Does the world really hate Jesus?

I’ve been pondering this, and while I haven’t arrived at a definite conclusion, I do have some thoughts.

I understand that there is a spirit of “antichrist” in the world. Cause it’s fallen and all that. Last Days stuff. But when I think about it, I wonder……..

Does the world hate the real Jesus, or is it just the parody of Him, that the church (law abiding christians) have shown them, they hate?

Think about it, Jesus said that they hated HIm and likewise they would hate us. But the prostitutes didn’t hate Jesus. The tax collectors didn’t hate Jesus. The poor, the sick, the hungry, the oppressed, the addicted, even the demon possessed did NOT hate Jesus.

So who was Jesus saying hated Him? Well, there were the Pharisees, the Sadducees, the Scribes and other Jewish leaders. So the RELIGIOUS folk of the day hated HIm. Because He did not follow the rules. Their rules.

Lots of people call themselves Christians. And lots of them truly love God. They love Jesus. They are trying to SERVE Him. But they miss the purpose of the cross in its totality. The FULL Good News. (Gospel). And by full, I’m not talking about gifts of the spirit, altho that is part of it, I’m talking about ALL grace. Not just grace to get you saved so that now you can serve God, but grace that never ends and is for everything.

Because they are not understanding grace, (or are afraid of it) they are MEAN spirited towards anyone or anything that does not agree with them. It shows. They come across (may be really great people on the inside) as rude, judgemental, controlling, and prejudiced. Very unloving. Just nasty, unpleasant people, unless you’re in their little circle of people with what they consider “truth”.

These types of people  bite and devour one another as much as they do anything that they cannot control. Their self-righteousness is repulsive to the world. (It’s repulsive to me and I’m pretty sure it’s a “stench in the nostrils of God” as well! Filthy rags and all that.)

And not just Christians….. there are other religions, with extreme elements, that hate anyone different than them. So is it possible that the “world”, the drug addict, the homeless, the sinners, the ones who know they’re sinners and lost, even if they don’t understand, would never hate Jesus? My Jesus. The One who took so much pain and suffering upon Himself and loves with no conditions and lets us be who we are and accepts us as such.

The world mocks Jesus…… but they mock the parody of Him that they’ve seen from us. The true Jesus, they need and would love. They would no more hate Him now, than they did when He walked the earth.

Could the spirit of antichrist be a spirit that is within the church and all religion rather than among the “world”?

Something to think about…..