:29 subject to Chedorlaomer of Elam, which rebel against him. At the Battle of Siddim, Chedorlaomer defeats them and takes many captives, including Lot, the nephew of the Hebrew patriarch Abraham. Abraham gathers his men, rescues Lot, and frees the cities.
God sends two angels to destroy Sodom. Lot welcomes them into his home, but all the men of the town surround the house and demand that he surrender the visitors that they may “know” them. Lot offers the mob his virgin daughters to “do to them as you please”, but they refuse and threaten to do worse to Lot. The angels strike the crowd blind.
The angels tell Lot “…the outcry against its people has become great before the Lord, and the Lord has sent us to destroy it” (Genesis 19:13). The next morning, because Lot had lingered, the angels take Lot, Lot’s wife, and his two daughters by the hand and out of the city, and tell him to flee to the hills. Lot says that the hills are too far away and asks to go to Zoar instead. Then God rains sulfur and fire on Sodom and Gomorrah and all the Plain, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and what grew on the ground (Genesis 19:24-25). Lot and his two daughters are saved, but his wife disregards the angels’ warning, looks back, and is turned into a pillar of salt.
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https://altrighttv.com/2022/05/17/americas-church-leaders-now-wolves-in-shepherds-clothing/
America’s church leaders now wolves in shepherd’s clothing
American culture is unraveling. Few would argue otherwise. Whether you stand on the right or left of the political divide, we all seem to agree on one thing: Something is desperately wrong.
The United States has become the divided states. “E pluribus unum” has become “ex uno plures.” Where we were once a diverse people coming together in common cause, we now seem to be a fractured country with no social and moral glue to hold us together.
A nation that, just yesterday, taught its progeny the value of axioms such as “give me liberty or give me death” now responds to a 99% survivable health “crisis” with “I fear death, so everyone should lose their liberty.”
We are self-refuting at every turn. Those who claim to be tolerant shout that they can’t tolerate everyone else’s intolerance. People waving banners of “love trumps hate” declare that they absolutely hate the people they view to be hateful. Teachers teach that there is no such thing as truth. Preachers preach that they know nothing can be known. Politicians swear to honor and defend a Constitution that they then disparage as an antiquated document of systemic racism, intersectionality and white privilege.
Feminists deny the biological fact of the female. Misogynists march with MeToo. Child advocates advocate for the right to kill children. Proponents of prenatal health are now apologists for perinatal death.
The world is upside down.
How did we get in this mess?
Dr. Len Munsil, President of Arizona Christian University, recently shared: “A large majority of American pastors do not possess a biblical worldview, according to the latest findings from the American Worldview Inventory 2022 conducted by the Cultural Research Center at ACU. In fact, just slightly more than a third (37%) have a biblical worldview, and the majority — 62% — embrace a hybrid worldview known as Syncretism.”
“Among Senior Pastors, [only] four of 10 (41%) have a biblical worldview. The next highest is 28% among Associate Pastors. Fewer than half as many Teaching Pastors (13%) and Children’s and Youth Pastors (12%) have a biblical worldview. Executive Pastors recorded the lowest level — only 4% have consistently biblical beliefs and behaviors.”
Dr. Munsil concludes, “Our research measured biblical understanding across eight key worldview categories, and found that for seven of the eight categories, a minority of pastors possess a biblical worldview. … The lowest of all is a category that might have been expected to top the list: beliefs and behaviors related to the Bible, truth, and morality (only 39% of pastors possess a biblical worldview in this area).”
Let those numbers sink in a bit. Only 41% of America’s senior pastors have a biblical worldview, and the numbers drop like a rock in water for the rest of the church staff. Associate pastors: 28%. Teaching pastors: 13%. Youth pastors: 12%. Executive pastors: 4%. And only 39% of all American pastors believe in the Bible’s definition of truth and morality.
And these numbers get even worse for parachurch organizations such as church-related colleges and universities.
When you see evangelical and Catholic pastors, priests and professors stumbling over themselves to embrace the Marxism of Black Lives Matter, the blatant racism of Ibram X. Kendi, and the elevation of class conflict and collective blame of critical race theory, you know these Christian leaders have elevated Marcuse over Moses and social justice over Jesus.
The inerrancy, authenticity and authority of the Bible, together with the corollary of self-evident truths grounded in natural law (i.e., the objectivity of God’s revelation to man), is now panned as racism and bigotry at your local church and your local Christian school. These people have been “worshiping the created rather than the Creator” for so long that they can’t think their way out of a paper bag any longer. They have “exchanged the truth of God for a lie,” and they truly have been “given over to a reprobate mind.” In the spirit of the original sin, they have declared themselves “to be as God” and in return, “he who sits in the heavens laughs! The Lord scoffs at them.”
It has been said that wolves in sheep’s clothing are dangerous, but wolves in shepherd’s clothing are downright deadly. America’s church leaders have become wolves disguised as shepherds. Our pastors and Christian faculty, who are supposed to be salt and light to a dying culture and dark world, are now little more than pallid milk toast to a nation in desperate need of the strong drink of the Gospel. Christ himself said he would spit such a people from his mouth.
How did we get here? Look no further than your local church and Christian school. There is about a 60% chance that the guy standing behind the pulpit and podium is a “shepherd” with blood dripping from some very sharp teeth.
* Article from: The Washington Times
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Categories: Free Speech Zone, Uncategorized