bashing Jesus in the public square ..

hasn't Jesus been tortured enough ??
his life was sufficient to that
especially considering this was the one who created all things ..

yet we ' christians ' continue to flog and bruise him, crucifying him to ourselves all over again
bringing shame to his name
   and to his kingdom, which already is working against phenomenal odds

Jesus' religion was one of mercy peace healing
   reconciliation
      a spirituality grounded in love
on this at least we should all agree
  ?  ?         ?

yet there are those cross-wielding tract-distributing streetcorner-megaphone inyourface prophets
they embarass God in the public square
making him out to be some stern square ogre planning the torture of unrelenting humans
and foisting that on people without their permission

one such person plies his trade around here
wielding a large white cross like it was a broadsword
... or a wand
one person who witnessed his display on main street described it like he was casting a spell on people
he'd walk by folk eating at roadside restaurants and point the cross at them, almost as if he was striking them with it, allthewhile mumbojumbo rolling off his tongue
in the name of God ?? ??

there are others
possibly most famous are the ones that become blatantly loud and argumentative, aggressive when they get drunk
they're the most ardent defenders of God in the public space ..
i wonder if those are some of the ones Jesus referred to when, claiming they did this and that in his name, said to them
   ' who are you ? i never knew you; depart from me ! '
      note the exclamation mark

listen
while apostle paul does say that the gospel is an offense
he didn't mean i am to be offensive
he meant it confronted the 'wisdom' of the Greeks and the 'religiosity' of the jews
it was a socially and religiously inverted truth
   that confounded those in the know, and upturned religious tables
Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles.. ( 1Corinthians 1.22ff )

that is a far cry from the loud judgemental aggressive foulsmelling filth that emanates from the spirits of these modern prophets
that creates a stink in God's nostrils
and you can feel that spirit where they are

God is forever-on seen most perfectly in the person of Messiah Jesus
whose only regular contention lay in the very religion that claimed to be for God
whose leaders plied their holiness like some supreme court
condemning and decrying and slamming their scriptural gavel on the heads of the ordinary person

we must work
with Jesus
for Jesus
in the name of Jesus
under his banner of love
for the love of our neighbour

for the love of our neighbour

accepting
embracing
caring
sharing

people don't have to listen
they have a choice, and we need to allow them the freedom of their choice

we may speak into people's lives only when we earn that right
never apart form it

may the love of God move us
and only the love of God
always

someone recently wisely said ' he's preaching to himself '
those people have something to prove, some insecurity to overcome, some god that's going to beat them if they don't spout their foulness
and they're trying to prove it to themselves ..
sad, that

follow Jesus