So What was it Jesus Demonstrated?

Quote: “The world is not waiting for a new definition of Christianity; it is waiting for a new demonstration of Christianity.”- Leonard Ravenhill. I’m not sure when he made that statement but it was at least 24 years ago, for it was November 1994 when his eternal soul departed from his body. Sad it is, the world is still waiting! Ask the average person, religious or otherwise, to define Christianity and you’ll be told it is all about “love and tolerance.”  My definition differs. Christianity is, “knowing the only true God and Jesus Christ whom He sent John 17:3. Without such knowing we have no power to express love and tolerance in the manner acceptable to God.

For the Christian who disagrees with my last sentence, let the Lord jog your memory; without Me you can do nothing John 15:5. Much has been said about the need for expressions of love and tolerance in recent times, especially by Anglican bishops and priests in the UK. The recent Royal wedding had one of them telling us with great passion, if serious commitment were given to those two attributes, we would change the world. One problem however, the bishop failed to tell us it’s not possible without a complete surrender to Jesus Christ. Why the failure? One can only think he doesn’t believe the word of Jesus, or the Scriptures in general. Both tell us the world’s love will grow colder in the last days and that violence, hatred and intolerance will rule, not love and tolerance.

Similar calls for love and tolerance were made recently by bishops and priests at the memorial service in Manchester, UK, for 22 people slaughtered and multitudes of others injured last year by a Muslim terrorist. Same story though, or lack of; the people were left in the dark as to what it takes for them to become loving and tolerant in the manner acceptable to God. Why were they left in the dark? Not knowing the heart of these representatives of Christ, I don’t know. What I do know, it was a multi-faith service and whenever we see or hear of those it can be guaranteed the true biblical nature and character of Jesus Christ will not be elevated. Why not? Love and tolerance! To openly declare Jesus Christ as the one true God Almighty Incarnate would be viewed by all others as unloving and intolerant. 

When Christian church leaders labor the call for love and tolerance in their Christ-less messages they can become self-deceiving. Example: the bishop of Manchester Cathedral mentioned recently deceased, Steven Hawking at that service, the atheist man who declared “There is no God,” wrote about it and believed it to the day of his death from all accounts. The bishop spoke of Hawking as being in heaven. Not only does he believe he’s in heaven, but also, “I reckon heaven’s pearly gates are wide enough to be wheelchair accessible. I believe that if Professor Hawking wants to be in his chair he’s got the choice. If he sees it only as a limitation, he can get up and walk.” Where did he get his twisted theology from? He got it from the Bible, referring to the visible wounds of Jesus, resulting from His crucifixion.

Talk about self-deceived! Atheists will go to heaven; people can enter heaven sick, even the physically incapacitated if they so desire. You choose; pick your choice! Not only did the people at Manchester Cathedral hear him say this, so too did people in attendance at the Liverpool, York and Glasgow Anglican Cathedrals taking the live feed. In addition, the service is now on You Tube. Multitudes will be deceived as a result of the bishop; this is exactly what many have always wanted to hear. “Love and tolerance,” they call it; but not for truth, not for God, not for Jesus, not for the Bible and not for Christianity. As for Jesus’ wounds remaining, “It will always be that His wounds are visible and are tokens for the joy and the worship of all whom He redeemed by those wounds.” – John MacArthur.

Perhaps love and tolerance were primary motivators in Ireland’s recent successful abortion referendum. It would have been a lie however; no love or tolerance demonstrated for unborn babies! The word “compassion” came up frequently, but the same goes – no compassion for unborn babies. But then again, the decades-old overlooking of sexually perverted deviants in the Roman Catholic Church there by its hierarchy would not have helped matters. The Irish people have been turning away from that church in droves so it was only ever going to be a matter of time when the call for abortion to be legalized would be honored. Those men will be held largely accountable before God for the decision that’s been taken. Without biblical repentance, no love, tolerance or compassion can they expect from God on that day.

Speaking of self-deceived, here in Australia an Anglican priest with the title “The Venerable” is a tireless advocate for love and tolerance. He was asked the following question on national TV last week: “How do you reconcile what the Bible teaches on same sex marriage and homosexuality with your own personal belief?” His answer: “The question really is a question of biblical interpretation and biblical scholarship and my feeling is the core of your question is probably about the homosexuality issue. Ah, and of course, homosexuality is a concept that’s a very recent one. It’s only one that has been available to us ah since probably the late 19th century, into the 20th century. So when biblical writers are talking about these issues, you can’t really translate that word that you’ve translated as homosexual; it’s just not.”

Continued: “That’s not a concept that’s available to the writer. The only concept of human sexuality that’s available to biblical writers is what we would call heterosexuality, the opposite-sex attraction. They are aware of course, that there is behavior that they believe is deviant to that, ah, but what they don’t know, that there is something that exists, ah, called same-sex attraction. And so it’s not biblically fair, ah, from a scholar’s point of view, to look at that as homosexuality. What the bible is really saying, if anything, is that ah, heterosexual people shouldn’t have gay sex. And I’m OK with that. I mean that’s fine, ah, but we can’t impose a 20th century, ah, psychological concept, ah, onto writers that had no idea, ah, that same-sex attraction was actually a thing.”

Such biblical “scholarship” has successfully worked and wormed its way into the mind of “The Venerable” but not so, the lady who asked the question. I believe she discerned accurately the spirit speaking through that man. It was certainly not the Holy Spirit, but rather, the unholy spirit, having a form of godliness, but denying its power…… But evil men and impostors will grow worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived 2 Timothy 3:5, 13. “The Venerable” demonstrated clearly that he does not believe the biblical writers were inspired of God, therefore, he does not believe the Bible is the inspired word of God. As a result, he doesn’t believe God; he’s an unbeliever! Knowing this first, that no prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation, for prophecy never came by the will …… 2 Peter 1:20-21. 

When self-deceived bishops and others in church leadership believe the new definition of Christianity the world is waiting for can be limited to love and tolerance, their usefulness to God is limited indeed. Ravenhill is correct. A new demonstration of Christianity is what the world is waiting for, at least, a portion in the world. They know the call for love and tolerance is having little to no effect on society. They know there’s no spiritual power and authority in the words of those calling for it even if they can’t explain it as such. Just like the popes of Rome who’ve been calling  for peace every Christmas and Easter for centuries with little to no effect, they have no power and no authority where it’s needed most, which is over the devil and his demons. 

The people of Jesus’ day suffered from similar dilemmas until He came on the scene to demonstrate before their eyes what they had been waiting for. And the first people to castigate and despise Him for it were not addressed as Bishop or “The Venerable” but only because those titles had not then come into use. “Rabbi” and “Teacher” equated to the same thing though and Jesus rebuked them for it. When He looked within most of them He saw them as phonies and hypocrites and told them so. They didn’t believe the word of God either. Hypocrites! Well did Isaiah prophesy about you, saying, These people draw near to Me with their mouth,and honor Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me. And in vain they worship Me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men Matthew 15:7-9.

So what was it Jesus demonstrated? It was the love of God but His intolerance for sin; His love for truth but His intolerance for lies; His love for reality but His intolerance for religiosity; His love for spiritual liberty and freedom but His intolerance for spiritual bondage and slavery; His love for spiritual boldness but His intolerance for spiritual cowardice. All of this plus much more, demonstrated Jesus’ total power and authority over the devil and his demons. The result for those who chose to believe in Him? Life, and that more abundantly! He gave them God’s life, the eternal life! When He ascended to heaven a few days after His resurrection from death, He sent the Holy Spirit so that the work Jesus began may continue on. Today’s world doesn’t know that, or believe it. But that’s what it’s waiting for! For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind 2 Timothy 1:7.