No, this is not about whether or not there is a 'God', or a 'Christ'...nor is it directed at anyone but "the church" and those people who CALL themselves "Christians". Everyone else may be excused.
I admit, I called myself a Christian once.
After almost 30 years of study of all the world's 'religions', it was indeed the one I freely chose, based on the data I collected from every continent on this planet.
I had tried-on other 'religions', sometimes for years. I really appreciated the freedom to do that. It was a wonderful time of discovery, for in EACH of those almost 200 'religions', I found SOME truth, if only ONE line of truth.
That said...
According to all the stats I have read in the past dozen or two years, most of the population of Planet Earth CLAIM to be 'Christian', claim to 'follow Christ'... underline CLAIM!
What an endeavor!
To actually follow in the very footsteps of CHRIST!
Let's look at the FAIL on that, shall we?
I won't insert lengthy scripture, just point toward them, and if you please, you can go have a look.
I have long stood and pointed out that words don't make anybody anything...ACTION does.
We can SAY we're anything we please, but how we LIVE, what we DO is what proves or disproves the words we so easily spout.
Maybe you've heard the phrase, "WALK WHAT YOU TALK"?
CHRISTianity begins with CHRIST...the Name no one wants to use, the Name that has become perhaps more 'politically incorrect' than any other Name... JESUS, the CHRIST.
That word "CHRISTIAN" alone should offer a clue as to what we may expect to find when we look at an espoused 'Christian'...a mirror image of HIM!
But do we, DO we see that?
Most folks I've met in "church" across SIX decades fall into two categories:
1~ "I would but..." group. These say they would be exactly like Christ, want to be, BUT they have a vast array of excuses why they are NOT, and they trade these excuses back and forth between themselves and the church 'family'.
Their intention is to be CHRIST-like, but they are "only human" and are quick to add that humans "can never be perfect".
THAT IS A LIE!
It's a popular LIE, one used by the majority of 'Christians', but it's still a blatant LIE!
Those who swear that a human can NEVER be perfect are suggesting that the FOUNDER lied, that He would tell His followers they should do an IMPOSSIBLE thing! (Matthew 5:48, Matthew 19:21)
They accuse CHRIST of lying by saying no human can attain perfection.
NO! NO! That's not how it works!
He COMMANDS, the 'righteous' OBEY!
The Founder Himself plainly says they MUST be perfect/perfected.
Maybe it's the hard and rocky WAY one has to take to accomplish what He commanded that these good "saints of the Lord" find distasteful, for HE said in order to be perfect, they must give up everything and follow Him, that they must DIE DAILY to self, turn their backs on lusts of the flesh (who wants to do THAT?) and allow Him to rule their lives 100%.
Perish the thought!
He also said that , for the rich, for those who set great stock in possessions, in things, it is almost impossible to achieve, but He also gave a "cure" for that to a young rich man.
The young fellow rejected the cure, but he had a free will, as do we all.
So, very quickly, the majority of self-proclaimed "Christians" can and do make up a new 1001 excuses quite often, why mortals" can't ever, ever be perfect as was the MAN, Jesus, whom they swear is their Lord.
(They'll all 1001 excuses be lies as well!)
See? It's the DIE DAILY thing that gags most of the 'flock'.
It's the "Love your neighbor" thing, or the "take care of widows & orphans", or the "turn the other cheek"...it's always something...
How many avowed "christians" (small "c" is intentional, alluding to the FAKES) spend countless hours reading The Word to find loopholes, I wonder?
THERE ARE NO LOOPHOLES!
For those who CHOOSE to be Christians (as in be like CHRIST) it is an uphill, bloody, perilous FIGHT...mostly against SELF!
NO, the devil did NOT make you do it, and any who say so are liars, because 'Satan' never had that authority!
He can suggest, but he could never MAKE anyone do ANYTHING!
NO, it was NOT someone else, it was not ANYONE else but Y-O-U and M-E who made the bad CHOICES...yes, CHOICES!
WE HAVE A FREE WILL, AND WE USE IT, FACE IT!
I'll tell you exactly who to blame for your PERSONAL sins and failures... GO GET A MIRROR!
And while you have that mirror (make sure it's clean, and of good quality) look into it and tell me if you see CHRIST looking back at you.
If you DON'T, you, my poor delusional creature, are a HYPOCRITE!
And your Founder had a rant for that...go read it? He warned many times about being a hypocrite, but I like this one best:
Matthew 23
It will not sit well with the One you claim to follow if you're caught being hypocrites.
[I fell into this group, alas! I freely admit I called myself by the Name that didn't fit me. Until I realized the LIE of what I was doing and ceased pretending. I haven't called myself a Christian since! My mirror showed me what I was...a HYPOCRITE]
I FOUND THE FOLLOWING VIDEO VERY HONEST.
THIS YOUNG MAN KNOWS, AND CALLS IT WHAT IT IS.
YOU WON'T HEAR IT LIKE THIS FROM MANY PULPITS TODAY!
PASTORS ARE AFRAID THE FLOCK WILL RUN OFF!
WELL, IF THE SHOE FITS, RIGHT,"super-christians"?
No, I can't say I've met a REAL Christian in decades now.
I don't see one in my mirror, either!
Now the next category is the most vile, the most dangerous...BEWARE of these!
2~ The "He didn't mean it that way..." group.
This is the group who wants to tell everybody else exactly what GOD meant, those elitists who "translate", who "interpret", who give "theological doctrines" out like candy at Mardi Gras!
These are the "super-christians" who make it very clear that THEY alone have been blessed with wisdom, they alone know what GOD meant.
Ahhhhh, how the purely blind lead the mostly blind!
This group would have made great PHARISEES!
They have the "key to success", the secret combination that unlocks all the great "mysteries of God". HARDLY! IF they did, as He said, we'd see people doing GREATER THINGS THAN HE DID, and we just don't see that, do we?
This is the group that will strangle you to death with LAW, with "YOU must" , BUT erroneously believe that THEY are excused from same.
They will twist and distort anything they must to subject you to the "will of the Lord"...but what they are really doing is bending you to THEIR way, the ONLY way...for they alone are gifted with wisdom, you see.
These are usually the ones who really run the show in churches, not always the ministers, since the ministers/shepherds/pastors are too busy with devising ways to increase church membership, add tithe$$$$ and offering$$$ to the till$, or too busy with this week's production of Vegas-style "entertainment" for their youth to be bothered with deciding who needs salvation and who does not.
This group has come up with more ways to "interpret" scripture than there are sand grains in the sea.
They can so easily change the 'meaning' of any words in the Book to fit THEIR ideology, THEIR 'doctrine', that you might swear they have a different Book than that one you've been wading through! They are the 'one size fits all' christians, and that size is just their size!
They have tossed to the wind the part that says, "Work out your OWN salvation with fear and trembling". Noooo, baby! It's THEIR way or the highway for you!
These 'superchristians' will leave you breathless and wringing your hands as they make it 'crystal clear' that NOTHING, NOT ONE WORD, from Genesis 1 to Revelation 22 should be accepted as LITERAL!
THIS GROUP WANTS YOU TO FORGET THAT THE BIBLE IS SO SIMPLE, AND THE GOSPEL SO SIMPLE THAT A CHILD CAN UNDERSTAND IT. A CHILD CAN POINT OUT TO THEM HOW THEY (THE "SUPER-CHRISTIANS) HAVE FAILED.
MAYBE THAT'S WHY HE SAID WE MUST BECOME AS LITTLE CHILDREN?
OHHHHH, the "supers" say, THE MYSTERY of that word "THE", or "IS", or even "GOD"!!!
"God has revealed to me, JUST to me, these mysteries, and for $19.99 I'll send you a DVD that will decipher this scripture for you."
NO, NO you won't.
I'm not buying!
But they will push hard to bring you around to their "interpretations.
You just don't know the "hidden meaning", the "code", the REAL definitions of all those words in the Word, because YOU are not part of the 'enlightened ones', the 'chosen few' to whom the Creators have revealed their 'true meanings' ...You can't hope to understand God without their 'help'.
NO, NO ONE needs their help.
God realized we would become ignorant on purpose, so HE simplified Genesis to Revelation.
A CHILD CAN UNDERSTAND SCRIPTURE.
No, what this group really is is the 'CRUCIFIXION BRIGADE', the ones who will catch you by the ear, drag you over their coals, then nail you to the cross of righteousness, for His Name's sake!
They will beat you to death with the Bible!
I wouldn't want to be in their shoes, when the curtain falls for the final time, for all the gold on earth!
This group will be responsible for MORE lost souls than old Lucifer ever hoped to nab!
Beware the 'interpreters', the 'translators', the 'super-mega-christians'!!!
Yessss, sisters and brothers, when this group dies, surely wisdom will die too!
And good riddance to ALL!
RUN AWAY FROM THESE LIKE YOUR LIFE IS IN THE BALANCE, BECAUSE IT IS!
Speaking of pastors...
Have you recently tried to call your pastor in the wee hours of the morning to get some "shepherdly advice", or have you been in hospital, or in trouble, or needed a few dollars to tide you over till payday and tried to enlist the aid of said pastors? Talk about a vanishing act! "'Pastor is on a Caribbean cruise this week, devoting himself to prayer & meditation." (or is it MEDICATION?)," Really? Isn't that where he was LAST month when I had to find a substitute pastor to do my mom's funeral?
<click>
You just became an outcast and 'reprobate' for asking such questions, you heretic!
Churches came AFTER Christ.
He never built a single one.
He attended synagogue, Jewish Temples!
Yes, Jesus was a practicing Jew, but He didn't need any "practice" when you think about it...
Churches, the buildings, the grounds, are NOT Christianity.
We don't even need one to "find Christ"!
We don't need one to "follow Christ".
I am of the opinion (get the slings & arrows ready!) that the majority of the major religion, i.e. Christians, are liars about far too many things.
I base that on long-term observation of espoused Christians in every state in this "union", & in many countries around the world.
(I ALSO BASE THAT ON SELF-EXAMINATION)
Today's brand of Christianity would be exactly the type their "Founder" often admonished for being HYPOCRITES back in the day when He walked the earth.
He was great at "calling things what they were", contrary to popular teaching today that He is ONLY "love".
He was also a whip in one hand and righteous anger all over certain money-changers, Sadducees, Pharisees, and the Sanhedrin!
He OFTEN called people on their 'private sins'. He knew what it took to "make the grade, and He warned and warned about "pretend saints", about the falsehoods being spread, about some leading many astray.
Shhhh! Mustn't say that much...makes the membership drop, 'runs people off', bankrupts churches!
Don't depict the Savior as One Who just might break bad all over the flock...AND their poor excuse for a shepherd!
Try some John, chapter 10 on your 'shepherd', and look him in the eye while you read.
Yes, the "shepherds" of the Faith are certainly another story.
Their "Head Shepherd" also had much to say about the type of "shepherd" in charge of most "flocks" today...called them HIRELINGS! <gasp>
And hirelings is a mild term for them.
Wouldn't be in their spots for ANY amount of "tithes & offerings"!
They carefully map out their "sermons" so as not to offend the tithe-paying brethren, and will have to face the fact of their failing in the end, so we leave them to the Wrath, gladly.
Let the BOSS judge them...except He's NOT their Boss, or things would be mighty different in churches today, and we just might have very few churches!
If each "Christian" was indeed a 'temple of Christ', THEY would be the churches!
HE sent His apostles out to all the world.
He did NOT build a church to which He expected the world to come to.
HE sent them LIVING 'churches'!
And with that, I'd advise those "looking for salvation" to go up on some unpopulated mountain top, or down by some river away from traffic, away from humans, and look THERE for what you seek!
Or, just go into a room alone and SEEK.
But, if you're in a rush, & have some loot to burn...most any "church" in America will guarantee you "salvation" IF THE PRICE IS RIGHT!
And if you become a "prayer partner" (aka, cut yourself in on the take) in the amount of $1000 a month or more.
As soon as the pastor is back from Vegas or the Caribbean , he just may come to your house and eat at your very table, and bless you like you just won't believe!
Your pic might even make the newsletter that the church puts out!
("Newsletters:They do that instead of going out amongst the "sinners" , "trying to win souls for Christ", or minister to the sick and widows, orphans, needy,y'see.)
Yeah, yeah, you who are saying that surely I'll get a white-hot room in the deepest pits of hell for this little rant and unleash your "righteous anger", condemn me as a 'heretic'.. if you do so, and DON'T do as HE did, I'm 100% SURE we'll be roomies.
I'd be the one who is NOT blaming others for where I am...the one with NO excuses!
I may be the only one NOT branded with a big ol' "HYPOCRITE" on their furrowed l'il foreheads, too, reckon?
You should have taken Matthew 7 LITERALLY!
One day we'll bid bon voyage to all christians who are NOT Christians!
Or, as the Founder will say, "Depart from me... I never knew you..."
<oh no!><gasp!>
And for those who may read this who are not 'religious'...group hug...I know why so many of you have nothing but scorn and disdain for what is running about in this world saying they are 'Christians'.
You may NEVER meet a REAL one, and for that, I am truly sorry.
I apologize for the fakes, for the frauds, for the liars and hypocrites who go by such a good Name. I deeply apologize that I was once among their breed. I can assure you, "heads will roll"....mine included.
My final words on this very touchy subject must be these:
Should I wind up with those I've accused in this blog, I won't regret at all the journey of discovery that led me to choose Whom I did, What I chose.
In the beginning, after my choice, it was incredibly awesome.
Then I went back to "MY WAY".
Then I CHOSE to follow....ME .
My only regret will be that I failed to become that mirror of the Man from Nazareth.
He was, He is, He always will be, to me, astounding!
Life is short and delicate.
Life hangs by a slim thread each day.
Some things need to be said.
This was one of them.
WHERE ARE THE 'MIRRORS OF CHRIST'?
NOT IN MY MIRROR!
How about YOURS, "Christians"?
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