As for the gravatar I may have spelled it wrong or it is not a www. or a .com just Google the words “free gravatar” and you should find it.

I agree that we can’t judge who’s a Christian and who’s not, based on their works. Christian fruitfulness is the result of the indwelling of the Spirit which we receive upon repentance. Christian fruit is anything done to God’s glory through the Spirit and the Spirit cannot contradict Scripture or seek alliances with the world since we have been taken out of the World and belong to God’s Kingdom.

As Christians in this world we have a new spirit but we still have our old bodies which can lead us into tempation and sin. A Christian doesn’t loose his salvation when he sins as some people teach. If he is predestined and truly saved by God’s grace then he will be (made) aware of his sins and ultimately return to God and repent of his actions and he will be forgiven. We can all make mistakes and stray from the Way so that makes it difficult to judge whether a person truly is a Christian based merely on his deeds. We should, however, expose false teachings. We do know, as Scrpiture indicates, that anyone who denies that Christ is the Son of God is not born of the Spirit. (e.g. 1 John 4:2-3)

Frankly, if I had to judge whether I was a Christian or not, based on my own works, I’d have to say of myself that I’m not. I deserve to burn in hell. I’m not holy. I’m a sinner, imperfect and continually need to be corrected. I can’t save myself. That’s the whole point of the Christian faith. You’re sinful and spiritually dead. You need to be spiritually reborn in Christ who gives everlasting life since His sacrifice and Ressurection conquered death. God gives us faith and our faith justifies us, not our works.

source: Romans 4:3-5; Romans 8:23; Ephesians 2:8-9; Ephesians 4:30

LOL @ your last remark. I’m going to look for an avater if you want me to be more identifiable. But the link you gave doesn’t work though…

I just wanted to clarify what that passage in Matthew chapter 7 means. I bring that up because much too often I hear Christian fruit inspectors use that phrase claiming they can judge who is and is not a Christian. The Bible as far as I understand it does not teach that Christians will never have what appears to others as bad fruit. Those who say you can know who is a Christian or not by their own fruit inspection might as well be saying that you can know who is a Christian by their own judgment of whether they are sinning or doing good words. That is not true.

Colossians 1 is an exhortation to the Church to produce fruits of the Spirit. It does not in any way imply that we can know who is or is not a Christian by inspecting their fruits. Neither does Chapter 7 of Matthew say we can know Christians by their fruits. It actually says we can know false prophets by their fruits. Anyone who did not follow what I just said on Matthew 7 needs to go back to my last comment for the full explanation.

On another subject, You do not have an avatar assigned to you. If you want to be more identifiable you might enter your email address and you should have one automatically assigned to you (it will not be published). If you do not like your default avatar you can even make your own gravatar that will follows you anywhere you ever post by signing up with http://www.gravator.com and then uploading the image you want used as your gravator. It all only takes minutes. That’s how I got my picture on these comments rather than a freak picture like the rest of you but you probably never noticed the difference.

Good advise but on your last statement I am not sure we can know who are born of the Spirit by their fruits. I think that is a common misconception in Christian teaching. I do not see where the bible teaches we can know Christians by their fruit.

The statement in Matt 7:20 that say “wherefore you will know them by their fruits” is talking about false prophets and in context the statement actually starts in verse 15.

15 ¶ Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.
16 Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles?
17 Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit.
18 A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit.
19 Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire.
20 Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them.

I am sure that includes false Christian teachers today but maybe not politicians and most Christians. So what would the rotten fruit be anyway? Certainly not works, we are not very good at judging motives or good works.

I suggest the rotten tree is rotten because it stopped taking nourishment from the root of God’s Word and replaced it with man’s ideas and demonic deceptions just like the False prophets did. The rotten fruit is their byproduct.

The rotten tree that produces rotten fruit therefore is much like what we see happening in the leadership of those who redefine Christianity down to a New Age religion and produce a rotten gospel of deception that leads people to hell. An example of a rotten tree would be the author of “the Shack” and the fruit would be the “The Shack”

So a modern application of judging the fruits of a teacher is to comparing what is being taught to God’s Word. However many of the rotten trees now teach Christians to downplay doctrine because they do not want their rotten core to be exposed by it. Yet, Jesus warns us to beware of these wolves in sheep’s clothing but how many Christian are actually aware?

It’s true that Jesus demanded us to be like children. I’ve come to better understand that lately. It’s not easy since we tend to rely more on our own logic and abilities but in the end we’re just fallible and imperfect people like anyone else and we can’t really do anything right unless we do so to the honor of God through the Spirit. I think what Christ meant with being child-like in faith is that we must humble ourselves before our Father in heaven and obey His Word to please Him. What father would sacrfice his only son out of love and for the salvation of others? None but God. The Gospel is really simple in that regard but apparently it’s too complex for our brains and our fallible thinking. I don’t think any of us genuinely want to be saved or can have any understanding of the Gospel out of our own will and reasoning. Faith is a gift of God, and how precious it is !

As for McCain, part of me wants to see him become the next president of the U.S. but it’s mostly out of lack for better candidates though. Well, there are better candidates, but the people don’t seem to care about them. It does look like McCain has changed his opinion on several issues to appeal to the more conservative voters. Mitt Romney was probably the best example of that kind of hipocrisy. Actually many of my political views seemed to be in agreement with those of Romney but if I were an American I don’t think I’d have voted for him. Even though I’m in disagreement with Ron Paul on a few issues, most notably the war on terror and Iran, I still have more respect for him because at least he seems to be principled and he doesn’t flip flop all on his views all the time to appeal to some group of voters. And my oh my, how easy it is to deceive the so-called Christians! Just tell them you don’t support homosexuality or abortion even if you actually do, and you’ll be just fine. They don’t seem to have much of a memory anyway… Once you’re in office, you can forget about them.

If those Saddleback Evangelicals had any understanding of the Christian faith, they would not be inviting McCain and Obama to their church to “decide” who represents their views most. I’m sorry, but I find the whole idea laughable. The Church ought to be a place for Christians to meet for worship, encouragement, preaching and discipleship where the Gospel is heard, not Heavy Metal band or a place for politicians to debate and convene.

Perhaps they should stop spewing their purpose driven drivel and stop sympathizing with universalists and representatives of false religions and, instead, proclaim the Gospel of salvation of sin, repentence and redemption to the BILLIONS of people who are being held captive by the agents of the religion of peace, the Buddha, Hindu gods, demonic spirits, and Communist leaers. Perhaps they could also spend their purpose driven money on supporting the MILLIONS of oppressed and persecuted Christians in the Islamic World, India, North Korea and other Communist nations. But why don’t I hear them speak up in public for our brothers and sisters in these countries and choose to defend hypocritical politicians who lie in their faces?! Could it be they are not born of the Spirit? Of course only God can judge their hearts, but hey, ye shall know them by their fruits, right?

God bless!

I read that Sheehan and her son were not even talking to each other long before he went to Iraq. Now she plays the caring mother of all mothers. In my opinion, she is just an opportunist but the direction the war took in Iraq should take the wind out of her sails. However, in California even steroid taking body builders, moon beams, saviors, and other various fruits and nuts get elected.

“It occurs to me that John McCain is as intellectually shallow as our current president. When asked what his Christian faith means to him, his answer was a one-liner. “It means I’m saved and forgiven.” Great scholars have wrestled with the meaning of faith for centuries. McCain then retold a story we’ve all heard a hundred times about a guard in Vietnam drawing a cross in the sand.”
http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/08/18/cafferty.mccain/index.html

I was so mad at that, because Christ has always said that it takes a child-like faith to be born again. McCain in his interview displayed that faith and it is really actually that simple. It’s just too bad that most people in this world can’t accept something that simple.

LOL as for Governor Moon Beam, he can’t run again. When he won the recall election, the rest of that term counted as a first term. When he was reelected, it counts as his second, so according to the California “Constitution (gagging)” he can’t run again. I remember the Euphoria of this guy winning the recall, and his supporters were going to try and get an ammendment passed so he could run for the White House. I’m so glad it didn’t work, because he turned out to be a wolf in sheep’s clothing.

About Sheehan, yes it is a sad fact that her son served in the military. She’s actually from the town right next to where my parents live. She’s from Vacaville, my parents live in Dixon. Pretty much everybody out there couldn’t stand what she was doing, and when the national media couldn’t find anybody around to say nice things about her, they didn’t stay too long. Her husband divorced her because he felt she ran their son’s name through the mud because he was a supporter of what he was doing in Iraq. I’ve actually prayed for her a couple of times though, because I know it’s a mother’s love and she was hurt that her son was killed. Doesn’t excuse her whack job of an organization Code Pink though.

I thought governor moon beam was going to run again. Maybe he can’t. I guess it really does not matter much who gets elected in California the majority of the people have already lost their way. They now just need to do more earthquake and fire drills.