I’m fairly new to Christianity, but God has brought me up to speed with a lot of things very quickly. I’m quite amazed when I remember a verse, or I hear a sermon about a scripture that I am actually familiar with. I give credit to the Holy Spirit for leading and guiding me at all times.

During my short Christian life, I have noticed three types of Christians. There could be more, but again I’m new to this. These are the ones I have taken note of thus far…

The False/Dead Christians: It seems as if this is the majority of the American population who claim they are Christians. It might be the girl that has “Christian” selected as her religion on her myspace profile, next to a half naked picture of herself at a bar. It might be the guy who thinks he is a Christian because he always went to church on Easter and Christmas when he was growing up. It could even be a pastor at a church convinced that he’s a Christian just because he’s a pastor at a church!

The Legalistic Christians: These are an interesting folk. They would rather split every hair on Jesus’ head before accepting a different idea than what they are comfortable with. They seem to have the whole bible memorized, and they seem to know exactly how to interpret every single verse. At times it seems as if they are a prisoner to doctrine, instead of having a relationship with Christ. I appreciate them though. Not being in a theology class, they offer the education that I need sometimes.

Who’s guilty? Every denomination.

The Charismatic Christians: These are my favorite. You will hear of signs and wonders, miracles, healings, and speaking in tongues from this group of Christians. Most importantly, you will usually see some pretty serious fruit after one of their meetings, and usually thousands dedicating their life to Christ at the altar call. They have the scriptures memorized that confirm their beliefs, and they aren’t afraid to use them! It’s a controversial group of Christians, but one that is having an enormous effect in the world today.

So what is a new Christian to think? How are we to know what is correct? The first type is obviously wrong. They need to be educated, and they need to know what a Christian is. That’s a great question to answer, before we go any further. What exactly is a Christian?

The word Christian first appears in Acts 11:26 pertaining to when the disciples were first called Christians. It means to believe in Jesus Christ as the Savior. I’ll take it up a notch and say that it means to give your life to Jesus, to cling to His teachings, to have a living relationship with Him and to be transformed by His glory. We are to live as Christ lived to the best of our ability.

Sorry, naked myspace girl, you might want to rethink your statement of faith!

Alright, so what about the legalistic Christians? Well, I don’t have anything negative to say about them, but I am concerned with the effect they have on some of God’s children. For instance, my friend Lisa recently became a Christian, and she only has a King James bible that I gave to her. She doesn’t have a computer, she doesn’t have any other Christian friends, and she is not equipped to analyze every meaning of the scriptures (especially the King James Version). Does that mean that God can’t speak to her, and use her? Absolutely not!

In her own personal prayer time, God has taught her things, and opened her eyes into the spiritual realm. God has touched her life in such a personal way, and what others have had to learn in a theology class, she has received directly from God. She’s not concerned with every legality of the bible, because she’s living it! It’s written on her heart!

The problem is when people have a personal relationship with God, or He does something different for them because of where they are, and the legalistic Christian rushes in and says, “That’s not scriptural…beware.” Now what? The innocent child of God is all of a sudden a puppet of Satan? I think not! There have been many times when God has shown me something, and touched my heart, and then I read something from the doctrine police that completely disagrees with what I have been shown. It leaves me frustrated and wondering if it was really God who touched my heart. It puts doubt in my mind, and causes me to be afraid of ever making a mistake. So, I have learned that if it points to Jesus, if it glorifies Him, then it must be from Him.

When the Pharisees accuse Jesus of casting out demons by the power of Satan, He responds, “if a kingdom be divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand, and if a house be divided against itself, that house cannot stand. And if Satan rise up against himself, and be divided, he cannot stand, but hath an end.” Mark 3:24-26

I don’t believe that God is as concerned with our doctrine as He is with our heart. Is doctrine important? Absolutely. When is it wrong? When it takes the place of loving and worshipping Jesus Christ.

Last, but not least is the Charismatics. All Christians are endanger of being off balance, and losing focus. Charismatics are not excluded. There are some that put more emphasis on the gifts of the Holy Spirit, than the principal of salvation through Jesus Christ. There are some that give way too much credit to the devil, and blame him for everything that goes wrong. Some are quick to rebuke and bind, what might be a work that God is doing. After all, He has complete control, right?

Others are truly passionate about Jesus, and are spreading the gospel to the nations in radical and exciting ways. The majority are reclaiming the supernatural power of God on Earth. A lot of people are afraid of this because most have been taught that the devil is the head of supernatural activity. However, the devil cannot create anything, he can only counterfeit what God has already created.

I have witnessed signs and wonders from God. I have been delivered from many things, and there has been fruit from what God has done in my life. What group do I belong to? Well, most would put me in the Charismatic/Pentecostal group, but really I’m just a person that loves Jesus, and wants to live my life for Him.

Jesus said, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great (most important, principal) and first commandment.” (Matthew 22:37-38)