Daily Devotional for Monday May 17, 2004

Mocking Jesus

(Jude 18)

I take no delight in being right about this, but back on March 5 in my Devotional to follow-up the release of the movie "The Passion of the Christ," I said, "Also, the great perverter satan himself will be giving inspiration to those who hate God to start putting out movies that are clearly anti-Christian." The fact is, Hollywood puts out a steady diet of movies that mock our Lord, glorifying everything that the Bible speaks against.

But in the wake of "The Passion of the Christ," a movie that touched millions of lives worldwide in bringing us a visual image of Christ's suffering, letting us see a glimpse of the pain and agony He endured in paying for OUR sins with His very life, I knew that Hollywood would use its creativity to take direct shots at Christians and Jesus.

Opening in theaters later this month is the first one of these films, it is called "Saved." Set in a Christian High School, this movie is being marketed to Christian youth even though it is designed to make them resent and lead them from the Christian faith. As you may have guessed, those in the movie trying to follow Christ are the villains and those who reject Christ are the heroes.

I am advising Youth Pastors to see the movie so you are ready to expose this blasphemous movie and its lies to those young adults who will see it. I also think that once it comes out on video, and that should be pretty quick since this movie will be an absolute bomb, you should rent it and get your youth together to watch it.

This movie will provide lots of opportunities to show young adults that Christ is our only hope and clearly drive home what I share often, rebellion to God's Word brings consequences and obedience brings blessings. Doing it our way never works, doing it God's way always works.

My point in talking about this movie today is not only to expose it for making a mockery of our Lord and the Christian faith, but to challenge you in your day to day life. Any time we make the choice to live in rebellion to God's Word, WE make a mockery of our Lord. It is easy to point to those who have chosen to live their lives rejecting the truth of God's Word, however, they are only doing what you would expect from people who reject the hope and love of Christ.

What we need to be aware of is how we are living OUR lives on a daily basis. We are no better than the most hard-hearted heathen when we choose sin over our Lord. We need to be aware that we are ALWAYS "on." The child of God is a representative of our Lord literally 24/7. I tell you often that our greatest witness is NOT what we say, but how we live our lives. This world does watch us.

I love you and care about you so much. Hollywood will continue to produce movies that mock the Christian faith and try to lead people away from the truth of God's Word. You would think they would be smart enough to realize that The Passion demonstrated there is an incredible audience that will support Godly films that present Biblical truth. But their agenda is not to promote the Kingdom of God, only the kingdom of man.

I will be praying for you as you make the many choices you do each and every day. Praying that those choices will honor God and allow you to be a great representative of our Lord to this lost and hurting world. The Bible tells us that in these last days there will be those who mock the Lord. That is why we must be busy each day sharing with this world that faith in Christ is the ONLY hope there is. Let those who hate our Lord mock Him, while we who know Christ share His love.

"To him who is able to keep you from falling and to present you before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy--to the only God our Savior be glory, majesty, power and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages, now and forevermore! Amen." (Jude 24,25)