1 Jn 2:6, “Whoever claims to live in him must walk as Jesus did.”
How did Jesus walk? Would you even recognize Jesus if he walked the streets of America today? Let’s see:
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. So he would be considered an unemployed transient.
His miracles would be considered demonic magic tricks like the Pharisees thought when he did walk the earth since an unschooled, unemployed, poverty-stricken transient is not considered knowledgable 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 he supports homosexuality, he would be labeled a judgmental bigot filled with hatred and anger. 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, familiar with suffering” (Isaiah 53) which is considered a mental illness in today’s world and in the church.
He wouldn’t be interested in sports either since living for fun and pleasure would not be his mission. He wouldn’t be a home-owner because his home is in heaven, not on earth. 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 Co. 14:26-34. 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, a college graduate or live like the American church or the people of the world. So 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. 3:2. Their weapons are spiritual, not worldly. (2 Co. 10:3-4, Ephes. 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 did walk 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’s always been. The OT prophets were describing the apostate church today just as they described the apostate Jews 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.
Hosea 9:7, “But your sins are so many and your hostility so great, the prophet is considered a fool, the wise man, a maniac.”
