This post is a follow-up to the earlier post today; and forms another - less extreme - example of the same principle that a chattel slave of an evil master - one who lives in accordance with his evil master's agenda; may, nonetheless, be a follower of Jesus Christ and attain salvation.
Regular readers will know that I regard myself as a 'Fourth Gospel Christian' - the nature of, and arguments for which, I set-out in an online mini-book called Lazarus Writes.
Such a conceptualization of being Christian - in its most stark and absolute form, as is currently imposed by a world led by evil-affiliated Men - is a matter of the heart; of inner motivation and commitment. That is, a matter having no necessary relationship to any church, profession or action: whether positively or negatively.
Thus, most church-affiliated Christians I judge not to be Christian; but to have (whether they know it or not) affiliated to the evil agenda of This World; affiliated whether directly by primary political affiliations, or via loyalty and obedience to a church leadership who is in-thrall-to the worldly agenda.
Conversely I judge there to be at least some real (in their hearts, by motivation) Christians across all of the Christian church denominations of which I am aware; and those unaffiliated to any church...
And, I therefore presume, there are some real Christians in other, not-Christian, religions. Why not?
There might be many reasons why this could happen, and therefore I presume that it does happen: i.e. that there are followers of Christ and desirers of salvation who are apparently devout members of non-Christian (including Christianity-opposed) churches.
To be clear; such a reliance upon inner motivation to define a Christian does not imply that it does not matter what a person does or what religion they follow - it surely will matter to each individual, in his own unique way. What is possible - or necessary - in the way of church membership for one person, may not be possible for another.
Neither does it imply that I am obliged to accept anybody's assurance that he or she is really a Christian despite whatever he does (whether apparently Christian-compatible, or Christian-hostile) - quite the contrary!
I can, will and do discern, evaluate and judge each Man's sincerity of faith regardless of the specific 'facts' of his worldly actions; and using the inner guidance and guidance of the Holy Ghost - which (as the Fourth Gospel tells us) are gifts of all who follow Jesus.
In a world where (so far as I can tell) nearly-all the religious leaders of all the churches - whether self-identified as Christian or not-Christian - seem obviously to be corrupted into service to evil; I am not very interested in the specific external features of religious observance in 'people in general', but only in particular.
We cannot, of course, know another Man's heart for sure; but in this mortal life we must do our best to discern other Men's hearts - and act accordingly; and this judgment ought to come primarily and fundamentally from the realm of spirit and our divine self - not from theories, nor 'observations', nor 'evidence'.
