Take Up the Cross

What’s it all about? Why the cross? The answer is because ”He [Jesus Christ] carried our sins in His own body when He died on a cross. In doing this, we may be dead to sin and alive to all that is right and good. His wounds have healed you!” (1 Peter 2:24 NLV) and ”[…] There is not another kind of good news. There are some who would like to lead you in the wrong way. They want to change the Good News about Christ. Even if we or an angel from heaven should preach another kind of good news to you that is not the one we preached, let him be cursed.” (Galatians 1:7-8 NLV)

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²² And he said, “The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life.” ²³ Then he said to them all: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me. ²⁴ For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will save it. — Luke 9:22-24 (NIV)

¹⁸ For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. — 1 Corinthians 1:18 (NIV)

I want to see the cross on top of every church building. I want to see lots of church buildings. I want them to be taller than other buildings. Why am I saying this? In recent years it became a thing for some pastors comfortable in their video room to say the church is not a building. It sounds good, but come on now, is anybody really turning their concrete brick and mortar church into an idol? No, it is a place for God’s people to come into and worship the Lord together. Is it a good idea to discourage a child of God from coming to that building where he or she can meet the church they are supposed to meet with? Be ashamed if you are a pastor saying such things.

²³ Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. ²⁴ And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, ²⁵ not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching. — Hebrews 10:23:25 (NIV)

⁷ Woe to the world because of the things that cause people to stumble! Such things must come, but woe to the person through whom they come! — Matthew 18:7 (NIV)

Did you read what the Lord said in Matthew 18? Such things must come, but judgment is coming to the person through whom they come! Do you understand what it means? Once upon opening television on a Christian channel I heard an ignorant sounding preacher say, and I may paraphrase, ”We are going to lose our freedom so there is no use of fighting it, let’s just concentrate on loving the sinners…” Woe to the end time coward!

Once again he thinks it sounds good but come on now, what kind of love is that? Or the preacher who says lead in the godless commands forced upon our society. Keep the big company open but close the church? These are the blind leading the blind towards the cliff, and once there, looking at the abyss, say they are innocent of the final push. The enemy had it so easy because the so called friend did all the work rounding up and disarming the group.

⁶ The night before Herod was to bring him to trial, Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two chains, and sentries stood guard at the entrance. ⁷ Suddenly an angel of the Lord appeared and a light shone in the cell. He struck Peter on the side and woke him up. “Quick, get up!” he said, and the chains fell off Peter’s wrists. — Acts 12:6-7 (NIV)

Acts 12 tells how Apostle Peter was put in prison to be put on trial before King Herod when an angel of the Lord set him free of his chains and opened the door. What if Peter had said, ”No way, I am not leaving this prison. Herod wants me here and here I will stay. I am not one of those rebels who fight for freedom…!”

A man may lose what are his clearest rights by not demanding them. I understand we can’t all be so brave and dedicated as Peter and Paul, but at least we can stop feeding those church leaders who become the enemy’s flunkeys while they continue to pretend to be Lord’s servants. Let us be angry, but not sin.

God bless you, Dear Reader.