For The New Christian
Are you a new Christian? Then this page is for you!
Becoming a Christian is more than a wonderful thing. It's the best and most important decision of your life. Now that you have placed your faith (which means trust) in Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins and for eternal life, the last thing you need is for a clever teacher or preacher to redirect, for their own agenda, the precious new found excitement and zeal that you very likely now have.
That energy and zeal is for YOU, for you to use to serve God directly, not for a pastor or board of elders to steal and use against you by treating you like a mere human resource for their own selfish purposes. That zeal can and often should be used to share your excitement about Christ not only with strangers as opportunities permit, but also and sometimes primarily with the people who you already know. Yet, some churches will try to get you to forsake your family, relatives and existing friends so that they can have your "total dedication". That is the mark of a cult not a genuine church of Christ and is totally contrary to the biblical example of Christians leading their entire families to the Lord (not that entire families will always place their trust in Christ, but regardless we should share the Gospel with them and be a good example to them nevertheless). One of the saddest things that I have seen time and again during my over 20 years as a Christian is how countless clever men subdue and abuse vast numbers of both new and older Christians alike.
A good loving pastor, on the other hand, is a gem to be cherished and a tremendous asset to have. A true pastor is a true and faithful friend, one of the best friends that you are likely to ever have, not just symbolically, but in actual everyday life. A true pastor really cares about you and wants to spend time with you personally, a far cry for the countless cold office-dwellers of today who claim to be pastors and elders while you have to make an appointment a week or two in advance just to be able to talk to them. God does not expect or want you to accept such a man as your pastor or such a church as your church home. In fact it is quite obvious that He demands the very opposite. How do we know this? By reading the New Testament and understanding its commands, patterns and warnings.
Unfortunately, most men who profess to be the pastor or elder of a church today are nothing more than clever businessmen in disguise, nothing close to a true friend in Christ who is a major part of your life, someone who actually accompanies you as you go various places and who endeavors to help guide you towards a better understanding of and conformity to the true doctrines in Scripture and the freedoms and liberties found in Christ. This is in stark contrast to the countless false pastors today who would lead you into bondage.
One might ask how a pastor can be friends with so many people at the same time? This kind of question comes from the misconception that churches are supposed to be large and pastors are supposed to shepherd enormous congregations. That is simply not the case. We do not see a shred of evidence of any such thing in the Bible. A real pastor cannot effectively pastor more than a handful of Christians.
What most Christians today do not realize is even the genuine gifted men who call themselves pastors are often not. Even though a genuine pastor is often an excellent teacher as well, these men are usually just teachers and teachers can certainly have large audiences. But they cannot pastor (personally take care of) large audiences. Of course many of these men call themselves "Senior Pastors" and set up a hierarchy of associate pastors underneath them in rank to "take care of the people". Again, not the real deal, not at all effective and this is yet another of the many business-like practices that we see in these "churches", practices that are nowhere to be found in the Scriptures. These kind of practices tend to even self-generate their own underlying (and often unspoken) false doctrines that appear to support them. It is no wonder these churches have massive problems. They have created new traditions and put those traditions over the Word of God.
It is because of all of this craziness and all the false teachings circulating all around us (like a tornado) that I recommend that you stay home for a period of time and hopefully do not join any congregation until you have had a chance to read the New Testament for yourself. This may be a month, two to three months or longer, whatever amount of time that you need so that you can become familiar with what the real church of Jesus Christ looks like (compared to the churches based on man made traditions which are so popular and prominent today).
Please understand that being a new Christian is often a time of great opportunity in your life, but it can also be a time of great vulnerability and countless wolves roam the landscape looking for young sheep who they can devour. Droves of new Christians have been and continue to be captured by and trapped in a false church. The buildings that typically house these groups can be quite enticing and can offer many luxuries, amenities and so-called "opportunities" that are very hard for an unwary Christian to resist. "Make straight paths for your feet" and "give no place to the devil" as the Bible commands. Avoid subjecting yourself to such temptations.
There is no rule in the Bible that says you must immediately find and join a congregation. In fact, the Bible warns of wolves in sheeps' clothing and warns us to avoid them, yet it does say, "not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together as the manner of some is." (Hebrews 10:25, emphasis added). However you obviously need to first have access to genuine Bible-based believers before you can even have an "ourselves" to be able to fellowship with and begin to actually follow this verse. Throwing yourself into a potential cult is not the answer to how to find faithful brothers and sisters in Christ to meet with. Allow yourself some time. There is no huge rush.
God bless,
ChristiansFree.com
Are you a new Christian? Then this page is for you!
Becoming a Christian is more than a wonderful thing. It's the best and most important decision of your life. Now that you have placed your faith (which means trust) in Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins and for eternal life, the last thing you need is for a clever teacher or preacher to redirect, for their own agenda, the precious new found excitement and zeal that you very likely now have.
That energy and zeal is for YOU, for you to use to serve God directly, not for a pastor or board of elders to steal and use against you by treating you like a mere human resource for their own selfish purposes. That zeal can and often should be used to share your excitement about Christ not only with strangers as opportunities permit, but also and sometimes primarily with the people who you already know. Yet, some churches will try to get you to forsake your family, relatives and existing friends so that they can have your "total dedication". That is the mark of a cult not a genuine church of Christ and is totally contrary to the biblical example of Christians leading their entire families to the Lord (not that entire families will always place their trust in Christ, but regardless we should share the Gospel with them and be a good example to them nevertheless). One of the saddest things that I have seen time and again during my over 20 years as a Christian is how countless clever men subdue and abuse vast numbers of both new and older Christians alike.
A good loving pastor, on the other hand, is a gem to be cherished and a tremendous asset to have. A true pastor is a true and faithful friend, one of the best friends that you are likely to ever have, not just symbolically, but in actual everyday life. A true pastor really cares about you and wants to spend time with you personally, a far cry for the countless cold office-dwellers of today who claim to be pastors and elders while you have to make an appointment a week or two in advance just to be able to talk to them. God does not expect or want you to accept such a man as your pastor or such a church as your church home. In fact it is quite obvious that He demands the very opposite. How do we know this? By reading the New Testament and understanding its commands, patterns and warnings.
Unfortunately, most men who profess to be the pastor or elder of a church today are nothing more than clever businessmen in disguise, nothing close to a true friend in Christ who is a major part of your life, someone who actually accompanies you as you go various places and who endeavors to help guide you towards a better understanding of and conformity to the true doctrines in Scripture and the freedoms and liberties found in Christ. This is in stark contrast to the countless false pastors today who would lead you into bondage.
One might ask how a pastor can be friends with so many people at the same time? This kind of question comes from the misconception that churches are supposed to be large and pastors are supposed to shepherd enormous congregations. That is simply not the case. We do not see a shred of evidence of any such thing in the Bible. A real pastor cannot effectively pastor more than a handful of Christians.
What most Christians today do not realize is even the genuine gifted men who call themselves pastors are often not. Even though a genuine pastor is often an excellent teacher as well, these men are usually just teachers and teachers can certainly have large audiences. But they cannot pastor (personally take care of) large audiences. Of course many of these men call themselves "Senior Pastors" and set up a hierarchy of associate pastors underneath them in rank to "take care of the people". Again, not the real deal, not at all effective and this is yet another of the many business-like practices that we see in these "churches", practices that are nowhere to be found in the Scriptures. These kind of practices tend to even self-generate their own underlying (and often unspoken) false doctrines that appear to support them. It is no wonder these churches have massive problems. They have created new traditions and put those traditions over the Word of God.
It is because of all of this craziness and all the false teachings circulating all around us (like a tornado) that I recommend that you stay home for a period of time and hopefully do not join any congregation until you have had a chance to read the New Testament for yourself. This may be a month, two to three months or longer, whatever amount of time that you need so that you can become familiar with what the real church of Jesus Christ looks like (compared to the churches based on man made traditions which are so popular and prominent today).
Please understand that being a new Christian is often a time of great opportunity in your life, but it can also be a time of great vulnerability and countless wolves roam the landscape looking for young sheep who they can devour. Droves of new Christians have been and continue to be captured by and trapped in a false church. The buildings that typically house these groups can be quite enticing and can offer many luxuries, amenities and so-called "opportunities" that are very hard for an unwary Christian to resist. "Make straight paths for your feet" and "give no place to the devil" as the Bible commands. Avoid subjecting yourself to such temptations.
There is no rule in the Bible that says you must immediately find and join a congregation. In fact, the Bible warns of wolves in sheeps' clothing and warns us to avoid them, yet it does say, "not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together as the manner of some is." (Hebrews 10:25, emphasis added). However you obviously need to first have access to genuine Bible-based believers before you can even have an "ourselves" to be able to fellowship with and begin to actually follow this verse. Throwing yourself into a potential cult is not the answer to how to find faithful brothers and sisters in Christ to meet with. Allow yourself some time. There is no huge rush.
God bless,
ChristiansFree.com