Thursday 26 May 2016

Hypocrisy In The Believers Lives.

I am so so furious today and i just want to say what's in my heart before it consumes me. You know, we, who call ourselves Christians are the most hypocrites in the world..,and I am on top of that list, hard to admit but it's the truth.

Why do we pass judgement and condemnation on our sisters and brothers especially in church. Why do we feel we are better than the brothers and sisters who are still in the world. I will give you an example of myself. I once went on a date with a guy who had tattoos., he was a very nice person and surely he had a rough time growing up, mixed up with the wrong crowd but he wasn't that person anymore., my focus wasn't on who he was inside, i was judging him from the outside. I already concluded that he was a bad person from his tatoos. Thank God his tattoos are outside and mine are hidden in my spirit and believe me, hidden tattoos are the worse of them all! We all have a past that has left us with scars, some of the scars are shown from the outside and yet others are hidden. Thanks to God who does not look at any of that, he looks at us from the inside..,our spirits, our hearts. As long as we are born again, we are a new creation, and our past doesn't exist anymore, the scars will always be there but that's not who we are. Let's stop judging people by their past or how they look like on the outside.

Another thing, if a fellow believer confides in you and shares something with you.., don't criticize, judge or condemn them. I once confided in a sister with a heavy load that was on my heart. I had done something that wasn't pleasing in the eyes of God. I confessed and repented of it, but i was still feeling bad about it. I decided to tell one of my christian friend about it because it is important to share certain burdens with friends as christians. All was well, I was encouraged and we both prayed about it. I had peace after that. Some weeks past and I encountered some huge mountains that was almost crushing me. I went back to my faithful friend and shared the situation..,guess what my friend told me, she said it was because of that “sin” I had committed that I shared with her few weeks earlier that is why things had happened to me like that. And because I was stupid and weak in my Spirit, I believed her. I spent the following weeks beating myself over it, fasting and praying for God to forgive me for my sin (which i had commited weeks ago and he forgave me weeks ago). To me and according to my sister in the Lord, I had brought that misfortune upon myself for being disobedient. Why would a friend who calls themselves a believer put you in so much agony? I forgave my friend and I realised that sometimes the enemy can use even the best believers and friends to get to us. And sometimes it's not even the enemy, it's just us people.

You want to know what annoys me most as a Christian, its the fact that we all have some sort of heavy loads in our hearts, things that we are going through and we are finding it difficult to share with our brothers and sisters in christ, in fear of being judged, looked down on, being condemned and talk about our situations behind our backs. We call ourselves christians, that we are a family, that we belong to one body.., the body of Christ. But why do we behave like enemies. We gossip about each other, pass judgement, pulling each other down, we do not want to lend a helping hand to a friend in need. Oh Lord have mercy!

We have christians who are going through hell right now, but they are afraid to share with the so called “Christian family”, for the above reasons. Sometimes we see people posting encouraging post on facebook and sometimes scriptures.., that's really nice. But some of those posts carry hidden messages of what's going on in their lives, if we are attentive enough, we can read through the lines. I personally do that sometimes. I post nice quotes or messages on facebook, sometimes they are to encourage someone else out there, and most of the times I post them for myself, just to encourage myself.

To the “Holier Than Thou”

I want to live a holy life but it is impossible. Because I am human and I sin every day in one way or the other. I am as guilty as charged on this.

The truth is, no one is holy in this world. So don't act as if you are holy and if you see a friend doing something bad that is considered sin, don't look down on them and feel you are better than them just because you didn't commit that kind of a “sin”. I love what Jesus did in John 8:1-11 but my focus is in verse 7. Read it when you have time. And if you don't have a bible, just google “John 8:1-11” and read.

Most of us don't even want to hangout with the addicts, the prostitutes etc because we feel they can corrupt our morals etc. What morals.., just by us not being around such people is immoral in itself. Don't forget we were once like everybody that we call unbelievers, its only by His grace that we are who we are today. Being a christian is to be “Christ-Like” and to the best of my knowledge and what i read in the Bible, Jesus used to hangout with the “out-casts”, the worse of them all...,and I don't believe we are Holier than the Holy One (Jesus). That person we are avoiding because they are addicts or prostitutes etc, could be the next Saul (Paul, the man who wrote the 3rd of the New Testament). You could be the one God uses to bring them home. In case you don't know the story of Paul, he was what I would call the Hitler of those days who killed and persecuted Christians but God turned him around and he became one of the greatest evangelist that has ever walked on earth.
After Having Said All That..

Please let's be “Our brother’s and sister’s keeper” and let's practice what we are preaching. Lots of people don't have the bible, we as christians are the closest thing they have to the bible. By living and following Christ’s foot steps, we are converting and bringing people to Christ. Everybody is watching our lives, including the devil himself. Let's show love to each other and to the rest of the world. When a friend comes to us with a problem, instead of condemning them etc, encouraged them and pray with them. Let's make friends with the outside world, they are the ones that needs us more.

Thursday 17 September 2015

The Difference Between A Christian and A Born Again Christian; Part One

Lots of us don't really know the difference between being a Christian and a born again Christian. Last Sunday, Pastor Anthony at Relevant Church right here in Hørsholm, Denmark, gave a beautiful sermon titled "Christ In Us". And the call point of this sermon was that; "To have Christ in you is what it means to be a Christian", those were his words but I would like to add on by saying... To be a born-again Christian is to have Christ in you. I will go deeper with that in a moment.

Are you a Christian?  First of all, I would like to say that, Christianity is a religion, just like Islam, Hindu etc. If someone asks you that question, you answer based on your "religion", its the same as asking you; "what is your religion?" if you are an atheist, you would say; I am an atheist (many atheist would just say, I don't have a religion), or if you are a Muslim, you will say; Islam. All of us belong to some religion of some sort., even Satanism is a religion but I want to differentiate the difference between being a "Religious Christian and a Born Again Christian".

Religious Christianity is what we all once were or still are. I will give an example, I asked a friend I recently met if he was a Christian and his answer was, "Yes, that's my religion". Many people today, especially here in Europe believe that they are Christians because they were born in a Christian family or because their country is a Christian nation, but they don't even know what it means to be a Christian. Here in Denmark for example, I attended a confirmation ceremony...,its a tradition were teens have to sort of "Confirm that they are Christians at age between 13 and 16. I don't understand what all that means, but my point is being born in a Christian family or nation or some sort of tradition, doesn't make you are Christian. Other people believe that doing good deeds or funding some charitable organisations makes them a Christian. First of all, to be a Christian is to be Christ-Like.. (thats another topic for another day).

Lets look at what Jesus is saying in the book of John 3:3
3. Jesus answered, "I am telling you the truth: no one can see the kingdom of God without being born again".
and in the following scripture, Jesus says what it means to be born again.. Lets take a look at John 3:5-6
 5."I am telling you the truth, "replied Jesus. "No one can enter the kingdom of God without being born of water and the Spirit. 6. A person is born physically of human parents, but is born spiritually of the Spirit.
And for a better understanding, I would rather you start reading the same scripture from verse 1 to 7 (John 3:1-7). Jesus was explaining to Nicodemus what it is to be a born again Christian. I will go deep and explain in next article; "The Difference Between A Christian and A Born Again Christian; Part Two .If you consider yourself a Christian but not sure if you are a born again Christian, look out for my next article and I will explain what it really means to be a born again Christian.

*I use the Good News Bible.

You are Blessed!