It seems to be popular within a certain section of the contemporary body of Christ to talk of a different Jesus. They seem to think that their Jesus is so different to the one who cried out "repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand" and "go and sin no more". This Jesus is a wishy washy, lovey dovey, nice guy who has no principles or intense feelings and everyone and everything is accepted. They believe that Jesus died for everyone so then everyone is saved but just doesn't know it yet and so there is no need to repent. They dishonour Christ's death on the Cross. Jesus didn't pay for our sins on the cross in order to give us all a free ride but He did it to destroy the sin principle in our hearts so that we would no longer be slaves to it but would be free to worship God in spirit and truth. Sin is still sin. It still kills. It still destroys lives. It still exists and it is still evil.
An example is where Joel Osteen recently when he said that the word of God needs to be updated and many of the epistles need to be replaced with modern alternatives and believes that the apostles Peter, James, John and Paul missed it in many ways. Shane Willard said something similar but wasn't quite as bold as to suggest we replace it but that we should interpret it based on our current society's needs. What deception.
This is not the Jesus I read of in the Bible. They have hijacked the church and persecute, ridicule and marginalise bible-believers. All in a nice way though - just a comment here and a sad smile of understanding there, not allowing them to speak but letting them do all the work in the church so long as they have no voice. Saying things about us like "legalistic" and "old school" and praying that we "get it".
I am sorry if this is offensive to you but there is no way on this earth that someone who is well versed and grounded in the word of God is going to "get it", EVER. "It" is heresy.
It is a caricature of God. It is mocking him. You might think it is a bit rough what I say but what is a caricature? It is where you draw a picture of someone and emphasise some of their more noticeable or distinguishing features and de-emphasise all the others, leading to a recognisable but grotesque image of the person that is suitable for satire or ridicule. That is what they are doing. They are amplifying some aspects of Jesus and diminishing others that they find less attractive and are presenting this to the world. It is rubbish. We are to magnify Him, not parts of Him. He is not only the suffering servant but He is also the King of Glory, a mighty warrior who is coming back to execute judgment on all the ungodly who have rejected Him. Accepting a caricature and not the whole Jesus in balance is a form of rejection. Do you know the cartoon or the person? As an example, I read the political funnies but the way Tony Abbott is portrayed really annoys me. Tony is a warm, genuine person in real life. I know. I have met him and I can usually see through the glamour of campaigning. There is so much more to the man than a set of "budgie smugglers" and big ears and nose. Back to the issue.
It is time we get rid of the caricature and try to see the real Jesus (I don't know what these others are talking about with the "authentic Jesus" terminology. It just sounds like when people call COD an authentic shooter. I don't like it.)
Posted by Garth Clarkson at 01:54
TUESDAY, 29 APRIL 2014
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