A Legitimate Testimony Or A Misrepresentation?

"... And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, they do not belong to Christ" (Romans 8:9, NIV).
"For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God' (Romans 8:14, NIV).
"I can do all things through him who gives me strength" (Phil. 4:13, NIV).
"To the law and to the testimony!  If they do not speak according to this word, it is because there is no light in them" (Isaiah 8:20, NKJV).

Some churches require would-be members to give their testimonies as a condition for joining the assembly of believers.  Too often this gets out of control and people get carried away glorifying their past sins and want to portray themselves as the worst sinner since the apostle Paul, the chief of sinners.  Sometimes testimonies do the opposite of the spectrum and are just watered-down bios of about their so-called spiritual journeys (just giving the facts of baptism, going to a crusade, reading the Bible, raising your hand, responding to an altar call gives no details worth knowing about how to get saved--these don't save!), but leave out the essentials: (1) What was their life like before getting saved?  (If they don't know how to get saved, how do we vouch for their salvation?)  (2) How did they come to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ?  (3) What is their life like now that Jesus is in charge?  These three questions are crucial because they nurture and feed the seeker so that he can get saved too.  This is one of the best opportunities to present the gospel one may ever encounter and it's a shame that one misses the chance to materialize it and seize the moment.  Just letting them think they've jumped over one more hurdle does them no favors in the long term--it's short-sighted!

How they went to church since a child and grew up in the faith and seemed to inherit salvation is irrelevant or paraphrastic, (this is nice to know, but not a testimony)--I want to know how they got saved!  The words sin, repent, and saving faith all by regeneration or a born-again experience by the Spirit is a requisite.  To be remiss to mention them is a sin of omission because sin is missing the mark or falling short of the ideal of God' biblical standard.

If anything is worth doing at all, it's worth doing right and well.  I know that the elders may be convinced of their conversion, that they are believers and saved by virtue of personal fellowship, but this is the church's opportunity to judge and discern--just talking the talk and using the jargon of the church doesn't make one a believer. What I'm saying is that if it's just an introduction to get to know the person, and then a vote up or down, based on whether they like the person, it shouldn't be called giving salvation testimonies, because they aren't biblical--these are life stories, church histories, or religious experiences.  It's not just the church's opportunity or ratification of the elders' decision, it's a special occasion for the prospective member.

I am especially suspicious of those who are too shy to even read a testimony to the church, though some may disagree on this nonessential point, because Paul said explicitly in Romans 10:9-10, NIV, this proclamation:  "If you declare with your mouth, 'Jesus is Lord,' and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved, for it is with the heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved."  This says nothing about proxy testimony for the shy.  Also, note that Jesus expressly said in Matt. 10:32 that whosoever acknowledges or professes Him before others, He will acknowledge before the Father in heaven. Of course, this doesn't mean you can get legalistic and deny membership on this basis, but it should be encouraged because it's for their own assurance and sooner or later they will have to profess Christ orally before men. Remember, it's always the devil who's trying to get into the fellowship some other way besides through the gate and some churches sure make it easy for him to worm his way in.

Those too shy at heart must realize that God doesn't give a spirit of timidity according to 2 Tim. 1:7!   A real sign of the Spirit is a bold and fearless testimony!   I realize some people are not gifted at public speaking and are shy by nature, but God changes that and its membership shouldn't be made as easy as talking the talk without any fruit or even explanation of how the conversion happened in detail.  Saying something like, "I was saved when I was five!" means nothing to the seeker or member wondering how to get saved--no one just gets saved by osmosis or because they were born into the right family--it's a turnstile, not something inherited.  We don't get saved en masse like being a member of the right church either, God doesn't save churches or families, but individuals.  It can become a meeting whereby members are just getting to know the prospects and voting on whether they approve of them or not, without any doctrinal information exchanged.

Good testimonies are not just a few lines of Christian lingo showing one has grown up in the faith and has earned the right to become a member, but an illustration of the gospel:  what it was like before salvation; how one got saved; and what's it like afterward that's made a difference.  These are the essentials of biblical testimony and to omit them is a dereliction of duty and indicates a lack of guidance.   If a church is to fail to train in giving biblical testimony, then it shouldn't call them testimonies, but life story or church history, because they are serving another purpose, the prospects are being admitted because the elders believe them, and it's assumed they are already believers and there should be no reasonable objections.

Voting by the church assembly is unnecessary in light of the fact that they are already virtual members when the elders deem them saved, unless testimonies are to be taken seriously they are futile, but serve as a time to get to know the person better, but not any concrete evidence of salvation.  In Revelation "they overcame by the word of their testimony" (cf. Rev. 12:11, NIV); this is not just clinging to some childhood experience like telling the people you were saved at five or even that you responded to an altar call (the church may not believe in them)--this has no inherent spiritual impact or convicting power!  The overcoming power is in the gospel (cf. Rom. 1: 16) and the experience one has with it through the Spirit (cf. Phil. 4:13).

The dynamic of church membership should be straightforward and not pretend to be what it's not (they're not fooling God, who sees through the veneer and masquerade)--it shouldn't be majority rule, for it is seldom the voice of God.  The accord of the elders and unity of the body one in the Spirit and mission should pass judgment, with the personal rights:  "I dissent, I disagree, I protest," according to our legacy a Protestants.  

We need to adjourn the methodology of welcoming members aboard by virtue of talking the talk and knowing some jargon, but be forthcoming about what we are doing and teach the biblical way including renouncing sin, having saving faith, and regeneration by the Holy Spirit; for we are members of The Way--let's proceed like we know it (and I'm not being nitpicky), instead of performing a sham for God, trying to make people feel good.  Call it what it is (and it's not certifying salvation), and do it the right, biblical way.  Soli Deo Gloria!

Just Be Yourself

In Shakespeare's play, Hamlet, Polonius says, "To thine own self be true."  This is one of the most famous quotes from Shakespeare and even misquoted and misinterpreted.  We don't want to try to be someone else, of course, unless we aspire to be like Jesus, like all Christians do, but we still retain our personal identity and should never forget who we are--our roots and calling. God hates hypocrites and duplicity!  It wasn't long ago that kids idolized Michael Jordan and chanted, "I want to be like Mike!"  It is never advisable to live as someone else, live a lie, nor to live in sin, but being true to thine own self implies being true and having integrity too. 

The prerequisite to being yourself is knowing yourself, one of the twin goals of the Greek philosophers of antiquity:  Know thyself; know God--they are correlated.  This is why Socrates' dictum from his trial articulated this well: "The unexamined life is not worth living."  We all need to take inventory and get a spiritual checkup to find out where we stand in Christ and be honest with God with no skeletons in the closet.  We must find out what we're made of and what we are in Christ to be of use to God's service.

Bruce Jenner took this advice and became Caitlyn; however, he didn't go far enough--once he found out what or who he was, he should've been convicted and repented of his sin and asked God to transform his nature.  If you have tendencies to be an arsonist or a thief, you don't live them out under the pretense of being true to yourself.  What is wrong for others is wrong for everyone and God is the moral center of the universe, not us.  Taking God out of the picture leads to being a sinner, no matter how true to yourself you are.  Shakespeare was a Christian and quoted the Bible hundreds of times in his plays and sonnets, and there is some truth to what he wrote in Hamlet.  

Does character count?  Paul said that nothing good dwells in him and the good that he would do, he doesn't do.  Ovid said that he knows the good and approves it, but doesn't do it.  The point is that we don't have the power to conquer sin without Christ in our metric.  I'm glad that the Holy Spirit is a restraining influence on the sinners of the world, to keep them from being as depraved as they possibly could be or would be if they could.

Being true to yourself necessitates honesty with yourself and being open about who you are, good or evil.  Jenner wasn't necessarily given bad advice, but his problem is not that he chose to be a transgender, but that he doesn't know Jesus.  Hypocrites are those who act a role they really aren't and put on a show for others to see as a deception--wearing a mask in a play.  "Why is it that I know what is right, but do what is wrong?" (Leo Tolstoy's character Pierre says in War and Peace). 

God is looking for honest people (even if they don't measure up to their own standards), and sometimes that honesty is costly and we cannot put a price on our integrity.  When they say, "What you see is what you get," they are being human, for God is not looking for ideal people but real people.  Jesus came to save sinners and to call them to repentance. Jenner needs to humble himself before God and realize his helplessness to be the man God intended him to be.

As Christians, we should think outside the box and put others first, and live for something bigger than ourselves--the community of believers, the body of Christ.  There is a point at which so-called tribalism becomes evil, like when we deify a political party and follow it right or wrong; we should never forget that we belong to Christ first as citizens of heaven, and He has primary authority over our lives.  Individualism is evil, though we are individuals.  When we exalt ourselves and think we don't need anyone, we mock God who designed us to need community as social beings.  As Christians, we have the mindset to give back to society and the church and want to contribute, not just be focused on what we can get out of the system.

No one is autonomous and self-sufficient but God!  He needs no one and nothing, but we are ones in need of Him and others.  The Victorian Englishman was known as a self-made man who worshiped his creator!  This is the epitome of individualism, and also believing that God helps those who help themselves, like Ben Franklin and John F. Kennedy said, is bad theology--for God helps the helpless and those who are in need, even destitute--this is quoted by politicians as an argument against a nanny-state, public assistance, entitlements, and even social safety nets.  Some people are not in a position to help themselves or to turn their lives around for the good.

If our nation believes everyone has the right to life, it would follow that they have a right not to starve to death and to be fed adequately--for even prisoners are granted three square meals a day.  Christian, transcendent law entails equal opportunity, and no bias towards the rich or big business either.  They talk about social engineering for the poor or redistribution of wealth to their advantage, but what about social engineering favoring the rich or corporations, and redistribution of wealth their way?

Many today follow the so-called Iron Rule, or that "might makes right" and the law of the jungle should prevail (from the Darwinian theory of the survival of the fittest).  People want to take care of themselves first and be as independent as possible--look out for Number One!   The Christian ought to be about something bigger than himself.  The first lesson one learns upon knowing Christ is that it's not all about them!  Christians learn to love others as members of the same body of believers. God doesn't approve of Lone Ranger Christians or lone wolves who think they can go it alone and be a one-man-band for Christ--the key to authority is that everyone is under authority and accountable from the top all the way to the bottom, and those who refuse to be under authority have no authority for Christ.

In other words, good leaders are first good followers and good teachers are first good students.  But we never reach a point of graduating from the School of Christ that we have enrolled in for the remainder of our lives, but must learn that we are always works-in-progress and others should be patient with us because God isn't finished with us yet--as He promised to bring our sanctification to completion (cf. Phil. 1:6).  The mature believer has taken himself out of the equation of life; for humility is not thinking less of himself, but thinking of himself less.

We need to be true to ourselves, but this is in light of being true to God and what His Word tells us, not listening to what the world says and its conventions, traditions, and customs--don't live a lie!  They say to be yourself, but most people haven't discovered who they are and are searching for some identity, known as an identity crisis to find themselves.  We must be found by God and changed by His grace, for our sin nature has no power over sin, since it's the slave to it.

In this day and age, many people are coming out of the closet and declaring their sins without shame, and our culture thinks it's the right thing to do to accept them the way they are, when they need to repent of their sin:  "Repent, for the kingdom of God is at hand!"  The message of sin, repentance, and faith has been lost and today it seems that anything goes and people are living to please themselves and doing what is right in their own eyes: (Isaiah 53:6, NKJV) "All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned, everyone, to his own way."

The "what's-in-it-for-me" gospel has come into vogue and we need to realize that the Christian life is a surrendered, relinquished, obedient, exchanged, and a substituted life through Christ's power (cf Gal. 2:20).  God gave us ego and a will, and as soon as this is realized there is the peril of putting them first and before God-exalting or deifying them instead of God, i.e., not giving God His due.  Soli Deo Gloria!