"How Authentic Are You?"

"Although large crowds followed Jesus wherever He went, Jesus knew that not all who followed Him were genuine disciples," says Sim Kay Tee, author of Can I Really Trust the Bible?

"Jesus taught often of the radical commitment needed if we want to follow Him," cautions Tee.

"If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me," Jesus said in Luke 9:23.

"Deny yourself?Take up a cross?

Who wants to do that?"

John MacArthur, one of today's foremost Bible teachers, dares to teach the hard facts: "The world is filled with millions of people who think they are headed for heaven--but they are deadly wrong.

"Probably most people think heaven awaits them, but it doesn't. But what is especially sad is that many of those people sit in evangelical churches misinformed," says MacArthur.

Why? Because many churches "adjust the message" fearing the truth will make us uncomfortable.

"It's not my truth," contends MacArthur. "I don't have any saving truth, neither does anyone else but God."  Jesus said, "I assure you, unless you are born again, you can never see the Kingdom of God" (John 3:3). "Humans can reproduce only human life, but the Holy Spirit gives new life from heaven" (John 3:6).

According to MacArthur (and the Bible): "The true gospel is a call to self-denial. It is not a call to self-fulfillment.

"Salvation is giving up your life and embracing His. It is taking in Christ by faith, acknowledging the reality of who He is and what He did."

In other words, we need to understand that Jesus Christ was God in human flesh. He led a perfect, sinless life so He could die an agonizing death to pay the price for our sin. He rose again on the third day in a resurrected body to eternal life. All who receive His substitutionary death and turn away from their sin will also rise to eternal life. Simple, but not easy. Free, but not cheap.

The Gospel message is offensive and exclusive. It offends those who believe they're okay the way they are and it excludes all the offended.

So, is the church full of phonies? A more accurate description is: The modern church is full of unconverted people who don't know the Scriptures. And if they don't know the Scriptures, they don't know Christ. They've been taught a watered-down, feel-good, anything-goes gospel. The Bible says "be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves" (James 1:22).

And let's face it gang-it's impossible to "do" the word if we don't know the word.

Solution? Read the word of God and just do it!

A wise man once said: "As a Christian, you are called to live like Jesus--a life of courage, joy, passion, and purpose. The same Jesus who walked with such resolve and determination throughout His own earthly life has a distinct and daily purpose for yours. God does not call us to happiness, but to holiness." --John MacArthur

"Our lives are a fragrance presented by Christ to God. But this fragrance is perceived differently by those being saved and by those perishing. To those who are perishing, we are a fearful smell of death and doom. But to those who are being saved, we are a life-giving perfume" (2 Corinthians 2:15-16).

How To Go To Heaven...

News:

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• World News: Canadian District Bans Christian School From Teaching "Offensive" Parts Of The Bible

"Public Enemy #1: Christians?"

Jesus said, "When the world hates you, remember it hated Me before it hated you. The world would love you if you belonged to it, but you don't. I chose you to come out of the world, and so it hates you. Do you remember what I told you? 'A servant is not greater than the master'. Since they persecute Me, naturally they will persecute you. And if they had listened to Me, they would listen to you! The people of the world will hate you because you belong to Me, for they don't know God who sent Me" (John 15: 18-21).

Guess who got the top spot on a military terrorist list?

If evangelical Christianity didn't pop into your head--no cigar for you! Apparently, we're being labelled "religious extremists" these days because we have the nerve to believe Jesus is who He claimed to be and that there is no other way into heaven except through faith in Christ as presented in the Gospel.

The problem is this: if we are right, then others must be wrong. And according to a military training brief: "every religion has some followers that believe that their beliefs, customs and traditions are the only 'right way' and that all others practice their faith the 'wrong way'.

Yeah, so what? The very essence of true Christianity teaches that Christ paid the penalty for our sin through His death in our place. Only those who repent and receive this pardon will enter God's Kingdom. Those are God's rules. We are free to accept His wonderful gift or reject it and pay for our own sins in hell. Our simple faith threatens no one, and yet it lands us right smack at the very top of a terrorist watch list! The list includes:

1. Evangelical Christianity
2. Muslim Brotherhood
3. Orthodox Judaism
4. Christian identity (Is this us again?!)
5. al Quaeda
6. Hamas
7. Abu Sayyah (who?)
8. Ku Klux Klan
9. Sri Ram Sene (Hindus)
10. Catholicism

etc., etc., etc....

Jesus was not simply a wise teacher or a prophet. He claimed to be the Son of God. If He wasn't God, then He was a liar. There is no middle ground. Our proof that He was who He claimed to be is His empty tomb. His death without the resurrection would have been meaningless. His resurrected body, witnessed by over 500 people, tells us His sacrifice for us was accepted by God. Because He lives, we will live also.

Get it? We can't all be right.

Jesus said, "I am the way, the truth and the life. No one can come to the Father except through Me" (John 14:6). Either Jesus knew what He was talking about or He didn't. If He didn't, then being #1 on the hit parade of terrorists is the least of our problems.

...Meanwhile, back at the Pentagon, someone is rewriting the list. Army spokesman George Wright told Fox News that this was an "isolated incident not condoned by the Department of the Army. This list was not produced by the Army and certainly does not reflect our policy or doctrine. It was produced by an individual without anyone in the chain of command's knowledge or permission."

So, who's responsible?

Apparently, a U.S. Army training instructor acted on his own--a rogue with no authority. (Maybe he should be on the list!) Wright said after the complaint was lodged, the presenter deleted the list, and apologized. "We consider the matter closed," he said.

In our opinion, he got off easy. Some on this list might have called for his head.

But wait...there's more...

Tuesday, we received an urgent email from the Family Research Council warning of more of the same:

"The Department of Defense is meeting with and heeding the advice of Mikey Weinstein, founder of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation."

Why? Weinstein demanded that the military develop new policies on religious tolerance, including a policy for court-martialing military chaplains who share the Gospel during spiritual counselling of our troops.

In a recent article Mikey Weinstein called conservative Christians "human monsters" and "evil, fundamentalist Christian creatures". What did Weinstein say motivates us? "Horrific hatred and blinding bigotry." (Look who's calling the kettle black!)

Why on earth would the military give this guy the time of day? The fact that they have should alarm every freedom-loving citizen in the country--Christian or not.

A wise man once said: "Every absurdity has a champion to defend it, for error is always talkative." -- Oliver Goldsmith

"Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and kill you, and you will be hated by all nations for My name's sake...but he who endures to the end shall be saved" (Matthew 24:9,13).

News:

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• The Washington Post: U.S. intelligence mining data from 9 internet companies in secret program that enables analysts to track individuals movements.