It seems more and more these days that people are attempting to place their trust in others instead of just realizing that they must Trust in Christ Alone for the Eternal Salvation. I know that it can be a hard thing to understand, but once understood, it is difficult for one to even fathom how we may have believed otherwise.

To Trust in Christ Alone means to completely surrender your trust in anything or anyone else. That means you can’t trust in yourself to try and save yourself (it is impossible, there’s nothing you can do of your own accord that will give you eternal life), you can’t trust in a priest or an organized religion like the catholic church or catholicism to save you (they aren’t able to do that, either), and you can’t trust in the words or actions of any other human being to save you.

It’s all up to you, and only you. God’s plan for Eternal Salvation isn’t complicated.

You must put aside your past beliefs and surrender your trust to Christ and to Christ Alone. Once you are able to do that, then you will open the door to your Eternal Salvation. It is then that you will begin to see how organized religion can get things all messed up, then you will be able to understand what is the difference between catholic and christian.

It isn’t easy, I struggled with this myself as I made my journey from catholic to christian, so I fully understand. I only ask you to remember this: if you cannot Trust in Christ, then in whom can you trust?

I’m often asked a question:

What is the difference between catholic and Christian?

I understand why there would be confusion. On the surface, the question may sound odd or even silly. Many folks will respond: there is no difference between catholic and Christian. Catholics believe in Christ, that makes them Christians.

Well, unfortunately, that answer isn’t necessarily accurate. First, simply “believing” in Christ isn’t sufficient to make on a Christian. It goes a lot deeper than that. If you wish, you can read a post of mine on the subject, called Believing in Christ Doesn’t Make You a Christian.

No, belief is not enough. So what else is there? What more must one do to actually become a Christian? The key word is:

Trust.

You must TRUST in Christ. And not only trust in Christ, but you must trust in Christ ALONE for your Eternal Salvation. You must trust that His sacrifice on the cross at Calvary paid your sin debt in full — which it did — and trusting in that payment means releasing your own need to have to “pay” for something that Christ Himself has already paid. His death released you from your debt.

It isn’t about “accepting” Christ or “believing” in Christ or “asking Christ into your heart”. It is only about trust and placing your trust FULLY in Him, your Savior. So what is the distinction between belief and trust? My brother likes to describe it this way:

“You believe in the chair that you are sitting on. You trust that the chair will carry your weight and support you”.

It wasn’t until I actually TRUSTED in Christ Alone that I received the Gift of Eternal Life. If you haven’t yet read my story, please take a few minutes to do so. That moment was a life-changing event, for both my earthly life and my eternal life.

So then what is the difference between catholic and Christian?

Most catholics have placed their trust in things other than Christ for their Salvation. This isn’t necessarily their fault directly, they’ve been raised that way. I know, I was raised that way myself and I was totally and completely sincere about my belief in Christ and that He died for my sins. But, like most other catholics, I also believed that I had to trust in the church of Rome for assistance in achieving Eternal Salvation. I had to trust in the leaders of the church to provide me with proper doctrine, in the priest in the confessional to ensure that I received absolution for my sins, in the wafer of bread that was supposedly transformed into the Body of Christ (something I now know is preposterous and not supported by Scriptures), and trust in the church of Rome’s claim to apostolic succession (read my post: Dispelling the Myth of the “Rock” Peter) to provide the authority to dictate to me what I must believe.

Catholics believe in Christ, as do true Christians. Christians TRUST in Christ Alone. Catholics, most of them anyway, trust in Christ plus, plus, PLUS. The Body of Christ is the one True Church and not a wafer of bread. Do not place your trust in something or someone other than Jesus Christ for your Eternal Salvation. It is through His sacrifice alone that you may have (not “will have” some time in the future) Eternal Life.

John 5:24

Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life.

Is it possible for a practicing catholic to be a Christian? Of course anything is possible with God, but I would have say it is unlikely. Why? Because I was there, I was a part of that church, I was an educator in that church, and once I received the Gift of Eternal Salvation and received the counsel of the Holy Spirit, I saw that the catholic church as we know it is not Christ’s One True Church and as someone who had become a true Christian I realized that I had to remove myself from it to be a full part of the One True Church, Christ’s Body.

Again, if you haven’t read my Christian catholic journey, please check it out.

We’ve had a lot of stormy weather in our area recently. A couple of days ago, a particularly violent storm ripped through the part of Florida where we live, and in my mother’s neighborhood a tornado actually affected a number of houses near her. Trees were severely damaged, large branches came down, hail fell and the wind whipped strong through the streets causing havoc as it did so.

Some people in her area suffered some property damages, but my mother’s home escaped without any significant problems. No lives were lost that I know of, but people living in the area were pretty shaken and some very scared. My mother, however, was not — despite the violence of the weather.

If you’ve read my catholic to Christian story, you already know that at the same time I decided to leave the catholic church in favor of God’s Truth to join the One True Church (Christ’s Body) my mother made the same decision. And I experienced great joy when she told me:

“Because I’m saved, even during that terrible storm I wasn’t scared at all.”

That’s the real deep and calming peace that comes with God’s assurance of Eternal Salvation. That’s what there is to gain by allowing yourself to hear God’s simple plan for your salvation. It is His one true Gift to you, and it’s completely free. Simply Trust in Christ Alone and you will be on your way to an eternity in the light of God’s Love.

This is powerful, powerful stuff. Once we belong to Him, nothing — nothing! — can take us away from Him:

Romans 8:38-39
“For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

http://kingjbible.com/romans/8.htm

One of my wonderful supportive sources provided me a link to a catholic Web site which expounded on the fact that they believe that catholics, members of the Roman church, are quite “obviously” Christian because they believe in Christ. My how wrong they are without even knowing. This is the power of evil at work in their “church”. They are being deceived, being led astray by false teaching, and they have no idea that their Eternal Salvation is at risk. Let me put this as bluntly as possible:

Believing in Christ is NOT the criteria necessary to be a Christian. Believing in Christ DOESN’T make you a Christian.

Judas believed in Christ, but betrayed Him. Would we call him a Christian? Of course we wouldn’t.

What it takes to be a Christian is to totally Trust that Christ paid our sin debt in full (past, present, and future sins) on the cross. His sacrifice is all that is necessary for us to receive the gift of Eternal Salvation. If something more were required of us, then this would negate Christ’s sacrifice and would render this Gift from God something to be earned, rather than simply received.

For the Word of God tells us:

“For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: 9 Not of works, lest any man should boast.” (Ephesians 2:8-9)

“And if by grace, then is it no more of works: otherwise grace is no more grace. But if it be of works, then it is no more grace: otherwise work is no more work.” (Romans 11:6)

It cannot be more clear than this, yet there are millions who erroneously believe otherwise. The only thing that we can do as horrible sinners and mere mortals is to Trust in Christ Alone and we will then receive the Gift of Eternal Salvation.

I went into a restaurant today to have lunch, and what did I see as soon as I walked through the door? A big nativity scene. Immediately I started to shake my head at the graven images. In fact, a nativity scene with wise men in it isn’t even historically accurate, as the wise men arrived years after the birth of Jesus and went to his home, not his birthplace.

Anyhow, I walked out and this business lost my patronage for the day.