This is a long page- all that is written here is from my journals and notes over the past eight or so years. My blog posts will be more organized and on point, I promise. I just have to start with this and get it all off my chest. Obviously, I am not speaking of EVERY American Christian, so don't get offended. I include myself in all the ranting and consider myself saved by God's grace and mercy. As Paul said in 1 Timothy 1, "Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost."
I have been pursuing God, studying and praying
for years now- I am in no way good or perfect, but I do want God. I want to
follow his commandments. I want out of this world trap where so many “so called”
Christians are walking on the broad path straight to hell. I believed in Jesus
as a child and went to church- but my parents never talked to me about Jesus.
They never taught me. Did they know Him? If you would
have asked me in high school or college, “do you believe in Jesus?” or “do you
believe you are going to heaven when you die?” I would have said “yes”, like
millions of others in America. We honestly thought it was that easy? That Jesus
was our ticket into heaven and we could act anyway we wanted to? Thank God for
His mercy and grace that I didn’t die and go to hell. God’s grace is not a
license to sin and you CANNOT have His grace unless you confess your sin! Now I
know that even the devil believes!!!!!!!! James
2:19 says “you believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe-
and shudder!” If the demons are
shuddering, they are doing more than the majority of Christians in America! Do
you tremble at His word with reverent fear of the One who can throw you in
Hell? “Believing” in God does not save you on its own. Jesus says in Matthew 10:28, “do not fear those who
can kill the body, but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear the one who can
destroy both soul and body in hell.”
How many
people in America think they are saved because they prayed a prayer and asked
Jesus into their heart? Or because they got baptized? Those actions do not
save. If your life is not transformed and turned new, and your longing for God
and His word increasing, you are not saved! If God begins a good work in you,
he will finish it! But for millions, God never began anything in their lives!
It is too easy not to acknowledge the truth in America! It’s called easy believe-ism:
keep your worldly life and have Jesus in your pocket when you die. If you claim to be a Christian, you must
acknowledge the truth of God’s word and submit to it! He is LORD and SAVIOR.
We study, memorize and talk about The Word! But are we DOING
it???
James 1:22, 27 says “do not merely listen to
the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.” If all you do is go to
church and listen- you are deceived!!!! Think about it for a second! We can
listen and talk about the Bible all day long, but if you don’t do what it says,
then you are nothing but a fake!
It makes me
sick to hear about these mass baptisms at youth nights- all the kids get
baptized and get a tee shirt! They are told they are saved! But most are
fooled. The kids don’t change, they don’t even understand what it all means.
They just go back into the world with a false assurance that if they die they
will go to heaven!
God wants us
to get all of the “stuff” in our lives out of the way- imagine a path and all
our stuff is in the way, including possessions, activities, internet, social media, television- and God is waiting at the end of the path. All we do is stumble
over all our stuff and buy more stuff and never seem to find God. (or get to
him). When Jesus said sell everything you have and follow me- it means to me
that we need to get rid of all the stuff in our lives/ idols / busyness so we
can truly follow Jesus… without all the stumbling blocks along the way that the
devil uses to make us think we have it all together and don’t need Jesus. John
MacArthur said, “You can carry all your junk down the broad road to hell. You
can take your sin there. You can take your self-righteousness. You don’t have
to leave anything behind. It says
heaven, but leads to hell.”
One thing
the spirit brought to my attention: all the wealth in this world, all our
stuff, all our materialism, and esp. our COMFORT is being used by Satan. He is
deceiving us to think that we are blessed with this stuff and comfort. He is
deceiving millions having them think that “now” is the time to have your best
life and that God wants you to prosper on this earth and have tons of money and
big houses and the newest cars. Funny that when Jesus was on the earth he had no
place to lay his head. He was the maker of the universe, King of Kings, yet he
didn’t live in a mansion while on earth. Satan thinks it’s funny we all live in
“comfort” now- and he wants us to enjoy everything in this fleeting world- so
that he can take as many people into hell as he can.
I believe that many Americans don’t want to acknowledge the truth of God’s Word, because if they do, they would have to submit to it. And they don’t want to submit. They want the world more. 1 John 2:15-17 says “do not love the world of the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the father is not in him. For all that is in the world- the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life- are not from the Father but from the world. And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.”
I believe that many Americans don’t want to acknowledge the truth of God’s Word, because if they do, they would have to submit to it. And they don’t want to submit. They want the world more. 1 John 2:15-17 says “do not love the world of the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the father is not in him. For all that is in the world- the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life- are not from the Father but from the world. And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.”
"Disobedience to Gods word always brings deception. Continued
disobedience to Gods word brings DELUSION, a state of mind that cannot
distinguish between truth and deception,” Ann Hilyer.
Is this not where we are in
American Christianity? We can make the Bible tailor to our wants, needs, and desires?
Where is our
passion for Jesus/ the Lord?? Where
is it? Have we ever even had it in America? What are you passionate about?
Listen to how we talk about things that we are passionate about- our kids, jobs,
TV shows, politics, sports, clothes, family!! Where is our passion for the things of God-
for obeying HIM and doing his will??? How can we come in church or Sunday
School and talk so passionately before the sermon or class about everything of
this world…. Then sit down to talk about Jesus and have nothing to say???? Something
is wrong!!! James 4:4 says "being a friend
of the world is being an enemy to God."
Do we go to
church and Sunday school because it is what we “DO”? Is it our ticket to
heaven? Or do we really believe what the Bible says? Are we going to obey God?
Are we going to seek him? Surrender to him? Give over our pride of being
self-sufficient? Get on our faces and humble ourselves before him?? Our pride
is crushing us and God needs to crush our pride! You MUST humble yourself
before the Lord! Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. "Submit yourselves therefore to God......Draw near to God and He will draw near to you..........humble yourself before the Lord," James 4:7-10.
We have all
these huge, rich, comfortable, extravagant church buildings right here….do we use those effectively for God's glory? How? We have
churches everywhere, yet there is still the lost, poor, abused, hungry, homeless, fatherless, neglected, lonely… right HERE, next door to the big, fancy churches… America is overflowing with sin! This shouldn’t
be with so many professing Christians. Church is not the building, it’s the
believers. Church is not comfortable seats and sitting down and listening, then
going to another comfortable room and sitting- two hours of our week so we feel
like good Christians. Christianity is DOING. ACTING. BELIEVING. LOVING.
HELPING. CARING- FOR OUR NEIGHBOR, NOT JUST OURSELVES AND OUR FAMILIES. IT IS NOT WHAT THE CHURCH CAN DO FOR US AND OUR
CHILDREN. NOOO. ITS US DOING FOR OTHERS. CHURCH HAS BECOME SO SELFISH. ITS ALL
ABOUT ME. DO I LIKE THE PREACHING?? THE
MUSIC?? THE CHILDCARE? THE LOCATION??? IT SHOULD BE ONLY ABOUT JESUS AND WHAT HE
HAS CALLED US TO DO, WHICH IS LOVE OUR NEIGHBORS AS OURSELVES! SITTING IN A
CHURCH SANCTUARY IS NOT CHRISTIANITY.
Jesus is not
in our comfortable little world. He is outside the gate. He’s out of our
comfort zone. He is screaming at us that
he is there, outside, waiting for us to join him! We are stuck in a “cultural”
Christianity, and I don’t believe there is such a thing as a “carnal”
Christian. If you are of this world, you are not a Christian. Jesus says in Matthew 7:21-23, “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. 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?’ And then I will declare to
them, ‘I never knew you, DEPART FROM ME.’” Jesus is talking to FAKE
believers, those who think they are saved but are not. Here is the pleading I
can hear from American Christians today, ‘Lord, didn’t we go to church on most
Sundays and take our children to Sunday school?”, “didn’t we throw up prayers
to you when it was convenient for us or we needed something?”, “didn’t we say
we believed in Jesus?” Works will not get us into heaven. Only knowing how
depraved and wretched we are before a Holy God and bowing down to him in
thanksgiving for Jesus’ blood saving us. Christ should be precious to us. We
are nothing and He is everything! DOES JESUS KNOW YOU?????? Know means we have an intimate relationship!
Do you walk with him? The path AND gate are narrow… if you live like the world you are on the
wrong path! Other than coming to church, is there very little difference
between you and those who profess no belief in Christ? There are many people
that do “good” in this world and they will go to hell. God says NO ONE is good,
not one! Don’t be fooled! The Bible says in 2 COR 13, “Test yourselves, to see
whether you are in the faith.” This verse also puts to rest the entire "saved, always saved" because at one time you prayed the "sinner's prayer." These "Christians" thought they were saved and I am sure they believed and "accepted" Jesus at some point during their life. Think about it.
“Our greatest fear should not be of
failure but of succeeding at things in life that don’t really matter”- Francis
Chan. What do we try to succeed at in life that won’t matter in eternity? How
much money we make at our job so we can fit in this world and get more stuff??
It doesn’t matter how powerful you are on earth…. It will make no difference
before God. What did you do with your money? How important is it that your
child is the star athlete if he doesn’t know Christ?
PROSPERITY
IS ONE OF THE GREATEST DANGERS OF CHRISTIANITY. Is it OK for us to live like
this in America when millions of Christians around the world are suffering?
Isn’t this what we do in America??- give away
our crumbs and excess, and feel good about it, like we have done something
meaningful for Jesus? God has been showing me that it's easy to give away my excess money, clothes, possessions, etc- especially if I am just going to replace them with newer stuff! Questions that have come to my Spirit- What do you give away that effects your lifestyle? What do you forgo that actually hurts a bit?? What do you deny yourself so you can give more?? Do you not buy that newer SUV, or not take a vacation, or not buy those expensive clothes and shoes so you can give that money away?
Giving is easy if it doesn't cost us anything.....and Jesus teaches that following him will cost us everything!
Giving is easy if it doesn't cost us anything.....and Jesus teaches that following him will cost us everything!
How am I living for Him and not myself? Oh, God I need you to show me how to do it. I have spent most of my life striving to be in and of this world… show me how to get out of it. We are IN this world, but we are not OF this world. Lord, help me see eternally.
Please please read the Bible for yourself, and do not rely on church customs or what your parents taught you! Click on the link below to hear a Francis Chan sermon jam entitled-
"Have you ever studied this Book for yourself?"
