“I would never become a Christian! Look at all the hypocrites in the church! Look at all the scandals of tele-evangelists, the Health and Wealth preachers, the Name it! Claim it! Frame it! hyper-faith prosperity preachers, two-faced frauds and conmen! I don’t want to be part of hypocrisy!”

Hypocrisy Condemned
God is far more offended by hypocrisy than you are. The Bible contains the greatest condemnations of hypocrisy ever recorded. The Apostle Paul wrote about:

“False apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into apostles of Christ, and no wonder! For satan himself transforms himself into an angel of light, therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also transform themselves into ministers of righteousness, whose end will be according to their works.”
2 Corinthians 11:13-15

Paul also wrote of:

“false brethren secretly brought in…” 
Galatians 2:4

The Apostle Peter taught that we are to lay

“aside all malice, all deceit, hypocrisy, envy and all evil speaking.” 
1 Peter 2:1

The writer of the book of Hebrews exhorts us to:

“draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience…” 
Hebrews 10:22

​Humanist and atheist, Bertrand Russell, wrote in Why I am Not a Christian: “Man is the product of … accidental connections of atoms … no fire, no heroism, no intensity of thoughts and feeling can preserve an individual life beyond the grave, and ... all the labour of the ages, all the devotion, all the inspiration, all the noonday brightness of human genius are destined to extinction in the vast death of the solar system. The whole temple of man’s achievement must inevitably be buried beneath the debris of a universe in ruin. All these things, if not quite beyond dispute, are yet so nearly certain that no philosophy that rejects them can hope to stand. Only within the scaffolding of these truths, only on the firm foundation of unyielding despair can the souls’ habitation henceforth be safely built.”

Is Religion a Crutch?
Russell maintained that man is an accident of the cosmos, formed by chance and chaos, directionless in life, and in the end, nothing but food for worms. Russell maintained that religion is simply a crutch for weak people, who cannot bear to face up to reality.

Some religions may be a crutch. Certainly atheism is a crutch. However Christianity is no crutch and many Christians throughout history could hardly be classified as weaklings.

Not for Weaklings
In some of the worst of circumstances Christianity has produced the greatest courage, the greatest achievements, progress, prosperity and freedoms ever known.

Some people see Christianity as some kind of intellectual suicide. A blind leap of faith.

However, Christianity is a reasonable Faith. It is based on incontrovertible, historical facts. Christianity is not a blind leap into the dark. It is an intelligent step into the light. There is nothing virtuous about gullibility. We are not proclaiming faith in faith. It is all too possible to be sincerely wrong. Our faith needs to be in the facts that God has revealed in Scripture and in Creation.

Any skeptical enquirer is to be commended for wanting to examine the foundations of our faith. And the Bible forms the solid foundation for our Faith. The Bible stands as the greatest Book ever written. It is unique in its circulation. The first book to ever be printed was the Bible. The Bible has been read by more people, and printed more times, than any other book in history. No other book has been translated into so many languages.

​The Forbidden Book
It is unique in its survival. No other book has been so viciously attacked throughout history as the Bible. In AD300 the Roman emperor Diocletian ordered that every Bible be sought out and burned. He was determined to destroy Christianity by destroying the Scriptures it was founded on. Anyone caught with a Bible would be executed.

The question of why there is evil in the world was never discussed by the ancient philosophers of Egypt, Babylon, Persia, Greece or Rome. They were polytheists who had a pantheon of gods. Evil was the result of conflicts between the gods. For example, the historical account of the war on Troy was reported by the Greeks as the result of jealously and rivalry between three goddesses.

However, with the understanding of a Holy and loving God, which was a Hebrew concept revealed through the prophets of Israel, the question of how there could be evil in the world began to be discussed. The book of Job is the oldest Theodicy that we know of. A Theodicy is a defence of the justice of God in the light of evil in the world. How can evil and suffering exist when God is all powerful and all good?  

​Sin and Suffering
The friends of Job had a legalistic explanation that the reason Job was suffering so terribly was because he must be guilty of terrible sin. God severely rebuked these false counsellors and vindicated Job as a blameless man targeted by satan.

When the disciples saw a man who was blind from birth, they asked Jesus: “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” Jesus answered, “Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but that the works of God should be revealed in him.” 
John 9:1-3

What is the Difference Between Christianity and all Other Religions?
“Jesus said to him, ‘I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.’”
​ John 14:6

Time and again we hear people say: “All religions are the same! Why do you insist that yours is the only right one?” “How can you be so narrow minded, bigoted and intolerant to believe that Jesus is the only way to God?”

The New Tolerance
In this decadent and immoral society the main virtue seems to be tolerance. And the worst vice is intolerance. However, what they mean by tolerance is something very different to what tolerance used to mean. Today tolerance has gone beyond what any previous generation would have understood to acceptance and approval of deception and depravity.

​Intolerance and Hypocrisy
The New Age tolerance seems to come to a screeching halt when confronted with Biblical Christianity. Any Christian who dares to stand up for basic Biblical beliefs are accused of intolerance! It seems a bit hypocritical of those who claim that all religions are right that they spend so much time declaring that Christianity is wrong. And they do seem to be very intolerant of Biblical doctrine.

Baha’i Syncretism
The Baha’i religion has formalised the New Age spirit into a religion which incorporates all other religions. The Baha’i claim that all religions are the same and they claim to follow Jesus Christ, along with Buddha, Lao-Tzu, Confucius, Muhammad, Zoroaster and whole hosts of other gurus, ‘prophets’ and ‘holy men’.

“And declared to be the Son of God with power according to the Spirit of Holiness, by the Resurrection from the dead.”
Romans 1:4

Who Moved the Stone?
The Resurrection is so important and foundational to Christianity that it has been targeted for the most relentless attacks. Frank Morison, a lawyer, determined to disprove the Resurrection and thereby undermine Christianity. The result of his exhaustive investigations was his conversion to Christ and the publication of his book: “ Who Moved the Stone?”which decisively demonstrates the overwhelming evidence for the Resurrection.

Evidence That Demands a Verdict
A skeptical university lecturer, Josh McDowell, determined to disprove Christianity by investigating evidence against the Resurrection. The result was his conversion to Christ and publication of the monumental: “Evidence That Demands a Verdict” which exhaustively and conclusively presents documentation and evidence upon evidence substantiating the historical truth, factual accuracy, archeological evidence, manuscript evidence, fulfilled prophecies, transformed lives, and other indisputable evidences which support the fact of the Resurrection of Christ from the dead and the truth claims of Christianity.

Facing the Facts
Thomas Arnold, Professor of History at Oxford University, one of the greatest historians of the 19th Century wrote: “I know of no one fact in the history of mankind which is proved by better, fuller evidence of every sort, to the understanding of a fair enquirer, than the great sign which God has given us that Christ died and rose from the dead.”

“But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear.”
1 Peter 3:15

Be Prepared
The motto of the Scouts is: “Be prepared.” Similarly, we as Christians must be prepared to answer those who would ask us to explain what we believe, and why we believe.
We are exhorted to:
​
“… contend earnestly for the Faith which was once for all delivered to the saints.”
Jude 3

The apostle Paul declared that he had been appointed:

“for the defense of the Gospel.” 
Philippians 1:17

“But avoid foolish and ignorant disputes, knowing that they generate strife. And the servant of the Lord must not quarrel but be gentle to all, able to teach, patient, in humility correcting those who are in opposition, if God perhaps will grant them repentance, so that they may know the truth, and that they may come to their senses and escape the snare of the devil, having been taken captive by him to do his will.” 
2 Timothy 2:24-26

​One of the most famous atheists of the 20 th century, British philosopher, Bertrand Russell wrote: “Why I am not a Christian.” When he was asked what he would say if it turned out that there was a God after all, Russell replied that he would ask the Almighty: “Why didn’t you give us more evidence?”

This prompted a reaction from science teacher and author Ken Poppy that Russell “seems to be positioning himself in case he needs to shift the blame to God for the not being more convincing. (Hmmm. Did he never see a bright cool moon setting in the blue western sky while the sun rose circular red through the eastern clouds? Did he never hold a newborn baby?)”

A Hidden God
17th Century French mathematician and scientist Blaise Pascal wrote: “What can be seen on earth indicates neither the total absence of God nor His manifest presence, but rather the presence of a hidden God.”

“To the pure all things are pure, but to those who are defiled, nothing is pure; but even their mind and conscience are defiled.” Titus 1:15

To the willfully blind God seems to be absent, or even worse if he is there, he is cruel. But to those whose eyes have been opened there are abundant evidences of God in Creation, in our conscience and in Jesus Christ.

​Last week I was interviewed on a secular radio station, Radio 2000, concerning Christmas. I always appreciate the opportunity to have interviews on secular radio stations as it provides a tremendous opportunity for evangelism.

During the interview I was asked whether Christmas shouldn’t be made more inclusive to accommodate other religions. (Last week I also read an article from WorldNetDaily concerning a New York village which decided to place an Islamic star and crescent alongside the community’s official Christmas tree. As the WND writer commented: “One wonders if there are any wise men amongst the town’s leaders?”).

​My response was that Jesus is the reason for the season. Wise men still seek Him. Christians have never suggested that Jewish people need to make Yom Kippur more inclusive for Gentiles, nor has anyone suggested that Muslims adapt Ramadan to accommodate Christians, Jews, Hindus and Buddhists!

Christmas is the greatest holiday in the year celebrating the birth of the greatest person who ever lived. The Church of Jesus Christ is still the greatest, and most effective, charitable organisation in the world. Christians do more to alleviate the suffering of fallen and lost humanity than any and all other agencies on earth. This is why we give gifts at Christmas time: to remind us and our children of the greatest gift of all – God’s Son. Jesus Christ is Emmanuel – God with us. He has come and made the greatest sacrifice to fill the greatest need for the greatest number of people in history.

This article is also available in PowerPoint format   here.

One of the re-occurring accusations against Christianity is that Christians are responsible for: "The Inquisition!"

Frequently, while trying to love one’s neighbour and share the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, Christians receive some tirade against "The Church" and "The Inquisition!" The Inquisition is used as some kind of general-purpose club with which to bludgeon Evangelical Christians.

On one occasion while I was being interviewed on a national secular radio programme, on the publication of my book: Biblical Principles for Africa, the first caller attacked me and my new book over something that the book doesn't even deal with - she claimed that Christians were responsible for “the Inquisition” which “burned thousands of witches!”

The Anti-Christian Inquisition
When I finally had the chance to respond to this emotional outburst, I had to point out that a vast majority burned at the stake by the Spanish Inquisition were not witches at all, but Protestant believers. Should one study the court records of the inquisitors it becomes very clear that the inquisitors were by no means Christians at all. They would vindictively condemn to death Christians who believed in, who translated, or who taught, the Holy Scriptures. Often the inquisitors contemptuously tossed the victim’s Bible into the fire to be burned with the martyr.