Are You a Pop-Christian or a Real Christian? 

Allen doesn’t talk much in this clip because we each took turns talking about 6 different groups and this is just one clip from one of the groups. Here’s the full length, 2 hour video, for you all to see.

Reading the Bible actually caused me to have that hunger for knowledge of God . I ended up finding out things I never knew

Jesus doesn't align Himself to us; we align ourselves to Him.

It actually has a legitimate name: Cultural Christianity. But Pop is a good and albeit, a much better alternative name for it.

I was a pop Christian from 6 til 31, when I found your videos. BOTH ALLEN AND MIKE. And boy was I offended but I followed the suggestion to read and discern. You both are doing God's work. I am still struggling through relearning but I have been saved from that for 4 years.

First two minutes of Allen speaking - it’s called “dying to self” - not a very popular way to live, but it’s what we are called to do as followers of Jesus.

I like what Allen said about Christianity being costly and often times the Lord requires things of us that are contrary of our flesh. I have been celibate for 10 years and Praise God I'm getting married in 340 days (who's counting haha). One thing I did want to comment on is that there is this beautiful transition when following the Lord, where He makes His desires your desires. And you get to the point in your walk with the Lord after spending so much time in the secret place with him (Matthew 6:6) and so much time at his feet, where Jesus becomes so beautiful and satisfying that you notice yourself not even caring about sex or what ever you struggled with and the Lord Himself is able to keep you content and joyful! As someone who didn't save himself before meeting the amazing woman I'm about to marry, I really thought waiting this long I would have been absolutely miserable but, honestly the Lord is so faithful to give us joy and new hearts that we delight in our sexual purity instead of miserably following his commands. Now whether or not you are at that place yet or not we still have to obey him even when it's awful haha! But I pray we all get so close to Jesus that we can have the same feeling David had in Psalms 27:4. Let's continue to make Jesus our One Thing. Isn't He beautiful?

I was a pop "Christian" because I grew up around it. It wasn't until my son was born and I looked at the little guy in my arms that I knew something was wrong. I had never read the Holy Bible save for a few feel good scriptures up on a screen when I went to a church every now and again. I decided I was going to read it to "fix myself". Booooooy did I find out, I wasn't even a saved Christian at all. I am saved now and The Lord showed me a lot through reading His word and study. Study that you actually sparked for me Mike. I then became so hungry for God and His word. Like this desire for more and more and more of Him. Reading the Bible wasn't a chore, His commandments weren't a chore but there was now a desire in me to follow Him because I love Him and what He did for me (for all of us). I was and still am absolutely blown away. 4 years later and that hunger hasn't left me. I can't even really put it into words the work that He did in me (and is still doing). I'm still an unworthy person of His grace but thank God, I'm now looking at Him and I now know the truth.

I was saved as a teenager and thought I was growing, since I COULD see change... but it wasn’t until I’m now in my 50s that I realize that I DID NOT trust God with my daily needs, desires, in spite of trusting Him for my eternity!! 🤦🏼‍♀️. Thank you , Jesus, for your patience & mercy!! 👏🏻🙏🏻

This "pop" Christianity doesn't have Christ in it. They have a charicature of Jesus in their head, a version of Jesus that they can define and control. And that is also true in terms of how they approach doctrine. Many of them don't see themselves as sinners, as a result. You have to get them lost before you can get them saved. Until they see and undrestand themselves to be sinners, they will not see Jesus for who He is as their Savior.

Jesus saves

I suppose the best way to sum it up is:

“They profess to know God, but they deny him by their works.”

Mike, as a contrast to Calvinism and TULIP, the list of primary themes you gave that show up in Pop Christianity form the acronym SIESTA:

Excellent video guys! I used to be this kind of "Christian" and the Lord kept chasing after me and knocking on the door. As a result, I came to a real saving faith in Jesus, August 2018, after decades of being in self-deception. I'll be sharing this video as the Lord as given me a heart for such people

my oldest didn't live with my husband and I as a child for medical reasons. She lived with my in laws, and got churched with pop Christianity. the philosophy of "God loves you, and wants the best for you"... without any teaching on holiness, etc. She doesn't follow God now. I suspect that my father in law is a pop christian, as he had sex outside of his 2nd marriage (he was a widower)and said to a friend he feels not one iota of guilt about having sex outside of the marriage relationship. I, as a disciple of Jesus, am really, really pained over this. I don't go to church to feel good, I go to church to get convicted, and to mould myself more like Jesus.

This is a solid description of pop Christianity. In a way, the pop Christian is in a worse state than the lukewarm Christian (or the cultural or nominal Christianity). In my experience, most lukewarm Christians are super sluggish but at least they hold to the core tenets of faith, while pop Christians actively deny them and attack the more committed ones.

"The Bible teaches humbling truths that make believers a blessing to others around them. Pop Christianity reverses that."

There is an old say, “curiosity killed the cat.” You will lose something when you start studying the Bible. It will reveal to you the gaps in your knowledge, make you question if you have been believing the same things the Bible teaches. But there is a lesser known second half to the saying, “satisfaction brought it back.” Yes it is true you may lose the comfortable spot you’ve made but ultimately you will find yourself closer to God and the message of the gospel. Thanks to pastor Mike I come back every time and every time I feel I understand Christ more and more. It’s really rough living in California because all my friends are agnostic or atheist. If I hadn’t found pastor Mike’s channel I would have kept myself ignorant just so I can keep what little faith I had even if it was a pale immetation of what God wanted me to believe. God bless you Mike, I hope more people like me find you and keep their light shining until they can move into God fearing country.

I'm a college student & for years have been warning about the dangers of pop/cultural Christianity. Thanks Mike for promoting biblical thinking - something we all need to do a bit more of 👍