Why would anyone want to choose to become a Christian? What is it that makes it stand out from all other religions? And why would anyone purposefully place their lives in danger or expose themselves to ridicule to explain the need to believe in others? Also, Christianity is not a murderous calling but a sacrificial offer to someone who, it is reported, was the son of God.
Sin begins there and is defined as breaking the law and transgressing the commandments. We could look at it the same way when we receive a ticket for speeding because we transgressed the law against speeding; therefore, the ticket is because we sinned against the established law against speeding—an excess in dialogue but only to reinforce the point. Now, perhaps you wish to contend the ticket and have received a day to appear before the magistrate to present your reasoning as to why you should not have to pay the fine for speeding. You arrive on the appointed day prepared with your point of view and the presented excuse, but only to be found guilty of the charge, and the fine has been doubled. You are guilty of transgressing the law; you have sinned. Therefore, you must pay the fine set by the judge, or you will be sent to jail until you have paid the dues in full.
Now, let us advance it to the celestial scale by assuming that there is a higher authority than any man alive, a law that is so powerful it can keep the universe in place. The orbits of each sun and planet, the cosmic dust clouds that are so huge and vast that seeing them through the James Web or Hubble Telescopes only decreases our presumptive declarations of size and dimensions because it shows that our understanding is not capable of grasping the enormity of what we are viewing. Our intelligence proves that there is a specific intelligence and order in what we see. Still, our philosophies based upon human experience and our denials of the obvious have thrust those thoughts aside to pursue theories and alien civilizations and have caused us to believe in the imaginings of the mind. You may as well call it circular reasonings.
Let us retreat from the cosmos and peer into the brain and notice the axioms, synapses, neurons, and the entire physical matter of the brain and its electrical currents, sparks of connectivity as those neurons fire off, bringing together the learning skills, thoughts, control, analytical and social development of the intellectual process and then you may notice a similarity to the cosmos itself. The brain mirrors the visible universe through the vast webs that connect it and all that it contains. The brain and the universe mirror each other. A coincidence? Or is the evidence presented revealing that there is indeed an intelligence so vast and supreme that it defies our intellect and understanding? Therefore, we rebuke and deny it because we cannot understand or accept the possibility of something far greater than any known or presumed power we may accept or refuse. And if that intelligent power has indeed been or is still active in the universe, then it stands to reason that because we are a part of the cosmos, this intelligent power directly affects our lives here on Earth. And if the universe is kept in order, then it stands, again, as logic would indicate, that something or one is actively working to keep all things within the prescribed set of laws to uphold all things. And we fall under that universal law as well.
But what happens when the law is transgressed when sin is committed? Then something breaks, and the law of atrophy takes place, the law of decay into ruin. This is known as the second law of thermodynamics, and we see it all around us in everything, especially before a mirror. We also see it when a star goes supernova or when a blood clot in the brain leads to the termination of life. When sin or breaking the law is committed and left unchecked, it sets off a chain of events, culminating in a downward spiral of decay, ruin, and eventual death.
Now, we all have an aptitude for learning, discerning, making decisions, and knowing the difference between black and white, right and wrong, and good and evil. That is called morality, and we all have it, and we all abuse it, and we all often ignore it. The consequences can be seen and heard because we are all participants in life, and this life is a never-ending paradox of oxy-moral behaviors. Sin is breaking moral laws, transgressing a code of ethics as established by a governing body of lawmakers, or the law as given by a power far more significant in magnitude and perfection than any law presented by a man. If that is the case, transgressing any laws established by this power will most certainly bring utter disaster to the transgressors. We are an intelligent species with a moral conscience; therefore, we must be held answerable for our actions about this powerful Law Giver who has given us laws to live by. And those laws, when broken, the perpetrator must stand before the bench and provide an account for breaking those laws. And when found guilty, they must pay the price or else have the best lawyer in the universe to mediate the case and save the lawbreaker from certain imprisonment.
Every religion purports to offer some kind of salvation based on works. On faith in some innate object, deity, or animal, all of them make their salvation contingent upon human efforts. In other words, we must work it out ourselves or risk the gods' wrath. Just as in ancient times with their plethora of deities, we are offered the same plate, but in an updated version with new faces and names, and still the same old leather shoes behind the polish and brushed leather.
Christianity offers something radically different: a unique perspective on life, the heart, and salvation. However, the fact that it is based on personal sacrifice is a tough bone to chew on when placed in its proper content. Who in their right mind would want to give everything, including life, for a person they have never met? This is where things become complicated and distorted very quickly by men and women because it is difficult to align what they hear with what they are willing to believe and accept as they ponder the meaning of life as they know it through daily practical experience.
And they are entirely correct in questioning the demands placed upon them by what true Christianity implies: sacrifice. But why must one sacrifice anything to believe, and whom are they supposed to think? Why do they feel, and what is the purpose of belief? Salvation? But doesn’t every religion offer that based on human endeavor in some form or another? Yes, but here is the catechism: Christianity is based upon the words of a Living God as given through his only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, to the ears, minds, and hearts of man, not from man to man. And it can all be found within the pages of a book adequately known as the Bible.
At this point, you are still asking yourself why this way is the path that needs to be taken, and any man of intelligence would set forth that very same question: why Christianity? If this tremendous and unseen power wanted to speak to humanity, why didn’t it just do so? If this creator came from another realm within the cosmos it created, conveying its words to man shouldn’t be an issue. Today, numerous ancient alien theorists propose that we owe our existence to an alien race. Please note that they do not have proof whatsoever, but that does not seem to prohibit them from mass-producing sketchy “documentaries” and thrilling visual content, as well as never-ending UAP, better known as UFOs. If this power is so great, then why the games?
So we need to go beyond the superficialities of vain reasonings and preposterous assumptions and enter into the realm of the heart to take up the question of God, for the mind seriously is overflowing with subliminal imaging and audio noises that seem to have caused the mind to cancel out critical thinking and hinder the heart from searching out facts to determine the truths of this matter of who God is and why we need to be saved from our lawless ways.
The best place to begin is in the first book of the Bible, aptly called Genesis, and the very first sentence where it states without any hesitation or ambiguity, In the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth. That simple sentence alone challenges almost everything you have learned, heard, practiced, and believed. That assumption transcends every other statement and sets itself above every thought and philosophy of man and, as a result, draws the ire, scorn, and ridicule of all who have contemptuous minds and hearts of disbelief. And yet, that a straightforward sentence stands like a mighty rock in a storm-tossed sea whose waves, though continuously throwing themselves in a fury against it, cannot overwhelm it. And that is only the first ten words. Imagine what the following have to say and how every thought and ideal you cherish will be thrown down in the face of a Creator whose wisdom, knowledge, understanding, and creative powers will overwhelm you on every point without fail. This is something that we as humans cannot contend with, either with physical prowess, mental abilities, or even when trifling with spiritual things. We are simply out of our leagues and have no defenses to affect our arguments. Here is where the first assault begins upon our preconceptions, and it is here where we first put up our first salvo of denials. It's akin to using a straw and bits of chewed-up paper to fire against a battleship such as the famous Yamato. But we are genuinely vain in all respects unless we choose to learn from the most outstanding teacher in the history of the cosmos, the Creator himself.
Now, I will take you to the book of Proverbs. Read and think carefully about the words that are written for our benefit.
The proverbs of Solomon, the Son of David, king of Israel: To know wisdom and instruction; to perceive the words of understanding; To receive the instruction of wisdom, justice, and judgment, and equity; To give subtility to the simple, to the young man knowledge and discretion.
A wise man will hear and increase learning, and a man of understanding shall attain unto wise counsels: To understand a proverb, and the interpretation; the words of the wise, and their dark sayings.
THE FEAR OF THE LORD IS THE BEGINNING OF KNOWLEDGE, BUT FOOLS DESPISE WISDOM AND INSTRUCTION.
In the beginning, God created…The fear of the Lord is the beginning…
It’s time to think about this: the beginning, creation, and knowledge require the fear of the Lord. If he is who he claims to be, and all that we see in the heavens above and the ground beneath our feet and ourselves was indeed through him, then he is truly mighty in power and truly to be feared in his greatness. And yet, here we are with our silly philosophies, speculations, derisions, lawless acts of life, and denials of who he is even as we search for the meaning of life as we live it. Once again, the dog chasing its tail.
We look through our microscopes, telescopes, x-ray’s. We study biology, physiology, geology. We study the ruins of the past, we speculate on the future with varying generes of science-fiction. We form governments and enslave our minds through indoctrinated education and chain ourselves to the financial systems of this world, and for what? Proof of our existence? Or perhaps this is the way life is and we are to conform? Surely those things cannot be the reason for our existence anymore then the external defines what we cannot see, namely the heart, and the one who is responsible for all that we can see in the natural world, God. And this God evidently cares enough about his creation, meaning mankind, that he sent his only begotten Son whom we know as Jesus, to speak of this God’s great love and offer of mercy and reconciliation.
FOR GOD SO LOVED THE WORLD, THAT HE GAVE HIS ONLY BEGOTTEN SON, THAT WHOSOEVER BELIEVETH IN HIM SHOULD NOT PERISH , BUT HAVE EVERLASTING LIFE. FOR GOD SENT NOT HIS SON INTO THE WORLD TO CONDEMN THE WORLD; BUT THAT THE WORLD THROUGH HIM MIGHT BE SAVED. - Book of John.
That is astonishing and unheard of! God, who created the cosmos, the earth and everything upon it, sent his only Son to save it, meaning us, the center of his created works, for we are made in the image of God according to the words to be found contained within the book of Genesis which states, SO GOD CREATED MAN IN HIS OWN IMAGE, IN THE IMAGE OF GOD CREATED HE HIM; MALE AND FEMALE CREATED HE THEM. Plase note the usage of the word created three times for on the basis of two or three witnesses a matter may be established. And if we indeed are created in his image then he has full authority to exercise his will and law upon his creation. It’s time to begin utilizing the sense that we have been given and start thinking about our origins, lives being lived, and destiny, all at God's power. Now, ask yourself this one simple question: Am I a god? If you are not a god then the time has come for you to acknowledge who is, and he has revealed himself to us not only through the Bible, but in the person of his son, Jesus, the Christ, or Mesiah, the saviour. And because this is truly a matter of life and death through either obedience or disobedience, it would behoove us well to ascertain the truth in order to come to a rightful decision based on God’s words or to continue to feast upon the thoughts of the created. It has to come down to one of several points, truth or lie, God’s offer or man’s rejection, life or death, heaven or hell, Jesus or the devil who is called Satan, the deceiver, a fallen angel and not a god nor the brother of Jesus as some cults would have you to believe.
Footsteps just outside the door to the heart can be heard approaching. It is the evil one approaching to snatch away the little that you are learning, but you must continue to press on for the salvation of your very soul is hanging in the balance, and the attention you give will determine the path you take your soul upon.
Jesus has told us that he is the way, the truth and the life, and that no one comes to the Father except through him, and that those who hear his words and believe them has passed from death unto life, - book of John. Those are very bold statements, and we would generally call someone on the carpet for stating such ridiculos things, but Jesus was not just a man, but more than that, he was the son of man, the son of God. And his words bring conviction, repentance, and salvation leading to eternal life. That is for those who choose to believe, to those who are convicted of their lawless ways, or sin as is better known, to those who repent or to turn back from committing sin, from continual practicing of it, and who become the inheritors of salvation from God’s judgments upon all mankind, and to whom the crown of eternal life is bestowed upon those who remain faithful in all trials unto the end.
This, admittedly, is asking a lot, but the other option is to remain in open defiance and rebellion with certain ignomious defeat at the end of your life, and no appeals in his court to stave off eternal death in the lake of fire. And that day is coming far sooner than what most are willing to believe, for once death has embraced you, your time is over for any hope of repentance and salvation. It’s called the end game for a reason, and it’s because you gambled with your life, you played a game toying with your soul and had cast your most precious possession under the feet of the swine, and they trampled the only hope you ever had into the mud, and now you are going to face the wrath and fury of a righteous God whose Son you despised, and his offer kicked aside in disbelief.
But, going back to the moment you first heard, lets say you have chosen to believe and have repented. The question that needed to be asked, and most have simply overlooked it is this, have you counted the cost of discipleship? For there is most certainly a price to pay, and you only need to see where it took Jesus Christ and his first apostles, then their disciples and the following believers as well. Its called the path of persecutions and there is a cross to carry. And should you desire more witnesses, then study Foxe’s Book of Martyrs, the Papal persecutions, the French Revolution, and many more were the astrocities committed against the disciples of Jesus Christ, history bears the sorrowful history of those who suffered the greatest loss in this world, and yet won eternal life through their unwavering faith and trust in the son of God. So, yes, there is a high price to pay for being a faithful follower. Are you willing to count the cost and pay the price? Being a faithful believer doesn’t come easy and everyone who does come to Jesus must carry their cross.
But at what price must the believer pay in their personal life, the one where self is the most important part of the individual. Exactly, self must surrender everything that defines the person. Hopes, aspirations, desires, fears, passions, careers, hobbies, family, associates, friends, everything must be brought under the full authority and control of the Christ of God. There can be no exceptions, no kept-hidden wishes, no compromises, your opinions carry not a single gram of weight, and your views are moot as well. There is only one course of action to be taken when coming to the savior, surrendering your all in all. You must be one with the Father and do his will without question, without hesitation, without arguing or debating although most everyone has tried those things on multiple occasions. Especially when it hurts the most.
You will be taken to the cross to have the old man crucified intitially and have the robe of righteousness placed upon your shoulders. You will be welcomed into the family of God and called “born again” although that is a misnomer for it is continually misrepresented out of context. And so begins the walk, as does the stumblings for there will come many obstacles in various forms, fashions and persons, and they need to come. Your patience will be tested, your endurance pushed, your knowledge and understanding probed, and you will find that many things will suddenly become harder. Your faith will be questioned, your love pressed out and shaken and purified, and nothing will ever be the same. You will find family and friends becoming hostile, and you will begin to wonder if this is all worth it. There will come times when you feel as though you are being punished by God, that the burdens you seem to carry are meant to crush you, to punish you for sins committed past and present. You will become angry, obstinate, stubborn, resentful, remorseful and learn to genuinely repent instead of just tossing up a few contrite prayers from a non-committed heart that still wants self to rule.
You will feel self-pity, perhaps fall back into the old lifestyle which is known as backsliding, and your friends will welcome you back as they pass the bottles around and light up the smokes. But after a while your conscience begins to plague you and remorse sets in until you seek him who is able to save and restore without judgment. And he puts you back on your feet and takes your hand and says to keep following. And you do.
Your heart has changed. Where once you wanted the things that every one wanted, now you have learned to ask what it is that God wants you to do, and then ask him for the strength to do it. You are learning what genuine trust, humility and obedience are, and above all things, you are starting to understand the power of Godly love that can change the heart. And the hard heart breaks to become one of flesh and blood where the spirit of the living God finds its abode.
Yes, this is what it means to become a disciple of the Christ of God. It’s a sacrificial life filled with godliness, contentment, peace, purity, patience, humility, endurance, boldness, forgivness, compassion, persecutions, denials, and the hardest attribute of them all is love. Not as the world understands it to be, but as God revealed it through the death and resurrection of his only begotten son for, the sins of this world, past, present and future, one time for all time. And this love is tough to understand when the trials and tests are crushing the life out of you, when cynicism has threatened to replace faith and when words of praise are struggling against words of bitterness and accusations. The reason is simple: you don’t know why, and you are fighting against the fear of no control, which means that your faith is lacking.
And also contending against faithfulness to Christ are your desires to practice sin, and it is these sins which keep very many in a state of perpetual bondage, the proverbial merry-go-round, repent-sin, repent-sin, repent-sin, and oftentimes this can go on for years until the heart becomes so innued that the compromise has effectively crippled the faith until the branch falls away from the vine and the incoming tide sweeps it out into the headwaters and eventually into the sea never to return from whence it originated.
And what is just as bad are those who claim to have faith but refuse to obey the commandments and precepts of God by insisting that the law has been done away with. Can you see the heavens and the earth? Then his laws are still in full effect today. Therefore, don’t let sin and unbelief rob you of eternal life through a life-long series of compromising the faith with your opinions and views and the false teachings from the false shepherds. Your very soul depends upon the accuracy of the word preached and recieved. For it will be a most frightful day when you think to be recieved into his kingdom only to find out that you are denied entrance because you denied the son and his teachings to favor your own. Are you willing to pay the price to becoming his disciple?
It is indeed a hard road fraught with many dangers, toils and snares, but you will not walk it alone for he will never forsake you, and even in your darkest hours, he is there, but because of your blindness and self-pity, you can’t see him nor the path clearly. But if you do not turn back and forsake him, he will bring you through. There was an author by the name of John Bunyan who wrote a book titled, Pilgrims Progress. Read it to shed some light on your walk.
So, in conclusion of the matter, trials will come, tests must be faced, the metal must be tempered, sin must be overcome, faith must overcome doubts, and obedience must be learned. You will stumble and you will fall, and you must learn to repent daily of your sins committed. You will learn to pray the effectual prayers of the righteous, learn to intercede for others, and learn to priase God instead of the music “gods” and their pounding rythms. Fornications, although an intricate part of our society, and are or were a part of your personal life, must be overcome and set aside. Adulteries, homosexuality, and all other forms of sex need to be forsaken. Yes, for some, they are as iron chains, but the spirit of the living God can break them and set the captives free. In letters written to the churches in the New Testament and from the early christian writings as well, the believers had to struggle with the same social ills that we are plagued with today, and they learned to overcome them just as we need to also do today.
So, why become a Christian? Because it is the only way given by the Creator to save a person from their sins, and as you now know sin is breaking the law of God. And if you continue in sin, death will be the result and eternal separation from God. The fiery lake will be the sinner's ultimate destination. Once this life has passed, and no man knows the moment when death comes, then that door to salvation is closed forever. You cannot come back a second time to “get it right.” No reincarnation, no ghosts to bring back tales from the grave, no loved ones to communicate with for death is the cessation of life. The End. Dead men do not speak to the living, but fallen angels will and do in order to decieve the ones who refuse to believe in Jesus Christ.
It will be the saddest day of your existence when you realize that you did not make it, and you will know exactly why you failed to inherit eternal life. There will not be the slightest of doubts, and your heart will shatter into a billion pieces as your tears flow and your limbs shake uncontrollaby. You will see afar off the border land of heaven called Beulah land, but you will not enter into his rest. You will cast despondent eyes around and see others who also have not made it, and your hearts will melt with such as sadness that you have no more strength to stand before a mighty creator whom you scorned and mocked while yet alive and disregarded his offer of eternal life through obedient faith in his son, Jesus Christ.
You now understand how cavalier you were with the faith, the lies you believed, the false shepherds you trusted, the weakness of your views and opinions, the denials of Jesus made by denying his words, and now you are denied by Jesus to his father and before all the holy angels. This is a day of great and everlasting sorrow for those who did not gain entrance into the kingdom of God. But it is a day of great rejoicing for those who did gain admittance because of she their faithfulness and obedience to his commands. And because they loved the Son of God to death. Therefore, they have received the crown of life and will be allowed entrance into the New Jerusalem.
The choice is yours. Jesus Christ or the ways of this world. Compromising Christians will not inherit the Kingdom of God. The weak and timid will not inherit the Kingdom of God. Those who love and practice lies will not enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Fornicators, adulterers, dogs, which are sodomites, will not enter the kingdom as well as effeminate men or masculine women. Read the scriptures to know what God wants and expects from those calling themselves disciples.
.DO NOT LEAN UNTO YOUR OWN UNDERSTANDING!
Trust in God and in his word and do not allow yourselves to be taken captive by smooth speech and attractice persons whose charms are of the flesh and not of the spirit of the Living God. Turn away from those who seek the approval of men for they have sold themselves out to the world for vain glory. Read and trust in the Scriptures and stop looking to have those itching ears tickled. Do what the Lord commands you and know that the Holy Spirit of God will never lead you into sin against his word.
So, once again, the Christian faith as prescribed by Jesus and his disciples is a sacrficial one seeking the praises of God, not of men. It will cost you everything you have, and what is more important to the individual than self? And it is that self that must be nailed to the cross of Christ with all of its desires and wishes. Are you willing to freely go to the cross and have this monumental work begin? You may certainly reject him today, perchance he may call you again tomorrow or every day for the next twenty years or more. Or this day was your last chance to respond before you are given up to the world and your sins, and the final day of judgment.
Whatever choice that you choose to make, let it be known that you alone carry the full responsibility for your actions, for God is not a fool. What a man sows is that which he shall reap. What are you sowing? Is it wheat or tares? Your life to do as you see fit or his will as the father commands? What ever choice you make, it is yours alone to make and you will bear the full responsibilty on that great and final day.
I remain a brother to the faithful in Jesus Christ, and to those willing to pay the cost.
Edward L Ordway