Chapter 1: Who is the REAL Jesus?
09/02/2008 ©Charles Germany

Who was the REAL Jesus? What was it about a Jewish carpenter that altered the course of humanity and shaped the history of Western civilization? Today, 2,000 years after his ministry on earth, one may notice large discrepancies between the teachings of Christ as outlined in the four gospel accounts of his life and the current practice of many religious institutions who claim to pursue those same doctrines.

Think about it for a moment. Crusades and holy wars have been fought in the name of Jesus who taught his followers to "love their enemies, bless those who curse them, and pray for those who persecute them" (Matthew 5:44) How is this possible? The inquisition was waged in the name of Christ, torturing, killing and bringing false accusations against millions of Jews and Christians who sought reformation. Jesus himself prophesied that "there will come a time when those who murder you will believe that they are God's chosen vessels executing his will in his service". (John 16:2) These violent deeds were performed in violation of the teachings of Christ who said, "I send you as sheep among wolves, therefore be as wise as serpents, but as harmless as doves". (Matthew 10:16) How many times have men killed in the name of Christ? How many times in modern events have "Christian" cults and factions, claiming either to be Jesus or to be of him, spewed venom and hatred instead of the compassion we see in Christ? At some point in history the real Jesus was hijacked and replaced with an imposter. What happened?

Imagine this spectacle, if you will. Throughout the centuries, a conflict of great magnitude has been waged between secularism and religion for the soul of man. In one corner, religion represents man's aspirations to explain that for which he lacks empirical evidence through faith and conjecture. It embodies man's desire to bring order to that which is beyond his reach through ritual - it is his quest to transcend a mundane and meaningless existence through spirituality. In the other corner, secularism seeks the renaissance of reason. It eludes superstition and focuses only on those things which one may directly observe, manipulate and predict according to the rigid, structured and immutable laws of nature.

Interjecting himself into the midst of this altercation steps Jesus. At first, passionate extremists are united by the presence of a common foe that subscribes to neither of their perspectives. One may find that religion and secularism both resist Christ - though from opposite angles.  Jesus stands apart from them, unwavering - he makes their call to arms irrelevant. His message transcends their alternatives, resonating with "I will show you yet a more excellent way..." (1 Corinthians 12:31 and 1 Corinthians 13:1-13) Following Jesus is neither a religion nor a science - it is a way of existing, living and interacting with the universe. It is a way of being.

Pondering these things, it is interesting to note the thoughts of Albert Einstein concerning the interdependency between science and religion:

"But science can only be created by those who are thoroughly imbued with the aspiration toward truth and understanding. This source of feeling, however, springs from the sphere of religion. To this there also belongs the faith in the possibility that the regulations valid for the world of existence are rational, that is, comprehensible to reason. I cannot conceive of a genuine scientist without that profound faith. The situation may be expressed by an image: science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind." (Einstein's Ideas and Opinions, pp.41 - 49, from an address at Princeton Theological Seminary, May 19, 1939, published in Out of My Later Years, New York: Philosophical Library, 1950)

This dispute continues to ripple across reality from shore to shore. Jesus challenges our very definition of existence. From the microscopic sub-atomic quanta of life's most intimate moments, he beckons. To humanity's faintest perception of the immensity of the universe - macroscopic formations of galactic super-clusters meandering the curves of space-time, he bids us come and discover - that we never abandon our search for truth. He reminds us that we are constantly learning and unlearning that which was taught in error. He rearranges our priorities. Like some strange and immovable object anchored among powerful forces, the figure of Christ remains; unchanging amidst so many attempts to destroy him, to exploit him or to subvert his message.

Who is the REAL Jesus? If one dares to look without prejudice, one can not find ample words to depict the breadth and scope of what has happened throughout the course of human history regarding the life, death, and immortality of this single person. A certain particular life experience of the teeming billions of human lives lived out upon this planet has had an enormous impact on mankind. This seething consciousness is who we call Jesus Christ. It becomes difficult to articulate the controversy, struggle and conflict surrounding what may be the most revolutionary and volatile figure in human history. 

If one dares look past the boundaries that buttress the facade of religion and into the brazen face of unalterable truth, one realizes an astounding epiphany. Jesus is not the weak, emasculated, impotent figure our culture has so often portrayed him as. Rather, he is a revolutionary that turns cultures, classes, roles, customs and perspectives upside down. He rips apart the seams that stitch together our society. His words are not the malleable generalizations of a guru, they are carefully chosen and loaded with immense power. The real Jesus is not for the timid nor the faint of heart. He challenges everything. He offends everyone. He is a destroyer of worlds and philosophies and nations. He topples systems and castes and nomenclatures. He is the ultimate iconoclast.

Who is this "real" Jesus? In one approach, one might build the case for who Christ is and what he really taught by means of the juxtaposition and comparison of opposites. This is consistent with how we learn about the world from infancy. Part of learning what a thing is, is to discover what it is not. Jesus mercilessly assaults every part of human will and endeavor: he is a rebel who rallies us to the cause of enlightenment. He questions our perceptions of the universe, politics, religion and history. He challenges us to redefine our existence. If we go searching for the "real" Jesus, we must be willing to abandon what we think we already know about him.

In western society today, many believe they practice a kind of Christianity. Yet in our culture the term "Christianity" has lost its original meaning. A long time ago, the ancient expression of "Christian" could be used synonymously with the term "Christ-like" - one who follows, practices the teachings of and behaves in the manner of Christ. There was a time when calling someone "Christian" designated them as a devout "follower of Christ". However, at present "Christianity" has been redefined to signify a mere cultural identification - void and separate from the significance of being "Christ-like". In the second letter that Paul the Apostle wrote to encourage his friend Timothy, he warns of those "who have a form of godliness but deny its power" (2 Timothy 3:5). In our generation and in our culture, this has become the lamentable state of the word "Christianity" - it has lost its former meaning of possessing devotion to Jesus and "Christ-likeness". It has become empty.

Furthermore, the word "Christian" has lost its poignancy and power in a modern religious sub-culture that is immersed in Christian symbolism, yet void of any outward relevance to its society. For example, we have "Christian" music, software, movies and media. We have "Christian" literature, restaurants and hotels. We have "Christian" theme parks and condominiums. We have "Christian" performers and musicians, comedians and illusionists. We wear "Christian" t-shirts and jackets and jeans and put "Christian" bumper stickers and decals on our vehicles. Yet rather than engaging this generation's lost sea of souls, we build an ivory tower from which we may have all the comforts of a modern secular society - yet without the unpleasantness of interacting with those who are unlike ourselves. This goes against every grain of Jesus' historical ministry! When accosted by the religious caste of his day, Jesus chose the poor and outcast as the recipients of his message. Among the Jewish people of whom he was and who he loved so deeply, he preferred prostitutes and beggars and thieves to the devoutly religious sects of the Pharisees and Sadducees:

"While he was having dinner at Matthew’s home, many tax collectors and notorious sinners arrived and began eating with Jesus and his disciples. The Pharisees saw this and said to his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and notorious sinners?” When Jesus heard that, he said, “Healthy people don’t need a physician, but sick people do. Go and learn what this means: ‘I want mercy and not sacrifice.’ For I did not come to call righteous people, but sinners.” (Matthew 9:10-13)

Jesus' words still echo for this generation: "Go and learn what this means - I want mercy and not sacrifice!" The philosophy of the true Christ does not support an "ivory tower" theology - it stands against the formation of religious cliques and factions and reaches out towards a completely different group of individuals. Drowning in the western church's sea of commercialism and materialism, where is that humble Jesus, born in a manger? Where is he who once said, "Foxes have holes and birds have nests, but the Son of man has no place to lay his head." (Matthew 8:20)?  Where is that same Jesus, wild and untamed, who angrily cast out the money-changers and merchants hawking their wares and said, "My father's house is a house of prayer but you have made it a den of thieves!" ? (Matthew 21:13)

How many times have we seen someone with a Christian t-shirt acting obnoxious, or unkind - acting "un-Christ-like"? How many times have we seen someone in traffic with a Christian bumper sticker acting in rage - "un-Christ-like"? How many times have we attended a "Christian" concert or event, only to walk away fettered by carnal desires and attitudes that give no hint whatsoever to this society that we follow Christ? These outward facades can not hide our lack of character. Yet we continue to try to buy our "Christianity" in the West because we think at some level that if we surround ourselves with enough Christian memorabilia it will define us as "Christ-like". According to the real Jesus, nothing could be further from the truth.

Jesus speaks to this generation and says, it's not what we wear or drive that defines us. It's not what's on the outside. It's what's going on inside us that defines what we are and who we follow. How do we treat others? How do we live our lives? Do we behave like Christ? Do we act like Jesus? That decides whether we are, or are not, a "Christian".  (Matthew 15:18-20)

One has to marvel at some of the self-proclaimed prophets of modern Christianity. How strangely they contrast the prophets we read of in the bible. Biblical prophets were often hated and despised, persecuted and killed. Biblical prophets often had to preach unpopular messages. Biblical prophets did not use the "Word of the Lord" given them by God to obtain rewards and riches. Often, they flatly refused to accept gifts or bribes. We are speaking of "rhema", not "logos" - let the reader understand.

Consider the case of Elisha and Naaman. The true prophet refused to accept payment for the supernatural work of God. When Naaman offered him great wealth for his healing, Elisha responded "As the LORD liveth, before whom I stand, I will receive none." Gehazi, Elisha's servant, was overcome by greed. He sought to take payment for God's supernatural work, and was given Naaman's leprosy for his disobedience. (2 Kings 5:1-27)

Biblical prophets ran to and fro, far and wide to give their message to those for whom it was intended, all without asking for anything in return. How strange they appear next to some of today's popular "prophets" who pimp and pan-handle the Word of God for a living. These modern "prophets" offer to sell us a personalized and uplifting "Word of God" for a specified amount of money or a "love gift". If these so-called prophets truly have a "Word of the Lord" for someone - a matter of life and death, then they are practicing extortion. Biblical prophets were neither as ambiguous nor vague as these modern charlatans. In those times, the test of a true prophet was in whether or not what they spoke would come to pass, not how charismatically they could present their message:

"If what a prophet proclaims in the name of the LORD does not take place or come true, that is a message the LORD has not spoken. That prophet has spoken presumptuously. Do not be afraid of him." (Deuteronomy 18:22)

In Hebrews 11:36-38 we find an accounting of some of the biblical prophets:

“Some faced jeers and flogging, while still others were chained and put in prison. They were stoned; they were sawed in two; they were put to death by the sword. They went about in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, persecuted and mistreated - the world was not worthy of them. They wandered in deserts and mountains, and in caves and holes in the ground.” 

Where are these real prophets? Where is the real Jesus?

Long ago Christians were outcasts. Long ago they were labeled as dissidents. All of the disciples faced imprisonment, torture and death for their witness save one, and he was exiled. Early Christians were fed to lions and set ablaze as human torches to light the banquet tables of Nero and Caligula. Today, truly following the teachings of Christ could separate and segregate us from those we love. Today, being a follower of Jesus requires more loyalty than we are accustomed to. Today practicing Jesus' instructions could get us labeled dissidents, communists, capitalists, socialists, terrorists, freaks or whatever might happen to be despised, feared or hated by a society at any particular time.

Believe it or not, according to the Italian journalist Antonio Socci in his book "I Nuovi Perseguitati" (The New Persecuted), it is estimated at present that over 70 million have died premature deaths in the last 2000 years simply because they chose to follow Jesus. Of these 70 million, nearly 45.5 million were killed in the last 150 years. That means 65% of all Christian martyrs have met their demise in this last century alone. That Christ is a controversy is an understatement. The struggle is intensifying. In some places in our modern world Christians are being hacked to pieces with machetes, beheaded, and burned alive simply because they believe in Jesus. Why would so many be willing to suffer so much for what some call the vacant ranting of a madman - the teachings of Christ?

Consider some of the recruitment techniques for the armed forces of many western military agencies. Do they attract people willing to enlist by telling them how easy their lives will be or how the military might solve all of their problems? No - they are not selling snake oil. They attract men by showing how much courage, valor and sacrifice they will need to make. They challenge potential recruits with great adversity. Those who accept the challenge enlist. When we look at the real Jesus, He did no different.

According to Christ, following Him is nothing less than a complete death to our old life and way of doing things and a resurrection to his new way. Jesus says we have to deny ourselves, take up our cross and follow him. He says if we seek our lives we will be lost, but if we lose ourselves in finding Him we will find life. He reminds us that it profits us nothing to gain the world and lose our soul. (Matthew 16:24-26) He reminds us that we can not serve two masters, we can not serve both God and mammon. By our choices in life we will end up serving one master while simultaneously despising the other. (Matthew 6:24)

How deeply Christ's words contrast with the West's self-centered, pleasure-seeking, wealth-worshiping gospel. We have to stop selling Jesus like a door-to-door salesman, as something plastic and fake and "new and improved". No one believes that anymore. It's not enough to thrust bits of paper into a stranger's hand and walk away feeling we have done our part. It's not enough to commit an occasional act of charity. These acts may be a part but they are not the whole.

We have to start living the life of Jesus. We have to imitate and emulate Christ - that they will believe. It is this that a jaded and cynical world will either hate, bringing us persecution as fanatics; or love, bringing us new Christians who see our witness to the truth and believe. Whichever the outcome, society will no longer be able to ignore the followers of Jesus. They will not be able to remain indifferent to Christ. They will have to make a choice, for or against him, and his followers will no longer be irrelevant in this culture.

Jesus' teachings create a dilemma in how they ask us to live. Too many times Jesus has been sold as a panacea for all life's annoyances or as a self-help guru to assist one in achieving one's hopes and dreams. Jesus is much more than that - he is change, transformation and abundant immortality to those who follow Him. If any of us choose to follow Jesus, we must understand it will cost us - everything. Old ways of thinking, old philosophies we have learned all our lives, conventional wisdoms of a carnal and banal nature must die. Our world will be turned upside-down, inside-out and right-side up. Truly following Jesus brings catastrophic change, yet ironically, joy and a peace beyond our comprehension. To think that this journey is anything less than a radical transformation is to underestimate the power of Christ. Jesus said of himself and his followers:

"I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds. The man who loves his life will lose it, while the man who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. Whoever serves me must follow me; and where I am, my servant also will be." (John 12:24-26)

Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote "The Cost of Discipleship" from the inside of a German concentration camp in Flossenburg, Germany in WWII. He was placed there for sheltering Jews and speaking against Hitler and the Nazi party as his belief in the real Jesus compelled him to do so. Many so-called "Christians" in Germany did nothing as the Jews were led like lambs to the slaughter.

Bonhoeffer writes in his book, "When Christ calls a man, he bids him come and die". No one knew this more than Dietrich. He proposed that one could not truly experience the miracle of life until one had faced death daily. On April 9, 1945 at the crack of dawn Bonhoeffer, his brother and his brother-in-law were marched naked from their cells (for the purpose of humiliation before the S.S.) and hung from the gallows of a concentration camp for following the real Jesus. Dietrich did this against his government, against the rules of his society and against his own self-preservation. Bonhoeffer gave up his freedom, his family and his life to love his neighbor, the Jewish people, as himself. He was truly a "Christian", that is, he truly followed and practiced the teachings of Christ in Matthew 22:36-40.

This reality escapes us in the West in these modern times, but those who follow Christ in some parts of our world know all too well that it may cost them their families, their jobs, their freedom - even their lives. Traveling thousands of years through time, Jesus speaks again to our generation concerning these things: "Those who seek to find their lives will lose them, but those who lose their lives in me will find them."  (Matthew 10:39) How beautiful those words still flow from the pages of the gospels.

Jesus' words are a controversy because many times they go against what we have been taught in both secular schools and the classrooms of organized religion. The words of Christ contradict this world's conventional wisdom. Jesus' teachings oppose many cultural traditions and the "common sense" of society's institutions in a most un-compromising fashion. Therefore some conclude that Jesus is a lunatic, others believe He is the Son of God.

We seek to explore these issues. For those who dislike him or dismiss him as a fairy tale - listen to the real Jesus - just once. Then make your own  decision without coercion or gimmicks or trickery. Two thousand years later Jesus still speaks for himself. The greater fallacy is for those who think they already "know" Jesus, yet do not. That is, they do not truly apprehend his teachings, nor do they comprehend his revolutionary call. Jesus speaks in a parable of those who will one day say to Him, "Lord, didn't we do many wonderful things in your name?" to which he will reply "Depart from me, I never knew you." (Matthew 7:21-23)  In the parable of the goats and the sheep, Jesus tells us ironically that it is those who have concern for the poor, the hungry, the naked, the thirsty, the falsely accused and the sick that are among heaven's "elect", not those who appear "spiritual" in our traditional understanding of that terminology. Jesus seems to be pointing us to an inescapable conclusion: How do we treat those around us? Do we care? Do we love? (Matthew 25:31-46)

Followers of the real Jesus must choose their battles as members of "God's army" - our weapons are by no means physical (2 Corinthians 10:4). Contrary to those who subvert his words for violent purposes, the real Jesus instructs his followers to turn the other cheek and to love their enemies. Christ calls his followers to war, but not to a battle of bullets and blades - He draws them into a clash of ideas and methodologies. We need to lay aside petty grievances and take up spiritual arms against a flood of immorality, self-righteousness, and empty and delusional philosophies that are taking Christianity far away from doctrine that even remotely resembles the teachings of its founder. The battlefield on which this war is being waged is within our hearts and minds. If we are courageous enough to bear the consequences, we can seek the truth and not grow weary. If we are willing to dive into the fathomless depths of the mind of Christ, we will find illumination and liberty. 

It is my deepest desire that we will be set free by coming face to face with the REAL Jesus - that we will no longer be beguiled by the imitation Christ that has turned so many away from the Christian faith. We in the West are guilty of practicing a selfish, introverted, impotent and watered-down Christianity that presents the image of a melted, grotesque and plastic Jesus for the world to believe in - an imposter. Yet the words of Christ are still there, printed in red in so many bibles, speaking for themselves. We will hear his voice if we can humble ourselves, open our minds and listen to what He has spoken. It's time to transform cynical and jaded hearts. If we can receive the truth as children, we can tear down the idols we have erected and we will come face to face with the REAL Jesus once again. (Matthew 18:3-4) Consider another example of a life radically transformed by the real Jesus:

Richard Wurmbrand spent 14 years being tortured by communists in Romanian prisons. He founded "Voice of the Martyrs", an organization providing assistance to those being persecuted for belief in Christ. He was born in Bucharest, the youngest of 4 boys in a Jewish family. Even as a young boy, Richard felt he was searching for something transcendent. In his adolescence, he became attracted to communism and studied Marxism in Moscow. Upon returning to Romania he was arrested by the secret police and held in Doftana prison until he renounced his communist political beliefs. Though traditionally Jewish, Richard and his wife, Sabina, became convinced that Christianity was the truth they had been looking for in 1938 by a carpenter named Christian Wolfkes. Subsequently, they joined the Anglican Mission to the Jews.

In 1944 when the Soviet Union occupied Romania, Wurmbrand began a ministry to fellow Romanians and soldiers of the Red Army. He was arrested on February 28, 1948 for performing "underground ministry" considered to be against the ideals of communism amidst Romania's government controlled churches. Despite torture, he did not recant his newfound belief in Christ. Richard had found something far greater than the Marxist ideals he had renounced to escape prison years ago - something greater than his own life and self-preservation that he simply could not deny. What kind of transformation could have happened to this former Marxist? How did he change so radically and rapidly to oppose the ideals he had studied and espoused only a few years before? Richard Wurmbrand had discovered within Christ the love, unselfishness and lack of materialism he had formerly sought but never fulfilled in communism.

Sabina was arrested in 1950 and spent three years at a penal labor camp. After almost nine years in prison, Richard was released in 1956 and immediately began preaching and teaching in the underground church. He was arrested again in 1959 and sentenced to 25 years. He was beaten and tortured in prison until he received amnesty in 1964 when the Norwegian Mission to the Jews and the Hebrew Christian Alliance negotiated for his release for $10,000. It was after this that Wurmbrand became a voice for the persecuted church. His account may be viewed in the video "Tortured for Christ". More information on Richard and his wife may be found in their biography.

How different is a gospel that would compel a man to suffer agony and imprisonment, rather than deny his faith in Christ, from the religious culture of greed and selfishness that worships the idols of "success" in some of today's churches!

Throughout the ages the words of Christ have been twisted and hidden and warped. Jesus' message has been subverted and used by power-hungry men to manipulate the masses into doing things Christ never intended or would flat-out oppose.  For 2,000 years people have struggled relentlessly to go back to Christ's original teachings. Century after century people have suffered and died to strip away the deceptions men have used to cover the core truths of the gospels and reveal once again the real Jesus.

Martin Luther was born November 10, 1483. He is famous for rediscovering the central truth of the gospel which he found in Romans 1:17 - “The just shall live by faith.” A little less than 500 years ago he was almost burned at the stake for having the audacity to imply that, as the Apostle Paul wrote: "You have been saved by grace through faith, and this not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast." (Ephesians 2:8-9). He had tried the paths of self-righteousness for decades yet never met with success. He would sleep outside all night in the snow. He fasted for 6 weeks devoting himself to prayer, nearly starving to death. He would whip himself until he passed out. The priests would come in the next morning and find him laying in a pool of his own blood. He found none of these things could make him worthy of his salvation. In his despair and anguish, God revealed to him the core truth of Christ's message.

His grace was sufficient. Martin reasoned, if there were any other way to attain salvation, any way we could merit heaven by following lists of rules and torturing ourselves with pain, then Christ died in vain. Luther was branded as a heretic in his time. A hundred years before, a man by the name of Jan Hus had been burnt to death for making the same "outrageous" and "blasphemous" claims by decent, devout "deeply religious" folks. We can all be grateful that neither he nor Luther recanted. They remained "heretics". How many of us today would have such integrity? How many of us still struggle to obtain what we could never earn in the first place?

These events revolutionized Martin’s life – he rediscovered the true Christ. Flames of understanding burst to life in his heart. Jesus became the ultimate offering who negated the need for any further sacrifice. That was why Christ had said, “It is finished.” His last words in Greek were "Tetelestai" - the debt is paid in full. If salvation were possible through perfectly keeping God's laws or through great deeds of suffering, then Christ died in vain. The Apostle Paul would agree with Luther. In Galatians 2:21 Paul writes: “I do not frustrate the grace of God: for if righteousness could be obtained by the law, then Christ is dead in vain.” Jesus took the same issue up with the Pharisees: “They worship me in vain; their teachings are but rules taught by men.’ You have let go of the commands of God and are holding on to the traditions of men.” (Mark 7:7-8)

As a final note we must address the many factions and denominations of Christ's followers with a call to solidarity. If you are a skeptic or do not follow Christ, simply ignore this call - it does not apply. For those who do follow Christ and are bound by his code of conduct, consider: There are many things in the Word of God that are difficult to interpret, or about which scholars disagree. I am not speaking of heresies, but of tiny, minute spins that each denomination has placed on various parts of scripture. For example, there are many contradicting interpretations of scriptural references to: the rapture - whether it will come before, during or after the great tribulation. We disagree on what heaven is like, what hell is like and much of our eschatology. The body of Christ has argued over whether or not music should be allowed in liturgical services, and if so, what sort of style might be considered "holy".

To our shame, we have argued over whether or not we should eat meat, on what day we should celebrate the Sabbath, moderation vs. abstinence (1 Timothy 5:23, 2 John 2:1-11) and whether or not Jesus made real wine or grape juice at that wedding so long ago. We have split hairs over whether or not people can wear jewelry, makeup, wedding rings, neck ties or pants. In so doing, many modern congregations have become a quagmire legalistic silliness! If we are seeking to follow the real Jesus - we are missing the point. We are acting just like the Pharisees of Jesus' day, straining at a gnat while swallowing a camel. (Matthew 23:24) Stop and think, if just for a moment, about how silly and foolish these arguments are as over 70 million Christians have died as martyrs around the world for sharing Jesus Christ with those lost in darkness.

Billions face despair, death and destruction without the gospel. All the while, true sin, that is the breaking of the commandments of God rather than the wavering opinions of men, creeps into the church. While we argue over things that scripture considers to be trivial, "gnats", we swallow the "camels" of jealousy, malice, hatred, unforgiveness, sexual immorality, envy and greed. A great and unholy disrespect for life and living things is running rampant through society. As Christ once predicted, brother betrays brother, parents betray children and children betray parents. (Matthew 24:10-12 and Mark13:12-13) Our culture has experienced a chilling of natural, familial affection. The love of many has grown cold, fulfilling Christ's premonitions in Matthew 24:12. Of particular interest is the current trend of "Christians" taking one another to court, suing one another, and bearing false witness against their neighbors. How is this possible, that we still call ourselves followers of Jesus?

Yet we have the audacity to call ourselves "Christians", bringing reproach on the one we follow? Jesus admonishes his followers against such behavior in Matthew 5:40, and Paul, speaking to the Corinthians says:

 "If any of you has a dispute with another, dare he take it before the ungodly for judgment instead of before the saints? Do you not know that the saints will judge the world? And if you are to judge the world, are you not competent to judge trivial cases? Do you not know that we will judge angels? How much more the things of this life! Therefore, if you have disputes about such matters, appoint as judges even men of little account in the church! I say this to shame you. Is it possible that there is nobody among you wise enough to judge a dispute between believers? But instead, one brother goes to law against another—and this in front of unbelievers! The very fact that you have lawsuits among you means you have been completely defeated already. Why not rather be wronged? Why not rather be cheated? Instead, you yourselves cheat and do wrong, and you do this to your brothers."  (1 Corinthians 6:1-8)

In China, some conservative estimates are that somewhere between 20,000 to 30,000 new converts are coming to Christ each day in underground churches. Why are the Chinese so hungry for the truth of Jesus? Perhaps in China they are seeing Jesus as He really is, rather than the false and impotent counterfeit that is so often shown in the west. While our Chinese brothers risk life and limb to follow Jesus, western churches engage in legal battles over intellectual property rights. Western "prophets" hawk the Word of God for money when Jesus says, "Freely you received - freely give". (Matthew 10:8) An endless parade of charlatans and entrepreneurs make "godliness" a means to their financial gain, and that in direct opposition to scripture. (1 Timothy 6:5) According to the Apostle Paul, those who adhere to the name of Jesus are instructed to turn away from these.

It is not my intention that these studies focus on the incongruent opinions each believer may have concerning what Christ has spoken - rather we will seek to steer the ship of discourse towards a journey back to the root of Christianity, the gospels, those magnificent words spoken by Jesus Christ. Even now, might we each return to our first love? What beautiful truth was it that enamored us with Christ in the first place - what was it initially that drew us towards him?

If one looks objectively at the church's greatest internal schisms, one might surmise that it is not scripture which contradicts itself, but rather one's failure to interpret it through the Holy Spirit that creates the divisions we see. It is our failure to love and forgive one another in the manner that Christ has asked of us that allows so much dissension to aggregate. Satan would like nothing better than to divide and conquer the people of God. If we let him, he will turn us against each other and laugh in the face of God as we do his destructive work for him. It's time we expose his devices. According to scripture, he is the prosecutor that accuses us before God day and night. How foolish it would be for any of us to make his job easier or to do his work for him! (Revelation 10:10-11)

So many divisions among Christians are truly insignificant - they concern things that are neither indisputable commandments nor the teachings of Christ. Rather, they are merely the traditions of men and the educated guesses of commentary scholars. How is it that Christians can neglect the weightier commandments of loving God with all their heart, and loving their brother as Christ has loved them (John 13:34-35), yet nitpick and quibble over the Sabbath, how to dress, whether to eat meat or drink wine or when the rapture might take place? (Matthew 23:23) For any one one of us, eternity could come in an instant! If Jesus tarries long enough, none of us knows the hour of our death. Whether or not the rapture happens before or after the tribulation, Paul's second letter to Timothy declares that all who seek to live godly in Christ Jesus WILL BE PERSECUTED (2 Timothy 3:12). This scripture neither eliminates the possibility of a pre-tribulation rapture nor allows a believer to think that they might escape trials and tribulations for their faith as they live upon the earth. 

How did it become possible for believers to argue over semantics and make man-made doctrines more important than the simple truths of the four gospels - truths that, according to Christ, are simple enough for a child to understand? To our great shame we repeat in modern times the error for which Christ criticized the Pharisees and scholars of his day. We have placed man-made traditions over the requirements of God. (Matthew 15:3-6) If to be a "Christian" means to be a follower of Christ, then shouldn't we be concerned with doing on a daily basis the things He has asked of us? That rebel Jesus grates against our finer sensibilities with: "But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it." (Matthew 7:14)

The current condition of division, weakness, and fracture in the body of Christ is a sad state of affairs for all believers. In the end there will be no labels in heaven - none of our denominations will be ultimately "right". According to Jesus, there will be only sheep and goats: those who loved and followed Christ sincerely, and those who didn't. God is not going to judge us by the doctrines of men, he is going to judge us by the requirements of his Word. We would do well to cast off the yeast of the Pharisees that Jesus despised so much and remember this. (Matthew 16:6-12) We might at least agree, if it IS NOT in scripture, that we don't have the license to make it up.  We might at least agree, that if it IS in scripture, even if it makes us uncomfortable or grates against our philosophy, that we don't have the license to remove or ignore it. However well-intentioned, the doctrines of organizations that attempt to augment or diminish the teachings of Christ with their own prejudices and finite perspectives do more than divide us; they are accursed because they are always adding to or removing from an immutable message. As it is written:

"I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: If anyone adds anything to them, God will add to him the plagues described in this book. And if anyone takes words away from this book of prophecy, God will take away from him his share in the tree of life and in the holy city, which are described in this book." (Revelation 22:18-19)

It is scripture that tells us that:

"Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation. For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost." (2 Peter 1:20-21)

Many times we miss the Spirit of the law, yet somehow keep to the letter. Christ came not to abolish the law of Moses, but to give us a more complete fulfillment of it - that it would be written on our hearts rather than on tablets of stone. Paradoxically, the real Jesus who challenges our daily existence is not as complicated as we make him. It is here that we must begin - to look at the contrast and contradiction of values present between the value system of Jesus and the values of this present era.

We must allow the sharp, immensely powerful words of Christ to cut into our hearts as a two-edged sword, exposing our hidden motives and dark secrets, dividing asunder both spirit and soul. This will bring about in us a quickening. Followers of the real Jesus must seek to expose the philosophies, thoughts and vanities of both secular and religious systems that subvert his message.  Those who will follow Christ must be equipped by spiritual armor and the controversial sword of Jesus' revolutionary truth to walk immune to that which opposes their liberty and illumination and in unity with their brothers who face the same endless struggle.

To live as a Christian traveling up the narrow path to life, in a world that is diametrically opposed to God, rushing headlong down the wide path to destruction, is to live a paradox. It is to swim against the flow. We are called to be "in the world, but not of it", and that is the most challenging aspect of making the decision to follow Christ. While we must reach out to the "lost" sheep who live without light, we must simultaneously learn to walk in the truth we now have as sheep who have been "found". For Christians there are two approaches, two great extremes to avoid in this journey.

One extreme is self-righteousness, which is described in the Bible as an "offering of filthy menstrual rags" before God. (Isaiah 64:6) There may very well be more souls lost to hell because of this extremism, than for any other reason. Of the over 70 million who have been martyred for Christ, self-righteousness may be responsible for the majority of those deaths. This is why Jesus spoke so harshly against the Pharisees and their practices. He was much more gentle to thieves, beggars and prostitutes than to the religious caste of his day. We must follow his example. There is no cruelty greater than that implemented by the deeply religious. Holy wars, inquisitions, torture, death and suffering pepper history with the acts of self-righteous individuals. Jesus rightly predicted that many would kill his followers in the name of God. (John 16:2) How many have been killed or tortured in the name of false gods and messiahs because of that "old-time religion"? We would do well not to lose the ground gained for us by Martin Luther 500 years ago.

In contrast to the self-righteousness of cold and empty religion, the opposite extreme, "Do what thou wilt", is just as deadly. In today's terms we might say, "It's all good." But it isn't. Hedonism, just like religion, will drag many into misery, destruction and eternity without God. Consider what King Solomon says:

"Be not righteous over much; neither make thyself over wise: why shouldest thou destroy thyself? Be not over much wicked, neither be thou foolish: why shouldest thou die before thy time?" (Eccelsiastes 7:16)

Contrast this with what Jesus says:

"So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth." (Revelation 3:16)

Without some sort of moral code, society as we know it would be impossible. Stealing must me wrong. Murder must be wrong. Accusing people of things falsely must not be tolerated. Without these assurances humanity degenerates into chaos and all of our achievements will be swallowed up by an unrestrained and self-destructive nature. It was for this reason that Moses gave us laws, rules and regulations. Christ sought to complete this by moving those laws from tablets of stone to hearts of flesh.

Some may be offended by the material in these studies - the truth is not always what we want to hear. It is interesting to note that Christ purposefully intended to offend the scribes and Pharisees of his day. He deliberately chose not to wash his hands among them before eating, offending a particular custom they practiced. It was not that he was ignorant of their doctrine, or that he forgot; he coldly calculated the consequences and chose to break their tradition to make an example of them. This to further his point that they had become more concerned with following trivial traditions than the weightier commandments given them by Moses. (Matthew 15:1-9)

If you are not a Christian ignore this appeal for unity and solidarity - it is a struggle unknown to you. If you are someone who follows Christ then, among endless differences of perspective and opinion I only ask that before continuing you take a long, hard, deep, prayerful look at a particular passage of new testament scripture. Though Paul wrote it to the Romans 2,000 years ago, it seems to address a great deal of our present-day grievances:

"Accept him whose faith is weak, without passing judgment on disputable matters. One man’s faith allows him to eat everything, but another man, whose faith is weak, eats only vegetables. The man who eats everything must not look down on him who does not, and the man who does not eat everything must not condemn the man who does, for God has accepted him. Who are you to judge someone else’s servant? To his own master he stands or falls. And he will stand, for the Lord is able to make him stand.

One man considers one day more sacred than another; another man considers every day alike. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind. He who regards one day as special, does so to the Lord. He who eats meat, eats to the Lord, for he gives thanks to God; and he who abstains, does so to the Lord and gives thanks to God. For none of us lives to himself alone and none of us dies to himself alone. If we live, we live to the Lord; and if we die, we die to the Lord. So, whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord.

For this very reason, Christ died and returned to life so that he might be the Lord of both the dead and the living. You, then, why do you judge your brother? Or why do you look down on your brother? For we will all stand before God’s judgment seat. It is written: “‘As surely as I live,’ says the Lord, ‘every knee will bow before me; every tongue will confess to God.’” So then, each of us will give an account of himself to God.

Therefore let us stop passing judgment on one another. Instead, make up your mind not to put any stumbling block or obstacle in your brother’s way. As one who is in the Lord Jesus, I am fully convinced that no food is unclean in itself. But if anyone regards something as unclean, then for him it is unclean. If your brother is distressed because of what you eat, you are no longer acting in love. Do not by your eating destroy your brother for whom Christ died. Do not allow what you consider good to be spoken of as evil. For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit, because anyone who serves Christ in this way is pleasing to God and approved by men.

Let us therefore make every effort to do what leads to peace and to mutual edification. Do not destroy the work of God for the sake of food. All food is clean, but it is wrong for a man to eat anything that causes someone else to stumble. It is better not to eat meat or drink wine or to do anything else that will cause your brother to fall. So whatever you believe about these things keep between yourself and God. Blessed is the man who does not condemn himself by what he approves." (Romans 14:1-22)

Paul, in his epistle to these Romans, addresses many of the issues that divide us today and cause the church to fracture and split into a myriad of denominations, labels and factions. I hope it is not presumptuous to ask that surely, at least on this passage, we can all agree? Then we might endeavor to build a greater unity that transcends our labels. According to Jesus, there can only be two factions of his followers in the end: those who DO, the sheep, and those who DO NOT, the goats (Matthew 25:32-46).

Preface  |  Chapter 2 - The Historical Jesus  |  Bibliography

09/02/2008 ©Charles Germany