The Hypocritical Western Christian

This is something that has been brewing inside my head for years now. As they months and years pass by I see this blatantly hypocritical picture that I just can not shake! This post will probably offend some of you, so if you don't have thick skin, stop reading!!

Let me just clarify a big misconception within the church about the teaching of Judgment, before I get started on my main point. We are not to judge those outside the Church, for the LORD is their judge (and they heap judgment on themselves). However, when a believer tells another he is in error (in love of course), that is not something to be avoided but accepted and welcomed. Surly the LORD is the Judge for the believers as well, however, He has given us other believers to keep us accountable when our lives are steering off the straight and narrow path. The judgment or correction from a fellow believer (in love) is a gift from the LORD, its called COMMUNITY. So lets just drop this unBiblical idea many of us have of "Don't Judge me" and instead, lets embrace the correction of a brother or sister as a loving reminder to get back on the Biblical path. Jesus rebuked left and right those who call themselves servants of the LORD. If you say, "Jesus is perfect, He is free to Judge, you are not so shut your mouth unless you want to be judged" then look at the Epistles of Paul and the letters of Peter, two men who are NOT perfect, both rebuke the Churches for their blatant/ignorant sin. IF YOU ARE A DISCIPLE OF CHRIST AND DONT WANT TO BE JUDGE, REBUKED, CORRECTED OR TOLD YOU ARE LIVING IN ERROR, THEN STOP CALLING YOURSELF A DISCIPLE OF CHIRST!!

Now that I have this clarification I can get to the whole point of this entry. As I said earlier, this has being brewing within me for some time now. What have I seen? The imitation of a group that call themselves Christians who claim to follow the teachings of the Bible to the contrast of the actual teachings of the Bible. I have seen a picking and choosing of what to follow, I have seen a distortion of Scriptures to make them more culturally comfortable or relevant. I have seen people who claim to follow a God they do not even know and have not known for years, nor do they care to give Him one hour of their day. To put it simply, I have seen HYPOCRITES, and they are the Western Church!!

I want to direct this to people who claim to have been believers for years. If you are a new believer then please disregard this, but take it as a warning not to fall into the same pitfalls of your more mature brothers and sisters in faith.

I have a few questions to the Believer in the West. Where in the Bible do you find that living a comfortable life that takes you to church once a week and basically serve your own needs is what a disciple does? It is estimated that three/fourths of the Old Testament refers to or deals with the poor, how much interaction do you have with the poor (and giving your spare change to the alcoholic on the freeway off ramp once a month does not count)? The Son of God Himself, the HOLY of HOLIES lived with the poor, He dwelt amongst them, He gave them hope, He developed relationships with them. What has the church done for the poor? Are we content with programs? Are we content with going once a month to Mexico to give blankets for two days and then returning to our comfortable safe homes? Are we content with superficial help, never risking anything?

Why is it that if I compare a middle class Disciple of Christ from China, and a middle class disciple of Christ from America or Europe that there is a night and day difference to their lifestyles? Are not their Holy books the same, do they not both read from the same Bible? Are they not both commanded the same commands and commissioned to live holy and serving lives? WHY IS THERE SUCH A STARK DIFFERENCE??

Allow me to state an obvious fact that needs to be brought to light more in the church. On Sunday's we drive to our air conditioned multi million dollar church's. As we sit in Church, there are literally hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of cars in the parking lot waiting to take us back to our hundreds of millions of dollars worth of homes. In church we sing 3-6 songs, hear announcements, and then a sermon, after which we eat a donut or two and head back to our comfortable homes. All the while, there are people (many of whom are fellow brothers and sisters) throughout Africa and Asia who are dying from not having enough to eat or dying of diseases that WE HAVE THE CURE FOR!!!! TRUST ME I KNOW SOME OF THEM BY NAME!!!

WHAT ARE WE DOING PEOPLE???????

WHERE IS THE LIFE I JUST DESCRIBED IN THE SCRIPTURES? Allow me to save you a lot of time looking......ITS NOT!!! Why do we claim to believe in the Bible when we do not even know what is in it, why do we claim to believe the Bible when we do not even follow it???

Do they who live this way honestly believe that this is what the LORD intended for his followers?? To live comfortable self -serving lives, COMPLETELY DETACHED FROM THE POOR, HURTING AND DYING???? IS THIS WHAT GOD INTENDED FOR HIS FOLLOWERS? IF YOU SAY NO, THEN WHY DO YOU LIVE IT????????

"The single greatest cause of Atheism today, is Christians who acknowledge Jesus with there lips and walk out the door and live a different lifestyle. THAT is what an unbelieving world simply finds Unbelievable."

Please, if you live this way and do not want to open your eyes to the Scriptures then please STOP calling yourself a disciple of Christ, because YOU ARE NOT!! Instead, call yourself a "religious person" but not a disciple, you are giving all the disciples in China a bad name. More than that, You're giving the LORD a bad reputation!! Stop claiming to follow something you choose to not even know!!

I recently had three four year olds die because I did not do a good enough job of finding them the money they needed for surgery that might have saved their lives! Why was I unable to get one of the Multi million dollar churches to go one month without buying everyone donuts and coffee to save three girls lives that could have been introduced to the compassion of followers of the LORD. The saddest reality, is not that the girls died and the Church in the West does nothing, but that the church in the West ignores what is happening here.

I know this is a harsh post, and I know that not everyone is like this. I know that there are many churches who do great good, and many disciples who are genuine students of the Word. I also know that the majority of Christians in the West do not have four chapters of Scripture memorized, let alone two! The majority can NOT EVEN PROVE THE DIVINITY OF CHRIST FROM SCRIPTURE! We have such low standards as disciples, and it is not okay for the mature disciples to ignore those hypocritical believers who give the LORD a bad reputation. WE HAVE TO SPEAK TRUTH TO OUR FELLOW BROTHERS AND SISTERS! WE NEED TO CHANGE THE WAY OUR CHURCHES "DO BUSINESS." We have made Christianity into a business, and have walked away from genuine discipleship and Biblical teaching. We ignore the poor and hurting. We pick and chose what commands to follow and when to follow them.

I could be wrong, but from my rendering of the scriptures, I see the life of a disciple as a self sacrificing one! NOT AS A COMFORTABLE SELF FULFILLING ONE. If you agree with this, then please, please, please STOP living the fake Christian life, stop indulging yourself and for this life time, serve others instead of yourself. YOU have all ETERNITY TO ENDLGE IN THE RICHES OF THE LORD! Use this side of eternity as one of service! AND STOP making excuses. HE IS MORE THAN WORTHY OF A FULLY SURRENDERED LIFE OF SERVICE.