Europe is Spiritually dead.....

I Kings 19:9-10
"...I HAVE BEEN VERY JEALOUS FOR THE LORD GOD OF HOSTS, FOR THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL HAVE FORSAKEN THY COVENANT, THROWN DOWN THINE ALTARS, AND SLAIN THY PROPHETS WITH THE SWORD, AND I, EVEN I ONLY, AM LEFT..."

Elijah felt the loneliness of standing for God and His ways... he felt like everyone else was spiritually dead but him...

in the holocaust in addition to the the jews a quotient of the population that would become "prophets" were executed en masse as well .

this is why Europe may seem different in a way . the last time there was a mass persecution of everyone being different was the age of exploration . the people targetted ended up inhabiting the colonies around the world .

whenever the economy of countries is strained, the anti foreigner sentiment rises as well .. so it's all very different .

if they are dead, we are still learning in the west how not to be dead .

mrhappy3 said:

There are some theories attached to this - and why this massive continent has remained a spiritual 'sleeping giant' for decades.....some say its connected to the treatment of the Jews in the second world war, and has not been sufficiently repented of. Who knows.

But apathy sure does reign in the main.

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Then we should have revival in Haarlem, where a lot of christians like the family of Corrie ten Boom gave their lives for the Jews. The blood of the martyrs is the seed of revival. The church grows there by the way, I think it's no coincidence.

mrhappy3 said:

There are some theories attached to this - and why this massive continent has remained a spiritual 'sleeping giant' for decades.....some say its connected to the treatment of the Jews in the second world war, and has not been sufficiently repented of. Who knows.

But apathy sure does reign in the main.

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The repentance reasoning above is , I believe, the greatest lie from the pit of hell Satan has ever deceived modern day mankind with. It's wrong and makes me want to vomit.

As for spiritually dead, I don't think so. Certainly in some places there is apathy as in any people group, but there are huge epicenters of spiritual and Gospel growth. Ulf Ekman in the Netherlands and Sweden, John Grunewald and the number of active and growing Bible training centers in Rhema Europe , Peter Wentz of BGG Stuttgart. The growing church in Estonia under Ken Kaasik. The growing churches in Italy under the Caminettis. The new church plants and bible training center under Rick Martin in Egypt.

There are many many others

No, not dead. Awakening maybe but IMHO not dead.

Numbers to not equate to spiritual awakening.
Its a big world.God has his own every where .assuming they are not there because we don't hear about the congregations of other languages is assumption.
For every 1000 claimed Christians in the USA..how many are sincere ,how many merely traditional with hearts like stones? Who knows..God knows.
Its a fairly wide acceptance now that there are more sincere active Christians in China then there are in the states.without the existence of a single megger church building.they just spend all effort sharing the Gospel and none on trying to influence polotics .
"Europe" is a massive generalization .I'm fairly sure God does not measure his church by the number of flash buildings and conferences .
We should be concerned about Japan ... now that is a place still in bondage to this day... study the stats..it is a tradegy of souls.
Be moved

South Korea has some of the biggest mega churches outside the US as well as Nigeria. Both places have been plagued with suicides(S. Korea) and Islamist insurgency(Nigeria). Both result in many precious souls dead by their own hands or outside forces. At least as far as I know, Europe has a budding born again community and as the previous poster stated, God has His remnant strategically placed everywhere. On the other side of the coin, I believe there are more professing Athiests in Europe than elsewhere, which is at least honest of them, though doesn't help their eternal destiny..

I believe it started before world war two, with the the onset of the scientific enlightenment and industrialization in western Europe in the 19th century. Certainly the first and second world wars accentuated the process, but it did not begin there.

mrhappy3 said:

But apathy sure does reign in the main.

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In former times many Europeans paid lip service to Christianity. But I don't believe there were anymore born again Christians then than now. It's always been a narrow gate.

Bear in mind that in 'Christian' Europe evangelists were burned at the stake and otherwise killed for preaching the gospel, both by 'Catholic' and 'Protestant' persecutors!

lismore said:

In former times many Europeans paid lip service to Christianity. But I don't believe there were anymore born again Christians then than now. It's always been a narrow gate.

Bear in mind that in 'Christian' Europe evangelists were burned at the stake and otherwise killed for preaching the gospel, both by 'Catholic' and 'Protestant' persecutors!

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and america doesn't pay lip service?..the gate is just as narrow in australia,england and Nz also.

We are blessed to be in these last days, but saying Europe is dead spiritually is based on what?

News, media, undercover Christians reporting back to who?

What about in Elijah's days would you say Israel was dead spiritually ... ?

Don't forget God's answer to Elijah when he thought all was lost and God said, "I have reserved 7,000 men unto me that have not yet bowed their knee to Balam"

Europe is not dead, just asleep at the helm ... wake up Europe and don't forget the UK and the great land of Ireland either Lord.

We all need prayer ... to become fishers of men

lismore said:

In former times many Europeans paid lip service to Christianity. But I don't believe there were anymore born again Christians then than now. It's always been a narrow gate.

Bear in mind that in 'Christian' Europe evangelists were burned at the stake and otherwise killed for preaching the gospel, both by 'Catholic' and 'Protestant' persecutors!

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...and that puts it all into perspective. Good point.

mrhappy3 said:

There are some theories attached to this - and why this massive continent has remained a spiritual 'sleeping giant' for decades.....some say its connected to the treatment of the Jews in the second world war, and has not been sufficiently repented of. Who knows.

But apathy sure does reign in the main.

Click to expand...

I didn't know a continent had a spirit.

Alpine said:

...and that puts it all into perspective. Good point.

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Thank you!

And we must not forget that the majority of those who perpetrated the holocaust and killed six million Jews were 'Christian' in the sense of Christendom, in that they received a skoosh of water on the head as babies.

michaelmynameIs said:

and america doesn't pay lip service?..the gate is just as narrow in australia,england and Nz also.

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You may be correct about the USA, Nz and Australia, I'm not sure of the situation there.

But I know that of all those I have met who are church members or in someway affiliated to a Christian body, not all are born again.

Jesus said:

But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.

Only a few finding the road to life, how does that square with the old idea of Christendom in Europe, where all were seen as Christians because water had been sprinkled on them as babies?

The idea that Europe had ever been a spiritual place in a nonsense in my opinion.

Michael, to answer what you said about Japan, that is my calling. I'm going, probably in about a year and a half.

Dead religion has always been a problem. The US has had three Great Awakenings since the Colonial Era. It's possible we might have a fourth. If God's People will get down on their knees and pray for Revival, with all earnestness, He could very well answer us with a resounding, earth-shaking "YES". Europe could see the fruit of such a Revival as well. The real question is "Who will pray for such a Revival, and who will answer that call, even with their own lives at times?"

The possibilities for revival are close to limitless.
These are the latter rains which are to include everyone in all places.

The decline of Christianity in Europe has nothing to do with the persecution of Jews but is part of a long term trend toward secularization and the decline of religion and belief in God in Europe in general. The decline is well established in the data and I have commented on this in prior posts. The United States is much more religious but religious belief is in decline there as well. Diversity is also widespread on this supposedly Christian forum as there are many atheists/ agnostics as well as other philosophical views, eg, Wicca.

There is no such thing as a spiritually dead landmass. Or a spiritually alive landmass, for that matter.

God has His people everywhere.