Honorary Christians
Sometimes we hear of a politician or other celebrity who is made a "chief" of one or another tribe of American Indians. He is greeted solemnly, powwowed over in guttural tones, invested with a gaudy headdress of eagle feathers, has his picture taken with the big men of the tribe and is from that time on a chief among them.
His self-conscious smirk tells us plainly that he considers the whole thing a joke, but the unsmiling Indians apparently take it all pretty seriously. It requires no great penetration to see that all the ceremonies, beads, feathers and powwows in the world cannot make an Indian out of a white man. At the most he is only an honorary chief, not a real one.
Compare this to many evangelical churches, which have altogether too many members who are Christians by initiation, not by spiritual birth. They have been powwowed over by the local sachems and given the impression that they are Christians in face, when the truth is that they are Christians only in name.
All the religious ceremonies invented by the prolific minds of all the religious leaders of the world cannot make a Christian out of a sinner. No man, regardless of how rich and mysterious his robes may be, can make a Christian out of another man. The impressive appointments of the beautiful church and the solemn rites of the sanctuary are merely the Grand Sachem's tepee on a vaster scale. The best that we can hope for there is religion by initiation. Seekers come out only as honorary Christians. The root of life is not in them -- and they deserve more pity.
Our Lord tells us plainly that we must be born again before we can enter the kingdom of God. Let us not be satisfied with honorary membership in the kingdom.
A. W. Tozer, ch. 28 of This World: Playground or Battleground?
