What is a real Christian? Read on...

A mark that an era of the faith has downgraded to the level of decadence is those among the faithful who are the most shallow - and the most proudly and unself-consciously shallow - will become the leaders and the educators.

What is a real Christian? Allow John Bunyan to show you.

I recently heard a podcast of two Christian educators and a pastor talking about Pilgrim's Progress. At one point one of them, the pastor, stated that Palace Beautiful was the most "wonderful depiction of church"... No, Bunyan conspicuously didn't portray any church in Pilgrim's Progress. The closest depiction of a church in Pilgrim's Progress is the feckless people sitting docilely outside the gates of heaven waiting for their name to be called so they can get their paperwork all in order *by the authority* of the little man sitting at the table *putting fear into them.*

So what happens? What then happens is a knight in black armor appears, and to the anger and embarrassed astonishment of the feckless pew dwellers sitting there, the knight in black armor draws his sword and takes out the guards in front of the gates of heaven and forces his way through those gates.

Then what happens? Yes, the feckless, angry, embarrassed pew dwellers to further incense them hear *cheering* from within the gates of heaven.

That knight is a real Christian, and it's a fair statement to say it was the *first time* those feckless pew dwellers had ever been that close to a real Christian.