THE "ADD-ON" JESUS!

("Anti" Means "Against", "Instead-Of" ("Other-Than"), --AND-- "ADD-ON")

I think I always knew that the prefix "anti" means "against". Obviously, if you were "anti-this, or "anti-that" it meant you were against that thing. Everybody knows and uses the term in this way. Simple. And, as I suspect most people do, I never gave any other possibilities of meaning a second thought.

You can see then how impressed I was to learn that an "anti- position", or posture or attitude could be assumed, even by default, by an individual who was deceived into accepting a counterfeit or substitute; and, hence, the word "anti" also could mean "instead-of" or "other-than". This has real Biblical ramifications, as this is precisely what occurred in Messiah's first Advent, and is also warned against by Christ Himself as a real threat to Salvation during His second Advent! Repeatedly, Jesus warns His faithful to remain wary and watchful. He details the types of deceptions which will accompany His return during a time of such concentrated evil that even the adept at spiritual discernment (the "elect") would be deceived and lost were He not to Intervene by "shortening the days" (whatever He Means by that).

So... even those who THINK they are Christians; who are convinced they know and love and follow Jesus Christ will be subjected to a fiery baptism of confusion, distortion and temptation to some "other", some incredibly good counterfeit, (who makes a "bogus" UNLIKE it's real counterpart?). And today, just how many who "take the Name of Jesus" (only to neglect the REAL-ationship) even know or consider Christ's Warnings and Exhortations as applicable to them? Most are far too glib in joining the chorus of glad-handing one another on their "arrival"! Shame. Most are so convinced they are so secure they will not "Selah!" ("Stop!; Look!; Listen!"). Are they "set-up for a fall"?

But now I see there is even yet ANOTHER trap for the unwary sheep; The "add-on Jesus"!

Matt 9:16 (ASV) And no man putteth a piece of undressed (unshrunk) cloth upon an old garment; for that which should fill it up taketh from the garment, and a worse rent (tear or hole) is made. 17 Neither do [men] put new wine into old wine-skins: else the skins burst, and the wine is spilled, and the skins perish: but they put new wine into fresh wine-skins, and both are preserved.

Jesus is here Announcing a very radical CHANGE! This departure is so devastating, so total, so absolute and final and so pervasive as to render all that went before as obsolete. The conText of what Jesus is Saying to these disciples of John-the-Baptist is nothing less-than the fact that the OLD Testament of God and the New (and Final) Will and Testament of God-IN-Christ are altogether incompatible! --- they won't MIX! One must put AWAY the OLD to embrace (have) the NEW. Further... Jesus is making abundantly clear that any attempt to "harmonize" or "homogenize" the two will result in devastating catastrophe for BOTH!

In other words, THE "Right of Passage" into the NEW was total abnegation and withdrawal from the OLD. LEAV-ing would be the act of ENTER-ing. And what better Symbol-in-Fact of such a total Transmutation than the Cross of Circumcision wherein death actually BEGETS NewLife by Resurrection (In-Christ)?

Colo 3:3 (ASV) For ye died, and your life is HID with Christ in God. Gal 2:20 (RSV) I have been crucified WITH Christ; it is no longer I who Live, but Christ Who Lives IN me; and the Life I now Live in the flesh I Live by faith in the Son of God, Who Loved me and gave Himself for me.

Paradox? Enigma? Dilemma? Mystery? Yup! He Is All of these.

But an "ADD-ON" Jesus?? Naaaaah.... how? Simple. Just "take the pledge" and "join up" and then you'll "belong". Then you are free to go right back to what you were doing - but as a "member in good-standing" of a "fellowship of believers" who "gather" often to congratulate themselves on their "arrival", and to convince and reassure one another that they have "eternal security" because of their "membership".

Nevermind what God Says; or that nothing has REAL-ly changed in your life-style, attitudes, motives, intentions, goals, or posture toward eternity. Nevermind that you are now left to kid yourself (and others) into actually believing there is anything SuperNatural about you, your life, your Walk and circumstances. Disregard the fact that you have no more Power to Overcome and to Become a "son of God" which John Says is Given to ALL who (truly) "Believe in Him". Go on living a lie of such monumental proportions that even angels shudder at your prospects!

It seems that NOTHING makes God hotter, madder, more sick to His stomach than this very thing. That's quite a thought, you know - to actually make God SICK enough to CAUSE Him to vomit!

Both are destroyed - wine AND skins. If the "new wine" is the NewBirth-IN-Christ, then the "new skin" must be the Converted Life-IN-Christ - right? So much for "Once Saved, always Saved"! Just THINK about it! The very Living-Word of God Almighty is Telling us to be VERY careful about not only the NEW-LIFE, but also about HOW WE LIVE that NewLife - LEST WE LOSE BOTH!

Faith which does not Work (Obey) is NOT FAITH! Salvation which does not Bear Holy Fruit of Sanctified, Holy Lives Lived unto God-IN-Christ are trees condemned, cut off, withered & burnt, and seeds sprouted-with-life only to shrivel or be choked or thwarted unto barrenness, or Fruitless branches excised by God and burned by men! These are not Threats - they are sober Warnings by a Holy God Who is a CONSUMING FIRE! A creature who defies such a Creator is MARKED FOR DESTRUCTION!

"Anti" also means "ADD-ON". An "Anti-Christ" is one whom we merely "add-on" our carnal life for such as our own ways dictate. When we walk in our own ways and not under God Discipline, Guidance, Tutelage, Instruction, Craftsmanship, Attention to Detail according to His Word, His Will, and yes, His every Whim... when we choose to "go it alone", we do so WITHOUT Him.

Nor WILL He be "added-on". After all, a REAL-ationship IS a two-Way thing; that is, HE has something to Say about the Way He will be treated by you! WHAT?? Are WE suddenly God? And further, are we GOD'S God?? Do we now man-handle God? Is it, "Nevermind what YOU want, God... we're DO-ing it MY WAY!"?? No. I think not.

God KNOWS. Man only Knows when, as, if and HOW God TELLS man. It's called Revelation, and Jesus Christ DIED a horrible Death to Acquire this Direct-REAL-ationship WITH Creator for every creature who Receives Him. And is this "Receiving" difficult? Well, every rock can do it; every tree and flower and cloud and mountain - and the dark, and the light, and time and space can do it. Just LISTEN:

Isai 55:12 (ASV) For ye shall go out with joy, and be led forth with peace: the mountains and the hills shall break forth before you into singing; and all the trees of the fields shall clap their hands.

Mala 4:1 (ASV) For, behold, the day cometh, it burneth as a furnace; and all the proud, and all that work wickedness, shall be stubble; and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith Jehovah of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch. 2 But unto you that fear my name shall the sun of righteousness arise with healing in its wings; and ye shall go forth, and gambol (prance & dance & jump & skip) as calves of the stall. 3 And ye shall tread down the wicked; for they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet in the day that I make, saith Jehovah of hosts.

Who do we think we ARE? More importantly.........., Whom do we say HE Is??