IS JESUS A LIAR, LUNATIC, FRAUD, HYPOCRITE?

IS JESUS A LIAR, LUNATIC, FRAUD, HYPOCRITE,

A RABBI, A GREAT MOTIVATIONAL SPEAKER

or

GOD?

Did Jesus really,,,

• Say He came to earth to seek and save the lost and spiritually dead and to save them? Save them from what?
• Die, get buried and come back to life after three days in the grave to prove His Divinity and power over death?
• Pay ‘the penalty of sin’ (which is eternal punishment in the fires of hell), for anyone who confesses with their mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in their heart that God raised Him from the dead?
• Say that we (His followers) would do the works He has done and even greater works because He has gone to the Father?
• Say He did not come to bring peace, but to bring a sword?
• Say He came to bring fire and division upon the earth?

Mark 3:21, “And when his family heard it, they went out to seize him, for they were saying, “He (Jesus) is out of his mind.”

Did Jesus really…

• Call people hypocrites?
• Say His Father will put your enemies under your feet?
• Tell the ‘religious establishment people’ they do not understand the power of God?
• Hit people with whips of cords?
• Call Peter “Satan” and called others Stumbling Blocks!?
• Refer to people as perverts?
• Tell people NOT TO REFER TO their Priest as “Father”?
• Tell Jews NOT TO REFER TO their teachers, “Rabbi”?
• Tell people NOT TO REFER TO those who serve in the church, “Leaders”?
• Say that women are to be silent in the church?
• Say that women are not to have authority over men in church?
• Say that those who practice sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.
• Say that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers nor those who practice homosexuality.

Mark 3:22, “And the scribes who came down from Jerusalem were saying, “He (Jesus) is possessed by Beelzebul,” and “by the prince of demons he casts out the demons.”

WHAT IS GOING ON?

I have met a number of pastors and have had many acquaintances from various conservative denominations say that Jesus’ words are largely, if not completely, metaphorical, communicating an idea but not facts, especially when it comes to His miracles. These pastors say that when the Bible says Jesus raised the dead, it was a metaphor, actually meaning that people who are ‘dead’ are only emotionally or spiritually dead. So, by Jesus’ words of encouragement, they would come alive with new purpose in life, but no one actually came back from being dead.

I know several ‘reformed’ Baptist preachers who will adamantly say that Jesus’ healing of the blind and the lame was strictly metaphorical and idiomatic. I have heard these men preach that the blind and the lame did not actually recover their sight or were healed of their infirmity, even to go as far to say that perhaps they were never really physically blind or lame in the first place. This preacher was asserting that Jesus could perhaps powerfully motivate the infirm to a ‘visualize life in a new way’ and that they would find a new way of ‘walking through life’.

I have heard as many more evangelical and reformed preaches, Bible teachers and Christians blatantly make personal assumptions, without any Biblical reasoning or evidence, that miracles have ceased (or perhaps never took place), the rapture will not occur, saying that it is a metaphor that has already occurred, that there is no literal hell, and when Jesus speaks of the binding of Satan for a one thousand year period of time, that too is a metaphor, etc.

I have to ask: If everything Jesus said or did and if everything in the Bible is open to personal opinion and personal interpretation, why bother reading a supposedly fictional book?

Are you one of those who is creating a god in your own image? Are you daring enough to arrogantly stand in judgement of the Bible?

SO, WHY DID JESUS COME INTO THE WORLD?

“For this purpose, I have been born, and for this I have come into the world: to testify to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to My voice.”  This, too, is our calling!

 TO TESTIFY TO THE TRUTH

John 18:37 “Therefore Pilate said to Him, “So You are a king?” Jesus answered, “You say correctly that I am a king. For this purpose I have been born, and for this I have come into the world: to testify to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to My voice.”  This, too, is our calling!

TO BRING A SWORD

Matthew 10:34 “Do not think that I came to bring peace on the earth; I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. Verse 35. For I came to TURN A MAN AGAINST HIS FATHER, AND A DAUGHTER AGAINST HER MOTHER, AND A DAUGHTER-IN-LAW AGAINST HER MOTHER-IN-LAW; Verse 36, and A PERSON’S ENEMIES WILL BE THE MEMBERS OF HIS HOUSEHOLD.”  This, too, is our calling!

 TO FULFILL THE LAW

Matthew 6:17, “Do not presume that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I did not come to abolish, but to fulfill the Law and the Prophets.”  This, too, is our calling!

TO CALL SINNERS

Mark 2:17 “And hearing this, Jesus *said to them, “It is not those who are healthy who need a physician, but those who are sick; I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”  This, too, is our calling!

TO SAVE THE WORLD

John 12:47. “If anyone hears My teachings and does not keep them, I do not judge him; for I did not come to judge the world, but to save the world.”   In a very real sense, This, too, is our calling, by lifting the Name of Jesus, telling others and leading them to Him

TO CAST FIRE & BRING DIVISION UPON THE EARTH

Luke 12:49 “I have come to cast fire upon the earth; and how I wish it were already kindled! Verse 50. But I have a baptism to undergo, and how distressed I am until it is accomplished! Verse 51. Do you think that I came to provide peace on earth? No, I tell you, but rather to create division;  This, too, is our calling!

 WHAT HE REALLY MEANT, WAS…

John 14:12 “Truly, truly I say to you, the one who believes in Me, the works that I do, he will do also; and greater works than these he will do; because I am going to the Father. Verse 13. And whatever you ask in My name, this I will do, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. Verse 14. If you ask Me anything in My name, I will do it.”

I have heard so many preachers and bible teachers try to justify or explain away these Words of Jesus because they just cannot fathom the gentle and sweet ‘dashboard Jesus’ saying such things as we find in the verses cited.  These same confused preachers really get tied in a knot over John 14:12.  They will begin their commentary or teaching it with, “what this really means is…”. Jesus warned that there would be those who would come in His Name and would mislead many.

NOTE: Jesus said what He meant and meant exactly what He said.  We need to get over it and get on with it. IF WHAT YOU HEAR FROM ANY BIBLE TEACHER, PREACHER, PASTOR OR CHURCH LEADER is not specifically found in the Bible, DO NOT BELIEVE IT, stand up for the Truth and then abandon them.

IF JESUS OR THE BIBLE SAYS IT, THEN DO IT LIKEWISE. Do not compromise or make exceptions for anyone or for any reason, while all the time remain loving, full of the joy of the Lord, being a peacemaker, showing forbearance, demonstrating goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.

The divide between light and darkness, righteousness and unrighteousness, is great. These particular so-called pastors, preachers, Bible teachers and ‘church leaders’ (and there are tens of thousands of them) who deny the inerrancy of scriptures, are in essence saying that Jesus is a liar, a fraud, a hypocrite, a lunatic, or a just another religious leader, a motivational speaker, and that the Bible is a book of stories, fables and is a scam. Then they wonder why their brand of “christianity” doesn’t ‘deliver as advertised’.

It is normal to have questions and doubts. Even the early disciples and the Apostles had questions and doubted from time-to-time (Peter, Thomas, John the Baptist), but Jesus answered their questions and sent them ANYWAY! It was the ‘doing’ that proved their faith. (see Romans 12:2 and 1 Peter 1:6-7).

God has prepared the works ahead of time so that we may walk in them. They are HIS WORKS and our WALK that brings His Words and Promises to pass.

Isaiah 55:8–11

“For My thoughts are not your thoughts,

Nor are your ways My ways,” declares the LORD.

 “For as the heavens are higher than the earth,

So are My ways higher than your ways

And My thoughts than your thoughts.

 “For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven,

And do not return there without watering the earth

And making it produce and sprout,

And providing seed to the sower and bread to the eater;

So will My word be which goes out of My mouth;

It will not return to Me empty,

Without accomplishing what I desire,

And without succeeding in the purpose for which I sent it.”

 

Let’s WALK IT OUT!

Your Brother and Friend

Mike Young