We have a problem in our society today. We are lovers of "god" but when it comes to Jesus, we want no parts of Him. When I listen to some of the music that we call gospel, you rarely ever really hear the gospel. The gospel proclaims that Jesus Christ, God in the flesh, the second person in the Trinity came to earth as a human being to be the atoning sacrifice for all mankind. He was crucified on a cross at Calvary, buried in a borrowed tomb and raised on the third day with all power. His sacrifice makes it possible for men/women to be forgiven of our sins IF we repent of sin and confess them to God. Forgiveness does not happen outside of repentance but is a outcome of repentance. The Bible says in 1 John 1:9 that IF we confess our sins, God is faithful and just to forgive us. Confession says that we admit that we have sinned, we take responsibility for our sin and we are willing to turn from our sins. It is that simple. All of this is made possible because of what Jesus did at Calvary.
Why are folks so afraid to speak His name? What's the problem? I will tell you. Jesus, at the core of his message, is offensive to many. Though the Bible is complex, there are some very simple messages that Jesus has. First off, those that accept Him only do so because God has taken the blinders off of their eyes and revealed Himself to them (John 6:44). Why is that offensive? None of us want to believe that we ever had blinders on. Secondly, Jesus exposes us for the wretches that we are. No one wants to believe that they are a sinner or that they are not inherently good...but that is the case for all mankind born in the likeness of Adam (Psalm 51:5, 1 Cor 15:49, Mark 10:18). Thirdly, Jesus forces us to humble ourselves before Him because of His Godhood. Man, by nature, is arrogant and we wish to be the masters of our own fates. Jesus says, "not so fast". When Jesus presents the Father to us as holy and exposes us as unholy, there really is no recourse other than humility. There is no other path to holiness nor is there another path to the Father who no one will see without this holiness that is only in Christ (Matthew 5:48, John 14:6, Hebrews 12:14)! Because Jesus usurps every little god's power and crushes every little god's plans for dominance, people don't like Him very much because people would much rather worship their little gods than the REAL God. Little gods do not cause ripples, they don't upset our apple carts, they don't force us to do things differently...they simply allow us to exist. Paul said it simply, to those that are perishing, the message of the cross is foolishness (1 Cor 1:18).
Why am I posting this? For one, I am tired of Jesus constantly being backseated for everything else. Secondly, I am tired of having to decode gospel music to tell whether or not they are talking about Jesus, a man, a woman or whoever? Songs have such a secular sound these days, it's hard to tell. There are scores of artists that do this and it irks me to no end. Be Be and Ce Ce are masters at it- you don't know if they are singing love songs (some of them are) or gospel or R&B or what. Kirk Franklin sings inspirational music, very little actual "gospel". Many others, but no need to run down the list.
So, I was listening to Forever Jones' "He Wants it All" and I started thinking, "who wants it all?" Are they talking about Jesus? If you listen to the song without any presuppositions, you could easily think that they were talking about Satan with the exception of the part about letting go of the idols.
Here are the lyrics to the first verse (the Him's and God was capitalized by the website that I retrieved these lyrics from- I do not know if they are in the CD insert this way):
There's a voice that cries out in the silence
Searching for a heart that will love Him
Longing for a child that will give Him their all
Give it all, He wants it all
And there's a God that walks over the earth
He's searching for a heart that is desperate
And longing for a child
That will give Him their all
Give it all, He wants it all
OK, so there is a "God" that walks over the earth, searching for a desperate heart. That sounds familiar, doesn't it? Job 1:7 "The LORD said to Satan, “From where have you come?” Satan answered the LORD and
said, “From going to and fro on the earth, and from walking up and down on it.”" 1 Peter 5:8 "Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring
lion looking for someone to devour." Now, without the capitalized letters in the lyrics and just listening to this, it hit me...wow, they could be talking about anyone...and that sounds a lot like Satan! I guess the late hour is messing with me but I stopped the song to pull the lyrics. To be sure, God does not walk about the earth, He is seated on His throne- Satan, the "god of this world (2 Cor 4:4)" is the one that walks over the earth. Sure, we might give the group the benefit of the doubt, but wouldn't simply saying the name Jesus somewhere in here have fixed this problem? Well that, and a better choice of lyrics. And just to put the icing on the cake, Satan also wants it all. Everything, even our souls.
Second verse:
And He says love me, love me with your whole heart
He wants it all today
Serve me, serve me with your life now
He wants it all today
Bow down, let go of your idols
He wants it all today [x3]
He wants it all
More of the same, no Jesus, just words. Serve me, love me (aha, Satan doesn't want our love, you are being hypercritical). Well, even if I am being hypercritical, I think I have a solid case. Bow down...etc. Do you see my point? Just say His name...His name is Jesus! That changes the perspective and it does not allow for any confusion. God is not the author of confusion but Satan is. I have seen this group perform, I've heard them say the name of Christ, and I am not trying to belittle them in any way...but just now, in this moment, I had this thought and decided to share it with you all. You might disagree with me. I am cool with that. But I cannot deny what just hit me like a ton of bricks. Let's pray for these artist that they would forego the lure of radio play and take up the cross and not be ashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ. It is the power of God unto salvation! Grace and peace, in Jesus' name.
for due respect to your title I have to disagree that Jesus came to save all mankind. Jesus himselve said I came only for the lost Sheep of the house of Israel. When he was to be born the angel said to Joseph in a dream that he was to call his name Jesus and he was going to save the people of him. Jesus died to have the right to remarry his divorced wife of Jeremiah 3 being the house of Israel. When he spoke in Isaiah 54 he said O barren wife you have more children than the married wife.
ReplyDeleteJesus only came for the ones being human as he was biologically and genetically related to the ones he was saving out of the Canaanite evil gentiles where the ethnee had been scattered by the Father.
All books of the NT are only to the ethnee. Jesus did not come to make christians or have a church. All of that is a mistranslation of the Greek letter text.
When it is all over with in the book of Revelation of Jesus the one anointed of the father. Paul hears a voice out of heaven in chapter 21 God is going to tabernacle with the ethnee being the ones saved being the ones human and he will tabernacle with them and he will be the God of them. No Canaanites and No Japeth gentiles are listed as being able to go into the city.
Jesus came only to save the ethnee out from among the Canaanite gentiles where they had been scattered. No Canaanite gentile has ever been saved out of the gentiles to be one of the humans
Go to my web page and read of the wife of Jesus and the reason he died for her at www.myprivatelibrary.org
ekkleesian being the ones invited out of the Canaanite gentiles at www.myprivatelib.com
Jerry Collins
Hello Gerald. Thank you for stopping by my blog. I have several issues with your comments and since you have taken the time to post a comment, hopefully you will also take time to read my reply.
DeleteWith all due respect, I wholeheartedly disagree with you on each point that you have put forth.
1. When the bible says (Jesus Himself actually) that Jesus only came to save the Lost Sheep of Israel, where was Jesus. He was dealing with the Syrophoenecian woman regarding her daughter. He never excluded Gentiles (who are not necessarily from Caanan), but His mission/plan was to first deliver the gospel to the Jews. However, John 1:12 says something very critical, it says "to all who believed on His name, he gave them the "right" (authority, Greek: Exousia) to be Children of God. That word "all" is probloematic for your argument becuase no matter where you go, all means all. It also says in John 3:16, for God so loved the WORLD (kosmos, denoting everything in the universe- including humans) that He gave his only Son that everyone who believes on Him shall not perish but have everlasting life. Again, everyone means everyone. I am not talking universalism, because it says everyone "who believes" which is caveat to salvation, faith.
2. As for Jeremiah 3, the allusions to marraige are for the entire house of Israel (see also Hosea 1 where the houses are said to come together under one head) however, New Testament scripture shows God dealing with the same problem of disobedience (John 1:12, "He came to His own, but they knew Him not...) in a different way. Romans 11, Galatians 3 and Ephesians 3 all do a wonderful job of explaining the Gentile inclusion- which was done, as Paul says, to make the "Jews" jealous and move them to repentance. Galatians 3:23-28 sums everything up by saying that Christ is the unifying element of all of the peoples of the earth and there is no longer a distinction with Him between ethnicities but we are all ONE.
In verse 17 of the 3rd chapter of Jeremiah, it says this "At that time Jerusalem shall be called the throne of the Lord, and all nations shall gather to it, to the presence of the Lord in Jerusalem, and they shall no more stubbornly follow their own evil heart." All nations cannot be implying simply Judah and Israel because they are mentioned separately in the next sentence. All nations implies what Paul said in 1 Timothy 2:3,4 "This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior, Who desires all men to be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth." This doesn't mean that everyone will be saved because there will always be those that reject God's offer of salvation, but it is God's desire that all come to repentance. That's why the gospel was given and why it is preached everyday. On that note, Paul, himself a Benjamite Jew, was sent to the Gentiles to preach the gospel to them. Again, this doesn't square well with your argument.
3. In Revelation, which was written by the apostle John and not Paul, there is absolutely no distinction on who entered the Holy City. Revelation 7:9,10 "After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!”
ReplyDeleteThis scripture does not make a distinction between Japeth Jew, Canaanite Jew or Baptist or Pentecostal, it says that there was a miltitude that could not be numbered, clothed in white with palm branches (reminiscent of Palm Sunday) crying out to their God. No race, ethnicity or anything else is mentioned here. Ans they are wearing white which is the color that Jesus promised the believers who had been slain because of their testimony (Revelation 6:9-11) and the color that was promised to the church at Sardis. And also, every "church" listed in Revelation was Gentile.
In Revelation 21, there is only one distinction regarding who will enter the Holy City, in verses 7 and 8: "The one who conquers will have this heritage, and I will be his God and he will be my son. 8But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable, as for murderers, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death.”
The new heaven and new earth is a specific answer to SIN and not to ethnicity. Everything will be made new because the old is corrupted by sin. You have not addressed that problem at all. John 1:13 says that those who believe are born of God, not bloods (genaeologies), not the will of the flesh (natural copulation) nor the will of man (earthly selection).
Having said all of this, you are in my prayers. I would like to know how you got into studying what you are studying and also let you know that the bible says this of those that have access to God, there is but one way to Him and that is through Jesus. We are not saved because of who we are, we are saved because of God's grace and his great love. Thanks for stopping by and may God bless you.
Dr. Russell!! This blog is phenomenal! I just shared it on Facebook (your nemesis, I know! LOL)I also shared it with my husband....outstanding! I've been in and out of blogger so didn't see the updates! Happy I'm back now! Be blessed to my favorite Maryland teacher!
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