A Very Religious People

That is what Americans are, a very religious people. Notice I didn't say a very Christian people. But they are very religious. It has been estimated that 98% of Americans believe in God, or a god, or a higher power, or "something out there that is more than us."

I like to follow the apologetic websites. Now, apologetics does not mean we apologize for being Christians. In theology, apologetics is the field of study that deals with the defense of the faith. It shows us the rational basis for what we believe. Well, if you were to take a quick tour of some of the major apologetic websites you would see a variety of beliefs out there.

There are a number of new age beliefs. There is a guy in Florida who is claiming to be the Messiah. And this guy has quite a following. Two guys in Washington state teach that they are the two witnesses in the book of Revelation. Cults are growing exponentially and new ones are starting almost daily.

Even within the Christian Church, you can find all manner of beliefs. Almost every ancient heresy is today being taught in Evangelical churches in North America. All across America people want to touch God. Even though I have mentioned Evangelical churches, the things I am talking about is not limited to those types of churches alone. Every time someone yells "Revival!" people will flock to that place from all over the world. Some of the wildest stories imaginable come from those revivals too. You will hear of gold dust falling from the ceiling. You will hear of amalgam filling being turned into gold. In other churches apparitions of dead saints appear in the most unlikely places ... on telephone poles, underpass walls, slices of toast and elsewhere. And people will flock by the hundreds and thousands to see these things. Some will pay big money on Ebay to own this stuff.

God and god-stuff is everywhere. Self help books, even at Christian bookstores, are big sellers. On TV things like "Ghost Whisperer" and "Saving Grace" and "John Edwards Speaks to the Dead" and other similar TV shows seem to continually find audiences. TV preachers are still big business, drawing hundreds of millions of dollars a year from their faithful watchers. Yoga, Zen, meditation, reincarnation, and even trance channeling dead people have come back into vogue. We live in religious times.

But all of that together won't bring a single soul closer to God. There is a truth. The world has a problem called "sin." And God has come to the earth to deal with the problem we couldn't. God has one "Only Begotten Son" and his Name is Jesus Christ. Jesus has come to show us the way of salvation and the way of life. He is Incarnate Truth. He has saved us and now he lives inside of us. Our lives are changed by meeting our Savior and Lord, Jesus Christ. Now our lives are supposed to be living testimonies, living sermons, to the truths we say we believe. We say there is a God who is holy, who saves from sin and gives us the words of life and good. We say that knowing God intimately is a life changing experience. Our lives bear witness to those truths. Scripture says that people will see our good works and glorify the God that brought them about.

You see, we live in a religious world. But what religion misses is the truth. We, on the other hand, have the truth. If the world is going to learn the truth, they will have to learn it from us. It will not be enough to tell them the truth. They have to see it lived out in our lives. The combination of the true words with true living is a combination even Satan can't defeat. Let us all, who claim the Name of Christ, be light to a dark world that is drowning in religion.