10/14/2026
WHO HAS BELIEVED OUR REPORT? — HEAR THE WORDS OF JESUS
I want to ask you something. And I want you to consider this question honestly, with an open heart and an open Bible.
Are you following Jesus Christ, or are you following a religion that tells you it represents Him?
I ask this question because I spent more than five decades believing that identifying myself as a Christian meant I was right with God and that my eternal destination was settled. I believed what I had been taught. I trusted the religious identity I had been given.
But eventually, I had to confront a question that changed the way I read the Scriptures:
What did Jesus actually say?
Not what a preacher says He said. Not what a denomination teaches He meant. Not what the notes at the bottom of a study Bible tell me I should believe. What did Jesus Himself say?
I am a retired law enforcement officer. I spent nearly 30 years in that profession. I learned to examine reports, distinguish what was actually recorded from someone's interpretation, and pay attention to the evidence.
When I read the biblical accounts, I want to know what the witnesses recorded about Jesus. I want to examine His words and understand what He commanded. I don't want to confuse the words of the witnesses with explanations added by people who came afterward.
Consider what Jesus said in John 12:44–50.
Jesus declared that whoever believes in Him believes in the One who sent Him. He said that He came into the world as a light so that whoever believes in Him would not remain in darkness. He explained that He came not to judge the world, but to save it. Yet He also warned that the words He had spoken would judge those who rejected them on the last day.
And Jesus made it clear that He did not speak on His own initiative. The Father who sent Him commanded Him what to say and what to speak.
Jesus said that the Father's commandment is eternal life.
Those are the words I want people to hear. Those are the words I want people to examine.
Now consider the name Christian.
The word appears three times in the New Testament: Acts 11:26, Acts 26:28, and 1 Peter 4:16.
The disciples were first called Christians at Antioch. King Agrippa used the term when responding to Paul. Peter spoke about suffering under that designation.
But here is the question I want you to consider: Where did Jesus command His disciples to adopt that name? Where did He establish a religion called Christianity? Where did He tell people that identifying themselves by that name was what would make them His disciples?
I have not found such a command in the words of Jesus.
Jesus said, "Follow me."
Jesus spoke of His disciples. He spoke of His sheep hearing His voice and following Him. He commanded those who would follow Him to deny themselves, take up their cross, and follow Him.
In John 8:31, Jesus said that if we continue in His word, we are truly His disciples.
That is what I want to understand. That is what I want to follow.
I recognize that the word Christian appears in Scripture. I am not denying that fact. My concern is that a name recorded in Scripture can become something much larger in the hands of human beings. A religious identity can develop around that name, complete with traditions, institutions, doctrines, and commercial interests.
And eventually, people may be taught to trust that identity without examining whether they are actually living according to the words of Jesus.
My concern is not simply about a word. My concern is about deception.
Jesus warned us about the ruler of this world. In John 12:31, He declared that the world was being judged and that its ruler would be cast out. Paul warned in 2 Corinthians 11:14 that Satan disguises himself as an angel of light.
Those warnings make me take spiritual discernment seriously. I do not believe that something becomes God's will simply because it is familiar, popular, religious, or accepted by millions of people.
Nor do I believe that the mere appearance of a word in Scripture establishes that Jesus commanded His followers to adopt it.
We must examine what is written. We must distinguish what Jesus said from what people have built around His words.
Look at the Bible you hold in your hands. Mine is a New American Standard Bible, 1995 edition, with Life Application notes. I thank God for providing it to me after I prayed for one.
But I recognize a distinction: the translated biblical text is one thing; the explanatory notes written by human beings are another.
Those notes may be useful, but they are not the words of Jesus. When they tell us what Christians believe or what Christians should do, we must recognize that we are reading an explanation, not a direct command from the Lord.
We should never allow a commentary, a religious institution, or a tradition to take the place of examining the Scriptures ourselves.
Think about Isaiah, who asked, "Who has believed our report?" Think about the apostles, who bore witness to what they had seen and heard. Think about Stephen, who stood before his accusers and spoke about God's dealings with His people, even when doing so cost him his life.
Stephen did not need to establish a religious brand to bear witness to the truth. He testified to what he believed God had revealed, and he remained faithful even unto death.
I know that many people who call themselves Christians sincerely love Jesus. I am not claiming to know the hearts of millions of people, and I am not saying that everyone who uses that name has been deliberately deceived.
I am asking people to look beyond the label.
Do you hear the words of Jesus?
Do you believe Him?
Do you continue in His word?
Do you obey what He commands?
Do you deny yourself, take up your cross, and follow Him?
Or have you been taught that belonging to a religion and carrying a religious name is enough?
I cannot answer those questions for you. You must examine them before God.
I am not asking you to take my word for it. I am asking you to open your Bible and examine the words of Jesus for yourself.
I spent more than five decades believing things that I eventually had to reconsider. I know what it is like to trust what you have been taught and later discover that you need to examine it more closely.
I am speaking now because I do not want people to assume that a religious identity guarantees what only God can determine.
Jesus did not tell us to place our confidence in a label. He called people to follow Him.
I am one of those people. I am one of the people who must hear His words, believe Him, and follow Him. I am not exempt from His commands, and I do not claim to be.
The Father in heaven is not merely Jesus' Father. Through the relationship God makes possible through His Son, I understand Him to be my Father as well. And I want my life to reflect that relationship through faith, obedience, and devotion to Jesus Christ.
So I ask you one final question.
If Jesus' own words are what will judge us on the last day, shouldn't His words be the standard by which we examine everything we have been taught about Him?
Don't simply accept what I say. Don't simply accept what a preacher says. Don't assume that a religious name tells you everything you need to know about your standing before God.
Read the words of Jesus.
Examine them.
Believe Him.
Follow Him.
And let His words—not human tradition, religious identity, or the expectations of this world—be the standard you are willing to stand before God with.
That is what I am asking you to consider.
That is why I am speaking.
And that is why I will continue to point people back to Jesus Christ and the words He spoke.
