Never before in the history of Christianity do we find thousands of churches, religions carrying the name of Jesus Christ, people calling themselves Christians, and dozens of bible translations that also make the verses in the bible seem different from the others in the translated words use, not until the 19th century to the present and its getting worst.
Many claim to follow Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior but do they really follow him? Let's hear from Jesus himself and the Apostles the way to follow Jesus is it really by just believing in him and reading the bible only?
MANY FOLLOWERS OF JESUS DESERTED HIM
"Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do what I tell you?"
-Luke 6:46
But the Lord says "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; depart from Me,
you workers of lawlessness.’" Matthew 7:22-23 Now isn't this how people calling themselves Christians meet in many evangelical meetings where they make prophecies, drive out demons of supposed possessed individuals in public and perform regular miracles like healing the sick in front of the audience. They raise their arms and shouting Lord, Lord, Praise the Lord and speaking of "tongues" which for them is an outpouring of the Holy Spirit yet not one of those who hear them could understand what they say.
In the very words of Jesus Christ he rebuked those who appear to follow him and call him Lord but yet they do not follow his commandments. Are they not the same people who call themselves Christians and who raise their hands in many so called prayer meetings praising the Lord no end calling him over and over and thanking him?
Such is the hypocrisy of today's Christianity by convenience. They want only that which Jesus will give them, the good life, the blessings of material prosperity but hate the cross. They have built an idol in creating an image of a different Jesus than what he truly is and he knew this will happen so he warned them in Matthew 7:22-23 and he made sure that there is only one way to follow him but many people would rather follow their feeling, where they think they feel the presence of the Lord in those prayer meetings where there is outpouring of emotions. Emotions that blind the soul because it is dependent on the desires of the flesh. And that desire of the flesh has always been the one used by the devil to prevent one from seeing the way to follow the Lord.
Following Jesus always comes with the cross and self-sacrifice, not an easy way or thing to do. That is what is meant by following him. The only church that is consistent with this teaching of not separating Jesus from the Cross is the Catholic Church. But the protestants want only Jesus minus the cross and so they hate the Catholic Church for sticking to the teaching of Jesus Christ.
In the story of the Rich Young man who approached Jesus what must he do to get to heaven, he was asked if he observed and followed the Commandments and the young man said he kept all the commandments from his youth. Jesus was very pleased from what he heard and love him saying " “There is one thing you lack: Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow Me.” See that in spite of the righteousness of the young man in following the commandments which please God still the Lord asked for more, going the extra mile for the Lord is that one thing that is lacking with the righteous young man. Jesus wanted him to make sacrifice, carry his cross, and follow Jesus. The young man in the following verses walked away: 22
"But the man was saddened by these words and went away in sorrow because he had great wealth."
Then Jesus looked around and said to His disciples, “How hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God!” And the disciples were astonished at His words. But Jesus said to them again, “Children, how hard it is to enter the kingdom of God! It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.” They were even more astonished and said to one another, “Who then can be saved?” Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but not with God. For all things are possible with God.”
From these words of the Lord, it is clear that the way to follow the Lord does not come with comfort and convenience as the Protestants want many of us to believe. Not that God wanted us to live a life of hardship, no, but that in following the Lord, we must not be attached to anything material because they are temporary. In fact, many of us have experienced having lots of money only to lose them. Material wealth and worldly desires are temporary and we cant bring them when we die.
But God knows how to give when to give, and how much to give. He sends rain for both the wicked and the righteous in this present age and so while we have what we need by working on them as it is written by the sweat of your brow shall you eat yet together with sacrifices are greater things much, much more than we asked for are prepared for us, Eternal life. So when Peter asked what is in the minds of even the Christians today, the Lord answers him:
Peter began to say to Him, “Look, we have left everything and followed You.” “Truly I tell you,” said Jesus, “no one who has left home or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for My sake and for the gospel will fail to receive a hundredfold in the present age—houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and fields, along with persecutions—and to receive eternal life in the age to come. But many who are first will be last, and the last will be first.”
So in summary, following Jesus really comes with the combination of blessings and sacrifices along with possible persecutions but the reward for doing so of "leaving everything" for the sake of the Lord as Peter said is answered by Jesus, Eternal Life which can't be matched by any material thing in the world.
Yes, the bible has told us of the story in John when many disciples deserted Jesus but instead of preventing them from doing so, Jesus allowed them to leave. It is because of the same teaching that is the same reason today of Protestants from coming back to Jesus Christ. Yet the Lord stood for the truth and he even dared those who stayed with him if they too want to leave because he never, he never changed or clarified his teaching. His teaching was what it is, it is the truth, and it is what it takes it or leave it.
Jesus is the Bread of Life John 6:25-70
People looked for Jesus and followed him around because they got filled up with food that he gave them to eat in the miracle of the bread and fish where thousands were fed and was filled from the 5 sets of bread and fishes. It was the miracle of the multiplication of the bread and fishes. So when they found him after looking for him they asked him, “Rabbi, when did you get here?” Jesus answered, “Very truly I tell you, you are looking for me, not because you saw the signs I performed but because you ate the loaves and had your fill. Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. For on him God the Father has placed his seal of approval.”
Its the same today, Protestants are supposed to be following Jesus because their Pastors taught them exactly what Jesus accused his followers of, their real intention, to be filled with material blessings.
Then they asked him, “What must we do to do the works God requires?” Jesus answered, “The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent.” So they asked him, “What sign then will you give that we may see it and believe you? What will you do? Our ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written: ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’” Jesus said to them, “Very truly I tell you, it is not Moses who has given you the bread from heaven, but it is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is the bread that comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” “Sir,” they said, “always give us this bread.”
Now, what Jesus has told them to come to light, they were really after the material blessing, the free food that God can give them from heaven. The same food they ate in the miracle of the multiplication of Bread. Is this not why many corrupt politicians get voted into office, feeding the people and deceiving them. But Jesus is not a deceiver, he is the Truth, he is the way and the life. So he told his followers the truth that they should not depend on the material blessings to follow God but on that which gives them eternal life as he said in the following verses:
Then Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty. But as I told you, you have seen me and still, you do not believe. All those the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never drive away. For I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me. And this is the will of him who sent me, that I shall lose none of all those he has given me, but raise them up at the last day. For my Father’s will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day.”
At this, the Jews there began to grumble about him because he said, “I am the bread that came down from heaven.” They said, “Is this not Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How can he now say, ‘I came down from heaven’?”
“Stop grumbling among yourselves,” Jesus answered. “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws them, and I will raise them up at the last day. It is written in the Prophets: ‘They will all be taught by God.’ Everyone who has heard the Father and learned from him comes to me. No one has seen the Father except the one who is from God; only he has seen the Father. Very truly I tell you, the one who believes has eternal life. I am the bread of life. Your ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness, yet they died. But here is the bread that comes down from heaven, which anyone may eat and not die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats this bread will live forever. This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.”
Then the Jews began to argue sharply among themselves, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?”
Jesus said to them, “Very truly I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day. For my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in them. Just as the living Father sent me and I live because of the Father, so the one who feeds on me will live because of me. This is the bread that came down from heaven. Your ancestors ate manna and died, but whoever feeds on this bread will live forever.” He said this while teaching in the synagogue in Capernaum.
Many Disciples Deserted Jesus
On hearing it, many of his disciples said, “This is a hard teaching. Who can accept it?” Aware that his disciples were grumbling about this, Jesus said to them, “Does this offend you? Then what if you see the Son of Man ascend to where he was before! The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you—they are full of the Spirit and life. Yet there are some of you who do not believe.” For Jesus had known from the beginning which of them did not believe and who would betray him. He went on to say, “This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless the Father has enabled them.”
"From this time many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him."
“You do not want to leave too, do you?” Jesus asked the Twelve. Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and to know that you are the Holy One of God.”
Now we have come to the conclusion of what incident and the what was the reason why many followers of Jesus Christ deserted him. They could not believe him that he could give his body to be eaten and his blood to be drunk. And he reiterated that his body is TRUE FOOD and his blood is TRUE DRINK. And so they grumbled "This is a hard teaching. Who can accept it?" See that like the Protestants today, they could not accept the Body and Blood of Jesus present in the Eucharist which is true food and true drink. And so since they could not accept it, they deserted Jesus Christ. Yet how come they insist that they follow Jesus Christ as their personal Lord and Savior which is another invention of the Protestants. Christ is Lord and Savior of all not of one individual for his own personal reason and desire.
The reason for that Personal Lord and Savior doctrine is to prevent the individual from truly following Jesus Christ in his true Church. The Catholic Church of the Christians. And instead focus the mind of the individual on himself and Jesus alone, the wrong Jesus that they created for such false doctrine. This is the exact opposite of Jesus' true teaching, that he who loses his life will save it and he who saves his life will lose it. Jesus is something that they owned and possess not someone who is the Lord and Savior of all people. Who wants us to love one another and be united in one church, one faith, one baptism, all in one Lord and God not one to one with his own Lord and Savior.
Then Jesus replied, “Have I not chosen you, the Twelve? Yet one of you is a devil!” (He meant Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot, who, though one of the Twelve, was later to betray him.)
In the history of the church there are many Judases but there is one Judas that has caused many to fall away from the true faith and the true church, the one that gave the kiss of death to many would-be followers of the Lord and those who followed him and left him. The man that gave them what they desire in following Jesus minus the sacrifices and the cross, Martin Luther, who came from the chosen like Judas. He was a priest in the Catholic Church who had valid concerns about some actions of the church that may be seen as an abuse of authority by the Pope at that time, the supposed selling of indulgences which is another long subject to discuss. But here it's not the church per se that Martin Luther betrayed, its the Catholic Church of the Christians, the body of Christ, Jesus Christ himself.
Like the followers of Jesus in the bible that deserted him, the Protestants today followed a different Jesus, their own concept and their own creation of who he is. It is not Jesus Christ but a different Christ. They have created an idol that they named Jesus Christ but not the true Jesus Christ. So what did they do, they have copied the bible of the Catholic Church but they change the words through incorrect translations but the worst is they have interpreted it in a way that is alien to the spirit of the Word of God as taught by the Apostles. They have come up with their man-made doctrines suited to their desire that prevented their converts and followers from truly following Jesus Christ in his true church.
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