Christ on Earth

I will have to admit that I found this little nugget over at my cousin Justin’s blog, and I felt like I had to share it because it is so ludicrous.

There are so many things I could pull out of this video that are un-Christlike it isn’t even funny, but I will limit myself to two:

1. When Christ was here on earth he shunned earthly wealth and posessions, and so if our friend in question really was our Lord and Savior returned, I doubt he would accept such highly valued gifts as a several thousand dollar ring (make that three of them) for the reason that you can’t refuse gifts from your congragation. If Christ were alive today, he would thank the giver for the offer of the gift, and then refer him/her to instead use the money to help others.

2. Also in this clip, an expert on cults gives an assessment of this congregation, and in fact, labels them a cult. (Way to go! Tell it like it is.) A members weak rebuttal to the news, “. . . we don’t even have documentation of who our members are, and so how can we be a cult?” Let me clue you in to something: By discrediting the Old Testament and by claiming your leader is Christ returned (or at the very least better than Jesus) are two blatent clues to you being a cult. Who cares if you don’t care how many members you have. Not all cults are bent on killing their members.

Bonus 3: Our friend in question makes the statement that he is better than Jesus because he speaks wisdom and revelation whereas Jesus only spoke in parables.

I guess I am not looking at the same sermons of Jesus as he is, but just earlier this month I opened my Bible to the sermon on the mount, which is as plain and simple as sermons come. It begins with its most famous section, known as the Beatitudes, which speaks pretty plainly in my mind. It doesn’t make alot of sense looking at it as a backdrop for today’s world, but if given the chance, it stands true. It then moves into witnessing and personal relationships, where he challanges his listeners to live above the letter of the law and not just to it. It goes on for two chapters and wherever there is something remotely vague, an example follows it to help clarify.

In fact, just re-reading the two chapters of the sermon on the mount (Matt. 5-6) clearly expose this group of “believers in something” to not being everything they claim to be.

Sadly, I doubt this will be the last time I hear about this group of people. He’s out to “change the whole world” but I guarantee you he won’t be changing it for the better.

Anything to add?