Why You Need To Quit Calling Yourself A Christian

I have heard way too many stories lately of people who are defaming and degrading the name of Christ. There are too many people who call themselves Christians but are rampant pagans at best and complete atheists at worse.

I can’t believe how many conversations I am having with people who have never heard of the gospel but have had contact with people who position themselves as Christian. Many of these people have never been presented with a solid explanation of what the gospel is. They have however been ridiculed and abused by so-called Christians. This has got to stop right now. If you are reading this and you continue to call yourself a Christian when obviously Jesus is not your Lord — I am calling you out.I want to say this in the most gospel-centered, grace-soaked, Jesus-saturated way as I am able to. I want you to know that I care about you and I care for you. I truly am concerned with the way you are living and I want you to escape the snare of satan. This is the position from which I am writing these following words. I am writing these thoughts from a strictly Isa. 42:3 perspective. This is my only desire – to love you, to care for you and to bring about the change in you that only Jesus can generate.

I am asking you right now to repent of your sinful behavior and come to Jesus so that His blood that was shed for you on the cross would wash away your iniquity. Perhaps God will grant you a desire to repent of your sin and will lead you to a knowledge of the truth.

To the fake Christians out there — please do the body of Christ a huge favor — quit calling yourself a Christian. Call yourself any other name that you would like.

  • Call yourself a spiritual architect.
  • Call yourself a sensitive seeker.
  • Call yourself a person who claims no deity whatsoever.
  • Call yourself spiritual.
  • Call yourself a hater of religion.

But please, do not insert “Christ” into that which you call yourself. Because obviously you are not a Christian. Where is evidence of your Christianity? Your friends do not see it. Your relatives obviously have never witnessed it. The people around you think you are as Christian as a celebrity who throws up the peace sign and proclaims Christ upon winning an emmy.

Jesus said that whoever is not with Him is against Him (Matt. 12:30). There is no such thing as simultaneous allegiance. Either you are on the team of Christ or you are on the team of the anti-Christ. Do not think you can sit on the sidelines, watch this game called life and play both teams. You cannot go to bat for both teams. You can’t be a switch hitter, no matter how much the mass media tells you otherwise.

Jesus said that every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the diseased tree bears bad fruit. Jesus said that you will be recognized by your fruit. Jesus said that every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. (Matt. 7:17-20).

Jesus said you cannot serve two masters. For either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other (Matt. 6:24). What makes you put on the Christian label when this is the farthest thing from your personal reality? What makes you position yourself as a teacher of the law when you do not understand what you are even saying or even grasp the meaning of that which you make confident assertions about?

To all of the fake Christians out there, I want you to consider these ten things:

  1. If you are not a part of a local church where you are an active participant of a live community, you are probably not a Christian.
  2. If you have not found a church home and are hopping from church to church, complaining about every single thing you find wrong, you are most likely not a Christian
  3. If you are living in habitual, unrepentant sin and have no desire to repent of it or refrain from being in it, most likely, you are not a Christian (1 Jn. 3:9).
  4. Please stop singing in your church choir if after the practice, you are going out to get drunk with your friends.
  5. Quit telling your friends or acquaintances that you are a Christian. You are not. Quit grieving the body of Christ, both literally and figuratively.
  6. Just because you perform at a church, on a stage, this does not grant you instant access to be one of Jesus’ beloved sheep.
  7. Just because you have a bunch of bibles in your home, it does not mean that you are a Christian.
  8. Just because you are a member of a church, this does not give you a license to call yourself a Christian — when every single interaction you have outside of the church sphere is polar opposite of that what Jesus demands from his disciples.
  9. Just because you have Christian parents who had a strong faith ethic, it does not mean it was automatically passed on to you. Obviously it was not. Everyone can clearly see it besides you.
  10. If you come to church only for major holidays, main cultural events and to get free food — by all means, keep on coming and keep enjoying the fellowship — but — do not call yourself a Christian.

How come it is so easy for people in this world to understand this? If I barely know how to put on a band-aid, why would I ever call myself a master surgeon or a renewed medical doctor?

If the apex of my car knowledge extends to pumping gas and turning the key in the ignition, why would I call myself a skilled mechanic?

Is that not ridiculous? But you look and sound just as ridiculous every single day you call yourself a Christian!

Quit faking Christianity. Everyone has already called your bluff. The only person who has not come to terms with this tragic reality is the person looking back at you in the mirror every single day.

Here is the good news for you: Jesus loves you and wants to save you!

  • Repent of your corrupt sin of fake Christianity.
  • Acknowledge that you have publicly defamed the name of Jesus
  • Meet with the people whom you have misrepresented Christ too and apologize to them.
  • Call upon the name of Jesus — He is mighty to save and desires to save you greatly!

If you do not want to do the above — do a huge favor to Christendom and remove this Christian label from your conversation, your car bumper, your t-shirt and any other accessory you have.

Quit calling yourself a Christian today. You will be glad you did. Jesus will be elated as well.

Question: When was the last time you assessed the authenticity of your Christianity? 

 


Comments

10 responses to “Why You Need To Quit Calling Yourself A Christian”

  1. Deema Gee. Avatar
    Deema Gee.

    as a christian, what if, outta the ten things listed, you might fall into either one or two of the things listed? does that mean you are not a christian?

    1. Deema — that is a good question — I would say that this is between you and God — Pray that the Holy Spirit would reveal this to you — and I am confident He will — through His Word — as you saturate yourself in it — and let it become a part of you.

      1. Deema Gee Avatar
        Deema Gee

        Thank you. That is a very good point!

        1. Glad to be of help 🙂

  2.  Avatar
    Anonymous

    As someone who has so many questions about Christianity, I am turned away from some of your black/white dogmatic views. If you are trying to get through to those who are not sure and have questions this approach is intimidating. FYI. Your words discourage me to move forward.

    1. Hi, thank you for the comment — can you clarify in what way the post turns you away from searching deeper for answers to faith-related questions? How is the approach intimidating?

      1.  Avatar
        Anonymous

        Hypocritical
        Sheltered
        Judgmental

        Have we discovered how to follow the great commandment, “to love God and love neighbor”? Have we taken seriously Jesus’ teaching to “love one another?”

        Doesn’t seem like a loving message you are sharing here…

        God is bigger than we are. It seems that you are on a very bitter and angry campaign here. I thought to be a christian was having the ability to place your faith in the generous, gracious, creator of the universe.

        Matthew 7:1-5 ESV

        “Judge not, that you be not judged. For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you. Why do you see the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when there is the log in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye

        1. Hi thank you for the comment — in what way is the message not loving? Would you say that the scripture text you bring up by Jesus was also not loving? I am curious to hear your thoughts – thank you again for the interaction.

  3. I’m just going to say that i hope u dont call yourself a christian because this whole thing is full of judgement and what gives you the right to say people cant call themselves christians? Its their lives and everyone shows their religion in diffrent ways. You have no right to say any of these things that were in this blog it isnt your place and noone asked for it. God loves us all and you need to realize that you cant tell other people how to express themselves.

    1. Hi Sam — thank you for stopping by and commenting. You are right, God does love but he also is distressed by those falsely positioning themselves as his disciples. Jesus said that his genuine disciples will be ascertained by their fruit. Towards the end of the post, I reiterate the spirit in which this post was written (love and grace was the position I come from).

      Everyone does demonstrate their faith/religion differently but we have an ultimate source of truth which serves as our ultimate guide — the Scriptures, the very Word of God.

      The only way I can help people, including myself most importantly is to show them Christ and this was the main thrust of this post.

      I appreciate your comment though and have taken note of what you said. God is continuing to do a work in my heart and I pray that my message would be truth spoken in love.

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