A Contemporary Jesus
A Contemporary Christ has a better ring to it, but ‘Jesus’ is more acceptable in today’s
‘Christian’ circles. (That is not to say that there is anything at all wrong with the name Jesus.
It is indeed precious!) And the contemporary sinner has moved from being known as the lost,
to being addressed as the unsaved, to being called the unchurched. The terms lost and sinner
are not politically (nor religiously) correct, you know! As far as I can tell, the word ‘unchurched’
has not as yet made it into Mr. Webster’s Dictionary - but I’m sure future editions will see that
it’s there; what with the encouragement of the Ecumenical movement - and sadly,
Fundamentalism. Today’s Contemporary Christian: serving a contemporary Jesus; enjoying contemporary music;
participating in contemporary programs and activities: the contemporary ‘Church’ is the center
for all things ‘spiritual’ - just ask us! We have also Contemporary ‘Christian counselors’ to help
with abnormal behavioral problems (previously identified as Sin) by carnal methods, who are
unskilled in the use of scripture. (The Lord be praised for the Christ-honoring Counselors out
there.) And this being at least partially the result of the lack of reverence for God and the Bible
and the clear-cut preaching and teaching of the Gospel of Jesus Christ by our ‘contemporary
ministers.’ I’m a bit confused: is “Just as I Am” being replaced by “Just Come as You Are?” The old
fashioned ‘mourner’s bench’ was a place where people actually knelt down in prayer? How
archaic! The Meeting House was a place where hearts were moved; tears were shed; praises
were echoed: now we find arms being waved, bodies swaying to the music, and what sort of
‘praise’ are we now hearing? “Thy word is a Lamp unto my feet;” or is it a ‘Dance’ unto my
feet?’ “. . .the appearing of Jesus Christ: Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye
see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory” I Peter 1:7d,8. But
Hollywood has done the impossible: one can now see the Contemporary Jesus: on the wide
screen of movie theaters, on the TV, on the DVD. Come now, and worship the image; behold
the reenactment of the cross! With tearful eyes and with great emotion, bond with this, the
Contemporary Jesus! Suffer with ‘this Jesus’ in the awful miscarriage of justice. ‘They’ have
wronged him. . .But do not turn the cameras on the viewers; it is we who have grievously
wronged Him (the True Christ.) And the terrible miscarriage of Justice is that He would die in
my stead; receive my condemnation and my judgment. (But the Contemporary Jesus can do
none of these.) Call the true Christ an ‘innocent victim of circumstances’ if you will - He was
innocent; He was a sacrifice; but His suffering and death was according to the Eternal and
Divine Plan of a Sovereign God. But let’s leave the Contemporary Jesus on the cross; at best let us bury him. A bodily
resurrection and ascension and coming in power and glory to subdue earthly kings and
kingdoms and set up a Kingdom over which He shall rule - well, that’s just not acceptable for
the Contemporary Jesus! Just worship a make-believe image. That way one can live his own
lifestyle; make his own rules; be his own god. . .he can eat, drink, and be merry without worry.
. .or so he thinks! Think back to the days (or watch reruns) of Elvis Presley: he was (and is yet) perhaps the
greatest of the Rock and Roll idols. Compare in your mind the ‘congregations’ that came to
‘praise and worship’ this Idol to some of the present day congregations that swoon and sway,
waving their arms in ‘praise and worship’ unto a Contemporary Jesus. They are disturbingly
similar - aren’t they? In the conversation with Jesus, the Samaritan woman at the well said, “Our fathers worshipped
in this mountain,” to which Jesus replied, “Ye worship, ye know not what.” (Out of fear, thinking
his people would return to Jerusalem to worship and turn their allegiance to Rehoboam, king
of Judah, Jeroboam “made two calves of gold, and said unto them, It is too much for you to go
up to Jerusalem: behold thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt. .
.And this thing became a sin” I Kings 12:28,30a.) What became a sin? The worship of Jehovah?
Who or what was being worshipped: God or molten idols; God or mammon? “But the hour cometh, and now is, when true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and
in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him” John 4:20a,22-23. Dare we say that much
of today’s ‘praise and worship’ is not done in ‘spirit and truth?’ A similar situation is found in Exodus chapter 32: After he had made a molten calf, Aaron built
an altar before it; and Aaron said To morrow is a feast to the Lord. And they rose up early on
the morrow, and offered burnt-offerings and brought peace-offerings; and the people sat down
to eat and to drink, and rose up to play?” They have come to present offerings to Jehovah? or
to the molten calf? they have come to worship? or they have come to play? (Many are those
who in their youth “played church”: but now in their older years have seemingly never
discontinued the practice!) So what was (is) the message to their (our) children? Follow our
example? Go thou and do likewise? The truth is, that there is an ‘Image’ of Jesus that is being idolized. Further, that this is a
Godless worship; it is ‘Jesus only,’ if you please. “true worshippers shall worship God in spirit
and in truth.” What am I saying? That the worship being carried on of this Idol, this
Contemporary Jesus, is a Godless worship. They who worship this “Jesus” are worshipping a
counterfeit of their own making. Men cannot worship Jesus without worshipping the Father: but
these do not seem to know that. It is a Spiritless worship. “Howbeit, when he, the Spirit of truth
is come, he will guide you into all truth; for he shall not speak of himself. . .He shall glorify me”
John 16:13,14a. Of what ‘spirit’ does an idol have to speak for him? As Jesus said, “Ye worship
ye know not what.” How easy it will be, when antichrist comes, to persuade them to ‘worship
the Beast!’ They already have the mentality for it. No problem for them to switch their
allegiance from one ‘Jesus’ to ‘Another.’ The Contemporary Jesus is without authority; his ‘word’ is either challenged or blatantly
ignored. But sadly, Our Lord Jesus Christ and His Eternal Word are grossly lacking in the
acknowledgment of His authority by many groups, denominations, who call themselves by His
name. By and large our churches have become self-governed, with those in authority deciding
the moral standards of the church. Christ is exalted in name only; His glory being stripped
away; His name not pronounced with deep reverence. Where is the true worship that was know
by our fathers in the faith? If we should ever experience revival we might pray as did Ezra in
his prayer of intercession for Israel: “O my God, I am ashamed, and blush to lift up my face to
thee, my God: for our iniquities are increased over our head, and our trespass is grown up into
the heavens” Ezra 9:6. Have we not all sinned and come short of the glory of God? God help
us. A Contemporary Jesus! How ideal is that! No worry over sin and righteousness; over
condemnation, judgment and death. Would this ‘Jesus’ send us to Hell? What Hell is that? No!
We are in a state of ‘rapture;’ we have been ‘caught up!’ Let us float away on our ‘cloud nine;’
into bliss and happiness! There is now no condemnation to them which are in the golden idol,
the Contemporary Jesus? Do they not walk after the flesh, and not after the Spirit? No, the
promise, the assurance, is given them which are in Christ Jesus; who walk not after the flesh,
but after the Spirit! (Rom. 8:1.) The fields are white unto harvest? Yes. But the enemy has come in during the night and has
sown tares among the wheat. . .can you tell which is wheat and which is tares? But the Day
of Harvest is coming...
