"Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves. Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates? - 2 Corinthians 13:5
A reprobate is one who is a hardened sinner, a scoundrel, and one who is cast off by God. It is said that about 80 to 90% of new converts to the Christian faith fall away and leave the faith, primarily because they were not truly converted in the first place. They may have sincerely believed they were converted, but were sadly mistaken They were not taught about the ten commandments and how guilty they were and therefore in need of the Savior Jesus. If they are not convicted of how guilty a sinner they are, they feel no true remorse and do not truly repent; so it is easy to slip back into sin again. The sad thing is, most of these false converts think they are truly saved. Another sad thing is that often they are very worldly and their loose conduct causes the world to think all Christians are hypocrites.
It is one thing to be a new "babe in Christ" and make mistakes, and another thing to sin without remorse. A true Christian, when he sins, is saddened by his conduct and feels convicted by the Holy Spirit and will repent and make changes to live more of a godly life. A true Christian does not make a practice of sin; they do not live in sin. The Holy Spirit is given to those that obey God (Acts 5:32). If a person feels no conviction when he sins, then he may not even be born again. In other words, the Holy Spirit is not living in that person at all.
A false convert will likely be guilty of things such as the following: "Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God." (Galatians 5:19-21).
A false convert will likely be guilty of things such as the following: "Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God." (Galatians 5:19-21).
"By this shall all men know that ye are My disciples, if ye have love one to another." - Jesus speaking at John 13:35 . Love for people, especially of other believers, is a mark of a true Christian, a true convert. That would mean you would not gossip about or slander anyone, and that you would always display the fruit of the Spirit which is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, and temperance. (Galatians 5:22-23)
A true Christian will not love the world and be consumed in its pleasures and lusts, and will watch his associations carefully. "Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God." - James 4:4 . That is pretty plain and is a warning. See the warning signs in my photograph above? They are warning of turbulent waters and to be careful ... there may even be rip tides. The Bible gives us warnings and signs to obey and follow for our own good, and we would be wise to heed them. The Bible is God's Love Letter to us and also His Instruction Manual. Yet there are many professing Christians who never read God"s Word; they are spiritually illiterate and therefore weak in faith and not on fire for Jesus. They live day by day in a spiritual vacuum, never asking God for direction and seldom praying, if at all. WAKE UP! Time is short! Jesus will return soon and so many people are not ready and are not watching for Him like they should.
"I believe hundreds of Christian people are being deceived by satan now on this point, that they have not got the assurance of salvation just because they are not willing to take God at His Word." -
D. L. Moody
"There was a day when I died, died to self, my opinions, preferences, tastes and will; died to the world, its approval or censure; died to the approval or blame even of my brethren or friends; and since then I have studied only to show myself approved unto God." - George Mueller
A true Christian, as a follower of Christ, will endeavor to imitate Him. "He that saith he abideth in Him, ought himself also to walk, even as He walked." - 1 John 2:6
Following is a You Tube video about True and False Conversion by Ray Comfort.
Another video that relates to what we have discussed here is below. It is titled "Hell's Best Kept Secret" and Ray Comfort and the actor Kirk Cameron share biblical truths.
I hope you take the time to view these two videos. They are excellent for guidance for yourself and for leading others to Jesus. I am sure you will agree that we live in perilous times now, and even though I am keenly interested in Bible prophecy, I realize the Great Commission of preaching the Gospel is what Jesus told us to do. (Matthew 28:19-20) Let us be busy in the Lord's work in these end times we find ourselves living in.
"Hereby know we that we dwell in Him, and He in us, because He hath given us of His Spirit."
- 1 John 4:13
