The “Jesus never said anything about it” Crowd

The following comment grabbed my attention the other day, “The trouble is men are not willing to let the Scriptures say what they want to say. This is largely due to their training, environment, prejudice or desire to make the Scriptures teach some favorite doctrine.” Clarence Larkin (1850-1924). It was in reference to his day that he made the comment; if he were alive now I wonder what comments he would make about our day! I wonder what he would say to those who say to us Jesus wants His people to be financially and materially rich. What would he say to those who say Jesus permits abortion if you want it and to marry anyone you like regardless of gender? 

Regardless of their training, environment, prejudice or desire, I believe he would say to such men and women in our pulpits today, “Your sin is unbelief; you people don’t believe  Jesus Christ.” They would dispute that of course, as they charged him with being a Pharisaic Bible legalist, full of judgmentalism but empty of all compassion. This is the “Jesus never said anything about it” crowd – the loudest voice in the church today. “And when He (the Holy Spirit) has come, He will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: of sin, because they do not believe in Me;…….. John 16:8. The sin of unbelief in Jesus is the most damning of all. It’s time for leaders holding a low view of Jesus Christ and His word to us in the Scriptures to embrace reality.

Ministers who devalue the Living Word Jesus lack respect for His righteousness. That can only ever be possible if they have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God Romans 10:3. What’s the result of that? There’s only one; self-righteousness. The “Jesus never said anything about it” crowd is a self-righteous bunch regardless of the compassion they demonstrate to the confused, the downtrodden, the immoral, the junkies whores and thieves. They can be quick to tell us what they believe in their own mind Jesus didn’t say, but we never hear them tell us what He did say, ……the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent and believe in the gospel Mark 1:15. A minister who won’t preach that holds a non-biblical concept of compassion.

And when Jesus says, “Repent,” He means, “I’m giving you both the opportunity and the power to walk away from your current God-hating, Bible-hating, sinful, self-righteous life filled with selfishness and self-pity. Leave it all, humble yourself, take up your cross and follow Me and I’ll fill you with My divine life – eternal life.” Anyone who claims the gospel is hate-speech is him/herself the one with hatred; it is not the other way round. Ministers who won’t proclaim the gospel of salvation are also spiritual cowards. That’s why they turn their churches into social clubs, entertainment places, merchandise houses, reform agencies and social service centers. But rarely is Jesus within a bull’s roar of any of them!  

The “Jesus never said anything about it” crowd is responsible for causing their people within and all those without to hold to the lie that gospel of Christ is nothing more than a system of ethics and a code of morals. Every religious system has those. If that’s all Christianity is then the Lord Jesus Christ would no more have come and died for sinful mankind than would have Buddha, Mohammed, the Popes, Charles Taze Russell and Joseph Smith. If the gospel of Christ is not the proclamation of salvation, the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek (Gentile) Romans 1:16, then it is nothing and we ought to be ashamed of it and of ourselves for believing it. 

There can be quite a lot of activity going on in churches run by the “Jesus never said anything about it” crowd but little of it is Holy Spirit-inspired activity. That has to be of course; if ears are closed and hearts are hardened to the Spirit’s conviction of unbelief in Jesus Christ, what else could be expected? Much activity taking place has been done a million times before – the same old same old – business as usual. Nobody is impressed except themselves; that’s why their churches don’t grow. That’s why when numbers dwindle and people die they close the doors or merge with the equally spiritually dead church a few streets up the road. Any time you hear, “Jesus never said anything about it” you can back it in that church group will eventually fall over.

The “Jesus never said anything about it” crowd is most disrespectful of the Bible. There are no contrite or broken-spirited Isaiah’s among them trembling (fearful, reverential) at God’s word Isaiah 66:2. There are none among them like the writer who told us, For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart Hebrews 4:12. There was no better demonstration of that truth being outworked than in the ministry of William Booth and his Salvation Army. For all the criticism heaped upon him rightly or wrongly, it was the Bible he preached from, not shunning anything written within its pages.

As a result, millions of lives were changed. But Mr Booth knew only too well there would be no lasting change in people unless they personally encountered the Lord Jesus for themselves. He said, “My only hope for the permanent deliverance of mankind from misery, either in this world or the next, is the regeneration or remaking of the individual by the power of the Holy Ghost through Jesus Christ. But in providing for the relief of temporal misery I reckon that I am only making it easy where it is now difficult, and possible where it is now all but impossible, for men and women to find their way to the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.” Indeed! He believed the entire Bible to be the Revelation of God; he preached it as such and God honored his efforts. 

Mr Booth’s greatest critics came from the church and the media. And guess what … nothing has changed! When Bible Christians stand up and proclaim what the “Jesus never said anything about it” crowd denies and would never proclaim, the fiery darts will come thick, fast and furious Ephesians 6:16. Nevertheless, it is the shield of faith that quenches every one of them. At every point where Jesus met Satan He defeated him using the word of God. He promises us the same deal. It is His faith, His courage and His strength that gives us the victory; that’s why the true church can never be defeated no matter who says or does what. The self-dependent are easily defeated, but never the Christ-dependent, that’s the difference. 

The “Jesus never said anything about it” crowd is the darling of the media. All over the world it tells them exactly what they want to hear – “Jesus was a refugee” “Jesus was a Palestinian” “Jesus was a radical” “Jesus was a social outcast” – the media will listen to anything about that kind of Jesus. But they won’t have a bar of the Jesus who was rejected by the leaders of His own nation when He told them they had black, perverted, hypocritical hearts. They want nothing to do with the crucified Jesus who died on the cross for their sin. And, they want nothing to do with the resurrected Jesus soon coming to judge the nations for their evil. There’s nothing appealing to them in this kind of Jesus and it’s seemingly the same for this crowd.

The “Jesus never said anything about it” crowd is afraid of persecution and violence. But, it is also intensely afraid of the thoughts and opinions of unbelievers and truth haters. That’s why it favors, false doctrines, political correctness and conformities to this world/age Romans 12:2. That’s why it favors the social service “gospel” rather than the soul-salvation gospel. They like to kid themselves that they’re one and the same. That’s why you hear and see them speaking out for climate change, women’s rights, human rights, animal rights and LGBT rights. You’ll never hear or see them speaking out to bring warning that Jesus Christ could return any moment and remove the church before the Tribulation starts … they don’t believe it.

Why don’t they believe it? They don’t believe Bible prophecy. Especially do they not believe in the Rapture; that’s an embarrassing subject to them! They don’t want to be thought of as fools. Because there are foolish date-setters out there making all sorts of predictions based on current political and social theories – all of them turning out to be wrong so far, they want nothing to do with it. But it was far from embarrassing for Lord Jesus Matthew 24:36-44 and the apostle Paul 1 Thessalonians 4:13-17. These two men didn’t fall for Satan’s tactic of throwing out the baby with the bath water. The Rapture may not happen in our time; nevertheless Jesus did say, Watch therefore, for you do not know what hour your Lord is coming. Is He your Lord?  

To my brothers and sisters in Christ who are part of the “Jesus never said anything about it” crowd, I strongly urge you to separate yourself from prejudiced, dishonest, spiritual-cowardly, politically correct leaders and unite with the Holy Spirit instead. Using many New Testament  Scriptures, He warns you about associating with such people. One example only: There shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction. And many shall follow their pernicious way; by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of 2 Peter 2:1-2. When someone tells you Jesus didn’t say it when He did say it, Jesus is being spoken evil of.

All too often the “Jesus never said anything about it” crowd limits its theology of Him to the four gospels. That’s the obvious starting point but none of us can afford to stop there. It’s crucial we also develop our theology of Jesus from the seven churches of Revelation Chapters 2-3. From there we need to discover the Lord revealed in the rest of the books of the New Testament then move to the Old Testament. As you do this being led by the Holy Spirit, you discover what Jesus does say “about it” and you will never allow yourself to come under the influence of the “Jesus never said anything about it” crowd again. “And God said unto Moses I AM THAT I AM….” Exodus 3:14. “And Jesus said to them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM” John 8:58.