I've Abandoned the Faith of My Youth. Amen.

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Christianity was never intended to make our lives better. “Become a Christian, and you will have a better life!” Not the branding. There. I said it.

If you have heard any type of that message, you’ve believed in a Gospel that is not the Gospel of Jesus. There, I said it again.

If this bothers you and you fight against me saying these things, please keep reading.

My sister brought to my attention last evening that my use of the phrase ‘’southern cultural Christianity’’ may be confusing to some people. Of that, she is correct. She continued and, well-meaningly, went as far as to add that perhaps the average reader of my blog may think that I am not Christian or have abandoned my Christian faith. I understand what she is trying to get at, but I must whole heartedly disagree. I have not abandoned Christian faith; albeit, the faith of my youth is a distant memory. I would venture to say that if the average reader of my blog thinks I am not Christian, then the average reader has misunderstood Christianity. If the average reader thinks I have abandoned Christianity, then the average reader has completely not perceived the truth of what Christianity is… allow me to explain.

As Jesse expressed so well in his sermon last Sunday, a great many churches in our nation preach a Gospel that is primarily centered around Jesus Christ being our PERSONAL savior who saves us from our sins and gets us into heaven. But that, my friends, is not the full scope of the Gospel at all and believing that premise alone is to misunderstand, disbelieve who Jesus is in full. Without understanding WHO Jesus is, one cannot believe in Him; therefore, I would venture to say this misunderstanding MEANS a person does not ACTUALLY believe in the true Jesus but in a cultural idea of Jesus, a southern cultural idea, or Americanized-Westernized idea of Jesus…but not the TRUE JESUS CHRIST who actually came out of the EAST and Eastern thought. Jesus is not a Western idea. Christianity is not a WESTERN religion. American-Christianity is, but IT is not authentic Christianity…SOUTHERN Christianity is not either. These two professions get at a part of the Bible, but they miss the HEART. Therefore, honestly, I would venture to say, these Americanized or Southernized faiths are not ACTUALLY possessing the faith that WILL save a person from hell. Blunt? Yes. That’s blunt of me to say, but I can say it because Scripture backs me up. And I can also say it while inviting you all to enter into the faith of the Bible with me…and with a great number of people who do live in America and many other nations throughout the world.

Jesus says something pretty powerful in Matthew chapter twenty-five. He speaks about the final judgment. “31“When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. 32Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. 33And he will place the sheep on his right, but the goats on the left. 34Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. 35For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, 36I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.’ 37Then the righteous will answer him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? 38And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? 39And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?’ 40And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers,^f you did it to me.’

41“Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. 42For I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink, 43I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not clothe me, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.’ 44Then they also will answer, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to you?’ 45Then he will answer them, saying, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.’ 46And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life,” (Matthew 25, ESV).

Did you catch that? Jesus identifies the poor, the wretched, the naked, the hungry, as his brothers, and Jesus says that HOWEVER we have TREATED the least of these is how GOD will TREAT us. Honestly, a very literal reading of these verses without even exegesis to back it up tells us that getting into heaven is MUCH MORE than ‘’believing’’ Jesus is the Savior and forgives me for my sins. Believing those things does not equate to being a baby Christian. Believing those things equates to believing PART of the Gospel and understanding PART of who Jesus is but MISSING the full gamut. To believe in Jesus Christ, we have to look at WHO He is and WHAT He does, what His PURPOSE in life was….how He fulfilled Hebrew Scriptural testimony as Messiah….and what the MESSIAH’s purpose was. Yes, the Messiah was Savior and Suffering Servant, but Messiah was …IS also the one who ushers in the Kingdom of Heaven….the Kingdom of God…and BRINGS about the beginning of the full redemption of the world and the true New World Order!!! The New Kingdom! The Savior brought ABUNDANT life….not just “saved from hell life and life where you have confessed sins,” BUT CHANGED LIVES and lives where abundance is REDEFINED not in monetary or material value, but through the fruit of the Spirit and the changed AND REDEEMED CREATION.

If a person’s life is not CHANGED, a person is not a Christian. Jesus also says that we should know a tree by its fruit….know a believer by his or her fruit. A person can confess Christ as their Savior, but if his or her actions and how he or she treat others and what he or she preaches about LIFE, SOCIAL ISSUES, POLITICS, EVERYTHING, does not line up with the biblical ethic, then THAT person is not a FOLLOWER AND BELIEVER IN JESUS. (This is blunt Megin. My sister says she likes Blunt Megin. Hopefully you are still with me here). Such a person, one who knows Jesus as Savior from personal guilt of sin, merely possesses a ‘’get out of free” card that he or she is bound to find out is worthless on the night that souls are demanded!

Southern Cultural Christianity is the practice of doing things that look like being Christian, i.e. going to church, doing morally good works, even trying to vote a certain way at the voting booth perhaps, but possessing no true knowledge of what actually Jesus’ ministry was and IS all about and possessing no true power to go against the grain, be uncomfortable, and be willing to have the world hate you for the sake of Christ. If you are not willing to give up your stuff (and your family and your dreams) when you surrender your life to Christ, you are not surrendered to Christ, and you are not Christian.

Now you may say I’m preaching discipleship and saying that to be a Christian, then, means you have to be a disciple. Guess what, you’re right! I am! To be a Christian MEANS TO BE a disciple. There is not one story in the bible of Jesus healing and restoring someone and then COMMENDING their faith that is separated from that person having some sort of mission or challenge accepted to follow Christ and renouncing more than just the guilt of their sin. There ARE, however, countless stories of Pharisees and people who follow many rules and say they believe in Jesus and know who He is and call Him Lord but who are condemned because they can’t follow Him without first needing to take care of things, or because they can’t sell their possessions and give to the poor, or because they do not stand up and testify to what He has done or because they can’t leave their families and way of life behind…. There are many of those stories. These people may have received some immediate healing in their life or may have lived moral lives, but they were not FOLLOWERS of Jesus. They were not what we would call in our modern day, REAL Christians. They were cultural believes in God or Jesus… but they lacked power. They had the form of godliness but lacked its power.

As the author of 2Timothy chapter three states: “1But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty. 2For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, 3heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, 4treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, 5having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power. Avoid such people.”

There is one thing those Southern preachers of my youth got right; we are living in the last days. We have been living in the last days for a long time, but many of the people who THINK they are following Jesus are actually following the American dream and calling it Christianity. For any readers of my blog, my sister is right about one thing for sure. If you read and think I have abandoned the faith of my youth, you are reading correct; I have abandoned it, proudly. But the kicker is, the faith of my youth was never Christianity, was never the faith of Jesus… It never deserved my allegiance. I was made for something much more, to follow the faith of a true rebel to the establishment, the true Savior and Messiah who restores God’s order and ushers in a Kingdom like I would never have dreamed even if you had told me. This Savior is incredible. He is not safe, but He is good. Following Him is reckless and wise. Would you like to meet Him? Have you heard of Him? My sister has, even though sometimes she plays devil’s advocate with me. My mother has, she’s taught me about him since youth, even when she did not have pastors guiding her rightly. My husband has, and many of my friends have… but you might not believe it because they may not look like what America or the South has told us Christians look like. That’s okay… I promise you, the true Christian is a lot more loving and kind, and the real Jesus….now He…HE is incredible.

If you haven’t met this Jesus, keep reading my blog… I hope to tell of His wonderous works so long as I have fingers to type… amen.