For nearly 2,000 years, the institutional church has flatly ignored its roots
even though they are recorded right there in the Gospels, in the Book of Acts, and in the Epistles of the New Testament.
It seems almost unthinkable that the truth could have been covered up so successfully for centuries
despite clear documentation in the Bible itself.
The truth I am speaking about is the most fundamental requirement of every New Testament Christian.
That requirement is right there in plain sight... so obvious that it hardly needs to be pointed out.
Yet it has mysteriously remained hidden.
What did people do when they wanted to follow Christ when he was walking the roads of Judea and Samaria and Galilee?
Think about it. What did they do?
They left whatever it was that they were doing, and they literally followed him.
Do you hear what I am saying?
Following meant literally, physically, geographically getting up off your backside, and following him.
They had to literally, physically, and geographically leave everything else in order to do it: their home, their job, their family.
Jesus called it "forsaking all." It happened over and over throughout the gospels.
The most vivid and detailed account is where Jesus addresses a great multitude
as described in the 14th chapter of Luke.
These people had already temporarily left their homes to seek Jesus out on his journeys
but he told them that they needed to do better than that.
He said to them, "Whoever does not forsake everything that he has cannot be my disciple."
Jesus started by listing various relatives in detail: Father, mother, wife, children.
He specifically mentioned forsaking houses and land.
But he went much further. He said that we must forsake our lives for him if we are to be his followers.
Now, I don't know that anyone died instantly on following him, but he IS asking for our time... right now.
You see, your time IS your life.
You cannot spend your time working for Jesus if you choose instead to use it working for money.
He taught that. Your time is your life.
You cannot give Jesus one without giving him the other.
Abraham, the Father of the Faithful, left everything to find God.
Joseph and Mary left everything when the angel told them to flee to Egypt.
And the disciples left everything to follow Jesus.
That was the very first, most fundamental step.
And THAT is the Elephant in the Bible.
Each of the disciples left everything. They forsook all.
We can cover our eyes and pretend we cannot see it, but we cannot deny that overwhelming truth.
And it wasn't just the twelve apostles.
There were seventy such disciples on one occasion in the gospels
and then 120 followers of Jesus crammed together in the upper room for ten days leading up to the Day of Pentecost.
But where have you ever heard forsaking all preached in the world today?
Go on! Show me one church.
Tell me that your church is the exception.
Show me where anyone is teaching that this is what you do when you become a disciple of Jesus Christ.
Do you see why I say forsaking all is the Elephant in the Bible... the Elephant that everyone conspires to ignore?
The various denominations have had to come up with a whole litany of excuses
for ignoring this fundamental truth of Christianity.
Most have thrown the four gospels out altogether
on the grounds that what Jesus said was just for the Jews.
What a shocking and blasphemous doctrine to begin with!
But they managed to get it accepted worldwide
because it covered up the bulk of this very uncomfortable Elephant in one simple...
or, I should say... simplistic doctrine.
The teaching goes like this:
If Jesus said it, and if you don't like it, you just say, "It's Old Testament. It's the Law. It's only for the Jews."
Now, some of you may not have heard it said that plainly before
but many of you would know that it IS what most churches teach.
Of course it has not stopped these same churches from taking bits and pieces from the gospels
that they think they can use to their own advantage
whether it's arguing that Peter is the Rock on which the Church is built
or a verse about needing to "receive" Jesus, to support saying a magic prayer to ask him into your heart.
The point is that they simply refuse to teach and refuse to obey
this fundamental principle of forsaking everything to become a Christian or follower of Jesus
no matter what Jesus said.
In one way or another they throw a huge tarp over top of the Elephant.
But, if the Gospels can be pushed aside as easily as that
the Elephant sticks its head and trunk out from behind the covers in the Book of Acts
when we read about what those three thousand believers did on the Day of Pentecost.
It says that every one of them sold their possessions and goods
and shared with each other on the basis of need, and not on the basis of private ownership.
They lived together, and ate their meals together DAILY
as well as reaching out to others on a daily basis.
Not long after that, we read that five thousand more people joined the church
and these people did the same thing:
"The multitude of them that believed were of one heart and of one soul.
"Neither did any of them say that anything they possessed was their own, but they had everything in common....
"for as many as were possessors of lands or houses sold them, and brought the prices of the things that were sold
"and laid them at the apostles' feet, and distribution was made to every man, according as he had need."
It's right there, brothers and sisters! Everyone did it.
These were not exceptional people. They were not all apostles.
These were just rank and file Christians... followers of Jesus... believers... disciples... whatever you want to call them.
You talk about being a Christian these days, and people immediately picture joining a church
having a Bible study, reciting a creed, and basically still living your life the same as everyone else on the block.
That never happened in the Bible. It is not scriptural.
We have for centuries, been reading the Bible through a filter.
The filter starts with Christianity being no different to any other religion in the world.
Oh, we talk about Jesus, but we never get around to following him.
We strain at a hundred theological gnats, but we swallow the camel of all that Jesus taught... to mix our metaphors a bit.
The Elephant in the room is the Camel of what Jesus' first disciples... his real disciples... did and taught. Forsaking all.
Until we have forsaken all, everything else will just be empty talk. Theory without practice.
Why do I say that?
Because, until we let go of everything else that we are doing
we will never have the time to even listen to Jesus, much less obey him and teach others to obey him.
Now... today... in these last days, the veil is coming off this Elephant.
You won't hear what I am saying in any of your churches
and you won't read about it in anything you can find in your churchy bookstores.
But God is using the Internet to break down the universal conspiracy of silence against the teachings of Jesus.
This video is just one small part of it.
This is the message from God for these last days.
This is the message that is needed to produce a Bride for Christ when he returns...
a Bride whose dress will be "without spot or wrinkle."
And this is the message that is needed to become a true follower of Jesus Christ.
Even now, there are very tiny handfuls of believers starting to come together in every continent.
We are preparing for his soon appearing.
Please contact us at the email address on screen now
if you would like to get in touch with people in a country near you, who have been living by faith in Jesus for a few years now.
Let me know what country you live in, and a little about your own understanding of what it means to be a follower of Jesus.
I look forward to hearing from you today.
God bless you.