{"id":600,"date":"2020-10-26T11:47:59","date_gmt":"2020-10-26T11:47:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/stevebelsheim.com\/?p=600"},"modified":"2024-01-17T13:24:21","modified_gmt":"2024-01-17T13:24:21","slug":"the-tragedy-of-not-challenging-nominal-christians-dont-play-quiet-mouse-as-nominal-christians-are-on-the-road-to-hell","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.stevebelsheim.com\/?p=600","title":{"rendered":"The Tragedy of Not Challenging \u201cNominal Christians\u201d: Don\u2019t Play \u201cQuiet Mouse\u201d as Nominal Christians are on the Road to Hell"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The rooted thinking website posted a great article that addresses those \u201cnominal Christians\u201d who reside within the church.  The article is written by M. R. Conrad and is entitled \u201cFaking It: The Sad Reality of the Nominal Christian.\u201d   The link is: https:\/\/rootedthinking.com\/2020\/10\/06\/sad-reality-of-nominal-christian\/<\/a> .  I recommend that you read it, especially if you are in church leadership. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The article reinforces what is a frustration of mine in that when church leadership sees behavior inconsistent with how a believer is supposed to live, they are reluctant to challenge those folks about the genuineness of their conversion.  I understand that church leaders do not stand in the place of God and that only God knows a person\u2019s heart.  Yet, is it really \u201cloving\u201d to play \u201cquiet mouse\u201d when nominal Christians are on the road to hell.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Is it really \u201cloving\u201d to play \u201cquiet mouse\u201d when nominal Christians are on the road to hell.<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The fact that nominal Christians are on the road to hell is the most important reason to raise the issue about the genuineness of one\u2019s conversion.  Conrad\u2019s article makes that point citing Matthew 7:22\u201323 (ESV) :<\/p>\n\n\n\n

22<\/sup> On that day many will say to me, \u2018Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?\u2019 23<\/sup> And then will I declare to them, \u2018I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wow!  Can you imagine the surprise by the \u201cmany\u201d in verse 22!!  The \u201cmany\u201d who can say \u201cdid we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?\u201d qualify as nominal Christians.  The ESV translates the Greek adjective polys<\/em> as \u201cmany\u201d and it means a relatively large quantity of objects or events\u2014\u2018many, a great deal of, a great number of.  See Louw, J. P., & Nida, E. A. (1996). Greek-English lexicon of the New Testament: based on semantic domains (electronic ed. of the 2nd edition., Vol. 1, p. 594). New York: United Bible Societies.  The large multitude of nominal Christians will be eternally disappointed when they meet Jesus face-to-face.      <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The large multitude of nominal Christians will be eternally disappointed when they meet Jesus face-to-face.     <\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The article ends with eternally urgent advice to any believer, but especially to church leadership:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wheat and tares look virtually alike. Only God can see hearts. However, the awareness that those dear to us may merely appear to be a brother or sister in Christ should compel us to humbly initiate these hard conversations. Let us not become the Christian gestapo, but let us exhibit an authentic urgency and concern for the spiritual condition of those who worship God alongside us each week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Believers should humbly initiate those difficult conversations with those who seem to be nominal Christians.<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

If you are reading this post and are not a Christian, unless God intervenes, your eternal destination is hell.  But, your destiny can change.  Today can be the day of your salvation!  Please see my blog (https:\/\/stevebelsheim.com\/2020\/04\/20\/for-god-so-loves-you-2\/<\/a>) for a description of how you can be saved.  You can also go to another article at my blog (https:\/\/stevebelsheim.com\/2020\/10\/20\/there-is-hope-even-when-there-seems-to-be-no-hope-2\/<\/a> ). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you have comments, questions, observations or the like, please leave a comment in the comments section or send me an email at steve@stevebelsheim.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

NOTICE OF PERMISSIONS<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I am mindful of and respect the rights other authors and\/or publishers possess in their works.  I thus try my best to not violate any copyright rights other authors and\/or publishers possess in their works.  The below copyright permission statement is the result of my best efforts to understand that limited usage or \u201cfair use\u201d is available and\/or to secure direct permission for specific works.  The quotations from commentaries are considered to be \u201cfair use.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Scripture quotations marked \u201cESV\u201d are from the ESV\u00ae Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version) copyright 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.  Used by permission.  All rights reserved.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Scripture marked \u201cNASB95\u201d are taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE\u00ae, Copyright \u00a9 1960,1962,1963,1968,1971,1972,1973,1975,1977,1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Scripture marked \u201cNCV\u201d is taken from the New Century Version. Copyright \u00a9 1987, 1988, 1991 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Scriptures marked \u201cNET\u201d are quoted are from the NET Bible\u00ae  http:\/\/netbible.com copyright \u00a91996, 2019 used with permission from Biblical Studies Press, L.L.C. All rights reserved”.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Scripture quotations marked (NLT) are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright \u00a9 1996, 2004, 2007, 2013, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Scripture marked \u201cGW\u201d is taken from the God\u2019s Word Bible that is a copyrighted work of God’s Word to the Nations. Quotations are used by permission.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The rooted thinking website posted a great article that addresses those \u201cnominal Christians\u201d who reside within the church.  The article is written by M. R. Conrad and is entitled \u201cFaking It: The Sad Reality of the Nominal Christian.\u201d   The link is: https:\/\/rootedthinking.com\/2020\/10\/06\/sad-reality-of-nominal-christian\/ .  I recommend that you read it, especially if you are in church […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"off","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[322],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-600","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-gospel"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.stevebelsheim.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/600","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.stevebelsheim.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.stevebelsheim.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.stevebelsheim.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.stevebelsheim.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=600"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.stevebelsheim.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/600\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2156,"href":"https:\/\/www.stevebelsheim.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/600\/revisions\/2156"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.stevebelsheim.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=600"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.stevebelsheim.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=600"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.stevebelsheim.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=600"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}