Over the past few blog posts I have written, I have focused on what it means to be a true believer and follower of Jesus Christ. I have discussed my opinion on the viral Super Bowl commercial from “He Gets Us.” I have talked about the arrogance of humanity and the unseen war we are fighting. I have talked about the importance of obedience and not just giving lip service. Through everything I have written, I want to clarify that the love, mercy, and grace of Jesus Christ outdoes any sin that we choose to be slaves to. Being a Christian has NOTHING to do with religion or religious acts. It has everything to do with a relationship with the Creator of the Universe and His Son, Jesus Christ, who paid the ultimate price of death so that those who turn and accept Him will have everlasting life through Him. Salvation has nothing to do with works. Salvation is accepting and following Christ, repenting of our sins, and obeying Him by denying ourselves and following Him. Works are the byproduct of salvation.
My job as a Christian is to be Christ to the World. This means I give grace, show love, and serve others. However, it also means I call out sin and injustice in the World. I call out false doctrine, false ideologies, and demonic intent in our society. It means I speak truth, and that Truth is the Truth found in the Word of God. I am not accepting of the sin that is in this World. I do not share the same mindset as the World; instead, I hold to the mindset of Christ, which states that He is the Way, Truth, and Life. As a Christian, I speak Truth in love. I don’t get it right every time because I am still a sinner and make mistakes daily. This is why repentance is a crucial component of being a Christian.
Jesus made it clear what being His follower looks like. “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross daily and follow Me” (Luke 9:23). He also said, “If you love Me, you will keep My commandments” (John 14:15). In the book of Micah, YHWH says, “He has told you, O man, what is good; And what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God” (Micah 6:8). The Apostle James writes, “Therefore, putting aside all filthiness and all that remains of wickedness, in humility receive the word implanted, which is able to save your souls. But prove yourselves doers of the word, and not merely hearers who delude themselves. Pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world” (James 1:21-22, 27).
Before God came to live among His creation through Jesus Christ, YHWH used prophets to speak His words to the people. The prophets’ main job was to call out the sins of the nations. God used them to warn the nations of the impending doom of God’s wrath upon them if they did not repent and turn from their sinful ways. People and nations hated these prophets for speaking the Truth. Some listened to them, while most accosted, beat, and abused them. Today, God has not only spoken through the prophets of the Old Testament, He has also spoken through His Son, Jesus Christ, and the Apostles. We have a collection of writings, books, and letters that speak the Truth of YHWH and His commandments.
We tend to believe that the God of the Old Testament differs from the New Testament. We like to think that Jesus was all about love and acceptance, which God is all about. This is a dangerous and very ignorant ideology. As I have written before, Jesus Christ was the peace offering, the olive branch, between YHWH and all creation. He was YHWH’s last resort in bringing all people unto Himself. However, just as the prophets of the Old Testament were accosted, beaten, and abused, Jesus Christ would bear the same fate and even be put to death. Jesus spoke to this saying:
“A man planted a vineyard and put a wall around it, and dug a vat under the wine press and built a tower, and rented it out to vine-growers and went on a journey. At the harvest time he sent a slave to the vine-growers, in order to receive some of the produce of the vineyard from the vine-growers. They took him, and beat him and sent him away empty-handed. Again he sent them another slave, and they wounded him in the head, and treated him shamefully. And he sent another, and that one they killed; and so with many others, beating some and killing others. 6He had one more to send, a beloved son; he sent him last of all to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’ But those vine-growers said to one another, ‘This is the heir; come, let us kill him, and the inheritance will be ours!’ They took him, and killed him and threw him out of the vineyard. What will the owner of the vineyard do? He will come and destroy the vine-growers, and will give the vineyard to others.” (Mark 12:1-9)
The slaves Christ mentions are all the prophets that came before Him. The son he refers to is Himself, the Son of the Most High God, who planted the vineyard. Do you not see the final statement Christ makes in this parable? “What will the owner of the vineyard do? He will destroy the vine growers and give the vineyard to others.” Those who reject Jesus Christ will be destroyed, and those whom the vineyard is given to are those who repent of their sin and turn and follow Him. Just as the prophets in the Old Testament were hated and despised for speaking the Truth of God, Christ Jesus was also hated and despised and eventually killed by the people He came to save.
The warning must continue. The love we like to speak about in the Church is genuine, but this love does not accept the sin of the World. I saw a video the other day of Dylan Mulvaney claiming that he was trying to maintain a relationship with God. He said, “I’m going to say something that might make people feel a little bit uncomfortable: I’m trying really hard to maintain a relationship with God. I don’t think He made a mistake with me, and that maybe one day, I will actually be grateful for being trans, that this isn’t some curse, but it’s just a different path to the same destination.” Many Christians might look at this and approve of what Mulvaney is saying, and if that is the case, this is where there is a significant problem in today’s Church.
There is no such thing as multiple paths to the same destination. There is only one path – Jesus Christ. He stated, “I am the WAY, TRUTH, and LIFE. No one comes to the Father but through Me.” God is clear in His expectations. Sin is sin, and you cannot live in sin and have a relationship with God. It is impossible. The false ideology that Dylan is sharing is straight from the mouth of the Devil. He has been blinded to Truth and has accepted the lies of the Deceiver. As a Christian, I love Dylan. He is made in the image of God, as all humanity is, but he has chosen to listen to the lies and deceit of the Devil and has chosen to accept sin rather than repent of it. My heart breaks for Dylan. He doesn’t know the one true God. Unless he repents of his sin, accepts Christ Jesus, and follows Him, there is no way he can have a relationship with YHWH, which means when he stands before the throne of the God he claims to have a relationship with, YHWH will say, “Depart from me, for I never knew you.”
I do not believe that he is a lost cause. I believe that God can break through every and all schemes of the Devil. Dylan can be saved from the sin he chooses to live in. I believe the lies of the Devil can be destroyed, but it is only through honest, earnest prayer that this can happen. I am reminded of a story in the Gospel of Mark:
“When they came back to the disciples, they saw a large crowd around them, and some scribes arguing with them. Immediately, when the entire crowd saw Him, they were amazed and began running up to greet Him. And He asked them, ‘What are you discussing with them?’ And one of the crowd answered Him, ‘Teacher, I brought You my son, possessed with a spirit which makes him mute; and whenever it seizes him, it slams him to the ground and he foams at the mouth, and grinds his teeth and stiffens out. I told Your disciples to cast it out, and they could not do it.’ And He answered them and said, ‘O unbelieving generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I put up with you? Bring him to Me!’ They brought the boy to Him. When he saw Him, immediately the spirit threw him into a convulsion, and falling to the ground, he began rolling around and foaming at the mouth. And He asked his father, ‘How long has this been happening to him?’ And he said, ‘From childhood. It has often thrown him both into the fire and into the water to destroy him. But if You can do anything, take pity on us and help us!’ And Jesus said to him, ”If You can?’ All things are possible to him who believes.’ Immediately the boy’s father cried out and said, ‘I do believe; help my unbelief.’ When Jesus saw that a crowd was rapidly gathering, He rebuked the unclean spirit, saying to it, ‘You deaf and mute spirit, I command you, come out of him and do not enter him again.’ After crying out and throwing him into terrible convulsions, it came out; and the boy became so much like a corpse that most of them said, ‘He is dead!’ But Jesus took him by the hand and raised him; and he got up. When He came into the house, His disciples began questioning Him privately, ‘Why could we not drive it out?’ And He said to them, ‘This kind cannot come out by anything but prayer.'” (Mark 9:14-29)
There is much to discuss in this one story, but I want to focus on the last thing Jesus said, “This kind cannot come out by anything but prayer.”
Why do I say all of this? I have noticed that the weakness of the Church and most Christians lies in accepting and allowing false doctrine and ideologies. Most would say that we need to love Dylan. I agree, but we must not stop there. Real love is speaking the truth and not allowing people to live in a delusional mindset perpetuated by lies from the Devil. Our job as Christians and believers in Christ Jesus is to speak Truth. We must speak Truth in love and not condemnation and judgment, as it is not our place to condemn or judge. However, calling out sin is not judgment. It’s how we break the chains of sin. Only when we know and understand the problem can we begin to fix it. However, if all we do is “love” and accept people, we do them a disservice by allowing them to continue in the sin that we know will lead to utter destruction.
Christians must share Truth AND love. These go hand in hand. When done correctly, it can lead to repentance and salvation. When this is done poorly, it can lead to a destructive disconnect between humanity and God. I implore you, as a believer, to stop pushing the love and acceptance that is being discussed and approved of in today’s Christian circles and start preaching truth, so that those who live in sin might be broken from the bondage of sin and be set free through the power and love of Jesus Christ. If we do not speak about the problem, the problem will never be corrected.
Father God, I ask that you embolden your people to speak Truth to a dying and lost World. I ask that your followers would take up the obligation of speaking against the Devil and the lies and deceit he tries to push. I pray that the eyes of humanity would be opened to see the Truth, to see you, Lord Jesus. I pray that you will help me speak in love and truth. I pray that your Holy Spirit speaks through me in ways that bring light and revelation to the lost, break the chains of sin and destruction, and bring Truth and salvation to the lost World. You have overcome the World. The cross was the ultimate statement of truth, power, forgiveness, and salvation. I believe there is nothing that you cannot do. I believe in your Word and all that you have said. I pray that you show yourself to the lost. Show yourself to those who have accepted the lies of the Devil. I also pray that you would bind the Devil and his demons, in the name of JESUS CHRIST! I pray that you break down the selfishness and pride of humanity so that they might turn to you and live in humble obedience to you. I ask all of this in your Holy Name, YHWH!
Selfless Leadership Is Purposeful Leadership 