III – Be – Page 3 – SemperVerus

Fewer American Adults Are Engaging the Bible

Photo credit: Ben White, Unsplash In a time when 90% of the world’s population has access to the Christian sacred text of the Bible, a declining number of adults consider it a foundation of their lives. “Today, just 1 in 10 Gen Z adults regularly engages with the Bible,” says John Farquhar Plake, chief ministry insights officer of the American Bible Society.

[ Read the SemperVerus article, Spiritual Fitness: How Long Does It Take to Read the Bible? ]

Alistair Begg, author and senior pastor of Cleveland’s Parkside Church, laments the diminishing role of Scripture in congregational life, warning that modern churchgoers often arrive not with a sense of reverence but with a consumerist mindset and calls for a return to “serious engagement with the Bible.” He says, “I’m not sure that America understands just how deep the problem is, in relationship to biblical illiteracy. You cannot continue to make your journey through life without your Bible—not as a talisman, not as something just to be revered in a corner—but without the Bible as our daily source of knowledge and encounter with God.”

[ Read the SemperVerus article, Spiritual Fitness: Top 12 Acts for a Christian ]

America’s preteens are not being raised in an environment that honors the Bible or presents its message, according to George Barna, director of research at the Cultural Research Center of Arizona Christian University. The lack of such spiritual formation means “we are on the precipice of Christian invisibility,” he says. His research shows just 21% of preteens believe in the existence of “absolute moral truths” that “are unchanging and knowable.” Only one in four agree the Bible is the true word of God.

[ Read how SemperVerus encourages you to live all facets of your life with a biblical worldview ]

“Biblical worldview incidence has declined with each of the last five generations. During that time, the national incidence of adults holding a biblical worldview has plummeted from 12% to today’s 4% level.”

What a Leaf-Sweeper’s Answer Teaches About Personal Leadership

Launch of Friendship 7 from Launch Complex 14, Kennedy Space Center, 14:47:39 UTC, 20 February 1962. (NASA) President John F. Kennedy introduced himself to a man sweeping leaves at NASA during a 1962 visit and asked him what he was doing, to which the man replied, “I’m part of the team that’s going to put a man on the moon.”

[ Read the SemperVerus article, Every Small Decision Leads to Winning or Losing in Spiritual Warfare ]

The man knew that clearing debris that could affect the engines of aircraft was an integral part of the overall mission of NASA.

It’s a lesson in how to properly view the big picture of the lives we live, the work we do, and the decisions we make every day. To properly succeed in our personal meaning and leadership, we must avoid thinking small and having tunnel vision in who we are and what we do.

Every Small Decision Leads to Winning or Losing in Spiritual Warfare

Our lifetimes are lived second by second (86,400 in a day), minute by minute (1,440 in a day), hour by hour (24 in a day), day by day (7 in a week), week by week (52 in a year), month by month (12 in a year), year by year (365 days in a year), and decade by decade (8 decades in an average lifetime; which is the same as 4,174 weeks or 29,220 days). The manner in which we live depends entirely on each and every decision we make in each of those limited spans of time.

Witnessing worldwide hateful motives and malevolent behavior in the news every day, it’s self-evident that we’re in the middle of a cosmic war between good and evil (Ephesians 6:12). Every decision we make—every one of them—determines whether we win or lose in that spiritual warfare—every moment of every day.

[ Read the SemperVerus article, Situational Awareness: Spiritual Self-Defense ]

This applies even in subtle ways. Today’s culture has broadly normalized what for millennia has been understood to be abnormal. One mere example is the recent Summer Olympics, where, among a variety of indecent cringe-worthy incidents during the Games, the USA women’s gymnastics team, on the world’s media stage, jokingly gave themselves the NSFW nickname of “F.A.A.F.O.,” which translates to “F*** Around And Find Out.” This decision to self-identify by lightly applying an obscene and fractious word to an inspiring and worthy female sport activity was odious to common decency; what’s perhaps worse is that the world’s media and their audience enjoyed the usage.

Let it not be so with those who commit to the SemperVerus way! What the Apostle Paul wrote to the Christians in Rome in the 1st century directly applies to us in the 21st century:

“So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.” Romans 12:1-2 (MSG)

Perhaps you’re thinking right now, “I don’t swear that much. I can tell a little white lie every now and then. I use profanity only infrequently. Probably only 5% of my vocabulary is vulgar. It’s a minor amount.” Consider this: You’re presented with a treat by a friend. He says, “I know how much you like brownies so I made this batch for you. I mixed into the ingredients only 5% of cow manure. It’s a minor amount.” Will you want to eat it? Of course not! You want the ingredients to be pure, devoid of any toxicity, no matter how small. The same purity should be reflected in the decisions we make every moment.

[ Read the SemperVerus article, Spiritual Fitness Self-Defense: Seeing Temptation as a Threat ]

Will you decide to…

Interview with Craig Gray: Developing a Protector’s Lifestyle

SemperVerus interviewed Craig Gray, founder and trainer of PeaceWalker.org, a membership website that teaches simple and effective methods of personal protection and church security, and ways to handle conflict and live confidently. It provides solutions for dealing with conflict and violence, ranging from verbal arguments to physical assaults.

With your extensive background in protective services, martial arts, law enforcement training, and defensive tactics instruction, why did you create PeaceWalker.org?
I created our PeaceWalker private online community and training resource to help people who want to learn how to deal with conflict and violence more effectively. Anyone from anywhere in the world can connect with me and this community to learn this simple, effective method of personal defense, leadership, and lifestyle. This resource can be used on its own or in correlation with live in-person training.

By semperverus
Posted on 07/10/202411/19/2024