V RaptureChrist Newsletter

A boss once told me. "Everything in life is image. People believe what they see. Often, our perceptions are wrong. However, they become our reality, and we do not deny their power. It is not enough to do a good job, but you must be perceived as doing so." 

During the Christmas season we often see a little baby in a manger. Shepherds are near the newborn. Also there are three kings, each of a different race - very politically correct. First off, we are never told how many magi came to see Jesus. Also, we are not told their race, but we are told that they came from the east.

The image we perceive is a weak and vulnerable baby Jesus, but during Christmas we never see an image of a fully grown Jesus building a house, or doing miracles. Most of the images are of Mary holding little baby Jesus.

Fact is, upon entering a church we see pictures of Christ either as an innocent little baby in a manger, or as a dead man on a cross. Certainly, a little baby cannot save anyone. Please observe that in all these images, Jesus is made to seem weak and wimpy, when, in reality, He is the son of the all powerful Almighty God.

Here is the Christ I worship:

Revelation 19:11-16
11 Now I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse. And He who sat on him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and makes war. 12 His eyes were like a flame of fire, and on His head were many crowns. He had a name written that no one knew except Himself. 13 He was clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and His name is called The Word of God. 14 And the armies in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, followed Him on white horses. 15 Now out of His mouth goes a sharp sword, that with it He should strike the nations. And He Himself will rule them with a rod of iron. He Himself treads the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. 16 And He has on His robe and on His thigh a name written:

KING OF KINGS AND
LORD OF LORDS.

Because images are so important, what would you say if, during World War II, President FDR had been portrayed as a gimpy cripple in a wheel chair, a man with emaciated skinny legs who could barely walk a few steps without falling down?

Frankly, we would have lost WWII, as no one would rally behind such a pathetic figure during a war where strength is seen as success. Fortunately, everyone had the decorum to not portray pictures showing the infirmities of the president.

Unfortunately, the images we see of our Lord Jesus are of a long haired effeminate man nailed to a cross. (Short hair was the norm for men in that era.) Oh yes, we never see Him lifting heavy wooden beams as a carpenter, or cutting down trees, or nailing rafters to a roof. A muscular physically fit Jesus does not fit the image Satan wants to portray.

Please compare the images you have seen in most churches with the image that the bible gives us of Jesus.

Revelation 1:13-15
13 And in the midst of the seven candlesticks one like unto the Son of man, clothed with a garment down to the foot, and girt about the paps with a golden girdle.

14 His head and his hairs were white like wool, as white as snow; and his eyes were as a flame of fire;

15 And his feet like unto fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace; and his voice as the sound of many waters.

His eyes are like fire. He has a strong booming voice. He does not mince words, and He is not politically correct.

Yeshua told people what their outcome would be if they did not repent.

Matthew 23:33
Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell?

For some reason... we never see churches portraying this image. You never see pictures of Him enraged, destroying everything inside of God's temple when He threw down the tables of the money changers.

What we see in most churches is a dead man on a cross, or a little baby in a manger. This is character assassination used by Satan to try to undermine your trust  in your only Savior.

Look at the paintings and sculptures the next time you walk into a religious assembly. Do you see Mary with little baby Jesus, or an effeminate dead Christ on a cross? What is the message? Perhaps you need to find a church where your Lord is portrayed as whom He really is.