I haven't heard of the Barna Group, but in this survey, they are suggesting that Most American Christians Do Not Believe that Satan or the Holy Spirit Exist, while in a Rasmussn poll I put up yesterday claims an overwhelming 79% of Americans believe Jesus Christ rose from the dead and 82% believe Jesus Christ is the Son of God who came to earth and died for our sins. What is a person to believe?
If the Holy Spirit does not exist, then these people are calling Jesus a liar and His Word a lie, and they are not really Christians at all.
Jesus said in John's Gospel: Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth; for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come. 16:13
I did my own research, and found this on Wikipedia about the Barna Group:
The Barna Group
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Barna Group is a firm based in Ventura, California. It consists of five divisions focusing on primary research (The Barna Research Group); communications tools (BarnaFilms); printed resources (BarnaBooks); leadership development for young people (The Josiah Corps); and church facilitation and enhancement (Transformation Church Network).[1] It was founded in 1984 by George Barna, a media research specialist holding graduate degrees in urban planning and political science, for the purpose of providing "research and marketing expertise as a service to Christian ministry."[2] For the first seven years of its existence, the Barna Group provided research services for the Disney Channel, work that provided enough cash flow to allow the company to gradually expand its services to the Christian community.[2] Other clients have included the American Broadcasting Company, VISA, and the military.[3] In 1991, the company cut ties with Disney to concentrate its resources on a campaign to transform the church.[2] According to the Barna Group, "The ultimate aim of the firm is to partner with Christian ministries and individuals to be a catalyst in moral and spiritual transformation in the United States. It accomplishes these outcomes by providing vision, information, evaluation and resources through a network of intimate partnerships."[1] Scientific opinion polls provided by The Barna Group are frequently cited in national and international news media in articles about American religion.
The concept of notional Christians seems to have been created by the Barna Group for the purposes of gathering statistics. They define the term as follows: "We categorize Notional Christian as those who describe themselves as Christians, but do not believe that they will have eternal life because of their reliance upon the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ and the grace extended to people through a relationship with Christ. (A large majority of these individuals believe they will have eternal life, but not because of a grace-based relationship with Jesus Christ.)"[4] The term implies that some have the notion that they are Christian, though they do not meet the Barna Group's definition of Christian.
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Notional Christians are not Christians at all!! and ....They do not even believe in the basic Christian doctrine of salvation by God's grace through acceptance of His Son, Jesus Christ, who died for their sins and rose from the dead on the third day. They believe, according to the foregoing, that they will have eternal life without believing that because of God's grace, Christ died for their sins. They should not even be called Christians and Barna Group has no business including them in this survey which only serves to mislead.
Just because a marketing or research group provides services that relate to Christian concerns does not make that marketing group a Christian organization according to the Word of God.I'll tell you what I think, and know to be true. Satan is the author of confusion, and there is nothing he wants more than to keep the masses thinking that biblical Christianity is dead in America. Satan is attacking the Bible, and is out to destroy God's Word like never before today, using the secular and controlled media sources, such as this ridiculous Barna Group Poll. He is doing everything he can to divide the the true body of Christ, creating now 'sub-divisions' in Christianity, because denominationalism is dying since true Bible believing Christians are leaving the compromising institutional churches in droves.
No wonder people are confused; a survey such as done by the Barna Group is specifically designed to confuse, however, God declared in His Word clearly that "God is not the author of confusion." 1 Corinthians 14:33.
Take a look at these two surveys, or polls and compare if you will. The Barna Group poll is clearly deceptive, when placed against God's Word. First, the Barna Group poll shows clear discrepancies against God's Word, and clearly these people included in the poll are lost and cannot even be considered to be Christians up against God's Word, yet the survey calls them Christians which creates a completely misleading and false survey.
No one who is a Bible believing Christian and born again can ever say that satan or the Holy Spirit does not exist; however, on the other hand, as the Rasmussen Poll shows,and according to the teachings of Jesus himself, no one can say that Jesus is the Son of God and that Jesus rose from the dead except by the Holy Spirit. Clearly, this means that those confused souls in the Barna Group survey are, in my estimation, not truly born again and have not the Holy Spirit of God living in them, and cannot be considered to be Christian to begin with, or are apostate.
God's Word is our teacher with the guidance of the Holy Spirit, living in all true believers.
Jesus said:
John 14:16,17 And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you forever; Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you.
John 14:26 But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your rememberance, whatsoever I have said unto you.
John 15:26,27 But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me; And ye also shall bear witness, because ye have been with me from the beginning.
John 16:13 Howbeit when he, the Sp[irit of truth is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come.
John 17:17 Thy Word is truth.
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