Christian or Christ-Follower?

by Gregory A. Johnson

I feel compelled to bring clarity to the confusion existing that is hindering Jesus' purpose for the church and its witness in our day. In the post-Christian culture we now live in, many are confused about being a Christian and being a  Christ-follower. There is a vast difference between the two.

There are Christians who do not follow Christ, and there are Christians who choose to follow Christ. Sadly, non-Christ-following Christians can do much damage to people inside and outside the church through their words and actions. 

In all my years of ministry, it has always been a joy to pastor Christ-following Christians. Still, I have discovered non-Christ-following Christians to be abusive in their words and actions, making it difficult, if not impossible, for the church to reach and make a difference in its community. 

America Is at a Crossroads

by Gregory A. Johnson

Today, the world is battling the Coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic. Here in America, we are mourning the deaths from the pandemic of over 100,000 precious people. Forty million workers have lost their jobs due to the pandemic. With over 100,000 deaths and 40 million jobless, some are still resisting social distancing guidelines. Some are politicizing it. It is not about politics. It is about people. God help us.

At the same time, there are race riots fueled by pent-up rage from generations of racism and oppression in America. Hatred and racism are not right. Hatred and racism are anti-Christ. God help us.

All this sickness, joblessness, and unrest is impacting mental and physical health. Stress, anxiety, and worry are having their way, wreaking havoc on one’s mind and body. Left unchecked stress and anxiety lead to heart disease, which will cause even more death. God help us.

Thirty years ago, I was preaching and warning people that if America, the most powerful nation in the world, was ever destroyed it will be from within. With a rapid decline in hunger for God and hunger for the Bible over the last three decades, we are now living in those dangerous days. America is at a crossroads. Divided from God and divided with people, we will fall. United to God and united with people, we will stand. Loving God and loving ALL people is the life Christ has called us to live. The choice is ours. God help us.

Racism and Hate Are Antichrist

by Gregory A. Johnson

Racism and hatred are alive and well, but not for those who are citizens of the Kingdom. No, you see, the citizens of the Kingdom love God with everything they have, and they love other people as they love themselves. They are willing to give their life for others as Christ did. They are willing to go to jail protesting unjust laws that do not treat people equally, as Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. did.

What would Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. say to us today? I think that he would say to us the same things he said in his day. Listen to what he had to say:

Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that. Hate multiplies hate, violence multiplies violence, and toughness multiplies toughness in a descending spiral of destruction....The chain reaction of evil—hate begetting hate, wars producing more wars—must be broken, or we shall be plunged into the dark abyss of annihilation (King 1963).

Like an unchecked cancer, hate corrodes the personality and eats away its vital unity. Hate destroys a man's sense of values and his objectivity. It causes him to describe the beautiful as ugly and the ugly as beautiful, and to confuse the true with the false and the false with the true (King 1963).

Top Ten Posts of 2015

by Gregory A. Johnson

Readers from 97 countries read and hopefully was encouraged by what I have written and shared in 2015.

I am always humbled by the number of people who take time to read what I write. I simply share what God lays on my heart, finding that God often allows me to be transparent, writing from a life that has experienced not only joy and peace, but also pain, hardship, hurt, trials, and tribulations on my journey as I follow Christ. I pray for the Spirit of God to encourage and inspire each reader as they read each word.

Please allow me to share with you the top ten posts read in 2015:

The Secret to Understanding the Kingdom

by Gregory A. Johnson

When Jesus walked this earth, He revealed His Kingdom to us through His words and His actions. The secret to understanding the Kingdom and living as its citizens is found in the life of Christ. Jesus and the Kingdom are the same; He is the Kingdom embodied.

Jesus gave us the first hint into what His Kingdom is all about when He preached His first sermon in His hometown of Nazareth.

And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up. And as was his custom, he went to the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and he stood up to read. And the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written,

God Does Not Discriminate

by Gregory A. Johnson

Because of Jesus, we all have equal access to God. Everyone has access to God's grace and peace, regardless of race, gender, or economic status. Because of His amazing grace, God pours His Spirit into all who will receive Jesus as their Lord and Savior. With God's Spirit comes a supernatural peace that surpasses all understanding—peace with God and peace with man.

God loves us so much. Who would not want to receive His grace? Who would not want to receive His peace? Only those who have been blinded by sin and evil would reject God's free gifts. They search the world for peace but will find none. The peace that wars and diplomacy try to bring is costly, fragile, and fleeting. The peace that God gives through His Holy Spirit is free, strong, and eternal.

Race Equality

by Gregory A. Johnson

Jesus made it clear that the Kingdom, which has been established in Him, is to include all people of all races, color, and creed, as indicated to us in His last words on earth prior to ascending back to the right hand of the Father.

The Gospel of Matthew concludes with Jesus informing His followers that the Kingdom is to be preached and taught in all nations: "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age" (Matthew 28:18-20).

The Gospel of Mark concludes in the same manner: "Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned" (Mark 16:15-16).

A Glorious Church Service

by Gregory A. Johnson

Church in a renovated carriage house

Instead of the church in Mississippi, God led us to pastor a group of folk in central Kentucky. We were so happy to find the will of God and move from West Virginia to Kentucky to pastor. The church there did not have a lot of people, it didn't have a parsonage, and it was not debt-free like the church in Mississippi, but God called us there, and they were fine people. They had church in an old carriage house on the property of an old southern mansion that sat on a hill overlooking the city. The mansion had burned down, but the church bought the ten acres and renovated the old carriage house to have church in until they could afford to build a sanctuary on the property.

The property had history. The old two-level carriage house still had iron jail bars on the windows of the basement. It was where slaves were housed at night during the terrible days of slavery in America, when African Americans were treated, valued, and traded as animals. The slaves would work long, hard days on the property farming tobacco and taking care of the livestock. At night they would be locked in the dark, damp, and musty smelling basement with the horses and carriages housed comfortably in the nicer level above them.

The Most Segregated Day of the Week

by Gregory A. Johnson

A great display of racial segregation can still be found in America, and it's in an unlikely place—the church on Sunday mornings. Sunday is the most segregated day of the week. Here in America, we have churches for every race—African American, European American, Native American, Latino, Japanese, Korean, Hmong, Chinese, etc. I understand the language and cultural barriers that exist, but should our churches not have representatives from all races within the community that they reside?

In 1996, I received a call from a church board in Mississippi and was invited to come to speak on a Sunday morning as a candidate for a vacant senior pastor position. Becky, our two young children, and I traveled to Mississippi to spend a weekend meeting with the board, speaking to the church, and seeking the will of God. We were put up in the nicely furnished and fairly new parsonage that was adjacent to the large debt-free church, which sat on a nice piece of property.

The Kingdom According to Jesus Book Trailer

We Need a Faith and Justice Revival in Our Day

by Gregory A. Johnson

"After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, 'Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!'" (Revelation 7:9-10 ESV).

On January 15, 1929, Martin Luther King, Jr. was born in Atlanta, Georgia. He was born in a day when those with dark skin did not have equality with those with white skin. The African American was not allowed to ride in the front of the bus with the European American. African Americans could not use the same restrooms. They could not eat in the same sections of the restaurants. The children could not play in the same playgrounds nor go to the same schools. They could not drink from the same water fountain. They could not even go to the same church. Slavery, a great sin of the nation, was over, but segregation and all of its inequalities remained in America. In the land of the free and the home of the brave, not everyone was free; many were bound by the injustices of racism. It is with that backdrop that a dream was birthed in an individual. Although that dream has not fully reached reality, it is burning intensely in the hearts of many in our day.

Dr. King lived his life in the belief of God’s rule that all people are created equal, and all people should be treated equally. This is the dream of justice driven by faith. It is the dream that God gave to Dr. King. It is the dream that God plants deep into the heart of citizens of the Kingdom.

Close Your Church Office on Martin Luther King Day!

by Gregory A. Johnson

The senior pastor walks into the room to conduct yet another weekly staff meeting that amounts to the same questions being asked week after week; they were just worded in different ways. The basis of the questions is this: What can we do to get more people to attend our weekly service.

Many of the staff grow tired of these questions and the staff meetings. Dreading to attend, and trying to find ways to avoid them, the staff often made light of the meetings in private. It is very obvious to those close to him that the only thing driving the senior pastor is numbers; he doesn't have a heart for people. It is all about the attendance numbers he reports to the denomination's headquarters. This is how he measures the success of himself, his staff, and the church.