Five Marks of a False Convert
Being a Christian is by far the greatest blessing one could receive. Who can reject the glory of God, and the awesome love and forgiveness that Jesus has to offer? Yet, sadly, there are many out there who have convinced themselves that they are Christians, when, unfortunately, they are not. Here is a shortlist of signs that you can use to examine yourself, or someone else, to test whether or not you are truly in the faith. This is by far not an exhaustive list, nor is it meant to discourage true believers.
Sign #1, Avoiding Persecution
There are many who claim to be believers and claim to know Christ as their Savior, and will even put on a good show of morality most of the time, but when proclaiming the name of Christ gets tough, they back down. This is not to say that a Christian will never have moments of weakness. We know from the Bible that even the great Apostle Peter denied Jesus three times (Matthew 26:34). But if you repeatedly find yourself retreating when you are being persecuted, or purposely deny or hide your Christianity in order to avoid persecution altogether, you probably have no reason to believe you are saved.
…A sower went out to sow. And as he sowed, some seeds fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured them. Other seeds fell on rocky ground, where they did not have much soil, and immediately they sprang up, since they had no depth of soil, but when the sun rose they were scorched. And since they had no root, they withered away. Other seeds fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them. Other seeds fell on good soil and produced grain, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. He who has ears, let him hear.
Matthew 13:3-9
In the above passage, the Parable of the sower, Jesus speaks of those seeds that did not fall on good ground—they have no roots or foundation. Since they don’t have this good soil where they have been able to establish healthy roots, the intense heat of the sun just dries them up, and they wither away. This is what happens to professing Christians when they have no foundation to stand on. When they aren’t grounded in true saving faith, they tend to wither away when they face opposition. They won’t stand up for what they believe in because they don’t really believe it. Matthew 10:32-33 says,
So everyone who acknowledges me before men, I also will acknowledge before my Father who is in heaven, but whoever denies me before men, I also will deny before my Father who is in heaven.
If you don’t see yourself facing persecution, and standing your ground, or at least trying to stand your ground, you very well may be a false convert. If you find yourself resorting to acting like a carnal man when around other non-Christians in order to “fit in,” you may want to examine your heart to see if you are truly saved.