Imagine you are a great leader. You have gathered many followers and you have started a movement that epitomizes respect for God and man. You have a good reputation in the community and you are well respected by all.
Suddenly, someone propagates false rumours about you that cause your once exemplary reputation to be tarnished forever. People no longer know whether they can trust you or not.
Imagine being a father who thinks that he has brought up his children with grace and in the knowledge of God. To his dismay, his sons do something so terrible or foolish that his reputation as a good father is forever destroyed. The very ones that bear his name have done evil and brought disgrace to his entire household!
We call ourselves “Christians”, but what or rather who is a Christian? I believe the word has lost much of its meaning and is used far too leniently today. People now practice a nominal Christianity that is not even close to the Christianity of Biblical times. There are as many different types of “Christians” as there are shades of grey between the spectrum of black and white. Some are more “liberal” than others, so liberal in fact that one wonders if they should be calling themselves Christians in the first place. They are basically atheists in Christian disguise. We have fallen into apostasy and the tragedy is that we don’t even realize it.
The Bible speaks of “false Christians” in 2 Cor 11:13-15. Satan is able to transform himself into an angel of light in order to lure us into believing in him as he masquerades as Christ! It is then no wonder that he also has disciples pretending to be sincere Christians too. He does this in order to take our attention away from God and he couches his lies in a coating of Truth so that they are more palatable to his unsuspecting victims.
How then can you know if someone is a true Christian? Matthew 7:16-20 says that you will know them by their fruits i.e. in the way they conduct their daily lives. Isaiah 8:20 says that God’s Law is our standard, and if anyone speaks or acts contrary to His Law, there is no light in that person. A professing Christian, if he is a true Christian, should not then be meddling in occult practices or anything that is forbidden by God.
To be a Christian means to follow Christ. The word “Christ” means “anointed or consecrated one.” We as Christians are called to be consecrated to God and to live in a Christ-like manner. We are called to perfection because our God is perfect (Matt 5:48). We are called to holiness because our God is holy. We cannot be lukewarm because God does not tolerate double-minded people (Rev 3:16).
We are called to be ambassadors for Christ, but are we misrepresenting Him instead? If we are, we should know that we are taking the Lord’s name in vain!
