Lost confidence in the Bible will lead to Evangelical collapse

Reports Michael Spencer of the Christian Science Monitor:

This collapse will herald the arrival of an anti-Christian chapter of the post-Christian West. Intolerance of Christianity will rise to levels many of us have not believed possible in our lifetimes, and public policy will become hostile toward evangelical Christianity, seeing it as the opponent of the common good.

Millions of Evangelicals will quit. Thousands of ministries will end. Christian media will be reduced, if not eliminated. Many Christian schools will go into rapid decline. I'm convinced the grace and mission of God will reach to the ends of the earth. But the end of evangelicalism as we know it is close.

Here is Spencer's reasoning:
1. Evangelicals have believed in causes more than a faith.
2. The younger generation has no orthodoxy; they do not know why they should obey scripture.
3. Churches are fragile, dying, or money-driven.
4. Christian education has not produced a product that can withstand the rising tide of secularism. Evangelicalism has used its educational system primarily to staff its own needs and talk to itself.
5. The good the Evangelicals want to do will be seen as bad by many.
6. Evangelicals find themselves unable to pass on to our children a vital evangelical confidence in the Bible and the importance of the faith.
7. Money will dry up.

Tony Perkins would disagree on the last point: "If the economy continues downward, more people will be looking upward."
So would Will Donohue: "When people feel threatened--either through national security or economic crisis, such as we are experiencing now--they begin to rethink some things."

Or, if trends continue, the next generation won't be giving up evangelism, they will be giving up religion. Dare I say that the problem may not be with its public image, but with its basic precepts?

Economy dives, evangelicalism thrives

A surprising (or is it?) consequence of hard-times:

Bad times are boon times for evangelical churches. Economist David Beckworth of Texas State University has crunched U.S. church attendance numbers and found that congregation growth at evangelical churches jumped 50 percent during each recession between 1968 and 2004.

Jesus Lovers love the Water Torture Cell

The existence of the escape artist Kristen Johnson has caught many people's attention today thanks to a video circulating from a January 16th "Water Torture Cell" escape attempt that went horribly wrong.

While the video has probably already reached its half-life (the rescue of an underwater lock-picker fails to capture my imagination), I am more interested in the existence of Living Illusions, the Christian touring production that Johnson headlines.

With "breath-taking illusions, incredible lighting and death-defying escapes" husband-wife team Kevin Ridgewood and Kristen Johnson have been inspiring Christian audiences at rallies across the country. Their clients include the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, the Youth Evangelism Conference, and Youth for Christ.

Here is one review of their show that beams with innovative, Christian promise:
“Kevin and Kristen have an incredible on and off stage impact on people. Because of their professionalism and the top notch quality of their show, they have been able to reach people with the Gospel who I have been working on for years. Thank you for your impact on my ministry.”
Mike Ivins Youth Pastor * Bayside Chapel * Barnegat, NJ

I have no doubt that the Illusions are entertaining. I am not clear on how the Masters of Illusion inspire Christians to grow in their faith, though I may have an idea as to how it helps them to better understand the Gospel stories.

Evangelicals: God appointed Obama

According to George Berkin:

For evangelicals, who hold a Bible-based view of politics, it is God himself who has placed the new president in office - even if the president does not in any way agree with evangelical political views.

As evangelicals believe, the Bible teaches that God, in his sovereignty, chooses who he wants to place in office. Not in a hocus-pocus way, but through natural and "secular" mechanisms such as political parties, election campaigns and ballots, God put the guy there.

Good, bad, or indifferent, evangelicals believe, the man is in office through divine appointment.

Berkin admits that this may sound "medieval," though dangerous and flawed are more appropriate since we can only hope for the day when such a view is a relic of our past. Berkin says it is important to understand this perspective since evangelicals need to decide how to interact with a president with whom they strongly disagree.

The two thoughts seem contradictory. On one hand there is a belief among Bible believers that God has a "'behind the scenes' involvement in government." On the other hand there is a belief that Bible believers must "woo policymakers into a more 'biblical' approach to policy, even if it is not identified as such."

God does, indeed, work in mysterious ways.