So you think that you’re a Christian – Part 2

OK, following my post about Not Forsaking The Assembly, it has been pressing upon my heart how easy people think it is to be a Christian and what is required. It is as if it is easy-believism. This was evident in the death and the funeral of Whitney Houston. Now let me say for the record before I get anyone jumping down my throat about ‘judging’, I have no idea where Whitney Houston will spend her identity. I did not know her personally and that is not the point of the post. However, people seem to think that because a person says they ‘loved the Lord’ or attended church or even read their bible, that that gives them an automatic ticket to heaven. However, scripture gives us a different picture.

²¹  “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. ²²  On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ ²³  And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’ (Matthew 7:21-23)

As you can see many people will be’ saying‘ but Jesus will still deny their entrance to heaven because they were not doing and living in obedience to scripture. See the video below as a wake up call

Last year here in the UK, we had our census. Now if we went by a lot of these surveys, we would be led to believe that most people are christians. However if we dig a bit deeper you will see something different. Athesist Richard Dawkins conducted his own research to find out about those who aligned themself with Christianity. Click here to take a look.

As you can see, some of the results are as follows:

Q) What would you say is the MAIN reason you think of yourself or the person who completed the Census thinks of you as being of this religion?

A) I was christened/baptised into this religion  46%

Q) Apart from special occasions such as weddings, funerals and baptisms or christenings, how often IN THE LAST 12 MONTHS have you attended services or meetings connected with Christianity?

A) Not at all during the last 12 months  49%

Q) Apart from special occasions such as weddings, funerals and baptisms or christenings, when did you LAST attend a service or meeting connected with Christianity?

A) More than ten years ago   32%

Q) When, if at all, did you last read any part of the Bible? I mean independently and from choice, and not as part of a church service or other religious meeting.

A) More than 3 years ago 36%

Q) Which of the following statements BEST describes your personal view of the Bible as a guide to morality?

A) The Bible is not a perfect guide to morality as some of its teachings are not appropriate today, but it is still the best guide we have

There are many people who call themselves christians but their fruits reveal that they are actually a false convert or simply just self deceived. The biggest deception is when a person truly believes that they are a christian when in fact, they are not and they only find this out on judgment day. There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death (Proverbs 14:12). The fact of the matter is, contrary to the results of surveys, the vast majority of people are NOT christians even if they profess that they are. How do I know? Because scripture tells us so strive to enter through the narrow gate.

“Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it. (Matthew 7:13-14)

Please check out the links below and if you are not a Christian, please look at my link to non-Christians. If you are not sure if you are a true christian, please examine yourself by clicking here

Related post:

So you think that you’re a christian? Powerful testimonies from former false converts

Have you truly repented?

How to make your child a false convert and the testimony of one such convert

Just say this prayer?

How to botch an altar call

Evangelistic Malpractice

True and False Conversion

Lets stop being so quick to call everyone a christian

How do you know that you are saved (that you are a Christian?)

Matt Chandler “Can Faith Survive?”

Live for Eternity – Paul Washer (Spanish Captions)

Death, the final frontier: Mourn with those who mourn

Death has a very good way of putting everything in perspective. As a believer, I can rest in the fact that after I die, I will go to be with my Savior, Jesus in heaven, not because of any good in me but because I have repented of my sins and trusted in the atoning work of Christ on the cross.

But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers (born again Christians) , about those who are asleep (dead), that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope. For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep. (1 Thess 4:13-15)

Lately, for some reason, I seem to be surrounded by death in one form or another and I have been thinking a lot about death and how we as christians should respond to it, especially to unbelievers. The bible says that we should ‘mourn with those who mourn’.

When we see the pain caused by death, I believe that our first response should not to get into a theological debate about where that person has gone but to have compassion and mourn with those who have been affected. It is such a difficult time for all involved and to see this first hand makes you look at life differently and makes you treasure the small things in life and not take anything for granted

But at the same time, if a person does approach you and asks questions pertaining to the afterlife, we have to be ready to give them an answer.

Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect, keeping a clear conscience – 1 Peter 3:15 (my emphasis added)

I think it would also be wrong to give a person false hope that the person who has died has gone ‘to a better place’ because the fact of the matter is that we dont know. In fact, a lot of ministers profess that the person who has died and ‘gone to be with Jesus’, not taking into account how they lived their life on earth.

I like this verse in Da Truths song ‘Go’

Sometimes it’s beautiful
Other times I’m fuming
When I go to a funeral- why
Because the preacher that’s ruling
The pulpit is fooling them
Pulling the wool over their eyes
So now what’s a man to think
When in every single case
The preacher boldly exclaims
Though he never claimed to be saved
And he died from aids
That he’s still in a better place
Now I leave confused
And the people leave confused
And the family is comforted, but
It’s under the false pretense
That once a weekend
Is all that Jesus wants
So you know that it’s our job
To open up their eyes
With the truth that’s found in the script
So we can’t afford to hide, the treasure that’s inside
Let’s bless the world with this wonderful gift
Let’s give it to them

This is a hard pill to swallow but the fact is, Jesus said that most people who die DO NOT go to a better place but to a worse place because they have not taken The Narrow Road but instead prefer the broad road.

Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it. (Matthew 7:13-14)

Only God knows what has happened before the deceased’s final breath and we can only hope that they have repented before that happens but as stated before, we as believers need to be loving, compassionate, sensitive and understanding. Let us also ask God for wisdom as each situation will be unique.

And let us all remember that we are all part of the ultimate statistic. 10 out of 10 people die. We all will die one day and none of us know when that day will be. For some of us, it will be sooner rather than later as life can be so unpredictable so don’t take the risk and play Russian roulette with your soul. The bible says that it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this, the judgment (Hebrews 9:27).

If you are not a Christian, please click here. It may be the most important mouse click you have done on the internet

If for any reason, you have been diagnosed with a terminal illness, I STRONGLY urge you to look at this link called ‘Death is not dying’.

Jesus said…., “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies

Related Posts:

Death is not dying

A message to non-christians

Death Story

Powerful lesson from ER

Your transformed life is NOT the gospel

I got the title ‘Your transformed life is NOT the gospel’  from listening to Fighting for the Faith on the radio and is something that has bothered me for some time and I touched on this before when I was talking about baptism testimonies where you hardly hear anything about repentance from sin and faith towards God but normally hear about how their lives were transformed which IS a fruit of salvation but when that is ALL you hear, you can’t help but wonder if they actually truly understand the gospel.

I also touched on it in my message to Christians when I said:

Some people believe in ‘lifestyle evangelism’. I call this lazy evangelism because that is ALL that they do but your lifestyle alone cannot communicate the gospel. Your lifestyle should backup what you TELL them. Some people feel that “my life will let them know that I am a christian’ and then feel ‘well that’s my job done’ but they will not speak to someone and expound the good news.

As the radio program stated, if an unbeliever is happy with their lives, they have a good career, a good marriage, a happy family and everything is going well for them, why should they listen when they have it all already? If that is the reason why they should come to Jesus, why should they pay us any mind? I know I wouldnt and would be saying ‘My life is OK as it is thanks and I’m happy with my life so I dont need your Jesus’. 

In fact, the world is already doing a good job giving advice on how to transform your life MINUS Jesus.

 For examples see the following Tony Robbins videos

And to be honest, the church these days sound just like it with many self-help ‘sermons’.

Let me make it clear that I have nothing against bettering yourself in this life but when we reduce the gospel to such, then we have to address it. This is the kind of Christ-less gospel that you hear Joel Osteen preach every week but he just ‘christianises’ it. In fact, if you look at the next video, this could so easily be an advert of a Christian conference

Our biggest problem is not unhappiness but unrighteousness or in other words, sin. We are all born sinners and enemies of God and the only way we can become righteous i.e. have a right standing with God, is when we repent of those very sins that offend a holy God and when we put our trust in Christ and Christ alone to save us because our our good works are unable to save us. If we do not, then it doesnt matter how happy we are in this life, the next life will be infinitely unhappy because we will incur the wrath of God

What good is it to gain the whole world, have the best marriage, a good career etc etc and lose your soul

Your transformed life is NOT the gospel

Paul Washer’s shocking youth message and why he preached it

You may have seen the shocking youth message that Paul Washer preached a few years ago doing its round on the internet but you may not know WHY he preached it. Below is an interview which will give you the background as to why he preached this message.

And if you havent heard the message, then please listen to it below. Youth leaders especially, please take note.

Death is not Dying

Rachel’s story is not unlike what thousands of women around the world have experienced. A diagnosis that changes a woman’s life and inevitably takes from her what we consider to be most precious.

After four and a half years of vigilantly fighting breast cancer, the 37 year old wife and mother of two was diagnosed with terminal cancer.

But for Rachel the essence of life is found in her relationship with God through Jesus. And that’s why Rachel is convinced that death is not dying.

Rachel testimony is very touching and I strongly recommend listening/watching it. You can listen to/download the audio by clicking here or you can watch the video here

Rachel Barkey (nee Sawer) went home to her Lord on July 2, 2009 at 37 years of age. Rachel is survived by her husband Neil and her children Quinn and Kate, parents Ben and Cathy Sawer, brother David (Johanna) Sawer and sister Andrea Sawer.

Is Jesus in your personal handbag?

What do I mean by this? I mean do you pop Jesus out whenever you need him and pop him back when you are finished. You see many people have Jesus as PART of their life opposed to Jesus being their WHOLE life. They consistently swear, get drunk, do those things that they ought not to, have no desire or hunger for the things of God. In a nutshell, they are displaying the fruits of the flesh and not the fruit of the spirit (Galatians 5), but then something good happens in their life and they are the first ones to pop Jesus out of the handbag and thank God.

This is a stench in His nose because they are just paying lip service but their lives are consistently contrary to Gods word. So the question is, is Jesus your life and only part of your life? Is your ‘commitment’ to Christ limited to just an ackowledgemnt that he exists and that he supplies for you or have you totally surrendered your life to him and desire what he desires and hates what he hates which is sin.

I know Barack Obama but I bet if you asked him if he knew me, the answer would be no. In the same way, many people know and even acknowledge Jesus, believe that he died on the cross and rose on the third day but MANY of those very same people will hear Jesus say ‘ I never knew you’ when they stand before him to give an account (Matthew 7:23)

So how do you know that you will not be amongst that number. The bible makes it clear. Examine yourself to see if you are in the faith

2 Corinthians 13:5

Examine yourselves as to whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Do you not know yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless indeed you are disqualified.

Paul Washer Open Air Preaching in Lima (English Subtitles)

MUST HEAR MESSAGE: Ten Indictments – A Historical 21st Century Message

Paul Washer delivers a urgent appeal to the Christians and Churches in North America (and I believe in many other countries as well including the UK) that many have been believing a false gospel and have false assurance of their salvation. He lists 10 indictments against the modern Church system in America. This is a historical urgent message, tell others and spread the message. We need a reformation and revival of a biblical standard!

The indictments are as follows:

The first indictment: a practical denial of the sufficiency of Scripture

The second indictment: An ignorance of God.

The third indictment: A failure to address mans malady

The fourth indictment: An ignorance of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

The fifth indictment: An ignorance of the doctrine of regeneration

The sixth indictment: An unbiblical gospel invitation.

The seventh indictment: Ignorance regarding the nature of the Church.

The eighth indictment: A lack of loving and compassionate Church discipline.

The ninth indictment: A silence on separation.

The tenth indictment: Psychology and sociology have replaced the Scriptures with regard to the family. 

 

If you cannot watch the video all in one go, click on the link below where you will find a link to download the mp3 version of the sermon

HT: Word and Verse and Young Calvinist