by Unknown
"The one who says he abides in Him ought himself to walk in the same manner as He walked." (1 John 2:6)
Today's professing church has strayed so far from the Jesus of the Bible that they wouldn't even recognize Him if He walked the streets of America today. Worse, most of them don't really care how Jesus walked; they want to live like unbelievers yet make claims to heaven, too.
If Jesus walked the streets of America today, He wouldn’t qualify for a job interview as a "Pastor" because He wouldn’t have a college degree. If He opened His mouth to speak the Word of God to the pastors of the churches, He would be considered arrogant for having the audacity to think He knows better than the college graduates who lead the church.
As in biblical times, He would be dressed according to the standards of the culture in which He lives, so he would be dressed like an ordinary poor American church-goer—nothing special about Him. If He wore a long white robe, He would be considered a freak, a Muslim, or another religious cult leader. He would be poor because He would be fed by God and the few people who would invite Him to dine with them. He wouldn’t have any money or own any possessions so He would be considered an unemployed transient.
His miracles would be considered demonic magic tricks like the Pharisees thought when He walked the Earth, since an unschooled, unemployed, poverty-stricken transient is not considered knowledgeable or an upstanding citizen by the American church. So He would be labeled an impostor and possibly arrested for fraud. If He rebuked the churches who claim that He supports homosexuality, He would be labeled a judgmental bigot filled with hatred and anger.
He wouldn’t be a home-owner because His home is in heaven, not on Earth. He wouldn’t be interested in sports either, since living for fun and pleasure would not be His mission. Neither would He be a cheerleader and hire a rock band to attract followers who need to be entertained, nor would He sing songs or “cut an album” to gain followers. In fact, if He tried to speak during a church service, He would be escorted out by security for interrupting the sermon, since today’s churches don’t follow the instructions on worship in 1 Corinthians 14:26-34.
If He used a whip to scatter people at the back of the church for selling CD’s, books, and other items for profit, He would be arrested for assault and given a psychiatric evaluation. He would be diagnosed as clinically depressed with delusions of grandeur, since He would be “a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief” (Isaiah 53), which is considered a mental illness in today’s world and in the church.
He wouldn’t climb the corporate ladder like many American church-goers, so He wouldn’t be elected to an elder board because He wouldn’t be rich, athletic, employed, an entertainer, a college graduate or live like the American church or the people of the world. He couldn’t be a church leader because He would be considered an unschooled, unemployed, poor, mentally ill, non-athletic, non-conformist with no resume.
He and His followers wouldn’t celebrate the 4th of July or any other patriotic holiday either, nor would they run for political office or join the U.S. Military because their citizenship is in Heaven, not on Earth (Phil. 3:20). Their weapons are spiritual, not worldly (2 Cor. 10:3-4; Eph. 6:12), so they wouldn’t be loyal to any one country on Earth. In fact, He and His followers would be locked up in prison or a psychiatric ward because people would be terrified of their power, not knowing where it came from.
In essence, Jesus and His followers would be just as rejected and hated by Americans who profess faith in the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob as they were when they walked the Earth.
That’s how far the American church has strayed from the Jesus of the Bible. So the OT is just as relevant today as it has always been. The OT prophets were describing the apostate church today just as they described apostate Israel in the OT.
But Jesus would be much more easily recognized and accepted in third world countries who haven’t conformed to the greed and patterns of the world like the American church has. So it isn’t the people overseas who need missionaries the most — it’s America!
"The prophet is a fool, the inspired man is demented, because of the grossness of your iniquity, and because your hostility is so great." (Hosea 9:7)