ARE YOU A CLOSET CHRISTIAN?
Being embarrassed to speak to others about Christ is not something new, but it was the general attitude of believers in Jeremiah’s day just as it is in our own nation today. He was very sad at the state of his own nation when he wrote: “An amazing and horrible thing is committed in the land; the prophets (those who were teaching God’s Word) prophesy falsely, and the priests (those who were listening to those teachers’ false doctrine) bear rule by their own means, and God’s people love to have it so.”
(Jeremiah 5:30, 31)
Responsibility for apostasy and the downfall of a nation lies with the religious leaders in the land. Before the Lord sent Israel into captivity, He spoke to the people through the prophet Jeremiah saying, “Therefore thus says the Lord of hosts concerning the prophets: behold I will feed them with wormwood and make them drink the water of gall; because from the prophets of Jerusalem profaneness has gone forth into all the land. Do not listen to the words of the prophets that prophesy vain words to you and speak a vision of their own heart and not words from the mouth of the Lord. They continually say to those who despise Me, ‘the Lord has said you shall have peace’; And to those who walk according to the imagination of their own heart (human viewpoint) they say, ‘No evil shall befall you.’” (Jeremiah 15:17) Then the Lord said in verse 22 of that same chapter, “If those prophets had stood in My counsel and had caused My people to hear My words, they should have turned the people from their evil way and from the evil of their doings.”
We are living in days of great apostasy when the average believer in the Lord Jesus Christ does not know the Word of God. We are to be ambassadors for Christ
(2 Corinthians 5:20), and with meekness and faith-rest we are commanded to be ready to give an answer to those who ask why we have hope. (1 Peter 3:15)
How can we be ready to witness to others? Ephesians 6:10-18 tells us we must be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. We must put on the whole armor of God in order to be able to face our enemies … not those of flesh and blood, but demon organizations which are composed of principalities, powers, rulers of the darkness of this world and of wickedness residing in the heavens.
What is the ‘armor of God’? It is His TRUTH, which is Bible Doctrine. There are a number of prepared men in our nation who have been given the gift of pastor/teacher and who have learned the original languages of scripture in order to help believers grow up spiritually. When you desire to learn truth, God will provide the right pastor/teacher for you … it doesn’t just happen automatically, so be patient.
Some people believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, but for reasons of their own they don’t speak to others about Him. Such was the case during Jesus’ three-year ministry on earth regarding many who had rule over the people: “Among the chief rulers many believed in Him, but because of the Pharisees they did not confess Him; because they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God.” (John 12:42, 43)
Barnabas had a nephew by the name of John Mark. He accompanied Paul and Barnabas on their missionary journey for awhile and then suddenly left them and went back to Jerusalem. (Acts 13:13) Apparently he later had a change of heart, because when Paul was in prison in Rome, he asked to have Mark brought to him and said he was an asset to the ministry. (2 Timothy 4:11)
Another man by the name of Demus forsook Paul because he had more love for the world than for the things of God. (2 Timothy 4:10)
1 Corinthians 2:16 tells us that the Bible is the mind of Christ. We cannot be equipped to witness for the Lord Jesus Christ to a lost and dying world without thinking as He does about every situation in life, nor can we resist our enemies by hearing God’s Word just once or twice a week. BIBLE DOCTRINE is God’s provision of spiritual food for every believer, and it must be eaten on a DAILY basis. After all, if you ate physical food only once or twice a week, you would not be in very good shape physically.
If a believer chooses to be a “closet Christian”, he will still have eternal life, but he will be embarrassed when he stands before the Lord Jesus Christ at the Judgment Seat of Christ to be evaluated, and he will not receive the rewards the Lord has prepared for him. (Matthew 10:33) Matthew 10:32 states that if a believer is willing to identify himself with Christ by witnessing about Him, he will receive rewards in heaven.
We are on this earth for a very short time, and the Lord has placed us here to glorify Him … not ourselves। God speaks to man in one way only … through His written Word, THE BIBLE। How well do you know His thoughts?
Written By Lois Delnay
Fallbrook Ranch Productions
loisdelnay@hotmail.com
Books for sale by L. Delnay
http://www.amazon.com/Bible-Schoolhouse-Studies-Children-Teens/dp/1438212003/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1212685141&sr=8-1
links to Lois Delnay's Children's Bible Study
http://gettoknowyourbible.org/
http://loisdelnay.bravehost.com/index.html
link to Lois Delnay's Helium Writings
