God Is Not a Member of Your Church

Author

Preface

The source of the materials for this work is an accumulation of over nine years in a non-denominational church along with thousands of hours of training, biblical conversations, and study of the Bible, as well as several years as an assistant pastor through those years.

I have not written this as a Biblical authority, scholar, or theologian, as these roles are not part of the salvation experience. I have written this from my personal experience within nine years plus of living as a born-again Christian. I write this as someone on the same road that everyone else is on, striving for the goal that each one of us hopes for: happiness here on Earth and eternal life. From a salvation point of view, whether you are a pastor, teacher, or member of a congregation, we all have the same challenges to face. There are no points gained because of positions.

I feel it is important for me to say something about the church I was a part of for those years. It was very small, holding not more than perhaps 80 people. The membership varied from sometimes close to full to sometimes close to empty. Physically, it was the kind of church that those on Main Street might be inclined to mock out of ignorance, similar to the type that, in a big city, has a neon sign proclaiming Jesus Saves. You have probably passed by churches like this many times with indifference. But the power and the anointing of God was there. I tell you this as an alert that God’s ways are almost incomprehensible to mans simple mind. Thousands of elders in the faith know what I’m talking about. We were blessed to have a pastor who was chosen of God, not of man.

The reason I mention the pastor and this church is that both are vitally important for developing a greater depth of knowledge and wisdom. The small size of this church allowed the Lord to be present in nearly every service to minister both to the church and to individuals within it. There were less distractions and no set time schedule to end the services. We feared God, not only in His awesomeness, but also in His revelations. We took them seriously. We believed. Church attendance is a vital part of the born again experience. Choose your church based on its Bible-based spirituality.

Gene Germani

March, 2018

Chapter 1

Only One Third of the World Believe

The Population Reference Bureau estimates that about 107 billion people have resided on planet Earth at one time or another. Right now, about 7 billion people live on our planet. For the 100 billion who have passed on, the chance to choose where they will spend eternity is over. Their souls are either in Heaven or in Hell, where they will reside for all time. But the rest of us—the seven billion or so of us who are still living—have a choice. We are very, very fortunate! But, make no mistake, we have the same two choices.

To the unbelieving who think there is no God, I can only say I hope that one day you will be drawn by His Spirit. I only hope that you will listen. As the Word of God says, and He said unto them, he that hath ears to hear, let him hear. (Mark 4:9). I know that you may never have read the Bible. I know that you may never have heard those words. You may never even have set foot inside a Christian church. But I also know that you have just as much chance to spend your eternal life in Heaven as I do!

The Bible, which is the Word of God, says that when you who are nonbelieving state that you don’t believe in God, you are actually just suppressing what you know to be the truth. As Paul writes, the wrath of God is revealed from Heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness (Romans 1:18). In other words, you know the truth. As Psalms 19:1 says, The heavens declare the glory of God, so we have no excuse for not believing. Romans 1:20 affirms, For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they [people] are without excuse [for not believing].

Fortunately, it is easier to prove there is a God than to try to prove there is not. In America alone, 8% of the population is either atheist or agnostic. Worldwide, there are about four hundred million atheists. If you are among them, open your mind and heart to the truth of God’s existence! Don’t be one of those 400 million who will spend all of eternity in Hell. Again, my hope for the nonbelievers is that they will recognize the subtle breeze upon them as not just the natural wind of the Earth, but as the Spirit of God seeking to awaken them. If you do not yet believe, my hope is that you will test God’s Spirit and let Him be His own witness.

Around 84% of the world population practices a religion or has a religious affiliation. That is roughly 5.8 billion people. Of this number, only 2.2 billion claim to be Christian. The other 3.6 billion belong to other religions, such as Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, Judaism, and various folk religions. John 14:6 clearly urges us to defend ourselves against these other beliefs: Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, and the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me. If these other religions do not include Jesus, the Son of God, they must be false. There is only one God, not many gods. One John 5:19 tells us, and we know that we [Christians] are of God, and the whole world lieth in wickedness.

If Jesus were not correct in that statement, we would have to assume that all biblical statements may also be untrue. This simply is not correct. Biblical prophecies that should have come true by now have come true, no matter in what period or century they were prophesied. Moreover, throughout all the books of the Bible—which were written by many different authors—we find no inconsistencies or contradictions. Archaeologists’ records and other historical documents align with biblical records and writings; they display no conflicts with biblical teachings. There is no corruption in biblical writings.

Just as with the atheist, my hope is that people who believe in a god other than the biblical God are experiencing an intuitive relationship with the Spirit of God or the Gospel of Jesus. Even more convincing than all of the proofs mentioned herein is your own individual proof that you know in your own spirit—a proof put there by God Himself. There is only one God, not many gods or multiple gods. God did not establish different religions for different peoples. That’s why we find contradictions between these other religions and the Bible. God will not contradict himself. For you 3.6 billion people who serve other gods, I plead with you also to test the Spirit of God and allow Him to show you His power and His glory by drawing you into true salvation!

Merely calling ourselves Christian does not establish a genuine relationship with God. Many of us who call ourselves Christians are missing half the power of God in our lives. It is astonishing how many so-called Christian people—not only here in America, but across the world—take a shotgun approach to a relationship with God. They use a mixed bag of beliefs, techniques, and processes that they apply to this relationship with the hope that after doing all this, the Lord will meet all their needs and wants. They have transformed God into the many images that work for them. They have made themselves even more comfortable by creating a God that sanctions humanism, giving them what appears, to human eyes, a logical reason for accepting their sinful ways. Having those objectives alone is enough to keep a person from experiencing a close relationship with Him. Such people don’t realize that it’s not just about them—it’s about God, and then about them.

Claiming to be Christians—and perhaps truly believing that they are—many people leave the choice of where they will spend eternity to such haphazard and erroneous methods. God did not give us His anointed Word so we could just grab what we want and discard the rest, like a bowl of Chex™ party mix. This is especially true regarding salvation. Because of all this variation, we now have many different concepts of what a Christian is, which each encompasses a broad range of different beliefs. Sometimes the only common denominator is Jesus, and beyond that exists much variation, even in the area of salvation. Most of us as Christians are not even aware of the fact that there is a salvation for our lives while we are here on Earth! This is called sanctification, and it is only possible because of Jesus, who died to allow us to have this great blessing in our lives while here on Earth.

Many people say they are following the precepts of their church, that they are living their lives in accordance with the doctrines and principles of their religion, and that they are confident they are living a life worthy of acceptance into Heaven. How and why are they so confident? How and why do they put so much trust in their religion? What is the basis of that trust? How many of these Christians have compared the doctrines of their religion with the scriptures of the Bible, the Word of God? They will tell you that in addition to following the laws of their religion, they have great confidence in their priests, ministers, and pastors. They will also tell you that they follow the Ten Commandments and strive to be good people. Many of these people are probably saying this with true sincerity, and they may have a genuine love for God. Despite that love, however, they may not have an intimacy with God that represents true salvation.

True salvation is a covenant with God. It represents an agreement of sorts between us and God. It is more or less an imbalanced agreement, as the Trinity of God does all the work and all we have to do is have faith in that work. Understanding this covenant correctly is the basis for a more intimate relationship with God. Millions of Christians do not understand this relationship and covenant. They are totally misguided about how that agreement works, as well as its implications.

Unfortunately, this means that many Christians may not be any better off than atheists or persons in other religions. Fortunately, the remedy is truly so simple: to find true salvation!

Many of us need a refresher course in whom we are dealing with. It’s God, not your friend down the street. We say we know that, but then we give more of our time to the friend down the street. In fact, we give more time to almost everything else we do than to God. Many of us go to church on Sunday and feel really good about ourselves for that small act. But how can we have an intimate relationship with God when we spend only an hour or two a week with Him? How can we think that gives God the place He truly deserves within our busy, busy lives? We can’t have an intimate friendship with a human when we devote just an hour or so a week to that relationship. How disrespectful and insulting to our Creator—who took time to give us life—to spend just a little time in church with Him! We may spend more time walking our dogs than with God.

This point about time spent with God might seem trivial to some people—especially those who are not serious about Godly things—but it shows the extent of our appreciation for our Creator. We should ask ourselves a few questions to consider how much of our lives we’re devoting to God. Do we say our morning and evening prayers? Do we pray over our meals? Do we read the Bible daily? Do we spend time alone with God just to talk? Equally important, do we spend time with God just to listen? If we’re being honest, many of us will have to admit that we have put God at the tail end of our priority list. And we do this not just once in a while, but on a daily basis.

We must not do any of these Godly things just to be considered a Christian. We must do them because we are sinners yet, and because we recognize that our only hope is God, in this life and in eternity. We must do them because we love God and truly understand His importance in our lives. None of these acts alone—or even all of them together—can give us salvation. However, as Christians growing in faith, these acts will become even more important to us. We will soon learn that the more of ourselves we give to God, the more He will reveal Himself to us.

Our God wants to be glorified and recognized as the most important being in our lives. Yes, He demands to be number one in our lives. Yes, ahead of husbands, wives, children, parents, and other loved ones. But you will never regret putting Him first. This is not to say that your natural life will be all roses and honey as a Christian. No, your natural life is just that: natural. As Christians, we still have the bad days, good days, and rainy days mixed in with sunny days. Our house payment or rent is still due, and we still have to work and live this life by the sweat of our brow. In the spiritual