Disciple: One who patterns one’s life after another. Christian: One who lives one’s life after the physical and verbal pattern set by Jesus Christ–one who is His disciple. To show how important it is to emulate Him exactly, upon ascending to the Father the risen Savior arranged for an historical account of His doings and teachings to be recorded for all mankind in the form of the Holy Bible. It is this written pattern that those of us who call ourselves Christians must follow (“walk”) in order to have our names written in the Book of Life. These are they who “labor (obey) in THE gospel” as did the Apostle Paul (Phil. 4:3). The Lord tells us in Revelation 21:27 that only those who obey THAT gospel will enter His Kingdom upon His return and reign with Him on earth for ever (2 Tim. 2:12/ Rev. 5:10;11:15;22:5). In Revelation 22:19 He tells us that anyone whose name is written in the Book of Life, who then rejects so much as a word of THAT gospel, will have his name REMOVED FROM IT. In this instance He is referring to the Book of Revelation. But if that book is unchangeable, then all books in the Bible are unchangeable. Jesus said: “Thy (God) Word is Truth” (Jn. 17:17). Note that He did not say that only certain parts of it is Truth–every Word of it is Truth. The Lord emphasizes His written Word because EVERYTHING WE KNOW ABOUT HIM AND THE FATHER IS WRITTEN THEREIN. THE BIBLE IS THE SPIRIT-BREATHED PATTERN WE ARE REQUIRED TO FOLLOW IN ORDER TO INHERIT ETERNAL LIFE (2 Tim. 3:14-17). In this passage Paul reminds Timothy that the Scriptures he has learned from childhood must be obeyed in order to attain salvation, that the Scriptures are holy, God-breathed and profitable for doctrine, reproof, correction and instruction in righteousness. And remember that in this instance Paul was referring to the Old Testament–the only Scriptures in existence at that time. And if the Old Testament is God-breathed, then the New Testament is also. Both, we are told, form the foundation of the New Covenant Church (1 Cor. 10:11).

A true Christian is one who strictly follows the Lord’s written pattern. His “walk” (life pattern) segregates him from all others and places him in a group so tiny and so far “outside the mainstream of Christianity” that to “mainstream” people those in that group are nonexistent. When God brings His people to the public’s attention they are immediately rejected because they are “peculiar,” as God describes His people (Deut. 14:2;26:18/Titus 2:14/1 Pet. 2:9). Church people hate spiritual peculiarity in general and reject those who exhibit that type of behavior, especially because they bring to light the difference between church truth and God’s Truth. Approximately two billion out of the world’s seven billion people call themselves “Christians.” Do two billion people today live up to the standard–follow the pattern–set by the prophets of olden times, the Lord and His apostles? I have been preaching and writing about His pattern for many years. Thousands of people have heard and read my teachings. I can count on my fingers the number of true believers I know personally. Jesus Himself had only 120 or so disciples at the time of His death. Two billion? I think not. I believe the number to be more like 10,000 world-wide. Why?

Because to live THE Christian life is to live a CERTAIN WAY–to do things (think, speak, act) in a CERTAIN MANNER; to conform to a CERTAIN STANDARD set by a CERTAIN LEADER–Jesus Christ. Today that Standard is His Holy Bible. Recall than Apollos, Lydia, the Bereans and the uber-zealous Paul of Tarsus all considered themselves to be “disciples” of God. But had they continued on the religious path they were on not one of them would be allowed into Kingdom headquarters at the return of Jesus. They all had to learn, believe and obey “THE way of God more perfectly.” The Counterfeit Church system does not follow THE way of God. Rather, her parishioners are allowed to choose from the MANY ways Satan has made available. A way (church, denomination, non-denomination, faith, order, sect, cult, etc.) is provided to meet the religious proclivities of each parishioner’s preconceived idea of who the Biblical God is and how He would have him/her live. The result is the multi-bodied religious morass known as Catholicism/Protestantism. True Christianity, however, is THE PRESCRIBED WAY OF GOD AS STATED IN HIS WORD. It is a lifestyle–a “walk.” The obvious question is: What is that walk? What does the Christian life look like? The entire Bible serves as the God-seeker’s life pattern. It is the way of “peculiarity.” The Lord has provided mankind with a condensed version of His peculiar “walk” in Matthew 5. It is known globally as the Sermon on the Mount. Let us go there for a glimpse of the Christian lifestyle. To be continued. L.J.