My Jesus

When I was at school many decades ago, we all had nicknames. They were carefully thought out, affectionate and funny. Seldom cruel.

I was stick thin, flat chested through my teens until my first pregnancy – oh what a relief the advent of Twiggy was on the fashion scene for those like me, she was an icon who saved me the shame of buying bras in the children’s department well into adulthood. I also had a long surname which began with ‘W’, putting me at the back of the list most of the time. It was a no-brainer that I was called ‘Wobble-bottom’ and I spent many hours trying to live up to that moniker and wobble my skinny butt!

There are also pet names, names given to special people that have deeper significance.

And then there is name-calling. A whole different genre and one that is currently gaining ugly momentum in the United States of America. American politics are not of great issue in my life, but Jesus Christ, His gospel, and following His teachings as best I can is very much a part of who I am. Right now, my Jesus is being brought into disrepute, and those I am trying to reach with His love look at me askance and say: You must be joking! You Christians, what all you represent, the way you behave – we want no part of that.

The name-calling is derogatory, it is base, crude, and frankly repulsive. Google lists some seventy names that Donald Trump has used against, mainly his opponents, but also some of his Republican party members. Quite apart from “stupid”, “crazy”, ‘crooked’ “lying”, we have heard about “Tampon Tim” (Tim Walz because he introduced sanitary supplies into schools, a good deed one would think), “Maggot Hag” (Maggie Haberman, not sure what she did to deserve that), Governor Gavin Newsom became NewSCUM to name only a few.

Now, what Donald Trump does or says on his own ticket is one thing, but when he claims, and is supported by evangelical Christians, to represent Christ and Christian values, then I find it hard to keep quiet.

My bible says:

John 3:16: For God so loved the world that He sent His only Son to save the world:- let that sink in, then read on:

That whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life

For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.

John 10: 11: I am the good Shepherd. The good Shepherd gives His life for His sheep.

John 13: 34-35 A new commandment I give to you that you love one another: as I have loved you, that you also love one another.

By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.

1 Corinthians 13: 5 – 6: (Love) does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil;

Does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth;

In the teachings I have followed for some 45 years, there is good and Godly instruction for how we are to live:

Ephesians 2: 10

For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works…..

Ephesians 4: 29-32

Let no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth, but what is good for necessary edification, that it may import grace to the hearers.

And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.

Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamour, and evil speaking be put away from you, with all malice,

And be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving one another, even as Cod in Christ forgave you.

Hard, but our Lord’s promise is He will help us in our weaknesses, not mock us cruelly. He pledges to walk with us in love, so we can grow to be more like Him so that we can reflect His love to those around us. To build up, to edify, not to break down and destroy.

And then there are warnings, red triangles along the way to guide us away from treacherous terrain.

Ephesians 4: 14

That we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting.

A pastor by the name of Loran Livingstone preached a fiery sermon against the Trump bible. Yes, Donald Trump brought out a bible that includes the American Constitution and Bill of Rights. As a Christian, the Bible, which I believe to be the inspired word of God, is my constitution and within its pages of wisdom I find my bill of rights.

Pastor Livingstone called the Trump bible ‘blasphemy,’ asking how “for the people, by the people, … the people, the people…” could lie easily next to “through Him, by Him, and for Him.” He went on to say anyone who bought that bible had obviously not prayed, not understood who they are in Christ. I believe he was relieved of his post shortly after this denouement.

Colossians 2: 8

Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ.

I saw somewhere a statement that it did not matter about the leader, it was about what the party stood for.

Galatians 5:9

A little leaven leavens the whole lump.

1 Corinthians 5:6

Your glorying is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump?

What is happening scares me. I wonder if this is part of the great ‘falling away’ we are warned about in 1 Timothy 4 v 1, and repeated in 2 Thessalonians v3, when many of the faith will depart, having listened to deceiving spirits. I worry for my brothers and sisters in Christ, but I worry more for those who still reject the gospel of love and reconciliation with God and who are further put off by the rantings coming from across the Atlantic.

Please hear me when I say the actions and speech of that movement as demonstrated by their two leaders does not reflect my Jesus. He does not condone wrongdoing, or slagging people off, or mocking women, He loves each and every one and says throughout scripture that His heart is that not one should be lost to perdition.

As the Good Shepherd, He will search down every lost sheep, because He loves each one of us, unto death, death on a cross set on a lonely mountain outside the Jerusalem city walls.