by Dan Jones
The mainstream media loves to tell us that you and I are living in Post-Christian America.
We’ve seen the statistics that church attendance, religious affiliation, belief in God, prayer and Bible-reading have all been dropping for decades. And, of course, we’ve all seen the evidence of moral decline in our country.
I’ve even met fellow believers who seem to have thrown up their hands and written the whole situation off as “end times” as if there is nothing we can do about it until the rapture comes and carries away the tiny remnant of true believers still left on the planet.
Now, I’m not one to scoff at the end of the world. Jesus could be coming back at any moment and the signs of His return are certainly on the increase.
But I also know it’s not over until God says it’s over.
More of you read and “liked” the blog I wrote last week about the National Religious Broadcasters convention than any blog I have written in a long time and I am convinced it’s because you saw what I saw: There is hope. There are people bringing the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the nation and the world and revival is not only possible, it’s happening.
Yes, the Bible clearly says that in the last days, scoffers will come following their own evil desires (2 Peter 3:3) that people will gather around those who preach to itching ears (2 Timothy 4:3) and there will be those that exchange the truth of God for a lie giving into all kinds of sinful desires. (Romans 1)
But the Bible also says that of the increase of his government and of his peace there will be no end. (Isaiah 9:7) So, how can both be true?
The answer is that our little chunk of the planet is not the center of the universe.
I know that’s kind of shocking.
I’ll let it sink in for a minute.
The United States of America is not the only place on earth where there are Christians.
According to the latest statistics from the Center for the Study of Global Christianity, there are about 7.6 billion people on the planet, of whom almost 33% (2,506,835,000) are Christian. That’s followed by 1.8 billion Muslims and about a billion Hindus. Atheists are way, way down on the list at 137 million and their numbers are expected to decline in the future. The CSGC is predicting Christianity will reach 3.4 billion by 2050.
So, who are these Christians and where will they be?
Currently, the stats show just under 600 million Christians in Africa, 397 million in Asia, about 550 million in Europe (including Russia), almost 600 million in Latin America, 231 million in North America, and 25 million in Oceania. (Melanesia, Micronesia, Polynesia and Australasia.)
By 2050, these numbers are projected to be 1.253 billion in Africa, 588 million in Asia, 490 million in Europe, 705 million in Latin America, 259 million in North America, and 33 million in Oceania.
As you can see, there is an explosion of Christian growth going on in Africa with numbers expected to double in the just over 30 years. The only decline listed is Europe, with truly significant growth in Asia and Latin America easily outweighing those losses.
So, the Bible is right (once again) on both counts. We do see moral decline in our own country and all the things that go with it, but their truly is no end to the increase of His government and His peace in the world overall.
Whether we are living in a post-Christian country is debatable, but we are most certainly not living in a post-Christian world.
Christianity isn’t dead, it’s just on the move.
Yes, it’s sad that it seems to be moving away from where it used to be but I would remind you that revival has happened many times before and it can happen again. These numbers are all projections, not prophesy.
As I said before, it’s not over until God says its over.
And by the way, dear Christians and fans of Kinship Christian Radio, one of the other statistics I stumbled across while fighting search engines that seemed reluctant to give up the relevant factoids I was so diligently mining, from spring of 2008 to spring of 2017, the number of people listening to contemporary Christian radio in the United States went from 10.8 million to 17.59 million. (Statista, The Statistics Portal.)
That is what is known as “statistically significant.”
I even found some evidence that the people who run secular radio stations have noticed Christian radio and are taking a hard look at how they do things. (Dick Taylor Blog, March 4, 2018.)
It’s not over.
Today’s Praise
Therefore, having this ministry by the mercy of God, we do not lose heart. 2 Corinthians 4:1 (ESV)