A WARNING TO THOSE WHO CONSIDER THEMSELVES CHRISTIAN!

I have been a Christian for 15 yrs. At the age of 16 I confessed my sins to the Lord Jesus and asked him to forgive me and help me live a repentant life for him alone and to live a life where he has complete Lordship in my life. Since then my life has been transformed and it is my personal relationship with Jesus Christ that has made all the difference. It is through reading the bible that I learn how to be changed and find new direction. I have an incredible assurance that the Lord has saved me from the consequences of my sin nature, the sinful choices I have made that have made me guilty before God and from hell. I do not live in fear of death or eternal punishment for my sins. I am free of guilt and shame because I have a new past and a hopeful future in Christ. I have peace and the power to forgive anyone for anything. I am truly free. I am happy in all circumstances and am joyful because I am saved. And I give all my praise and thankfulness to Jesus Christ because he is showing me more and more who he is and who I am as a child of God.

2 Corinthians 5:17 says: "Therefore, if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things have become new."

Lately, I have been asking the Lord to show me what his heart is feeling for those who call themselves Christians, and what is being revealed to me is very sobering and fearful.

Read these verses carefully in Matthew 7. This is a direct warning from Jesus to those who call themselves Christians:

13"Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it. 14"For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it. 15"Beware of the false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves. 16"You will know them by their fruits. Grapes are not gathered from thorn bushes nor figs from thistles, are they? 17"So every good tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears bad fruit. 18"A good tree cannot produce bad fruit, nor can a bad tree produce good fruit. 19"Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 20"So then, you will know them by their fruits. ******21"Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter. 22"Many will say to Me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?' 23"And then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you; DEPART FROM ME, YOU WHO PRACTICE LAWLESSNESS.' *****24"Therefore everyone who hears these words of Mine and acts on them, may be compared to a wise man who built his house on the rock. 25"And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and yet it did not fall, for it had been founded on the rock. 26"Everyone who hears these words of Mine and does not act on them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. 27"The rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and it fell--and great was its fall."

If you call yourself a Christian in this country or this world it is automatically presumed that we share the same faith, read the same bible, and are drawing close to the same Jesus Christ in the same Holy Spirit. But this is not necessarily true. When I read the bible and then look around in this country I see a great confusion about what being a Christian really is. The truth is that you are not a Christian if you just say that you are. You are a Christian IF you live according to what the Bible says in it's entirety. It is the Bible alone that reveals what God expects. It is Jesus Christ's expectations that matters not the pastor at your church or on TV. It's not the seemingly wise family member or friend who always talks about Jesus and God stuff. It is not the opinion of the politicians, hollywood stars, scientists, or economists that matters. It's not your opinion that matters. It is the Bible alone that has the ultimate authority on our lives. It is not the Bible and the book of Mormon. It is not the Bible and the Catechism. It is only the Bible. I understand if this last statement is hard to accept if you are not a Christian, but if you call yourself a "Christian" and this bothers you then beware! Those above verses are for you. There is a song called, "The Real Jesus" by Downhere that speaks of all the many Jesus's that are popping onto the scene but the message of this song is: just give me the REAL Jesus! Believing in the REAL Jesus makes you a REAL Christian.

A real Christian believes that Jesus Christ is the one true GOD. That it is Jesus Christ who created this world and you and me. A real Christian believes that GOD is THREE seperate persons IN ONE: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Much like the SUN or WATER or MAN each have THREE seperate parts but are still considered ONE. A real Christian believes that Jesus is the only way to heaven and that there are not many ways to heaven. WHY? Because NO ONE in all of history has died and rose again from the dead as Jesus has. NO ONE has proven themselves as GOD except Jesus Christ. NO ONE has showed more love then Jesus Christ. The Bible says in John 15:13: there is no greater love then when a man lays down his life for his friends. A real Christian believes that Jesus is the only way to heaven because he is the only one who lived a SINLESS life and therefore is the only one worthy to save souls. Jesus Christ is the only one who died for the purpose of saving humanity from their SIN NATURE and then rose from the dead to prove that he is the one true God. A REAL CHRISTIAN LIVES BY FAITH IN THESE THINGS and the Bible says it is impossible to please God without faith.

A Christian is REAL if they believe in all of these things and the rest of what the Bible teaches and follows Jesus daily in a repentant life.

Jesus said that not everyone who thinks they are a Christian will enter the kingdom of heaven. There will even be those who performed miracles and healed and cast out demons that are cast into hell because they were false Christians. If this doesn't rattle your heart then I don't know if anything will. When I read Matthew 7 I sober up because it is warning religious people to stop being religious and start getting right with Jesus Christ with a sincere heart of humility. Only the pride in your heart will keep you from receiving Jesus as who he really is.