Seeds of doubt are planted by the media, museums and other institutions, and in our public schools. In addition, there is a growing promotion of anti-Christian belief systems such as atheism, cults, false religions and the occult...
God's people are engaged in a spiritual battle with the forces of the Evil One. I continue to receive disturbing reports of how we are losing this battle. The August 7 issue of USA Today ran an article entitled 'Young Adults Aren't Sticking with the Church.' It gives the results of a poll done among Christian young people by LifeWay Research. The results are consistent with other polls done in recent years which I have shared in previous prayer letters. LifeWay found that among both mainline Protestants and evangelicals aged 18-30 who went to church regularly in high school, 70 percent said they stopped attending by age 23.
Recently I had the opportunity to meet Marcia Montenegro who has a ministry of reaching out to those involved in the occult and warning Christians of the growing danger of the occult in our society. Tragically, many young people are being lured into the evils of new age spiritualism. Marcia, a former professional astrologer, was involved in the occult for 25 years. By God's grace she was rescued from Satan's grasp by the faithful prayers of Christian friends. In her book, Spellbound: The Paranormal Seduction of Today's Kids (Colorado Springs: Cook, 2006), she writes, 'Although I attended church until I left for college, I had started doubting the truth of the Bible, and around age 17 made a conscious decision to reject Christianity and explore other religions' (p. 16).
That's where it all starts-with doubts about the truth of God's word. Where do these doubts come from? They are ever present in our culture. Seeds of doubt are planted by the media, museums and other institutions, and in our public schools. In addition, there is a growing promotion of anti-Christian belief systems such as atheism, cults, false religions and the occult. Our young people are particularly vulnerable when attend secular colleges. There, they are exposed to atheistic humanism and much anti-Bible teaching. If Christians, particularly young people, are not well grounded in their faith they easily can fall prey to these influences.
ABR is answering the call to defend the truth of Scripture. Your prayers are much needed as we engage in this battle for the minds and hearts of men.
We appreciate so much your faithful praying and giving. It allows us to carry on research, writing and speaking to disseminate evidence from archaeology that answers the critics and bolsters faith among God's people.
