It’s almost impossible for non-believers to know what truth is anymore because there are so many so-called Christian doctrines that preach what people want to hear instead of what God has said! And so, we have hundreds of thousands of people who belong to various organizations and call themselves Christians, yet they don’t even know Christ.

We are not all Christians! To quote Keith Green, “Going to church doesn’t make you a Christian any more than going to McDonald’s makes you a hamburger.” The term “Christian” is being used loosely to label anyone who believes in a god, supposedly the God of Heaven. Some doctrines preach prosperity and material freedom,  and others preach that all we need to do is accept each other. Nothing else is required. No repentance. No forgiveness necessary. But these are deceptions! It’s a heresy to preach a false doctrine and deceive people into thinking they’re following the real Jesus.

Only those who pick up their cross and follow Christ are Christians. These are the people who through sound preaching or teaching, or through their own curiosity in reading the Bible, have come to realize that God is real. And this revelation comes because God sees their hungry heart and gives them a gift of faith—Ephesians 2:8—so they can believe the truth. And when they receive the truth, they are convicted of their sin and they repent—they repent from their sin and turn away from the sinful life style that they’ve led, and they choose to follow Jesus. And because of this repentance, God forgives them and removes the sinful heart from them and replaces it with a new heart that’s filled with His Spirit. They become born again!

• Jesus answered and said unto him, ‘Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God’.—John 3:3

False preachers don’t preach repentance, but rather, they focus on how to live their best life now or how loving each other is all they need to do to get into Heaven. And many of their churches are packed with energetic people who love to shout and sing and dance and speak in “other tongues”. The message is pleasing to their ears and easy to accept. It’s one that caters to the flesh and to the sinful heart. It’s one that promotes anything except the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, the Son of God who came to earth to take on our sins so we could be forgiven and be grafted in to God’s family!

• For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; ⁴ And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables.—2 Timothy 4:3-4

Equally deceiving are those public “friendly” people who rant against Christians on public media sites. They think they were once saved and knew Jesus (but they were obviously never saved and never knew Him), and have now decided that Christianity—aka Christendom—is a lie, and they want everyone to be just like them. They promote that Jesus died for everyone and that repentance isn’t necessary because we are all now automatically saved, and that there is no such thing as hell or a day of judgment. And fools by the hoards are following these deceivers and are strengthened in their own deceit by the leader’s mocking words.

Jesus warned us that false “Christs” would come and that there would be false preachers and teachers who would be like wolves in sheep’s clothing to deceive the people. Their false doctrines cater to the flesh and not to the spirit. and this modern-day sensationalism is spreading like fire and deceiving millions.

• Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.—Matthew 7:15

Each of us will stand before Christ (the Judge) on Judgment Day and if we have accepted Christ as our Lord and Savior and lived for Him, then He will welcome us home. But if we chose to live for ourselves and strike out against the truth, then we will be judged by the law and the sin that’s in us will convict us to hell. We won’t be able to pass the blame onto to the ones who deceived us and seek forgiveness then. It will be too late. The truth is all around us now and there is no shortage of Bibles for us to read so we can know the truth. The onus is on us to come to God, to repent and turn from the world and follow Him.

• …work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.—Philippians 2:12

The Bible tells us in John 12:48 that those who reject the truth and those who proclaim to know God and teach a lie will be punished when they face God. Apostle Paul warns us that we are not to preach any other gospel except the gospel of Christ. No changes. No private interpretations. No excuses. No exceptions. No forgiveness!

• But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed.—Galatians 1:8

Christ died for everyone, but only those who accept Him, repent of their sins and follow Him are truly “Christians”. They are covered in the blood of Jesus and will escape the coming judgment and live with Christ forever. But those who have dared to challenge God’s authority will regret their foolish actions throughout eternity.

Don’t follow people! Follow Jesus!

• And if it seem evil unto you to serve the Lord, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.—Joshua 24:15