The Weak Jesus of Modern Churchianity

“Judge not, lest you be judged”;  “Compassion and tolerance”; “Meekness”; “love”; “Never a harsh word”.

Those are a sampling of the scriptures and sentiments used to render Christianity  in this country and the West – impotent and of no power.  Modern Christianity has constructed an entirely new Jesus for itself.  A Jesus whom would never utter an angry word of condemnation, would never fight or go to war, who does not condemn sin or expect His followers to overcome sin.  Churchianity has decided to make those tenets it’s primary doctrine rather than to transform the world by encouraging repentance.  That teaches instead that we are to be “tolerant” of the sinful world and not to “judge the world” by condemning sin. Because it is now said that to condemn the sin is to condemn the sinner, because the sin defines who the sinner truly is.  And they say, Jesus would not judge someone for who they are.

Christianity, once a bulwark to the oppressive unGodliness and tyranny of men, has become conformed to the world, in order to believe a deception that there is nothing in this world Jesus would fight or stand against.

This sentiment, plaguing the Christian church is one of the major reasons Christianity is being shoved out of the culture and into the closet by secular hedonists.  Christians are no longer standing, they are bowing down and surrendering the culture without a fight because they have been deceived into thinking being Christian means loving and accepting everything under the doctrine of tolerance.  Praying for our enemies now means we should accommodate and make exceptions for our enemies to oppress us.  Doing so is the highest form of Christian tolerance.

But Satan is NOT tolerant, and this secular culture that has replaced the Christian culture is the most INTOLERANT of any dissent, belief or practice outside of Islam itself.

The weak Jesus of modern Churchianity is being steamrolled and crushed by secularism, debauchery and  political apathy.  It is no wonder why Islam is conquering the globe while Secularists apologize for and are allied with them in their shared quest to rid the world of Christianity.

So who is the real Jesus?  The meek and lowly waif and figure of modern abandonment theology that only loves and forgives and pours out blessings?  Or is there something modern Christians are missing?

The Real Jesus

By Jim O’Brien

I don’t know exactly when it was that I looked at the picture behind the preacher on Sunday morning and said to myself “That picture is a fake!” but I do remember saying it in Sunday School class.  It didn’t earn any gold stars.
 
Maybe it was after reading Paul’s statement that “nature itself teaches you that long hair on a man is a disgrace” (1 Cor. 11:14 GNB) I couldn’t envision the Apostle Paul saying that if Jesus had sported long hair.
 
Nor was he handsome. In fact Isaiah’s description of the Messiah says “there was nothing attractive about him, nothing that would draw us to him.” (Isaiah 53:2 GNB)
 
It could have been when I first realized that any man who had grown up working in construction during the 1st Century A.D. would of necessity be a brawny guy. The picture just didn’t look very tough.
 
The picture on the wall did not look like the Christ who will return to the earth to make war described in Revelation 19:11-16.
 
“And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war.  His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns
 
And the armies which were in heaven followed him upon white horses.  And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron: and he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God.
 
And he hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS.” 
 
The typical picture of Jesus often overlooks the account of Jesus throwing out the moneychangers from the temple. (Matt. 21:12) How many moneychangers where there?  The Bible doesn’t say.  But it was a large area so one could reasonably expect it to be several, maybe a score or more.  No wimpy man could physically throw out that many men and turn over their means of doing business.  That was my kind of guy.
 
There is the Jesus that painted a verbal picture of carnality and said  “for after all these things do the Gentiles seek.” (Matt. 6:32 KJV)  

Jesus was too strong to be confined by politically correct speech. As in the time when he called the political and religious leaders of his day a bunch of snakes the children of snakes and asked how they could escape hell. (Matt. 23:33) That’s the kind of statement that makes the heart of an Irishman beat strong.
 
It’s also the kind of statement that makes me think something has been lost from mainstream Christianity.
 
The other day some news analysts were discussing the recent revelation of the sins of Tiger Woods, the golf phenom. It’s hard to pass a check out counter at the super market without reading about his loss of income and speculation about an impending divorce. So someone asked if Tiger can make an emotional recovery from the sins of the past. Brit Hume replied:  

“The extent to which he can recover, it seems to me, depends on his faith. He is said to be a Buddhist. I don’t think that faith offers the kind of forgiveness and redemption that is offered by the Christian faith. So, my message to Tiger would be, ‘Tiger, turn to the Christian faith and you can make a total recovery and be a great example to the world.”
 
The reaction to Hume’s statement was predictable. A writer for the Washington Post demanded that Hume apologize because he had offended about half a billion Buddhists. Funny, there are over two billion Christians on the earth and multiple thousands being persecuted, some martyred almost on a daily basis around the world by Buddhists, Hindus and Muslims yet the American press seems strangely unconcerned about the offense caused to Christians.
 
Maybe the reason is that mainstream Christians resemble more the picture on the wall at the front of church than they do the man who stood alone against a mob intent on stoning a woman taken in adultery.
 
Maybe Christianity needs an infusion of the real Jesus, not the picture on the wall.