The Christian Club

I love Messiah. I know that He is the only begotten Son of Elohim and that He paid the penalty of death by crucifixion for my sins. I believe that He is coming again to sit in judgment of the world and that He is, as we speak, preparing a place for us who have repented of our sins, declared Him as our Savior and seek to follow Him in all of Elohim's truth. I believe in the whole Bible from Genesis to Revelation. I have also experienced the awesome power of the Holy Spirit and have spoken in tongues. I know Him to be 100% real.

However...

There are some who would say that I'm not a "real" Christian. They will pointedly rebuke me because I keep the Sabbath, because I use the original Hebrew names of the Messiah and His Father Yahweh instead of using the names/titles Jesus, God or Lord. They will rebuke me because I refuse to partake of secular marriage and because I live together with Mr. Free as husband and wife. They will even seek to strip me of the Christian title because I am not a Republican. Don't laugh, I'm dead serious. To many of them I am anything but a Christian.

Frankly, I can live with this.

I'm not perfect, I don't have all of the answers and, even of the answers I think that I have, I may one day discover that I have been in serious error. But at the same time, those who would rebuke me and those who have called me names, I'm not too deeply impressed with either. They call themselves Christians, yet they would rather defend man-made traditions than observe His holy days. They would rather follow the ordinances of man than follow the Laws given to us by the Creator. They would rather worship religion and churches and reputation than worship Him in Truth.

Christians do a lot of good in the world. If you'll notice, at least here in the U.S., whenever a morality bell is rung, it's done so by Christians. Whenever a battle is fought in the name of Yahweh, it is done so by Christians. When was the last time you saw a group of Jews protesting abortion? Or the last time Muslim groups took a public stance on gay marriage? I'm not saying that these groups don't care about these issues or that they're not lending efforts to moral causes, but when it comes to large scale moral protests, it's almost always a group of Christians on the front lines. I'm also not saying that the Christians who take up these causes are always right in their approach or that they're even addressing all of the issues important to morality in this country (personally, I believe secular marriage and divorce should be addressed as fiercely as the aforementioned too). No, I'm not saying they're always perfect or right...just that they are vocal and, in general, collectively, they do seek to do a lot of good all over the planet.

But, let's face reality. Christians can be some of the meanest, un-Christlike people you will ever meet. I used to not believe this to be true. I used to believe that people who said this were just looking for a reason to trash their salvation, avoid church and put the blame on someone else. I simply couldn't see. Now, don't get me wrong, most of the Christians that I know up close and personally are very loving, kind people...but they're my friends and family, so of course I see their attributes in a different light, lol. Still, there are some that I've met casually or those that I've watched interact with others or even those that I've had contact with online that leave me speechless in the presence of their rude, judgmental ways. Especially online. It's amazing the things that people will say to one another, supposedly in the name of Yahweh, when they are disguised as a screen name behind an anonymous computer monitor.

So, while they tell me that I'm not a Christian because I don't act according to vain traditions, I smile and hold my head up anyway. With the poor ways in which some of them have behaved in the name of Christianity, I'm not all too comfortable with identifying myself by that title anyway. Even before I got on my marriage rants and even before I learned the Sacred Names, I'd begun to feel embarrassed by Christianity (not Christ, but by some Christians...please note the difference!). I began to distance myself from the title, even silently, a long time before all of this. The label, I feared, brought about a certain stereotype that I wasn't at all comfortable with and that I didn't think was becoming to Christ. Besides, I'd rather live in His Way, than to have to verbally offer a label in order for people to know who I am. Now, some do still call me Christian and that's cool too. I'm not angry at someone else applying the label to me even though I'm not prone to do so myself. I'm not so tied to the title that it matters to me one way or the other. Truly, it doesn't matter what anyone calls me. All that matters is WHO has called me and to WHAT He has called me to.

Bottom line: I am redeemed. Now what you choose to call me beyond this is on you. I know who I am and Whose I am. And no religion, no church, no title, no mortal man can ever take that from me.

My sincere hope is that everyone heeds His call...a call that extends far beyond the title.

Stay In Him,

~Free