Fake Christians
You see them all the time. You talk to them. You might even be one of them.
They are rampant in churches. You walk into church and you are greeted by them. “Good morning, how are you?” and then they turn to the next person to talk to them. You could say to them “Well, I sacrificed a small child to the great satan this morning before pillaging the neighborhood and raping the women.” They wouldn’t know the difference because they have moved onto the next conversation. If they did realize you responded, they wouldn’t know what you said and would respond “Praise God! Well, it’s a blessing to have you here.”
Then the worship service starts and they sit and stare blankly at the pastor or whoever is making the announcements as if they care but in their minds you can just tell they are going “let’s get on with it already, there’s a game on in a little bit”.
Then comes worship time, this laughable part of the service (I say laughable because shouldn’t we be worshipping all the time? Also, this part looks so far from worship it’s pitiful.) reveals the people looking like robots, staring at the words and mouthing in unison while their eyes and posture suggest their brain is completely checked out. They are on vacation baby and loving it!
Offertory time! Oh boy! The bible instructs us to be cheerful givers and the word used really translates to hilarious. We’re supposed to be hilarious givers. Yeah, I don’t really see any happy looks on the faces of these “Christians” as they reluctantly drop their offering in the plate. What if you only get paid once every two weeks or even once a month? I’ve been in that predicament too. If you don’t happen to drop money in the plate on the weeks you don’t get paid, and pass the plate on by, then you get the courteous “I’m not judging you, but I’m judging you” look.
Then the sermon comes. Quick gut check: how many Christians do you think could tell you what the pastor preached on and what was the point of the sermon last Sunday if you asked them right now? Again blank faces, wandering minds, and sometimes even the pastor looks bored.
Uh-oh. The pastor is being moved by the spirit and now the sermon is starting to go over. Take a look around and count the people looking at their watches. You’d be surprised. Or maybe you wouldn’t. Maybe you’re a time-keeper yourself.
Finally! The sermon is over and now it’s time for the invitation. Oh no! The pastor wants us to sing another verse. This is terrible. Now the game is going to start without me for sure. If you have ever felt that way, maybe you should check your commitment to God.
Great! We’ve been to church, heard the message, praised God in song for a little while, and we even gave Him some money. Aren’t we awesome Christians? We made all the check marks. Now we can leave and get in our little cliques to talk trash about the other people at church and how lousy our pastor is and how the worship team just didn’t have it together and the songs were terrible. We don’t need to invite anyone to church or talk to anyone about God through the week because we’re superchristians that are dedicated to our Sunday more than anyone we know. We show up in our neatly pressed slacks and sportcoats with tasteful ties, and modest dresses with carefully selected blouses and endure the Sunday service, so why should we have to talk to anyone about church or God. —Gut check #2: When is the last time you invited someone to church? When is the last time you talked to someone about God? Now, by contrast, when is the last time you invited someone to go shopping or out drinking (oops I forgot, a Christian would never admit to drinking. It looks bad.), or to a movie or any other various thing not related to God?
Christians! It’s time to wake up! It’s not about us, it’s about God!
Why do people have such negative opinions about Christians and latch on to anything that makes sense as “evidence” against Christianity? These very things are the reason. If this is Christianity, who wants it?
We are supposed to live in Christ but that doesn’t mean that He is an old house that is a fixer upper. We shouldn’t treat Him like that house. We do it though. We move in, take ownership, paint the walls, hang some pictures, and make the house a reflection of us. We do the same thing to God and His church. We come in, make the music about what WE like, make the outreach happen the way WE want it to happen, work on OUR schedule and make God who WE want him to be: a genie in a bottle whose lamp we rub to get what WE want and that is His only purpose to us. GOD IS NOT MADE IN THE IMAGE OF US, WE ARE MADE IN THE IMAGE OF GOD! The house shouldn’t reflect us in this case, we should reflect the house personality.
Are you feeling beat down yet? If so, good. That’s how we ought to feel for letting this kind of ambiguity about our faith to creep into our walk. We ought to be ashamed for putting God in a box and letting Him out only when we need him. Shaping God to look the way WE want him to look.
Thoughts?
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Tags: Christianity, Christians, church, church relevance, faith, Fake Christians, family, God, Real Christianity, Real Church, religion, Worship, Worship Material, Worship Music, Worship Resources, Worship Songs
Confessions of a Worship Leader 
Hey hey,
I’ve been in every Christian denomination and seen all styles of worship etc. last thing I do anymore is look around at what everyone else is doing or not doing. Every single church has the selfish and the serving. It takes all my energy to focus on the fruits of the Spirit being manifested in moi, me myself and making sure when it comes to judgement of character I’m looking in the mirror and not the congregation.
Yes western christians are going to be sleepy, passive and distant. We’re comfortable and our faith is like our Costcos. Very accessable, lots of selection and so bulky in programs, spiritual food and activity we’re obese and anorexic in faith at the same time. There is no balance here. Only you find your balance with Jesus himself and stop judging your brothers and sisters in Christ. Some can appear dead on the outside and have heart of gold. Others are surely ‘on fire’ and a white washed tomb. Stop focusing on what the church isn’t doing and go find a church that IS doing becasue they DO exist. Afraid the only way you’re going to have the church you want is if you become a missionary where Christianity is outlawed and you have to practice underground. That sifts the wheat from the chaffe real quick. I still believe in the power of gathering in the same purpose. To Worship Christ, even with the half hearted and spiritual dead. If there is only a few there for Him He is there. The folks that irritate me the most are the ones ‘looking around to see whose looking at their watch’. Go to Iraq and help the underground church if you want radical expression.
Not because Christianity is outlawed there it’s just real hard to practice amongst Muslim tribalism.
Otherwise leave the ‘spoiled’ children of God to Him, He Will take care of it.
Thank you for your observation Kaylenwray. I am not, however, judging the church. Rather, I am attempting a call to action.
As Christians, we are to hold one another accountable for our actions (and inactions). What do you think is the purpose for fellowship? If you are doing what you should in your walk you should feel tired and one of the big purposes of gathering is not to look good but to be refreshed and renewed.
I think the reason people are bored is that they are like the gas tank on your car in a manner of speaking. They have heard the word and maybe even spent time with God, but they aren’t emptying their tanks as we ought to do. We should be using that fuel. Otherwise you can’t put fuel in a full tank. We have information constipation. Too much knowledge and a lack of use.
I hope this helps.
Hey, GREAT post, and wonderful insight.
Very similar to something I wrote too . . .
Far too many self-professed “Christians” act as if God were dead! Why else would they proclaim that the Bible, and ONLY the Bible, is the word of God? Do they really think God spoke to man 2000 years ago, but not today? Could it be that mankind has not advanced at all spiritually in those 2000 years, and therefore God is either dead or chooses no longer to speak to us!?? I find that hard to believe.
What is it about the Bible that makes it sacred? For me, the answer is that when you read it, the words, the concepts, the communication seems to resonate with something inside of you that tells you – “Whoa, this is good stuff!” That resonance verifies the idea that a part of God is inside you and recognizes that this is a divine communication.
I think, in fact, God continues to speak with us, both personally and by means of mass-communication methods. Personally by way of the still, small voice, dreams, answered prayers, spiritual promptings, and most of all that resonance, that recognition of truth when you hear it or read it. By mass communication in such media as inspired books, lectures, and social movements. For me personally, the most fascinating modern spiritual communications come from reports of near-death experiences and popular spiritual books, such as the Conversations With God series, or A Course in Miracles. Yet many Christian have never heard of these modern works. Worse yet, some even ridicule the books as anti-Christian. Amazing!
For the curious, here are some references:
Near-death experiences – http://www.nderf.org; and http://www.iands.org.
A Course in Miracles – http://www.acim.org/; and http://courseinmiracles.com/
Enjoy!
I hear what your saying
If you want action go to the social outreach litergical churches. I love them I also love the holy rollers who don’t deny the power of God and get slain in the Spirit every week. Thing is we need both! The church your talking about is the fundemental dead church. They don’t have the vision for community outreach and deny the power of God. Yeah I do hear you but I think you’re talking about a particular church. Also remember it’s the preaching as well. So much of the preaching is based in ‘positive’ thinking and good things God wants for you. When I hear that I keep thinking how our forefathers were sacrificed and how our brothers and sisters around the world literally die for their faith. It is our culteral. It’s really hard to die to the flesh when there is so much to feed it, especially in the church. Listening to a certain Houston tele-pastor sometimes scares me. He seems like the sweetest most well intentioned godly man on the planet. He just ‘expects’ good things from God and all he gets are ‘good’ things. And it seems to be related to prosperous church, solid marriage, good finances and the knowledge God is with him ever step of the way. And much of his preaching is putting down the ‘something bad is going to happen’ thinkers. Well, that’s not even the point! Something bad IS going to happen. It isn’t about what we perceive as negative and positve thinking or what is even good or bad. We’re the least qualified to judge either. All we know is to cling to the One who IS good and anything that happens to our flesh good or bad is waste, but not in vain if we are in Christ.
I went to an Episcopal church for a number of years. Talk about your bad reputations! And the repetative literagy….Paaleeez! The most loving, community oriented, fidelity seeking congregation I’ve had the pleasure of knowing. What a concept! To actually DO something Christ asked us to do. I also had a recent divine appointment with a realtor I picked out of the paper. We were just randomly talking and it came around to our faith and she mentioned she went to a prophetic church and I commented that I missed the prophetic. Well this isn’t your normal conversation! God is still moving in this laxidazical country. And in my laxidazical(sp?) heart. Honestly, we’re both saying the same thing, I guess I just have problems with ‘examples’ of people or situations because I’ve know those people and they’d still give you the shirt off their back or buy you lunch if you needed it and were one on one with them. My theory is it’s the over stimulation of our mega churches that make people robots and zombies. There’s just too many of us with too many needs and we short circuit. I think the one on one is where ministry really happens and worship services are an insecurity fest of judgemental attitudes and paranoid assumptions. Unless of course we simple close our eyes and clumsily, persistantly seek His face.
Kaylenwray, I’ll agree with you on most of that. I’m not just talking about one particular church. I’ve been to a lot of churches like this.
I do feel the need to make a clarification though. I don’t mean ALL our churches in this country. There are some phenomenal churches. I’ll save all the really cool stuff about it for now, as I am getting ready to do a post on this particular church, but the best church I have found is Lifechurch.tv (which technically is a megachurch, it’s just broken into multiple locations).
Oh man, I miss going there. Talk about a God-driven, outreach/missions minded group of happy genuine people.
I think you’re correct in saying that we are saying pretty much the same thing. I would like to make a point in saying, though, that if we don’t reach out to the “fundamental dead” bunch and wake them up, odds are, there going to stay that way. Yes, God can do whatever He wants, but He likes to work through people and if we all just shrug our shoulders and say “I’m not concerned about those people, God will deal with them” we may have just shrugged off an oppportunity presented to us by God. You seem to be a missions minded person, so my next question seems appropriate. You wouldn’t look at someone who you just found out is lost and just shrug it off and go “God will deal with them, I don’t need to talk to them.” would you?
If we are obedient to God we are supposed to admonish one another in love, not just stroke each others egos. Like you said, we don’t need a constantly warm-fuzzy church, we need a church that is willing to tell the truth, no matter how much it hurts.
Sorry about the poor grammar and spelling issues in my last post, I just noticed a couple of things after re-reading it.
christianliberal, thank you for your comment. For some reason, it wound up in my spam and I just found it and de-spammed it. Sorry for the delayed approval 🙂 .
God will visit and inhabit who He choses. I guess what I get tired of in myself and in other christians is their perpuetual obsession with ‘saving’ people when God said salvation is His. God ultimately ‘saves’ people. I’m talking about the obsession that keeps the focus away from themselves in a negative way. They don’t have to deal with their own insensitivities or deplorable lack of evidence of the Fruits in their life. They can just keep praying and admonishing the other guy and never look at their own lack of love and prideful heart. I believe if I truly was displaying the fruits of the Spirit (that evade me all too often) I wouldn’t need a reason to open my mouth to anyone accept to answer direct questions about why I seem to be so at peace all the time with the unimaginable stress that I have to deal with. That’s where I want to be. I feel a hypocrite even opening my mouth to admonish or offer salvation to anyone if I can’t first be like Christ to that person.
Just the wording in your original blog struck a cord about ‘looking’ around to see who is really worshiping and who isn’t or something to that effect. ‘looking at their watches’. I can sit in a three hour service if the Lord is present and I don’t have an urgent engagement. But I also can get real tired of over-load and the need to get away from a gathering of imperfect humans that seem to be ‘out holying’ one another. Blogging like e-mail can be one dimensional and I ofen find myself judging phrases etc when of course we can’t hear intonation or know someone’s heart. that’s all. for me there is no perfect church and I find I always need a couple different expressions for fear of imbalance. I’ve been to many churches also, once through full time ministry for 5 years . I find when I was at my best is when someone affirmed and believed the best about me. Is it kind of an image of beating the devil out of people or pulling the Christ to the forefront? It’s probably both and probably all in vain unless the Spirit goes before us. lol
I have been horribly judged in church but can’t stay away for some reason…..hmmmm….
but I do wane and it isn’t every Sunday as it used to be or should be. Mostly due to a recent move and getting settled and other things but that’s not part of this subject.
I think Christianity like a country has a primary language and then there are dialects of Christianese. If you don’t speak that churches particular dialect of Christianese then you are either completely ignorant or an over-thinker and too much in your head and need to repent for the education you received. It really is kind of a joke. I think our God has a tremendous sense of humour and how we can still go back Sunday after Sunday or every other Sunday and have our commitment and motivation questioned. I hope He finds my heart pure. Cause my flesh can sure be darn ornery! lol
Blessings to you.
Kaylenwray, you certainly do make some long comments don’t you? I’m just kidding with you.
I understand where you’re coming from. I certainly am not trying to encourage the looking around behavior and most definitely do not spend my time doing that. I have just been in positions where sometimes it’s hard not to notice that (such as being at one church where the choir does not leave the loft until the end of service, there’s not a whole lot of place to look besides the back of the pastor’s head so you notice more things).
Also, if you have children, they will distract you from time to time and when you look over at them, simply through peripheral vision you will notice things. You see what I’m saying? I have just noticed things. I don’t go around watching people or judging them for their actions.
We are, as I stated before, according to the bible supposed to admonish one another in love. That doesn’t mean make sure you are good and then admonish (yes I know the stick in your eye and the plank in mine, but don’t confuse the two the second is judgement the first is not). If I am doing something I shouldn’t or not doing something I should, I would certainly hope someone would tell me! Sometimes we don’t realize the things we are or are not doing, we are just living our routines. I know I do it, and I’m human, so I can’t be the only one.
You are also correct in saying that we need encouragement, but don’t forget admonishment is part of that. Admonishment is not (and picture this in the worst southern drawl you can imagine) “What do you mean you had a beer last night? Repent you sinner or you’re goin’ ta hell!” Admonishment is more along the lines of “I understand raising children is difficult, but what does the bible say about this situation? Could you have handled it better? And don’t worry, we’re here to help in any way we can.”
Point people to the truth, don’t condemn them for their actions. I hope that my post didn’t seem to imply that I was trying to do the latter. It was done to get the attention of the “lazy laymen” and provoke them to action. I assumed I’d get some judgemental responses because we’re human and we have a tendency to go on the offensive when we feel our integrity has been challenged.
I’m glad you’re starting to see where I was headed though and thank you so much for your kind words, they are an encouragement.
Blessings to you too!
Churches DO have A LOT of problems and many of these problems are actually quite destructive….I’ve seen Christians twisting the Bible teachings, focusing on the Old Testament and God’s anger and wrath and hell which puts fear in people’s heart. And the Fellowships? I can say 99.9% of them gather to talk about the Bible only at church. Once the Fellowship meeting is over, they go out to movies/shopping/dinning out/drinking/singing karaoke/Wii parties and all sorts of activities that has absolutely nothing to do with God, and they do it quite often. The church I go to is exactly like that. But that’s not all…there is just too much politics/power struggles/judging/gossips/factions going on. And several of the people in the Fellowships are extreme control freaks that non-stop poking into other people’s lives. And if you do not go along with what they do, they start spreading rumors about you and no one would care if you do not show up one Sunday or miss their “Fellowship” meeting.
Before you go on saying I am just judging too…answer these questions first:
What is a “Fellowship”? What are its functions? Whom does the Fellowship belong to?
I’ve prayed for them for over a year before I went on sharing with the Fellowship about what a Fellowship really is…as it belongs to God. I did it without using any offending phrase and I said it out of love and pure intention, to see them really grow and bear fruits. But I was soon judged and their argument was that Christians need to bond and do things together in order to build unity. I said that we should build our relationship with God first, learn to love and obey Him otherwise our relationship with people will always be weak, unguarded and will end up damaging. I was then judged again. Then, a lot of bad rumors against me start floating around. Two more years passed, they still do the exact same things. A few brothers and sisters that used to go there all left because they told me that they feel they can’t grow spiritually there at all. Three sisters and 2 brothers that actually went there for a sole purpose – to pursue God.
I have a question ! Why in my life – events happen days weeks or hours , happen after I think it ? Im a christian but can’t understand why . God trying to say I have a gift ? Or is God trying to show me evidence of his power ?
I too have found lots of problems within churches. I have been to many. I have learned that you will never find a perfect church, Christian, or human being here on Earth. Only God is perfect. We must remember to keep our focus on God and not the imperfections of the brothers, sisters, pastors etc. We must keep in mind that Christians are merely “sinners saved by grace”, they are not perfect. Of course, they should strive to be, but only the Holy Spirit can change us from within. Remember that it takes time for a conversion of heart and a renewing of the mind. These are things we strive for, but do not judge one another. Just make sure that your walk is right before God and pray for those within the church who need conversion. I happen to go to a very spirit filled church where the music is jumping and the pastor gets the congregation all fired-up. I don’t agree with his persuasion tithing message: Micah 3:8-10 every Wednesday and Sunday, but I like the fact that they reach out to many lost souls–something that alot of churches don’t do. They go out into the worst neighborhoods and witness to the lost, homeless, prostitutes, drug dealers, addicts. I mean, these people are radical, but even so, there are many who have not yet had a conversion. You find that everywhere. When it comes down to it, the only thing we can worry about or control is our OWN walk, not everybody elses.
Fake Christians, irritate me and I knew alot in christian boarding school, which kept me from wanting to be one, until God himself showed me who He truly is. I looked back over the years and realized that He had been with me through all the turmoil in my young life, even though I rejected Him after going down to the altar. No one bothered to disciple me or helped to unravel my grave clothes as we are told to do by Jesus himself. I went YEARS BEFORE I RECIEVED THE HOLY SPIRIT and that didnt happen until I dealt with all the unforgiveness left in my heart. All I got was judgement because I enjoyed wearing jeans, and playing music on my guitar, so church was not something I enjoyed at all. Once born again I had a huge desire for discipleship and joined Evangelism Explosion to learn to share the faith God had given me. I realized he loved me regardless of what I wore or where I’d been. The church never did. Seems it’s all about image, but the image fakes display is what keeps people from coming to the real Jesus. We should be ashamed to claim we know Him when we refuse to love others. But, instead we just go about our little games like God’s not even watching. I met Him in my bed room, with no one else around after two very unexplainable near death experiences that made me realize He never left me or forsook me. Once I started going to church I found that nothing was different from before. It was very dissapointing to find that very few of the “Christians” there actually knew Him. They hated my joy that for the first time in my life I’d found. But that just catapulted me into standing stronger with passion for Him. Regardless of the cynicism..why do people go to church if they dont even believe what God says? The boarding school left the Holy Spirit out of the equation and even went as far as to take Acts out of the Bible! But boy could they judge! It’s taken years to learn that God really does love me! He loves you too, in case you were wondering. Lets not fake it till we make it, lets love Jesus and one another just as we are, and do take the time to unravel, in truth, with love, the grave clothes on a newly born again child of God who wants to grow. Cant set free someone who claims to have no imperfection, but oh what love and time can do for an honest heart. Uh-oh….Im preachin’ again.
Hey I have a confession i don’t know what I’m about to say is just to have a clear conscious of all my wrong doing or to just justify my actions.I have been raised in a christian home all my life and seen what a real christian lifestyle suppose to be but yet I just did not consider how important of living a holy lifestyle truly is. I thought i have been getting closer to God but the closer i get the more i realize that the quicker i fall. Just a couple of weeks ago my church had a revival and yea i was one of those christian singing alone, crying, carrying the bible in one hands while waving the other.I honestly believed that I was on my way to a pure and holy life when one day i get a call from a boy and he ask me if he can see me and like any hopeless girl i said yes although we may never keep our half of the bargain Jesus still does. I wanted this guy for the longest and now he asking me to hang out i was trilled but when he started to touch me and climb on me this is not what i wanted to happen suddenly a knock from a door just stop everything and there i was in the bathroom looking at the mirror like you weak little girl only if God wasn’t here you would have been so far in the sin.But God always have a way of showing you out of a sin, its up to us to actually take advantage of it. SO i Repent of my sins and was like this is the last time i will ever do anything to hurt God. The following week my friend ask me to go to a birthday weekend trip and yea neither of my friends are what you would say are “Christians” so i told my self i will go but i will try to act like a christian at all time to try to be the light for my friends yea yea yea that didn’t work out i was probably the worst one at that party yep i think i was…AND now Im just thinking to myself that I am not as strong as I thought I was I am WEAK, CONFUSED,AND YEA A FAKE CHRISTIAN!
The moral of the story is that i will Probably never be the Perfect Christian but as i grow up and see what my flaws are and how many imperfection i really have i don’t want to just say “O well everyone makes mistakes” I want to say lord minimize my mistakes and make me whole and holy so i can live CHRIST LIKE life lord i may never be you or what i think you want me to be but i do want to be what you have me destine to be and if thats someone greeting people by the door of an church let it be to glorify you Jesus pleas forgive me and let me just get away from all this let me say your name and just worship you in and out of church near and away from my friends Lord I may never have the right intentions but let me please have the right heart and change my motive cause I have been trying to live this christian like the way i design it when I was suppose to make you take control I am officially through trying to be a christian Lord take control i can’t fake any longer….
I say Amen to this. I no longer attend a “church” building. I’m tired of the hypocrisy. Also, you can volunteer until your face falls off, but when you need any help, there is noone who cares. You dont even get a phone call or hospital visit to make sure you are still alive after surgury. But they sure want you when they need money, that is all they seem to really care about. And the cliques, let’s not get started on that.
I’ve been to many churches over 22 years, since converting to Christianity, and I don’t know anyone that ever kept in contact with me. After the hugs, everyone just moves on.
There’s a much worse kind of fake Christian.
I grew up in a very Christian town, with a lot of very good friends, many of whom are Christian, many of whom are not.
I’ve never regularly attended church, but I did go to youth group quite frequently, and to bible studies with my friends.
I actually paid attention, and though I frequently played “devil’s advocate”, I really learned a lot of great things about how a person should try to be.
I try to follow many of Jesus’ teachings, in spite of the fact that I don’t believe any of it.
I am an atheist.
I’ve been called many things by “Christians” when I tell them I’m an atheist.
Without provocation, I’ve been called evil, vain, indecent, biased, and many more aggrivated direct insults, while I “turn the other cheek”
These people are the worst kind of Christians. They think they will get to heaven because they are “Christians” but they don’t even understand the first thing about what it even means to be a Christian. They will decry an atheist for his beliefs while in many cases the atheist is behaving more in line with Jesus’ teachings than they are.
These fake Christians do Christianity as a whole a great disservice. They antagonize athiests and those of other religions, creating enemies where there should be friends.
Most atheists would be happy to just be treated with the same respect as you would expect from them.
If you would be offended by an atheist offering you an alternate theory of the universe, perhaps you should think twice before telling them their beliefs are wrong.
Thanks for reading.
I am researching Christianity and Messianic Judeism for 19 yr They are not converted people they are still in the world..I am able to corroborate my research with evidence….They are never repented the way the Bible demands it….The spirit of Baal operates in Christianity and Messianic Judeism…They are contradicting Christ…Do you know that Beny Hinn takes his wife and childrens to the family doctor He too is regulari visiting doctors…..The Bible states clearli that if you are converted you are healed if you are not converted you are not healed ..Reade it through concordance..Christianity is FAKE,FAKE,FAKE
they are idol worshippers also like catholics
Hello! Wow I love your post! Although I am not religious myself, I cannot help but look around at my peers who claim to be religious and wonder why do these people pretend to respect God but all they do is sin? Example, A fellow high school student was talking about her confirmation in a class we both have but that same weekend she was at a party I was attending and continued to drink excessive amounts of alcohol and even take part in some drug use all the while lying to her family about where she actually is. Why would someone who believes in the Christian faith partake in such sins? Can you explain this to me? Why say you love God and then take a shit on your religions beliefs? That is a fake Christian to me, but again your post was excellent!
To Whom It May concern,
This is Rev. Robert Wright, Editor for http://www.Christian.com which is a social network made specifically for Christians, by Christians, to directly fulfill Christian’s needs. Christian.com has many great features aside from the obvious like christian TV, prayer request or even find a church/receive advice and to offer the ENTIRE christian community an outlet to join together. We have emailed you because we have interest in collaborating with you and your blog to help us spread the good word. I look forward for your response regarding the matter,
Thanks!
God Bless
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If people are looking outside themselves first that is part of the problem. You need to look to God first, then inside yourself, then out towards others. Give God a chance to dwell in you.
I am a hard-Core Christian that has and continues to confirm my faith by ‘Placing faith in God’. Most place faith in something. I choose God. I have not always trusted God. At first it was a way to defy God in fact. “If you do exist, then show me”. After time and time agian I started to realize that God has confirmed my faith over and over again. Now I have no reason to believe other wise.
The challenge is to place your faith in something consistently and it will work itself out in the end.
I will raise my kids with “all the tools” in the tool box giving them support to choose (no matter the religion or relationship they choose), but I know without telling them that the one “True God” will show himself and take residence in the hearts of ONLY those who chose Him. God is a gentleman and will not force his love onto you if you do not choose.
My faith is in Jesus Christ, MY Personal Lord and Savior for a good reason.
Faith Confirmed.
I have remained silent on this post for some time, however, as this post is nearing the 2 year mark, I find it terribly interesting that it is becoming more popular by the day. I have to wonder why?
I think that like myself, people are getting tired of searching for a church home and only finding churches that are afraid of the truth. Tired of walking in and only getting the warm fuzzies from the message. When Jesus taught, it was not about a funny story and a reserved, politically correct message. Though Jesus DID speak in parables, there were definite points to be observed in those parables and He did NOT sugar coat anything. This was also the way His disciples spoke.
When did we start trying to please everyone? When did we start trying to please ourselves?
Though everyone certainly has some interesting views of this posting… the point has repeatedly been missed. The point of this post was never to judge or to ask anyone to judge. It was simply to point out that if all you are concerned with is going to Church to get your check mark like a good Christian and then walking out and doing nothing to further God’s Kingdom but instead to build YOUR kingdom, then you are far WORSE than the unbeliever. The bible has something to say about lukewarm Christians. It says that God will spew them out of his mouth. It is worse to know the truth and reject it than to not know the truth.
If no one has the audacity and fortitude to stand and point out the obvious and the obviously missed then how can we expect anything to change. Should we keep doing more of the same and leading new believers down the same path to destruction? Should we continue to be oblivious to the multitudes who will not enter the Kingdom of heaven because no one would stand? Should we turn a blind eye to those who would rather cause dissension in the church than to serve the body?
I don’t care if you are baptist, methodist, pentacostal, catholic or whatever you are, if you are not willing to stand on God’s word and His promises, if you are not willing to sacrifice some comfort sometimes, if you’d rather be an observer than a player, then you are in for a rude awakening.
I could go on and on, but perhaps instead of continuing the sabbatical I have taken from this blog, I should start a series of posts regarding truly radical faith. I think I may just do that. Stay tuned….
I need a savior to help me. I am a sinner. I do not claim to be pure or right in anyones eyes. My decisions are flawed and I am no example to guide others.
But I am going to heaven because of a choice I made to accept a gift from God. We don’t go to Hell becuase or our sins. We go to Hell for rejecting the provision God gave us for the sin in our lives. Jesus Christ is the perfect sacrifice. No longer are we bound to the law having to sacrifice animals for temporary forgivness. Christ gives us forgivness once and for all, forever and a day.
With every gift there is a receiver. I recieve the gift and choose Christ. I need Christ. The offer is made to everyone in one way or another. I know there are populations that do not have means to be educated and learn about Christ, but that is where the Spirit comes in. He is just as real as God and Christ. The Trinity. He will educate and provide a way to Christ.
Without Christ, By God’s Standards, I am going to Hell. If you say other words you would be wrong. Now, let’s talk about why I would go to Hell without Christ.
We all have a choice to choose or not. With or against. Heaven or Hell. Now who is God? God is the one that will ask nothing of you, but to believe. Your belief proves that you submit to a higher presence that is ‘running the Show’. We have no power to do anything without Christ.
Imagine if we had our own rules as to driving in traffic. I would never trust another red light or stop sign again, because the next guy on the road is governed by his own rules. What we need is oversight and guidance to provide a consistent rule and process to get from point A to Point B. Christ is the person that shares that process in your life that uses your faith in Him to get you where you want to be. Nothing is forced, just suggested.
Bottom line is believe what you want and do what you want, but don;t come crying to Christ when you get to the outskirts of heaven and Christ says, ‘I’m sorry, but i never knew you”. Get to know Him, and i promise it will be the last place you look for salvation. Because if you think that your sin isn’t as big as the next guy or your sin is too big for God to handle you are wrong. Sin has one penalty and that is death, Christ paid that debt. Take it, It’s yours.
I’m with you on this one. Far too many Christians living for themselves. Seriously, what is going on? If Christians do whatever they want, and look the same as the world, then why do any non-believers even need to be Christian? I’m not judging, I am simply stating what the bible says. It calls Christians to repent, to CHANGE to be like Jesus, to please the Lord. I’m not perfect, or I wouldnt need Jesus. But I am striving to please God however I can because I am so grateful for his love and grace, for what Jesus did for me. Would Jesus be out shopping for American Dolls when he could be serving the hungry? Why are we sitting on our rears watching American Idol when we could be giving the gospel to someone who doesnt know Jesus, saving their life!
I think maybe you’re not a real Christian, whoever wrote “fake Christians”. First of all, just because someone seems preoccupied it doesnt mean they are not a real Christian. In society everything is rushed, so many people feel they dont have time to chat intensely with every person. Also, you shouldnt be looking around judging at people. Obviously you have enough time on your hands to ignore the church sermon to just stare around at who is a “real Christian” and who is not- while you yourself- are missing out. You remind me of a Pharisee. Yes, the Pharisees thought themselves as the Holy ones, and everyone else wasn’t, and they pointed out everyone else’s mistakes, while they sat around at how Holy they were.
If we are to be real Christians, we should not be judging others and criticizing the church. Church is sometimes the only social outlet some people have. Let us be thankful that at least some people want to come to church these days-with how unwelcoming and clickish some can be. You have a poster of Elvis on your wall? Oh you can’t be a real Christian. Thats idol worship! Oh, yes, and so we must all be spotless and above reproach to be real Christians. I see.
Meade, thank you so much for your very helpful, insightful, JUDGEMENTAL, self-righteous interjection. Just one more person missing the point.
I’m sorry, did I say I was perfect? Sure missed that part… perhaps I should re-read… em… no wait, I wrote it. I will be the first to tell you that I am FAR from perfect. Perhaps I should do like the drones and be a good little puppet and get my checkmark?
No I don’t just sit there staring at everyone and not pay attention to the sermon. Thing is, when you are in leadership, and you are not neccessarily sitting where everyone else is you sometimes don’t have a choice but to see the people because you are facing directly toward them. That was when I started noticing these things.
AND, like it or not, someone who is exploring the church, ESPECIALLY non-christians that are looking, they ARE definitely checking out the atmosphere and that includes the people. If we don’t know what they are seeing, then how can we change it? If we look like we don’t give a crap about what’s going on, then why would they? And why would they come back?
It’s comical to me that anytime someone points out a problem in the church, suddenly that person is a pharisee.
I’ll say it again: WAKE UP! Instead of being able to accept some constructive criticism and loving direction, you suddenly want to become judgemental of the person offering. Being able to call someone a pharisee when you don’t hear what you want to hear… yeah, that makes you a “Christian” alright.
If you were to actually take into consideration that what I am saying is in line with what Jesus said, would you then call Jesus a pharisee? Would you accuse Him of being the real “Fake Christian”? ***NO I am not comparing myself to Jesus before anyone even jumps on board that train to try to railroad me****
So Meade, thank you again for being a shining example of the point I am making.
And, for the record… no poster of Elvis…. just a picture of Jimi Hendrix framed above my statue of buddha, which is next to my copy of the qu’ran…because I’m such a bad, bad Christian for speaking truth.
***Disclaimer-I don’t really have a poster of Jimi (though I wouldn’t mind one) or a statue of buddha and definitely no copy of the qu’ran***
***Disclaimer 2-I am not usually this hostile 🙂 I’m just sick of being lambasted by “Christians” who want to let me know how judgemental I am and how I am not a Christian all in the same breath. You (you know who you are) are a shining example to all of what Christianity should be.***
Please forgive me for this momentary loss of self-control (a testiment to how un-perfect I am by the way) and know that I am praying for all of you and hope that you can see past yourselves long enough to decide for yourself if you believe what I am saying is valid or not.
It’s as simple as this- Nobody is perfect! Nobody has it all figured out. If that was the case then why would Jesus even come back? Why would there be more than 25,000 Christian denominations? Everyone is going to disagree with each other and start 25,000 more Christian denominations. Everyone wants to be comfortable. Everyone wants it easy. But there is only One God, One Church. Lord have mercy.
I’m a fake Christian I’ve used people to get ahead in life. I need therapy can someone please help me. I’m truly pathetic.
Can’t see the trees for the forest eh ?
a delightful read. And unfortunately, very true =/
I want to kick fake Christians in the ***. I’m sick of hearing this **** about experiencing God’s grace. It takes an intense moral effort to be ‘righteous enough’ to have a God experience, and these people are deluding themselves into thinking that there is nothing more to that experience than the accepting of Jesus Christ as our Lord and savior. What hubris! It’s these people that are totally undermining the credibility of Christianity as a value system that has the capacity to SHAKE PEOPLE and alter their lives beyond recognition. These people should not even be associating themselves with Christianity. They give Christianity a bad name. And they deceive others into thinking that Christianity is easy. Christianity is NOT easy. I guarantee people that actually want to listen that they will be exhausted by the end of the day. I am so very far from being a Christian. It seems daunting to me. But at least I’m not delusional!
But this is the first step. Admitting that Christianity is altogether a little frightening. If you think that accepting Jesus Christ as your Lord and savior is all there is to it, where else do you need to go? God doesn’t require anything from you. God doesn’t even need faith (because accepting that yes, God does exist and that yes, Jesus Christ is His son is very far from what it means to have faith). I accuse anybody who thinks along these lines of blatant blasphemy. Christianity is in the ideal. Christianity is in the saints and the mystics, because it’s only these people that have gone through the spiritual transformation that the God of Christianity *CLEARLY* requires if He exists.
Next time I hear a fake Christian talking about ‘God’s mercy’ or their ‘salvation’, I’m going to kick them in the ***. Just once. And actually I’m going to aim to kick THROUGH them, so that they remember the experience. I won’t even need to explain my behavior, they’ll know what’s up.
fake christians whew!
“Go to Iraq and help the underground church if you want radical expression. Not because Christianity is outlawed there it’s just real hard to practice amongst Muslim tribalism.”
I’m sorry to hear about the plight of Christians in Iraq but Islaam has nothing to do with it. Tribalism (asabiyyah) is actually forbidden in forbidden in Islaam. Read this:
http://islam1.org/khutub/Asabiyyah_1.htm
Maybe Muslims in Iraq are tribal but it is due to their own shortcomings rather than Islaaam.
This is such a great post! I have spent a bit of time reading some of the comments as well, and there is so much relevant information… There is not much more I can add in a comment! LOL! I do however fully agree that we can not just sit back and watch stuff like this take place in the church, to do so is simply not biblical. Thank you for this post, I am sharing and re-blogging!
Reblogged this on Real Talk and commented:
This is a phenomenal blog spot that I felt the need to reblog it, as this is similar to something that I am in the process of getting ready to blog!
@williamabush Thank you so much. I have been neglecting this blog, but I do have plans to start updating it regularly again. I really appreciate the kind words and the reblog and I will definitely check your blog out as well.
I think people are not educated as to why we are to gather in the church. It is not to socialize. It is not to hear the latest song the worship team has been practicing.
Jesus said, “My house is a house of prayer.”
He did not say it is a house of music. He did not say it is a house of preaching. He said it is a house of prayer.
If you don’t feel like God’s house is a house of prayer when you ‘go to church’ then you are in the wrong place.
I understand the context, too. Jesus drove the robbers out of the marketplace. These robbers were money gouging the people by charging high prices for the sacrificial animals.
I believe there are still robbers in the church. They rob us of the opportunity to pray. They rob us of our focus. They are trying to rob us of a time when we should talking to God and deepening our relationship with Him. If all of our heads are bowed to Him, we are all united. We cannot become a distraction to our brother or sister in Christ.
This article nicely sums up all the reasons that I quit church over 25 years ago. I have no interest in it whatsoever. Same for Christian music… and I even was with a very prominent Christian band of the 80’s (big deal).
the problem is the devil uses something good and turns it into something bad trust me the devil is at work in the Church more so then in secular society the church was supposed to be community but ended up being a clique. Men who desire power and praises of men uses Gods laws as a tool to have a level of control to justify there “leadership” positions(essentially trying to be the Holy Spirit) by heaping guilt upon people. Not to mention that money plays in a factor too a lot of pastors and church people get paid handsomely so you can be sure that will attract people in it for the wrong reasons. The thing that bothers me most though is how this church culture has messed up peoples ability to spread the gospel to people today people in the church are so used to gossiping, backstabbing, circle jerking and everything else mentioned above that it makes it extremely hard for the gospel to be appealing. The one thing I pray for is for people not to get discouraged from the great commission this to me is what the enemy wants he wants us to be consumed in our own failures rather than victories of Jesus yes the bible says to hold eachother accountable but it also to do everything out of love for example if jane has a problem with adultry a fellow sister/brother should go up to them let them know what the bible says about it pray for them then move on if the person is saved Gods Holy Spirit will take over from there as oppossed to publically humiliating them and gossping etc. or trying to get them excommunicated for there own personal vendettas against that person
It’s 2018 now, and I can hear the caterwauling while people read this. Around the time this was written, I was looking for a church to go to- for the first time in over a decade. I went to church after church, and didn’t recognize The Church in any of them. Bill Hybels and Rick Warren had gotten to all of them. Seeker Friendly replaced honest discussion and teaching about God’s Mercy, our sin, and why we need Christ. The reverence of His majesty, holiness and power was lost on people. It scared me that it was clear people weren’t taking it seriously. I have often worried about how they will fare in the End Time scenario. Nowadays, it’s still as you said it was, only worse, because we see the evil getting darker and closing in and are not moved by it to get serious.
It doesn’t help when the leaders of the church now tell the congregation that their family time and weekend plans are more important than attending on Sunday. They imply that attendance is optional and a nuisance, not a requirement or a blessing.
You can’t get anyone interested in what the books of the Bible actually discuss because they want topical Christian lifestyle messages. We don’t even know if the person next to us is a believer even when we see them every week. And you should see the pastoral leadership scatter when the prayer team arrives at the end of the day.