I asked a group of practicing Christians a range of questions to challenge their spirits to expose to themselves as to whether they were on the broad-way to hell, or the narrow way to heaven.

Of course, as professing Christians they were all offended that I would suggest that they may not be on the path to heaven, but I persisted that they should not be so proud as to know for sure without at least checking.

What’s the use of being blind to who you really are if it leads you to destruction? Surely, it makes sense to find the truth about what path you are really travelling on, otherwise the journey is all in vain. Sadly, most Christians are too stubborn to be told they may be going the wrong way.

Modernism

Modernism teaches this generation that they have the freedom to choose whatever way they like and no one has the right to tell you what is right or that you’re wrong; and the modern church has adopted this belief under the pretext that love is not offending anyone’s feelings.

Judge by how you make me feel

Modernism is just the old humanism which teaches that I am my own judge and my own god and the way you make me feel tells me whether you are good or bad. If you say nice things and do nice things to make me feel good, then you are good; and if you say or do things that make me feel bad, then you are bad. Humanism bases what is right and wrong on how you make me feel.

The problem

The problem is, righteous correction makes me feel bad, so a humanist Christian can’t get saved because they feel correction as a put-down instead of what they’re doing is wrong and a need to change direction.

Here’s the questions. I suggest you face them honestly yourself, for your own spirit’s sake.

Q.1  What’s the personal evidence that you are a good person?

Q.2  What’s the personal evidence that you are a faith person?

Q.3  What is truth?

Q.4  What is Faith?

Q. 5  What is love?

Q.6  What is a Christian?

I received a range of replies, the core of which are summarised here. I suspect most Christians would agree with their thoughts. Check where you stand.

I’m good

Every person I speak with believes they are good. Humanism teaches this. God’s Word teaches the opposite (Romans 3: 9-12).

They justify their good by their obedience, or niceness, friendliness, hard work, or not having any issues with people, being thought well of, getting something right, helping, or putting yourself out for someone else. The problem is, in almost 100% of cases, all these actions are false good.

The reason I know they are false good is because of their answers to the following questions …

Q.1  Do you think you are good?  Routinely, the answer is always, yes.

Q2.  Do you think you are No.1?  More often than not, the answer is always, yes.

Q.3  Do you look down your nose at your neighbour?  If they’re honest, the answer is always, yes.

Q4.  Do you tell your neighbor how to behave because you know?  If they’re honest, the answer is always, yes.

Q.5  Are you jealous of your neighbour?  If they’re honest, the answer is always, yes.

Q6.  Do you think you are special?  If they’re honest, the answer is always, yes.

Q7.  Do you have a mood if you don’t get what you want, or if people don’t treat you the way you want?  If they’re honest, the answer is always, yes.

Good?

I then asked, ‘are these things good?’, and invariably I get the answer, no.

So, I then challenged their thinking by asking how come you think you are good when the above evidence confirms otherwise? From here on, I usually get dishonesty and not truth. Selfishness doesn’t like to look bad, so obviously, it’s not going to include bad in its list of good because that would make one look bad. False good likes to live in its comfortable lie; to do otherwise makes me feel too embarrassed and self-conscious.

If you think you’re good, then you confirm that you are your own god, because only God is good. So, you’re really doing good for your own selfish self-value. As soon as someone thinks they’re good they confirm they’re controlled by a lying spirit, because the truth is, only God Himself is good. Anyone who thinks they are good is only doing the good so people will think you are good. This is humanism, and the broad-way to hell. It’s certainly not faith; it’s just fake love.

You can’t be No.1 and say God is No.1 too. That’s a lie of self-deception.

You can’t say you love God and say you are good, yet envy your neighbour; that’s a lie of self-deception.

False good vs True good

False good = doing those things that please others and myself for my self-value.

False good is driven by what others think of me. It is measured by how others make me feel and it walks in the fear of what others think about me.

False good lives in the fear of looking bad to others, or being wrong, or getting into trouble, or failing. This false good is always generated by envy towards others who are more favoured or popular, or who can do things better, or the reverse of believing I can do it better than you.

False good either always looks down on one’s neighbour, or feels threatened by one’s neighbour’s status. It contradicts the law of ‘thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself’.

False good does good things, but always for self, even if it’s for God.

False good is just plain self-righteousness.

Wise in own eyes

King Saul was wise in his own eyes. David was wise in the eyes of God. Korah was wise in his own eyes, but Moses was wise in the eyes of God. When you’re wise in your own eyes you’ll only see what you do is good and justify your bad as the fault of others. This is the broad-way to hell.

Calling your evil, good

What Christians don’t realise when they practice false good is that they’re actually calling their selfishness, good. This folly exposes you to a curse (Isaiah 5:20,21) and ultimate destruction (Deut.29:19,20) unless you face your selfishness and repent.

True good

True good = doing what pleases God without any thought of gaining self-favour

The good of God is measured by your attitude to your neighbour and your respect of God’s ten commandments, and only works when God is first in your life, and not yourself or others. But, God can’t be first if you haven’t sacrificed the pride of looking good in the eyes of others.

The good of God is walking in the fear of the Lord, and not the fear of others. This requires the sacrifice of one’s pride to look good in the eyes of others. Until that sacrifice is made because you love God first, you’re on the broad-way to hell and not the narrow way to the eternal city.

The two great commandments are … love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength, and love your neighbour as yourself. As soon as you look down on your neighbour, think you’re better than your neighbour, wish you could do what your neighbour can do, or do things to get value from your neighbour, then all your good is false.

False good is just a lying spirit

Most people agree that Truth is God’s Word. Now, if God’s Word is The Truth and you don’t follow it literally but rather follow it at your own discretion and convenience, even though you’ve convinced yourself that you do follow it right, then obviously you are lying to yourself. But, false good can never accept that. It hurts their feelings too much.

Conclusion

Most people think they’re good, but the truth is, they do everything in order to make themselves feel good. Everyone lives in the fear of what others think. Everyone thinks they are special and have a mood if they’re not treated as such. The truth is, they worship their own image and hate others for being higher ranked. This is what has to be put to death. God may temporarily be in their lives, but, like King Saul, they’re not saved; their Jesus is just a figment of their imagination.

Jesus said you can’t be a disciple until you give up the need to be valued by your fellowman, your parents (Luke 14:26-33), your friends, your employer etc. You actually have to hate self-value, plus you have to be willing to be hated as Christ was (Matthew 10:22-25). Self-love can’t do this. There’s no such thing as trusting God if you like the favour of others’ opinion. Few believe this pathway is valid. Their goodness deduces that they are good and God is good so God wouldn’t make it too hard to get to heaven, so they choose the easy way of just believing they are good. But, if God’s Word is the Truth, and that Word states that death-to-self is the pathway to heaven, then this good person is lying about respecting God’s way of Truth. If one lives in their goodness they won’t want the truth about the hard way.

Good is God. Truth is God. Faith is God. Love is God. If self thinks it’s good, then it doesn’t know God’s truth, or God’s faith, or God’s Love. It just walks in the imagination of its selfish heart.

Gratitude vs Attitude

If you’re truly grateful for what Christ has done for you on the cross, you may make errors, but you won’t allow yourself the right to look down on your neighbour. Under true good, you’ll judge your neighbour righteously, and not from a self-righteous position, because God is the only entity you live for. You’ll know where you stand because false good and bad will hate you for His sake.

May God strengthen His remnant to live the crucified life for His sake.

Pastor Anthony McNaughton