Hello Guys and Gals,
I am starting this post today and asking that Jesus Christ and His love guide me in this message for I know it will be hard for some to hear because it was hard for me to realize in and of myself!
Why do we, as Christians, set before us a cross when we worship in a church, or anywhere else as far as that goes, when the Law of God specifically states:
4 “You must not make for yourself an idol of any kind or an image of anything in the heavens or on the earth or in the sea. 5 You must not bow down to them or worship them, for I, the lord your God, am a jealous God who will not tolerate your affection for any other gods. ~ Exodus 20:4-5 New Living Translation
My question pertains to this very thing: what makes the difference in what we do compared to that of what they did back in the Old Testament?
I have been talking about how we follow Jesus for some time now in many of my postings both here and on Facebook. It is summed up in this scripture:
“If any of you wants to be my follower, you must turn from your selfish ways, take up your cross, and follow me." ~ Matthew 16:24 NLT
I believe that the understanding of why we, as Christians, set a cross before us as we worship the living God, and why we also wear a cross around our necks, has been lost to us as so many things are with the passing of time. But, in a nutshell, why we do this is simply as a reminder to us, and to those who look upon us, that we are ready and willing, at any time, to be taken and physically crucified upon a cross, like our Lord Jesus Christ was crucified, before the whole world so that His name may be glorified in our being crucified for His name's sake. It is our statement and continual reminder that we are willing to give up all of our life, at any time, to any degree that He wants, for His glory!
And yet, there are some of us who do not know that! There are some of us who are not aware that, as they wear that cross, it is a statement of readiness to be crucified. What about those people who are not wearing it as a statement of being ready to be crucified? Are they not guilty of breaking the Law of God in that they bow down before an idol or image of something in the heavens or on the earth or in the sea and worshiping it? Is it an image? Is it therefore also an idol? Are they gathering before it and worshiping? Yes! Yes! and Yes! Therefore they are guilty, just as I was guilty for doing the very same thing!
I have spoken about how false Christians are bearing the name of Christ without truly following Him in the manner of which He spoke and are only taking His name, that of a Christian, for their own vanity's sake; meaning that they call themselves Christian simply because it is the right and proper thing to do in this society; although that is quickly changing to be a thing that is no longer en vogue! Scripture has often spoken of these things calling true Christians or Israelites to be those who are circumcised of Heart and being circumcised of flesh does not matter. Yet, in Jeremiah, many of the prophecies of which he speaks have not yet come to fulfillment. One of these prophecies is:
25 “A time is coming,” says the lord, “when I will punish all those who are circumcised in body but not in spirit— 26 the Egyptians, Edomites, Ammonites, Moabites, the people who live in the desert in remote places, and yes, even the people of Judah. And like all these pagan nations, the people of Israel also have uncircumcised hearts.” ~ Jeremiah 9:25-26 NLT
Are you willing to be taken, today, right now, to be punished by this world and crucified upon a cross for the sake of bearing the name of Jesus Christ, or more to the point: calling yourself a Christian? Are you willing to lose everything this fleshly world can offer to you: your good name, your wife, your husband, your parents, your sons, your daughters, your money, your house, your reputation, your honor, your everything; and be stripped of it all and humiliated and be cursed like Jesus Christ was cursed and hung on a tree, or nailed to a cross for the simple sake of being called a Christian?
Are you ready for that?
Are you willing to let that happen?
Tough questions, are they not?
I believe that we are already in the 7 scroll judgments mentioned in Revelation. I believe we are about to see the plague spoken about with the Pale Horse about to be released. I believe that the 7 trumpet judgments are next. I believe that the rapture will happen at the last trumpet as Paul declared. I believe that this means that us believers will be coming upon a very hard time in this world in which we will be put through a refining fire, the refining fire of God, to be able to burn away the chaff of our lives, all that is unworthy in our lives, so that we are made ready to be forged by him into that refined gold of a true Christian.
But like everything else, there will be some Christians who will be the chaff, or those who call themselves by His name and are not truly followers of Him and they will be burned away like the chaff as well.
Are you going to have chaff in your life that will be burned up so that you can be refined and purified into that which God is calling you to be?
Or are you going to be the chaff that is burned away because you are not truly given to Him in your heart?
Mark my words in that you will be one or the other! The time is coming and it is coming quickly!
My prayer is this: for all those who know me, and even those who know of me, and even those who chance upon this message and read these words: I pray that the God of all glory, one Jesus Christ, come into your heart and purge it from all uncleanness and make you into one worthy of bearing His name before all the world in a testimony to the world, who hates Jesus and His name, that you will be able to stand in that day and declare to the world that Jesus Christ is Lord of your life!
God bless you all this day!
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