Standing in support of Israel, Jews, and believers in all the nations, in the name of Jesus (Yeshua). Sharing biblical truth, encouragement, news and prophecy.
Cathedral in Havana, Cuba (Flickr/Artur Staszewski)
Since 1969, the Castro regime has banned Bible distribution in Cuba. But now, under an experimental program in the island nation, the Communist government is lifting the ban, creating new avenues to feed millions hungry for the Word.
While organizations like Revival Fires and the American Bible Society are hard at work printing and distributing the Bibles to the Cuban people, many are wondering what might come from this drastic change in policies. Could the floodgates of spiritual blessing and revival be about to burst forth?
The path forward could be complicated, according to a prophetic word issued by the Apostolic Council of Prophetic Elders:
There is a call of revival in Cuba that is connected with Miami. The largest Hispanic group in Miami is Cuban. Fidel Castro exiled them and drove them out of Cuba over religious, political and economic issues. When he closed the borders, many escaped and have since become American citizens.
However, a deep wound is in their heart because Castro displaced them and removed their inheritance.
Now a new generation has arisen in Florida. However, this generation is indoctrinated by the wounds of the past generation and they have much bitterness toward Cuba.
Though the path to healing and redemption for those injured by Castro's injustices may be far from over, God is more than capable of working a miracle here. The fact that millions of Cubans will now have free access to Bibles for the first time in nearly 50 years is proof enough that He's already on the job.
Can You Believe Which City Is the Most 'Bible-Minded?'
Birmingham, Alabama (Jessilyn Justice)
After three years of having the most Bible-minded city in America, Tennessee has relinquished the title to Alabama. Birmingham moved up from the second spot in 2014 to the top spot in 2015 in American Bible Society's annual ranking of America's Most Bible-Minded Cities.
As in past years, the Bible Belt performed strongly in the 2015 rankings, while East Coast cities once again brought up the rear of the list. Small cities also generally performed better than did large cities. Just one of the top 10 Bible-minded cities ranks in the top 25 media markets. American Bible Society's Bible-Minded Cities survey, conducted by Barna Research, uses Nielsen media market rankings as a proxy for city size.
The 2013 list topper, Knoxville, Tennessee, dropped out of the top 10 for the first time. America's largest city, New York, entered the bottom ten in 2015 for the first time, ranking 91st on the 2015 list. One surprise this year was Dallas' dropping out of the top 25 most Bible-minded cities, coming in at number 26.
The rankings are calculated using data collected by Barna Group. Each city's Bible mindedness is determined by analyzing survey respondents' Bible reading habits and beliefs about the Bible. The most Bible-minded respondents said they had read the Bible in the past seven days and believe strongly in the accuracy of the Bible. Nationally, only 27 percent of the population was considered Bible minded.
This year's rankings from the America's Most Bible-Minded Cities study show many differences from usage statistics for American Bible Society's Bible search engine,bibles.org. Louisville, Kentucky, registered the largest number of searches onbibles.org while Syracuse, New York, registered the fewest searches of any of the top 100 markets.
"Online rankings consider only one data point—Bible search behavior—while American Bible Society's Bible-Minded Cities survey examines both behavior and attitudes about the Bible to harvest a more authentic survey of each city's population. This provides a more three dimensional view of a city's Bible mindedness,"said Andrew Hood, managing director of communications at American Bible Society.
Most Bible-Minded Cities (previous year's ranking) 1. Birmingham, Alabama (2) 2. Chattanooga, Tennessee (1) 3. Tri-Cities, Tennessee (n/a) 4. Roanoke/Lynchburg, Virginia (3) 5. Shreveport, Louisiana (5) 6. Springfield, Missouri (4) 7. Jackson, Mississippi (9) 8. Charlotte, North Carolina (6) 9. Greenville/Spartanburg, South Carolina/ Asheville (7) 10. Little Rock, Arkansas (8)
Least Bible-Minded Cities (previous year's ranking) 91. New York (89) 92. Phoenix, Arizona (93) 93. Buffalo, New York (95) 94. Hartford/New Haven, Connecticut (94) 95. Las Vegas, Nevada (90) 96. Cedar Rapids, Iowa (96) 97. San Francisco (97) 98. Boston, Massachusetts (98) 99. Albany, New York (99) 100. Providence, Rhode Island/ New Bedford, Massachusetts (100)
"This study provides us with a great starting point to understand where people are interacting with Scripture and what their views are of the Bible," said Hood. "We want to help people continue to grow their engagement with the Bible. Ultimately, we want people to know that, whether they live in one of the most or least Bible-minded cities, the Bible can speak to their needs and challenges and help them make sense of life."
Methodology: The data reported is based upon telephone and online interviews with nationwide random samples of 62,896 adults conducted over a 10-year period, ending in August 2014. The top 100 cities were determined based on the 100 largest media markets in the continental United States as ranked by Nielsen. The maximum margin of sampling error associated with the aggregate sample is ±0.4 percentage points at the 95 percent confidence level. Respondents who report reading the Bible within the past seven days and who agree strongly in the accuracy of the Bible are classified as "Bible-minded." To view the full list of city rankings, follow this link.
About American Bible Society: Founded in 1816, American Bible Society works to make the Bible available to every person in a language and format each can understand and afford, so all people may experience its life-changing message. One of the nation's oldest nonprofit organizations, today's American Bible Society provides resources across a variety of platforms enabling first-time readers and seasoned theologians alike to engage with the best-selling book of all time. For more information, visit americanbible.org.
Millennials May Be Skeptical About Bible, But They Still Do This
Historical. Symbolic. Story. Sacred. Testimony. These are the top five words millennials use to describe the Bible. The new study Millennials and the Bible , co-commissioned by American Bible Society and InterVarsity Christian Fellowship, dives deeper into the perceptions millennials have about the Bible and their engagement with the best-selling book of all time.
The study, conducted by Barna Group, found most millennials (ages 18-30) believe the Bible to be the actual (21 percent) or inspired word of God (44 percent), while only 18 percent state the Bible is another book of teachings written by men. And while the split of opinions on the Bible between Christian millennials and non-Christian millennials is not surprising (45 percent of non-Christians believe the Bible is just another book of teachings written by men), it may surprise many to learn that non-Christian millennials may still turn to the Bible for comfort. For example, when non-Christian millennials do read the Bible, many do so to feel closer to God (21 percent).
"The good news is that, while more millennials are turning skeptical toward the Bible, we still see them reaching out to God during times of difficulty and to feel closer to God. For Christian ministries like American Bible Society, this means there is still an opportunity to encourage more millennials to engage with the Bible and experience its life-changing message," said Drew Hood, managing director of communications at American Bible Society.
Earlier this year, American Bible Society's annual State of the Bible research found that, among all American adults, the percentage of Bible skeptics equaled the percentage of Bible engaged for the first time. Millennials continue to drive the shift toward Bible indifference or skepticism. Of all millennials surveyed, 10 percent are considered Bible engaged, while 25 percent are considered Bible skeptics. While approximately a third of all millennials have positive feelings when they see someone reading the Bible in public (29 percent are happy, 29 percent feel encouraged, 27 percent feel joyful and 26 percent are grateful to see the Bible is still important to people), the division between Christians and non-Christians is clear. Many non-Christians have a negative view those who engage with the Bible.
When non-Christians see someone reading the Bible in public they:
Assume that person is politically conservative (22 percent)
Figure they don't have anything in common with the person (21 percent)
Think the person is old-fashioned (17 percent)
Think that person is trying to make a statement or be provocative (15 percent)
Think the person is naïve and feel uncomfortable (both answers at 14 percent)
Yet for all the negative perceptions of the Bible and Christians, non-Christian millennials believe that the Bible teaches forgiveness (70 percent), patience (62 percent), generosity (64 percent) and social justice (41 percent).
"There is a tremendous opportunity to engage non-Christian millennials with the Bible. Despite their misgivings about it, they still believe that the Bible promotes things they care about such as forgiveness, patience, generosity and social justice. We need to figure out what will motivate and enable them to read the Bible for themselves," said Lindsay Olesberg, Scripture engagement director at InterVarsity.
But the reality remains that more millennials are leaving the Bible on bookshelves, with 32 percent never reading the Bible, compared to 26 percent of all U.S. adults. And only 26 percent of all millennials are reading the Bible at least once a week, compared to 38 percent of all U.S. adults. Still more millennials, 26 percent, said they have increased their personal use of the Bible in the past year than did the average U.S. adult (18 percent). The reason for the increase is in part due to seeing how the Bible changed someone they knew for the better. Even non-Christian millennials recognized this change in someone they knew (27 percent of non-Christians who increased their Bible reading in the past year said it was as a result of seeing how the Bible changed someone they knew, while 31 percent of all millennials said this and only 15 percent of all U.S. adults).
At the same time, more millennials have also decreased their personal use of the Bible in the past year compared with all U.S. adults—15 percent decreasing Bible use compared to 9 percent of all U.S. adults. And 46 percent of non-Christian millennials said the reason they decreased their Bible use in the past year is because they became agnostic or atheist, while 21 percent of all millennials surveyed said this is why they decreased their Bible use, compared to just 15 percent of all U.S. adults.
The survey also found:
The average amount of time millennials spend reading the Bible is 30 minutes, keeping pace with all U.S. adults.
27 percent of non-Christian millennials hold very negative views of the Bible, stating that they believe the Bible is a dangerous book of religious dogma used for centuries to oppress people.
Only 32 percent of all millennials agree strongly that the Bible contains everything a person needs to know to live a meaningful life, compared to 50 percent of all U.S. adults.
Survey Methodology
The Millennials and the Bible report contains the findings from a nationwide study commissioned by American Bible Society and InterVarsity Christian Fellowship and conducted by Barna Research (a division of Barna Group). The research methodology included 1,000 online surveys conducted among a representative sample of young adults ages 18 to 30 in the continental U.S. The survey was conducted from Aug. 18-22, 2014.
