It would be great if every church had a big sign in front of their church building saying, “Church can’t save you!  You must be born again!”

If you want to get to heaven you must be “born again”.  (see John 3:3-5)

I’m probably not going to be able to say this any better than other times I’ve tried, but when is the church going to wake up and start taking this truth seriously?

One of the greatest tragedies on planet earth is that God showed us how to get to heaven, and instead of clearing the debris so people can find the way, we let the path be littered with human traditions of “church” that will do us no good when we die!

For most of my formative years I never knew that I “must be born again” to get to heaven.  Jesus made it as plain as day, and even though I went to various churches and was seeking for “spiritual things” I missed that message.  I missed the most important truth that any human being needs to hear!  You know what I do remember from my youth and my time spent “going to church”?  A sermon where the pastor used a hot dog to illustrate his message.  (Actually, I don’t remember the sermon, I just remember the pastor going up front with a ketchup bottle and a hot dog.)  Now that will really help prepare me for eternity!  I also remember sitting in the car at various times hearing something on the radio about God.  I was seeking so I’d sometimes tune in and listen, but it always seemed so “fake” to me, like they were trying to make God look cool, and it was a big turn off.  I figured if God was truly “GOD” He had to be about more than what we would think of as “cool”- I mean this is God we’re talking about here!

You know what else I remember from my time in church when I was young?  Sitting in church sometimes and being so bored I wanted to scream!  Yes, literally scream.  I never did, but I certainly felt like I could at any minute.  “Why does any of this matter?  Why am I sitting in this place?”, was pretty much what it boiled down to.  I felt closer to God going outside and taking a walk than I did in that building!  Creation at least seemed alive! 

Now the tragedy is that “going to church”, and being around God’s people, should have been the perfect place for me to experience the living God.  It should have been the one place where I’d be told, “You must be born again to get to heaven.”  Maybe I was told that, but I sure don’t remember it.  I was there enough times that I should have remembered something of that sort!  When I was really, really young I remember having to go to the Catholic church.  I remember the robes, the statues, the candles, the priest’s voice echoing so much I couldn’t understand it- and I remember how I hated kneeling all the time on those kneeling boards.  I also remember the prayer beads and rote “chanting” over and over the same things.  I don’t remember being told that I must personally be born again to get to heaven!  I can remember a lot of religious stuff from my youth, but what did this stuff have to do with Jesus?

You know where I finally found Jesus?  In my bedroom.  It happened after my brother had a conversation with me about the psychic stuff I was involved in and my brother told me I needed Jesus and not astrology.  I began to seek the truth after that conversation.  You know where else I first began to become aware of my need for Jesus?  On a car ride home from Nashville as I listened to a man I’d just met while performing for a TV show there.  He needed a ride home.  I gave him a ride, and as we went down the highway he asked me if I “knew Jesus”.  I thought I did, and I told the guy I did… of course, I now know that that I didn’t know Him at all.  I knew religion, I knew stuff I’d been told and seen in church, saw on TV or heard on the radio- but I didn’t really know Jesus; I wasn’t actually “born again”.  I believed I was “a Christian” just like most people you ask in America will say they are “Christian” if you ask them.  I never knew that to be a real Christian you had to be “born again”.  If I would have died that night driving home from Nashville I never would have made it to heaven.  You can’t get there without being “born again”, and I wasn’t.

That’s why I press this issue so hard.  I can’t understand why the church doesn’t go on a huge campaign to let people know the truth!  Shouldn’t this be job #1 for the church?  Churches should be the first ones tearing down the walls of misunderstanding and helping people to know that “going to church” isn’t enough, that being “religious” won’t get people to heaven.  They should be clearing up this mess!  When you’ve got most of America believing they’re “Christian” simply because they “go to church” or “believe in Jesus” in some vague way like I once did, there’s a real problem.  I was lost and headed for hell, don’t you think it might have been important for me to know that fact?  Isn’t it unconscionable to let people slip into hell without warning them?  We’ll collect their tithes and give them religious services, make them members and tell them all is well with their souls- but we fail to mention the single most important thing that they need to hear to get to heaven and spend eternity with God?  “All is NOT well with your soul… You must be born again!”  Why didn’t somebody tell me that in the years I went to church?  When are we going to seriously address ONE OF THE SINGLE MOST IMPORTANT ISSUES that looms over the church?  Are we are so worried about being “nice” that we fail to warn people about this subject?

I’ll finish this post as I started it-

It would be great if every church had a big sign out in front of their church building saying, “Church can’t save you!  You must be born again!”

1. Every church should be frequently reminding people that without being “born again” there is no hope of heaven.
2. Without a “saving faith” in Jesus Christ that results in being “born from above” there is no entrance into heaven.
3. Without being “Born of the Spirit of God” there is no eternal home in heaven waiting for you.
4. Religion cannot save you.
5. You must be born again!  (see John 3:3-5)

Eternal life is only found in Jesus Christ- You must be born again to get to heaven!

I spent most of my years growing up never knowing the truth about Jesus Christ and my need to be “born again”.  I don’t want you to be able to say on the day you die, “Mike never told me this!  How come I went to his website over and over again, and he never told me this one simple thing I needed to hear the most?”  Well, I’m telling you: You must be “born again” to go to heaven.  You must be born of God’s Spirit through faith in Jesus Christ otherwise you will never get to heaven- He is the only way.

“Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved.”  (Acts 4:12)

The following links are here to help you to learn more about being “born again” and how to get to heaven:

If you want to learn more about being ‘Born Again”:

Heaven, hell, and eternal life in Jesus

More posts on this topic:

I can’t believe I’m born again!

Jesus is not religious

The “unsaved church”: Do we care at all?

Today is the day of salvation: share Jesus before it’s too late!

Gaining the world, but losing your soul?

You are the One!

“Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting.”  (Acts 2:2)

I’m not content with a “sound from earth”- I want to hear “a sound from heaven”.  If the early church had never heard that sound I wonder where we’d be today?  I’m not talking about some of the weird stuff going on today that passes for a sound from heaven.  I don’t recall reading that the early church barked liked dogs, rolled around the floor in uncontrollable laughter, had gold dust falling from the sky or anything like that.  What I’m talking about has nothing to do with this sort of thing at all-  I’m not interested in going to revival meetings where men prance around and make big shows of the “power of God”, creating a spectacle of themselves and the church.  But I do want to hear a sound from heaven…

Jesus speaks from, and of, eternity- and that is what we so desperately need today.

You can take the supernatural circus, I don’t want it.  You can take the coffeehouse “cultural faith”-I’m really not interested in that either.  I’m tired of hearing about a “social gospel”, a “cultural gospel”, and that we’re here to “create beauty” through the arts and on the earth.  Whatever happened to the eternal gospel?  Can someone please tell me about heaven, hell, sin and redemption?  Who will stand up to preach the cross, tell of Jesus’ blood, and preach to win souls?  Will someone please give me that gospel- the one I see saints laying down their lives for in the Book of Acts?

I honestly feel sorry for those who are seeking God and have to wade through the mess of Christian blogs and churches that offer up this pathetic, watered down, twisted mess!  Oh, I know there are some who still faithfully preach the cross and are focused on eternity… but I remember a time before there were hundreds of thousands of blogs with everyone’s religious opinions; a time when the world was a much easier place to navigate.  There has always been bad doctrine, but there’s never been an explosion like what we’re seeing today of confusion and doctrinal error.  We can thank the internet for that- it was the perfect vehicle to usher in every unbiblical belief under the sun and spread it around the earth.  It has given a voice to people who probably never should have been speaking in the first place because they were never called by God to do so.

In the bible men were actually “called by God” to speak and act as God directed- they were sent out by Him, and anointed by the Holy Spirit.  I’m not sure many Christians worry about that today, we just all assume we should speak our mind.  And that’s the problem… I’m tired of hearing the sound of people speaking their minds-  I want to hear a sound from heaven!  I want to hear from those who are called, who speak by the Holy Spirit and cause us to focus on eternal things.

Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.

The man who hears a sound from heaven, who hears Jesus, speaks of eternal things.  There’s a famine of the Word of God today, a famine of hearing from heaven, and because of that, not many people are talking about eternity.  Are we so focused on earthly things simply because we’ve never had a revelation of the glories of eternity?  Have we heard “a sound from heaven”, or are we just parroting the world we live in?  The Christian’s focus isn’t to be about earthly things!

“Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God.  Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.  For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God.  When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.” (Colossians 3:1-4)

See, it’s not about the arts, it’s not about Christian music, it’s not about Christians getting involved in politics, it’s not about social justice, it’s not about some culturally driven faith, it’s not about a prosperity gospel where God makes us all rich, it’s not about gold dust and holy laughter… it’s not about all this stuff and so many more of the things we’ve been told it’s about.  This world is passing away along with all the things we think are so important.  I’m really tired of sitting in a church (like I did a couple weeks ago) and being told that we should be focusing on this earth.  I don’t appreciate being told that D.L. Moody got it wrong with his notion that this world was a sinking ship, and that we needed to get as many saved as we could before it went under.  Wrong?  Moody got that wrong??  God help us-We need an army of Moody’s!  We are in a desperate hour when the ship is sinking and the Captains of the ship are out taking the world for a pleasure cruise!  We should be on a rescue mission but we’re out “creating beauty”.  Moody said, “You don’t polish the brass of a sinking ship”.  If we could only see what Moody saw- this world is passing away.  He heard a sound from heaven, saw the sinking ship, and tried to bring as many as he could to the safety of eternity in Jesus Christ while they still had a chance to be saved.

Twenty-six years ago, when I was just turning 24, I also heard a sound from heaven.  I heard the Spirit say, “You can be born again!”  I got a glimpse of eternity and saw the world (and myself) for what it was- dead in sin and without God.  I grabbed hold of Jesus with everything I had, and as I looked into His face I began to be changed from one degree of glory to another.  The thing I’d been looking for my whole life was Jesus!  Like the old hymn says,

“Turn your eyes upon Jesus,
Look full in His wonderful face,
And the things of earth will grow strangely dim,
In the light of His glory and grace.”

Do we see what we’re doing today in the church?  Do we understand where this embracing of the world system is taking us?  Does Jesus really want your eyes off of Him and off of heaven? Does He want you “polishing the brass” of this sinking ship, or looking to eternity?

“For here we do not have an enduring city, but we are looking for the city that is to come.” (Hebrews 13:14)

I hope I will stir some of you to think about this.  Read your bible and ask yourself honestly what the focus of the early church was on.  Read Acts and ask yourself if you’re focused on eternity like that?  Are you wanting to reach the lost like they were?  Has it dawned on you and alarmed you that this world is quickly passing away?  Does eternity fill your vision?  Maybe it’s time to sit in your upper room, read your bible, pray, and wait on God until you hear a sound from heaven!

“Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition…”  (2 Thessalonians 2:3)

Scripture tells us that before the return of Jesus we will see a great apostasy, a great falling away.  But a falling away from what?  Some point to the large number of people leaving churches as evidence of this great falling away- “they are walking away from the faith”.  But it’s not people leaving the church that marks apostasy, it’s the church leaving Jesus!

I wrote the song “Whatever happened To Jesus?” early in my Christian walk.  I was in love with Jesus as a new believer and was grieved by what I saw happening in the church.  It almost seemed like the church was desperate to be accepted by the culture, and wanted to prove to the world that we could be just as good at anything they did, and have just as much fun.  The catch phrase at the time was, “Christians can have fun too!”  Instead of rejecting the world system, the goal seemed to be to embrace it.  That whole mentality bothered me a lot!  Hadn’t I just gotten free from the world’s pull?  Didn’t Jesus just call me out of all this mess?  Why in the world would I want to go back to what I left?  “Can this be what God has in mind for His Church?”

 Whatever happened to Jesus?

It’s been 23 years since I wrote “Whatever Happened To Jesus?”.  It’s message has been on my heart since I became a Christian and I’m releasing it now because I think it’s “for such a time as this.”  Over the last 23 years things have only gotten worse.  We have embraced the world to such a degree that in many churches one would be hard pressed to see any real difference between the surrounding culture and the church.  The word of God often takes second place to the words of men, and is often twisted to embrace that which it directly forbids!  One obvious sign of apostasy is the rejection of God’s Word:

“Preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction.  For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires, and will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths.”  (2 Timothy 2:2-4)

Embracing a world system which God rejects (1 John 2:15-17), and turning aside from God’s truth can only lead to a falling away from Jesus.  While His name may be invoked and retained, in actuality He has been left behind while we go to follow our own desires and ideas.  In essence we are no longer following Him however much we may say we are.

The spirit of anti-Christ works by seduction

Before the anti-Christ comes there will first be a spirit of anti-Christ that permeates the world. (1 John 4:3, 2 Thessalonians 2:3)

Christians speculate on who the anti-Christ will be and if he’s presently in the world, but the scripture tells us that before the anti-Christ makes his appearance there will be a widespread anti-Christ influence that is seen.  We tend to of think “anti-Christ” as something that’s “against Christ”, but the Greek brings out further meaning:

Greek: anticristoV, meaning “instead of Christ,” or “against Christ”

The spirit of anti-Christ is evident when “instead of Christ” we get something else in His place! And that is exactly what has happened today in many churches.  When Jesus becomes a mere figurehead in the church while we go about without Him doing our own thing, the spirit of anti-Christ has come in… the focus is taken away from Christ and replaced by something else other than Him.  The spirit of anti-Christ doesn’t come into the church with a megaphone shouting, “Hey! I’m against Christ!”; rather, it comes as a “seduction”- an enticement to something thought desirable.  This, of course, is the devil’s modus operandi:

“But I am afraid that just as Eve was deceived by the serpent’s cunning, your minds may somehow be led astray from your sincere and pure devotion to Christ. For if someone comes to you and preaches a Jesus other than the Jesus we preached, or if you receive a different spirit from the one you received, or a different gospel from the one you accepted, you put up with it easily enough.”  (2 Corinthians 11:3-4)

A pure devotion to Jesus

Paul, the apostle, wrote that he was concerned that perhaps we would drift away from a “sincere and pure devotion to Christ”, and embrace “another Jesus”.

I’m not sure I know what the terms “Christian” and “Church”  mean anymore in our present day.  Can you believe anything and practice anything, put the name “Christian” on it, and that alone makes it Christian?  Does putting a sign on the door and calling it a “church” make it one?  Is the church called to embrace the surrounding culture and resemble it?  It would seem so.  The spirit of anti-Christ has come in boldly using His name.  It may not look like anything that we see in God’s word, it may even embrace the world (and in some cases outright sin) in direct contradiction to God’s word, but as long as we call it “Christian” and use the name “Jesus” as Paul said, we “put up with it easily enough.”

We are in the midst of an anti-Christ onslaught where Jesus and His truth are being replaced with cheap substitutes, while His name is proudly attached to the very things He hates! 

It’s not people leaving the church that marks apostasy, it’s the church leaving Jesus!

Revelation 2:4 “Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken your first love.”

In my first post, “Whatever Happened To Jesus?” I address the relationship issue that I believe is key to our current condition.  We are the Bride of Christ and God desires us to be wholly His.  When we forsake our “first love” of Him it leads to an inevitable downhill slide and it’s not long before we’re committing adultery with the world.  We cannot be unfaithful in this way without hardening ourselves, otherwise our straying heart would constantly condemn us.  In Hosea the LORD says, “Let her remove the adulterous look from her face…”  (Hosea 2:2)  Please read my first post where I talk about God’s steadfast love for His people even though they are unfaithful to Him, but for now let’s understand that’s He’s not content to be one of a number of lovers- He desires that we be wholly His.

Loved, but told the truth…

God’s love for His people is beyond words!  And yet, God does not hesitate to tell it like it is:

“Their deeds do not permit them to return to their God.  A spirit of prostitution is in their heart; they do not acknowledge the LORD…” (Hosea 5:4) 

His love is not mere sentimentality; He will not refrain from telling the truth- God expects a change in His beloved.  Things cannot go on as they have with the expectation that everything will be okay! 

“Then I will go back to my place until they admit their guilt.  And they will seek my face; in their misery they will earnestly seek me.”  (Hosea 5:15)

Repentance is not just an Old Testament concept, it runs all through the New Testament as well:

“Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord…” (Acts 3:19)

“When God raised up His servant, he sent Him first to you to bless you by turning each of you from your wicked ways.”  (Acts 3:26)

A final plea to return to Jesus!

We are witnessing a great “falling away”.  Now is not the time to mess around and play games! As we witness apostasy growing it is a clear sign that the end is getting near.

“Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition…”  (2 Thessalonians 2:3)

Is this really the time to be wandering away from Jesus?

The scriptures are filled with examples of straying from the Lord and are given to warn us and turn us back to Him.  “These things happened to them as examples and were written down as warnings for us, on whom the fulfillment of the ages has come…”  (1 Corinthians 10:11)  It’s time to return to Jesus before it’s too late.  As we witness the spirit of anti-Christ permeating the world and the church we should understand that this is exactly what scripture said would happen before the Lord returns for His own; the time to return to the Lord is now!

“I will heal their waywardness and love them freely, for my anger has turned away from them.”  (Hosea 14:4)

“As God’s fellow workers we urge you not to receive God’s grace in vain. For he says,
   ”In the time of my favor I heard you,
      and in the day of salvation I helped you.”

I tell you, now is the time of God’s favor, now is the day of salvation.”  (2 Corinthians 6:1-2)

One of the main things missing in the traditional churches is “body participation”.  I have held this view for a long time and have thought about it at great length for many years.  As one who as traveled extensively the last 25 years among the churches singing and preaching I have come to a firm conclusion: we are robbing the body of Christ of one of the key elements to growth, maturity and joy in the Lord by failing to allow true PARTICIPATION.

Anyone who’s ever served in some kind of “ministry” capacity knows exactly what I’m talking about.  The one who’s doing the ministry gets the most excited and the most out of it!  Why do you think the guy that’s standing up front can go on for an hour while those in the pews are drifting into sleep?  The one who’s doing the ministering is actively engaged.  The one who is actively engaged is actively engaging God!  THAT’S when things become interesting!  I know what I’m talking about… I’ve done plenty of sitting in the pew, and plenty of standing before the church “ministering”.  It’s when we get active with God and active in the church that things began to heat up and our faith begins to get real.  How can we get excited about a God we’re not engaged with, or a church we’re not allowed to participate in?

God gave the church “leaders” not for the purpose of “doing everything”, but rather to “equip the body of Christ for works of service.”  Ephesians 4:11-14 is as clear as the noon day sun when it comes to the subject:

“It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, to prepare God’s people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.  Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching…”

Notice, the role of leadership… God gives leaders to the church “to prepare God’s people for works of service.”  When leaders take on the role of “doing everything” in the church they effectively rob God’s people of the joy, growth, and maturity that comes from serving the Lord: the clergy/laity class system has made God’s people perpetual infants when God’s Word tells us we’re to produce mature adults in Christ.

It cannot be overstated how important every member participation is to the body of Christ…

“What then shall we say, brothers? When you come together, everyone has a hymn, or a word of instruction, a revelation, a tongue or an interpretation. All of these must be done for the strengthening of the church.”   1 Corinthians 14:26

How do we justify ignoring what scripture says about these things?  Serving as a “greeter” or serving coffee, or any number of other created church positions does not fulfill what God has in mind here!  When are we going to let God’s people play a major role in our gatherings?  The clergy/laity distinction is engrained in the thinking of virtually every traditional church including Charismatic and Pentecostal groups.  Simple organic expressions of church life are at the forefront of returning this lost dimension of body participation to the church.  In my opinion, it can’t come soon enough!  I’ve seen Christians come out of their shell, thrive and grow, when simply given the opportunity to actively participate.  Do we want to see the body of Christ come alive?  Then let’s quit robbing God’s people of the God given call to actively be a functioning member of the body of Christ.

Some people have the concept that they SOLO are the church… sitting alone in your bedroom, YOU are the church?  Hmmm.  We’re the “called out ones” not the called out, “one”.  YOU are not the church.  If you’re His, you’re a part of the church.  That implies connection.  If you think God has done away with “church” and Christians gathering together you are sadly mistaken!  There are those going around teaching such things and you’ll never find that idea in the bible.  The church is God’s idea, God loves her, and Jesus is coming back for His bride (Ephesians 5:25-27), the church.

Imagine if church was like a restaurant and you were offered menu choices… “Would you like the lunch or dinner menu today?”

That actually reminds me of an experience I had.  I had been invited to sing at a church and was able to be at their midweek meetings which met at the pastor’s home, and also their Sunday morning worship services held at their church building.  Same “restaurant”, different menu!  My first taste was actually the midweek gathering, and what a gathering it was!  Glorious in every respect!  How can I even describe it?  It pulsated with life!  So deep was the impression it made on me that even though it’s been 15 years, I can remember it as if it was yesterday: The freedom, the joy, the awe, the seriousness, the singing, the koinonia, the presence of God… it was all soooo TANGIBLE!  “This”, I thought, “is what gathering together should be!”  Gathered in that living room were a ton of mostly college kids who sought God, and it showed.  It was “Jesus centered” in worship, and marked by authenticity, vulnerability and transparency as those gathered poured out their hearts to each other and Him.  It was also contagious.  I went back many times just to be a part of what God was doing among them.  (These return trips did NOT include me being there to sing.)  I was there because GOD was there, and His people were there, and honestly I couldn’t imagine NOT wanting to be there!

If midweek was dinner, Sunday was lunch.  Someone switched the menu!  Imagine my surprise when I arrived for the Sunday morning worship service and it was NOTHING like the midweek gathering I had experienced.  It was like going to a seafood restaurant on Wednesday with all it’s nautical decor and tasty fish, then going back for more on Sunday because it was so good… only to find out they were now a burger joint!  (And not an especially good burger joint.  It was like a dry hamburger and stale bun!  What happened to the fish??  Where was that tasty, salty, seafood?)

Many people believe that “form” makes no difference to the church.  I beg to differ!  These were basically the same people, (mostly the same college kids coming together with a wider age range of the church).  The same pastor led both meetings.  The difference was the form, and the expectations people had of living within that form of church!  You cannot tell me that form doesn’t matter.  Form and function go together like a hand in a glove.  That’s why people act a certain way at formal gatherings, and act completely different at a backyard BBQ.  It makes ALL the difference to the church what form we adopt.

At the risk of sounding, “unspiritual”, the gathering of the New Testament Church is much more like a BBQ than a black tie affair.  The gathering of the church is all about family.  It’s not about a “special event” where we dress up to look the part.  The midweek gathering of this church rang so true simply because it was true; the informal form allowed for the family style function!