A growing trend in U.S.: hatred of Jesus Christ!
Mark 13:13: “And you will be hated by all for my name’s sake. But he who endures until the end will be saved.”
————————-
In many ways, I am beginning to see these words of Jesus being fulfilled in our American culture today.
There is a strong dimension of anger and hostility towards Jesus Himself threading its way through American music, film, art, poetry, television programs, etc.
Are we in what many experts are calling the “post-Christian era’ in America? It certainly appears to be that way.
When I was a younger man, I knew people who were hostile to Christians - who they viewed as hypocritical, holier-than-thou, judgmental, inclined to preach more than to give and to love in Jesus’ Name. Some of those criticisms were warranted. Some of them weren’t.
But now, I have been seeing something much different. This is the actual hatred of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who sacrificed His life so that those who give their lives to Him can spend eternity in heaven.
I am an old man and I have seen a lot. But I have never seen anything like the hatred of Jesus I am seeing communicated in our American culture now.
Tell me, what in the world is there for anyone to hate about Jesus!? When He walked the face of the Earth He was love personified. He fed the hungry, healed the sick, gave hope to the hopeless. And, though He is not walking the Earth now, He is still doing all of these things for those who have faith in Him.
Particularly disturbing to me is reading articles about popular music groups who use their celebrity to write horribly blasphemous songs about Jesus. Many of the popular anti-God music groups now have Biblical names which they derisively distort.
Before I came to accept Christ as my personal Lord and Savior in 1976, I had great respect for Jesus. I saw no fault with Him and considered Him to be a wise and good teacher. Even though at the the time I did not understand that He is the Son of God, I had absolutely nothing bad to say about the historical Jesus Christ.
But these are different times. Where does this hatred in our culture come from? Simple answer: the devil himself! No one hates the person of Jesus Christ more than Satan.
Because when Jesus defeated death at The Cross, it spelled the beginning of the end for the devil.
So, as Christians, how do we try to counteract the growing hatred of Jesus in our American culture? By being Christians who love and who express that love in tangible ways to those who don’t know Christ. Also, we need to communicate to people the Jesus of the Holy Scriptures. Many people - especially young people - have very little real knowledge and understanding about Jesus Christ. They’ve never cracked up a New Testament. They base their opinions about him on what their favorite heavy metal rock group has communicated to them about Jesus - which is distorted and untrue.
It’s amazing to think that after 2,000 years, there are so many who hate the One who laid down his life for all of humanity to make a way for us to experience heaven in the presence of God. But the Jesus haters continue to rage on. We need to pray for them; we need to love them; and we need to tell them the truth about the wonderful, loving Jesus those of us who are Christians know and love!
May 18th, 2009 at 3:13 am
Preachers need to preach more about the person of Jesus…as well as the Father and Holy Spirit. So much preaching these days is focused on us - the church in particular. Many growing up in the church don’t hear enough about God.