Contents
The commonly simple (WRONG) definition
A simple definition that is commonly given and understood by people of “what is a true Christian?” is simply, “a Christian is what I am.” Although this is understandable, it is not biblical.
At this point, we have to make some very clear distinctions from Scripture here as to what is, and what is not a true Christian. Any religious group has to be judged by some criteria, and we always want to return to our spiritual authority (The Holy Scriptures) to define what is what. No group “is Christian” just because. The group is a human, earthly manifestation of a group of people gathering around some religious ideas.
See Tag: http://www.theologicalsystems.com/tag/money-and-the-minister/
Subtopics
(to be developed in the future)
Criteria for determining what a religious group “is” essentially
So many religious groups practice what is called “bait-and-switch” where they proclaim one thing, and then actually do or are another. This is common in false religions because their underlying basis of operation is to deceive, so they think nothing of doing it.
A careful and cautious Christian has to probe beyond the exterior to see what the group really is.
Defining what is true salvation
True salvation is the heart of any religious group (if it is biblical). So many religious groups and churches define “being one of them” as loyalty to the group, not true salvation. People are in the group that do not express the characteristics of a truly saved person, and that doesn’t bother the group members nor the group leadership
The “mixed nature” of any true Christianity
This is exactly what Roman Catholicism has been over all the years it has existed. It has twisted and trans-morphed many religious elements into something it wants to identify as “Christianity”. Over the course of the Old Testament, for example, we see a constant denouncing and chastising of Israel for making images and then including them in their worship (whether they worshiped the image or not, it was a prominent element of worship). This is amazing that with this history, the Roman Catholic religion has made images so prominent in their worship.
Why so many Crises Today? by Pastor David Cox is a post on how Satan uses today's crises (which are not real crises, but fake crises fabricated by Satan to deceive) to control and bring men under his dominion.
Excerpts
But Satan will now "have his reign" unhindered. How will he get almost all of earth's inhabitants to worship him? Through crises that supposedly there is no other way than Satan's way to "fix what is wrong". This analysis of what is a problem plus how to best fix that problem is the key to Satan's strategy. What we are seeing in our present generation is the preparation of this plan of Satan to take over the world...
The idea of God "creating evil" (Isaiah 45:7) is that God creates adversity. Things which go astray from man's best plans. No man plans to have cancer, but God does send adversity man's life (for example, Job). The book of Job points out how God proposed to Satan to try Job with sickness. It was for God's glory, because God begins everything with "Job is just", so Job had no spiritual problem in himself that caused this sickness and crisis of every kind on Job. Just the opposite. Job was just. God declares to us this fact...See Why are there so many Crises Today?
