The biggest problem with the American form of Christianity is the lack of God's true message. The preachers have a watered down message that is very man centered instead of Christ being the center. You would be hard pressed to step into a church on Sunday mornings and hear the words - repentance, judgment, damnation or righteousness. The very first Word said by our Savior when He started His earthly ministry was REPENT (Mark 1:15). He also said that He came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repent (Luke 5:32) and twice within 3 verses in Luke 13:3,5 to Repent or perish.
Unless a person has truly repented of their sins, turned from them, been reborn in Christ, then they are not a Christian. It goes without saying that a truly born again Christian will be exceedingly sorrowful of their sins against the most gracious, forgiving God. Just as it is not physically possible for a man to become a car after sitting in his garage, a spiritually reborn true Christian can not become a sinner again. Let me clarify that statement- everyone sins, if we say that we don't we are a liar (1 John 1:8), and as you know all liars will have their part in the lake of fire (Rev. 21:8). A Christian will fall into sin, not dive into it. Also upon sinning the Christian will be guilt ridden as their conscience (Rom. 2:15) overwhelms them to a daily repentance to the Lord for their sins. It is not possible for a Christian to live a constant life of sin and immorality. The true Christian will also hold dear what the Lord says in His Word, he will read and study the Bible daily to see what the Lord is speaking to him. If you have a little dust on the bible, you better start a thorough examination of yourself as commanded by Paul to the Corinthians in 2 Cor. 13:5, then read 1 John and see if what you believe a Christian is lines up with what God says a Christian is.
Just a few things that prevail in the American churches (buildings, not the Lords true Church) that are glossed over that may be signs you are not a true Christian:
1. Drunkenness
2. Premarital sexual relationships - as well as cheating
3. Praying to anyone except God (saints, Mary, etc.)
4. Pornography
5. Cheating on taxes
6. Stealing from your employer (it doesn't matter if it's a paper clip or a computer, it's all stealing - as well as not putting in a full days work for a full days pay)
7. Abortion (murder)
8. Blasphemy (which includes a lot more than the most common phrase that comes to mind)
9. Gambling
10. Watching un-Christian type movies
11. Violent types of "entertainment" (UFC, WWE, Cage Fighting,etc.)
12. Yoga
13. Anything else I didn't mention that just popped into your head
If you are involved with any of those things I beg you to examine yourself. If your basis for salvation is from a single prayer, if you have no remorse for your sinful life, if you are involved in Freemasonry, if you are now calling me a Pharisee or a legalist I beg you to read the bible to see what true Christianity is and turn from your sins and follow God on His path, a narrow path with a narrow gate. Not the path of the world, which is broad and leads to destruction. I am not a legalist or a modern Pharisee I am a broken sinner that has been saved by Christ’s sacrifice on Calvary. I have nothing to gain from this, I am not asking for you to join a church or send any money. I may not know you personally, but I love you as a human, as a soul in this existence that still has a chance to turn from the sins of this blink of an eye existence and turn to God, repent of your sin, become a new creation and live as the bible teaches. It will not be easy, you will not get everything you ask for, you will not be healed because someone slaps you on the forehead, you will not be treated the same by people at work, you will probably even be laughed at, ridiculed and called names. People in other countries are dying because they profess Christ as savior, so it’s not going to be that bad for you to be called a Jesus freak by Bob at work. As a Christian you will pray for ol’ Bob. I don’t want anyone to go to hell, but sadly the state of the church (not Christ’s church, but American churches) in this day is very indifferent to Christ, they thrive on the feel good message and prosperity of ‘What can God do for you?” How about pull you out of a pit of fire? How about die an agonizing death on a cross for you? How about creating the beautiful reminders of His majesty all around you? You should be asking ‘What must I do for God?” He asks a very simple thing – Repent and trust and He will take care of the details.
Until next time. Please read and study your bible daily. Walk with the Lord and tell everyone you know about His saving power and grace towards us – sinners. Pass out some tracts, talk to the cashier at Wal Mart, talk to Bob at work. But most of all live a humble life in solemn gratitude for a wonderful, glorious God. We deserve the grave, but He gives us His mercy.
I use instaverse daily. It is an invaluable tool or looking up scripture. After installing, just put your cursor of a a scripture such as Acts 4:13 and wait a couple seconds and it pops up to let you see the scripture. Also when using your favorite word processing program if you just type Luke 13:5 and then push alt f8 instavers will then paste the verse you input into your document. A great time saver for sure. Check it out here:
P.S. I don't get a penny for this if you download it.
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