Turned Away

Turned away

“An aged man, whom Abraham hospitality invited to his tent, refused to join him in prayer to the one spiritual God.  Learning that he was a fire-worshipper.   Abraham drove him from his door.  That night God appeared to Abraham in a vision and said: ‘I have borne with that ignorant man for seventy years: could you not have patiently suffered him one night?”
                                                                                                            The Talmud.
Question, have you been turned off Christ? Have you looked at an evangelist, pastor or any other person claiming to be a Christian either in the media or out of it and seen hypocrisy and a judgmental spirit?
I have, and I am a Christian. I can understand why people miss out on what Christ has to offer for their lives.
I think particularly of the Gay community. High profile evangelist in the media it seems have pounded the Gay community mercilessly.
In the United States they have opposed various rights the government wanted to give to Gays. I think such a thing is fundamentally wrong and contrary to Christian teaching.
Jesus said,
“So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.” 
                     Matthew 7:12.
Jesus never said we had to agree with everyone. He just said we had to treat people in the same manner as we would like to be treated.
Matthew records Jesus as saying,
“Do not judge, or you too will be judged.  
For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.” 
               Matthew 7:1,2.
Only God can justly judge people, because only God truly knows what is on a man’s or a woman’s heart and why he or she is like they are.
I think what has happened particularly in the so called Bible belt of the United States, is that many pastors have moved away from the basics. The basics that tell us not to judge others, to love your neighbour and your enemy.
In doing so they have made themselves if you will, “the keeper of the moral compass of society” judge and jury with respect to heavenly things.
Tony Campolo an American evangelist I think makes a good point when he says,
“We ought to get out of the judging business. We should leave it up to God to determine who belongs in one arena or another when it comes to eternity. What we are obligated to do is to tell people about Jesus, and that's what I do.”
                                                            Tony Campolo.
I am of the firm belief that some pastors and evangelist in the media are not Christian. They may sound Christian but they are not. If they are, they are by the slimmest of margins.
Jesus said,
“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.  
Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?’  
Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’ 
                                                                                          Matthew 7:21-23.
Many so called influential evangelist and pastors as well as many who claim to be Christian will hear those words on judgement day.
Sadly by then the damage may have been done, with many people condemned to hell because of those who were not Christians at all.
My message is to anyone who has been turned off by what they’ve seen in the media or in a church they’ve visited, or what individual “Christians” have said.
I know this sounds trite but God does indeed love you for what you are. He wants to have a personal relationship with you.
In order to have that personal relationship with God a person any person regardless of who they are, their life style or station in life needs to admit there is a God.
The writer of Hebrews saying,
“And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him”
Hebrews 11:6
Faith defined as,
“Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.” 
                                                                                                              Hebrews 11:1 
We must admit that Jesus is indeed the Son of God and the words recorded in John are true, John recoding,
“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.  
For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.” 
   John 3:16,17.
Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” 
                     John 14:6
We must admit like every one else on earth we are sinners. That we fall short of what God wants for our life, Paul writing to the Romans saying,
“for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.” Romans 3:23,24.
The apostle John noting,
“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.  
If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word has no place in our lives.” 
       1 John 1:9,10.
And we must pray and ask Christ into our hearts and lives.
These are things all people everywhere must do.
Think about it.