HAVE WE LOST THE PLOT ?

Hello everyone. It is a long time since i have posted what i call
"Ramblings from a long hair JESUS freak". I normally notice something and it
sticks out so i share it with people. Sometimes people agree, sometimes they
disagree. But it is all in an attempt to stimulate discussion and have us
flicking through our Bibles (always a good thing), to find a verse to prove
or disprove a statement. I may not always personally agree with things i
post but will post it to stimulate conversation or to inform.
There is a group on the Internet called "Followers Of Jesus", some of you
may already be members. If you wish to discuss these things i have brought
up, or you wish prayer or online fellowship, Please think of joining. Now if
you are worried that your e-mail box will be flooded will e-mails don't
worry. Just adjust your settings to daily digest and you will only get 1
e-mail a day. It will contain all the daily post, minus attachments. If you
are a member and are currently set on Web Site Only or Special announcements
please consider changing to daily digest to keep up with what is being said.
To join go to http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FollowersOfJESUS/
Now for the disclaimer. I do not claim to be perfect or better than anyone
else. I just read my bible and look around me and see a huge difference. So
i ask WHY ? I think sometimes we use excuses like "we are only Human",
"nobody's perfect", "you are not supposed to Judge", etc as ways of avoiding
our wrong doing. They are excuses. Besides the Bible does say to Judge one
another, yes, there is a verse for this. And GOD made Humans, so being "only
human" is good not an excuse for wrong doing.
My question is this ? "HAVE WE AS CHRISTIANS LOST THE PLOT ?" What are we
doing ? and What are we meant to be doing ? I thought we Christians were
supposed to be "in the world but not of it", "a light upon the hill". Like
foreign objects. But today it seems you need an I.D. card to tell the
Christians from the non Christians. We have Churches with Homosexual
Minister, we have Christians having sex before marriage, even Christians
living together, we back bite, gossip, lie and stab in the back our brother
and sisters in the LORD. We pursue money more earnestly than we pursue GOD.
We spend more time watching T.V. than reading our Bibles. WE argue about
things that are NOT in the Bible. We twist scripture to support our
Cultural, generational, personal views. We COMPROMISE.
And should we compromise ?
What are we meant to be doing here ? Should it be telling the unsaved about
JESUS and encouraging, supporting and teaching the brethren.? Or should we
be hiding in Forts (Churches) and wait for them to come to us. ? Should we
be trying to lead them to our denomination, or lead them to JESUS? I know of
some people, known them for a long time. I am not a member of their group. I
don't agree with everything they believe. But still i consider some of them
my friends. I consider them brothers and sisters in the LORD. Now everyday
they are out on the streets, for the whole day, handing out tracts,
pamphlets, comics and books about JESUS. They just want to share JESUS. They
wish people to join JESUS, not them. They don't do it for money or fame.
They have been abused, physically and verbally. Why ? And their main
attackers are often CHRISTIANS. Why ?
Is it because they feel some guilt. They know that they should be doing
something similar. So if they discredit the messenger, they can disregard
the message? Shouldn't instead we pray for them, wish them and others like
them well. Encourage them. Give them a dollar or two so they can get more
tracks printed up. ? What would JESUS do? What would you do?
What about how we treat each other. A lot of Christians and Churches,
(remember i am generalising not aiming it at you personally) are like a soap
opera with backbiting, gossip, lying and putting people down. The Bible
Clearly tells us NOT to talk about a brother or sister in the LORD unless
they are there to defend themselves. I know of cases where even Pastors have
joined in.
(Matthew 18:15-17, 1 John 4:20, James 4:11, 1 John 5:16, 1 John 2:10-11,
Galatians 6:1-5, James 4:11, James 5:9, 1 Peter 2:1, 1 Peter 4:8, and John
14:34-35). (i strongly encourage you to look up all these verses...by the
way when you do, the word fervent is translated from the Greek word ektenes,
it means without ceasing).
Why would anyone want to be a Christian, when the Christians treat their own
so badly?
We often get side tracked and argue and fight amongst each other about
things that are not in the Bible. Like you can't sing the same song twice in
church, but then we will go home and put on a c.d and like a song so much we
will play it 2 or 3 times.
But the bible does talk about Homosexuality. It is clear that it is not
acceptable. But Christians will continue to go to churches that accept
unrepentant Homosexuality. In Australia 2 Churches are accepting, Anglican
and Uniting. The NCLS released results of surveys recently. It is an
Australian organisation. http://www.ncls.org.au .They released some
interesting facts. The weekly Church attendance of Anglican dropped by 2%
from 1996 to 2001. EXCEPT for a Sydney Dioceses that reported a large 9%
growth. WOW ! Interesting though is that when this Archbishop took over,
Homosexuals protested outside the church because of his strong stance on the
Bible. And hence his disagreement about accepting Homosexuals. Yet his
church grew by 9% while the average for other Anglican churches was a 2%
drop.
The Uniting Church saw a 11% drop. And after events this year it will have
dropped more. On the other hand the Baptist saw an 8% increase. Sadly though
over all growth, this means including all denominations, only saw a 1%
growth. This means we are not winning souls for JESUS. People are just
shuffling around to other churches.
If we can't take care of our own, why would JESUS send the unsaved in?. If
we treat our own bad, how will we treat the unsaved?. If we have truly
accepted JESUS as our Saviour, we are supposed to change. So we should chang
e. Stop having sex before marriage. Have a friend put a child protector
your computer and not tell you the password so you can't access porno sites.
Move out of your boyfriend or girlfriends house and plan a wedding date.
Stop backbiting, lying and stabbing each other in the back. If we have a
problem, solve it the biblical way. Talk to each other. It doesn't matter
about length of hair, colour of clothing, if ladies can wear jeans, music
style, suits, what day of the week we fellowship, etc.
We need to get back to the Bible. Follow GOD not man. We need to apologies
to each other, mend damage done. Treat each other in love. Stop doing some
things and start doing others. Get our lives right. Ask for help if needed.
Support one another, pray for one another. Stand together against the Devil.
Get the message out and lead people to Jesus. We need to start acting like
GOD wants us to. We need to stand out. Let the non Christian's see we are
different. Stop trying to fit in. Be a Foreign Object in the world.
I hope this has made some of you think. If you have things to share on
things said please post to "Followers Of JESUS".
GOD BLESS
YOUR BROTHER IN CHRIST JESUS.

"A NEW COMMANDMENT I GIVE UNTO YOU, THAT YOU LOVE ONE ANOTHER; AS I HAVE
LOVED YOU, THAT YOU ALSO LOVE ONE ANOTHER.
BY THIS SHALL ALL MEN KNOW THAT YOU ARE MY DISCIPLES, IF YOU HAVE LOVE ONE
TO ANOTHER."
JOHN 13: 34-35.