The following is quoted in full from “Praying Faith” by Thomas P. Dooley, PhD. Page 187.

I find the numbers and principle quite sobering – cause for a time to stop, think and pray for guidance. Where am I in this 100?

“Based on experience of traveling and speaking around the USA and other nations, I have found one of the greatest deceptions pertains to who are the genuine Christian believers. When people and surveys claim that a high percentage of Americans are “Christians,” I have serious reservations that those numbers are anywhere close to the truth. I speculate that the 80:20 principle might be in operation. If this is true, for every 100 people who claim to be “Christians,” perhaps 20 have repented and accepted salvation in Jesus as genuine believers. The remaining majority might have had some church experience or religious tradition, even if it is frequent, yet they don’t really know the Saviour. They often can’t explain even the simplest of biblical truths, such as the concept of salvation by grace. Most of these 80 individuals think the individuals’ spirits will make it to Heaven based on their own good deeds.

Then, of the 20 genuine believers, perhaps only 20 percent of them are genuine disciples of Jesus.. . or thus, only four individuals are surrendered to His will on a routine basis in their lives. And finally, of those four disciples, only approximately one of them is a genuine spiritual leader! If the 80:20 principle is true at all three levels, then of 100 people in America today claiming to be “Christians,” only one is likely to be a risk taking faith leader in the Kingdom of God. If this is true, the church in America has a long way to go, in spite of a perception domestically and abroad that we are a “Christian” nation. Believers in America should be drawn to repentance on behalf of the nation.

[Coincidentally, if I recall correctly it has been reported that Bob Jones (the Prophet from North Carolina) once encountered an after-death experience in which his spirit ascended to Heaven. In this prophetic experience, he observed that only a few percent of the people on Earth who had died at that time were granted entry into Heaven.]”

Praying Faith: I Live by the Faith of the Son of God
by Thomas P. Dooley, PhD.

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