True Christianity

Judge Christianity not by the words or actions of those who have lived it poorly, but by the Words of the New Testament of the Bible. That is the true Christianity. As Mahatma Gandhi said: "If Christians lived according to the teachings of Christ, as found in the Bible, all of India would be Christian."

  All people are flawed; all of us sin. We all fail in some areas and need God's forgiveness and grace to be better Christians. All of us rationalize and compromise to a certain degree. We sometimes take the words of the Bible and interpret them to mean what we think they mean; or what we would like them to mean.

  Jesus said: Be on your guard against false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing but underneath are wolves on the prowl. You will know them by their deeds."  Matthew 7:15-16

  The Epistle of John says: Anyone who is so 'progressive' that he does not remain rooted in the teaching of Christ does not possess God. 2 John 9

  St. Paul, in his letter to Timothy says: For the time will come when people will not tolerate sound doctrine, but, following their own desires, will surround themselves with teachers who tickle their ears. They will stop listening to the truth and will wander off into fables. 2 Timothy 4:3-4

  And also: Whoever teaches in any other way, not holding to the sound doctrines of our Lord Jesus Christ and the teaching proper to true religion, should be recognized as both conceited and ignorant, a sick man in his passion for polemics and controversy.

1 Timothy 6:3-5

  So we see that even from the very beginnings of Christianity we have been told that everyone who professes to be a Christian will not necessarily act like one.

  The lesson is: Don't judge Christianity solely by the actions of those who profess faith in Jesus Christ. Look rather to the source of that faith. 

True Happiness

True happiness only comes from living the way God wants us to live, that is, according to His Word revealed to men in the Bible.  Many people look for a religion or faith that fits in with how they want to live rather than how God wants them to live. They ignore passages in the Bible that don't fit in with what they think is right or wrong, good or bad. Or they rationalize and say that that particular part is outdated; that we have come to a clearer understanding of what God really meant.

  At the end of the Book of Revelation St. John wrote: I myself give witness to all who hear the prophetic words of this book. If anyone adds to these words, God will visit him with all the plagues described herein! If anyone takes from the words of this prophetic book, God will take away his share in the tree of life and the holy city described here!  Revelation 22:18-19

  Of course, St. John is writing here specifically about the Book of Revelation. But theologians believe that word applies to all the books of the Bible that are in the approved Canon.

  Be very suspicious then of private interpretation of God's Word, yours or someone else's. That is mainly what has caused the many, many different denominations in Christianity.

What Does It Mean to Be Charismatic

In the spiritual life, to be "charismatic" means to be filled with the fullness of the Holy Spirit. All baptized Christians receive the Holy Spirit when they are baptized. They also receive the ordinary gifts of the Holy Spirit to the degree to which they are capable of accepting them at that time--wisdom, understanding, counsel, strength, knowledge, piety, fear of the Lord. A Christian continues to grow in these gifts throughout his or her life.
  When a person is mature enough to understand, he or she can be instructed about the "extraordinary" gifts of the Spirit--wisdom, knowledge, faith, healing, miracles, prophecy, discernment of spirits, praying and speaking in tongues, and interpretation of tongues. Then he or she can pray for or be prayed with to receive one or more of the extraordinary gifts that God wishes them to have. This is sometimes called (but not always) the "Baptism in the Holy Spirit".
  The extraordinary gifts are only called "extraordinary" because unlike the ordinary gifts of the Spirit, each person does not receive every extraordinary gift.
  St. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 12:7-11:

 To each person the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good. To one the Spirit gives wisdom in discourse, to another the power to express knowledge. Through the Spirit one receives faith; by the same spirit another is given the gift of healing, and still another miraculous powers. Prophecy is given to one; to another power to distinguish one spirit from another. One receives the gift of tongues, another that of interpretation of tongues. But it is one and the same Spirit who produces all these gifts, distributing them to each as He wills.

  With the Baptism in the Spirit a person also experiences Jesus personally and "hears" the Holy Spirit guiding and directing them each day. A person can have a personal relationship with Jesus and hear the Holy Spirit and not be charismatic. But this is not because they are unable to be but because they have not been taught that the Holy Spirit has an extraordinary gift or gifts that He wants them to have.
  To be "filled with the Holy Spirit" does not mean a person has all the power of the Holy Spirit God has to give. On the contrary, our growth in the power of the Holy Spirit is ongoing until we pass on to eternal life. If you have been given the Holy Spirit through Baptism and then been Baptized in the Holy Spirit, there is always more!
  To conclude--a person is charismatic if he or she has been Baptized, has received the Baptism in the Holy Spirit and an extraordinary gift or gifts. All the Apostles and early disciples were charismatic. It's what happened to the Apostles, the disciples and the Blessed Mother on Pentecost. To be charismatic is not a movement or just for certain people. It is ordinary Christianity! It's what God intends for every Christian to be.

  

Turning Away From God

I recently read a quote on falling away from God:  "When the idea and significance of God slip from the mind, and no one bothers about His judgments or Providence, there ensues perhaps at first a sense of release and independence; but there follow ... danger [and destruction]."  Martin D'Arcy
  It reminded me both of people I have know who have fallen away from God and the many witnesses I have read and heard of those who have been led astray. The experiences of these people confirm the words of Mr. D'Arcy.
  God's Word in Scripture also speaks of the dangers of falling away from God:
  For the time will come when people will not tolerate sound doctrine, but, following their own desires, will surround themselves with teachers who tickle their ears. They will stop listening to the truth and will wander off to fables. 2 Timothy 4:3-4
  Take care, my brothers, lest any of you have an evil and unfaithful spirit and fall away from the living God....we ought to be fearful of disobeying lest any one of you be judged to have lost his chance of entering (Heaven).  Hebrews 3:12, 4:1b
  For when men have once been enlightened and have tasted the heavenly gift and become sharers in the Holy Spirit, when they have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come, and then have fallen away, it is impossible to make them repent again, since they are crucifying the Son of God for themselves and holding Him up to contempt.
Hebrews 6:4-6
  These are just a few of the many Scriptures, in both the Old and New Testaments, that warn of the consequences of falling away from God. So let's do everything we can to stay on the right path on our earthly journey and pray to the Holy Spirit to warn us if we begin to go astray.

On Prayer

We pray, not because we are good; not because we are holy; but because we need God’s grace to help us to be good; we need God’s grace to make us holy.