What exactly does it mean?


Give glory to the Lord your God before He brings darkness, before your feet stumble on the mountains at dusk. You wait for light, but He brings darkest gloom and makes thick darkness. But if you will not listen, my innermost being will weep in secret because of your pride. My eyes will overflow with tears, for the Lord’s flock  has been taken captive. - Jeremiah 3:16-17 (HCSB)

In the past 2 weeks, I have seen:
a)      A 'Prominent Evangelical Pastor’ announce that Mormonism is Christianity.
b)      Another 'Prominent Evangelical Pastor’ stand in the pulpit of a major Roman Catholic Cathedral as part of what was billed by the host as a ‘prayer for Christian Unity’. This same pastor having told his congregants that he and a major Mormon apologist and public figure are ‘in communion’
c)      Yet another 'Prominent Evangelical Pastor’ in introducing a Oneness Pentecostal preacher to his church and pulpit, refer to him as ‘The Greatest preacher of our time”, and say that “Every preacher who has anything to say, rips off” said preacher.

All of which has caused me to ask:  
What exactly does it mean to be a Christian?

How does the Bible define it? 

Have centuries long doctrinal standards now been erased? 

Is this even an important discussion to have?

What exactly does it mean to be a Christian?

How has the most exclusive (and only true) religious system become so diluted today that systems and beliefs that from the beginning have been discredited, deemed heretical, and outside (and I mean well outside) of the pale of orthodoxy are now ‘correct’ and orthodox?

Over the next few weeks/months this blog will be devoted to the uncovering and discussion of doctrinal positions of major movements. It is sure to offend some people, and I am sure that the positions that I take will be far from popular, but I am learning that one of the things that a disciple must do, in order to be like His Master, is stand where His master stood, speak what His Master spoke, and if necessary become a man of sorrows, acquainted with grief.*

Do I think I have all the answers? No, but I know the Bible does
Do I think that I am better than anyone else? No, because, like David, I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me**, and I know that it is by the Grace of God alone that I stand.

I encourage you reader, at any time, to comment, rant, expound, sermonize, do whatever, but there is one main rule, and one minor rule: The major rule is, You MUST come from the scripture. Your opinion, though valid in certain instances, is, in this instance, of no value. Why? Because souls are at stake, and neither your opinion nor mine has ever, or will ever save a soul... The minor rule is, that personal insults are unnecessary, and will be deleted.

 May God Have Mercy on us all....

* Isaiah 53:3b 
** Psalm 51:3



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