Image by kmakice via Flickr
Why is it that till now we have failed to understand the message of Christ?
Why is it that Christians have gotten the message upside down?
Its simple……
The reason why Christians have never understood the message.
Is because Christians don’t actually do what Christ says.
They do what the “Bible” says.
As we have realized….. there is a fundamental difference between the message of Christ….. and the message of the “Bible” as a whole.
The word of God is “in” the Bible….. but the word of God is “not” the Bible.
John 8:37-59
37 I know that you are descendants of Abraham; yet YOU SEEK TO KILL ME. BECAUSE MY WORD FINDS NO PLACE IN YOU.
38 I speak of what I have seen with my Father, and you do what you have heard from your father.”
39 They answered him, “Abraham is our father.” Jesus said to them, “IF YOU WERE ABRAHAM’S CHILDREN, YOU WOULD DO WHAT ABRAHAM DID,
40 but now you seek to kill me, a man who has told you the truth which I heard from God; this is not what Abraham did.
41 You do what your father did.” They said to him, “We were not born of fornication; we have one Father, even God.”
For whatever reason…. The words of Christ have not found a place in our hearts.
That is why we don’t do what our Father does.
That is why we don’t “constantly do good”
42 Jesus said to them, “IF GOD WERE YOUR FATHER, YOU WOULD LOVE ME, FOR I PROCEEDED AND CAME FORTH FROM GOD; I CAME NOT OF MY OWN ACCORD, BUT HE SENT ME.
43 WHY DO YOU NOT UNDERSTAND WHAT I SAY? IT IS BECAUSE YOU CANNOT BEAR TO HEAR MY WORD.
44 You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and has nothing to do with the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks according to his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies.
45 BUT BECAUSE I TELL YOU THE TRUTH, YOU DO NOT BELIEVE ME
The reason why we don’t understand the message Christ is not because it is difficult to understand.
It is because we cant bear to listen to his message.
Nobody wants to hear that if a man slaps you……you should turn the other cheek.
We want to hear that if a man slaps you…… punch him in the face so he won’t do it again.
Society teaches us to “look after number 1”….. every man for himself.
Nobody is interested in a man that turns the other cheek…… we are interested in heroes like Arnold Schwartzeneggar, Jet Li and Steven Segal…. People who would beat the crap out of the “bad guys”.
The irony of it all…… is the reason why we don’t believe in the message.
We don’t believe in the message…… “because it is the truth”
If is was a lie….. we would have believed it.
If it was what we wanted to hear….. we would have accepted it.
But the message of Christ does not fill churches.
People want to hear about physical blessings, fame and fortune.
That is what fills churches.
46 Which of you convicts me of sin? If I tell the truth, why do you not believe me?
47 HE WHO IS OF GOD HEARS THE WORDS OF GOD; THE REASON WHY YOU DO NOT HEAR THEM IS THAT YOU ARE NOT OF GOD.”
The reason why we are not willing to hear the word of God is because we are still of the world.
We love the world…..and the things in it.
But you cannot love the Father ….. and love the world.
That which is highly esteemed in the world is hated by the Father.
How can we love what the Father hates….. and expect to be like him?
48 The Jews answered him, “Are we not right in saying that you are a Samaritan and have a demon?”
49 Jesus answered, “I have not a demon; but I honor my Father, and you dishonor me.
50 Yet I do not seek my own glory; there is One who seeks it and he will be the judge.
51 TRULY, TRULY, I SAY TO YOU, IF ANYONE KEEPS MY WORD, HE WILL NEVER TASTE DEATH.”
Life…… is with the Father.
You will never taste death……because a relationship with the Father begins now….. and it never ends.
52 The Jews said to him, “Now we know that you have a demon. Abraham died, as did the prophets; and you say, ‘If any one keeps my word, he will never taste death.’
53 Are you greater than our father Abraham, who died? And the prophets died! Who do you claim to be?”
54 Jesus answered, “IF I GLORIFY MYSELF, MY GLORY IS NOTHING; IT IS MY FATHER WHO GLORIFIES ME, OF WHOM YOU SAY THAT HE IS YOUR GOD.
55 BUT YOU HAVE NOT KNOWN HIM; I KNOW HIM. IF I SAID, I DO NOT KNOW HIM, I SHOULD BE A LIAR LIKE YOU; BUT I DO KNOW HIM AND I KEEP HIS WORD.
56 Your father Abraham rejoiced that he was to see my day; he saw it and was glad.”
57 The Jews then said to him, “You are not yet fifty years old, and have you seen Abraham?”
58 Jesus said to them, “TRULY, TRULY, I SAY TO YOU, BEFORE ABRAHAM WAS, I AM.”
59 So they took up stones to throw at him; but Jesus hid himself, and went out of the temple.
We need to make an effort to know this Father…….
Because without him…… we are dead…..
Dead men living in an illusion of what we consider to be life…..when in reality what we call life…..is death.
We have been given the keys and placed in the drivers seat.
All that the father requires us to do……. Is to hear and keep the words that he sent Jesus to deliver.
To be continued……
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
An old woman of 90 from Valdres in Norway had a vision from God in 1968. The evangelist Emanuel Minos had meetings (services) where she lived. He had the opportunity to meet her, and she told him what she had seen. He wrote it down, but thought it to be so unintelligible that he put it in a drawer. Now, almost 30 years later, he understands he has to share the vision with others.
The woman from Valdres was a very alert, reliable, awake and credible Christian, with a good reputation among all who knew her. This is what she saw:
“I saw the time just before the coming of Jesus and the outbreak of the Third World War. I saw the events with my natural eyes. I saw the world like a kind of a globe and saw Europe, land by land. I saw Scandinavia. I saw Norway. I saw certain things that would take place just before the return of Jesus, and just before the last calamity happens, a calamity the likes of which we have never before experienced.
She mentioned four waves:
1. “First before Jesus comes and before the Third World War breaks out there will be a ‘détente’ like we have never had before. There will be peace between the super powers in the east and the west, and there will be a long peace. (Remember, that this was in 1968 when the cold war was at its highest. E. Minos) In this period of peace there will be disarmament in many countries, also in Norway and we are not prepared when it (the war) comes. The Third World War will begin in a way no one would have anticipated – and from an unexpected place.
2. “A lukewarmness without parallel will take hold of the Christians, a falling away from true, living Christianity. Christians will not be open for penetrating preaching. They will not, like in earlier times, want to hear of sin and grace, law and gospel, repentance and restoration. There will come a substitute instead: prosperity (happiness) Christianity.
“The important thing will be to have success, to be something; to have material things, things that God never promised us in this way. Churches and prayer houses will be emptier and emptier. Instead of the preaching we have been used to for generations -like, to take your cross up and follow Jesus, – entertainment, art and culture will invade the churches where there should have been gatherings for repentance and revival. This will increase markedly just before the return of Jesus.
3. “There will be a moral disintegration that old Norway has never experienced the likes of. People will live together like married without being married. (I do not believe the concept ‘co-habitor’? existed in 1968 – E. Minos.) Much uncleanness before marriage, and much infidelity in marriage will become the natural (the common), and it will be justified from every angle. It will even enter Christian circles and we pet it – even sin against nature. Just before Jesus return there will be TV- programs like we have never experienced. (TV had just arrived in Norway in 1968. E. Minos)
“TV will be filled with such horrible violence that it teaches people to murder and destroy each other, and it will be unsafe in our streets. People will copy what they see. There will not be only one ‘station’ on TV, it will be filled with ‘stations.’ (She did not know the word ‘channel’ which we use today. Therefore she called them stations. E. Minos.) TV will be just like the radio where we have many ‘stations,’ and it will be filled with violence. People will use it for entertainment. We will see terrible scenes of murder and destruction one of the other, and this will spread in society. Sex scenes will also be shown on the screen, the most intimate things that takes place in a marriage.” (I protested and said, we have a paragraph that forbids this kind of thing. E. Minos.) There the old woman said: “It will happen, and you will see it. All we have had before will be broken down, and the most indecent things will pass before our eyes.”
4. “People from poor countries will stream to Europe. (In 1968 there was no such thing as immigration. E. Minos.) They will also come to Scandinavia – and Norway. There will be so many of them that people will begin to dislike them and become hard with them. They will be treated like the Jews before the Second World War. Then the full measure of our sins will have been reached (I protested at the issue of immigration. I did not understand it at the time. E. Minos.)
The tears streamed from the old woman’s eyes down her cheeks. “I will not see it, but you will. Then suddenly, Jesus will come and the Third World War breaks out. It will be a short war.” (She saw it in the vision.)
“All that I have seen of war before is only child’s play compared to this one, and it will be ended with a nuclear atom bomb. The air will be so polluted that one cannot draw one’s breath. It will cover several continents, America, Japan, Australia and the wealthy nations. The water will be ruined (contaminated?). We can no longer till the soil. The result will be that only a remnant will remain. The remnant in the wealthy countries will try to flee to the poor countries, but they will be as hard on us as we were on them.
“I am so glad that I will not see it, but when the time draws near, you must take courage and tell this. I have received it from God, and nothing of it goes against what the Bible tells.
“The one who has his sin forgiven and has Jesus as Savior and Lord, is safe.”
WHEN THE OIL FLOWS
An elder in the Pentecostal Church at Moss, Norway, Martin Andersen, heard the following prophecy in 1937, in Moss:
‘When oil comes out of the North Sea and along the Norwegian coast, things will begin to happen, and the return of Jesus is approaching.’
When these words had been proclaimed, people stood up in the congregation and asked the man to sit down and not speak such nonsense. In 1937 it was indeed nonsense to talk about oil being pumped along the Norwegian coast. Today all the world’s big oil companies are pumping oil along the coast of Norway. Norway is the world’s second greatest exporter of oil – after Saudi Arabia.
The sum of it all is: Jesus is coming soon (suddenly).
I cant tell that your post says it all, there are still errors on your studies
{ 1 trackback }