What makes you a Christian?

 

        By Bill Keller

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One of the things that has greatly troubled me recently, is the number of
people who say that they believe in God, say that they are a Christian, yet
have no problem supporting choices that are clearly defined in God's Word as
sin.

My friend, Jesus said it best when He said that "no man can serve two
masters." The Christian faith is not a smorgasbord where you can pick and
choose what you like. You can't claim to have faith in Christ, yet support
the things that the Bible speaks against. THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS A
CHRISTIAN MODERATE, to borrow a political term. Either God is real, or He is
not.

Let me first clarify what a Christian is. A Christian is a person who has
made the personal choice to ask Jesus to forgive them of their sins, repent
(turn away from) of their sins, and ask Christ into their heart by faith
(John 3:16, Romans 10:10, Ephesians 2:8,9). It is your personal faith in
Christ that makes you a Christian.

The church you belong to cannot save you. Having a priest or pastor baptize
you when you were a baby did not save you. Living a good life does not save
you. The fact that your parents are Christians cannot save you. Only making
the choice to ask the Lord to forgive your sins, repent or turn from your
sins, and ask Christ into your heart makes you a Christian.

If this is not something that you have never done, the Bible says that TODAY
is the day of salvation. Pray, ask God to open your heart, then click on
this link and read what is written: http://liveprayer.com/plan.cfm God has
made it so easy, but it is a choice that only YOU can make.

Once you have gotten to this point, the next step is that you MUST accept
the Bible as God's inspired, inerrant Word. It is IMPOSSIBLE to be a
Christian and not accept the Bible as God's Word. You see, to come to Christ
by faith, you have accepted that this is God's plan to give his creation
which is separated from Him because of their sin, a way to come back into
His everlasting fellowship. This is God's ONLY plan!

That is why faith in Buddha will not save you. That is why faith in Mohammad
will not save you. That is why faith in a golden statue will not save you.
It is ONLY faith in Jesus Christ that saves you because it was Jesus Christ
who God sent to die for your sins! He was God's perfect sacrifice to give
fallen man a way back into everlasting fellowship with Him. So if you accept
THAT, then you have to accept the ENTIRE BIBLE as God's inspired, inerrant
Word. It can't be only part right!

The reason is God cannot lie. The Bible is an all or nothing proposition, it
is either ALL true, or NONE of it is true. This is very serious, so please
hear what I am saying to you today. You can't live your faith with one foot
in the world, and one foot in the church. You either believe it all, or you
don't really believe any of it. Either God is true, and we can count on
EVERYTHING He says, or God is a liar, and we are the most foolish of all
people. My friend, there is NO MIDDLE GROUND.

This is where so many Christians break down in their life. They simply don't
want to let go of the things of this world. The fact is, this life is only a
brief journey anyway. When it is over, the things of this world will be
gone, and the ONLY thing that you will be left with is the fact that you
have Christ in your heart, or you have rejected His love for you. PERIOD.

I realize that this is difficult for so many of you to read. I already know
that there will be some very angry emails about how intolerant I am,
how the Christian faith is horrible for excluding so many good people. Does
this mean your Jewish friend who is a "good person" but never accepts Jesus
is going to hell? YES! Does this mean that the family member you love but
rejects Christ is going to hell? YES! Does this mean those kind people you
work with that embrace Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, or some other false
religion are going to hell? YES!

The lie of the world is that "all good people will make it." The lie of this
world is that there are "many roads to God." Those are LIES my friend,
straight from the pits of hell! God made only ONE PLAN of salvation, and
that is faith in Jesus Christ. There are no other plans, no other ways to
God, since it is our sin that separates us from a Holy God, and it was only
Jesus who died for our sins. That is why it is ONLY faith in Jesus Christ
that can save you!!!

I will be praying for you today. --Praying above all that you realize how serious it is to make a full and
total commitment of your life to the Lord. The fact is, when we ask Him into
our hearts, the Bible says that it is no longer our life, but that it
belongs to Him. We surrender our life to Him.

I realize as much as anyone how unpopular our faith can be to the world that
we live in. The sad fact is, much of that world is lost, hurting, and living
without ANY hope. They have chosen to reject God and live life the way they
want to. That is fine. God has given everyone the free will to make that
choice.

Sadly though, no matter how they may appear on the outside, inside they
never experience the true joy, peace, and abundance that this life has to
offer. As they get older, they start to realize that there has to be more to
life, and in their search for God, get caught up in every kind of New Age,
crazy philosophy that exists. What they are REALLY looking for is the peace
that ONLY comes from a personal relationship with Christ.

As a Christian, you, me, each one of us, is called to be a light to this
dark world that we live in. We can ONLY let our light shine bright when we
are living fully, 100% for HIM. If you believe that God is real, TODAY is
the day to make sure your life reflects that belief!


In His love and service,
Your friend and brother in Christ,
Bill Keller





If I can help you in any way you can contact me through my personal email at:
bkeller@liveprayer.com