When being "nice" is the devil's work

No Gospel study today, as I have a couple of other things that have come up for this week, instead.

First is to let those who are interested know that I'm going to drop off of Twitter and (in a week or so) close the account. Especially locally these days, God's putting more and more into my path people who have rejected Jesus because they (quite rightly) reject the smiling, "loving", evil-living people who most loudly call themselves "Christian" – and yet these folks I'm meeting now are still blessed with craving the real Jesus (though they aren't quite there realizing it yet, their questions and constant coming back to me with them show their real hearts). They ask me hard questions, and need real, non-BS answers, and I'm needing more time to devote to what helps them. So, Twitter is among the things that have to go, to free up my time.

I will continue this blog, however. So if you're happy here, I'll still be here :) But I'm also going to really start pushing myself to write and complete the little resource book for people who can't stomach what calls itself "Christianity" but still want and need (the real) Jesus. I think I've mentioned writing this before, so I'll just say again that I'm looking to write something that's sturdy, pocket-sized, and cheap – something that can be handed out and passed around as suits folks (If you already know of such a resource, please let me know). I already have almost a dozen people locally I'd love to give one to today, if I only had it written already.

Second thing is I've received a public prayer request from a brother who's been around "No Just. Just Jesus" (and its predecessor) for some time. Chris is also concerned with people who reject Jesus because "Christians" are being jerks. Most specially at this time he's concerned with a young woman who's become an atheist in response to bad "Christians", and who will most likely remain an atheist not only due to the storm of devil-heart "Christian" responses she's gotten for expressing that, but also from the lack of response she's likely to get from those who DO truly have Jesus (and not the devil) in their hearts.

Brother Chris writes:

"I'm absolutely horrified that this can somehow pass as Christian behavior today.  The most ironic thing about this whole situation is this:  One big reason this poor girl is an atheist in the first place is the piss-poor job we as Christ's representatives have been doing to show His light in the world.  (In fact, that's a big motivation behind my signature change.) [LYNNE NOTE: Chris' new email sig says: 'Christians are the best people to know when it comes to religious conversion... as long as you want to become an atheist.']  I've been requesting prayer for Jessica, that God will guide her away from those false Christians who would wish harm upon her and show her the true heart of Jesus Christ, and I hope you'll do the same.  Also pray that those Christians who are condemning her, that they will realize the harm they are doing by pushing one of God's children away from Him and to repent of their arrogance.  Pray for those of us who can't pray for them out of our own desire for blood, and help us to truly be the heart of Jesus to these "Christians" who think they already know Him, just as they (and we) should have been for Jessica.  And pray for all sincere followers of Christ to avoid this ironic trap that the devil has laid for us -- leading us to the lake of fire that we proclaim others deserve more than we do."

I am in agreement with Chris in this prayer, and I pray that you are, as well! Here are the thoughts I'd like to add:

There are those who've figured out that Jesus isn't represented by most of those who call themselves "Christians", and we understand that those who threaten and bad-mouth people who are different than them actually serve the devil – and not Jesus.

But too often we don't ALSO figure out that those "Christians" who don't respond to these "Christian" attacks on people are ALSO serving the devil – and not Jesus. The person who commits the spiritual assault, and the person who recognizes the spiritual assault but does nothing, are each guilty of the assault. To recognize that something sinful and wrong is being done but do nothing to stop or speak up against it, makes one even more sin-guilty than the person whose heart is so full of religious-devil they don't even truly know godly right from wrong anymore.

We might see it like this:

A rabid dog is running around the neighborhood, biting people and infecting them with rabies too. A veterinarian in the neighborhood sees the dog and recognizes its sickness and the sickness it's now infecting people with; but the vet shrugs her shoulders and thinks, "Oh well. God will take care of that dog and those people. I'm just going to demonstrate real health for these people by not acting like that dog, and not having rabies myself."

Who's at fault in this scenario?

• The dog so out of its mind with disease it's like someone demon possessed? 
• The people being hurt by the dog, because they don't have the knowledge to recognize its disease symptoms and stay the heck away from it? 
• Or the person who does have the knowledge to recognize how diseased and dangerous the dog is, but who comes up with some B.S. reason not to act to stop the dog and protect and heal those it threatens?

Today, "Christians" who congratulate themselves on demonstrating "Jesus" and "godly behavior" by not acting in the world against evil doctrine and evil actions that harm others spiritually, emotionally, and physically, aren't real Christians, as Jesus defined His followers. At worst, they're selfish jerks who have their own happy, calm lifestyle at heart, and not Jesus. At best, they're people who've been convinced that Jesus, Paul, Peter, John – and Elijah, Isaiah, Moses, and more – were the only people ever supposed to stand up for God's way of doing things, and against the evil that only pretends to be God's way of doing things.

But where would we be..

• If Jesus hadn't actively confronted the Pharisees and Sadducees, and actively helped others to heal from their false messages about who God is and what God demands from His (real) people? 
• If Paul hadn't actively pointed out how ungodly and just plain evil the Corinthians were – and in ways that spoke not only to them, but also to the rest of us since? 
• If Peter and John hadn't stood up publicly against powerful religious groups who were misrepresenting God and His ways to the world, being willing even to be tortured and die if need be, rather than go along with or ignore evil-pretending-to-be-godly?

Too many will argue that God endowed those people with supernatural power to do those things – and still only gives that power to a few, today. Which is total, selfish, hogwash. It's the spiritual equivalent of the hogwash-reasoning that allowed the Communists to take over Asia and Eastern Europe, the Nazis to take over Germany, and the religious bigots to take over the USA today. It's the hogwash-thinking that lets millions upon millions around the world never see or retain the real Gospel of Jesus Christ, because "I'm too scared to speak up", or "God's ordained others to speak up", or "All things happen according to God's plan". Bullshiat.

There are Gay people, people of conscience, politically leftwing people, women, poor people, atheists, pagans, science-oriented people, and more all around you RIGHT NOW who don't know Jesus because they've never heard or seen anything but the devil-worshippers who wear Jesus masks.

They think they can't have Jesus, or that good people have to reject Jesus, because no Christians stand up in their community, in their workplace, in their neighborhoods, to say to those falsely representing Jesus, "You need to knock it off. Your lives aren't godly. Your message isn't godly. What comes out of your life shows your heart is full of evil, and you need to repent – not these other people you're bearing false witness against", and to those who've only heard people falsely representing Jesus, "The Bible warns everyone that false-Christians will be the majority. Jesus said not to be fooled by them. Let me show you what else the real Jesus has to say, to and about you, and then you can decide based on what and who Jesus REALLY is."

It's really not complicated. The devil runs this world, until Jesus comes back. And being a light to others does NOT mean being nice and polite and loving to our neighbors while false-Christians shred their understanding of who Jesus really is. Even pagans and atheists are nice and polite and loving. It's only our own selfish wish for a happy life without demands put upon us that makes us believe being nice, polite, and loving is all it takes to really be about Jesus.

The time is growing short, my friends. Jesus never told us when He would return, but He warned us that really harsh times like no one's seen before would come before He did. And if we believe the world we live in now – with its chemical, biological, and nuclear weapons poised for worldwide action, genetic and chemical pollution destroying our health and twisting life on this planet, politics and religions that lust like mad rapists after the horrors of war, and conscienceless economies that take food from the babies of billions so that a few thousand rich can have more and more – isn't a set up for really harsh times like no one's see before, we delude ourselves.

Not only are we ALL Jesus-charged to make sure our own faith remains intact during the harsh times ahead, but we are also all Jesus-charged to spread and protect God's real Gospel message to all those around us, even if it literally costs us everything to do so (even if it costs us our lives).

To imagine being a true follower of Jesus Christ requires anything less is to imagine that modern faith is opposite the faith Jesus taught and the first disciples lived. To believe that God's ok with that is to make the exact same mistake/sin as all those in the Bible who claimed to be "God's People" without actually doing what He said to do. The Bible tells us their fates – and leaves no question about our own, if our faith, like theirs, requires nothing more than our own ways of happy, quiet, religious pleasure.

Who are the people in your life right now who need to hear God's real Gospel message? Who've only ever heard the devil-worshippers in Jesus masks? Who've been taught they can't have Jesus? Who've been made to believe the only way to be a good person is to reject Christianity - and therefore Jesus Christ, as well? 

What are the ways you can stand up to those who are feeding them full of this false, ungodly garbage? To lovingly, but without reservation, call them on their crap and tell them to stop blaspheming God with their false hearts and false words, so that others aren't fooled by their "witness"?

What are the ways you can show the real Jesus to the people who are being hurt by false witness? What healing do they need? A nonjudgmental and sincere friendship? A shoulder to cry on? A Bible translation that hasn't been reinterpreted to make it seem God condemns them? A simple tract that communicates God's real love for them that they can keep in a pocket or purse for private reading and comfort? Maybe just someone to share with them what Jesus really taught and wants from His people? 

How can you make yourself available to do God's work for these people? Do you need to pray for strength or wisdom? Do you need healing yourself first, so that you don't accidentally pass on the spiritual rabies you still carry, instead? Are there others you can work with, to give each other strength and counsel, to learn from each other and help carry each others' burdens? Doing God's real work requires God's hand - we can do none of it on our own! How will you let God lead, and let God help?

Email me if you'd like to discuss more options or informational tools, or if you have ways you already actively show the real Gospel to those who've been lied to about it. I'd love to hear it! When I can do so without violating someone else's privacy, I will start sharing my own adventures in doing God's salvation work with others, as well.

Until next week –

In His love,

Lynne
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This article written by Lynne at http://NoJunkJustJesus.blogspot.com/. You can contact Lynne at NoJunkJustJesus@gmail.com.

Who is (really) part of God's family?

Yep! We're still going through the (chronological) Gospels, seeking and therefore finding the real Jesus – the one that not only doesn't require any church or "clergy" or "denomination" to know, but who can't be known if those are the spiritual "tools" we're using to discover and follow him.

As always, you can find all our previous posts in this series, going through the Gospels chronologically to find the real Jesus, here.

And as always you'll find the scriptures for today are here. (Note that you can change the human-translation version on this scripture page as suits you. I default to the NASB to get the more literal translation, but do use the one that works for you. Note also that I have no theological or other tie to the bible site I list above – it's just one that lists the NASB, KJV, and The Message, and most folks I've corresponded with seem to use one of those. However, another brother likes the NRSV human translation, and says you can find that at bible.oremus.org. Send me yours, if it isn't already listed!)

Today we're looking at: Who does God (not "church", not "denomination", not "minister") define as His family, and what are the requirements for being part of it?

In the very short scripture for today, we see Jesus is once again surrounded by a big, pressing crowd of people. So big, so pressing, in fact, that when His biological mother and brothers (and possibly His sisters, as well) show up, they can't push through to get to Him.

In that culture 2,000 years ago, so fiercely obsessed with biological ties and the unending power of the biological family over the lives of those in it, of course people in the crowd passed on the message to Jesus that His mother and brothers were here and trying to get through to Him. And of course the people in this crowd (and His biological family) would have had no doubt whatsoever that Jesus would have immediately dropped everything else to tend to His biological family. In Israel 2,000 years ago, to not obey and fail to put one's family before everything else meant risking one's place in the family – and that could cost someone a huge economic and social downfall (that's why women who were divorced by their husbands were at such risk, and why Jesus spoke against such divorce).

Yet, once again we see Jesus stunning the crowd with His very different response. Jesus, we see, redefined who He belonged to, and who belonged to Him. He changed that relationship from something defined by people, to something defined by God. "MY family," He said, "is made up of those who do what God wants."

In our culture, we can't even imagine how that would have shocked the people who heard it. Their mouths would have dropped open, their faces curled up in offense, their tongues wagged in agitation. Obviously (to them), once again He was being a "bad" guy!

But first of all,was Jesus poo-pooing His biological family? In some way, yes, He was. He stayed connected with the crowd of seekers, and didn't do anything that made those who felt they had the biggest ties to and hold on Him any special treatment whatsoever. Does that mean His biological family had no place with Him whatsoever? Oh, no – they had the same place in God's family everyone else does. His biological family was just also invited to be part of the seeker-crowd, no better, no worse, no more or less special than everyone else who was seeking after Jesus and doing what God says to do.

This shines a big God-spotlight on those "Christian" practices that hold some "Christians" as "higher", "more special", "more holy", "more worthy", etc than others. The Roman "church" and its centuries of elevating human beings in "saint" worship – especially of Jesus' biological mother – is an absolute rejection of how God's defined our relationship with our fellow believers (both present and past). But just as big a God-rejection is the Protestant and Roman "church" elevation of some human beings as "clergy" (the pastor/priest/pope syndrome). Jesus didn't give even the tiniest hint of special treatment even to the woman who gave birth to Him. Yet Good Religious People just LOVE LOVE LOVE to give special education, special seating, special housing, special deference, special attention, special titles, special clothing, and innumerable other special honors to those who are truly no more than anyone else (and who, in fact, make themselves Jesus-rejecters and LESS than any in God's true family, because of their acceptance and love of being "special").

Once again, Good Religious People – for all their centuries of self-congratulation regarding their "special" place with God, and with all their centuries of "Christian" scholarship, and with all the years and years each of their "clergy" people spend memorizing and regurgitating all that "scholarship" – prove by their lives that they have once again completely missed Jesus' point. Once again, they have absolutely nothing of real-God value to share with anyone!

Of course, there's nothing wrong with looking up to someone who's a (real) elder in the faith, or gaining wisdom and strength from someone who's going through trials we relate to or are spiritually impressed or humbled by. But there is a problem with thinking we find those things within Good Religious Churches or Good Religious Denominations and their centuries of saint and clergy worship, so that they become somehow "more holy" or "closer to God" or someone we should follow with little/no question. Then we're putting human beings in the place only Jesus is supposed to occupy.

Does your heart crave looking up to and venerating a human being? Then look up to and venerate the Only One worthy of your praise and respect: Jesus!

• Many Good Religious Christians today are almost as obsessed with their biological families today as were Good Religious Jews of 2,000 years ago. They spout off all the time about being "Family" oriented, don't they? They make it seem as if the biological family is THE most important thing about being a "Good Christian". Does that even make sense, when we look over Jesus' life and His relationships? 
• While Jesus never put human family above God's (real) family, He also never told us to reject or not take care of those of our biological families, either. What does this say to you about the various priorities you have in your day-to-day life? How can you satisfy the requirements of being a real part of God's family, and also taking care of those who depend on you, as well?
• What human beings have you elevated above yourself or others in your life? Did you learn to do so from "church" or other Good Religious Sources? What prevents you from putting only Jesus in that high place? 
• When we try to be part of God's Family by belonging to some church, we misunderstand Jesus' whole point just as badly as the Good Religious People do – and that's the most spiritually dangerous position we can be in! Have there been times in your life (perhaps now?) when you've missed Jesus' point, as well? Who taught you the wrong way? Are you letting Jesus teach you His right way? 
• We've already seen that Jesus says no one can accomplish good through evil – and putting oneself or someone else in Jesus' place IS evil. Yet Good Religious People continue to believe fiercely that elevating some of their people above others (making them "clergy") is a good, Godly thing – even though it puts them on the level only Jesus is supposed to be at, among His (real) people. Were you infected with "clergy"-worship at some time in your life? Did you at some point decide to step up into being "clergy" yourself? Are you ready to repent of those blasphemies? 
• It's not surprising that it only took three years for Good Religious People to murder Jesus (it's probably more surprising it took them that long!). Every way He lived, and everything He said, was a constant irritation and rebuttal to the true-God rejecting way Good Religious People lived. He refused to elevate them to the spiritual heights they imagined they inhabited. He never stop illuminating just how empty of God and how full of themselves and demons they actually were. And so they tortured and killed Him. After Jesus went back up into heaven, though, His rejection of them remained – but He was no longer around to murder. Is it hard to figure out why Jesus' TRUE message, then, would be "murdered" by the Good Religious People over the next twenty centuries? Is it hard to imagine why Good Religious People work so hard to re-write (through "translation" and interpretation) the parts of the Bible they want to say something different than what God intended? Is it even surprising that they would ignore, fight against, and bury the hugely simple and Good-Religious-People-Condemning message of Jesus Christ under their centuries of "theology", "scholarship", "tradition", "hierarchy", and "clergyhood", and then train people through their "seminaries" and "Bible studies" to memorize and push forward the complex mass of sewage they call "Christianity"?

A final thought for today.

If you've been following along with our Gospel study, have you noticed how often the message is that human ways of being religious are not only completely opposite how God wants us to be, but are actually dangerous, because they entice us to believe we've got the right answer (after all, it's the same answer the "educated" people believe, and it's the same answer Good Religious People have believed for centuries!), when actually we couldn't be more wrong?

There's a reason we're given the Bible – but just reading it, just absorbing the "official" Good Religious People message of what it means, and just accepting the translations and interpretations "The Church" gives us, means we're following sinful God-rejecters, and conforming our lives to what pleases the sinful nature of human beings, and not what pleases God.

• Today, come up with three ways you can squeeze the Good Religious Slime from your and others' eyes, so that the real Jesus and His real saving message becomes visible.

• Repent of your desires for those pretty Good Religious ways of being "Christian" or part of the "Christian Church", and ask Jesus to help you and your heart to find and live in the true beauty of a life in Jesus Christ.

• Look around and see what you can do to join or create fellowship that doesn't settle for "church" buildings and "clergy" and "tithes", but instead reaches out for the true treasure Jesus came to make sure we can have – if we'll only choose it.

Take care until next week! :-)
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This article written by Lynne at http://NoJunkJustJesus.blogspot.com/. You can contact Lynne at NoJunkJustJesus@gmail.com.

Have you committed the Unforgivable Sin?

Ok – on with our walk through the (chronological) Gospels, learning more and more about the real Jesus – the one painted and covered over by so many centuries of false "Christianity".

Today, we get to see a bit of what the Bible says about demons, and how Jesus handled them, but we'll also cover what's called the "Unforgivable" or "Unpardonable" sin.

As always, you can find all our previous posts in this series, going through the Gospels chronologically to find the real Jesus, here. 

And as always you'll find the scriptures for today are here. (Note that you can change the human-translation version on this scripture page as suits you. I default to the NASB to get the more literal translation, but do use the one that works for you. Note also that I have no theological or other tie to the bible site I list above – it's just one that lists the NASB, KJV, and The Message, and most folks I've corresponded with seem to use one of those. However, another brother says you can also get the NRSV human translation at bible.oremus.org. If you prefer yet another human-translation that isn't on one of these other pages, do send it to me. I will also list it here).

Despite all our religious and secular culture "knows" about demons – who they are, how they act, the power they have or don't have, how they look, and so on – the Bible really says very little that gives us much detail beyond the kinds of damage they can do. In fact, most of what we or others "know" about demons has been completely manufactured by human beings – and ideas created from combining our imaginations with regional myths. So let's see a bit about demons, today (and there will be more in coming weeks, to be sure). What people of that place and time 2,000 years ago thought of them, and so on.

First in our scripture-read for today we see Jesus getting the same kind of treatment His followers often get even now, when they're living God's (real) way and not the Good Religious Way (or even the Great Scientific Way): Jesus was accused of being "crazy" by those who felt they knew Him and the "right" way best. And truly, we can see where they might be coming from. There were cults back then just as there are today, and they could be just as dangerous back then as the ones we see today. And imagine if your son or brother was suddenly thronged by huge crowds of people who believed he was capable of curing horrible illnesses just by a touch, and who hung on his every word as if it came from God Himself. Wouldn't you be a little worried?

Here's the thing, though. His family wasn't really seeing Who He was any more than the Good Religious People were. Who else should have already seen the God-spark in Him (even if just to see Him as a great prophet, if nothing more) than those who knew Him in all the daily life-details of family life? And yet they missed it. Assumed He must be crazy. His biological family hadn't really learned anything since they'd "lost" Him when he was a kid at the Temple and couldn't figure out why He would stay talking and debating with the scholars there. In fact, His family would remain among the most painfully ignorant of who He really was, and how pleased God was with Him, until His resurrection.

• Have there been ways your family thinks you're "crazy", simply because you don't conform to all the ways they believe you should? Are your nonconforming ways part of God's (real) ways? How can you protect your godly nonconformity from those whose eyes aren't yet opened to the real Jesus yet? 
• Jesus' biological family would also have wanted to protect Him from charges of being a fake teacher, which in that place and time could end in death if it went too far with the wrong crowd. What might have helped them open their eyes to His real existence as the Son of God? What might help you to more open your own eyes to who Jesus really is?

So, those who thought they knew Him best as family accused Jesus of being crazy. But those who weren't family had another charge for him: they accused Him of being demon-powered.
Back in those days, people so interested would often call on the power of a larger demon to overpower or drive out a smaller demon. That's what these people were accusing Jesus of doing. They were saying that He was possessed by Satan, and using the power of Satan to boss around lesser demons.

But is that even how the world of demonry works? And is this how good people can fight against evil?

Jesus says no. Evil is evil, and no one drives out evil by using evil. It would be like using water to dry something – the world just doesn't work like that.

• Our human world is absolutely overrun by the idea that we can use evil to accomplish good. The big example today is our "good" use of the evils of war, with all the terror, murder, rape, child-killing, food and water destruction, and more that always are part of it to "spread democracy" or "liberate" people and so on. But we also create and participate in all kinds of "good" religious "devotion" that only massages our feel-good brain chemicals and makes us feel all righteous-y and Jesus-y without having to actually live the way Jesus Himself actually told us to live. What are some of the ways you have or continue to use or do evil things to do "good"? Have you considered that in those ways you are just doing the devil's work for him? 
• What kinds of damage can you see being done by Good Religious People doing "good" in evil ways? Have you considered how false teachings about what the Bible says / doesn't say about Gay people, women, the poor, and so on are all evil being done in the name of "good"? How can you help heal the huge amount of this kind of damage done in "Jesus" Name to yourself and others?

Then Jesus tells the folks who are accusing Him of doing His good through the devil's power that they are on the verge of making themselves unforgivable. Lots of heartache has sprung up over the centuries over Jesus' assertion that it's possible to do something God will not actually forgive. But what is He actually talking about? What isn't forgivable?

First of all, we have to look at the whole context. The Bible tells us over and over again that God forgives all sins that we feel bad about AND turn away from. In this scripture, though, here are people who are so against admitting in their hearts who Jesus really is – so against it that they accuse Him of being demonic, to justify their refusal to see who He really is – that they are falling into the trap Paul talked about in Romans 1.

And what trap was that? It's refusing to let God's way into their hearts, so that finally God simply let them keep their own way in their hearts, and they suffered the penalty of having to live neck-deep in their own evil garbage.

Remember that God had already been at work in Jewish lives for many centuries now. He'd done miracles in their lives, even promised them He'd send them a great Savior – but the Bible tells us that again and again "His people" turned their backs on Him and trashed their relationship with Him, preferring their own crap to His shining glory. And here, finally, was God Himself, standing right in front of the people in this scripture, once again doing huge miracles to prove He was there – and they were STILL preferring to stay neck deep in their own crap rather than come to His truly good side. And they were making it even worse by "justifying" their love of their own crap by accusing God of only having power because the devil gave it to Him.

Jesus here is simply giving the same warning we get elsewhere in the Bible: if you let your heart get so hard that you refuse God's good way all the way to your end, God will punish you by letting you remain in your own evil way to rot to your heart's content.

That's the eternal sin: preferring human evil over God's good. That's what can't be forgiven, because the people committing it refuse the forgiveness. And when that happens, the Bible tells us, God will finally say, "Ok, have it your way – forever."

• Some argue that God will ultimately save everyone, because God is love. Yet the Bible tells and shows us that while God's love does reach out to everyone, eventually, with those who just absolutely refuse to choose (real) good, He will just let them go their own way. And, unfortunately, our own human way leads to eternal hell. Have you had times in your life where you refused God or His goodness? If you've since felt badly about that, do you realize that means you have NOT committed the unforgivable sin? 
• There are a lot of people who are angry with God today. Many Gay people, for example, have a lot of bitterness against God because they've not yet understood that He's not only not any happier with fake-"Christians" than they are, but that He not only predicted those fake-"Christians" would show up and cause all this hurt but also told us to prepare and defend ourselves from their "good" evil. What are some ways you can help yourself or others to realize that being angry at God because of a Good Religious Lie is not the same as outright rejection of the real, living God? What are some ways you can help yourself or others to heal this damage?

See you next week, when we'll see Jesus in action against demons!

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This article written by Lynne at http://NoJunkJustJesus.blogspot.com/. You can contact Lynne at NoJunkJustJesus@gmail.com.

What does it take to actually "get" the real Jesus?

[Here are the scriptures I'm referencing today].

I'm continuing chronologically through the Gospels, and I'm asking this week:

Who is Jesus, really? And what does it mean to recognize and to accept Him?

I see, for example, that the first thing the apostle John tells us is that Jesus is God – our Creator, our Life, our Light. But John didn't start off instinctively knowing Jesus is God any more than we can or could. So he's sharing here wisdom he'd already spent some time learning – not information he understood from the start.

And that's something we all have in common with the apostle John: knowing instinctively who Jesus really is just doesn't happen, even among people raised to be God's People. John tells us that when Jesus came He was God Himself in human flesh, working next to other people, talking with other people, teaching other people – and still almost no one on the whole planet understood, much less recognized Him. Even worse, when God Himself even walked among them, almost no one among those who counted themselves as HIS PEOPLE (even THE BEST OF His People) accepted Him even as a good teacher, much less as God.

And that's all still so true of today that it stinks. Which means our lives – even/especially our "Good Christian" lives – can stink, until we ourselves actually recognize and accept the real Jesus for who He really is.

So, how goes recognizing and accepting the real Jesus start? How does the Bible show us how to start – and how not to start – recognizing and accepting God alive among us?

Reading this week, first we see God recognizing Jesus, and sharing His Spirit. In our process here, that's kind of "cheating", to recognize yourself, but it was mightily important to the people of that day, who had to understand that while God hadn't physically walked among them before, He was not only doing it now but also pleased with, recognizing, and putting His stamp of approval on the result. And that's cool. Anything "spiritual" or "godly" or "church-approved" or "tradition-approved" that doesn't actually show God's stamp of approval is either demonic or human garbage. Might be pretty, but I wouldn't put it in your mouth.

Second one to show is John the Baptist – that filthy church-rejecter we met in earlier parts of the Gospel story (and talked a bit more about in an earlier post).

Jesus came to John the Baptist to be baptized, and John balked. Was that because he fully recognized Jesus was God? It's not certain here, but it is certain that John already knew that Jesus was something the likes of which no human being (except Moses, Eve, and Adam) had ever laid eyes on before. Maybe we should give John the Baptist at least a half-point here, because at the very least he saw:

• Jesus received the Spirit of God and was announced by God as having His stamp of approval,
• Jesus had a natural power and place that made him a piece of nothing by comparison, 
• Jesus was the one who was going to be sacrificed for the sins of the world and,
• Jesus was the Son of God.

Did John the Baptist fully comprehend at this early stage exactly and completely what all that actually meant or would mean? Various opinions could be justified answering that. But we do know from the Bible that John had and got a greater spiritual understanding from his birth (remember God's plan for him was to show up just before and announce the Messiah's arrival), but more important to us and what we can learn from John the Baptist for our own lives is that he stayed with God's truth – and not the truth of the organized religion he was born part of. God granted an extra measure of understanding to John the Baptist, and then John remained outside of everything (spiritually, physically, etc) that might have clouded or turned his understanding.

Do we do that, in our lives? When God grants us an extra measure of His truth, do we do whatever it takes to stay true to it? Or do we say we're sticking with God's truth, when we're actually sticking with the too-human "truth" of fake Christianity and the goodies it delivers us in this world?

Third person to show up recognizing Jesus? Satan. But we can say "recognizing", yes – but not truly understanding. We'd have to say that the devil doesn't truly understand God at all, or he'd have never gone off and decided to work up all the problems he's created since even before he messed up Eve and Adam. And he certainly wouldn't have tried to tempt Jesus into giving up the human race, the love of His life, for a few pieces of the kinds of crap the rest of us fall for over and over again ("for the good of the church / family / world!", of course).

In what ways do we (me, you, everyone) get in God's face and then act like the devil? How much "good"-evil has been done in the last thousands of years by "Good Religious People" (including Christians, though, as my fundamentalist grandmother used to say, "being Christian means you should know better more than anyone else")? How often do we recognize Jesus, sure, but we don't understand Him or what He's all about enough to not hurt our kid, much less not drive thousands of people to suicide or murder millions in war, all in "God's" name?

Next people to notice Jesus were all the Good Religious People in Israel, who marched right out with the best of everything they had to offer in offerings and worship, led by the Good Religious Leaders.

WRONG.

The Good Religious People – including the Good Religious Leaders – didn't start to notice Jesus until He started torquing them off by not being impressed with them, and by teaching God's truth in ways that didn't benefit them personally. But we'll get to them later, when they do in fact start showing up as being important at all to any part of the Gospel story.

So, the next people who really did start paying attention to Jesus? At least two of them were originally disciples of John the Baptist, and noticed Jesus because John the Baptist gave them an intriguing hint about who Jesus was. Because they were John the Baptist's disciples, we can tell they were dissatisfied with what passed for orthodoxy in those days, and they were hungry for what they sensed of God's REAL truth elsewhere – but where?

What about you? Ever been told there's something wrong with you or your spiritual wandering, if you're dissatisfied with the religious gruel ("but it has SPRINKLES!!!") being offered by "official" church each week? Ever ponder how many of the people Jesus met who were also wanderers, also malcontents? In fact, the only people who ever met the real Jesus Christ "in church" only met Him because HE was just wandering through – and they had to follow Him outside, if they intended to stick with Him.
Next were people who started meeting Jesus through people who'd met Jesus and been impressed that here was someone different, someone special – someone their guts told them matched what God had promised to send: the Messiah. The Savior of the World.
How many people would have gotten to meet the real Jesus if others hadn't shared Him with them? How often do you share Jesus with those in your life who either haven't met Him at all, or who've only been taught the cardboard, McDonald's version of Him?

Among all these people, though (except for perhaps John the Baptist), none of them truly understood the full reality of who Jesus really was. They recognized and understood some of what He was, but they had to keep learning, and casting off old religious beliefs that proved to be human-nonsense, the whole time Jesus was on earth (all the way to His resurrection, in fact!). Then, in truth, very, very few of the many tens of thousands who met God on earth face to face and heard Him speak actually managed to stick with Him and His truth, the whole way.

We're like that too. We'll eagerly go with Jesus and His way – but only to the point where we would have to give up our "pastor"-entitlements, or where we would have to let go of some family, or where we might have to choose truly loving instead of hurting back, or where we might have to fly as a solo-Christian until such time as we met others like us, and so on. Almost inevitably, when we reach that point we turn right back around. Like 99% of people who met Jesus Christ in the flesh, we decide on some level that He asks too much, and then we go back to the human organizations made up of and run by others who've also decided He asks too much. We enjoy their company and the assurances of their re-make of Jesus' original truth - and we congratulate ourselves all the way to hell on what great Christians we are, and on how much we love the Lord.

But we don't have to be like that. In fact, we don't even have to be perfect in our sticking with Jesus and just Jesus. The Bible shows us that even from the start Jesus' disciples never, ever got anything totally right. In fact, until the very end, after a long haul and a lot of spiritual personal and world-battles, they never truly understood all of who God is, or recognized or accepted Him for who He is.

And that's a comfort we can take from the Bible and its stories about the first people to believe in Jesus Christ:  

We don't have to be perfect; we just have to be making a sincere effort in Jesus' way of doing things.

Do that, and, just like the first disciples, we eventually learn that God takes care of the rest.

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This article written by Lynne at No Junk. Just Jesus. You can contact Lynne at NoJunkJustJesus@gmail.com.

Q: "But can't we just ignore the bad parts of the Bible?"

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If Christians were Christian - 004 (An Unreal Dream)`

Billy Graham (Wikipedia)

[This is a continuation of my series "If Christians were Christian (an Unreal Dream)". You can find the rest of the series here]. 

The Ugly Reality:

My grandparents took me to see Billy Graham once, when I was a little kid. In the fundamentalist church they were raising me in, Billy Graham was one of the Really Good Guys, an ee-VANNNN-gelist above all others. And I have to say that every once in awhile, forty five years later, I'll still watch one of his now-ancient "Crusades". His most basic message is indeed sound (plus it's fun to shake my head at what we fundamentalists were wearing and doing to our hair way back then).

Problem is, Billy's Gospel stops short -- and that means, left to its own, it misses the mark. The Gospel he preached never went (or goes) far enough to proclaim people all the way to Jesus Christ. He's like someone who let's you see the first 3 minutes of a 2-hour movie, and then turns the projector off as if there's nothing more. Here's an example, from his friend George W. Bush's book:

“[Billy Graham] made it clear that the path to salvation is through the grace of God. And the way to find that grace is to embrace Christ as the risen Lord -- the Son of a God so powerful and loving that He gave His only Son to conquer death and defeat sin.”

Now see, on its face, combined with Billy's trumpet calls about sin, that's true Gospel. But that's only where a human heart first gets the message to veer off in a new direction. There's a lot more that still has to happen to change that human heart into a (truly) Christian one. Stuff like:

• Learning to give up the great things we get from the world's/devil's "wise" ways (like the fun of having more than others, of having wars or counting how blessed we are to be able to live in a "God-fearing" country, or of ignoring the pain and suffering of those who are weaker than we are), and learning to instead glory in God's foolish "the least of these" ways; and,
• Admitting in the actions of our lives and not just our mouths -- not how wonderfully loving, spiritual, and/or righteous we are -- but what smiling jerks-who-can't-be-trusted we are nearly every moment of every day; and,
• Letting the Holy Spirit start washing all the self-congratulatory, human-approval-seeking, and ever-please-my-senses poo out of our hearts so we can start shining with the Light of the World.

The fact that Billy Graham not only didn't preach that full message, but hasn't gotten it yet himself, shows in his public life and in the public lives of those he's always hung around with. Billy has always preferred to soothe the consciences and proclaim the glory of presidents and other big people of the world who willfully and repeatedly break not only national and international law, but also every speck of God's law, defending and ordering murder, lying, stealing, defaming the name of God, bearing false witness, oppressing others, and more -- all because they like how it feels, and because it brings great financial and political gains to them and their friends. And he's promoted and defended them, abusing his image as a "Man of God" to do so.

Billy Graham, like so many who have only tasted a tiny part of the real Gospel before veering off into something false and worldly, is a servant of Caesar and of Caiaphas. Much as I will always have a soft spot in my heart for him, I still have to recognize and say that he has proclaimed only that part of the Good News that doesn't question his loyalties or biases -- or those of his friends. He's simply been a very well-off, right-wing American who is a good speaker, has a religious bent, and likes to tell people Jesus is the same.

The Daydream not to hold your breath for:

If Billy Graham were a true Christian leader:

• He would never have been as popular and idolized as he has been and continues even now to be, because those who speak God's real truth are never well thought of in the world. However, he would have spent his humble preaching time leading people to not only believe in Jesus' salvation, and not only abhor superficial sin, but to also-also-also go to the Real-Deal and fully embrace the anti-world heart-change required to be a real follower of Christ. He would have judged how well he and others were doing according to Bible teachings, and not by how many false-seekers showed up each Crusade to pad his numbers.

• He wouldn't have been a "conservative" (or a "liberal"), or a republican (or a democrat or an independent or a socialist or an anarchist or...). He would have simply been a Jesus-based Christian, one whose answer to every problem was turning the other cheek, doing unto others as he'd like done to him, caring for enemies, standing up for the oppressed, ridding oneself of materialism, worshiping God for how different He is from our unholiness (instead of presuming He and we have so much in common politically and economically), and constantly telling people how different Jesus is from everything else they can imagine. 

• He would have gone to his friend George W. Bush's book signing and, broken-hearted, wept over how far George has wandered from Jesus, begging George to repent of his war crimes, destruction of whole nations, murder of millions, the bald-faced lies in his book, and so on, and to instead surrender to the real Jesus Christ and allow the Holy Spirit to make him into the man God really wants him to be, so that he could truly be saved.

• He would have come to repent himself of all the worldly ways he has not only formed his own life, but also put forward to others as a "valid" way to be a "Christian". For example, he would never have accepted the $200,000 US salary he's paid even today, and he would never have built up a "ministry" empire for his heirs to continue making a rich living from (his son Franklin, continuing in his father's only-partly-Gospel work, accepts $260,000 US a year from their religious corporation).Those things would have been about making and keeping a name in the world for oneself, and so Billy's real Christian heart would have dropped them like a rag full of mucus. 

• He would have publicly renounced the not-really-right teachings he's spent so much of his life putting out before, telling the world something like, "Being just another human being, like you all are, I really messed up. I overwrote Jesus' values with the values of my culture, and by doing so I taught a combination of myself and the devil to you, and called it Jesus. I'm REALLY sorry about that. And now, if you still have a heart to listen, I'd like to tell you about who Jesus Christ really is..."

There's still time to join the rest of us in real repentance, Billy (and George)! There's still time to seek out and find the REAL Jesus, and to accept the changes He wants to make to ALL our hearts. 

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This article written by Lynne at No Junk. Just Jesus. You can contact Lynne at NoJunkJustJesus@gmail.com.

Friday links 11/19/2010

I love frogs. This little guy (pictured here) is the newest frog species discovered. I just love God's handiwork!

This article about where most people's politics goes when things get tough certainly explains a lot, in the USA today, as well as here and in other countries in decades past. What interests me isn't the politics (I personally am neither "Right", nor "Left", but an all-over independent), but the fact that as things get harder, our sinful human nature tends most often to become more grabby, more hostile, more hurtful -- and not more sharing, more community-oriented, and so on. Human beings as a whole are nothing if not always predictable.

Problem with the above, of course, is that the actual problem is never fixed by everyone just turning on their neighbors. We're told, for example, that the current economic problems in the USA and world are caused by regular people "demanding too much" from the system, and by "unpredictable" variations in the market. Actually, this whole mess has been caused by a few million people at the top of the economic scale who have played with the combined day-to-day wealth of billions of people as if it was all just a big Vegas casino and Mob shakedown. The fact that these big-time gamblers and con men are building, supporting, defending, and loving Babylon -- which God will destroy and pay them back for -- either doesn't occur to them, or doesn't bother them, in the least. And it doesn't seem to occur or seem important to enough of the rest of the world to insist that the laws be enforced and these rip-off artists be made to pay back and rebuild what they broke, and even to go to jail when needed. The End Times are coming, my friends...

When I was still a Roman Catholic years ago, I knew people all the time who played games like this with "forgiveness" and God's mercy. One used to often tell me with a smirk, "The Big Guy and I have an understanding.. (wink wink)" I have absolutely nothing good to say about the Roman church (and it proves me right over and over again), but none of us can afford to forget how often Protestants do this kind of thing to God, as well -- just in our hearts and in our lives, and not to a priest.

Of course, that's not the end of incredible nonsense and evil that Jesus has to put up with from us. There are just too many folks out there like this man calling himself a follower of Jesus Christ, yet complaining that the USA has "feminized" the (war) Medal of Honor because "..we now award it only for preventing casualties, not for inflicting them... So the question is this: when are we going to start awarding the Medal of Honor once again for soldiers who kill people and break things so our families can sleep safely at night?"  There's also this guy who wants everyone to know how oppressed he is by the people he oppresses (huh?).  It's really not  hard to figure out why so many people either don't take Jesus Christ seriously or hate Him because they think Jesus and His worst "followers" are the same.

Did you know that your chance of being in a terrorist attack are about the same as your chances of winning the Powerball twice in the same year? That's about the same as being hit by lightning at night while swimming and simultaneously being attacked by a shark in a mini-malls fountain. Yet we're being told we are not safe unless we submit to to being seen naked, radiated, and felt up in our most personal body areas -- no matter what our religious or personal standards for modesty, or our personal cancer and other medical risks, or our own basic human dignity and sense of safety. We are, in fact, far more likely to die of heart disease that terror attack -- but no one sends agents into our homes to scan and confiscate pharmaceuticals, foods, and other toxics that are actually quite likely to cause our deaths. Amazing... Good for those who are standing up to all this (like here, and here, and here). I certainly will no longer fly until I can do so and retain basic religious and personal modesty.

Wow. It never ceases to amaze me how much information gets stored about us by internet companies. This article for GMail users recommends checking and changing/deleting your basic info once a year. There must be ways to check other email providers, as well?

I'm so happy I found this "Strong Password Generator" site. It not only allows you to pick how long it has to be, but then gives you a little memory trick to prevent forgetting it.

Awww! What a cute dog. I'm just sure my dog could do that ;-)

New pamphlet available, so we now have two:

• The Bible does NOT condemn you! - a quick summary of each of the so-called "Clobber Passages" that are said to condemn Gay and Lesbian people, with brief information showing why they do not. 
• Is someone trying to steer you away -- from Jesus? - Shows the 5 Points to Peace to understanding that Jesus does not condemn Gays or Lesbians. 

These are available on the "Free Stuff" tab I've added to the top of the blog. I also added a tab for "What I believe", and some other tabs to better sort stuff for Gay Christians (and soon) straight Christians. 

Finally, I can only imagine what it will be like when Your face is before me (and I can't wait to find out!). Until then, Lord, bring the rain!

See you next week!

Friday links 11/15/2010

Something new - sharing some things for fun, prayer, and thought each Friday. Let me know what you think, or if you have something to add, as well.

They won $11.2 million from a lottery ticket in July. And now every penny is gone. But Allen and Violet Large didn’t spend any of it on themselves. And that’s just the way they like it. I'm sure many people will say they only gave it away because their age or health meant they couldn't enjoy it anyway. But truly, who wouldn't be tempted to have a huge last materialistic fling before leaving this world?

My Son is Gay. Or he’s not. I don’t care. Amazing. We should all have mothers like this. But we all do have a Father even more in love with and protective of us than even this amazing woman.

Wow. Lost at sea, rescued, and their camera found four years later show the divers' miracle survival.  

Former president Bush says "Damn right" he personally ordered the torture of waterboarding. Yet he also personally claims to be a disciple of Jesus Christ -- the Jesus Christ who said "Do unto others" and "Turn the other cheek", and "If you really belong to Me you'll do what I say", and so on. (And before anyone thinks I'm simply being anti-Bush, Obama is the same). The Bible tells us to pray for our leaders, and to the extent they don't require us to do things anti-Christian, to go along with them. But too many of us take that to mean "Go along with and encourage these leaders even when they are doing evil we normally have to look to a serial killer for." Seriously, in our culture, intentionally causing people terrifying and debilitating pain and damage to body and mind is understood to be twisted and freaky -- unless it's being done by the government (police, soldiers, spies, et al). Then, we too often believe, it's "ok" or even "Christian". If we believe that, we are just as guilty of breaking Jesus' commandments  as those who are doing or ordering the act. But what if instead of the tens of millions of Christians glorifying Bush and his sins, what if those same tens of millions instead spoke up with the true loving, nonviolent concern of Christ in their hearts and told Bush (or Obama) "You are sinning against God, against our neighbors, and against our enemies. Repent!" That would be the proper and biblical Christian response.

This was interesting, though I can't find the full study version online any more (I only have a PDF - email me if you'd like a copy). But who thinks today about Pentecostals who are interested in peace and social justice? Spirit Empowered Peacemaking: Toward A Pentecostal Peace Fellowship

A question we should be asking ourselves constantly: Is Jesus Enough?

Truth Can Be Toxic and that's the truth. 

Dominion Theology is one of the most satanic heresies alive in what calls itself the Christian church today. Why? Because (among other things) it elevates human beings and lowers the importance and dominion of God. (insert shudder here). Here's an article refuting Dominion Theology and for those who also or instead want to just listen to a discussion about it, there's a 26-minute MP3 here from the same folks.

The National Organization of Marriage folks have taken doing evil in God's Name to new heights in the last few years. But are we also aware of how dangerous they and those who listen to them are to the US Constitution. The Prop 8 Trial Tracker people would like you to know: NOM: The people your (Founding) Fathers warned you about

Spectacular pictures of Earth as seen from the International Space Station. Wow.

A friend sent me this, and I laughed out loud. I'm also betting these two dogs were actually adopted shortly after their "ruinous" behavior: Hyperactive Dogs Ruin Adoption

Needing a musical lift today? Check out How He Loves Us (YouTube) from Kim Walker.

See you next week!