In my local community is a Baptist affiliated mega-church, which I drive by regularly in my local trips to here and there. The pastor pays for a 30-minute Sunday morning slot at the local television station and his sermons are shown as a week delayed taping. Because he is local, I doubt his taped sermons go beyond the reaches of the local television station; but who knows? Maybe he is syndicated and his sermons are shown around the world.
This Sunday morning, he preached about doing for others. He actually suggested to those listening that Jesus wanted his disciples to stop being selfish and, “Go ask someone what you can do for him or her.” He included, "It might cost you, but it might not."
I immediately thought how dangerous that suggestion was, as I could see him going through the rank and file of members attending his services, with him asking, “Brother (or sister), have you offered your help to someone today?” Of course, all who say, “No,” would then be prepped to hear him say, “Wonderful! You can help me by a big donation to my ministry.”
That aside, he then used Scripture to defend his suggestion, where he actually said all of this doing for others would be service unto God; so, when the return of Jesus came, then one would find the reward of having given to others as being able to go to heaven. In that promised return of “Christ,” he quoted (and showed on the on-stage big screen) Philippians 2:9-11. That Scripture of Paul says:
“For this reason also God highly exalted [Jesus], and bestowed on [Jesus] the name which is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” (New American Standard Bible, with my replacements of “Him” with “Jesus” in brackets.)
The pastor made a big deal about “every knee will bow” and “every tongue will confess,” by actually stating the whole wide world will “someday” come to this realization “that Jesus Christ is Lord,” when Jesus returns “someday.” He then said some will have that dawning come from hell, when it is too late. That is why it is important to give in service to God now, and bow one’s knees and confess now, that “Jesus Christ is Lord.”
The sad thing is I am sure this pastor of a mega-church is singing an ‘old time religion’ favorite, which many other pastors of many Christian denominations also sing. When the pastor said the part “that Jesus Christ is Lord,” the unseen audience gave him a round of applause. That says he just fed them what they like to eat and were happy with the same message being told.
First of all, Paul never knew Jesus, the man born of a woman, known as being from Nazareth, who preached in ministry for three years, all over Galilee and Judea, before being crucified to death by the Romans, because of the plotting by the Temple elite. Paul might have heard of Jesus, from arriving in Jerusalem for his next assignment to round up followers of Jesus and persecute them, with legal protection; but Paul never knew the man named Jesus.
Paul was struck blind and heard the voice of Jesus ask him, “Why do you persecute me.”
Paul was not persecuting Jesus the man. Paul was persecuting Jesus the Spirit-Soul, which was resurrected in the souls of others, who became Jesus reborn into flesh. That was the only way Paul could persecute Jesus. After three days blind, Paul became another reborn as Jesus. He changed his name to “Small, Little,” meaning his name (Saul) meant nothing. The name Saul “bowed down to” and “confessed that Jesus” was his Lord, meaning Paul then became a Saint in the name of Jesus.
Second, the ‘last name’ of Jesus is not “Christ.” “Christ” is a statement in Greek (Christos) that means “Anointed.” The capitalization (divine Greek text uses capitalization for a purpose) means an “Anointment” of Spirit, sent by God, as "one Anointed." The word Christos is the same as the Hebrew mashiach (מָשִׁיחַ, messiah), where Hebrew has no capitalized letters. Still, a lower-case implication of “messiah” means physical oil poured from a priest’s horn over the head of a would-be king, while the implication of “Messiah” means Spiritual “Anointment” by Yahweh’s Spirit being poured out. That makes David be both a “messiah” and a “Messiah,” which in Greek would make David a “christ” and a “Christ.” This must be understood.
When the New Testament epistles combine Jesus and Christ, this says one becomes Spiritually Baptized by Yahweh (God, the Father) to be reborn as Jesus, through a most divine “Anointment” via the Son’s soul into and one with a lost soul. To keep that lost soul from ever being lost again, Jesus becomes that lost soul’s “Lord.” The name “Jesus,” meaning “Yah Saves,” says Yahweh Saves by making souls in flesh be “Anointed” as His Son; and, the purpose of that “Christ” presence of “Salvation” is to help others ... to give, as to "go ask someone what you can do for him or her" .. relative to the greatest gift of soul Salvation.
This means that one goes into service for Yahweh (God, now known personally) and His Son Jesus reborn into new flesh that will continue his ministry. Jesus did not go up to people and ask, “Brother, can I do something for you?” Jesus spoke the truth of the Word in ways that no Jew had ever heard told before. Those needing to be helped then flocked to Jesus. Jesus helped those whose desire to please God led them to find him (to beg for healing, to beg for others to be healed, to beg for guidance, and to beg for demons being overcome). Jesus was sent by Yahweh to be the source of the Truth of the Word that would lead them to see each soul as nothing, if not reborn as Jesus.
This means that when Paul wrote, “every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father,” that is what Paul (and every other Apostle in the name of Jesus, as a Christ of Yahweh) was spreading in his ministry as Jesus reborn. Every Saved soul must become Jesus reborn in his or her flesh and go forth and tell the Truth of the Word, so that Truth will become the inner emotional motivation of faith (from seeing the Truth with one’s own eyes – not being told what to believe blindly) to submit to Yahweh and serve Him with all one’s heart, all one’s soul, and all one’s mind.
This is a repeating story. Christianity is the compounding of "Anointment" by Yahweh, via the resurrection of His Son's soul in many who seek Salvation. Salvation is a circle within a circle. Everyone begins pure. Everyone becomes filthy dirty from sin. Everyone knows sin and must willingly choose to be cleaned by the Word. Each individual must be stricken blind to the temptations of a world of sins. Each individual soul must fully commit to serving Yahweh as His Wife soul. Every soul voicing commitment will be tested by the works of that promise. Every proved soul will then be born again from above, which means receiving the name that is above all others. All others are the physical names of lost souls in flesh, like was Saul. One name above all others means the one name that says "Yahweh Saves," which only Apostles and Saints can truthfully claim as each one's Lord.
This means only one name gets the reward of Heaven (as eternal union with Yahweh). A soul showing up for Judgment without Jesus there to say, "Hi Dad. I vouch for this true servant of Yours" is going to be recycled back to the earthly plane. Reincarnation can be a good thing (for those eternally possessed by Jesus ad its Lord) or it can be a bad thing (for those who bow down to their own fleshy names and confess to nothing done to save anyone).
Everyone has a physical name; but if one does not have the name Jesus Spiritually Anointed upon one’s soul, making one’s soul be a Christ in the name of Jesus, then one has not bowed down upon one’s knees at the altar of divine marriage to Yahweh. Every soul must confess the Commandments of sacred union, in order to be married to Yahweh, who then becomes the Father of His Son sent once again into flesh to serve Him on earth.
Each soul reborn in the name of Jesus is a mega-church; but it needs no large parking lot nor large buildings, in which to imprison lost souls who will never be told the Truth of the Word so they too can be reborn as a mega-church in the name of Jesus. If only people would commit to Yahweh, rather than to false shepherds, then the Truth of the Word would Save more souls. Commitment to the Truth takes more than a couple of hours listening to someone on a Sunday. It has to be a joy that wants to be a full-time presence in one’s life.
Look around you right now, this very moment. Does the world seem like it is headed towards Salvation? Or, does it look like it is on the road to Damascus to persecute some more on the list of followers of Jesus? Waiting for Jesus to return someday, when he returned long ago to transform disciples into Apostles and a persecutor like Saul into one who would be persecuted, named Paul, is being blind to the Truth.
Like the Baptist pastor of a mega-church said, "You might find yourself bowing down and confessing from hell, when it is too late." He told that message to Christians who have no clue they are supposed to be in ministry as Jesus reborn, each one a Christ in his name.