Today's Prayer Alert 11-24-2010

  • Nov 24, 2010
  • Bob Willhite
  • Category: Prayer Alerts

We all know that “ignorance of the law is no excuse” and many people have been convicted of crimes committed by a lack of knowledge. Bible literacy is a scandalous problem even with those people who regularly attend “church” in our country.

How bad is it:

Fewer than half of all adults can name the four Gospels. Many Christians cannot identify more than two or three of the disciples. According to data from the Barna Research Group, 60 percent of Americans can’t name even five of the Ten Commandments. “No wonder people break the Ten Commandments all the time. They don’t know what they are,” said George Barna, president of the firm. The bottom line? “Increasingly, America is biblically illiterate.” [see Barna Group's web site]  LINK = http://www.barna.org/barna-update/article/12-faithspirituality/317-new-research-explores-how-different-generations-view-and-use-the-bible

Multiple surveys reveal the problem in stark terms. According to 82 percent of Americans, “God helps those who help themselves,” is a Bible verse. Those identified as born-again Christians did better–by one percent. A majority of adults think the Bible teaches that the most important purpose in life is taking care of one’s family.

Some of the statistics are enough to perplex even those aware of the problem. A Barna poll indicated that at least 12 percent of adults believe that Joan of Arc was Noah’s wife. Another survey of graduating high school seniors revealed that over 50 percent thought that Sodom and Gomorrah were husband and wife. A considerable number of respondents to one poll indicated that the Sermon on the Mount was preached by Billy Graham. We are in big trouble say, Dr. R. Albert Mohler, Jr. past president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary.

Parents are to be the first and most important educators of their own children, diligently teaching them the Word of God. Parents cannot franchise their responsibility to the congregation, no matter how faithful and biblical it may be. God assigned parents this non-negotiable responsibility, and children must see their Christian parents as teachers and fellow students of God’s Word.

Heavenly Father, we often pray “Give us this day or daily bread”! Lord, feed us on Your Word today. Let the Word of God dwell richly inside of us. Show us how to digest Your Truth in our inward parts. Let us teach and admonish one another with Your Wisdom and Your Revelation Knowledge. Help us to meditate on Your Word both day and night. Let us boldly proclaim Your Word with confidence. Let us SAY what Jesus says by always speaking Blessings and never speaking any curse. Amen and Amen!

The scriptural reference for Today’s Prayer Alert is  Deuteronomy 6:1-9

Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one!  You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength. And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.

Amen and Amen!