Non Believing Bible Believers

By Dan Ferguson

So many Christians today believe so many different things, some of these things are true and good and right but so much of what Christianity believes today is contrary to the Bible. So much of what is believed does not come from God's Holy Word and most Christians know a lot about the Bible but not the Bible itself. The purpose of this book is to get believers to really study and know what their faith is and where it comes from. The only source of refreshment for our souls will be found in The Scriptures.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Sep 4, 2009
• ISBN: 9781441576309

Dan Ferguson

Whenever you read a book there is a curiosity about the author. We read about so many authors who have accomplished some great thing in their life and so much of this makes you want to know more about the book. I will tell you this about the author. He is just a man with a God given desire to help Christians see the truth of God's Word. It is not my desire to lift up myself or any man. There is so much today that only glorifies the individual, I do not desire to do that of myself and take away from the real power and source who has done all for us let it be sufficient to say the writer is just a man.

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Copyright © 2009 by Dan Ferguson.

Library of Congress Control Number:          2009907064

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Contents

INTRODUCTION

BORN AGAIN

CHURCH PRACTICES

RIGHTLY DIVIDING

THE WORD OF TRUTH

INTRODUCTION

Many times in the past, I have started to write this book only to be stopped by one reason or another, but today is the day the Lord has given me to start to write what I have been lead to for several years. I do not know why the time is now, but we will trust the Lord for the results, be they favorable or not.

If you look around in Christianity today, you will find so much of what appears to be man-made and not God made. I think back on a poem I learned in school. I was surprised that I remembered it from that long ago, but it has a parallel idea to what I desire to get across as you read this book. The title of the poem is The Rime of the Ancient Mariner with one line in particular that says,

Water, water, everywhere

Nor any drop to drink.

Have you imagined what it would be like to be out on the sea and the only source of power was wind? Your ship was stalled because of lack of wind, and a day turned into another day, and a week turned into another week, and so on, and so on. Your supplies were running out, particularly your water. I can imagine the desperate feelings of these men as their water began to run out. There was water all around and this was the very thing you needed to sustain your life, but if you gave in and drank, it would bring madness and death. What a tragic place to be. I would like to write about a tragedy of another kind and yet even more dangerous than the physical danger we just read about.

The following is my parallel line:

Religion, Religion, everywhere

Nor any drop of truth.

We live in a time not like any other. Our Christian culture has so many books (and here I am writing another) and records and radio stations and religious programs and Web sites and the like, far too many for me to mention. We have Christian awards for the Christian entertainers, we have Christian rock groups, we have Christian rap groups, we have Christian soul groups, we have Christian comedians, we have Christian everything. We are not one step behind the entertainment industry in the world. We have tried to match whatever the world does and even try to infiltrate them so as to hardly look any different.

The goal seems to be to sneak the Gospel in and win souls for Christ before they have a clue of what happened to them. There seems to be a desire to look just like them, act just like them and, in doing so, have a way to reach them. Or so we think.

This is not the biblical prescription; it is the mixture of the things of the world with the things of God and has always proven to be damaging to the saints of God.

Dear reader, I hope you do not take offense to what I am saying. I am not judging you if you are a part of any of these groups. I am not even saying you are wrong. It is not to criticize you. It is to try and get you to see something you may not be aware of.

Let me try and explain to you that there is much confusion between true Christianity and religion. These two can sound alike and look alike, but let me assure you they are worlds apart.

True Christianity is a faith and belief in the Lord Jesus Christ and the Holy Word of God. Nothing should take the place of these things. It is a relationship with God Himself. It is about following the Lord Jesus Christ and only the Lord Jesus Christ.

Religion makes us feel good about ourselves, and when we go to church, we feel like we have done the right things for God. We think that religious works will bring us into a favorable position with God. Religion is a very dangerous but very popular course of action. There is a part of every man who wants to be religious. Religion controls mankind; true faith set us free to serve God and God alone.

Religion takes on many forms and many shapes. However, at the end of the day, religion does not save. Religion will only make a man feel good or bad about his life. Religion gives a false sense of satisfaction to the one who engages in its practices.

Religion makes you like the Bible as long as it is mixed with the trappings, symbols, and the faulty teachings that go with it. Judge religion next to the Word of God, and you will see how weak and beggarly religion is. We will discuss this in more depths as our writings continue.

Everywhere I go I seem to hear about this person or that person being or becoming a Christian. I am often asked, Do you know if this popular person is saved? Do I know of this individual or that individual, and what do I think?

While driving my daughter to school, she proudly proclaimed that Ms. America was a Christian. I asked her how she knew that she was a Christian. She said because Ms. America said she was. We found out a few days later that Ms. America was being considered for disqualification because she was found to have taken risqué pictures a few years ago. I am not saying she is or isn’t a Christian; I don’t know her. I am just giving an example of how the meaning of being a Christian today means—if you say it, you are it.

A person’s beliefs or practices do not seem to mean much. Only when a person said they trusted Jesus that they became a Christian, and viola, they immediately have a following.

Saying you are a Christian is so popular that politicians have now gotten into the game, and Christianity now has its own political power base. If a candidate wants to get elected, he or she had better cater to the Christian vote. Or at least not alienate it. How many newscasts have we heard that tell us what the Christian vote will be? Christianity has political power.

Christians have money, and money represents power. We even