Vital Truths For New Converts
By Dan Corner

When a person becomes a true Christian he enters a brand new life. In a moment of time he passes from death to life, from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to the power of God. Many things start to happen to him that may be surprising.

It is very common for one’s family to be divided because of Christ, even to the point where dear family members become the new Christian’s spiritual enemies. If this occurs to you, please know that it has also happened to multitudes of others as well. It is possible your unsaved family might want you to stop reading and talking about the Bible. They could also be ashamed of you being so religious all the time and will try to cool you down.

Persecution

Another important fact of your new life in Christ is that you will bother people outside your family who don’t have a heart for truth – old friends, coworkers, neighbors, etc. Some of these people will show their annoyance with persecution in various ways. Loneliness is something all godly people have to deal with from time to time. Sadly, some Christians have fallen away from salvation over the test of persecution or just the fear of it: So when (not if) persecution comes to you because you are living godly, continue to obey and let your light shine. Keep walking in faith thinking about the eternal rewards before you because of these persecutions.

Called to be Witnesses

We have all been called to be witnesses for the Lord in this dark, sin-cursed age (Acts 1:8). This is how the first-century Christians were, according to the book of Acts.

When I started witnessing (or testifying) about Jesus to others, I simply gave people the word of God. Sometimes I was asked a question I could not answer. I would tell them, “I’ll get back with you on that.” That gave me a chance to search for an answer in the Bible. After awhile, your ability to fluently witness will become more and more polished as you continue to read and study God’s word. Remember, people are going to Hell all around us and desperately need to know the truth about salvation.

Old Friends

If you are like many, when you first came to the Lord, all your friends are ungodly. In fact, some new converts don’t even know a single Christian. But now that you are a follower of Jesus, at least some if not all of these old friends won’t like your new priorities. In fact, some might even try to get you to sin or snare you somehow with wickedness. They want you back the way you were when you readily sinned as they still do. Hence, after you tell your old friends your stand for God, if they want to continue in their sin, don’t hang out with them anymore. To continue to spend time and go places with such people will open you to spiritual dangers that would never exist otherwise:

All new Christians are hungry for God’s truth. Oftentimes they can never get enough of His precious word. This is clear evidence of God’s saving grace in one’s life. But with this hunger for God’s truth a new danger is opened up-false teachers! One of the great dangers at the end of our age especially is religious deception. There are false teachers around us.

Godly music will definitely prove to be a tremendous blessing to the saint. On the other hand, secular music in the form of rock ‘n roll, country, oldies, etc. will adversely affect you spiritually. Hence, all music which is not spiritually edifying is potentially dangerous and should be avoided. Again, don’t listen to such music at all. You should examine the words of a song as you would a teaching-checking it with the Scriptures.

TV

Perhaps the greatest tool the devil has in the early part of the twenty-first century is television, which can be magnetizing. The sights and sounds can stay with a person long after the show is over. Since TV shows are produced by ungodly people to draw ungodly people, much harm can come to the Christian through such, besides it being a waste of precious time which could be used to serve God. Even religious TV is far from being beneficial to the viewer with all those false teachers on there, as already mentioned.

The Bible is Final Authority

Another vitally important fact a new Christian needs to know is the Bible is final authority. This means if an experience, vision, dream, prophecy, teaching, testimony, sensation, etc. contradicts the written word of God then reject it. It is not God’s truth. Furthermore, you won’t ever need more than the Bible to accurately learn about salvation and what God wants from you in this life.

The man of God is thoroughly equipped for every good work with the Scriptures alone. If someone thinks the Scriptures are not sufficient then he must not be a man of God.

Memorizing Scripture

Memorizing God’s eternal word will have benefits throughout your entire Christian life. There are various reasons why this will help to strengthen, guide and encourage you as it also bolsters your faith to face each new day. The devil will try to hinder you from memorizing God’s word. Stick with it and your blessings from such will be great:

Your Soul Is Most Precious

Nothing you own now or ever will own can compare with the value of your soul. Therefore, you need to guard it carefully. Heaven is real, but so is Hell. To enter the kingdom of Heaven and escape Hell there are things you must do for yourself now that you are saved, so that you will stay saved. There is salvation maintenance and effort that needs to be exerted to stay with God.

Keep your eyes on Jesus, your hand to the plow and don’t look back. Immerse yourself in the Bible (especially the New Testament at first) and put into practice what you read.

This article Vital Truths For New Converts by Dan Corner is excerpted from www.discipleship.com, 2002.