Apostasy is something that has troubled the church since it began and will until our Lord and his church are united.
Even the sentence above will give some people trouble, maybe even enough for some to be tempted to stop reading. Please continue reading. I am going to try to avoid the usual 'Criticising' and 'Finger-pointing' that goes on when this subject is broached.
First let me say I want to state that I do not know all the answers, but after 45 years of Christian Life I believe I have something valuable to add to this debate.
Fake! With some things it is quite simple to identify a fake over the genuine, simply looking at the quality of the material, stitching and colour can show even an amateur that a pair of Levi's are real or not, but with other things (especially people) it is very difficult to tell the difference between the real thing and the counterfeit.
How can we recognise a 'True' or 'Fake' Christian? I believe there are a few things we can look for to aid us in this judgement, but before we even begin this process there is something vital we need to do - we need to be brutally honest with ourselves and judge whether we are Genuine or not - this judgement has to be our starting point or every judgement consequently made will be coloured by our own errors.
There are only a few things we need to assure ourselves of when initiating this self-assessment they are:
- Do we have Christ in our everyday life?
- Do we seek to please Jesus all the time?
- Do we do everything out of love?
If I look at my life and can honestly say I have asked Jesus Christ to come into my heart and life, to guide me in all I do from day to day and I seek first and foremost to please him by the way I live, what I do, how I conduct my life moment by moment and I can truthfully say I always try to do everything to promote his love, to show others I love, that my motivation in all I do is because I love 'Like Jesus loves' then I believe I am making a success of being a Christian. These aims don't make me prefect, they don't make me successful in every endeavour but in this 'Self-assessment' process they are a good starting point.
Counterfeit Christians
Obviously counterfeit Christians (like all fakes) come in variables some errors exist in all of us, we are human and fallible, this doesn't mean we are all living in Apostasy and eternally damned. Some erroneous beliefs are less serious than others - for example to disbelief in the virgin birth brings the deity of Christ into question so is a serious error. But whether you believe in Tithing 10% of you income to the church or not is entirely dependant upon personal choice (and interpreting scripture on the subject). As an 'aside' to this issue Personally I think if church leadership over emphasise tithing care needs to be taken when assessing the other doctrines held by the church - in my experience the church that is interested in your wallet isn't particularly interested in your eternal spirit or your relationship with Jesus.
Some Counterfeit Christians are easy to detect - some are more difficult to find (I don't mean we should go looking)
As when we assessed ourselves we can use the three simple questions.
Do we/they have Christ in our/their everyday life?
The scriptures say "By their fruit you will recognise the people that are Truly Christians!"
What fruit do we/they bear? Are they kind and thoughtful to others, supportive and helpful, loving and giving, do they offer help (and actually help) or are they the sort of people that say one thing and do another. preaching on Sunday about loving our neighbours then on Monday morning they walk passed the old lady who lives next door as she struggles with her rubbish bin, saying to themselves "I haven't got time to help her I'll be late getting to the Men's Prayer Breakfast."
Do we/they seek to please Jesus all the time?
I know many Christian that set-out with the intension of pleasing Jesus at the beginning of the day, and fail. Failure isn't a problem for Christians but 'NOT TRYING' is some Christians have failed so many times to live 'today' to please Jesus, they have given up trying - that is a sinful way to live and really dangerous state to be in. If that is you? Then you need to repent, ask Jesus to forgive you and then ask the Holy Spirit to empower you to 'Try' to live tomorrow in a way that pleases God!
Do we/they do everything out of/to show love?
Legalistic, Hard-hearted, Vindictive, Mischievous and/or Deceitful Christians. Christians that Get their Own-Back on others. Christians that Lie to their Boss, Partner, Children and/or themselves. Christians that Manipulate others. The list is endless, but the one thing all these 'Fake Christians have in common is, we/they are doing these things for 'ANOTHER MOTIVE' As Christians we/they must do all with 'LOVE' as our/their only motive! If anything else motivates us/them (though we/they may not be totally fake) we/they are behaving like a Counterfeit Christian.I said I was going to try to avoid the usual 'Criticising' and 'Finger-pointing' when I started to write this (my First) Blog. I really hope I have achieved this if anyone feels I have been critical or pointed an accusing finger please forgive it wasn't my intention. David King
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