If you feel confused about Christianity; before anyone is going to be prepared to work out why they should follow some religion or other, let alone look at faith in God, here's our short insight intro to Christianity or rather should I say becoming a Believer!
Things we can do...
- #1 Pray for wisdom (James 1:5)
- #2 Cast out demons (Mark 3:15)
- #3 Lay on hands to heal (Luke 4:40, James 5:4)
- #4 Make disciples of others (Matthew 28:19)
Things God does...
- #1 Performs miracles (Psalm 77:14)
- #2 Anything He pleases (Psalm 115:3)
- #3 Allows us our freewill (John 7:17)
- #4 Sets the timetable (Acts 1:17)
For a copy of the above infographic, click here to download a PDF
Contents
Click on the link below or work your way through. Message us if you have any queries: -
- What is a Christian?
- Repentance/Baptism
- Prayer
- Sin
- Sickness/Bad Events
- Prosperity
- Work/Income/Finances
- The Big Picture
- Three Heavens!
- Peace
- Spiritual Warfare
- Death
- Catholicism
- Islam
- Israel
- Other Religions
What is a Christian?
A person who believes in their heart and says with their mouth that Jesus is Lord of their lives. They believe in God the Father, Jesus the Son and the Holy Spirit, i.e. The Holy Trinity. (Romans 10:9)
Repentance/Baptism
First repent to God, secondly, get baptised to Jesus in water to confirm our covenant with Jesus. It’s like when a ring is given in marriage! John baptised Jesus, Jesus said we had to be BORN AGAIN to enter the kingdom of heaven (John 3:5), the Apostles baptised and so I believe we are to be baptised too, when we are of a mind to follow Jesus (Matthew 28:19). Getting christened or baptised as a baby does not count as we are to make a personal, informed choice. Finally, receiving the Holy Spirit and speaking in tongues!
A Christian knows they are blood bought and that they have been made equal heirs of God with Jesus (Romans 8:17). In 1 Corinthians 6:11 it says we have been SANCTIFIED (made holy), JUSTIFIED (just as if we’ve never done anything wrong) and in 2 Corinthians 5:21, we have been made RIGHTEOUS (made right with God). All-in-all a pretty good deal if you ask me!
And yes, you can lose your salvation, read Hebrews 10:26. If you sin deliberately, then there is no more salvation in Christ.
The Bible We are told to read the Bible out loud and think about it throughout the day. When it is read, it opens up a channel to receive from God. (Joshua 1:8). When we think about what we’ve read, it stops the enemy from whispering nonsense to us and tempting us to sin. It is part of our training to renew our minds. (Romans 12:2)
Satan knows the power and authority born again believers have to step on snakes and scorpions, i.e. to give satan and his demons a kicking (Luke 10:19).
Prayer
Prayer is our attack and defence against satan. God knows our every thought, warts and all, so don’t expect Him to simply decipher your thoughts and translate them into prayers and requests! God will not do something on your behalf. He will not change someone for you, even if you think it lines up with God’s word. How would you like someone to pray for you to change against your wishes?
- Silent prayer is meditation! (Your thoughts are worthless - 1 Corinthians 3:20)
- Spoken prayer is a conversation! • We are told to keep praying (1 Thessalonians 5:17)
- Prayer & petition - write it up! (Philippians 4:6-7)
- Say it once - do not repeat, He heard you the first time! (Matthew 6:7-8) God gave us freewill, it’s up to us to ask for wisdom to become who we are called to be
God places the desires on our hearts and then helps us achieve them. When we do, we feel like this is our ‘calling’ (Psalms 94:7, Philippians 2:13).
Sin
In general terms, sin means falling short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23). There are two reasons why we sin. Firstly, sin happens as a result of satan or demons whispering in to our minds and making us believe something is true. We then feel compelled to carry out or follow through with the suggestion. Secondly, there are things we do that we like doing, right or wrong, but when it’s wrong, this is related to our flesh/worldly existence.
There are three types of sin, all mentioned in Pslam 32:5:-
- Transgression - Intentionally and wilfully disobey
- Iniquity - premeditated, without repentance & generational curses
- Sin itself - selfishness, envy, pride, things we do ‘to’ or ‘by’ ourselves or against God
We do certain things because we’re used to them or for many other reasons. These things are not because a demon is on our case, rather, we do them because we like to. This is where the term ‘crucify the flesh’ comes in. We are to make a concerted effort to not do those things we know to be a sin. (Galatians 5:24)
Sickness/Bad Events
Don‘t forget, this world is under the lordship of satan (2 Cor 4:4). He infected God’s perfect world, therefore, when something bad happens, it’s from or as a result of satan. Remember, good from God, bad from satan. This is why we must understand the power of prayer and spiritual warfare. Born again Christians have been given the power and authority to pray against the works of satan (Ephesians 6:12).
Prosperity
If we encounter a problem, we are to ask God for wisdom to overcome it (James 1:5). We are to understand the difference between acting like a Christian (Acts 2:45) and seeing/experiencing a miracle!!! (Luke 6:31)
The crux of the prosperity gospel is to measure everything, like how much money you have, how much faith you have, how much health, how many possessions and so on. And if you are lacking in any of these, it’s because you must have sin or unforgiveness in your life. Totally wrong!
You cannot ‘give’ and receive a return, that’s called making a profit. If you have a financial problem, you are to pray and ask God for wisdom how to overcome it. There is no such thing as a bolt of lightning and a suitcase full of money appearing! God blesses the work of our hands - so we’re expected to work for it!
When it comes to any other area in our life, we must remember that we’re in training on this planet. Our significance is found in God and what Jesus did, so don’t worry about anything but pray about everything (Philippians 4:6-7). And don’t be fooled into thinking you need to gauge or compete with anyone. Seek first the kingdom of God and all these things will be given to you (Matthew 6:33).
Work/Income/Finances
God gave us brains so that we would use them to acquire and store intelligence. His word is delivered in the form of a book which we are supposed to read. Therefore, we are expected to learn and be educated by teachers who will point us in the right direction to help us understand the Gospel (which means The Good News).
God will not do anything on our behalf. He did what was necessary by defeating satan. Now it’s our responsibility to learn and achieve the desires of our hearts in accordance with God’s word. We can do anything we want, after we search our hearts and as long as it lines up with the Bible AND as long as we place God at the centre of everything we do.
If something is not going how we want it to go, then we’re to pray for wisdom how to solve the problem. That includes, more business, getting a job, making decisions or any other situation. Asking God to do it for you is like asking Jesus to get back on the cross because what he did wasn’t good enough for you.
The Big Picture
In the beginning God created the earth etc. Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit, making satan the ‘ruler’ and lord of the earth. Ok so far? A few thousand years later, God sends Himself in the form of Jesus to reclaim the power and authority satan had taken from Adam.
Jesus‘ mission was to die and infiltrate Hades where satan hung out. Jesus knew the score and knew (as a man, to achieve His objective) it was going to hurt! - i.e. He was going to be crucified and die on a cross (Isaiah 53:5, Matthew 17:23). When the mission was completed, satan was made a spectacle of and was completely and totally shown up (Colossians 2:15). Job done - Jesus rose and went up to Heaven.
We are meant to be here, we’re no accident. We are to be aware of our status in a world still ruled by satan (2 Corinthians 4:4). As Born Again Christians, the enemy has no call on our lives, he cannot have us, but he toys with us by getting us to listen to and act on the lies he and his demons whisper to us.
Three Heavens!
Heaven No.1 - The Realm of Earth (Revelation 21:1) Heaven No.2 - Hades, satan & demons Heaven No.3 - God & Angels (2 Corinthians 12:2)
Heaven No.1 - Earth is a training ground. Once we finish our training, we are expected to graduate and transition into eternal beings and live in Heaven No.3. This was the plan. He made a ‘Way’ for us so that we could be with Him in eternity. But not everyone makes it! (Matthew 22:14)
Peace
Jesus left us with ‘Shalom’ His Peace (John 14:27). Nothing broken, nothing missing, complete health and all sufficiency to do all things, i.e. Finances and so on.
Peace can be something quite elusive and seemingly unattainable, but here’s the thing, we’re told not to worry (Matthew 6:34), it’s a command, not a suggestion, therefore we are to learn how to achieve it through trusting in Jesus to the point that we understand what grace actually is.
Spiritual Warfare
A large part of our training is to fight satan who is stopping us from realising PEACE in our lives, through the lies satan and his demons whisper to us and through our weakness to sin.
The enemy has studied us for millennia, they know our behaviour, fears and phobias and they play on them. Born Again Christians have been given power and authority over satan and his demons (Ephesians 6:12). We belong to God and satan cannot have us - ever.
- God knows our every thought, satan does not (Psalm 139:2)
- God is everywhere, satan is not (Proverbs 15:3)
- God is in everything, satan is not (Ephesians 4:6)
- God is all powerful, satan is not (Jeremiah 32:17)
Death
God does not go in to mourning every time someone dies. He knows that those who have chosen to follow Jesus will be welcomed in to Heaven No.3. So, when someone leaves us (dies) for whatever reason, we are assured that they will be going to a better place where they will welcome us as joint heirs and bothers and sisters in Christ. Basically, we need to be on the same team and believe in the same things to graduate to Heaven and hook up with our friends and relatives (those who are also born-again-christians). I don’t believe that there’s a free pass when you’re on your death-bed being read the ‘last rites’. I could be wrong.
Catholicism
In 312CE Emperor Constantine converted to Christianity and merged the Christian beliefs with paganism and created the Roman Catholic church. In 375CE Emperor Gratian refused the mantle of being likened to a ‘god’ and leader and asked the then Bishop of Damasas if he wanted to take up the spiritual leadership and he would hang on to the temporal leadership. Unsurprisingly, the Bishop accepted and became the first Pope! So much for it being handed down by God eh! The Jesuit Order was set up by Ignatius Loyola in the late 1400’s after he was visited by an angel of light in a cave!!! (See below). The Jesuits started the Spanish Inquisition and killed more than 60 million Christians during their reign of terror as part of a plan agreed by the then Pope.
Islam
As you can imagine, Satan was seriously upset about Jesus infiltrating his ‘pad’ back in 33CE as he was shown up by Jesus’ big surprise, especially after he got Him killed on a cross. So, 600 years later satan appeared as an ‘angel of light’ to some bloke in a cave (just like Loyola of the Jesuits!) called Muhammad and told him to start a new religion and go and kill all the Christians and Jews. Anyone who wouldn’t sign up to the new religion would be killed and anyone who decided to leave would be killed too. Islam can be traced back through pagan Arab folklore dating back to Nimrod (the original sun god) and Samiramis (the original moon goddess), the Daughters of Allah and the Nabateans who lived in Petra, Jordan. Muhammad is not the last prophet of any kind and is simply another lackey of satans.
Israel
Israel is the promised land for God’s chosen people, those that believe Jesus is the Son of God. Jews, Zionists believe that Israel is for the Jews. However, there are Zionists who don’t believe in the same God as believers. These are the Jews that many people hate around the world. Zionists and most Jews do not believe that Jesus was the Messiah, God’s Son and part of the Holy Trinity. The Bible calls these people ‘Anti-Christ’, Everyone can come to salvations. The Bible, God, did not call Jews back to Israel, therefore they are impostors! Born Again Believers are 'Israel'. God did not, has not, instructed Jews to return to Israel. the State of Israel was bought and paid for by the Rothschilds via the Balfour Agreement.
Other Religions
After Nimrod built the Tower of Babel, God scattered the people around the world and gave them different languages (Genesis 11:9). At the same time, these people created their own gods and religions, continuing to follow demons/satan. These other religions are meant to keep the masses focused on other spiritual things than on God and Jesus. There is a great deal of effort on behalf of these religions, including the Catholic and CofE church to create a one world religion. This is illustrated by the publication of the NIV Bible that refers to God as ‘The One’, in preparation for others to utilise the NIV as a ‘catch-all’ Bible.
There is one Jesus, one Gospel and one message. No one can get to the Father except through Jesus. There is no such thing as one world religion. Faith in Jesus is not a religion. It’s simply faith. Religion means you’ve got to do things to get favour from a god. It’s not required, it’s called grace, if you believe!
