Appendix
On Being A Christian
Some people want to go to heaven and escape hell, but they are not ready to loose all their friends, or to be rejected by their families. Some are not ready to stop partying and getting drunk; they are not ready to stop having sex with many different people; etc. The reason so many Christians lie, steal, commit adultery, and gamble is because they are unchanged, which means they are not Christians. They said a sinner’s prayer but are like the seed that fell on rocky ground, or among thorns, or the seeds that were eaten by birds (Matthew 13; Mark 4). According to this parable, only one in four who say the sinner’s prayer will ever produce the fruit of a Christian.
Being a Christian is like accepting the seed of righteousness into your soul, it must grow until it fills your soul. It must grow into a fully grown plant that produces fruit. Many people who get saved experience an immediate change; they get set free from drugs or alcohol or cigarettes, but they are still what we call young in the Lord. They must be watered (the Holy Spirit) and cultivate a relationship with God, otherwise their seedling will dry up and they will never produce fruit.
They are like new born babies who must be fed and must be cared for until they grow up enough to feed themselves. So if you want to be saved and eventually make it into heaven, just saying a prayer will not do it for you, that is just the first step. If you do not follow through with daily Bible reading, prayer, and learning from others, you are not likely to make it.
Baby Christians will stumble and fall, so when you do sin, ask Jesus to forgive you and you will be forgiven. God’s grace is always available for those who are actually sorry for their sins. A true Christian will deeply regret having sinned, but an unregenerated Christian will not give it any thought and continue on just as if he or she had never sinned and as if God had not seen.
To be saved you must be sorry for your sins and accept that Jesus will forgive you if you ask him. Then you must follow Christ. That is, learn from his teachings, and put them into practice. Jesus said those who love him will keep his commandments. So even if no one will know that you lied, God will know and so you do not lie. You do not do what is wrong because you do not want God to be disappointed in you, and you do not want to receive his discipline (Hebrews 12).
There are many people who accept the idea of Christ into their minds, but they never make a commitment to follow Christ in their hearts. They attend church for years, thinking that by doing so they will be saved, but they are fooling themselves. They think they are going to heaven but because they never decided to actually follow Christ and live the Christian life, they remain unchanged. They never actually accepted the seed of righteousness into their hearts.
Most churches teach that if you say a sinner’s prayer, you are saved. But if you count up those who are not actually regenerated, along with those who lost their salvation according to the parable of the seeds and those who are cut off the vine (John 15), it accounts for at least 50% of all those who profess to be a Protestant Christian, and probably 85-95% of those who profess to be a Catholic.
I believe that God allows some Christians who grew up attending church and were saved as children to fall into sin so they can experience the forgiveness and grace of God. It is far easier to forgive others when you have been forgiven. Those who have received much grace can dispense much grace. I am absolutely certain that Jimmy Swaggart was a far more forgiving person after his public fall in 1988 than he was before.
The usual steps in becoming a Christian are:
1. Believe that Jesus is the Son of God.
2. Believe that you are a sinner and that Jesus will forgive your sins.
3. Ask Jesus to forgive your sins and fill you with the Holy Spirit, which will change your heart and help you obey God’s commands.
4. Read the Bible and pray every day, and receive training in the Christian walk from mature Christians, either directly or through books, tapes, and other media. (A good starter Bible is the Good News Bible.)
5. When you sin, ask Jesus to forgive your sins and then forgive yourself. God’s grace and mercy are very great.
6. Because you have been forgiven, you must forgive others their sins against you.
7. Help people in any way you can. Send money to those who need help in other countries.
Pray for God to save you, and also ask the Holy Spirit to empower you. When you become a born-again Christian, though you are fully regenerated, but you are not fully mature. You must pray every day, read your Bible every day, even if it is just one chapter and the Lord’s Prayer. Read good books which will teach you how to live the Christian life.
Below is a list of books which I recommend; if they are not available you can find similar books. I recommend biographies of Christians who have lived the Christian life; you can learn from their examples. The last few are the deepest and should be read after you have read many of the others. They may not all agree with each other on every point of belief, but you can still learn from them.
1. Tramp For The Lord, Corrie Ten Boon
2. Adventures in Prayer, Cathrine Marshall
3. Bruchko, Bruce Olsen
4. Peace Child, Don Richardson
5. Destined For Royalty, Lorry Lutz
6. Eternity In their Hearts, Don Richardson
7. Death of A Guru, Rabi R. Maharaj
8. God’s Smuggler, Brother Andrew
9. His Mysterious Ways, By Guideposts
10. Living on the Devil’s Doorstep, Floyd McClung
12. No Compromise: The Life Story of Keith Green, Melody Green
13. Mozambique: The Cross and The Crown, by Rodney and Ellie Hein
14. The Way I See It, Don Basham
15. Ever Increasing Faith, Smith Wigglesworth
16. Smith Wigglesworth, Apostle of Faith, Stanley H. Frodsham
17. Hand On The Helm, Katherine Carter
18. Beyond Reason: How Miracles Can Change Your Life, Pat Robertson
19. The Gold of Exodus: the Discovery of the True Mount Sinai, Howard Blum
20. Through The Fire Without Burning, Demitru Duduman
21. Plundering Hell To Populate Heaven, Ron Steele
22. Prison To Praise, Merlin Carothers
23. Laos: No Turning Back, by Jan Pitt and Dan Wooding
24. Revolution in World Missions, by K. P. Yohannan
25. The New Foxe’s Book of Martyrs
26. A Chance To Die, Elisabeth Elliot
27. Appointment in Jerusalem, Derek Prince
28. From Jerusalem to Irian Jaya, Ruth A. Tucker
29. 90 Minutes in Heaven, by Don Piper
30. Dangerous Faith, by Joel Vestal
31. Even Greater, by Reinhald Bonnke
32. Heavenly Man, by Brother Yun
33. A Dangerous Faith, James Lund & Peb Jackson
34. Church Shift, by Sunday Adelaja
35. What They Don’t Tell You: A Survivor’s Guide to Biblical Studies, Michael J. Brown
36. The Bait of Satan, by John Bevere
37. The Fear of the Lord, by John Bevere
38. Thus Saith The Lord, John Bevere
39. Israel’s Divine Healer, Michael L. Brown
40. Fresh Wind, Fresh Fire, Jim Cymbala
41. Witch Hunt, Bob and Gretchen Passantino
42. The Pursuit of God, A.W. Tozer
43. Deliver Us From Evil, Don Basham
44. The Next Move of God, Fuchsia Picket
45. The Harvest, Rich Joyner
46. Pigs In The Parlor: A Practical Guide To Deliverance, Frank Hammond & Ida Mae
47.Knowing God, J.I. Packer
Stay away from books written by the following persons because they are likely to contain lots of false teaching. Though some may contain useful information, since most of the information in them is false, it is best not to read them at all. Only a mature Christian can discern which parts are false and which are true, so young Christians should stay away.
Kenneth Hagin, Kenneth Copeland, Jerry Savelle, Jesse Duplantis, Creflo Dollar, Joyce Meyers, Paula White, Mike Murdock, John Avanzini, Rodeny Howard- Browne, Charles Capps, Peter Popoff, Fred Price, Robert Tilton, Paul Crouch, Earl Paulk, Myles Munroe, Mike Bickel, Morris Cerullo, Benny Hinn, and many others, such as those teaching Eternal Security or Predestination.
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