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.

To hell with anyone who blocks your way to Jesus

A few posts away (I'm feeling much better with my allergies, btw – thanks for your prayers!) but now we're back to exploring who Jesus really is, outside how He's been so long defined by what most loudly calls itself "The Church".

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 have NO theological or other tie to the online-bible site I use for this blog – it just lists many human translations to choose from, including the NASB, KJV, The Message, and the NRSV, which are the ones mentioned by those I chat and email with.)

So far, we've seen from the Bible itself, without having to do any kind of monkey-plays or pompous theological arguments, that, despite how Jesus is interpreted even today by "Good Religious People" and Big-Words Theologians:

• Jesus was always on the side of those who were abused, mistreated, and oppressed – never on the side of those who do the abusing, mistreating, and oppressing. 
• Jesus was always on the side of the spiritual rejects and the sinners – and never on the side of those who make sure others know they are spiritual rejects, or the side of the Good Religious People. 
• Jesus requires His followers to be so strong they refuse to do violence or hurt back, even if attacked to death – not so weak they worship violence, war, and domination. 
• Jesus warned us repeatedly that most of those who claim to be His people will be spiritual liars and cheats, fooling even themselves all the way to hell – and He commands us to realize their error and not get caught up in it ourselves. 
• Jesus never presented anything of God as requiring a seminary education or a "pastor" to understand (study, yes, using our brains, yes – but "church" related stuff? No). In fact, the Bible shows us that to truly understand what Jesus means has always required NOT having human theological ideas in the way of God's simple message. Jesus (and others in the Old and New Testament) show us again and again that – despite our belief that more theological ideas and degrees and titles means more understanding of Jesus – more theological ideas and degrees and titles means LESS understanding of the real Jesus. 
• And more!

This week, our chronological Bible tells us about Jesus illustrating that death isn't how we usually imagine death at all, and, healing a woman who was sick in more ways that we can even imagine today. What do you learn about Jesus from these stories? Here's what I see:

When people – even people who normally refuse to believe in God – are desperate and hurting, there is always that tendency to turn to God and plead for help. The Bible doesn't tell us if Jairus and his family already believed in Jesus. Yet we can see that, even if he wasn't yet a believer, Jairus was desperate enough to reach out to Jesus – and isn't that how many of us come or come back to Jesus in the first place? 

• Have you reached out to God in desperation even in times you didn't believe in Him? What happened? How (or did) it change your relationship with Him? 
• The Bible doesn't tell us if Jairus came to Jesus for help because he believed He was a miracle worker, or if he actually understood He was God. If Jairus got through this whole event and only ever understood Jesus as a worker of supernatural things, he would have missed completely that God is on his side even through death. Have you or others you care about understood that Jesus could do supernatural things, but missed that Jesus is also God on your side?

Jairus thought he was going to lose his little girl – and, in fact, before he got Jesus back to her, she did, in fact, die. The people telling Jairus that his daughter was now actually dead told him not to bother Jesus any longer. "Death", they would have told us, "is the end. Miracle healings might happen here and there. But death is never undone."

• What are the things you believe are just the end – never to be undone? Does God have power even other those things? In what circumstances might He change them?

On the news that his daughter was dead, Jesus told Jairus not to be afraid, but to believe, instead. After we've lost someone to death, we might understand the fear of having to live the rest of one's life without this loved one. We might also understand the fear that comes from being reminded of our own mortality. Jesus, though, offered comfort in belief. Like He could have also said, "No need to fear death – the answer to death is standing right here. So just trust that answer to apply, even now!"

• Many of us have heard that the antidote to fear is to believe – but what does that look like in your own life? Does it mean letting go your natural fear of death? Does it mean giving over your worries over money or job? What are all the ways Jesus' comforting command to believe instead of fear might or does impact your own life?

When Jesus told the gathered crowd of mourning that the little girl wasn't dead but asleep, they laughed at Him. And I'd have to say that if some guy I'd never seen before walked into a funeral and told everyone there that the only person in the room not breathing any longer was just asleep and not dead at all, laughter would be the nicest reaction I might have. Yet I can't imagine how my reaction would change if the dead person suddenly woke up and got something to eat!

• The Bible tells us that even Satan and those who work for him can do miracles at times, so it's not always safe to assume that because something miraculous is happening that means it's from God. What specific things can or do you do in your own life to keep from being fooled into following after lying signs and false wonders?

This scripture passage also talks about a woman Jesus healed while on his way to Jairus' daughter. If we don't know enough about the ancient Mosaic Law the Jews lived under, we won't realize that this woman's problems were threefold. Not only was this woman's health terrible (she's been having menstrual bleeding for twelve solid years), and not only had she wiped out her financial resources trying unsuccessfully to get healing from medical doctors, but also according to the religious law she lived under she was "unclean" because of her bleeding. All men and women were made religiously unclean at certain times and under certain circumstances (check out Leviticus 15, for example). If this woman had been having normal periods, she could have gotten "clean" again after a certain passage of time without bleeding. Since she never stopped bleeding, though, she never had that opportunity. That meant she wasn't allowed to touch anyone or anything, or they too would become "unclean" and also have to undergo purification time and rituals to keep from spreading "uncleanness" even further. Imagine living your life sick as a dog, being wiped out financially by doctors, and not being allowed to touch anything (not a person, not even the railings on the city bus) without possibly enraging people so much they might kill you for it. Now imagine living that way for twelve, long years, with no end in sight.

Until this miracle-guy shows up.

• Since the Bible shows us that Good Religious People of all kinds have always followed or ignored parts of the law God gave them however they wished, should we be at all surprised that Good Religious People today also pompously bellow one part of God's law but explain away and hide others? For example, Good Religious People like to quote the Mosaic Law as if it condemns Gay people – but they explain away the parts that condemn their failure to follow the rest of the Mosaic Law (like men and women both needing to do ritual purification after having any kind of voluntary or involuntary "discharges"). What does that tell you about whether you should be getting your information about what God wants from you from Good Religious People? 
• For centuries, "Christians" have been telling women they were "unclean" because they have periods, even telling them at some times in history that they wouldn't go to heaven if they died while on their periods! Yet all these centuries, no one ever told a man he couldn't get into heaven if he died while having a "nocturnal emission", or that men weren't fit for ministry because they become unclean by nocturnal emissions. Since so much human B.S. has always coated what most loudly calls itself "The Church", should we be surprised when that same "Church" continues today to trumpet its own highly intellectual and theologically "proven" versions of B.S. regarding God's supposed condemnation of Gay people, God's supposed support of war, God's supposed shoving women into the back of the church, and so on? 
• Most Gay Christians can empathize with the woman in this scripture, having been exiled as "unclean" in a different way from their communities and being unable to perform any "purification" that would make them OK in the bigoted eyes of their straight spiritual "fellows". But others can also relate – even if their only "uncleanness" is a refusal to play the shallow Sunday-Dress-Up required to attend most "churches" even today. In what ways can you empathize with the woman in this scripture? But in what ways are you more like those who condemned or looked down on her, refusing to give her the basics of human touch and love because you didn't want to be "unclean" yourself?

One thing that can be said of this woman: she had guts. Unlike many who might undergo even less than she had, and who might have just given up and died, she clung to life. She clung to hope. She kept trying, and trying, and trying, even when trying just seemed to bury her deeper into trouble. This is yet another time when the New Testament Bible broke tradition by showing us strong women in a culture that ignored and even attacked strong woman.

• Whether you are male or female, do you have this woman's guts in the face of trial and pain? Is she a great example to you, when you need to see that it is possible to keep going and keep trying even when all seems to have failed?

This woman not only had guts – she had gall. Maybe that gall, that bold, shameless behavior, was also born of desperation. Doesn't matter. This woman pressed her unclean self not only through a crowd, immediately "polluting" everyone she touched (who then immediately polluted everyone they touched, who then immediately polluted everyone they touched, and so on) – which could have started a riot and gotten her stoned – but she also crept up on Jesus, intending to touch Him in a way He wouldn't notice, even though it would also make HIM ritually unclean. All that in hope of being rid of her sickness and isolating shame.

• Have you had this kind of gall with God? Have you ever pushed your way to Him, and to hell with anyone who gets in your way? If not – why not?

The woman felt herself instantly healed upon touching the edge of Jesus' cloak. Imagine her elation – and then imagine it turning instantly to horror when Jesus turned around and demanded to know who had touched Him. She knew she'd just made Him ritually unclean – even healed, the religious law she lived under still required time to pass and a ritual to be performed before she would no longer be "polluting" others. She must have believed her life at great risk when He and the crowd figured out what she'd done. All she could do was what all people in those days did when confronted by the power of one or more people who could hurt or kill if they only just chose to do so: terrified, she fell on her face and confessed, hoping for mercy in even the tiniest form.

But the violence – rage, fists, rocks – she could expect in her religious culture didn't come. Instead, Jesus congratulated her on her faith in His ability to heal her, and sent her off in peace, free from more suffering.

• The Good Religious People of that day often stoned "unclean" women who touched others. In the centuries of what most loudly calls itself "Christianity", Good Religious People have burned people at the stake and otherwise tortured and murdered them, taught them to feel shame over who they are, and made war in "God's" name against people who weren't like them in one way or another. Not one bit of that is like Jesus anywhere in the Bible. Yet we too often continue being fooled by this false "Christianity". Why? 
• Imagine being Gay and with shameless gall pressing through a crowd of "Christian" bigots to get to Jesus, sure that He can heal the hurt false Christians have done to your heart. Imagine fearing Jesus will turn on you like false "Christians" have – only to find He instead congratulates you for your faith and sends you off in His peace. Now read Revelation 3:7-13 and know that that's exactly what you're going to hear from Jesus, in the End.

Today we got to see Jesus' power at work – not just in healing death and sickness, but also in reorienting our religious thinking so that we can see past the religious nonsense we live under and even pass on to our children, thinking we're doing them a good thing.

• What ways do you need to reorient your thinking about Jesus? Is Jesus like the supporter of war, supporter of sexism, supporter of homophobia, supporter of economic oppression, and so on that "The Church" has reinterpreted Him as all these centuries? 
• Was Jesus at all prevented from being who He really is by all the Good Religious People and their dumb ideas while He moved around, doing His work? Why should we assume, then, that we can't find the real-Jesus today because "The Church" has done so much Bible-twisting over the centuries? 
• What needs to change in your life this week? What can Jesus heal for you today, that you never imagined could be gotten rid of before?

Take care 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's condemned by the Parable of the Sower?

Ok – back on track with our (chronological) Gospel study. Sorry to have missed everyone last week! Just too much to do, and got way too far behind, and way too exhausted trying to keep up :-) Times like that are always a reminder to me that God worked the need for rest and downtime into Creation, as well – and we only suffer for it when we don't go along with His plan for the world, OR for our bodies.

In any event, we are indeed continuing through the Gospels, specifically to discover who Jesus really was and is, outside how we've been taught for centuries to view and understand Him by what most loudly calls itself "The Church".

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 have NO theological or other tie to the online-bible site I use for this blog – it just lists many human translations to choose from, including the NASB, KJV, The Message, and the NRSV, which are the ones mentioned by those I chat and email with.)

Today's scripture passage covers a well-known parable: "the parable of the sower":

A farmer goes out sowing seed like all farmers did back then, and like non-industrial farmers do even today: walking along and tossing out handfuls of seed along his/her path. But different things happen to different seeds, depending on the environment they land in. Jesus wants us to understand why different things happen to people's faith (or lack thereof), depending on the spiritual environment we're in. He gives us four groups to consider.

Group 1: All the folks who hear God's Good News – but really, they couldn't care less. Here's a today's-world example. It doesn't matter how often I see advertisements or hear friend recommendations about how great western movies are – I simply don't give a hoot about westerns. So when I hear about them, it just goes in one ear and out the other. I might as well have not heard the western-movie information at all, because I'm just not interested in even knowing that western movies even exist, much less in learning more about them or going to see one. That's how these folks feel about the Gospel: "Don't bother me – I'm busy with more important things!"

Group 2: The people who hear the Good News – and they love it! Love it, that is, until someone makes fun of or hurts them for being a Jesus-follower, or until some other kind of hard time comes. Then, because their faith has no real root, it just dies.

Group 3: Those who also hear the Good News, and also love it – at first. But then their faith gets choked out by what the world has to offer and the crapola it makes us deal with. Note that Jesus doesn't say they become nonbelievers at that point, but that they then wither and fail to mature, or remain unfruitful (meaning, they don't produce what God wants).

Group 4: Those with a noble and good heart who not only hear the Good News, but then grow in and from it, sticking with it no matter what happens, and thereby produce God-plan results God's interested in.

• Usually the first thing people do when they hear this parable is ask themselves which group they fall in. So – which group do you fall in, today? Have you been in different groups at different times in your life? Is it possible you could shift to a different group in your future, if something does or doesn't happen? 
• At what point do you believe Christians should stop expending evangelism energies on people in Group 1? How should we decide who falls into a Group 1? DO we get to decide who's in Group 1 and who's not, since God tells us not to judge and that only He knows people's real hearts? 
• "Christians" often "assign" certain kinds of people they don't like to Group 1, as if simply being Gay, or divorced, or pagan, or registered Democrat/Republican, or whatever means one will never come to know or want Jesus. What would you call an attitude that believes "Not being like me" is the same as "Forever rejecting Jesus"? What do you imagine God thinks of such attitudes? 
• Many of us could count ourselves in Group 2 at various times in our lives, until we get a firm grip on the real Gospel. When we're convinced that the shallow spirituality of "Church Christianity" is the Gospel, then, of course, when we need the deep roots of (real) Jesus to sustain and ground us through hard spiritual times we just don't have it. Have you had times of shallow spirituality that left you defenseless against religious or world attacks on your faith? What helped you move out of the "rocky soil"? 
• Though they never see it, almost all those who call themselves "Christians" are actually not in Group 4, but in Group 3. They stay Bible-babies most/all of their lives, because they are part of "church" communities that make worrying and hoarding money and other wealth, enjoying nice houses and cars, wearing their religious clothes and titles, prettying up their "church" buildings, and so on all part of what they believe is "normal" "faith". But a life in Jesus has nothing to do with those things – even when the "pastor", "priest", or "pope" assures us it can and does. Just like Jesus said we can't have God's stuff in our heart AND money's stuff in our heart, we can't have God's stuff in our heart AND world's stuff in our heart. Have you been taught that God's way includes money's or the world's way, in your contacts with the immature "Christians" who dominate "tradition", "seminaries", "churches", and so on? Have you considered how much it blocks you from true maturity in Jesus Christ? 
• Group 4, of course, is where we want to be. Jesus tells us that people who belong to Group 4 got there – how? By (1) having a noble and good heart (unlike the people in Group 1), and so not being already stuck in evil and refusing to get out, and (2) hearing THE Good News, which means the real Good News of Jesus Christ, and not just the false Sounds-Good News of Church Jesus (unlike Group 3), and (3) keep the real deal even when things get really ugly (unlike the people in Group 2) -- and, because they have all three, therefore are able to produce abundantly what God actually planted them to produce. Has anything moved you around in your life, between groups? What has kept, or keeps you even now, from moving into Group 4 and accomplishing the things God's planned out for you to do? 
• Did you notice here that Jesus only talked about people who'd actually heard the Gospel? Notice He never says that people who truly haven't heard it aren't condemned. Who today really, truly, could be said to have never heard the Gospel? Many today have heard A gospel - but not the real Gospel. If they have a good heart but angrily reject God because they haven't yet understood that He has nothing to do with the false gospel, do you think God condemns them? Do you think they could count as among those who truly haven't heard the Gospel yet?

There's another question in all this, though – a question about why Jesus used parables like this in the first place. Why be so cryptic? Didn't Jesus want everyone to hear and be saved?

Here's where we can get confused, if it hurts our hearts to imagine that anyone has to go to hell or not be saved. We know God is love, and we know God wants to save everyone – the Bible itself tells us that. However, the Bible also says (and Jesus along with it) that some people themselves choose not to be saved. They prefer things other than God, want to walk a path that doesn't lead to God, and they won't be turned from it. This isn't just meaning those who understand themselves as God-rejecters. No, this hell-bound group also includes those who imagine themselves God's Finest, but who are in fact ALSO God-rejecters because they simply create and live a version of "God" and "God's" way that pleases them more, and then expect all the same (if not better) rewards from God as those who actually accept Him.

Jesus told His disciples that He was sharing God's real kingdom information with them, and not with the Group 3 / Good Religious People, because the disciples' interest and want of God was real, not faked – and that just wasn't true of the Group 3 / Good Religious People.

In fact, the Group 3 / Good Religious People had never been truly interested in God and His way – ever. Jesus quotes an Old Testament condemnation of Good Religious People when God said they would never get it because they refused to get it, and that therefore God was going to let them hang with the rope they insisted on putting around their own necks. God could heal them, but He wouldn't, because they refused Him and what He could do.

• "Christians" today – especially "conservative" ones – LOVE LOVE LOVE to consider just how much more "godly" they are than others who aren't like them. They claim to follow, represent, and work for Jesus Christ – and yet they don't do what He said, live like He said, or accomplish the things He said. And if anything points out how far they actually are from the real Jesus Christ? They absolutely refuse to even consider it. In fact, the farther they are from the real Jesus, the harsher they become towards those who might challenge their smiling, blind, hard-heartedness. Since these folks are among those most hell-bound for their Jesus-rejection, does it make more sense why – even though they cause HUGE amounts of suffering in bearing false witness against Gay people, re-writing the Gospel so it "justifies" war, and so on – we should be praying for them earnestly? 
• When we finally begin to see how much Good Religious People actually reject the true God – and why He therefore has to reject them – we start to stand on a safer spiritual foundation. The Bible tells us that there are anti-Christs and False Prophets all over (and will be big ones, in the end), and though Good Religious People always try to point the finger at others, they themselves uniquely qualify as being both anti-Jesus, and, claiming to speak for God but actually speaking falsely. Do you continue to listen to or follow along with Good Religious People? How can you start moving yourself away from them, wasting less of your spiritual energies on them, as well as keeping your understanding of Jesus safe from them?

See you next week!
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This article written by Lynne at http://NoJunkJustJesus.blogspot.com/. You can contact Lynne at NoJunkJustJesus@gmail.com.

Jesus means it: Don't be a jackass

We're continuing today in our weekly "through the (chronological) Gospels", learning about Jesus from Jesus and outside the ideas and proclamations of what most loudly calls itself "Christianity".

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 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).

If you haven't read the last several blog posts where we've been talking about Jesus' "Sermon on the Mount", I encourage you to do so – to "catch up" on how very different Jesus' values are from how He's been too often portrayed. For example, we've seen that Jesus' purpose in His "Sermon on the Mount" was to teach us that if we don't do better in our spiritual / religious lives than the good church-goers, Bible-memorizers, and seminary graduates of Christianity and Judaism do, we're NOT going to heaven. Why? Because God requires something entirely different than the religion they create, maintain, and become expert at – and Jesus was there teaching all the Good Religious People of 2,000 years ago (and us!) just how different! Last week we looked at what Jesus says God requires of His (real) people in regards to getting mad at people, cheating on our spouses, and breaking up our committed relationships. Let's keep learning!

No swearing, please 

First, Jesus tells us the (truly) godly way of making oaths: not at all. Swearing or promising we'll do something, He lets us know, just invites the devil to speak for us. He says don't promise it – just do it!

Human society requires lots of oath-taking to "function". Our own is certainly one of the worst. We make contracts (oaths on paper) where we promise to pay or to give something in return for payment, or to work or to give money in exchange for work, for example. When we appear in court we make an oath to tell the truth and only the truth. Our political leaders make all sorts of oaths in our name, promising "justice" and "democracy" and "peace" to others around the world.

Yet our society is one of the most lying, cheating things that's ever existed. People don't pay up. Companies either don't deliver, or deliver substandard goods. People goof off at work. Companies cheat workers out of wages. People – even police officers – lie in court. No politician – from either "right" or "left" – ever does anything but lie (and that's their "best"). This all just gets worse and worse today, as it's now become "normal" and even legally "justified" for people and companies and nations (and even "churches" and "denominations") to make all sorts of promises and never ever intend to really, truly keep them. It's really not hard to see how Jesus can say all this promise-making comes from the devil!

As we've been going through the real Gospel, though, we've begun to see that God is more interested in what comes naturally from our hearts – and not in what promises we can spout off or how many contracts we can sign. If we follow Jesus, then, we don't make oaths and promises like the world does, because we aren't playing that devil-game any longer. Instead, we simply do what we've said we'll do, and we don't go what we've said we won't do, and all without having to flap our lips or sign and initial 47 pieces of paper. As Jesus-followers, we're just purely true to our word – just as He was.

What kinds of oaths or promises are in your life, either made by you or made by others (like politicians) "for" you? Sometimes we enter into such mutual-oaths to protect ourselves – to keep from getting ripped off by a company (for example) we already know is less than trustworthy. How is this the same or different than what Jesus is talking about here? What kinds of oaths and promises do you need to immediately stop making, because they don't come from your living a life where your "yes" simply means "yes", and your "no" simply means "no"? How will that change your life, how you see others, and how you commit to following Jesus? 

Don't be bad like bad people

Next Jesus seems in many translations to be telling us not to resist evil, to be docile and let evil run amok among us. This re-make of what He really said has been the "justification" for centuries for telling the poor, and women, and other oppressed people that they just have to sit and take it when their religious, political, and even family and other human authorities take advantage of them, savage them, treat them like dirt, and even murder them. We're told in such cases that "God" wants it that way, that this is all part of the "hierarchy" of power "He" has instituted. Sorry, but that couldn't be bigger B.S.
If you consider this "be docile toward evil" idea at all in the context of the real Jesus, it just doesn't make any sense. Jesus spent His whole ministry time resisting the evil of and refusing to bow obediently to any human authority - including religious human authority and Good Religious People (we'll talk in a minute about what He did or commanded us to do, instead). And He definitely meant for us to live like He did, making His life the one we model our own on.

What He really said, though, is revealed in the original Greek. There He doesn't say "Don't stand up to evil", but does say, "Don't get involved in violent rebellion, armed conflict, rioting, and the like". And those are two very different things!

So what Jesus actually tells us is to never strike back with violence when someone does you violence. But He doesn't just stop there. He goes on to give us some mental images of even more – images we must understand in the way that the people He was originally talking to would have understood them, in order to really get what He's telling us. Jesus said:

• When someone hurts you to humiliate you (which is what a strike on the right cheek was, in that culture 2,000 years ago and today – it's a backhanded slap that men do to women, adults do to children, masters do to slaves, "superior" races do to "inferior" races, and so on), don't lay down and take it. Instead, stand up and offer up the other side, as if to say, "You failed to humiliate me with that one. Would you like to try again?"

• When you are so dirt-poor that the only thing someone can take from you any more in a court of law is your shirt (for that's the only reason 2,000 years ago someone would be sued for their [literal] "tunic", which was the garment people there wore against their skin - and it did happen back then, believe it or not), don't just stand there and accept the thieving humiliation. Instead, take off your coat (which was the [literal] "cloak" or outer garment people wore) and stand there in your underwear in front of everyone in court that day, embarrassing the crap out of them by your nakedness (in that culture, the person SEEING the nakedness was the humiliated one, NOT the person who was naked), and say, "This should make you even more happy."

• When some police or military person comes along and, because they see you as a weak nothing, makes you carry their heavy crap for a mile (for that's what the occupying Roman soldiers were allowed to do to the local people they oppressed), don't just accept that humiliation. Instead, proudly carry the crap they were too pathetic to carry for themselves for TWO miles.

• When someone wants something from you, let them take or borrow it. Who will really look bad or be humiliated if they take advantage of you?

Pretty different from the mainstream "Christian" interpretation, isn't it? But it's also very different from "Christian" practice, as well. For example, what was the response of our "Christian" nation and of so many "Christian" men and women to the 9/11 attacks? Did they (like I, to my great sorrow, did back then) rush to military solutions, like believing in or advocating war (to "protect" or "punish"), or joining the military to take part in inflicting the murder, torture, rape, destruction, and suffering that makes up war? (And don't bother with the "we're only peacekeepers" or "we're here to help the people" lines – the Romans and Communists and Nazis all said the same thing, and God's real peacekeepers don't show up with weapons.) If so, their actions (until repented of) were and are completely anti-Christ. What might a truly Christian response have been? Well, what if as a nation we'd made apologies for all the things our country had done to other nations to make them hate us? What if as a people we'd collected funds to rebuild the homes and lives of those we'd injured? What if as a people we'd said, "Yes, you struck us, but we will not strike back. We leave it to God to judge." Impossible in the world of today, you say? Only for those who aren't really following Jesus!

War is certainly the one we first think of, but there are many other ways to violate Jesus' direct command and get involved in violent conflict. Think, for example, of all the revolutions "for the people" we saw in the 20th century, that inevitably involved violent actions against the previous government but also always against the people who were being "helped". What about the riots we saw break out over certain inflammatory (and certainly unjust) court cases not so long ago? What about the death penalty? How has your life been impacted by your decision to be part of or support such violence against those who "deserved" it for whatever reason? Have you repented of your sin?
What about the few examples Jesus gave, of responding as a child of God to people who are treating us with evil? In no way did Jesus tell us to accept humiliation. In fact, He told those listening to Him that day that God expects them to believe in their own dignity (and to act on it without slipping into jerkdom), even when oppressive others do not. (As we continue through the Gospels, we'll see that that's just what Jesus did - believing in and acting on His own human dignity - when He was confronted by those who wanted to humiliate and hurt Him).

Just picture the Jewish audience listening to Him that day.

• They were an oppressed people, humiliated under Roman rule. But Jesus told them they could stand tall against the oppressive attempts to humiliate them without becoming as evil as those who oppressed them. 
• There were also women and other people oppressed even within the Jewish culture who were listening to Him that day, many of whom knew the humiliation of being slapped around. But Jesus told them they could stand proud of who they were despite others' powerful attempts to humiliate them. 
• And there were poor people listening to Jesus that day, people who were used to more powerful people taking everything they had and still wanting more. But Jesus offered them turning the tables on those who humiliated them, embarrassing those who had shamed them.

How different is Jesus' way of dealing with power from what you have been taught is the "Christian" way? What new ways can you respond to the oppressors in your life, to reject (within yourself, if not outside in their world) the humiliation they try to cause you and to instead point out how embarrassed they should actually be?

Don't be a jackass to the jackasses

Jesus goes on, telling us that God's real people actually love their enemies, praying for them and doing good for them – just like God loves and goes good even for those who insist on being His enemies. Jesus tells us that if all we do is love people who are good to us, and hate people who mistreat us, we're no better than the people who help make oppression happen. And if we're only friendly with those like us, then we're no better than God-haters. So, Jesus tells us, don't just be human-good – be God-good!

What a painful one-more-way we as a "Christian" nation and as "Christian" people have been living completely anti-Christ. It amazes me how easily we convince ourselves that we can be in the military and even go to or support war or warriors and still be good (or even better) followers of Jesus (even though the Bible we claim to follow says only the people who actually do all of what Jesus says actually get into heaven). It amazes me how easily we let slide our despising the jerk who cuts us off in traffic, or the jackass who blocked our advancement at work, making as if our crappy behavior is "excused" or "doesn't count". Is it hard not to live as jerky as the jerks around us? You betcha! Do we have to do it anyway? You betcha!

One of the biggest teachers of my life regarding living like Jesus with and around our enemies, instead of like our natural jerky selves, has been Corrie ten Boom. To hear her speak (in old tapes – she's passed to the Lord some time ago now) or read her books, and know that this was a woman who had everything (including family) taken from her by the Nazis and their helpers, and who even watched beloved family and other folks tortured and murdered by the Nazis, and yet who – completely through the power of Jesus – was able to forgive and treat even her old camp guards well, is both amazing and humbling. Do check out her speeches (many of which can be found on the web for free as MP3s, like here for example) and books (most available in used and new book stores everywhere, still). Her life of struggle to forgive and her grown in Jesus in letting Him forgive for her is something we can all benefit greatly from. And even though she doesn't speak of these things directly, abused women and children, Gay folks, and other oppressed minorities can especially benefit from learning from an elder-sister who's been there how to forgive and even love the people who hate and cause them such misery.

What ways do you still need to work out being God-good, rather than human-good, to the people who make your life hard or miserable? Keeping in mind that Jesus never said humiliating yourself was what God wants, how will you keep your God-given dignity as a child of God AND still be at peace with and even friendly with those who mistreat you?

Some final thoughts for this week:

• We've seen a lot of Jesus these last weeks, and the difference between what His values and teachings are, and what "The Church" only SAYS His values and teachings are, is huge. Yet "The Church", because of it's long history of "tradition" (as if doing something wrong for a long, long time makes it right), seminary education poisoning minds and hearts with denominational and theological conformity of religious thought, religious indoctrination of both children and adults into its own human-spawned ideas and ideals, and its interior (in "the church") and exterior (political) power around the world has a much larger voice in the world today than does Jesus. What ways can you make sure you hear (the real) Jesus, instead? How can you help others hear the real Jesus?

• Jesus doesn't just say nice things we're supposed to nod our heads at before going back to living like the devil again. We're actually supposed to be changed by Him, our hearts and minds opened up and taught by God's Holy Spirit. Not so we conform to some religious ideas about cleaning up our lives, spouting off the right religious words, and wearing suits and dresses "to church" each Sunday – that's all that Good Religious Stuff that Jesus warns us will NOT get us into heaven. Instead, we're supposed to grow new hearts, to start seeing ourselves and the world like Jesus does, and to go out into and live in the world like He did. What does that say to your life, this week? What religious nonsense do you need to let go of this week? What real-Jesus living needs to start illuminating your day?

Have a great week! Next Thursday we're back again, continuing through the "Sermon on the Mount" and beyond.

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