Christianity From the Outside Looking In

By David E. Brittain

Throughout my life, I have heard, as well as used, many excuses to avoid going to church and serving the Lord. It seems as though it is much easier to live and enjoy the world when you are not constantly reminded that you are going against God's plan or His design for your life.

To some extent that may be true, but those feelings are amplified and extorted by the devil. We are made to feel undeserving or perhaps superior to God's love for us. The world will fill our minds and hearts full of doubt and disbelief to keep us from finding the peace we are meant to have, the peace that can only come through Christ. This book speaks of many topics that the world, the devil, and even ourselves use to rob us of our reward. They say misery loves company, and the devil doesn't want to burn alone.

I hope this writing entices its readers to continue searching for the Truth, the Light, and the Way.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Christian Faith Publishing, Inc.
• Release date: Jun 23, 2021
• ISBN: 9781098087463

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Christianity From the Outside Looking In

David E. Brittain

Copyright © 2019 by David E. Brittain

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods without the prior written permission of the publisher. For permission requests, solicit the publisher via the address below.

Christian Faith Publishing, Inc.

832 Park Avenue

Meadville, PA 16335

www.christianfaithpublishing.com

Printed in the United States of America

Table of Contents

Love People Not Sin

Finding Your Way

Hand Over Control

Persecution

The Holy Trinity

Prayer Warrior

Second Coming of Christ

Closing Prayer

Preface

While scrolling through social media one day, I came across a post from a news agency reporting the police had arrested a suspect thought to be guilty of DUI and responsible for a fatal car wreck. Unfortunately, the accident killed a young lady who was very popular in the community; and as such, the story gained a lot of attention. I remember reading this and thinking how horrible this made me feel because I have two daughters around the same age. Upon reading the article and then getting into the comments, it was quickly made clear that the suspect was at least assumed to be an illegal immigrant. Obviously, this fact infuriated many of the readers that were very quick to pass judgment and to offer to hand out the punishment on their own in many unpleasant ways. Being perfectly honest with you, I myself initially caught myself quietly agreeing with some of the comments before I realized that several of the comments were coming from good Christians whom I knew. Several Christians ready to torture, kill, mutilate, and ultimately murder someone based solely on a social media post.

Understand, I am not choosing sides on the issue at hand, just the public approach and example being set by good Christians. From that time forward, I started noticing how many Christians discuss various topics and events, either in public or on various social media platforms, and even the way some speak of others from behind the pulpit. I began to wonder how overwhelming it must be for someone that does not know Christ, or someone that was not raised in religion or church, to see Christians argue with each other and be so hate-filled and judgmental toward other denominations or people they feel sin worse than they do. How could anyone be convinced to come to Jesus in search for love and forgiveness when His church has a wall of judgmental hypocrites surrounding it.

I was led to write this book to help others find the peace and love that I have found in Christ despite how hard mankind tries to cover Him up or display Him with hatred. I discussed several topics that can be confusing or intimidating to the lost or newly saved. Most of these, if not all, I struggled with myself. I have gone out of my way to make sure everything is supported biblically, but I did not pull every scripture to reference the points I make and add words to the manuscript. Cherry picking one or two verses to support our thoughts is one thing that causes us a lot of trouble now. I want you to read the whole Bible and learn it in the context that God means, not to prove me right. I do include a devotional verse at the end of each chapter that I hope encourages you to read more, and I close with a prayer.

Finally, remember there is no such thing as a good Christian! It’s an oxymoron. We are all sinners and the Bible says so (go find it!). We are all unworthy. That goes for every pastor, priest, pope, deacon, ministry leader, evangelist, or any other title. No man alive or dead has ever earned his salvation. Only Jesus saves; and only through Jesus can we be forgiven, no matter how many Hail Marys you say.

Enjoy!

Introduction

Looking back through the years, I can remember a few occasions at different points in my life when I wanted to focus on being a better person (you know, maybe quit being so sarcastic, quit smoking and cussing, or any of the other dozens of things mortal men do on a daily basis that we really shouldn’t, keeping in mind, of course, most of these occasions, if not all, were usually instigated by something bad happening in my life, such as my wife leaving me or finding myself in the middle of a major financial crisis). But there was an occasion or two that I just found myself in a really dark place, and I struggled to deal with my reality at the time. Without fail, it was at these points in my life I would start to at least wonder about God.

I think most of us have done this, standing outside after an argument with a loved one or perhaps sitting by yourself somewhere after receiving some horrible news. I always seemed to find myself on the back porch at night, staring up at the sky while smoking a cigarette and admiring the stars, all along wondering if God is really there. This usually led to the next questions or thought, If He is, why would He let this happen? Or, Why won’t He cut me a break? Or here is a popular one, If you will just let me have this one thing, I will do everything right from now on. Now the bad part is I think most of us instinctively realize that God is real, and He doesn’t work like that. You don’t just bargain with the great I Am for Pete’s sake. But more often than not, we will still hold a grudge against God for not giving us something that we probably didn’t need to start with.

The point of all of this is to assure you that you are not alone. We all feel this way from time to time. In fact, it is perfectly natural to look for God when we are at our lowest point because He is the hope we are searching for in those times whether we know it, believe it, or not. Since the days of creation, the purpose for our existence has always been to fellowship with God; so if we live our lives without Him as