Let’s close the doors and windows and shut off the cameras and microphones. We need to create a virtual saferoom for the next five minutes and talk turkey about our Sunday morning neighbors. This isn’t gossip; it’s something far more crucial than cranky banter about mediocre minutia. What’s up?

Almost four years ago, my health went into a tailspin. My primary care doctor called me with the results of an exploratory blood test: I had 18 abnormalities. He said, “It’s above my paygrade!,” and referred me to specialists who diagnosed my potentially-deadly Acute Myeloid Leukemia.

I just received the results of another set of tests that are similarly daunting. It’s called the 2025 State of Theology survey from Ligonier Ministries and Lifeway Research. Their findings are just as shocking regarding the spiritual health of American Christians as my leukemia diagnosis was to me.

Am I overstating the situation? Let me summarize some of their discoveries; you tell me how critical our spiritual health might be.

When asked if “everyone is born innocent in the eyes of God,” 64% said “yes.” In a follow-up, 53% agreed that “Everyone sins a little, but most people are good by nature.” If put to a vote, the Doctrine of Original Sin falls to a now-majority who believe that “sin” has not fully infected every person, from birth to death. 

Here’s another stunner: given the opportunity to affirm the Trinity, 98% of evangelicals raise their hand to vote, “aye!” The follow-up statement is where the trip-wire is hiding: 53% declare that “the Holy Spirit is a force but not a personal being.” No “three persons,” no Trinity. It’s no joke.

It isn’t just clever deception on the part of the study’s authors; the questions strike at the core of the beliefs that define the Gospel. When asked if “God loves all people the same way,” 94% see no difference in God’s benevolence expressed between those who enter into relationship with Him through repenting from their sin and accepting His Son as their sole solution and those who have not. The result: the authors call it “moralistic therapeutic deism” that lacks any foundational biblical proof.

And, to put an assassin’s heart-shot into the American Christian soldier: nearly half of evangelicals (47%) believe that “God accepts the worship of all religions, including Christian, Judaism and Islam.” If it doesn’t matter what religious brand we embrace, why put our lives at risk in initiating evangelistic penetrations of others-majority cultures with a claim of exclusivity regarding the Gospel of Jesus Christ as the only door through which one can access the Creator?

In a 21^st Century American culture that has access to dozens of Bible translations and thousands of ministry voices available in streaming services and podcasts aplenty, how have we managed to decline to the level that these spiritual blood-tests describe?

Allow me to suggest two parallel disablers.

When walking into restaurants, the Health Department score is on display at the entry. Some are highly rated; others less-so. If they fail their regular inspections, they are shut-down. Here’s an unfortunate reality: there is no biblical rating in the lobby of a church. Some should not be open for business, but many draw large crowds to have an experience that may be fueling the ignorance.

For others, online teaching is creating an opportunity to self-administer biblical content, with a similar lack of any discerning filter to affirm the orthodoxy of what is offered.

Here’s an unglamourous but rock-solid suggestion: find a church that clearly teaches the Bible and earn frequent-flyer status that will ensure that your intake is fueling your uptake. 

Peter’s caution: “But there were also false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the sovereign Lord who bought them – bringing swift destruction on themselves. Many will follow their depraved conduct and will bring the way of truth into disrepute. In their greed these teachers will exploit you with fabricated stories” (2 Peter 2). Maybe he saw it coming, two thousand years ago…

Don’t be among the misguided majority! “There is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to death…” (Proverbs 14:12).

Here at The Master’s Program, we’re committed to echo Jude: “…I felt I had to write and urge you to contend for the faith that was once for all entrusted to the saints…” 

Bob Shank

___
Discover the locations of our new cohort launches! CLICK HERE