MASTER JESUS

"That if thou shalt confess with the mouth Lord (*which means master) Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved"(Rom. 10:9).

*The literal translation from the original Hebrew and Greek of the Bible for the word "Lord" is "Master," as in a master/servant relationship. The word Lord is so often used in association with or in place of Jesus's name by Christians that it has almost become part of His name in usage, a way of addressing Him in speech or prayer often without the conscious realization that it is not His name, but is in reality His title--"Master Jesus" to His servant Christians. This is not a confortable connotation for fiercely independent Americans, but it is nevertheless our actual position in relation to Jesus as Savior--as servants to our Master's will.

What changes would the realization and deliberate acknowledgement of our true relationship to our Master Jesus as Christians bring to our church services, witnessing, and prayer life? Would a minister or layperson be so bold as to demand the attention of our Savior in Heaven if instead of crying out "Lord!," they addressed Him as "Master"? What kind of adament requests would a servant whose daily needs have already been well taken care of make of his master? A grateful servant would presume to make very few. Substitute Master for the word Lord in your scripture reading and experience the difference in perspective.

The word "master" is defined as one having authority or control over others. Some who profess to be Born-again Christians state that as part of their "sanctification process". They strive to daily submit more and more of their mind and will over to the authority and control of their Savior Jesus. According to Romans 10:9, the feat of becoming a servant given over completely to the Savior's will, the will of our "Master Jesus," is realized and accepted completely as an act of our will and confessed with our mouth at the exact moment of our conversion. It is a miracle originated and orchestrated by the Holy Spirit and is absolutely necessary if our salvation is to be genuine. Jesus is to be our complete Master Savior from the beginning, if we have been predestined to become His servants before creation, truly children of God and His emmissaries on earth from the start.

I have been reading Iagain The Man in the Iron Mask , the last book in The Three Musketeers Series by Alexander Dumas. Not that long ago in human history, it was considered to be a privilege and honor to serve someone important, to pledge one's life in service to them with loyalty and courage, self-sacrifice if necessary. As Christians, if we perform and complete our missions well, one day we will be greeted by our Master King on His palace grounds with the additional reward of the words, "Well done, good and faithful servant."

P.S. Melinda Doolittle, one of the last three contestants on the American Idol program, good Christian girl that she is, when the show's camera crew this week visited her hometown of Brentwood, Tennessee (just outside Nashville), she led them to her home church. During last night's live broadcast, Melinda wore a dress which bore the words, "Death Cheater" and a cross. Though she possessed by far, and consistently, the absolute best singing voice and professional delivery of the season, this week, of course, she was voted off. God bless this courageous Christian willing to take a stand for her faith, one of Jesus's good and faithful servants.

J. Wallace

DIVINE CORRECTION

I recently asked the Lord to send His Holy Spirit to show me where I have been wrong. Sometimes I lend my support to people and ministries with a heart of compassion but a head disengaged. Jesus did exactly what I asked Him to do, using off-handed comments, educational texts, and even media sources to present me in short succession what I needed to know. It was a demonstration of the supernatural interceding into the physical plane in minor related events that only I would know were the answer to prayer (a concept related in the book entitled The Shy God).

I wrote sometime ago about lending my support through involvement to a local Saturday night Catholic Mass. I felt sorry for their ministry--it was so poorly attended--and assumed that these must be some genuine Born-again Catholic Christians. After all, they believe Jesus is the Son of God, that He died on the cross for our sins, and He rose from the dead on the 3rd day to prove His assertions. I didn't investigate the matter further, exactly what they taught and believed, but just assumed their gospel was similar.

I began attending their masses. The nun that organized their services complimented me on my public speaking, after I was once called upon to give a short testimony, and asked me to read the Responsorial Psalm segment of their mass every week. I have done so for months.

Events unfolded quickly after my recent prayer for Divine correction.

A few weeks ago after mass, their youngest priest, in a casual conversation with several attendees voiced his admiration for their latest pope, Pope Benedict XVI. The priest fervently supported the Pope's recent publicised comments concerning Islam and his call to "keep Catholicism pure--free from the influences and taint of modern culture and other faiths." The priest looked sternly right at me as he made this point.

I was perplexed by the attention. Who didn't admire someone who took a stand for his faith regardless of the consequences? Wasn't that just faith in practice, and weren't we all Christians in this present company? I assumed that we were Born-again Christians regardless of our affilliations, Protestant or Catholic. Being a news fanatic, I came across several news articles the next week that related and analyzed the Pope's recent comments and read them thoroughly. Something of the fundamental, strictly exclusive, and somewhat primitive nature of traditional Catholic theology began to come into focus.

The following Saturday night, our kindly nun had one booklet left over. She asked me to take it so she wouldn't have to "lug it home," and made me promise to read it. The booklet outlined simply the major doctrines of the Catholic Church. It was shocking!

I can't recall ever before reading the Protestant faith referred to as heresy in any modern literature. How could I be a heretic when sympathy led me to support their pitifully attended services in the first place, assuming that a Christian label meant Born-again Christianity. Saved by baptism as an infant; a blatant works equals salvation message; parrishioners deemed too ignorant to understand scripture properly; total allegiance and submission to a mortal and often fallible hierarchy of men; a strange and seemingly canibalistic, literal interpretation of communion called the Eucharist (which reminds me of John 6:52-66); the Catholic Church alone presented as the only true religion of Jesus Christ, etc.--what kind of faith had I been supporting?

After the Vatican II Conferance in the 1960's, the Catholic Church realized that their membership was diminishing. Outreach programs were initiated such as Cursillo and Kairos, which are presented as ecumenical, "spiritual awakening" seminars. In these sessions Bibles are banned, psychological techniques are utilized to dredge up old personal issues and create an atmosphere of emotional vulnerability, and no gospel is preached--just an allegiance to the group reinforced by regular meetings in the name of Christ's Love. Why would a strictly non-ecumental religion sponsor a supposed ecumenical ministry, one in which the major outcome is the creation of a list of names and semblance of religiousness through which no one is saved? Why does the Catholic Church need this list of names?

"It is not unlikely that, in the future we are now preparing, a question of politics and intrigues may still arise, but the springs by which they work will be so carefully concealed that no one will be able to see aught but flowers and paintings, just as at the theatre, where a Colossus appears upon the scene walking along moved by the small legs and slender arms of a child concealed within the framework"--Alexander Dumas.

The end result of this experience was humility. How often has compassion led Christians to lend their support to ministries without fully investigating the underlying doctrines foundational to these "Christian faiths?" What exactly had I been endorsing with my attendance and participation? What kind of harm had I unwittingly done by my example? Only the Lord knows.

P.S. My daughter and I have been praying for immediate salvation for Paris Hilton, Lindsay Lohan, and Britney Spears. Imagine what a witness that would be for the world! I jokingly told my beautiful, Christian offspring that they would go from being the "Spice Girls" (not the original music group; I referred to their lifestyles), to the "Nice Girls!"

J. Wallace