‘US Bible reading, usage sinks to historic low, survey finds’
Ecumenical News reported the following:
US Bible reading, usage sinks to historic low, survey finds
April 8, 2022
Bible reading and usage have sunk to an all-time low in the United States, new data from the American Bible Society’s State of the Bible Survey shows. …
The 2022 survey, released April 6, showed that Bible users were 10 percent fewer among American adults, from 49 percent in 2021 to 39 percent in 2022.
The percentage was the lowest recorded in the survey, which began in 2011. …
American Bible Society defines a Bible user as someone who reads, listens to or prays with the Bible on their own, outside of a church service at least three to four times a year.
The survey found that one in five Americans left the “Bible engaged” category in the past year.
“Nearly 26 million Americans reduced or stopped their interaction with Scripture in the past year,” the report said noting it as an unprecedented drop. …
“Beginning in 2020 and accelerating since then, Bible Users have indicated a decreased level of Spiritual Impact from the Bible,” the report said.
One of the factors that could have influenced Bible users is the COVID-19 pandemic, said the report. https://www.ecumenicalnews.com/article/us-bible-reading-usage-sinks-to-historic-low-survey-finds/60996.htm
It was not just COVID. As academics and the major media more and more push anti-biblical concepts, as well as dismiss the credibility of scripture, more have been misled and have stopped paying attention to the Bible. Secularism has risen.
Earlier this year, the Washington Post reported the following:
Now, a new crop of books dives into the many shades of gray in growing secularism and its important ramifications.
Deploying new research and theories, these writers go beyond the top-level data and argue that many Americans are, in fact, a mix. Someone may be devout personally, for instance, but strongly believe in church-state separation and the primacy of science and observable facts. They may be completely non-religious but also agnostic when it comes to the role of religion in public life. https://www.washingtonpost.com/religion/2022/01/14/secularism-atheism-religion-nones/
Let me state that secularists and atheists are NOT truly scientific. They tend to deceive themselves that they are, but the Bible says they are fools:
1 The fool has said in his heart,
“There is no God.”
They are corrupt, and have done abominable iniquity; (Psalm 53:1)
This corruption has other consequences.
The New Testament teaches:
18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, 19 because what may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has shown it to them. 20 For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse, 21 because, although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22 Professing to be wise, they became fools, 23 and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man — and birds and four-footed animals and creeping things.
24 Therefore God also gave them up to uncleanness, in the lusts of their hearts, to dishonor their bodies among themselves, 25 who exchanged the truth of God for the lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.
26 For this reason God gave them up to vile passions. For even their women exchanged the natural use for what is against nature. 27 Likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust for one another, men with men committing what is shameful, and receiving in themselves the penalty of their error which was due.
28 And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a debased mind, to do those things which are not fitting; 29 being filled with all unrighteousness, sexual immorality, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, evil-mindedness; they are whisperers, 30 backbiters, haters of God, violent, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, 31 undiscerning, untrustworthy, unloving, unforgiving, unmerciful; 32 who, knowing the righteous judgment of God, that those who practice such things are deserving of death, not only do the same but also approve of those who practice them. (Romans 1:18-32)
Despite the clear teachings of scripture on matters such as sexual immorality and the FACT that the Bible says not to condone it, it is pushed as the idea that all should go along with it.
Some seem to get pleasure out of lockdowns, censorship of biblical views, etc. While the following from an American author points to ‘leftists,’ secularlists of all types should often be included:
For Leftists, Your Freedom Is Their Misery – Your Slavery Is Their Joy
There is a certain level of madness required to reach the state our country is in today. …
To be clear, almost any group can become an exploitable weapon used by psychopaths. There have been times in history where the elites within the Catholic Church used zealotry among Christians to dominate society to the point of torture and terror during the inquisitions and crusades. During the George W. Bush era I remember well the lies about WMDs used to herd Republicans into pointless wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. However, that is the past. Today the problem of zealotry is resoundingly on the side of the political left.
That is to say, the political left is now the side that is most appealing to narcissists, sociopaths, the emotionally unstable, etc., and this attraction is forming a mob that can be easily exploited by the establishment.
What I find interesting is that leftists actually believe that THEY are the underdogs and that they are fighting a “revolution” against the establishment. This is a bizarre disconnect from reality. Every major institution of power and influence in the US is on the side of the political left. How can you be rebelling against the establishment if all your values coincide with the establishment’s agenda?
The mainstream media and Hollywood have gone hardline in favor of leftist propaganda from critical race theory to the trans agenda and identity politics to feminism to socialism and centralization. Nearly every commercial, TV show and movie we see today reflects a far-left viewpoint or far left imagery, even though the majority of the population has no interest in woke ideology. Clearly, leftists and their friends in media think that if they force their cultism into people’s faces non-stop 24/7 that we will eventually capitulate and embrace it.
Big Tech and major social media platforms ALL operate according to leftist politics. All of their terms of service rules are enforced to protect leftists from criticism and to censor conservatives and any moderates that dare speak up. The evidence overwhelmingly shows a left leaning bias in Big Tech censorship with conservatives being booted off platforms for nothing more than citing facts. We saw this recently with Marjorie Taylor Greene, a Georgia GOP representative, who was banned from Twitter and called a “far-right conspiracy theorist” for posting links to the VAERS database.
Social media is also commonly used as a weapon by leftists in order to “cancel” people that step out of line. …
But where does this mentality come from?
I think it’s a combination of a culture of narcissism and collectivism coupled with a desperate desire for weak people to feel as though they are powerful. Leftists are very commonly people you might call the “runners-up” in life. There are a lot of malcontents and socially inept failures in their ranks that grow up feeling powerless. Instead of improving their lot by improving themselves and achieving something of merit, they instead blame others and the world for their lack of accomplishment.
This mentality can also be seen with their academia which often exaggerates their own importance and the importance of their accolades. One can get a masters degree in social sciences or feminist studies, but how useful is that person to the world really? Being an activist alone is not a career and they produce nothing, so the only measure of their education and their life is how much they can destroy, not how much they can build and create.
Joe Rogan’s latest move from Twitter over to GETTR is another big story that leftists are losing their minds over. They act as though they just want to be rid of conservatives and argumentative moderates from their “safe spaces,” but in reality this does not satisfy them. They don’t want us to walk away, they want us to conform. They want us trapped within their echo chambers and going along to get along, or, they want us erased. …
They want you to die for going against the mandates.
01/13/22 https://alt-market.us/for-leftists-your-freedom-is-their-misery-your-slavery-is-their-joy/
Before going further, it should be pointed out the the LGBTQ types believe that they are oppressed. Furthermore, they do not like people quoting scriptures that oppose their ‘lifestyles.’ Or certain scientific facts for that matter (watch: Gay Gene? Born That Way?)
That being said, as the USA becomes more secularlist, it is losing freedoms.
The Apostle Peter warned:
3 By covetousness they will exploit you with deceptive words; for a long time their judgment has not been idle, and their destruction does not slumber. (2 Peter 2:3)
10 … They are presumptuous, self-willed. They are not afraid to speak evil of dignitaries, (2 Peter 2:10)
18 For when they speak great swelling words of emptiness, they allure through the lusts of the flesh, through lewdness, the ones who have actually escaped from those who live in error. 19 While they promise them liberty, they themselves are slaves of corruption; for by whom a person is overcome, by him also he is brought into bondage. (2 Peter 2:18-19)
There is an expression that “misery loves company.”
Hence, we have seen a lot of anti-freedom moves from those who do not want to retain God in their knowledge.
Related to increased USA secularism, we put out the following related video:
Increasing Secularism Will Not End Well
The Washington Post reported an increase in American secularism. Is that scientific or foolish? Were will that lead? Are there people who seem to relish in taking away religious and other freedoms? Are there major biases against religious content by Big Tech and many others? What is prophesied to happen to those that despise the Word of God? Dr. Thiel addresses these matters and more.
Here is a link to our video: Increasing Secularism Will Not End Well.
Part of the reason is that many religious leaders who claim Christianity really do not believe the Bible.
At theological schools they teach that there are various forms of biblical interpretation. Theological schools (and their graduates) tend to emphasize one or more styles of what they call biblical exegesis–some of them, such as an excessive emphasis on allegorization, which are vain and overlook what the Bible teaches. This has affected many who have been exposed to scripture.
But it started long ago.
One of the early men who pushed allegorical interpretation was an apostate named Cerinthus. Irenaeus indicates that the Apostle John was very seriously opposed to him:
There are also those who heard from him that John, the disciple of the Lord, going to bathe at Ephesus, and perceiving Cerinthus within, rushed out of the bath-house without bathing, exclaiming, “Let us fly, lest even the bath-house fall down, because Cerinthus, the enemy of the truth, is within.” (Irenaeus. Adversus Haeres. Book III, Chapter 3, Verse 4)
So, the Apostle John was not a fan of an early apostate allegorist.
A while back, I ran across a Roman Catholic writer who espoused an odd form of “literal” reading of scripture. The writer is Mark Shea and he wrote:
Periodically, folks ask about whether we are supposed to read the Bible literally.
The Church does require a literal interpretation of biblical texts. But that does not mean what most Americans imagine it means. It does not mean we have to believe, for instance, that the universe was made in six 24 hour days, or profess faith in talking snakes. Rather, by the “literal sense”, the Church means we must read the text looking for what the author intended to say, the *way* he intended to say it, and distinguish from that what is incidental to what he was saying. That’s the literal interpretation…the Church also says we are not at all bound to read it *literalistically* as though it was always a newspaper account. So, for instance, CCC 390 says:
The account of the fall in Genesis 3 uses figurative language, but affirms a primeval event, a deed that took place at the beginning of the history of man. Revelation gives us the certainty of faith that the whole of human history is marked by the original fault freely committed by our first parents.
Note that: Genesis describes a real primeval event (the fall) but it uses figurative, not newspaper, language to do it. Other times, of course, Scripture does uses something like newspaper language (“David hid from Saul in a cave.”) in order to tell the story. Common sense and the interpretive tradition of the Church help us discern what from what.
Likewise, the Church does not commit us to reading the account of Noah literalistically…
For a quick rundown on on the senses of Scripture, see CCC 115-119:
115 According to an ancient tradition, one can distinguish between two senses of Scripture: the literal and the spiritual, the latter being subdivided into the allegorical, moral and anagogical senses. The profound concordance of the four senses guarantees all its richness to the living reading of Scripture in the Church.
116 The literal sense is the meaning conveyed by the words of Scripture and discovered by exegesis, following the rules of sound interpretation: “All other senses of Sacred Scripture are based on the literal.”83
117 The spiritual sense. Thanks to the unity of God’s plan, not only the text of Scripture but also the realities and events about which it speaks can be signs.
1. The allegorical sense. We can acquire a more profound understanding of events by recognizing their significance in Christ; thus the crossing of the Red Sea is a sign or type of Christ’s victory and also of Christian Baptism.84
But I would not believe in the Gospel, had not the authority of the Catholic Church already moved me.
http://www.ncregister.com/blog/mark-shea/the-senses-of-scripture#ixzz2JqpQGS52
(Note: ‘CCC’ means the Catechism of the Catholic Church.) Mark Shea is not really advocating reading the Bible literally. Actually, when I personally started to read the Gospels, I realized that the Church of Rome was too removed from the Bible to truly represent the true church (they have made many changes that the true Church of God has not, for details, please check out the free online book: Beliefs of the Original Catholic Church.).
And let me add that although Mark Shea teaches that his “Church does not commit us to reading the account of Noah literalistically,” Jesus of the Bible did teach the account of Noah as did the apostles. Here are some of the words of Jesus:
37 But as the days of Noah were, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. 38 For as in the days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, 39 and did not know until the flood came and took them all away, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. (Matthew 24:37-39)
26 And as it was in the days of Noah, so it will be also in the days of the Son of Man: 27 They ate, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all. (Luke 17:26-27)
Notice some additional writings from the New Testament about Noah:
7 By faith Noah, being divinely warned of things not yet seen, moved with godly fear, prepared an ark for the saving of his household, by which he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness which is according to faith. (Hebrews 11:7)
18 For Christ also suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive by the Spirit, 19 by whom also He went and preached to the spirits in prison, 20 who formerly were disobedient, when once the Divine longsuffering waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is, eight souls, were saved through water. (1 Peter 3:18-20)
4 For if God did not spare the angels who sinned, but cast them down to hell and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved for judgment; 5 and did not spare the ancient world, but saved Noah, one of eight people, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood on the world of the ungodly; (2 Peter 2:4-5)
Those of us who actually believe the Bible believe the account of Noah–and the New Testament confirmed many of the literal events of the account of Noah in the Book of Genesis. Those part of the Church of Rome claim they accept the Apostle Peter’s authority, so perhaps they should believe the biblical account of Noah?
Notice what the prophet Isaiah taught:
Whom will he teach knowledge? And whom will he make to understand the message?…For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept, Line upon line, line upon line, Here a little, there a little”… But the word of the LORD was to them, “Precept upon precept, precept upon precept, Line upon line, line upon line, Here a little, there a little,” (Isaiah 28:9,10, 13 NKJV).
In other words, the Bible was supposed to be understood based upon what it says in many places.
Notice what the Apostle Paul wrote:
16 All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, 17 that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work (2 Timothy 3:16-17 NKJV).
In other words, scripture is given by God for doctrine and contains enough information that the man of God may be complete.
Notice what the Apostle Peter taught:
15…also our beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given to him, has written to you, 16 as also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things, in which are some things hard to understand, which untaught and unstable people twist to their own destruction, as they do also the rest of the Scriptures (2 Peter 3:15-16).
Thus, even back then people who would not learn from the apostles were twisting scriptures–claiming they meant something other than what they said.
Allegorizing May Have First Developed in Alexandria And Was Held By Followers of Simon Magus and Valentinus
Gnostic and pre-gnostic leaders took a different approach to biblical interpretation in the first and second centuries. They tended to accept allegory over what the Bible actually taught.
This practice may have first developed in Alexandria, Egypt. Here is some of what Eusebius said Philo (c. first century) taught about those who made some profession of Christ in Alexandria (any bolding mine) (Cerinthus was an Egyptian):
3. In the work to which he gave the title, On a Contemplative Life or on Suppliants, after affirming in the first place that he will add to those things which he is about to relate nothing contrary to truth or of his own invention, he says that these men were called Therapeutæ and the women that were with them Therapeutrides. He then adds the reasons for such a name, explaining it from the fact that they applied remedies and healed the souls of those who came to them, by relieving them like physicians, of evil passions, or from the fact that they served and worshiped the Deity in purity and sincerity.
4. Whether Philo himself gave them this name, employing an epithet well suited to their mode of life, or whether the first of them really called themselves so in the beginning, since the name of Christians was not yet everywhere known, we need not discuss here…
7. Philo bears witness to facts very much like those here described and then adds the following account: “Everywhere in the world is this race found. For it was fitting that both Greek and Barbarian should share in what is perfectly good. But the race particularly abounds in Egypt, in each of its so-called nomes, and especially about Alexandria…
9. And then a little further on, after describing the kind of houses which they had, he speaks as follows concerning their churches, which were scattered about here and there: “In each house there is a sacred apartment which is called a sanctuary and monastery, where, quite alone, they perform the mysteries of the religious life. They bring nothing into it, neither drink nor food, nor any of the other things which contribute to the necessities of the body, but only the laws, and the inspired oracles of the prophets, and hymns and such other things as augment and make perfect their knowledge and piety.”
10. And after some other matters he says:
“The whole interval, from morning to evening, is for them a time of exercise. For they read the holy Scriptures, and explain the philosophy of their fathers in an allegorical manner, regarding the written words as symbols of hidden truth which is communicated in obscure figures.
11. They have also writings of ancient men, who were the founders of their sect, and who left many monuments of the allegorical method. These they use as models, and imitate their principles”…
15…Philo’s words are as follows:
16. “Having laid down temperance as a sort of foundation in the soul, they build upon it the other virtues. None of them may take food or drink before sunset, since they regard philosophizing as a work worthy of the light, but attention to the wants of the body as proper only in the darkness, and therefore assign the day to the former, but to the latter a small portion of the night.
17. But some, in whom a great desire for knowledge dwells, forget to take food for three days; and some are so delighted and feast so luxuriously upon wisdom, which furnishes doctrines richly and without stint, that they abstain even twice as long as this, and are accustomed, after six days, scarcely to take necessary food.” These statements of Philo we regard as referring clearly and indisputably to those of our communion.
19. For they say that there were women also with those of whom we are speaking, and that the most of them were aged virgins who had preserved their chastity…by their own choice, through zeal and a desire for wisdom…
20. Then after a little he adds still more emphatically: “They expound the Sacred Scriptures figuratively by means of allegories. For the whole law seems to these men to resemble a living organism, of which the spoken words constitute the body, while the hidden sense stored up within the words constitutes the soul. This hidden meaning has first been particularly studied by this sect, which sees, revealed as in a mirror of names, the surpassing beauties of the thoughts”…
23. In addition to this Philo describes the order of dignities which exists among those who carry on the services of the church, mentioning the diaconate, and the office of bishop, which takes the precedence over all the others (Eusebius. Church History, Book II, Chapter XVII. Translated by Arthur Cushman McGiffert. Excerpted from Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series Two, Volume 1. Edited by Philip Schaff and Henry Wace. American Edition, 1890. Online Edition Copyright © 2004 by K. Knight).
So Eusebius claims that Philo (c. 1st century) reported that those in Alexandria were ascetic, had mysteries, seem to have been gnostics (ones who claimed to have special knowledge/wisdom was essential for salvation), had some promotion of celibacy, allegorized scripture, and had a bishop–and Eusebius seems to claim that they are part of the Catholic Church (see vs. 17 above)–even though the Roman Church did not have celibacy rules at that time (please see the article Was Celibacy Required for Early Bishops or Presbyters?). This seems to have been where a major departure from the true faith occurred.
Hippolytus, who also appeared to be a Roman supporter, in the early third century, wrote this about the heretic Simon Magus:
Now Simon, both foolishly and knavishly paraphrasing the law of Moses, makes his statements (Hippolytus. Refutation of All Heresies, Book VI, Chapter IV. Translated by J. H. Machmahon. Excerpted from Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 5. Edited by Alexander Roberts & James Donaldson. American Edition, 1886. Online Edition Copyright © 2005 by K. Knight).
Simon then, after inventing these (tenets), not only by evil devices interpreted the writings of Moses in whatever way he wished, but even the (works) of the poets. For also he fastens an allegorical meaning on (the story of) the wooden horse and Helen with the torch, and on very many other (accounts), which he transfers to what relates to himself and to Intelligence, and (thus) furnishes a fictitious explanation of them. (ibid Chapter XIV).
Simon Magus came on the scene about the same time Philo wrote about the Alexandrians.
Alexandria was also the original home of the heretic Valentinus (who later went to Rome), and it seems like some of the leaders in Alexandria adopted some of his traits. The historian HOJ Brown noted:
Alexandria was the home of the celebrated gnostic Valentinus. Valentinus adopted Philo’s method of allegorical interpretation…For a time, Valentinus and his followers existed with the orthodox Christians of Alexandria. (Brown HOJ. Heresies: Heresy and Orthodoxy in the History of the Church. Hendrickson Publishers, Peabody (MA), 1988, p. 86).
Valentinus, even though condemned by Polycarp of Smyrna, when Polycarp visited Rome, ca. 155, was also tolerated by, and existed in, the Roman Church until at least the 170s A.D. when he was finally put out after he had greatly influenced the church there.
Speaking of Polycarp, in his famous Letter to the Philippians he uses essentially a literal, not allegorical approach to understanding scripture. The simple truth is that the actual early (prior to the third century) leaders of the church (outside of Alexandria), that the Roman Catholics consider non-heretical, did not try to promote an allegorical method of understanding scripture. But the heretics did.
What About Protestants?
While “sola Scriptura” was a rallying cry of the Protestant Reformation, the fact is that its most famous leader did not believe in that. Martin Luther changed or diminished the importance of at least 19 books of the Bible (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, Esther, Job, Ecclesiastes, Jonah, Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Acts, Romans, Hebrews, James, Jude, and Revelation). He also accepted many non-biblical traditions of men.
In our free online book: Hope of Salvation: How the Continuing Church of God Differs from Protestantism, we have the following chart contrasting the teachings of an early faithful Christian leader and the Protestant Martin Luther:
| Polycarp | Martin Luther |
| Baptized at age 18 by a Church of God leader. | Baptized as an infant by Roman Catholic priest. |
| Trained by the original apostles. | Trained by the Church of Rome. |
| Ordained by the original apostles. | Ordained by the Church of Rome. |
| Related all things in accordance with scripture. | Relied on tradition if he did not care for the scriptural position. |
| Taught the word of God. | Felt he could change parts of the word of God. |
| Taught the importance of all the scriptures. | Diminished the importance of many books of the Bible. |
| Had a binitarian view of the Godhead. | Taught a trinitarian view of the Godhead. |
| Only baptized adults. | Promoted infant baptism and condemned those who did not accept it. |
| Did not eat unclean meat. | Ate biblically unclean meat. |
| Taught the Ten Commandments. | Taught a version of the Ten Commandments. |
| Kept the Sabbath. | Promoted Sunday. |
| Observed biblical Holy Days. | Observed non-biblical holidays. |
| Kept Passover on the 14th. | Kept Easter Sunday. |
| Had no idols or icons. | Had crosses and Christmas trees. |
| Warned that a Latin man would be 666. | Taught that the Pope was the Antichrist. |
| Believed in “soul sleep.” | Taught “soul sleep.” |
| Understood that God would offer salvation to all and that most would be saved. | Taught that most would be lost and that most would not get a real offer of salvation. |
| Taught the Kingdom of God was the reward. | Taught that heaven was the reward. |
| Endorsed the millennial doctrine. | Condemned the millennial doctrine. |
| Walked in the ways taught by the Apostle John, who was considered to be a Jew. | Ordered followers to burn Jewish synagogues, take Jewish wealth, and hunt Jews down. |
| Taught against Christian military involvement. | Condemned those who did not endorse Protestant military involvement. |
| Warned about the “vanity of many.” | Warned against select Roman Catholic positions. |
| Died as a martyr. | Had ill health for many years and died shortly after having a stroke. |
Polycarp stood for and taught the original apostolic Christian faith (additional details on Polycarp’s specific teachings can be found at https://www.cogwriter.com/polycarp.htm), while Martin Luther often did not.
Although Martin Luther had some positive positions, he compromised too much and did not truly accept his own sola Scriptura rallying cry. You do not have to dig very deep into history to prove that.
We in the Continuing Church of God do not believe that Martin Luther was a true and faithful leader. We believe that he accepted the “vanity of many,” which is also happening in the 21st century with the ecumenical movement.
Furthermore, in order to justify the early existence of Protestantism, some Protestant scholars have claimed that the apostate Marcion, who was denounced by CCOG leader Polycarp of Smyrna, was the first Protestant.
Marcion basically denied the Old Testament and much of the New Testament. More on him can be found in the article: Marcion: The First Protestant?
While there are some passages in the Bible that are intended to be understood allegorically, God’s actual servants believe the word of God over opinions of men who do not truly have sufficient love of the truth.
That all being said, the Bible is true.
What the Bible teaches is true. Jesus confirmed that (John 17:17).
Most people, Americans or otherwise, should read it.
The USA itself is rapidly heading towards its destruction.
Only national repentance could delay that (cf. Daniel 4:27), but that is not expected.
But YOU can as an individual repent and should regularly read and study the Bible.
Some items of possibly related interest may include:
Read the Bible Christians should read and study the Bible. This article gives some rationale for regular bible reading, certain ancient texts, and discusses translations. Is the King James Version completely trustworthyy? Here is a link in Mandarin Chinese: ‹ûW#~Ï Here is a link in the Spanish language: Lea la Biblia..
Bible: Superstition or Authority? Should you rely on the Bible? Is it reliable? Herbert W. Armstrong wrote this as a booklet on this important subject.
How to Study the Bible David Jon Hill wrote this initially and Dr. Thiel added scriptures, tips, and suggestions to it. A 2015 sermon is available and is also titled How to Study the Bible.
What is the Appropriate Form of Biblical Interpretation? Should the Bible be literally understood?
Simon Magus, What Did He Teach? Sometimes called “the father early heretics” or the “father of heresies”, do you know what early writers claimed that Simon Magus taught? Sadly, most who profess Christ still hold to versions of his teachings.
Marcion: The First Protestant? Considered to have been an organized heretic, he taught against the Old Testament, the law, and the Sabbath. Some have considered him to be the first Protestant reformer. But was he? Here is a link to a related sermon: Marcion: The first Protestant reformer?
Valentinus: The Gnostic Trinitarian Heretic He apparently was the first Christ-professing heretic to come up with the idea of three hypostases.
Is God Calling You? This booklet discusses topics including calling, election, and selection. If God is calling you, how will you respond? Here is are links to related sermons: Christian Election: Is God Calling YOU? and Predestination and Your Selection. A short animation is also available: Is God Calling You?
Christian Repentance Do you know what repentance is? Is it really necessary for salvation? Two related sermons about this are also available: Real Repentance and Real Christian Repentance.
Beliefs of the Original Catholic Church. Did the original “catholic church” have doctrines held by the Continuing Church of God? Did Church of God leaders uses the term “catholic church” to ever describe the church they were part of? Here are links to related sermons: Original Catholic Church of God?, Original Catholic Doctrine: Creed, Liturgy, Baptism, Passover, and What Type of Catholic was Polycarp of Smyrna?, Tradition, Holy Days, Salvation, Dress, & Celibacy, and Early Heresies and Heretics, and Doctrines: 3 Days, Abortion, Ecumenism, Meats, Tithes, Crosses, Destiny, and more, and Saturday or Sunday?, The Godhead, Apostolic Laying on of Hands Succession, and Church in the Wilderness Apostolic Succession List.
Hope of Salvation: How the Continuing Church of God Differs from Protestantism The CCOG is NOT Protestant. This free online book explains how the real Church of God differs from mainstream/traditional Protestants. Several sermons related to the free book are also available: Protestant, Baptist, and CCOG History; The First Protestant, God’s Command, Grace, & Character; The New Testament, Martin Luther, and the Canon; Eucharist, Passover, and Easter; Views of Jews, Lost Tribes, Warfare, & Baptism; Scripture vs. Tradition, Sabbath vs. Sunday; Church Services, Sunday, Heaven, and God’s Plan; Seventh Day Baptists/Adventists/Messianics: Protestant or COG?; Millennial Kingdom of God and God’s Plan of Salvation; Crosses, Trees, Tithes, and Unclean Meats; The Godhead and the Trinity; Fleeing or Rapture?; and Ecumenism, Rome, and CCOG Differences.
Where is the True Christian Church Today? This free online pdf booklet answers that question and includes 18 proofs, clues, and signs to identify the true vs. false Christian church. Plus 7 proofs, clues, and signs to help identify Laodicean churches. A related sermon is also available: Where is the True Christian Church? Here is a link to the booklet in the Spanish language: ¿Dónde está la verdadera Iglesia cristiana de hoy?
Continuing History of the Church of God This pdf booklet is a historical overview of the true Church of God and some of its main opponents from Acts 2 to the 21st century. Related sermon links include Continuing History of the Church of God: c. 31 to c. 300 A.D. and Continuing History of the Church of God: 4th-16th Centuries and Continuing History of the Church of God: 17th-20th Centuries. The booklet is available in Spanish: Continuación de la Historia de la Iglesia de Dios, German: Kontinuierliche Geschichte der Kirche Gottes, French: L Histoire Continue de l Église de Dieu and Ekegusii Omogano Bw’ekanisa Ya Nyasae Egendererete.
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