This was the headline in my paper. It said that four in ten Britons had no religion. However, the bleakness of the picture is perhaps more realistically indicated by the observation that 62% of those interviewed in the study of religious trends said they never attended services. A sociologist who analysed the data described a large proportion of the country as the “fuzzy faithful”, people who have a vague belief in God but do not belong to a particular denomination or attend services. What sort of religion is that?

One striking thing nowadays is the gross ignorance of what Biblical Christianity is, and what the nature of true Christian profession is. Sadly, nominality is widespread and the Christian voice in the land is extremely weak. As far as Church is concerned people are just not interested, either superficially persuaded that science has debunked faith, or using all sorts of other excuses: divisions within Churches; the perception that the message of the Bible isn’t even believed in Churches these days; scandals that hit the Church and are so well-publicised, and the like. No doubt the fact that people can be entertained from cradle to grave through an attractive media is a pacifier of a sense of God and of an active informed conscience.

It means of course that people have little or no direction in their lives. A spin-off has been the want of moral principles and the undermining of institutions which have given stability to society, such as the family, marriage, and the Church (when its message is clear and Biblical pointing to the reality of sin and judgement, and Christ as the only remedy).

In the same edition of my newspaper, alongside the article about ‘Britain’s lost Christians,’ was another sad piece about Scotland: “One in 10 Scots takes depression medicines every day.” 10% of people taking some sort of anti-depressants? Perhaps this is not surprising in a day when the gospel of Christ is so little known.

One of the most searching of all the sayings of Jesus is found in Matthew 7:21-23: “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of my Father in heaven. Many will say to me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Thy name, cast out demons in Thy name, and done many wonders in Thy name?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you who practice lawlessness!’”

In the end of the day nominal religion will not do. Only a living, evangelical faith in a living, exalted Saviour will suffice as we face eternity, seek to flee from the wrath to come, and entertain a realistic hope of heaven beyond.