INSIGHTS FROM THE LATE BILL BRIGHT
 
Christianity is Simple
 
I fear that somehow you will be led away from your pure and simple devotion to Christ (2 Corinthians 11:3, NLT).

Dear friends:

Christianity is really very simple. Many people try to complicate it in all manner of ways.

Much of what we call Christianity today is nothing more than the tradition of men. Paul wrote, "I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtlety, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ" (2 Corinthians 11:3, KJV).

After five years as a student of Princeton and Fuller theological seminaries and 58 years of walking with the Lord, my faith is very simple. I just seek to love God with all my heart, soul, mind and strength, trust His promises, and obey His commands.

In all my writing and whatever I do, I try to make that central. It took me years to figure out that the true Christian life is not complicated. It is just like the Lord to make His way so simple that a child would understand and comprehend -- but we are so prone to complicate God's ways.

Nobody sat down with me and explained most of the things that we are teaching at Campus Crusade for Christ. My associates and I have learned by doing it. Most of the truths which I have spoken and written about are from the front line of spiritual warfare. The important truths which I learned in seminary were a confirmation of what I already believed, mainly a profound respect for and the divine inspiration, authority and inerrancy of God's Word, the Bible.

The God who created the universe did not make it difficult to know Him. He came to earth disguised as a slave -- the God-man, Jesus of Nazareth -- not as a grand, ceremonial religious leader with pomp and circumstance, such as an exalted member of the Sanhedrin. Of course, before Christ came, the ancient Israelites lived under a complicated religious system God had given them, but that was for a special purpose, to point to our Lord's coming and grace in the future. "So the law was put in charge to lead us to Christ that we might be justified by faith" (Galatians 3:24, NIV). Peter later called that religious system, "A yoke that neither we nor our fathers have been able to bear." (Acts 15:10, NIV).

"And this is his commandment, That we should believe on the name of his Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, as he gave us commandment" (1 John 3:23, NLT).

Yours for fulfilling the Great Commission each year until our Lord returns,

Bill Bright

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The late Dr. Bill Bright was Founder and President/Chairman Emeritus of Campus Crusade for Christ, an organization which began as a campus ministry in 1951 and now has more than 27,000 full-time staff and up to 500,000 trained volunteer staff in 196 countries in areas representing 99.6 percent of the world's population. In the past 50 years, Campus Crusade for Christ has seen approximately 6 billion exposures to the gospel worldwide. The film, "JESUS," which Bright conceived and funded through Campus Crusade for Christ, is the most widely translated and viewed film of any type ever produced. Since its use began in 1980, the film has been translated into 839 languages and viewed or listened to by over 5.7 billion people in 228 countries. Dr. Bright was also the author of more than fifty books. Dr. Bright recently co-founded Global Pastors Network to "Touch, Teach and Train" a group of 5 million new house churches around the world 24/7/365 at http://www.globalpastorsnetwork.org.

Copyright (c) 2003, Bill Bright. All rights reserved. However, readers may copy and distribute this message as desired, without restrictions in number, as long as the content is not altered. Forwarding this e-mail to friends is encouraged. For many evangelistic and spiritual growth materials, visit the Campus Crusade for Christ Web site at http://www.ccci.org. See http://www.campuscrusade.org for Bill Bright's own materials.