Offended By the Name ‘Jesus’

The director of a city-owned cemetery in Colorado, USA refused to allow the name ‘Jesus’ to be engraved within Christianity’s fish symbol on a recently deceased woman’s headstone. Why? First they were told it wouldn’t fit, then they were told it might offend people. When asked by the family to reconsider, he refused, saying, “What if somebody wanted to put a swastika?” The family took their concerns to the city manager, but once again their request was denied. He and other city officials apparently agreed with the director that people would be offended by the name ‘Jesus’. So the family decided to post their plight on Facebook. The result? The city manager and officials had a change of mind.

I wonder how the cemetery director feels about it all now. I wonder if he has learned anything about human nature. I wonder how he feels about the lack of support given him from his boss, who told the television station they would no longer censor religious references on headstones and cemetery markers. I wonder how he feels about learning it was he who was in error. “This gentleman thought it may have been objectionable to someone because of the Christian connotation. It will be allowed in the future.” One can’t know for sure, but I am suggesting the director’s refusal to allow a headstone to be engraved with the name ‘Jesus’ was not his idea, but one that he was simply following orders on. I wonder how he feels about being made to look stupid!

If the reports about this can be believed, it appears the family was not only upset with what happened, but they can’t help but wonder why,“people are so fearful of one name that they would go to such lengths to try and eliminate it.” If it were true that the name ‘Jesus’ was only “one name” people would not go to any lengths to eliminate it; they’d simply ignore it. But the name ‘Jesus’ cannot be ignored! God won’t allow it to be ignored in spite of efforts energized from hell to do so. God won’t allow the name ‘Jesus’ to be ignored because He has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow……that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father Philippians 2:8-11.

The above Scripture is the evidence that the name ‘Jesus’ stands alone! There’s no other name to be compared with His – one Redeemer, one Savior, one Lord – Jesus the Christ, the Anointed of God. Jesus Christ – God Incarnate! Jesus Christ – God manifested in the flesh 1 Timothy 3:16. Should they fail to respond to the Holy Spirit’s conviction, this same Jesus is the One the politically correct city manager, his officials and cemetery director will one day stand before to give an account as to why they took that foolish stand in attempting to deny those people their God-given right. Well may they play their political game now, but the day is fast approaching when the One with the name ‘Jesus’ will play His game with them and there will be only one winner!

The cemetery director was not wrong though in telling the family that people would be offended by the name ‘Jesus’ because most people are; he’s probably one of them. Every person not born again by the Holy Spirit of God is offended by the name ‘Jesus’ – even those standing in pulpits and sitting in pews! People don’t shuffle and squirm when they hear or read the name ‘Allah’ or ‘Buddha’ – no, no, no; such shuffling and squirming is reserved only for those being confronted by the One possessing the name ‘Jesus’. God has seen to it that this is so. Some people delight in challenging Christians for proof of God’s existence but the reality is they prove it for themselves by their shuffling and squirming at the mere mention of the name ‘Jesus’ – they need to be made aware of that.

It is becoming more and more the open practice for people to mock and blaspheme the name ‘Jesus’ in this so-called politically correct age. Mostly people are doing it because they’re intensely afraid of the Muslims. They think by appeasing them they’ll be left alone. Not so; these will be among the first the Muslims will go after when finally each nation caves in to their demands. Too, the greater the demands from the Muslims, the greater the mockery and blasphemy we can expect from this cowardly crowd. In any case, all mockery and blasphemy is the work of Satan, the fearful one whom the One with the name ‘Jesus’ defeated at the cross and made a public spectacle of along with his demonic minions, when He rose from death and ascended to heaven Colossians 2:15.

Some of the world’s great mockers and blasphemers of the name ‘Jesus’ are Muslim–pleasing Christians, standing against the Jews and their God-given right to the land of Israel. They’re under a double curse! They’re cursed because of their disrespect for Who Jesus really is and they’re cursed because of their denial of what God tells us about the future of the Jewish people, the nation of Israel and the role they undertake during the Millennial Kingdom reign of Jesus Christ. It is a spiritually deceived Christian indeed who cannot see God’s hand upon the Jews. Perhaps in the past there was an excuse for the Egyptians, the Assyrians, the Babylonians and the Romans, who did everything they could to deny God’s people, but there’s no excuse for these people, they’ve got a Bible!

It is those offended by the name ‘Jesus’ who are responsible for the watered-down Christianity spreading rampantly in most church fellowships throughout the Western world. Proverbs 30:5 tells us, Every word of God is pure; He is a shield to those who put their trust in Him. Excluding all paraphrased “Bibles” on the market today, that means the entire Bible can be trusted as pure, free from all falsehood and error. Why? Because it comes from the God of truth, the God who cannot lie Titus 1:2. However, just as truthfully, There is a generation that is pure in its own eyes, yet it is not washed from its filthiness. There is a generation – oh, how lofty are their eyes! And there eyelids are lifted up Proverbs 30:12-13.

That’s what becomes a generation of pastors, Bible teachers and theologians who are not born again, whose sins are not blood-washed in Jesus. Offended by the name ‘Jesus’ they remain  high-minded, self-centered, self-indulgent, self-sufficient, self-reliant, proud, arrogant and haughty. To paraphrase Martin Luther: they stand over the Bible and judge it, they don’t sit under the Bible and allow it to judge them. They’re spiritual-pretenders, people-pleasers, people-users, reputation-seekers, money-lovers, and pleasure-lovers. The One with the name ‘Jesus’ has a word for them all, For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words, of him the Son of Man will be ashamed when He comes in His own glory, and in His Father’s, and of the holy angels Luke 9:26.

The above Scripture applies to all who are offended by the name ‘Jesus’, as does the following Scripture, But whoever denies Me before men, him I will also deny before My Father in heaven Matthew 10:33. Although both Scriptures here speak of a future day, already those offended bythe name ‘Jesus’ are denied much. They have no peace, they have worries and anxiety, they’re dependent upon governments, bosses, employers, doctors, drugs, alcohol, entertainment and a whole host of other things to get them through life. They’re restless, they suffer countless hours of broken sleep, there’s much strife in the home and at work, they’re fearful and fretful … for many, they can’t wait for night to become day and day to become night.

I have encountered dozens of people carrying problems and issues as described in the above paragraph. Too, a remarkable pattern becomes evident when listening to most of them; they blame and (often) curse God for their predicament. Offended by the name ‘Jesus’ they certainly are, but that doesn’t stop them from expressing that name as they curse and blaspheme. I’ve been given lots of mini pictures of what millions of like-minded people will do in the Great Tribulation; they blasphemed the name of God…..And they blasphemed the God of heaven because of their pains and their sores, and they did not repent of their deeds Revelation 16:9,11. Ordinarily one would think such stubbornness not possible under those circumstances; but not so, God has declared it.

Bible-only Christians can expect soon to experience increased ostracism from family, friends and associates. Till now, most have successfully covered the truth that they’re offended by the name ‘Jesus’ but God is going to bring it to a head. When He does, they’re going to be forced to make a decision – will I stand with him/her or will I stand away from him/her? God will cause them to see that there are really only two kinds of people in the world – those who stand for Jesus Christ and those who don’t. Jesus said as much, He who is not with Me is against Me….. Matthew 12:30. There is no middle ground between belonging to Christ or to Satan. Man-centered religious practice or community-service do-gooding has tried hard to create such, but it has failed always.

A dying religious woman once told me, “I’ll take my chances.” With only a few days to live, I was asked to share the gospel of salvation with her. First she was offended by the name ‘Jesus’, then she was offended by being told she only had two choices, at the last she was offended by me! That’s when she made that statement. It is not a pretty sight looking into the angry eyes of a dying Christ-rejecter. I once read, “If we be on the side of the devil, we must expect to go to the devil’s hell; if we be on the side of Christ, we may expect to go to His heaven.” I don’t know whose side she thought she was on, but her expectation was certainly not to go to the devil’s hell. I get no pleasure at the thought of her soul entering that place a few moments after it left her body.

For about one and a half centuries, Satan has used the works of Karl Marx and Charles Darwin to turn multitudes offended by the name ‘Jesus’ into despisers of the name ‘Jesus’ These have the greatest influence today; they’re everywhere … there’s not an institution, philosophy, belief system or person they haven’t touched. Worse – the  works of these two dead devils have done more destructive damage to the soul of millions in that time than has any cancer, leprosy or flesh-eating disease to the body of millions. There are cures of sorts for the latter, but there’s none for the former unless he or she bows humbly before the One with the name ‘Jesus’. It is only His blood that can wash such poison from a soul. “Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and today, and forever” Hebrews 13:8.