Ashamed of Jesus

For whoever is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and wicked generation, of him the Son of Man also will be ashamed when He comes in the glory of His Father with the holy angels…Jesus

We live in an age when the inhabitants of our land, and many lands are not ashamed of anything.

Every form of vile wickedness and blasphemy is endorsed, practiced and promoted. After venturing onto facebook recently (pray for me)  I found the same foolishness amongst those who claim Christ as their own. Good regular church goers comment on their love for their church in one post and then brag about their fornicating in the next. Drunken binges are reason to boast and shacked up “saints” speak of their “partners”.

Yet these same churchies who show no shame, are ashamed of one thing; Christ and His Word.

I heard one radio “Reverend”recently mocking those who would believe the words of Christ. He is ashamed of Jesus and Jesus words, and he is a pretender who needs to stop taking money on false pretences and get himself a real job.

The Lord makes it crystal clear that no one can be a follower of His and reject Him and His teachings…and that means all His teachings not just the pleasant ones!

How foolish to claim allegiance to the King of Glory and then to misrepresent everything He says. How nonsensical to think we can be counted amongst His friends when we call Him a fool or in error or a liar.

We are not to judge His Word, His Word judges us.

We are not to manipulate His eternal truth in a vain attempt to mould it to our post-modern mindset.

We must not under any circumstances adjust His words to make men feel better about themselves and their sin (or to make us feel better about us and our sin)

Jesus says some strong and challenging things. Things that people don’t print out and put on the refrigerator as a memory verse. Things that can chill the blood and drive us to prayer for those who don’t know Him. Especially those who don’t know Him and think they do. There is no more dangerous place to be!

Some “church” leaders deny there is a hell. Jesus disagrees. On the day of judgement they will find out who is right.

Some declare God has changed His mind about extra marital sex. They are wrong and under the control of the father of lies. Jesus states unequivocally any sexual activity outside of a legal marriage between a man and a woman is under God’s judgement.

Some apologise for Christians who declare His word. Don’t bother. It may be offensive to claim Christ is the only way to escape the wrath to come but I would rather offend man trying to speak truth than offend Christ by remaining silent.

These weak and timid souls are not really concerned for people’s feelings. They are only concerned for their own reputations. They have not yet embraced Christ’s call to  become of no reputation that His glory may be magnified. They are more concerned about the praise of men than the praise of God.

Silence is not always golden, sometimes it’s just yellow.

The history of the true church is adorned with the testimonies of those who willingly gave up their lives to speak the words of life. They accepted the wrath of men if it offered hope that their persecutors could escape the wrath of God. There’s was a true love. Courageous, sacrificial, full of faith and holy boldness. As they faced the flames or the gallows often their final prayer on earth was a cry for the forgiveness of their murderers. Today many tremble that they may be “un-friended” on facebook.

The simple fact is, to tell sinful men that God loves them will incur no anger. They will agree and think, “Of course He does, I’m very loveable.”

To do charitable deeds will earn the praise of men. Unless they’re truly done in Christ’s name.

To cherry pick positive and “nice” scripture verses devoid of context and thus devoid of the Spirit is not in any sense preaching God’s word. Even new agers and cultists can do this… And even the devil can quote scripture in order to deceive.

Preaching material prosperity for Christ’s followers will draw a crowd. The same crowd which will find themselves in a distinctly un-prosperous eternal flame.

Calling Christianity a means to “Your best life now” is surely and obviously a devilish temptation to ignore eternity.

All these carnal covetous claims are not the call of Christ but the lure of the devil.

But preach Christ and His words and see what happens. Just as He promised, friends will abandon us, family members will reject us and “Churches” will cast us out. In this tolerant and accepting age the one thing men will not tolerate or accept is Christ and His word… or those who will proclaim Christ and His word.

Now friend, a warning, some of your favourite religious writers may not be faithful to Christ and the whole counsel of God. You may get angry at me for telling you so, but wouldn’t it be wiser to be angry at them for attempting to deceive you. Some of your oft quoted preachers may not preaching the truth. Some preach a modified truth and a modified truth is quite simply, a lie.

Some have been seduced by the devil to be silent and to think that such silence is wisdom. Actually it’s cowardice.

Jesus commands us to confess Him before men if we wish Him to confess us to the Father. And in no uncertain terms He warns if we deny Him, He will deny us.

Please don’t be ashamed of Christ. Don’t be so foolish as to accept the words of men over the words of the Creator. Don’t reject His truth, and if you do don’t expect His blessing.

If you have been truly born from above it’s in your heart to speak of Christ and His wonderful truths….So speak!

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