Luke 24:27-29, “And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself. And they drew nigh unto the village, whither they went: and he made as though he would have gone further. But they constrained him, saying, Abide with us: for it is toward evening, and the day is far spent. And he went in to tarry with them.” Jude 1:22, “And of some have compassion, making a difference: And others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire; hating even the garment spotted by the flesh.”
Human beings tend to live shallow lives. We judge people right away based upon what we see, lacking the understanding to look deeper and see what might really be going on. As a Christian I have learned to always look beyond someone's faults, and try to discern their needs instead. For example: When someone is angry, most people see a hateful person, but I see someone who is frustrated for a reason. I try to find out why they are angry, and perhaps there is something I can do to fix the problem, instead of condemning them as a troublemaker. What they need is God's love and the Gospel. They need for someone to care.
Most people view hardened criminals as the scum of society, but I see people for whom Christ died (Romans 5:6-9), who very likely grew up in awful homes without parental love and care. Society locks them away in cages as punishment and forgets about them. What they need is God's love and the Gospel. Most people look at a prostitute on the street and see someone who is a loser, but I see a person in poverty who is trying to survive. What they need is God's love and the Gospel. Most church people see someone who refuses to go to church as an ungodly person, but I see someone who has been hurt in the past by religious people, or has seen all the horrible news reports coming out of churches nowadays. What they need is God's love and the Gospel. So you see, even though people are inherently sinful by nature (Romans 3:10-23), that doesn't mean everyone is evil who doesn't go to church, or live the way we do as Christians.
In our text passage, Jesus had just expounded the two men He met on the road to Emmaus. The Lord called them “fools” in Luke 24:25 for being slow to believe the Gospel. There are many fools in the world today. Sadly, many Jewish people reject Jesus as their Messiah. Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley of the rock band KISS are Jewish, both rejecting Jesus as their Messiah. Kindly said, according to the King James Bible those men are not saved. Jesus told Nicodemus (a Jew) that except a man is BORN-AGAIN, he cannot enter into the Kingdom of God (John 3:1-7). I love all Jewish people, and this is not a matter of ethnicity, God forbid. It is strictly a matter of theology. YE MUST BE BORN-AGAIN!!!
After calling them fools, Jesus expounded them with the Old Testament (which is all they had at the time), beginning with Moses and working His way through all the prophets. The two men were astounded at the truths Jesus taught them. When they finally arrived at their destination, the men invited Jesus to spend the night in their home as a guest. Our dear Lord as a gentleman pretended that He needed to move on, but they begged Him to stay, and He did. The Bible says Jesus did really want to stay, but He was being a true gentleman. I love that! So you see, when people seem to push us away, or resist our friendliness, we need to look deeper and see what they really need and want.
I never assume anything with people. I always like to give people the benefit of the doubt. People just want to be loved. Everyone needs to be loved. Sadly, one of the least loving places today are many of our deeper life churches. I have lived on Guam since 2004. The least loving place on Guam is the Harvest Baptist Church in Mongmong Toto Mai. They are a loveless bunch of Bob Jones University graduates, who only care about making money with their schools on the island. Whereas I have reached out to them countless times with love, literally pleading to be able to simply attend church services, they have cruelly told me via email to “Go elsewhere.” That was Pastor Marty Herron in 2017. Sadly, the new pastor since 2018, Gary Walton, is just as bad, ostracizing and ignoring my pleas for a church family all these many lonely years. Where dwelleth the love of God? These people at Harvest don't know what God's love is. They lack compassion, as a bunch of academics trained by academics, not trained by church builders. I still love and pray for them regularly, but their hearts are hardened against God, the truth and me as a humble truth-telling believer.
All I have ever truly wanted is to be loved by Harvest Baptist Church on Guam, as I have loved them with truth, gifts and my offer to make peace with them umpteen times. But they still refuse! That is not Bible Christianity. Harvest is a religious cult, preaching the Devil's lie of Lordship Salvation, and promoting the Devil's corruptible seed of the modern perversions of the Bible. Harvest is also a cult in the sense of being a private social club, us four and no more, where unless you are accepted by the core leadership of the cult, you are unwelcomed. People just want to be loved.
In our horrible selfish American culture, if you don't have a family or a good church, no one loves or cares about you. That is why our government gives billions of dollars to foreign countries, and billions to NASA to play with dirt on Mars, while millions of homeless American citizens are dying at the average age of 40 on the streets. Nobody gives a damn! And then I see fake churches like Harvest Baptist Church on Guam, paying an outrageous salary to their incompetent senior pastor, who has no interest in starting a local bus ministry, going public soulwinning or helping hurting people like me. All Harvest's staff care about is their next paycheck! It's all about the money honey.
We see this trend quite a bit from the Bob Jones University camp—expelling students who are raped, threatening arrest to former students if they even step foot on campus, kicking hurting broken sinners out of their churches, playing God with people's lives, abusing their authority and treating human beings like crap. This is Satan, not God (Romans 14:10-12). John 13:35, “By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.” BJU majors on killing people with the letter of the law, while minoring on loving others with the love of God which is supposed to be shed abroad in the heart of every believer by the indwelling Holy Spirit.
When people push you away, they are really begging for your love. So often the meanest of people are really simply hurting human beings, who have lived troubled lives, and need someone to unconditionally love them instead of kick, correct, browbeat, criticize and look down on them all the time. It's much easier to blame someone for their problems, than it is to try to understand their situation. We live in a horrible throw away society in America. Once you mess up, that is it, you might as well crawl into a rain drainage system under Las Vegas and survive in the gutters for the rest of your life, because no one will ever employ you, help you or love you again. No wonder Muslims call America: THE GREAT SATAN! We sure act like it.
And Of Some Having Compassion, Making A Difference
Jude 1:22, “And of some have compassion, making a difference: And others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire; hating even the garment spotted by the flesh.”
I had a new neighbour move in last year. He was a 25 year old guy in the Navy. He lived with a friend, also in the Navy. He invited me over for a barbeque and I accepted. He also invited about a half dozen friends, all military police in the Navy. These guys were big and strong. I couldn't believe how they just climbed up the building, literally, and sat on the roof. But these guys were wicked, full of filthy talk and perverse in their thinking, sadly. There was one black guy, and he was a Christian like me. They asked me to pray and I did, thanking God for our military who risks their lives to defend out liberties. They were grateful.
Anyway, the guy next door shared his broken life with me. He has a serious drinking problem, and so does all his family. He shared with me how his father did something very bad, and the church he was attending kicked him out because of it, rejecting him. His mother was in and out of the hospital for alcoholism. His brother is in jail for committing a crime. He told me that he worships Satan, and is not a Christian. He said he is for abortion, and loves Lucifer. I knew he was pushing me away, because it was really Jesus that He hated, not me. John 7:7, “The world cannot hate you; but me it hateth, because I testify of it, that the works thereof are evil.” The night ended and he figured I'd never talk to him again, which is how most professed Christians sadly behave.
One month later he asked if I wanted to come over for another barbeque. I could feel the tension and knew that in his heart he never expected me to accept. I immediately said, “Sure, I'd love to, just say when.” I had decided the first time he shared his problems with me that I was his friend. Once I am your friend, you have a friend for life. So he said we'd have a barbeque next Friday, one week later. Little did I know that he was planning to move out just a three days later. I came home and say the moving truck outside, and he was standing there. I waved at him as I always do, smiled, and didn't say anything. He knew that I had accepted his second invitation to a barbeque, this guy who told me that he worshipped Lucifer. When I went for the first barbeque, I wore my John 3:16, Jesus, cap the entire time, for all to see. I am not ashamed of my Savior and Lord.
Long story short, when my neighbour moved out, he left me a bunch of items behind for me as gifts. We never spoke before he left. The last time we spoke was when he invited me to the second barbeque, and I gladly accepted. But you say, “How could you accept an invitation to a barbeque by a perverse drunkard who brags that he worships Lucifer?” That is God's unconditional love friend. I loved him when no one else did. I gave him what the world will not, and cannot give him, God's unconditional love. I didn't condemn him. I didn't shun him. I didn't berate him or reject him. It was just a barbecue. I wanted him to see God's love, and he did. That is all I am saying dear reader.
In sharp contrast, the Bob Jones University crowd hate and reject their own troubled students. Harvest Baptist Church on Guam still rejects me today, 7 years after I attended their church for one year and befriended them with the truth, just as I befriended my Lucifer worshipping friend in the U.S. Navy. People just want to be loved. I was wise enough to discern that my hurting neighbor was a young man who had never been loved by anyone, and I made a difference for Christ, I think. He moved away to be stationed in San Diego, but I gave him a hard copy of Michael P. Bowen's book: “I NEVER KNEW YOU,” showing him how to go to Heaven. People just need and want to be loved.
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