There is scant interest in Jesus
even within the church. There are conferences by the thousands about everything
but Jesus and people will travel and spend thousands just to attend and be
motivated or moved or learn something. But where are the conferences that are
completely about Jesus? Jesus Himself exhorted us to learn of Him and yet we
treat Him as a doctrinal fait accompli and in no need of any thorough or
passionate pursuit.
The church salivates for more “how
to” messages and more studies about aspects of our lives. In fact most of the
western evangelical church is a study of humans rather than a study of Christ.
It is humanism all dressed up as church. Yes, there are commandments in the New
Testament about marriage and children and work and other aspects of our lives,
but the overarching and reoccurring theme is Jesus. And while we study life
adjustments or emotional controls or philosophical and psychological counseling
and treatment the reality is that most of these issues could be treated with a
stronger and relentless pursuit of knowing Jesus.
But long ago the church looked in
the mirror and instead of abhorring that which it saw it become infatuated with
itself. And professing believers became a project which by and large was
without Jesus. A healthy marriage, a healthy self image, a healthy bank
account, a healthy body, a healthy career, and in general a well rounded and
balanced citizen of earth is now the ecclesiastical goal. But that is not
Christianity at all.
It is astonishing just how much
Jesus has been marginalized and removed as the centerpiece of our journey. In
other words He is no longer Lord of all. The carnal sirens have all but drowned
out Christ. I cannot even begin to imagine just how much the Spirit grieves
over what has become of the visible church, which by New Testament standards is
not the church at all. Let us individually renew our faith and pursue the
knowledge of Jesus beyond what we think we knew yesterday, and let us walk that
pure path which seeks the glory of God which is found in the face of Jesus
Christ.
And be aware that this journey is
not about finding more facts about Jesus. It is about finding more and more
life in Jesus and having your life transformed into His.
Listen to what pastors and
preachers say about the crisis in Gaza and you will understand who are
following Jesus and who are not. The blind allegiance to the secular
nation of Israel is against any and all the teachings of Jesus and the New Testament.
I heard John Hagee, a heretic of epic proportions, say that we must cut off all
humanitarian support for the Palestinians until they acquiesce to certain
demands. I guess “love your enemies” was added by evil scribes and was not part
of the teachings of Jesus.
The entire thing has been
manipulated and fed to western believers. The conflict in the Middle East is
not our affair nor does it have anything to do with the gospel of Jesus Christ.
But while we sit in air conditioned safety it caresses the flesh to take sides
with fallen nations, and we refuse to see that Israel in the Old Testament was
a shadow of the coming church. They were God’s people and just like the church
they were almost always compromised and filled with believer and unbeliever alike.
Josh.5: 13 And
it came to pass, when Joshua was by Jericho, that he lifted up his eyes and
looked, and, behold, there stood a man over against him with his sword drawn in
his hand: and Joshua went unto him, and said unto him, Art thou for us, or for
our adversaries?
14 And he said, Nay; but as captain of the host of the Lord am I now come. And Joshua fell on
his face to the earth, and did worship, and said unto him, What saith my Lord
unto his servant?15 And the captain of the Lord's host said unto Joshua, Loose thy shoe from off thy foot; for the place whereon thou standest is holy. And Joshua did so.
We should not be interested in being on anyone’s “side”
but God’s. The things of this world are actively working against the purposes
of Christ and His kingdom. But it is so easy to get caught up in the politics
of it all and make judgments based upon what we perceive as right and wrong because
we see things through American eyes. But until you see that it is ALL wrong and
that there is no one that doeth good, no not one, then you will continue to
make all kinds of carnal judgments about who is right and who is wrong.
And worse yet if you listen to preachers who are more
American than Christian then you will make judgments about which nations God
loves and favors. And that, my friends, is heresy at its zenith. Repent and
allow your heart to awaken to the things and teachings of Jesus. This world’s
undertow is filled with strength based upon reason and political perception and
the ebbs and flows of man’s exercise of his own power. And the western church
has heard the voices of these evil sirens and by and large the church has not
only invited the world into the church, but it now follows hard after the world
and all its fallen machinations.
Beware all ye that desire Christ. It is impossible to
follow Christ and the world. And in this day and time of great spiritual
deception you may well be confronted with reassessing the very foundation of
what you were taught and what are lies still being spread as God’s truth. The
deception is much more sophisticated and much more powerful than we can almost
imagine. In fact, somewhere decades ago an intersect was crossed. And at that
juncture the faith called “Christian” became so contaminated and so off course
that it now turned its back on Christ and headed for greener pastures. And the
sheep began to feed in that pasture and the grass was plentiful and sweet. And
the visible church grew in numbers and buildings and financial power and
political clout.
And so today the church is no longer interested in Jesus.
It is consumed with finances and material goods and careers and success and college
educations and entertainment and television and sports and activities and
singing and founding fathers and famous preachers and glossy teaching materials
and church advertisements and elaborate conferences and whatever is happening
in the kingdom of this world. But as for Jesus, well, we can just paste His
name on whatever we want and declare that is who He is and what He desires. And
in the end the western church will glow with modern buildings and wonderful
music and compelling oratory and an atmosphere of excitement, but alas, it is
just spiritual wreckage all dressed up as God’s church. The axe head is at the
bottom of the water and most are not looking for it because we have made our
own axe head which is much more interesting and alluring. God help us all.
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