There are many, many, many people who say, "I'm a Christian.", yet
they don't have the slightest clue as to what that really means, or entails. Many think that just because they were born here in America, that makes them a Christian. Some think it means that they have to give their life to Jesus so they can live a good and happy life, or some participate in strange rituals to bring about a sensual "experience" of God's presence. Dear reader just because someone says they are a Christian, that doesn't make them one, any more than a mule made to look like a thoroughbred, will win the Kentucky Derby! Just a few years ago, I used to be a fake Christian. I was part of the Word of Faith cult, and also a Conservative Republican. At one time, I shared many of Ms. Ann Coulter's views, but some of the things she said made me wince, as the above quote so aptly demonstrates. By her own admission, and according to Scripture, she too is a hypocrite.
No real Christian brags about being mean spirited. I assure you that a person can have moral convictions and share them without being mean spirited. As for bigoted? Well, that topic is rather subjective. So I ask you...why don't people realize that there are liars, hypocrites, and wannabes out there? Jesus said that we would know a genuine Christian by their fruit, meaning they will reveal their true selves in what they say, but mostly by what they do.
For example:
they don't have the slightest clue as to what that really means, or entails. Many think that just because they were born here in America, that makes them a Christian. Some think it means that they have to give their life to Jesus so they can live a good and happy life, or some participate in strange rituals to bring about a sensual "experience" of God's presence. Dear reader just because someone says they are a Christian, that doesn't make them one, any more than a mule made to look like a thoroughbred, will win the Kentucky Derby! Just a few years ago, I used to be a fake Christian. I was part of the Word of Faith cult, and also a Conservative Republican. At one time, I shared many of Ms. Ann Coulter's views, but some of the things she said made me wince, as the above quote so aptly demonstrates. By her own admission, and according to Scripture, she too is a hypocrite.
No real Christian brags about being mean spirited. I assure you that a person can have moral convictions and share them without being mean spirited. As for bigoted? Well, that topic is rather subjective. So I ask you...why don't people realize that there are liars, hypocrites, and wannabes out there? Jesus said that we would know a genuine Christian by their fruit, meaning they will reveal their true selves in what they say, but mostly by what they do.
For example:
- If someone claims to be a Christian, yet denies that Jesus is the Son of God, or that Jesus is God in the flesh, then he is a liar. He is following a false Christ.
- If someone claims to be a Christian yet bows to idols, worships dead people, venerates men in silky white pajamas, and honors angels, then he is a liar.
- If someone claims to be a Christian and claims to love God, yet says hateful things or acts in hatred toward his brother (fellow human as well as a fellow Christian), then he is a liar.
- If someone claims to be a Christian, yet lives in sexual sin and perversion, then he is a liar.
- If someone claims to be a Christian, yet regularly steels, lies, and cheats, then he is a liar.
- If someone claims to be a Christian, yet covets riches, gives heed to false teachers, despises sound doctrine, then he is a liar.
Are you understanding the concept of hypocrisy? People pretend. People lie. Let us not just accept anyone who says they are a Christian, let's test them! Yes, we can know that they are pretending to be Christians by their words and actions. Why? Because actions prove words. Now I would also like to say that just because these people are hypocritical liars, that should not in any way make void, or take away from who the biblical Jesus really is. For example, a proper diet and exercise lead to a healthy life, that is a proven fact. So if your doctor tells you to lose weight and stop smoking while he is an overweight smoker, does that make his prescription based on all the scientific proofs void? No, it just makes him a hypocrite. Like Jesus told the Israelites, do what the Pharisees tell you to do from the law, but don't do what they do, because it is man made tradition. Their own traditions made God's law of no effect, therefore they were hypocrites.
To be a true biblical Christian, one must first have heard the gospel via preaching, as in public verbal teaching, and/or written exposition. Upon hearing the gospel spoken, one must recognize they are a sinner in need of a Savior. Then one must ask the LORD God to forgive their sins. They must then believe and confess that Jesus is Lord and God who died for their sins and rose from the dead victorious over sin on the third day, and they must now forsake this world's lusts and sins by adhering to his two great command-ments, and they must also defend and keep the faith that was revealed to them in Holy Scripture. All of this is done (or should be done) after one counts the cost of their decision to follow Jesus Christ. But what happens these days is far from the biblical model of coming to salvation.
"Doing church differently," or "Church Unity," or being "emergent" or "purpose driven" are the hip catch phrases of our day. No longer does the body of Christ meet together to fellowship in spirit and in truth. They are no longer edified and strengthened by sound doctrine, and exhorted to live a holy life dedicated to doing good to those that love God and also to those who hate us. Does anyone realize that everything from the building design of the church, to the way guests are greeted and handled, to the praise and worship service are all carefully formulated and scripted to bring about the highest yield of monetary revenue, and yes, maybe even bring a few souls into the "kingdom?" Soul winning is big business!
Instead of Christians being salt and light to a dark and diseased world (and therefore hated by the world), the Church is now an interfaith spiritual convention center, or a game show set of sorts, where unsuspecting sinners are invited by friends and family to hear a heart felt and inspiring message of love, acceptance, health and wealth, and are then emotionally moved by the music to 'come on down' and be the next contestant on "The Price Wasn't Counted Right." Churches are now places where sinners are bamboozled into committing to a way of life, that if they had been told about it on the street without all the bells and whistles, would probably have run the other way, or angrily shouted the preacher down.
And so now, after thousands of years of playing church, this is what we have, millions of people who think they are "Christians," but really aren't. And the amazing thing is that the very houses of compromise that turn out these fakes by the thousands are the ones who claim they aren't the problem, but the solution. The apostasy Paul spoke of appears to be coming into full swing. So what are real Christians to do? We are to be salt and light. We are to contend for the faith and defend the gospel with sound doctrine. We are to speak the truth in love. We are also to be fruit inspectors. In Revelation 2, Jesus commended the Ephesian Church in regards to their testing those who claimed to be apostles, but weren't. They were found to be liars. Notice Jesus didn't scold them for being unloving and divisive when they tested them. They did however lose something on the way, their first love toward all the saints and Jesus ( Eph. 1:15; 4:25- 5:1), and perhaps even lost the meaning of his grace (Eph. 2). But fortunately for us, he corrects those he loves.
The Bottom Line
A true and faithful Christian has heard the true gospel of Jesus Christ, that Jesus was crucified for their sins, and he rose from the dead and ascended into heaven where he is at the right hand of the Father. A true Christian repents from their sins, accepts Jesus' sacrifice, trusts in him to save them, and they faithfully live sanctified and holy lives, after they have counted the cost of following him. That is what Jesus' parables in Luke 14 are about, he tells these parables after he talks about discipleship. We must love Jesus more than our own family. Can you do that? We must deny ours self and take up our cross and follow him. Can you do that? If so, great! Welcome to the body of Christ. If not, then don't bother trying to fake it. Jesus asks us, before a man builds a tower, won't he first sit down and count the cost to see if he has enough money to complete it? If he runs out of funds after laying the foundation, everyone will mock him for not being able to finish what he starts. Or what king with a small amount of soldiers won't sit down and figure out if he can defeat the greater army? If he can't, then he will ask for a peace treaty. The principle here is that the people who want to follow Jesus had better count the cost.
It is guaranteed to you that when you accept Jesus as your savior, you might loose one or all of the following in order to follow Jesus:
You will also have to give up your old way of life. No more:
Well, how does the narrow way of following Christ sound do far? Is true and real Christ-ianity sound like something you want to do? If not then you can love this world and all the sinful pleasures it has to offer and then perish, or you can live unto Christ by denying the temptations of sin and live with him forever. Think carefully. Count the cost. Calcu-late the bottom line. Will you follow him, or will you deny him? The choice is yours to make. It's like Jesus said, "For what shall it profit a man if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?"
For those scoffers who deny the existence of a spiritual dimension, much less God's right to rule, I would like to point out a simple sense of fairness. In Scripture, God claims that he made the universe out of nothing, while other stories of false gods and even the philosophy of evolution claim the universe was made from something, be it a body part of some hacked up god, or a tightly compacted mass of matter that for some strange reason exploded. These stories involve the universe being created or brought into existence by "things," while God made the universe out of nothing, which is so much harder to do, right? Fans of the movie: The Never Ending Story will get my point.
Therefore, the Almighty has the right to make the rules that govern his creation. And so, anyone claiming to be a Christian in this game of life, had better submit to God's plan of salvation, because there is no other acceptable plan, or provision. This is it. If you want to try and change the rules by cheating or ignoring them, that is your choice, just don't be surprised or angry when you are disqualified by the creator of the game. It's only fair, wouldn't you agree? I think so. So are you really a Christian, or are you a hypocrite and a liar? You can save yourself some embarrassment by testing yourself according to God's word, before someone else does and finds out you're a hypocrite and liar. Right, Ms. Coulter? I tested myself, and found I was a hypocrite and liar, and with Jesus' help, I've made the appropriate changes. And so I encourage you to do the same!
It is guaranteed to you that when you accept Jesus as your savior, you might loose one or all of the following in order to follow Jesus:
- your family
- your sinning friends
- your job/home
You will also have to give up your old way of life. No more:
- drugs, drunkenness, sorcery, idolatry
- fornication, adultery, homosexuality, rock-n-roll,
- lying/cheating, stealing, greed
- killing, cursing, outbursts of anger,
- hating your enemies, rebellion, treason etc. etc. etc.
Well, how does the narrow way of following Christ sound do far? Is true and real Christ-ianity sound like something you want to do? If not then you can love this world and all the sinful pleasures it has to offer and then perish, or you can live unto Christ by denying the temptations of sin and live with him forever. Think carefully. Count the cost. Calcu-late the bottom line. Will you follow him, or will you deny him? The choice is yours to make. It's like Jesus said, "For what shall it profit a man if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?"
For those scoffers who deny the existence of a spiritual dimension, much less God's right to rule, I would like to point out a simple sense of fairness. In Scripture, God claims that he made the universe out of nothing, while other stories of false gods and even the philosophy of evolution claim the universe was made from something, be it a body part of some hacked up god, or a tightly compacted mass of matter that for some strange reason exploded. These stories involve the universe being created or brought into existence by "things," while God made the universe out of nothing, which is so much harder to do, right? Fans of the movie: The Never Ending Story will get my point.
Therefore, the Almighty has the right to make the rules that govern his creation. And so, anyone claiming to be a Christian in this game of life, had better submit to God's plan of salvation, because there is no other acceptable plan, or provision. This is it. If you want to try and change the rules by cheating or ignoring them, that is your choice, just don't be surprised or angry when you are disqualified by the creator of the game. It's only fair, wouldn't you agree? I think so. So are you really a Christian, or are you a hypocrite and a liar? You can save yourself some embarrassment by testing yourself according to God's word, before someone else does and finds out you're a hypocrite and liar. Right, Ms. Coulter? I tested myself, and found I was a hypocrite and liar, and with Jesus' help, I've made the appropriate changes. And so I encourage you to do the same!