Scripture Guru

 

I don’t normally do this, but this one is so good I could not resist. It comes under #sadguru; after seeing and hearing him, I believe that title. To the question, “When Jesus comes, will He come to the United States, too?  His answer:

In the United States of America, there is a segment of people who believe that next time when Jesus comes, He will come in the United States.  Last time He came in Jerusalem, and He said “Come, follow Me.”  But only 12 people (did).  Today, you’re celebrating Him as a great Being.  But only 12 people followed Him. Even in that, one of them freaked on Him.  But if He comes to the United States today, if He says “Come follow Me,” you have a bank loan, student loan, car loan, house loan, holiday home loan; you’re mortgaged for 45 years!  If Jesus says “Come follow Me,” nobody will be there, because everybody has to go to the bank.  So you have entangled yourself in such a way, even if the most significant things happen, you can’t change the direction of your life. If the greatest things came your way, you cannot change the direction of your life.  This is a slave’s life, isn’t it? A spider weaves a web, for other things to be caught.  But if you’re that kind of a spider, you build a web in which you’re caught.  You’re a stupid spider, isn’t it? And most human beings are in that condition.

Despite the odd orthodoxies, I believe this says a lot about our current lives.  We cannot build a relationship with Christ, or truly love Him, because our minds are consumed with wrestling with problems in our lives.  It’s possible that we may miss heaven because of this.  In the parable of the Sower, the sower plants seed in four different places.  Only one of them bears fruit and produces a crop (which is a requirement for salvation, see below).  One of the unsuccessful seeds lands on thorny ground.  We read it first in Matthew 13:7-8. The results are best expressed in Mark 4:18-19:

⁷ And some (seed) fell among thorns, and the thorns sprang up and choked them. ⁸ But others fell on good ground and yielded a crop… ⁹ He who has ears to hear, let him hear!”….¹⁸ Now the ones sown among thorns; they are the ones who hear the word, ¹⁹ and the cares of this world, the deceitfulness of riches, and the desires for other things entering in choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful. ²⁰ But these are the ones sown on good ground: those who hear the word, accept it, and bear fruit: some thirtyfold, some sixty, and some a hundred.”

Salvation from hell is not a “one-time-you’re done” proposition. After initial salvation, you must abide in Christ, forming a day-to-day relationship and learning to better love Him, what makes Him happy, what makes Him disappointed, even angry. We’re not talking about just reading Daily Bread or reading a portion of Bible, and you’re off to work.  We meditate on His commands, confess our sins when we fall short of them, and actually apply them into our lives, wanting dearly to obey Him because He loved us enough to die for our wickedness and reconcile us to His Father so He will allow us to be with Him, a holy God. 

Lastly, read carefully John 15:1-6.  Jesus does not lie.  What He says, He will do. 

15 “I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. ² Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit. ³ You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. ⁴ Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me.

⁵ “I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing. ⁶ If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned.