‘Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.’ John 14:6
I find it humorous and upsetting at the same time when I hear Christians say, ‘What would Jesus do?’ Why? Well to be honest, most of the time they either put words in Jesus’ mouth that He did not say, or they use WWJD to justify something they want but conflicts with the Word of God. So when most pastors are asking, ‘What would Jesus do?’ they are hoping you don’t read the bible for yourself; and fortunately for them, most of you spend little or no time in God’s Word, so you’re easy targets.
What Jesus said over 2000 years ago to the scribes and Pharisees is as relevant today as it was then: ‘This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips: but their heart is far from me.’ Matthew 15:8. At one time it was an honor to be a pastor and they were held with high regard; they were men of God with strong morals and principles, and defended the faith and God’s Word. They guided the flock and gave them sound teaching, and sound advice. My how times have changed.
I long for men of God to stand up and declare what Jeremiah said: ‘Thus saith the Lord, Stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls.’ Jeremiah 6:16
I am going to say something here that will offend almost everyone reading this, especially if you are a Christian and regular church-goer: Your pastor or church leader will never ask you to repent of your sins, or require anything of you that would bring you to a more holy lifestyle, or guide you to live a life that honors God, or lead you to righteousness; they cannot do it. Why would I say such a thing? Well, most of today’s pastors and church leaders are entangled in the bondage of sin themselves; their lives are riddled with it. If fact, so much so that they even defend their actions and twist the Word of God to justify evil. They have coddled their sin into the congregation. They actually teach that certain disobedience to the King of kings is ok, and promote it; so how can a person like that lead you to Jesus? They can only lead you to hell. How many couples in your church are living together while unmarried, fornicating? How many are involved in adultery? How many are remarried after divorce? How many are watching porn and filled with lasciviousness (lust of the flesh and strong sexual desires)? How many are practicing idolatry? A lot of people define idolatry as worship of idols. However, it goes much further and can be extreme admiration, love, or reverence for something or someone. If there is anything between you and God it is an idol. How many are practicing witchcraft? Most of you are thinking, ‘I don’t do that!’ But do you celebrate Halloween? Do you go to mystics, astrology, and fortune tellers? Do you read horoscopes?
Do you have hatred or unforgiveness toward anyone in your church or life? God says to be sober-minded and not be mastered by anything, but how many of you get drunk? How many of you smoke cigarettes or a little weed now and again? The list goes on and on, and I am not talking to the world; I am talking to the church.
‘This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: So that ye cannot do that things that ye would. But if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law. Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such the like: of the which I tell you before, as I have told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.’ Galatians 6:16-21
I want to expand upon fornication a bit more because this is one of the more prevalent sins in the church today. Fornication is any sexual act(s) outside of marriage: this includes all sexual acts outside of marriage. The only sexual acts that are permissible and good in the Word of God are within the confines of marriage between a man and a woman. If you don’t like that, deal with it. Your fight is with God the Creator of the universe. I have heard many say Jesus did not teach on marriage or he did not say anything about it. But those excuses are completely false. ‘Have ye not read, that he which made them at the beginning made them male and female, and said, For this cause shall a man leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife: and they twain shall be one flesh? Wherefore they are no more twain, but one flesh, What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder.’ Matthew 19:4-6. Jesus stated what marriage was, not what it was not. So the requirements for marriage are a male and female; if you do not have that then you do not have a marriage in the eyes of God. Only a male and female can become one flesh and be joined in matrimony. That means anything outside of this format is not ordained by God, nor is in union with God, nor is blessed by God, nor is joined in one flesh. It is simply called living in sin.
We do not have a problem with sin in the world. We have a problem with sin in the church. Sinners I expect to be sinners, but professing Christians who claim to be redeemed by the blood of the Lamb are not acting like Christians. We are Jesus’ representatives here on earth, do you not understand that?
Many Christians of today love to quote 2 Chronicles 7:14 ‘If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.’
However what I find is that most want the land healed, but do not want to humble themselves; and they sure do not want to turn from their wicked ways. They are very content with living in sin, and living a life centered on themselves. At the same time they want God to bless them. That, my friend, is like trying to have your cake and eat it too. Please keep in mind that I am talking to the church here; not to the unbelievers (you are exempt from this conversation).
One of the most wonderful things about Jesus is His ability and desire to forgive us. However, we first must be willing to accept we have sinned and ask Him to forgive us. If you cannot comprehend that, you can pray all you want and nothing but more bad is going to happen. There may be extended times of God’s mercy raining on You, but all sin does bring suffering; and if not here, then forever ongoing suffering in the eternal separation from God, who is the only source of light, love, and peace.
I blame the church for the mess we are in. We desperately need mass repentance within the church now, or yesterday. As Paul told the church at Corinth, describing what some of them used to be: ‘And as such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God.’ Corinthians 6:11.
Do we still have hope? Yes we do! ‘With men this is impossible; but with God all things are possible.’ Matthew 19:26
Do you want to end the corruption taking place in the world today? We first must end the corruption in our hearts and souls; we have a systemic sin problem in the church today. The only way to fix this is to call upon the name of Jesus and repent of your sins, ask Him to save you and deliver you.
‘But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance: against such there is no law. And they that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.’ Galatians 5: 22-25
If your love does not rejoice in truth, it is not love. Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life; not our way, not our truth, not our life. Jesus is Lord, not us. Without Jesus we have no truth, we have no life, and our love is not based in truth; we only deceive ourselves. ‘Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth.’ 1 Corinthians 13:6. You cannot live in iniquity and sin while claiming you have any understanding of love and truth. Evil and good do not mix.
If the church is going to have impact we need to start acting like we are redeemed by the blood of Jesus. We cannot operate in the power and authority of the Spirit when we ourselves are slaves to sin. ‘For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ. And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works’. 2 Corinthians 11:13-15.
What do you have to lose by calling upon Jesus at this point? Because your present method does not seem to be working anymore.