It's impossible to say.
Therefore, this guy's n umbers are highly suspect.
I want to be an optimist, but what credibility does this guy really have?
In the same sense that the original Church was not an institution but was a body of believers who met in homes, in small groups, in secret....
They read their Bibles or scraps of Bibles and
DO WHAT THE BIBLE SAYS.
--including assembling together in small groups to study, worship, pray, teach.
I'm shocked anyone would question that God would not honor His word with such earnest, often desperate folks taking God's Word at face value and applying it.
And, as the blind man said to the skeptics . . .
I don't know about all that--I just know that I was blind but now I see.
If God's Spirit is honoring these Christian Believer's walk WITH HIM with miracles--authentic Holy Spirit birthed miracles . . .
I wonder what God thinks of your throwing rocks at their Christianity.
Actually, that's not true. I don't wonder what God thinks about it.
I hope you haven't fallen for the
misperception
that
CHURCHIANITY = CHRISTIANITY
or
that
RELIGION = SPIRITUALITY
or
that
RELIGION = RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD
In that they say they are, and they believe in and follow Christ Jesus. Whether they truly are, we're unable to judge. It's kind of like Republicans: some truly are, and some are actually RINOs; but, if there's a big R after their title and they're registered in the party, they are Republican.
*** In what sense, then, are they legitimately "Christian?"**
What would you use as a criteria for determining the legitimacy of their Christianity?
In the same sense that the Rev. Gene Robinson, of the Episcopal Church, who is the first openly gay bishop and all those who support this are not Christians.
1 PETER 1:11 NKJ
11 . . . He testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ and the glories that would follow.
LUKE 24:44 NKJ
44 . . . all things must be fulfilled which were written in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms concerning Me."
JOHN 5:39,46 NKJ
39 "You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life; and these are they which testify of Me.
46 "For if you believed Moses, you would believe Me; for he wrote about Me.
MATTHEW 5:18 NKJ
18 "For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled.
The Bible bears the seal of Jesus' authority. He quoted the Old Testament dozens of times and referred to it as the Word of God.
For example, in Matthew 22:32, Jesus quotes from Exodus 3:6 and 15.
MATTHEW 22:29,31-32 NKJ
29 Jesus answered and said to them, "You are mistaken, not knowing the Scriptures nor the power of God.
31 "But concerning the resurrection of the dead, have you not read what was spoken to you by God, saying,
32 `I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob'? God is not the God of the dead, but of the living."
PSALM 89:34 NKJ
34 My covenant I will not break, Nor alter the word that has gone out of My lips.
PSALM 119:89 NKJ
89 Forever, O Lord, Your word is settled in heaven.
HEBREWS 4:12 NKJ
12 For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.
2 TIMOTHY 3:16 NKJ
16 All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness,
The above phrase, given by inspiration of God , translates a single Greek word. Literally the word means God-breathed. The words divinely inspired have probably the nearest English equivalent meaning.
2 PETER 1:20-21 NIV
20 Above all, you must understand that no prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophet's own interpretation.
21 For prophecy never had its origin in the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.
2 PETER 1:21 NEB
21 For it was not through any human whim that men prophesied of old; men they were, but, impelled by the Holy Spirit, they spoke the words of God.
HEBREWS 1:1 NKJ
1 God, who at various times and in different ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets.
1 THESSALONIANS 2:13 NKJ
13 . . . when you received the word of God which you heard from us, you welcomed it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which also effectively works in you who believe.
The purpose of the Bible is to reveal God to mankind, and get us to come to God through Jesus Christ, so we can know Him.
JOHN 1:1,14 NKJ
1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father . . . .
LUKE 24:27 NKJ
27 And beginning at Moses and all the Prophets, He expounded to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself.
JOHN 20:31 NKJ
31 but these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name.
Therefore anyone who does not believe that the bible is the word of God, can not be a Christian while not believing.
They follow Christ's teachings in the Bible, probably more closely than most denominational churches. They meet in homes, etc. I'm not saying that's for me, I love my church and its people and its teachings, but not everyone does.