Today, many people are misinformed about Christianity. Some are attracted to Christianity today for just having a social change. Others are attracted to Christianity by hearing the claims of some preachers who say they have power to heal people of their various diseases in the name Jesus Christ. Such, though, is not true. No man on earth today has the power to miraculously heal people, as Christ and His apostles were able to do. Those who claim such powers are deceiving people in the name of religion. Jesus performed many miracles. He healed the sick and raised the dead, among many other supernatural wonderful works. The Bible says, “And truly Jesus did many other signs in the presence of His disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name” (John 20:30–31). Note, if you will, Jesus did many signs and miracles, in the presence of His disciples. He performed many signs and miracles in the presence of His disciples, whom He had chosen in the beginning to be His witnesses, after His death, resurrection and ascension back to Heaven. Jesus had not come primarily from Heaven to the Earth to work signs and miracles. He had come to die for sinners, to be the propitiation for the sins of the world (1 John 4:9–10). After His death, burial and resurrection from the dead, and before ascending back to Heaven, He told those disciples to go into all the world and preach the Gospel, the good news of salvation from sin and because Christ, the Son of God, had died for their sins. Not only did they preach the Gospel to all, but by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, whom Jesus had promised to send to them after He would go back to Heaven (John 14:25–26; John 16:13–14), they wrote in the New Testament of the Bible the account of all things Jesus had taught and done in their presence. By witnessing His signs, miracles and mighty works, they were convinced that Jesus Christ, Who died on the cross according to His promise (Matthew 16:21; Mark 8:31), was truly the Son of God (Matthew 16:13–16). Those who read their account may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing they may have life in His name.
Jesus had come to earth to solve man’s greatest problem—sin. The Bible says, “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). Because of sin, man is separated and alienated from God, not only in this world, but he will continue to live without God throughout eternity (Isaiah 59:1–2). The apostle Paul said of himself, “O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?” Then, he himself answered, “I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord!” (Romans 7:24–25). The Scripture says, “Christ died for our sins” (1 Corinthians 15:3). In Jesus, God became man and died to be the propitiation for the sins of whole world (John 1:1, 14; 3:16; 1 John 2:2). What man himself could not achieve, God did for man. Instead of the sinner perishing for his own sins, Christ took man’s sins upon Himself and died in his place. “He,” the prophet Isaiah said, “was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned, every one, to his own way; and the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all” (Isaiah 53:5–6). Illuminating further, the apostle Paul said, “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Jesus Christ our Lord” (Romans 6:23). In Romans 5:6–8, he said, “For when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die; yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die. But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners Christ died for us.” Christ died for us. He just didn’t die, as all men die, but He died for us, to be the propitiation for our sins. By being in Christ our sins are forgiven. We will not perish for our sins, because Christ was punished for our sins. He is our Redeemer (Romans 8:1).
This should be the whole and sole purpose for one to become a Christian. Hear what Jesus said, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul” (Matthew 16:24–26). Man’s soul is the greatest possession he has. If he loses his soul, there is nothing to offer with which to buy it back. Man possesses a body, but he is a soul. A soul is of far more value than the whole world. God loved souls enough to reclaim them, at the cost of the blood of Christ, His only begotten Son, even if such a cost were to redeem one soul (John 3:16; 1 Peter 1:18–19).
Almost two thousand years ago, when this message of salvation was preached by the apostles of Christ to a huge multitude of people, they asked the apostles, “Men and brethren, what shall we do? Then Peter said to them, ‘Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is to you and to your children, and to all who are afar off, as many as the Lord our God will call…’ Then those who gladly received his word were baptized; and that day, about three thousand souls were added to them” (Acts 2:37–38, 41). Jesus Himself had commanded the disciples to, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned” (Mark 16:15–16). According to the Bible, those who believe in Christ, repent of their sins (turn away from sins) and are baptized (immersed in water) for the remission of their sins, by the authority of Christ (Matthew 28:18–19), are saved from sin, and Jesus adds them to His church, which is the spiritual body of His saved ones (Acts 2:47; Ephesians 1:22–23). This is how one becomes a Christian, a follower of Christ. Writing to Christians, the apostle Paul said, “Giving thanks to the Father who has qualified us to be the partakers of the inheritance of the saints in the light. He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, in whom we have redemption through His blood the forgiveness of sins” (Colossians 1:12–14). What a great change, after becoming Christians. They were living in sin, ignorance and darkness, knowing nothing of what will become of them after their earthly life of this world is over. Now, however, as Christians, they have the hope of eternal life in Heaven. Christ has promised His followers that one day He will come back and raise His followers, after which, He will take them with Him, so that they will eternally live with Him in Heaven (John 5:28–29; John 14:1–3). Can there be a greater and better promise and hope than this?
