Lack of Knowledge

^{In yesterday's sermon, our pastor gave some statistics which he had just received from a pastoral conference he recently attended.  Here is what he learned;}

Here are the statistics that I shared with the group this past Thursday. We have lots of work to do:
95% of churches in America today are less than 150 in size
80% of churches in America today are either plateauing or dying
400 pastors leave the ministry every week in America
Between 3500 and 4000 churches close their doors every year

46% of Builders (ages 67-85) are unchurched
51% of Boomers (ages 48-66) are unchurched
70% of Busters (ages 29-47) are unchurched
65% of Mosaics (ages 11-28) are unchurched

On any given week, 82.5% of Americans do not attend a church service.

Ouch!!  That is a sad state of affairs for America.  Is there any doubt what will happen to a nation that lacks understanding of the Truth of God's Word?

Psalm 49:20
People who have wealth but lack understanding are like the beasts that perish.

Jeremiah 7:28
Therefore say to them, ‘This is the nation that has not obeyed the LORD its God or responded to correction. Truth has perished; it has vanished from their lips.

And now today, Fox News had this to say in an article;

The research, commissioned by American Bible Society and conducted by Barna Research, found that the majority of Americans (69%) believe the Bible provides answers on how to live a meaningful life. But while 79% believe they are knowledgeable about the Bible, 54% were unable to correctly identify the first five books of the Bible. And approximately half of Americans surveyed didn’t know the fundamental differences between the teachings of the Bible, Koran and Book of Mormon, with 46% percent saying they believe all three books teach the same spiritual truths.

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2012/04/29/does-bible-still-matter-in-2012/#ixzz1tXSg5KjH
So should it really surprise any of us to learn that 4000 churches per year are closing their doors in this country?  Should it really surprise us that lukewarm churches are being spit out?  Americans have no clue what the difference is between the Bible and the Koran!!!!

Paul clearly told us in 2 Timothy:  For the time will come when people 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. ⁴ They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths. ⁵ But you, keep your head in all situations, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, discharge all the duties of your ministry.

Sounds like that is exactly where we are.  If we don't like the message of "repent" and we don't like the message that we need to change because our hearts are wicked...we will simply turn on Oprah or some other new age guru who will tell us exactly what we want to hear.