A Review on "The Jesus You CAN'T Ignore"
People today try to view Jesus as a one sided person that is all gentleness and no toughness. That is so wrong! When I read through Scriptures I just keep reaffirming to myself as gentle as Jesus was, there was always a tough side of Him. God wasn't always merciful, He was also just. One has to consider the judgment God pours down on unrepentant sinners like the people of Sodom who indulged in homosexuality so often. God though He was patient with the murmuring Israelites punished them through various ways. Then the New Testament comes and you try to suggest to me that Jesus took that all away? NOT A CHANCE!!!!
For one fact Jesus was NO SISSY, He hates sin like His Daddy. He didn't take away the moral law like most people think. True the ceremonial law is gone but the moral law has NOT changed one bit. In fact, He came to FULFILL THE LAW which no ordinary man can! Now I began to think that people NEED to learn the tougher side of Jesus who despite His gentleness and loving nature, there was always the intolerant side of Him. Jesus as much as He was gentle and approachable did not hesitate to rebuke false doctrine. As said you can always discipline without love but you cannot have love without discipline. Jesus was a loving master yet He was also a strict disciplinarian. Real love will not leave anybody in error but it will out of love, rebuke the person in error gently BUT firmly. A lack of firmness in discipline is fatal just as a lack of love in discipline is just as grievous. To be a tyrant is just as bad as to be a wishy washy ruler who lets people indulge in wrong. Then I found this book "The Jesus You Can't Ignore" by Pastor John Macarthur as a perfect teaching and as well as a witnessing material.
Now what do I have to say about the book? Pastor John Macarthur who wrote "The Gospel According to Jesus" (twice revised) and other of my recently read books like "Fool's Gold?" and "Truth War" along with many other books is no doubt have written such a direct, informative book non-deviating from Scripture to really show the Jesus of the Bible especially to those who are what I would call don't like to read the Bible or would prefer to read some book. To those who don't know Pastor John Macarthur may easily think that this is a Roman Catholic book due to its cover design but it is not. But I am glad that there are Roman Catholics who are starting to read such good books, I pray hoping that such people will be saved. As said, I love such people so much that I am willing to pray for them when they persecute me by the grace of God. I am glad that there will be more missions, many more getting saved and I am still praying for my unsaved loved ones who are still living that they may not perish but come to repentance. Fortunately the Gospel is getting faster and I must also be involved as well!
Today people would view such a book as fanatical and deadly even to the point of comparing them with the late Osama bin Ladin or the Inquisition. But that is SO dead wrong. People must learn the difference between the Christian holy war against heresy vs. the bloody flesh and blood battles that various religions did to spread their cause. Christians by no means are called to fire arms. Instead their weapons are spiritual like forgiveness against their persecutors, faithfulness in their service, fasting which they spend more time with God and fruitfulness which the Christian reveals the INEVITABLE result of salvation (John 15:1-8, Ephesians 2:8-10 and Titus 2:11-15, James 2). No bullets and bazookas, just the Bible. No missiles aimed at lost sinners, just missions to evangelize the Gospel as it really is. In fact, the author himself no doubt has put the differences so clearly that only a real lunatic will still insist that fundamentalist Christians are the new Talibans and Communists that the world must get rid of. The prologue and introduction really did take a real look at the points I have just shown.
The whole book focuses on Jesus' public ministry which he had one confrontation- the Pharisees. As much as brutal as Roman government was, I do agree that the Pharisees are far more dangerous for spiritual well-being than the Caesar of their day himself. The religion of the Pharisees was built upon man's tradition over the traditions of God's Word (Mark 7:8-13). In fact, the book really explains WHY Jesus did such acts like healing a man on the Sabbath or have the "you heard but I say" concerning the Law. Jesus came to clarify the real meaning of God's Law vs. to that of the manmade tradition that the Pharisees by which any means He DID NOT break the Sabbath at all. The Pharisees taught the deadly heresy of works salvation and were doing so by their own false piety. Romans 10:3 has the Apostle Paul calling this as trying to establish one's righteousness and not submitting one's self to God's righteousness of God, meaning being IGNORANT of God's righteousness. They think that by their piety and rituals they can make it. But Jesus blew the cover many times when He demanded for the IMPOSSIBLE like sell everything and follow Him. In fact, Jesus was for sure aware of how such people were stuck up in one HORRIBLE SIN- the sin of self-righteousness. It's also not impossible for me to think if the Pharisees had their own licentiousness because they may have declared some sins as "not sin" behind the scenes. In fact, they were an ancient occult society that control people via CORRUPT RELIGION! These men refused to accept He was the Messiah and if they continued in such stubbornness, these men are in Hell now!
The whole book focuses on Jesus' public ministry which he had one confrontation- the Pharisees. As much as brutal as Roman government was, I do agree that the Pharisees are far more dangerous for spiritual well-being than the Caesar of their day himself. The religion of the Pharisees was built upon man's tradition over the traditions of God's Word (Mark 7:8-13). In fact, the book really explains WHY Jesus did such acts like healing a man on the Sabbath or have the "you heard but I say" concerning the Law. Jesus came to clarify the real meaning of God's Law vs. to that of the manmade tradition that the Pharisees by which any means He DID NOT break the Sabbath at all. The Pharisees taught the deadly heresy of works salvation and were doing so by their own false piety. Romans 10:3 has the Apostle Paul calling this as trying to establish one's righteousness and not submitting one's self to God's righteousness of God, meaning being IGNORANT of God's righteousness. They think that by their piety and rituals they can make it. But Jesus blew the cover many times when He demanded for the IMPOSSIBLE like sell everything and follow Him. In fact, Jesus was for sure aware of how such people were stuck up in one HORRIBLE SIN- the sin of self-righteousness. It's also not impossible for me to think if the Pharisees had their own licentiousness because they may have declared some sins as "not sin" behind the scenes. In fact, they were an ancient occult society that control people via CORRUPT RELIGION! These men refused to accept He was the Messiah and if they continued in such stubbornness, these men are in Hell now!
Aside from just an examination of the confrontations, the book also explains the encounter Jesus had with Nicodemus. Compared to most Pharisees, he was willing to listen. He later discovered that regardless how religious he was, perhaps he kept walking while kneeling on the floor- he was short out of the righteousness of God. When Jesus said that unless the righteousness of the people exceed the Pharisees, they can't see Heaven and sad truth is NO ONE is righteous a truth that Paul repeatedly affirms in Romans 3:10-19. Also it explains the hard preaching of Jesus like His Sermon on the Mount, the seven beatitudes and clarifying the rules that were perverted from protecting society to being used for unjust purposes (you have heard but I say), hypocrisy, the bad trees will always bear bad fruit, the broad way to destruction, a message for the masses, more hard words for the disciples, the bread of life discourse, about the sin against the Holy Spirit being correctly explained and the woes that hit against falsehood and overall He was NOT a "tame preacher" by today's watered down standards.
Recommended? Absolutely! Not just a witnessing tool but a perfect gift for special occasions to!