I have been preaching the good news of Jesus’ love and forgiveness for the past 60 years. Deb and I have seen many people come to know Christ, watched them grow and get married, rejoiced in the birth of their children, taught their children, watched them grow to be adults and get married, and in a few cases now teach their children. That makes us spiritual great-grandparents to some kids. It has been a beautiful thing to see. But not all life stories end well. Some fell away after a while. Others floundered from one backsliding experience to another. Some recovered to live consistent Christian lives; others immersed themselves into the world and were swallowed by guilt, grief, and shame, their lives ruined.
The thing that most concerns me are the ones who professed to know Christ years ago, in many cases following their spouse’s conversion experience, and continue to this day in a form of godliness that gives all appearances of being a real Christian; yet they have never shown a genuine love for God. They pray at the right times, ask God for his help, and feel rather secure. But if you ask them (and I have), “Are you sure that if you died right now you would go to heaven?” they often answer, “I hope so,” or “I am not sure.” They sometimes answer in the affirmative and then point to life choices that give them confidence that they must be a Christian. They say, “God answers my prayers, and he would not answer the prayers of a sinner.” Or they might say, “I asked Jesus in my heart and was baptized; and I confess my sins.” When challenged they will answer, “I tell God that if I am not saved, I want to be; surely he would not turn me away.”
Thankfully, from time to time I have seen adults confess that they are lost sinners, without hope before God, admitting they have lived a lie all these years, whereupon they enter into a confident faith relationship with Jesus Christ and become abundant-life Christians.
Observing many experiences over a span of 65 years has taught us to recognize fake Christians—pretenders along for the ride, accommodating their spouses, enjoying the fellowship of Christians, professing what they have never actually experienced. We make no claim to infallible discernment; experience has also taught us that we can be wrong. A doctor diagnoses a patient and prescribes a remedy. Sometimes he is wrong, but the need for diagnosis continues. Just as there is a checklist of symptoms for different diseases, we have observed certain symptoms manifested by fake Christians.
Sadly, even now I have friends and family members whom I believe have never been born again. They are good people but fake Christians. Some whom I have known for many years have associated with true converts, undetected.
Jesus had just twelve disciples and one of them was a fake Christian. For three and a half years Judas tried to believe. He gave up a lot to follow Christ. He performed miracles, cast out devils, preached the gospel of the kingdom of heaven, and ministered in such a manner that when Jesus announced that one of them would betray him, none suspected it was Judas. Clearly Judas did not spend those several years knowingly pretending to be something he was not. Only a sincere commitment to the cause of Christ would have sustained him for three years. There may have been times when his thieving nature took over and he stole a little here and there. Like most thieves, he doubtlessly excused himself with a noble motive of why he needed the money. “As he thinketh in his heart, so is he” (Proverbs 23:7).
It was not until Jesus announced he was going to be taken and crucified that Judas decided he could make a little profit on the side. Judas was a conniver, telling half-truths, appearing to be sacrificing, and when he helped himself to the purse he always gave some of the money in order to maintain his “good Christian” identity. Remember how he reacted when Mary broke the alabaster box of expensive oil on Jesus’ feet? Judas said, “We could have sold that and used the money to feed a lot of poor people.” He knew he could make a little money on the side and still feed a lot of poor folks. When he saw the opportunity to make a profit off Jesus, he was careful. He enjoyed the good favor and camaraderie of the other disciples, and thus made sure that they would not suspect him, so he chose to betray Jesus with a kiss. After seeing Jesus’ miracles, Judas would have assumed Jesus would not be in any real trouble if the authorities took him. We know this because of his shock when Judas saw the results of his betrayal.
Judas was deeply sorry for his actions and changed his mind—repented—seeking to reverse course. He returned the money to the temple priests and confessed his sin. He could have confessed his sin to Jesus and the disciples, but he didn’t want them to know who and what he was. Nevertheless, his guilt would not abate, so he committed suicide, going straight to hell where he is suffering at this very hour, two thousand years later.
In his heart Judas was never a Christian; he was an ordinary religious man, seeking to fulfill his spiritual impulses, making a great effort to please God but never loving God with all his heart, soul, mind, body, and strength. He was a false convert. It just took three and a half years to manifest.
In my experience, 95% of those who identify with the Christian religion have never been born again. When we go to meetings with hundreds or thousands of people, we are aware that large numbers of the parents are not real Christians, and most of the kids are not. They want to be. They call themselves a Christian family, but many are false converts. I know that to be the case by the large number who write letters or come up to us and share how after years of pretending to be a Christian, they finally believed the gospel and were saved.
I do not write this to condemn you but to warn you. You know your own heart and mind. God is patiently calling your name. Someday soon it will be too late.
Matthew 7:22–23
Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works?
And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.
See also: Matthew 25:10–12.
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I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth. 3 John 4
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I grew up thinking I was a Christian. I was just a self-righteous Pharisee all those years. Finally, the Holy Spirit convicted me of my sin and I was terrified of where I was headed. I wanted to be saved. I searched for answers but found none. I was so desperate and tired and finally stopped and cried out to God, "You're God. You know how I can be saved. You show me." About 2 weeks later, I was outside in the yard. All of a sudden, I had a vision. I was standing overlooking a deep canyon like the Grand Canyon. I looked across and saw the other side and knew God was there. Utter despair engulfed me as I realised there was absolutely no way I could get to that other side. I lost my breath at the realisation. And then, from out of the canyon, came the brightest, most beautiful vision I have ever seen. It came so big and bright and beautiful that the canyon just vanished at the appearing of it. It was Jesus on the cross, bearing all my sin! Instantly, the guilt and shame and fear vanished and the shackles that had bound me broke off and I was free! I finally saw and understood what Jesus had done for me and it became a reality in my heart and soul. I was saved! Jesus had saved me! Jesus had taken away my sin! I was forgiven! I was free!
Mike
I can see myself in a couple of the items in the list and I'm confused..
Years ago I was convicted of being a sinner and after calling on the Lord I felt forgiven and my burden of sin was gone.today I have no assurance and live in heavy condemnation,I don't get it,I love God,I love His word,I love sharing my faith but I can't shake this feeling,when I spend time in worship and in the word I feel better but as soon as I am around someone that I think is more spiritual than me I get this condemned feeling again..I also get the same feeling when I have to correct one of my kids or whenever there's conflict I always feel insignifigant and condemned,like a failure..hopefully you can respond to this
Phil
Is there a way to share this to Facebook?
Hello Kristine,
As of right now we don't have the social sharing buttons active. BUT you can always copy/paste the link into your Facebook status update! Thanks for sharing!
Thank you! I was a false convert for many years. And so many of these applied to me! Praise God I was born again at age 29. Thank you Jesus.
Much needed article. Everyone says they are Christians yet continue to sin. Thank you for your ministry. I don't know how I would have survived without it!! I have learned so much!! And continue to do so!
I was one of those false Christians, but more blinded then anything. I sincerely wanted to please God and tried to fill the void of not being truly saved. I had been told by my parents that I was saved based on a prayer I had made at the age of 5. They were well meaning, but that caused me to really believe that I was, yet struggle inside because I wasn't. I had never truly understood nor repented.
Thankfully, I did see my lost condition and came to Christ in full repentance and faith at the age of 28. It was life changing. Because of this, I have a great burden for those who are lost "Christians", and wrote a book, called, "I thought I was". It is a compilation of several who thought they were saved and learned that they were headed straight to hell, and how they came to Christ in true repentance and faith. If you are interested in purchasing this book, please contact me through email.
What does a believing wife do if their spouse is a false Christian?
I was a lost sinner, stoned and sitting on my couch listening to some distant neighbors having a drum circle, chanting and worshipping the harvest moon on a satanic holiday in late September of 2010. It was also a super-moon astrological event so the combination made it very bright out that night. Suddenly they started getting louder and crazier so I went out on my back porch just in time to see a huge demon sort of thing run out of my woods and right past me, down a hill that my house sits on and disappear into the woods in the direction of the chanting and drums. It covered about 450 feet in about 5 seconds running in the weirdest zigzag manner. Eight feet tall, very long arms, leathery gray skin; the real deal.
About six months later, after a lot of Bible reading, I realized I needed to go to hell even though I didn’t believe in a literal hell because I was raised in the Christian Science cult. Then God showed me a stormy-looking, black and white image of Jesus on the cross and I suddenly became cognizant of the true Gospel. It was at this exact moment that I felt a strong wind blow down on and through me and I heard a voice say “I know you.” Truly, I suddenly had the greatest sense of joy possible for a human being to experience and indeed, there is no greater joy that that!
Now I really want the same thing for my wife because she fits your description above of a pretending Christian with a favorable balance sheet of good vs bad deeds as a passport to Heaven. Please pray for her. Her name is Kathrynn. Thank you!
This list of thirteen signs of being a false convert leaves them feeling uncomfortable or "critical of this article".When I hear people saying something like "critical of this article", warning flags go up. I start thinking cult when people start saying you're not doing it my way so you must not be right with God. I enjoy most of the teaching on this site but always watch out for my way or the highway in Christ's teachings. Our total dependence is on the finished work of Christ, His Spirit will lead us on the path of righteousness.
I'm certain we all agree that things in the USA are degrading fast, and we are dumbed-down by politics dictating even our health options to control of one's own body! All to a virus that has a low infection rate and a death rate of under 1%. When the numbers were so high did you ever see a breakdown of it? No, ALL seemed to die of covid-19. Could it be due to the fact that the Dr.s got paid thousands more if so stated? Does anyone recall that our wonderful speaker Nancy, said at the very start of it all "why waste a good crisis"? hmmm. We seem to easily forget so much. It's OK we are all so busy but really now, there are some things we can cut out.
We all seem to say "but what can I do to fight against it all" ?
Well here is one idea, that would go far hopefully, but since we already have so much 'out there' and none of it ever gets deleted...well, isn't something better than nothing?
Since we are on the subject, and since I'm an OLD man who actually had to read Marx and the Communist manifesto in school. (previous to 1970 when civics ended)
I wonder why nobody seems to catch on that ALL the immoral greedy despots of the world like Mr. Hitler etc, would just love this internet.
Years ago No one would ever think about putting personal info in the public eye. Every statement made reveals other aspects of what and how one thinks and believes.
We all of us have been signing up for the concentration camps! That is what we do on any SOCIAL MEDIA! Think about it, they know all you know, and what you think about. Same for all your friends and family, and all that they think, all they know and think about! ad-nauseum.
Facebooger is free but somehow is worth over ONE TRILLION! HOW? Why do big corps and nations pay for your info! But you say, "Oh my little life doesn't matter nor my contacts either, we just whatever..." DUH! We each are easily identified by every post. The above money amounts and each social media is the same Twitter, etc. UNaccountable and in power overall! Follow the money.
ALL social media should be boycotted.
I was into computers from the '80s, and still, teach and repair them, I do ok without any of it. Oh sure it's easier especially if in a business, it, after all, is networking but Just try. (the killer is, nothing gets ever gets deleted that is already out)
Let's show we really don't need them. End the accounts, delete what you can. Perhaps it may make a difference.
I would like to see some of the replies given to these statements. Especially to Phillips comment about self - condemnation. Sad to say, I can relate. I began the Bible First study a year ago, had one friend drop and another join. Three of us completed the study. It's an amazing study and I would like to share it with other's. However; The Bible states that approved workmen are not ashamed. I'm frequently unhappy with the outcomes of my choices. I'm an if only Christian. It really breaks my heart when I don't listen to God. I did have some victories this week, when I waited and listened to God. Also, he showed me why what I did was a sin. I know God is in this world still, and I have not yet been left behind. I want to believe that God will never leave me or forsake me. Yet as Debi puts it. many times, I'm a dumb cluck