Don’t Call Yourself Christian

I’m fed up.  If you follow this blog at all, you’ll know that this is not my usual tone and it takes severe anger to get me like this.  What I have to say today is going to be controversial, and frankly… I don’t care.  It needs to be said, and it is long overdue.  If you need to move along to a different blog because you cannot handle this, I understand.  Hopefully, I don’t have to be this BLUNT the next time I get behind the keyboard.

I just left a friend’s house.  She just turned 20.  Today.  For her 20^th birthday, her father unplugged the battery from her truck so that she couldn’t go anywhere.  Meanwhile, they’ve gone out of town for the week.  They had absolutely no regard as to whether she’d be able to leave her house in the event of an emergency.  (She had no idea what was wrong with her truck, nor how to repair it… that’s why she called me.)  She nearly missed a party that her friends had planned for her because of what her dad did.  (He just sent her a text telling her that he unhooked the battery because he figured she’d be too stupid to figure out how to fix it.)

I’ve received calls from her so many times before because of her father.  He’s abusive.  She’s had her shoulder nearly dislocated and her knee injured because of his abuse.  In addition to the physical abuse that she’s endured, there also comes the mental abuse.  Time and time again, she has shown me text messages from her father where he’s called her names, and referred to her as a “sorry sack of sh__.”

Here’s the kicker… he’s in church every Sunday.  He lifts his hands, and sings Holy Holy Holy, but treats his daughter like trash when he’s home.  He puts on the pretty face and nice suit at church, but at home acts like a pagan.  Her mom defends him, and does absolutely nothing to comfort her tormented daughter.

Matthew 23:25-26 (NLT)

²⁵ “What sorrow awaits you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! For you are so careful to clean the outside of the cup and the dish, but inside you are filthy—full of greed and self-indulgence! ²⁶ You blind Pharisee! First wash the inside of the cup and the dish, and then the outside will become clean, too.

James 3:10-12 (NIV)

¹⁰ Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers and sisters, this should not be. ¹¹ Can both fresh water and salt water flow from the same spring? ¹² My brothers and sisters, can a fig tree bear olives, or a grapevine bear figs? Neither can a salt spring produce fresh water.

The truth about who you really are is defined not when you’re in public, but behind closed doors.  You are detrimental to heaven with your activities.

Matthew 23:13 (NLT)

¹³ “What sorrow awaits you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! For you shut the door of the Kingdom of Heaven in people’s faces. You won’t go in yourselves, and you don’t let others enter either.

If you’re this way, scriptures tells us that you are truly not a Christian… and I am tired of you running my Savior’s name through the dirt.  You’re a hypocrite, and unless you repent of your sins, scripture says you will not enter the kingdom of Heaven.

Matthew 24:51 (NLT)

⁵¹ and he will cut the servant to pieces and assign him a place with the hypocrites. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

Weeping and gnashing of teeth occurs in Hell, there are no tears in heaven.  Or consider the Parable of the Wedding Feast, where the King finds someone at the party not clothed in proper wedding garments.

Matthew 22:12-13 (NLT)

¹² ‘Friend,’ he asked, ‘how is it that you are here without wedding clothes?’ But the man had no reply. ¹³ Then the king said to his aides, ‘Bind his hands and feet and throw him into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’

Hypocrites will not be able to crash God’s Wedding Feast, they must be properly clothed in a true righteousness that comes only from Christ via obedience to His commandments.

If we live in hypocrisy yet call ourselves a Christian our joy of Christ will be short lived.  Hypocrites are the seed that falls on the rocky soil, it never takes root and the heat of the day comes and destroys the seedling.

Do you really know Christ?  Do you spend quality time with Him, intimately praying and seeking His counsel?  This cannot be done in Church in all practicality but is best done in quiet time we carve out and give to God.  It won’t matter on the last day if our social network thinks we were a holy person and prayed a lot; it will only matter if God says we knew Him and met His qualifications to enter His Kingdom.

I wish I could say that this is an isolated incident, but unfortunately… it is not.  I have another friend who is forced to endure something quite similar from parents who also call themselves Christians.  It’s absolutely horrible.  I understand that children must be submissive to their parents, but I also understand that Godly parents are to have responsibilities to their children as well.

Ephesians 6:2-4 (NLT)

² “Honor your father and mother.” This is the first commandment with a promise: ³ If you honor your father and mother, “things will go well for you, and you will have a long life on the earth.”^[a]

⁴ Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger by the way you treat them. Rather, bring them up with the discipline and instruction that comes from the Lord.

If you fall into this category, I beg of you…

1. DON’T CALL YOURSELF A CHRISTIAN!
2. GET RIGHT WITH GOD… REPENT OF YOUR SINS, AND TURN FROM YOUR WICKED WAYS
3. THEN, AND ONLY THEN… CAN YOU CALL YOURSELF A CHRISTIAN!

Call yourself a heathen or a pagan…  but stop running my Savior’s name in the dirt.  You’re disgusting, and you make me sick… and according to SCRIPTURE, you’re making GOD sick, too.

Revelation 3:15-16 (NLT)

¹⁵ “I know all the things you do, that you are neither hot nor cold. I wish that you were one or the other!¹⁶ But since you are like lukewarm water, neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth!

Now, if you want to get upset with someone, you need to choose someone else besides me, because all I’ve done is shared scripture with you.  No opinion, just the facts and The Word.  Just an idea, why don’t you get upset with YOURSELF.  That’s the first step on your road to recovery.  Get right with God!

♫♪ This is Christmas ♫♪

I was just a kid riding down the main street in our town with my father when it happened.  My dad glanced over at a local store, drove about a quarter mile past it, pulled over, and performed a U-Turn.  He drove to back to the store front.  He instructed me to stay put, as he exited the car and entered the store.  Through the window of the store, I could see my father having what was becoming a heated argument.

He finally came back outside, redder than a stop sign.  I was totally confused, and needless to say, afraid to ask what that was all about.  My father finally took time to explain to me that when he passed the store, in larger letters on the store’s window glass, it read “Merry X-Mas.”

My father was not the best Christian in the world, but he was not about to pass up a chance to tell someone that they should never take the name of Christ out of Christmas.  If I remember correctly, dad told me that the manager’s excuse for this was that there was not enough room to write the full word “Christmas” and still have painted both large enough and readable letters from the road.  Dad was very stern with his belief though, and he gave that man an earful.

It’s common knowledge that here in the 21st century some are now saying “Happy Holidays” rather than the traditional “Merry Christmas” around December.  Some have used the excuse that Happy Holidays includes both Christmas and New Years into two words and one phrase.  Others argue that it associates all of December’s Holidays into one, excluding no one, and offending less people.   Now, add two additional sets of people.

People #1 are the ones who have totally forgotten what Christmas is all about.  They may still think about Christ being the reason for the Holiday, but they’re more focused on buying and receiving gifts.

People #2 are the ones who have done research and believe that Christ was not born on December 25th all, and have chosen to not celebrate the birth of Christ… period.

♫♪ “Do you find it hard to sleep tonight
resting by the Christmas lights
Could there be something you forgot
Beyond the bows and mistletoe
A tree with presents wrapped below
There’s more to this than you had ever thought
Have we lost the reason that we celebrate each year?

What is Christmas
if there never was a Savior wrapped in a manger?
What is Christmas
if the angels never sang glory to the newborn king?
What is Christmas without Christ?” ♫♪

Christmas is a very special holiday, and it’s slammed packed with activities.  It’s the time when folks are rushing to the mall to get gifts, rushing to the grocery store to get the Christmas ham, and we cannot forget the trip to the Hallmark Store to reach out to the out of town friends and family.  Trimming trees, hanging twinkling lights on the house, hanging stockings above the fireplace…  it’s all a tradition for many of us.

If presents are your thing, buy presents!  If you prefer to ditch the twinkling lights and the overpriced tree and just make a really nice dinner, make that dinner the best you’ve ever made and enjoy the time with your family.  If you don’t celebrate the holiday because you don’t believe Christ was born on Dec 25th, enjoy your day off from work.

No matter how you celebrate the holiday, it is important to remember that you cannot have Christmas without Christ.   So, take time to read the Christmas story found in the Gospels of the Holy Bible.  Remember that Jesus was born.  He came to take away the sin of the world, and his death put in into action.  It’s irrelevant what day we recognize Him, but it’s very important to recognize Him.  If you’ve never accepted Him as your Lord and Savior, He is waiting on you, and you can do that TODAY.

Enjoy Christmas!  Enjoy Hanukkah and Kwanzaa.  Enjoy the day off!  But, be sure to remember Christ.

♫♪ “This is Christmas.
It’s all about a Savior wrapped in a manger.
This is Christmas because of Jesus Christ.” ♫♪

♫♪ “This is Christmas” by Kutless contributed to the composition of this story.

Christmas Is

When I lost my talent agent in August ’10, I decided to hire a personal assistant rather than immediately hiring another agent.  I lucked out when I found Josh Jacobson.  He’s been a major asset to me, and he’s a really nice, and likable guy.  Did I mention that he’s only 6 years old?  To hear me tell it anyway, that’s his age.  He may act like he’s 23, and look like he’s 23…  but I like to say he’s 6.  (I’m a comedian, that’s how I roll.)  Josh was born in 1988, on February 29th.

We all know that Feb 29 is a leap day.  Since Josh technically has only had six birthday’s to date, I like to say that he’s six.  But I’ll tall ya, he’s the best five year old assistant ever!  Every year, Josh gets a year older, but he obviously cannot do it on Feb 29th except on a leap year.  So, Josh elects to eat his cake on either February 28th, or March 1st.  This doesn’t make him not age.  He’s still 23 years old.  He’s just… different.  He’s six!

We’re in the Christmas season once again.  Christmas is the day that we celebrate the birth of Christ.  If you’re not familiar with the story of Christ’s birth. let me tell it to you.  About 2,010 years ago, the evening of December 25. Mary rides into Bethlehem on a donkey, urgently needing to deliver her baby. Although it’s an emergency, all the innkeepers turn them away. So they deliver baby Jesus in a stable. Then angels sing to the shepherds. Afterwards, they all join three kings with camels in worshipping the quiet, newborn.

That’s the true story of the birth of Christ.  Right? … … Well… Not Really.  What you just read is not totally sound scripturally.  But, it sure makes for a good Christmas play at church!  You’ll need to turn to the Bible for accurate records of Christ’s birth.  Let’s look at popular misconceptions about the birth of Christ.

Mary rode to Bethlehem on a donkey. – – The bible does not mention a donkey.  It just says that she came with Joseph.

All of the innkeepers turned them away. – – The bible never mentions that they spoke to innkeepers.

Jesus was born in a stable. – – A manger was mentioned, but never a barn… or a stable, or any structure at all.

Jesus was born on December 25th. – – No specific day or month was mentioned in Christ’s birth.  However, it’s believed that it would have been very difficult for a pregnant Mary to travel 70 miles from Nazetheth to Bethlehem in the very cold weather of December 25th.  It’s also suggested that no shepherds would have been abiding their fields in December because the fields would be unproductive.

Theologians believe that Jesus Christ was truly born in late September.  This would mean, then, that His conception took place in late December. Thus, it might well be that when we today celebrate Christ’s birth at what we call Christmas (i.e., ‘Christ sent’), we are actually celebrating His miraculous conception, the time when the Father sent the Son into the world, in the virgin’s womb.

The date of December 25th was chosen by the Roman Catholic Church. Because Rome dominated most of the “Christian” world for centuries, the date became tradition throughout most of Christendom.  The original significance of December 25th is that it was a well-known festival day celebrating the annual return of the sun. December 21 is the winter solstice (shortest day of the year and thus a key date on the calendar), and December 25th is the first day that ancients could clearly note that the days were definitely getting longer and the sunlight was returning.

So, why was December 25th chosen to remember Jesus Christ’s birth with a mass (or Communion supper)? Since no one knows the day of his birth, the Roman Catholic Church felt free to chose this date. The Church wished to replace the pagan festival with a Christian holy day (holiday).

So, the question is this.  Does anything you’ve just read change the fact that Jesus Christ came to earth to take away the sin of the world?  NO.  It doesn’t.  Does anything you’ve just read change the fact that Jesus was murdered on a cross as the ultimate sacrifice, and then rose from a grave so that a lost and dying world could accept Him as Lord rather than face death for their sins?  NO.  Christ may not have been born on December 25th of our calendar, but it doesn’t change the fact that He was indeed born.  It’s also been suggested that Christ didn’t actually die on Good Friday, and rise on the day we celebrate as Easter Sunday.  Some say it was on a Wednesday.  News Flash…  I’m still forgiven!  I know that He died for my sins, that’s all I need to know.

The meaning of Christ’s birth gets totally lost when people get caught up in worrying about dates.  There are those who will bring out their pulpit and tell you everything I have just mentioned about the facts of His birth, but never mention that “For God so Loved the World, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him would not die, but have eternal life.”  This is much more important than knowing whether or not Christ had camels and Kings waiting outside of a barn that He really wasn’t born in.  It’s silly, and it won’t get anyone any closer to knowing Him.

The best thing you can do is to worship Christ EVERY DAY.  C’mon, the man DIED for you!  I could care less if He was born in June, I’m just glad He was born!  He’s my Savior.

It’s Christmas time!  Have fun, enjoy being with your families, and don’t worry about petty things that really don’t matter.  Jesus most likely doesn’t use calendars, anyway.  Scripture says even He does not know the day He is to return to Earth, so I highly doubt He circles any other dates on the calendar with a sharpie.  If we’re even acknowledging Him in the first place, He’s happy no matter what time of year it is.

Merry Christmas!