Someone sent me an article about a heavy metal singer in Poland who ripped up a Bible and cursed Jesus and God at a concert. He threw the torn pages to the audience and told them to burn them up, calling the Bible “deceitful” and a “lie” and those who believe in it a “criminal sect”. He was brought to trial because hurting someone’s religious feelings is actually a crime in Poland and one can be sentenced to two years for this offense.
He was found innocent because the judge ruled that ripping up the Bible was considered a form of “artistic expression” and consistent with his style of music. Also several members of the audience testified that they were not offended by his actions.
The person who sent the article to me was deeply offended by his actions and indicated that they wished it had been a Koran that was ripped up, leaving me to assume that they would like to see a fatwa issued against this guy by some Muslim cleric and this person murdered as a just punishment for apostasy against Islam.
So what to make of this?
I think that heavy metal singer needs Jesus in his life. He cursed the God that created and loves him and desecrated His holy word. One day he will have to answer for that act to a Holy and Righteous Judge and I can assure everyone that this Judge will not call it “artistic expression”. He will call it sin and unless this singer cloaks himself with the sacrificial blood of Christ and is forgiven for that and his other sins, he will spend eternity suffering in hell totally isolated and separated from God and His light.
The job of judging others belongs solelyto Jesus and for sure I’m not anyone’s judge, nor do I want to be. I detest what this fellow did, but God created us all with a free will. We are free to choose to follow or reject Him. We as followers of Christ should not be in a rage because there are those who choose to reject God. Just the opposite we should feel compassion for them just as Jesus did. Remember the Bible states: “As for the person who hears my words but does not keep them, I do not judge him. For I did not come to judge the world, but to save it. It also states: “For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.
We should not be surprised by those who choose not to follow Christ. The Bible tells us that there will actually be more people that choose the easy path to destruction than the difficult path to life. It states that broad is the gate to destruction and many will choose to follow it, but few will enter through the narrow gate to everlasting life. It’s narrow because everlasting life can only be obtained by going through Jesus Christ and this evil world sometimes makes it difficult on those who choose to follow Him. It also states that although the first trip to this planet by Jesus was to save the world, the next will be to fearfully judge the world as our Holy Righteous Judge.
The Taliban and others force people to pledge allegiance to their God and their belief system. Anyone who goes against them will be cruelly punished. They try to rid the world of any other religions and even blew up a centuries old statue of Buddha. They flog; they stone to death; they murder anyone who owns a Bible or tries to talk about Jesus or any God aside from the one they worship.
What kind of religion and mindset is that?
Don’t have a Taliban mindset. Evil people do evil things. They are lost and going to hell unless someone is compassionate enough to share the word of God with them and they choose to accept it. We are to emulate Jesus. If someone hears our words and does not accept them, we are not to judge them; that is Jesus Christ’s job.
Recently I shared the Gospel with someone who is struggling with accepting Christ as his Savior. I was thinking about it the other day as I prayed for him to do so, and I kind of shuddered. If he does not accept Christ after hearing the word of God, how much harsher will his sentence be when he is sitting in hell and remembering that day that I poured my heart out to him for some two hours? Imagine regretting making that foolish – foolish – decision and thinking about it over and over and over again… forever and ever – repeating: “If only I would have said, ‘Yes Lord I believe!’ when I had the chance. It’s too late now. Woe is me – Woe is me!”
I wouldn’t wish that on my worst enemy…I hope and pray he will say yes today…
Have a great weekend and go to church this Sunday.
1 John 4:14
And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world.