NextGenKent

Not all Christians will go to heaven? What!?! I posted a while back about a lady who asked her pastor why she should become a disciple because she was already a Christian. My pastor preached recently on the growing body of people in our society who call themselves Christians but do not attend church. My children have spoken to me of teachers in school speaking about religions and listing Christianity among other religions. With these statements in mind, I have come to the conclusion that not all Christians will go to heaven. You can call yourself a Christian, and while this should express faith in Jesus Christ, it evidently means that you subscribe to a system of beliefs I would call "the religious practices of Christianity." Among them is the belief in Jesus Christ, which amounts to believing that he existed, walked this planet, did good, performed miracles, died, and was resurrected, ascended to heaven, left behind some disciples (who became apostles) who car...

I teach Evangelism & Discipleship I & II online for a Christian University in Ohio. I was looking over an assignment that really threw me for a curve because the exercise goes against what the course is teaching. The course uses as one of its textbooks, Becoming a Contagious Christian: Communicating Your Faith in a Style that Fits You, which teaches that there are several ways of evangelizing referred to as "styles" and that there isn't only one acceptable way. Those styles are: Direct style, Intellectual style, Invitational style, and Serving style. Then the course has students read an article that emphasizes one style (Direct, or perhaps Intellectual) and asks them to attempt to do so. The article gives the following statement for its rationale: "We are dedicated to equipping people for evangelism, not because large numbers follow us, but because it is the command Jesus gave to His followers. We don’t take others with us for OJT because it’s c...

You have no doubt been in circles where someone has name-dropped. Perhaps you have done so yourself. I know I have. I happen to know some "big names" in some areas of ministry that I can drop at times to gain a hearing. To be honest, I don't know why I do it. And even more honest, I don't think it has ever done anything for me. I teach evangelism and discipleship courses for OCU (is this name-dropping?) and have done so now (online) nearly ten times. One of the projects in the class is for students to write out their testimony as if speaking to a non-Christian who might be interested. Did you catch that last part? Write it out for someone who doesn't know, or perhaps has never heard about, God, Jesus, the need for salvation, and how God has answers for their life's problems. I've graded over 150 of these testimonies and just started keeping track of some patterns I am seeing. One of the things I am hearing over and over again is: When evangeliz...

God is a Master Designer. Jesus said He is always at work. I had always looked at that God was literally working ... like with His hands on something--focused on one thing somewhere over there . When I studied the passage in Acts 18, the truth of God working came a lot closer to me. If you have had a conflict this past week, God is working.  Acts 18 is about God working, but it is also about a man who has learned how to get in on that work and be a part of it. Paul has a mindset that has been transformed, but is also bolstered by his continued ministry and life experience.  And isn't that exactly what we want? Let me set this up for you in a more revealing sort of way of what I am getting at--take a look at this passage from a Light vs. Darkness perspective. HOME COURT: CORINTH, assumed property of Darkness.  HOME TEAM: DARKNESS and Coach Satan, various government mouthpieces--both Jewish and Gentile (after the resurrection, the Jewish system becomes a ...

I was wondering today about how I could start meaningful, spiritual conversations with others whom I know are not Christians but perhaps once were. I wondered how I would come across if I was deep in thought and he or she asked me, "What are you so deep in thought about?" and I replied, "I was just thinking about Jesus." I wouldn't want it to be annoying, just bridging. I was reading over an article adapted from The Evangelism Study Bible, that explored responding to people who have had a bad experience with Christianity. I found their five reminders worth repeating and good for keeping in the back of your mind, once practiced in your "holy imagination" (aka, spiritual reflection). 1. Don't be defensive. Remembering that it isn't so much that you do not agree, but HOW you disagree that will stick in their minds when they walk away. Take into yourself their comments as if you were the one who did them wrong and then reflect it back to the...

In the beginning God spoke and said, Let there be light and it was so. What was created was something we would train ourselves doesn't exist. This light God spoke just was and existed without a sun which hadn't been created yet but is now what we have trained ourselves to see is real. The first light lets call 'heavenly light' for it is from God's world and so continues to be. Once sin entered into our world the heavenly light, although still existing, shrunk from our sight and relegated itself to what we many times call the spiritual realm. This is understandable because sin brings darkness. But something else came with that darkness, another presence that found how to live and exist in it and develop authorities and seats of governance and powers.  Although the heavenly light still exists in this world we humans cannot see it for the matrix of darkness is keeping blinders on our eyes so we cannot see it. The truth is, ever since one man has come into this world th...