“But there were also false prophets among the people, even as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Lord who bought them, and bring on themselves swift destruction. 2 And many will follow their destructive ways, because of whom the way of truth will be blasphemed. 3 By covetousness they will exploit you with deceptive words; for a long time their judgment has not been idle, and their destruction does not slumber.” – Peter 2:1-3
In 1998 the Harris group took a poll of over 7,000 clergy in the U.S. and found the following percentages of clergymen denying the virgin birth:
“19% of American Lutheran clergy
34% of American Baptist pastors
44% of Episcopalian priests
49% of Presbyterian ministers
60% of Methodist clergy
79% of Congregational pastors”
Source
“A recent pole found that most United Methodist Church pastors don’t believe the Bible. Polls have shown that at least 30 percent of UMC ministers do not believe Jesus Christ is God, and 82% say they do not believe the Bible is the perfect Word of God. As early as 1968 a widely publicized scientific survey by Jeffrey Harden which was published by the Washington University showed that about 60% of the Methodist clergy did not believe in the virgin birth and at least 50% did not believe in the bodily resurrection of Christ. A Gallup survey in 1982 revealed that 34% of Methodists believe a community service is more important than proclaiming the Gospel. (‘Way of Life Encyclopedia of the Bible & Christianity”, David Cloud)” Source
“What about the Methodist clergy? Years ago Edmund P. Clowney reported on a Gallup survey of clergy in various denominations. Notice what the respected pollster Gallup discovered in regard to Methodist ministers. First, only 41% of Methodists believed (at that time) that “the Bible is the word of God and is not mistaken in its statements and teaching.” Further, only 29% of the Methodists believe that God created Adam and Eve—the beginning of human life. Additionally, only 42% of Methodist ministers believe in a personal devil.[xvi] Although these statistics may be somewhat dated, we can suppose that the figures do not reflect a higher degree of Biblical faith today.”
If you don’t know Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, you can receive Him into your heart and He can deliver you from darkness and sin and have your name written in His Book of Life.
If you are sincere, you can say this simple prayer to the Father (it doesn’t have to be word for word):
“God, I recognize that I have not lived my life for You up until now. I have been living for myself and that is wrong. Please forgive me of all of my sins just as I forgive others. I need You in my life; I want You in my life. I acknowledge the completed work of Your only begotten Son Jesus Christ in giving His life for me on the cross, I believe in my heart Jesus is Lord and was raised from the dead and I long to receive the forgiveness you have made freely available to me through this sacrifice. Come into my life now, Lord. Take up residence in my heart and be my king, my Lord, and my Savior. From this day forward, I will no longer be controlled by sin, or the desire to please myself, but I will follow You all the days of my life. Those days are in Your hands. I ask this in the Lord and GOD Jesus’ precious and holy name. Amen.”