The Unfair Gospel of Jesus

Infamous serial killer, cannibal, and necrophiliac Jeffrey Dahmer accepted Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior just two years or so before he himself was murdered in prison in 1994. For a life lived in disbelief, for well over a decade of murder and gruesome, vile acts upon other human beings, Jeffrey Dahmer served just over three years in custody before, according to the facets of the Christian Gospel, he was sent to the eternal bliss of Paradise. A saint simply being one who is in Christ, Jeffrey Dahmer holds the same title as Billy Graham.

This is unfair. The families of Dahmer's victims, who hoped to see him locked behind bars - and worse - received less than an ounce of justice when you consider Dahmer's short prison term on Earth, and the Gospel's promise that he, having accepted Christ, has been given eternal life with God.

The Gospel is a beautiful Gospel, but it's also a difficult one, a gritty one, a gory one, and by the standards of us fleshly creatures, a very unfair Gospel.

Jeffrey Dahmer's crimes may be unique in their exceptionally bizarre and heinous nature, but his circumstances as a whole are not. Multitudes and multitudes of sinners like Dahmer, like me, like you, have accepted the salvation offered by Jesus Christ through His sacrifice on the cross, and our crimes have been washed away, expunged from our records. We were not punished, we were not stoned to death by the congregation, not swallowed up by the earth, not plundered and torn apart by Babylonian invaders.

I, as the 57th worst sinner who ever lived, am not sorry for this. I feel no guilt or shame that I've been rescued from my sins while having paid no price for it to be so. I regret the price I made others pay in my sinful behavior, but the One who removed those crimes from my record doesn't desire that I wallow in shame and misery over it. He is faithful to give me tasks and duties to glorify Him, to live a life in light rather than the one I lived in darkness. But He's not required me to roll in ashes and beat my breast, declaring what miserable, rotten things I've done; He's not required me to pay a monetary tax as penance to keep me in His embrace.

This is grossly unfair. But if it's any consolation to the outside observer, God played by His own unfair rules when He came to Earth in the flesh and suffered just like you and I do.

He endured temptation, but was without sin. He faced scorn, ridicule and plots against His life, though He had done no wrong, though He had brought an abundance of good in His ministry. He endured every day frustrations and agonies like you and me. And, He was tried and condemned, though without sin, and executed in the most agonizing way possible. A true criminal, an insurrectionist named Barabbas, was meanwhile set free.

While He was fastened by nails to that ominous cross, slowly dying, a criminal crucified next to Him groaned in his own agony that this Man from Galilee had done nothing wrong, and asked the He remember him when He came into His kingdom - if the criminal even knew just what that meant.

The condemned sinless One declared to the condemned rotten one, "Assuredly, I say to you, today you will be with Me in Paradise."

For all his years of habitual offenses and recklessness, a few hours of faith in the One who shows grace and mercy brought the unknown criminal to eternal life where there is no more pain, decay, sorrow or death.

There is no way around it - the Gospel of grace is an unfair Gospel.

drawing by Albert Servaes

"'Take what is yours and go your way. I wish to give to this last man the same as to you'...So the last will be first, and the first last. For many are called, but few chosen."
-Jesus Christ, Matthew 20:14, 16

Talkin' Lowdown Amarillo, Texas Street Preacher Blues

There's a fella here in Amarillo, Texas whose days are filled with street preaching via megaphone, spewing the basic "everyone but me is going to hell" doctrine of those like Westboro Baptist Church and others cut from their blasphemous cloth. The man's basic message is that, even if you think you're a Christian, and think you're saved, you're actually not a Christian and are going to hell if you've sinned after accepting Christ.
People with this false doctrine build their argument, like any false doctrine, on Scripture misunderstood, twisted, or taken out of context; passages like 1 John 3:6-9, which says, "Whoever abides in Him does not sin. Whoever sins has neither seen Him nor known Him. Little children, let no one deceive you. He who practices righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous. He who sins is of the devil, for the devil has sinned from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil. Whoever has been born of God does not sin, for His seed remains in him; and he cannot sin, because he has been born of God." What the man with the megaphone doesn't realize is that this sin refers to the unrepentant, habitual sin of those with an empty proclamation of Jesus, who attempt to trample on grace, rather than live under it. This doesn't refer to true Christians - and what is a true Christian? A true Christian is not someone who suddenly becomes perfect, but someone who acknowledges that their sin is great, but abides in the truth that the love and grace of Jesus Christ is greater.
Also, Amarillo's megaphone preacher forgets the Holy Spirit's words through John just one chapter earlier: "My little children, these things I write to you, so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous" (1 John 2:1).

Paul writes to us in the epistle to the Romans that sinning because you're saved, shrugging it off and saying "God will forgive me" is not right: "What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it?" (Romans 6:1-2)
So, what is the truth of the matter? Are we literally unable to stumble once saved, our DNA changed as well as our hearts? Does God put us in a moral straight-jacket that makes it impossible to err? Or, has the precious blood of our Savior Jesus also covered the sins and mistakes we make as Christians? To suggest that the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross is good for some of a believer's sins, but somehow becomes ineffective, powerless against those after his or her conversion, is to suggest something as powerful as the blood of our Lord is fickle and limited by a believer's time and circumstance.

In arguing against the belief that true Christians do not sin, I would point to two incidents in the life and ministry of Paul. In the second chapter of Galatians, we read of a dispute between Paul and fellow apostle Peter. Paul describes confronting Peter, and even Barnabas, on a matter of "hypocrisy." This event obviously took place after the resurrection of Jesus, and during the apostles' ministry. So, then, did Peter's stumbling render him unsaved? Not a true Christian? And if so, why would God, sovereign over His word to us, allow two of his epistles to be part of this book we came to call the Bible?

The other example from Paul comes from the second epistle to the Corinthians, where we read of Paul's instructions to the church at Corinth - a church that was often plagued with sin and erroneous ideas about Jesus - concerning a brother who had done wrong and strayed (2 Corinthians 2:5-11). Paul instructs the church there not to shun or ostracize the brother, but to comfort, love, and forgive him. This is just what the Holy Spirit does to each of us when we, like the straying brother at Corinth, wander from God's direction.

Like many people who shout things on the street, I suppose it might be ineffective to confront megaphone man with these truths; for his mind seems made up, and a wall built over his heart. And with such people, the Proverbs give us sound advice: "Go from the presence of a foolish man, when you do not perceive in him the lips of knowledge," and "Though you grind a fool in a mortar with a pestle along with crushed grain, Yet his foolishness will not depart from him."
If you argue with a brick wall, who looks foolish? You, or the brick wall? The Proverbs also tell us, "He who corrects a scoffer gets shame for himself, and he who rebukes a wicked man only harms himself. Do not correct a scoffer, lest he hate you; rebuke a wise man, and he will love you."

But - Jesus tells us "the things which are impossible with men are possible with God." And it is Jesus who took upon Himself the shame and hate of sin - and sinners - on the cross. Before we knew Him, we scoffed at Him, hated Him, scorned Him to shame. But His mercy and grace are unfathomable, as they should be, for they belong to a God who is often so impossible to comprehend, to grasp, to understand. This is why He came to us in the form of that lowly Servant, our ladder to heaven like the one dreamed by Jacob at Bethel.

I won't say this megaphone man gives preachers a bad name - that's impossible, for a true preacher of the word is under the name of Christ. We must pray he receives love from even those at whom he spews the venom of ignorance, and gentle rebuke, done only out love and a desire for him to see how mighty the works of Christ truly are.

Cpt. Bud's Devotionals, 11-29-15: "A Foreign Hunger"

"...on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it." -Matthew 16:18

This may sound melodramatic - and I could always be wrong - but I believe Christianity is slowly entering an age where it is most embraced, most sincerely practiced, in those places in the world we often (sometimes carelessly) call "less fortunate." Countries that don't have a cupful of the luxuries we enjoy in America and most of Europe.
I believe one of the reasons for this is the appearance of evil in America - how we in the States perceive evil, what we label to be harmful. Diligent Christians in America are used to the tactic of evil being disguised as things that are good and beneficial - Black Friday is a great example. The media encourages self-indulgence to sell products and rake in money, and we as Christians have to be very discerning in America to see what is noble and what is not. What is truly good, not selfishness disguised as prosperity, liberty, and health.

But in countries like Somalia, Sudan, Syria, evil is not a wolf in a sheep's disguise, but a wolf in a wolf's combat fatigues.

People in the violent slums of the world are so used to being blatantly oppressed, tortured, used, killed, that they know evil when they see it. Therefore, when they're told about the light of Jesus, there's no mire of luxury and worldliness to obscure it. There's no comfort in the ways of the world to deceive them, at least not as easily as it does in America. There's no "prosperity gospel" nonsense, no schisms of theologies to muddle the message. People who are oppressed know that the world is an ugly place, and the beauty of the Gospel is such a stunning, stark contrast.

I believe the difference between hearers of the Gospel in America and hearers in deprived nations harkens to the words of a man named Agur in the book of Proverbs: "Remove falsehood and lies far from me; give me neither poverty nor riches - feed me with the food allotted to me; lest I be full and deny You, and say, 'Who is the LORD?' Or lest I be poor and steal, and profane the name of my God."
I think so many in America have filled our bellies and forgotten God - or have become so bitter by hardship that we say "to hell with it" and outright curse the name or notion of God. Those in other countries, however, seem to be in some sort of strange middle ground; they're certainly not rich, but even as hungry and deprived as they are, they're even hungrier for truth and light.

They're not more willing to accept Jesus Christ because they're gullible - they're willing to accept Him because they see evil more plainly, more nakedly, because they see the works of the ruler of this world so much clearer than we can in the comfort and haze of so many worldly mirages. Therefore to them, the goodness of Jesus is all the more radiant. Those in the countries where the stars seem to never shine are not more willing to accept Jesus Christ because they're uneducated, because they'll worship anything - they're willing to accept Him because they see so many lies and the destruction they cause that they so much more clearly recognize the truth, and rejoice much more in the light it shines.

OHMS,
Cpt. Bud Sturguess

"And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been done in God." -John 3:19-21

"And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come." -Matthew 24:14

Cpt. Bud's Devotionals, 9-20-15: "Queen Elsa Rhapsody"

This past Tuesday saw my last performance of my "summer job," playing Queen Elsa at children's birthday parties. I probably could have kept up the performances through the winter (fitting, as the character is from a movie called Frozen), but at this last party, I exhaled a little too hard and the paunch of my Elsa costume tore. This job playing Queen Elsa was a tough one. Not just because I've still never seen Frozen and didn't know what to say to the kids (besides "you kids go play - ol' Captain Bud needs to sit down"), but also because a nagging thought stayed in my mind, namely, a statute in the Torah (the Mosaic Law) that forbids transvestism.
I tried to remind myself, "It's not like I'm Tim Curry in Rocky Horror. And I'm not wearing this stuff to fill some sensual thrill."

God reminded me of what He spoke through the great prophet Jeremiah to disobedient, wandering Judah: "For I did not speak to your fathers, or command them in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, concerning burnt offerings or sacrifices. But this is what I commanded them, saying, 'Obey My voice, and I will be your God, and you shall be My people. And walk in all the ways that I have commanded you, that it may be well with you'" (Jeremiah 7:22-23).

Obey God's voice. And what does God's voice speak to us under the New Covenant sealed by His own blood on the cross, a Covenant foretold by the Torah itself? God speaks, saying we are not under the threat of a cosmic hammer; we are not under the world's misconception of God - we are under the law of the true God. Not the Law of the Moses, the Torah, that beautiful prelude of salvation to come, but the law of grace and righteousness in Christ Jesus.

As I learn more that Christianity is not about rules and fear, I realize that the "secular" world has barked more orders at me than any pastor ever did. The world tells me: "Don't do this, don't do that. Don't say this, don't say that, lest you feel the wrath of Twitter and a boycott. Don't eat this, don't eat that. This is now acceptable, that is not. Saints worthy of praise are: Darwin, Dylan, Reagan, Roosevelt, O'Reilly, O'Maher. And, beware of boogeymen and devils like the Illuminati and vaccines that cause autism."
The world makes for a fickle god with its own unstable religious doctrine. A doctrine of rules and regulations, of exclusion and prejudice, of ignorance, of humiliation, with no redemption unless Oprah can get a tearful interview from it.

I thank God that His voice commands no such things. I thank God that His voice calls me back to Him when I stray, reminds me of the unkillable truth of His joy when I'm alone. I thank God for such a beautiful voice to obey.

OHMS,
Cpt. Bud Sturguess
"Now if the ministry that brought death, which was engraved in letters on stone, came with glory, so that the Israelites could not look steadily at the face of Moses because of its glory, transitory though it was, will not the ministry of the Spirit be even more glorious? If the ministry that brought condemnation was glorious, how much more glorious is the ministry that brings righteousness! For what was glorious has no glory now in comparison with the surpassing glory. And if what was transitory came with glory, how much greater is the glory of that which lasts!" -2 Corinthians 3:7-11

Cpt. Bud's Devotionals, 9-13-15: "Am I Right, Fellas?!"

Last week, I became enamored with the new lady who works in my apartment's office. She's one of the loveliest dames I've ever seen, and makes Rebel Wilson - the most beautiful woman in Hollywood - look like Ron Perlman. I declared to my friends that the mystery lady and I would surely someday be married...I didn't know her name - I assumed I'd probably see it when we signed the paperwork at the Justice of the Peace. Ever since that gorgeous new lady began working in the apartment office, I found any excuse I could to go and see her: I took a croquet mallet to my walls just so I could go to the office to report the damage, and I even pretended I couldn't read or write, so she'd fill out my checks for me.

But I was soon convicted by the Holy Spirit, who once spoke through my brother in Christ, Andrew, who has often discussed his own struggle with the carnal mindset. Andrew once said that, as Christians, men should look at women not as their next potential love interest, but as sisters. Andrew was absolutely right. If we Christian men don't see our sisters in God in this way, or if we don't see unsaved women as potential sisters rather than potential girlfriends, our understandings of the Holy Spirit's instructions to the Church through Scripture have grown dim.

My mistake with women, emotionally speaking (never mind the fleshly lusts), has always been getting too attached to them within an extremely short time of meeting them. As evidenced with the apartment office mystery lady, I see a future that usually won't come to be, and my disillusionment is nobody's fault but mine. When it comes to the ladies, we men-folk should see ourselves as their brothers, their fellow saints in Christ, their teachers, their students, their protectors, their friends, as surely Christian women should see their male counterparts. And when it comes to the unsaved dames, we must see them as we see any unsaved person - someone to love in a Christlike manner, someone to whom to witness, to bless, someone for whom to sacrifice of ourselves so that maybe they would be led to believe in the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

If we don't see women - sisters in Christ or daughters of the world - in this way, we objectify them. And when they reject us, turn us down for dinner at Outback Steakhouse, or don't reciprocate our gooey, mushy, crushy feelings, we scoff at them to hide the pain, saying things like, "If that chick don't wanna know, forget her! Dames...am I right, fellas?!"
And what an abundant chance to show love has been lost.
Should we fall in love with a woman, that's beautiful. But, after prayer and discernment, when we know it's right to pursue a relationship, let us keep her exalted as a sister in Christ until she becomes a girlfriend, and after. This is how we can keep our relationship with her, whether it be platonic or romantic, in a godly perspective - if we continue to see her as our sister, bound by the precious Blood of the Lamb, we approach and react to every disappointment and every delight in a way that is fitting for the saints: patiently, with wisdom and edification. For there is "neither male nor female," but we are all one in Christ Jesus.
OHMS,
Cpt. Bud Sturguess
"For he who sows to his flesh will of the flesh reap corruption, but he who sows to the Spirit will of the Spirit reap everlasting life." -Galatians 6:8

"Young women of Jerusalem, promise me by the power of deer and gazelles never to awaken love before it is ready." -Song of Solomon 8:4 (CEV)

Cpt. Bud's Devotionals, 9-6-15: "Captive Hearts"

When the Supreme Court voted to legalize same-sex marriage in June, God told me (not audibly, but you know what I mean), "Muse on this in your heart, but don't speak about it; wait until I give you the proper things to say." Now, He has.

In Christian history, the name "Babylon" has often been applied to any place known for excess and decadence. In the early days of the Church, Christians and Jews alike referred to the authority in Rome as "Babylon." Rome...that place of rampant murder of emperors and politicians, and sexually immoral behavior not seen since Sodom and Gomorrah. So, if the followers of Christ who lived in such a place were focused on proclaiming the Gospel rather than trying to prevent various sexual sins (including homosexuality, quite the norm in Rome) via political power, why aren't we in America doing the same? Granted, those in Rome didn't have much political power with which to work, lest they lost their heads (literally), but you understand my point.

The fact is, so many in Christ's Church reacted to the same-sex marriage issue (long before its legalization) as if America were our god. We weren't dismayed by the fact that God's word forbids homosexual relations - we were dismayed because it's not what John Wayne would do. We were dismayed because it's not the good wholesome America of the 1950s - apple pie, crew cuts, and segregated schools. We chose to live in political strife, rather than accept, and practice, what Christ's word tells us - that the world will turn further and further from His instructions, that people will heap up for themselves teachers of false doctrines; that we're to persevere and spread the Gospel despite living in evil times in an evil world. What little faith we have in God's word to be so surprised when these things come to pass! What audacity we have, what distrust in our Savior, to seek an answer in a good, decent candidate who can lead our country in "the right direction again," instead of earnest prayer and sacrifice.
We were up in arms with posts and polls, instead of prayers and petitions for those in need. We looked forward to reading the voting ballots for various propositions to proclaim same-sex marriage unconstitutional, more than we looked forward to reading God's word - the word written by the Holy Spirit through those who lived in turbulent and decadent times, but whose desire was not in legislation, but in leading the lost to Christ.

When we base our faith on politics, worldly protocol, and other such idolatry, we try to manipulate Jesus into "our" Jesus - the conservative Jesus, the liberal Jesus, the middle-of-the-road Jesus, the hippie Jesus, the tough guy Jesus. We place our idea of the American dream and American values over the commission given to us by our Christ. If we think America didn't fit the Babylonian description before the same-sex marriage debacle, or that the exaltation of homosexual relationships is the only sin that makes us like the decadent Babylons of eras past, we are certainly deluded.

The prophet Jeremiah told those in sinful Judah that the nation would be overrun, its inhabitants taken captive to Babylon. The Lord instructed Jeremiah to tell the captive Hebrews in Babylon to live life for God, despite having been taken captive to a foreign land, rank with other forms of the ungodliness that had caused His judgment to fall on Israel and Judah. He also rebuked false prophets who said it wouldn't happen, that Judah was safe from destruction - much like we in America have the same notion that we're somehow immune to becoming a fallen empire like Assyria, Egypt, Rome, and even Babylon.

Jeremiah wrote to the captives there:
"Build houses and dwell in them; plant gardens and eat their fruit. Take wives and beget sons and daughters; and take wives for your sons and give your daughters to husbands, so that they may bear sons and daughters - that you may be increased there, and not diminished. And seek the peace of the city where I have caused you to be carried away captive, and pray to the LORD for it; for in its peace you will have peace. For thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: Do not let your prophets and your diviners who are in your midst deceive you, nor listen to your dreams which you cause to be dreamed. For they prophesy falsely to you in My name; I have not sent them, says the LORD" (Jeremiah 29:5-9).

If those in Babylon were instructed to seek the peace of that ungodly empire, and to even seek the good of its leaders as the prophet Daniel later did when Babylon fell to another empire, what gives believers in modern America a license to live in strife and debate, rather than in love, in ministering, in being witnesses for the Gospel of Jesus Christ? Isn't that our best way to seek the peace of our nation?
A debate on same-sex marriage never led a soul to Jesus; nor did a vote, nor did a Facebook profile picture that changed the pink "equality" sign into a cross. These things never fed a starving belly nor tended to a helpless person's wounds. God's instruction to believers in America is no different than His directions to those carried away to Babylon, or to those in the early Christian Church, so abundantly slaughtered by Rome - to seek the nation's peace, to be holy. To be holy is to be set apart. "Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God" (Romans 12:2).

How will Christ's love be evident through us if we serve American values - whatever those are - rather than the Lord Himself?