There is disappointment for me and anyone else who would love to be in a Church that really believes in the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The fellowship in the Spirit of Christ is not there and neither is the message of the Cross. I know that if I ditched the idea of right and wrong, bad and good, I would be more accepted into their contemporary “church” fellowship. The church of today is pushing people towards the mark of the beast and have pushed people like myself out. The words “Resurrection,” “Salvation,” and “Eternal Life,” etc. are not in their vocabulary unless it is aside from Jesus Christ. As a Baby Boomer who grew up going to a real Church, it makes me sad and I’m homesick to return to the days when the Church really was God’s Church. Or I should say, I mourn for the Church to return to God through Jesus Christ.
Paul is explaining the never-ending sorrow and anguish that he feels for his own, the Jewish people. They are rejecting the grace that comes through Jesus Christ. Paul said that his sorrow and anguish would be over if he rejected Jesus and returned to his days as a brilliant Pharisee. Instead, He chose God through Jesus. In the early days, God’s people had it all, they were God’s children from the beginning, entered into a bond with God, the promises were given to them, the Scriptures were theirs, and worshipping God in a church was theirs. They are part of the family tree of the Messiah, Jesus Christ. They had the Divine glory, but now they reject Jesus Christ.
“I speak the truth in Christ—I am not lying; my conscience confirms it through the Holy Spirit—
I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart.
For I could wish that I myself were cursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my people,
those of my own race, the people of Israel.
Theirs is the adoption to sonship; theirs the divine glory, the covenants,
the receiving of the law, the temple worship and the promises.
Theirs are the patriarchs, and from them is traced the human ancestry of the Messiah,
who is God over all, forever praised! Amen.”
Romans 9:1-5
A note about Paul; He was a naturally born Roman citizen and of the Jewish race as well. His father was a Roman Citizen and his mother a Jew. He was a brilliant Pharisee and an upstanding Roman citizen. He would have been a Harvard law student in today’s terms. He had every right within the law, as a Roman and Pharisee, to murder Christians and to have them put in prison. Then, he saw the true light and turned to Jesus Christ. He lost everything he built over time. He lost his community standing with the Romans and lost his standing with the church. Being modest, in today’s terms he lost $15,000 monthly in income, not including other prestigious benefits.
“….to you who do not hold to her teaching and have not learned Satan’s so-called deep secrets,“
‘I will not impose any other burden on you, except to hold on to what you have until I come.’”
“I am coming soon. Hold on to what you have, so that no one will take your crown.”
Revelation 2:24-25, 3:11