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Sunday, 4 May 2025

Becoming a genuine Christian

 Believing in Jesus is first step in becoming a genuine Christian. But it is difficult if you do not really know what it means to believe in him. One might explain it to you in one way. Another might explain it another way. Socially you might be bound to accept one particular explanation rather than any other. Some might even threaten you or intimidate you if you do not accept their particular meaning of belief in Jesus. (Possibly anything suggested by me might be something you feel obliged to ignore, or afraid to accept, but essentially I teach that it is about being persuaded he is the light of the world sent by the Father.) There are things you can do to help yourself believe, such as learning about the history of gospel times of Jesus, and the archaeology, to paint a good context for his real existence. You can learn some scriptures from the Old Testament prophecies about him, or best of all listen to some great preaching. You can maybe, if you believe in God, pray for demonstrations of God’s power to help you believe in Jesus too. I recommend trying to read the gospel of Mark, and the gospel of John. Compare a few different translations maybe. What helps you believe, is probably good for you, especially if it is genuine. (What convinced me was reading the Book of Daniel in the version of the Bible called the Septuagint translated into English, and coming across the vision of weeks foretelling when the Christ would come. Then reading prophecies about John the Baptist and seeing how they were fulfilled. I was convinced that John the Baptist appearing just around the time the Christ had been foretold, and doing what he did, matching the prophecies about him, it must be real. Then miracles helped cement this persuasion into real faith in him.)


The second step, once you believe in him, is to start to learn his actual teachings. You have to do some digging to find out what they are and what they mean. Good preaching might help, but bear in mind most preachers preach and teach doctrines of church history, not necessarily those of Jesus Christ and his apostles. A simple saying of Jesus to start with is to “do unto others what you would have them do unto you”. That is something to learn to put into practice. It requires ongoing thought and experience of what we would wish others would actually do unto us: How we want others to treat us; then how we can translate it into things to put into practice in how we behave towards them. There are other teachings, abundant, and many. Over time we can learn them and find ways to get help with it. Learning to pray is important in how we follow him too. 


Hearing the gospel and experiencing miracles from hearing it with faith, this helps so much too. Christ died for you. Let that sink in. He invested so much in you being a Christian. God the Father who sent him invested so much too. The Holy Spirit can be given you to help you once you are a true disciple. What can really take you to the next level as a Christian is the heavenly power given on hearing this gospel with a genuine believing heart. Truth then starts to sink in and change you, and empower you to stop your sinning. This is what it is all about: It is about you stopping doing the things which are incompatible with being a child of God. It is about empowering you to becoming a child of God. It is about empowering you to consistently and persistently behave in a way compatible with being a child of God. We stop sinning as much as we can but the deep-seated sins such as lying are tough to quit because of how we are, and the power of God can cleanse us from them, when it enters a heart which receives the message of Christ dying for you and rising from the dead. Good gospel preaching is so important for this. So is baptism and laying on of hands for the Holy Spirit and acceptance into the body of Christ. Become the Christ’s disciple, then the Christ will take you through.