A few years ago the parishioners in a local church decided to go full religious mode by walking the streets of downtown Athens, Texas asking everyone they met: “Do you know Jesus?” Obviously, these religionists themselves did not know the One about whom it is written: “He will not strive, nor shout, no one will one hear His voice in the streets” (Mat. 12:19). That statement applies to His true disciples and apostles. Jesus is our template, our example Whose life (“walk”) we are commanded to emulate in this life in order to live with Him in the next life (1 Jn. 2:6). These modern day inquisitors believed that, by doing the exact opposite of what Jesus did during His ministry, they were paving their way to heaven.

Did they not know that they were rebelling against Him? No, they did not. Being willingly ignorant of most of what is written in the Bibles they were carrying, and depending on their hireling to tell them what is written therein, they did not know they were rebelling against the Author of that Holy Book. Why were they ignorant of the fact that He did not witness to people on the street, or anywhere else for that matter. He did not approach individuals on the street and speak to them about His Father and His coming kingdom on earth, which was His (Christ’s) singular message (Mk. 1:14). But that Truth had no effect on them because IT DID NOT FIT THEIR NARRATIVE. Having long ago rejected God’s COMMANDS, they have created their own set of options which they are still free to obey or disobey, depending on the situation. Relativity is the key word in today’s Christianity.

Why did they choose to rebel against Him, to make a show of doing so, then brag about having done so while pretending that He approved of their doing so. Unfortunately, what they did was both 1) in line with church doctrine and 2) the exact opposite of Christ’s example and teachings. Search the Word and one will not find Jesus button-holing people and “witnessing” to them about the Father, or Himself. How could they have been so far off?

Note that Jesus carefully selected those to whom He spoke. Why, when speaking to the multitudes who followed Him, did He speak in parables which were designed to be confusing. He replied to His disciples who had asked Him about His use of parables: “It is not for them (the multitudes) to know the mysteries of (how to enter) the kingdom of heaven (the church)”–Matthew 13:11. Why did Jesus not tell them what they needed to know in order to be saved upon His return to earth? Because He knew that the masses followed Him in order to be healed and to have their demons cast out. They were not interested in His message of God’s earthly kingdom. They were not interested in being Christ’s disciples. His Words explain His attitude toward the “great multitudes” that followed Him wherever He went. The crowds were so large that He would have to climb up on a high place or sit in a boat out in the water in order to be heard by them. Tens of thousands of people surrounded Him wherever He went. But only His 12 disciples were allowed to hear God’s Truth–His Word (Jn. 17:17).

On the Day of Pentecost following His death, only about 120 people were gathered to observe the commanded Holy Day in order to worship Him and His Father. Where were the multitudes whom He healed, delivered and fed? He tells us why He used parables in addressing them. He noted that THEY had blinded their own eyes and THEY had stopped up their own ears relative to His message. They did not know Him and did not want to know Him. They had no use for His strict code of behavior. They only wanted what they could get from Him. As is the case today in professing Christendom: JESUS IS NOTHING MORE THAN A MEANS TO AN END–AN END SHE WILL NOT SEE UNLES A REVERSAL OF LIFE IS UNDERTAKEN.

The street walkers/inquisitors I wrote about above did what they did because they did not know Jesus. They only knew about Him. Before coming to earth as Jesus, He Was called “the Word” (Jn. 1:1-4,14). We cannot know about Him outside of THE WORD OF GOD which is God in written form. The difference between knowing Him and knowing about Him is as the difference between knowing about a person and being married to that person. Symbolically, this is highlighted in Genesis 4:1 where it is said that Adam “knew” Eve and she became pregnant. Obviously, he knew her before he was intimate with her. But it wasn’t until their relationship reached the ultimate stage that he came to “know” her and she came to be, as they said in the old days, “with child.”

Symbolically speaking, one does not “know” Jesus until one is maintaining the same “KNOWING” level of spiritual intimacy with Him that, as a man, He had with His heavenly Father. Please pardon my use of my personal experiences to explain the difference between knowing about Him and knowing Him. While reading the following, know that I AM NOT YOUR EXAMPLE–JESUS IS. I spend my free time either talking aloud to, thinking about or writing about the Lord or studying His Word. I sometimes dream about praying. Not long ago I was awakened by my own voice as I prayed aloud. What made it even more strange was that I was dreaming that I was praying loudly IN THE GERMAN LANGUAGE. I do not know that language, but I knew that the language in which I was praying was German. In the dream I did not know what I was saying, but I was saying it loud enough to awaken myself. Yesterday morning (1:20 A.M) woke up from a dream in which I was sitting at my computer working on this website. God demands our whole attention at all times, sometimes even when we are asleep. When at work or when traveling to and from work we can be in an “attitude of prayer,” memorizing Scripture, etc., which I recommend.

The Apostle Paul said that he prayed “without ceasing.” God is not content with being our everything, He must be our ONLY thing. If we allow husband, wife, children, job, recreation, entertainment, etc. to come between Him and us, we are not worthy of Him (Mat. 10:37,38). The world focuses on the world; we must focus on God while in the world, which makes us “peculiar” to our fellow travelers (1 Pet. 2:9). The time the world spends in mental and physical enjoyment, God’s saints spend in His Word, in prayer, etc., Jesus of Nazareth being our example. This life is fleeting. We must use our few years in it to make certain that we join Him in the future. The sacrifice will have been worth it. If you leave the world’s stuff behind, you won’t miss it. Jesus will fill the void perfectly.

I live among and am acquainted with very religious people whose free time is not given to the Lord, the same Lord Who commanded us to “redeem (take captive) the time” He has allotted us (Eph. 5:16). Day and night, while I am in my office praying, studying the Scriptures, writing on this website, etc., those around me and millions of people throughout the nation–church members all–are staring into their televisions or their hand-held gadgets, or books, etc. for hours on end. They know more about the entertainment schedule than about the Sermon on the Mount. Read that series. Key word–Mount. Before the internet, one of the best selling books available was the T.V. GUIDE. The people I am referring to all know “about” Jesus but do not “know” Him.

Another excellent example of “knowing” Jesus versus knowing Him is provided in the 25th chapter of Matthew where we find the parable of the Ten Virgins. Scripturally, the word “virgins” normally refers to all self-professing Christians whether they are true Christians or CINOs–Christians In Name Only like the five foolish “saved, born again” churchites in the parable. Note in the parable that both wise and foolish church members were called “virgins.” All ten were members in good standing; all had lamps, oil and wicks; all were eagerly awaiting the arrival of the Bridegroom (Jesus). All professed to “know” Him. All knew that they would be invited into the marriage feast. However, as the parable points out, only five of them were “wise” (true “virgins”) because they spent their free time studying His Word, praying, etc.

When the Bridegroom arrived in the middle of the night the five foolish “virgins” were not ready. They had spent their time watching t.v., reading magazines, listening to popular music, etc. Upon His arrival they realized that they did not qualify to join Him. In a panic, they raced to buy oil, trim their wicks, lite their lamps and quickly made their way to where the marriage feast was being held. Notice what the Lord said to them upon their arrival: “I do not know you.” Even though they were “virgins” whom He had known for years, and He had not “known” them intimately since they had “run out of oil,” causing their LIGHTS TO GO OUT, LEAVING THEM IN DARKNESS. And “great is that darkness” because it was presented as God’s light (Mat. 6:23) by those “virgins” who were not in Christ because “God is (only) light, and “THERE IS NO DARKNESS IN HIM AT ALL (1 Jn. 1:5). Though known as “virgins,” their “light” (truth) was in reality false light. Jesus had continued to know them, but had stopped “knowing” them when they stopped obeying Him.

Contrast the Lord’s Words to the foolish virgins to whom He said: “I DO NOT KNOW YOU” (did not know them at that time) to His Words He will speak to those who, though “virgins,” will have NEVER OBEYED HIM: “Depart from Me ye who work iniquity (Lawlessness), I NEVER KNEW YOU” (Mat. 7:21-23). The tragedy of the virgin parable is that, unlike these ten virgins who had heard His Truth and had “known” Jesus until they left Him, modern church people have never “known” Him because they have never heard God’s Truth (Gospel). Therefore these unwitting souls do not know that God defines sin as the breaking of His Law–1 Jn. 3:4), and therefore have never asked forgiveness for that all-encompassing sin. They are still in their sins because they are still breaking His Law (1 Jn. 3:4). And when it is proven to them that they must obey the Ten Commandment Law (including commandment #4), they reject God’s Truth, along with the one who revealed it. Having grown up in that situation, I can speak about sin with authority.

Having lived within the Institutional Church System for many years, I know that when one is reportedly “saved” and “born again” one is in Biblical fact neither saved nor born again. Read Hope and Salvation and Born Again. Key words–Hope and Born respectively. Modern church members have merely learned about Jesus Christ and been introduced to the concept of accepting Him as their Savior. Not knowing God’s Truth, they have never made Him their Lord, but supposedly their Savior. As a result, He is not their future Savior because He is not now their Lord. Jesus does not reside (in the form of the Holy Spirit) where sin abides. Because “sinners saved by grace” have never embraced Him as their LORD (MASTER/OWNER) WHO MUST BE OBEYED, they worship the Godhead in vain (Mat. 15:9). True sons of God are led by His indwelling Holy Spirit (Rom. 8:14). The Holy Spirit does not lead people to sin.

However, church people brag that they are allowed to sin repeatedly and get away with it because Jesus supposedly forgives the sin as soon as the sinner repents of it. I was told by an ex-seminary student that JESUS DIED SO THAT WE CAN SIN WITH IMPUNITY. Not so. Scripture tells us that God’s forgiveness is not automatic upon repentance. This is brought out in Second Chronicles 7:14,15 where God says clearly to “MY PEOPLE WHO ARE CALLED BY MY NAME”–(“VIRGINS”–church people). In this passage we are warned that God’s people must, “… TURN FROM (BRING TO AN END) THEIR WICKED WAYS (SINS).” THEN, AND ONLY THEM WILL HE “FORGIVE THEIR SINS.” To “turn from” sin means to “walk” (think, speak and act) in the opposite direction of sin, which is the way of holiness. We are COMMANDED to be holy because Christ is holy (1 Pet. 1:15-2:9). We must learn these lessons and apply to our lives if we are to “know” Jesus Christ in this life and spend eternity with Him. L.J.