This is from the blog The Christian Excavator:
“Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light: Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son: In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins…” (Colossians 1: 12-14)
One contemporary song says, “I have felt Him loose the chains of sin and set my spirit free, For I know what Jesus did for me” (Squire Parsons)
But we live in a day when many Christians have no idea what it means to be free from the chains of sin. People behave like the world even though they claim to be saved by Gods grace. If it wasn’t for their Christian tattoo [sic] you would never know that they were “saved”.
They talk, and live, just like the unsaved world around them. They love exactly what the world loves and if you mention holiness to them, you are undoubtedly a Pharisee. Many modern-day preachers tell people (in so many words) if you came forward or you raised your hand or repeated a prayer, you are saved. No matter how you live. No matter how sinful you are. No matter that you have no desire for holiness whatever. You have repeated the “magic” words, so you are okay. I warn every preacher, every Christian and every parent, you are not doing anyone any favors by giving people assurance while they are living in sin. By the way, it is not our job to give people assurance. If God hasn’t changed the “bent” or the direction of your life you have no reason to believe you are a Christian. It is true that Christians will sin but the true child of God is not content to stay in sin. If God delivers you out of the hog-pen, you’ll have no desire to live there again.
I am afraid that we have produced a lot of “hog-pen Christians” in our day. The late A.W. Tozer said, “then they build a little tabernacle and call it the First Tabernacle of the Converted Swineherds.”.
Tozer went on to say; “Somebody suggested that the cross of Christ should not inconvenience people. Well, it is the most inconvenient thing in the world, this cross of Christ! It took a man by the name of Jesus in the height of his healthy human life and took Him out on a hillside and killed Him there – now, that’s an inconvenient thing for Him! And any cross is inconvenient; it’s a most inconvenient thing, this accepting Christ, if we know what we mean by it. BUT THE ACCEPTING CHRIST OF POPULAR THEOLOGY HAS NO INCONVENIENCE ATTACHED TO IT.”
I spoke with a man not long ago who had spent most of his adult life in prison. He was a drug dealer and user. I had known him when he was a little boy. His parents and sister went to the same church as I did as a teenager. He told me he was saved when he was a child. While we were conversing on the phone he was cursing and drinking alcohol. He had served time in prison for committing several violent crimes and was still addicted to drugs. There was nothing in his life that indicated he was a Christian. Yet he said he had been “saved” as a child. He went on tell me that several Baptist preachers in my area had assured him that he was saved. I told him that by the authority of Gods Word and every evidence in his life, he assuredly had no reason whatever to think he was saved. We spoke for over an hour. I gave him scripture and implored him to turn from his sin and turn to Christ. As far as I know he did not. But before he hung up he thanked me. He said to me. “You are the only preacher that I have talked to who was honest enough to tell me the truth.”
If Christ didn’t change your life, you are not saved!
“If our religion does not make us moral, it is a millstone about our necks to destroy us! …The best morality in the world will not prove a man to be a Christian! But if a man has not morality, it proves that he is not a child of God.” – C.H. Spurgeon
The question IS NOT…
Did you raise your hand? or
Did you come to the altar? or
Did you repeat this prayer? Or
Did you get baptized?
THE question is…DID JESUS CHRIST CHANGE YOUR LIFE?
If not, you have absolutely no reason to think you are a Christian.
NONE.
Are you still in the hog pen?
Only Jesus Christ can loose the chains of sin.
I unapologetically stake everything I believe, teach and preach on these facts.
Brother Shawn
A Christian Cult
Wearing a Rough Garment
Overcome With Great Sorrow
Jacksonites, Yours is a Bloody City
A Parable About Lukewarm, American Christianity
The Road 
Thanks for sharing this great article. Be blessed. Thanks to God for freeing us from the chains of sin. God is in an amazing mood.
I like this article a lot. We need to take up our cross daily and die to self and stay separate from the world system.
Well said. I am reminded of the woman caught in adultery. Jesus final words after there was no left to condemn her — “Neither do I condemn you; go, and from now on sin no more.”
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Tim do you recall this dream from a few years ago?
https://wp.me/pMOeB-PA
I just reread your dream. It is really tragic that too many people think they are Christians because they prayed a prayer a number of years ago. These people need to turn from their sin and abide in Christ every day. Their self-will needs to be nailed to the cross every day.
In your dream, there were a lot of people in a very long line. It was like they were waiting to see a movie star. So many churches are into entertainment. Entertainment is a demonic counterfeit to the Presence of God. People are entertaining themselves to death and right into the pit of hell. There is too much of the world in some of these churches.
I’ve heard countless stories of people living sinful lives ask a pastor if they’re saved to which he replies, “did you pray the prayer?”
Thank you Tim, for all your work and support. What a drag it is to have so much unreality presented as truth when it is otherwise obvious to the truly born again that little or no change or spiritual transformation has ensued with so many who insist it has. This entire idea and the advocates who preach it make a mockery of the Lord’s pure teachings and powerful ability to make an entirely new creation from a former sinner trying hard to find the way of truth. The Lord leads and guides those who are hungry who will settle for nothing less than HIM even though they don’t necessarily know that while searching. The spiritual union between us and the Lord Jesus is hugely transformational and all things become new. Sinful lifestyles immediately cease. A new direction is granted on a new Way.
Great blessings to you in your walk.
R.J.: I really love the phrase “Hog Pen Christianity”. Tozer could really be blunt.
One time I was hitchhiking in Idaho and this Christian picked me up. We were talking about A.W. Tozer and he said that this seminary invited Tozer to speak at their commencement. Well, Tozer got up to the podium and told the congregation that half the students at that seminary weren’t even saved! Whoa, Nelly! Praise the Lord! That was bold. I don’t think that seminary invited Tozer back to speak anytime soon.
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That was certainly bold. Way to go A.W. Hopefully some of them discovered Christianity 101.
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