In the weekly Bible study at our apartment building, we recently studied John 15.  Some speculation on a contemporary application of John 15: 22-25 led to some thoughts that I’d like to share for your consideration:

“If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not be guilty of sin.  Now, however, they have no excuse for their sin.  He who hates me hates my Father as well.  If I had not done among them what no one else did, they would not be guilty of sin.  But now they have seen these miracles, and yet they have hated both me and my Father.  But this is to fulfil what is written in their Law: ‘They hated me without reason'” (John 15:22-25).

Earlier in this chapter, Jesus warned his disciples that they would be “hated” by others because those others hated Jesus first.  He told them, “If you lived on the world’s terms, the world would love you as one of its own.  But since I picked you to live on God’s terms and no longer on the world’s terms, the world is going to hate you” (v. 18-19 – Message).  As believers, we live in the world but are not part of the world. Jesus wants us to know that “if they beat on me, they will certainly beat on you” (v. 20 – Message).   

Jesus’ words (v. 22) caused his hearers to be guilty of sin.  My question for our culture is this: How guilty are we of having rejected the words of Jesus?  Has our culture actually rejected the gospel or simply reacted negatively to a distorted version of the gospel?  

Jesus says this regarding those who have heard:  “Now, however, they have no excuse for their sin” (v. 22).  My question for believers, however, is this:  Are we without excuse when others reject the gospel?  How much light (the good news) has our culture really encountered in us?  How much of our behavior is without excuse?

Jesus is very clear: “Whoever hates me hates my Father as well” (v. 23).  This is how I would interpret that statement for our day:  Jesus is the way to the Father (John 14:6).  John declares Jesus as coming from the Father.  “No one has ever seen God, but the one and only Son, who is himself God and is in closest relationship with the Father, has made him known” (John 1:18).  When we spurn Jesus’ speaking into our lives, we lose the sense of transcendent reality.  We live in a “closed” world with little spiritual connection to the Lord.  

Jesus’ listeners had seen the “works no one else did,” yet they were guilty of sin.  They had witnessed Jesus’ miracles, only to dismiss both Jesus’ words and his Father working in and through them.  My question:  As we try to live out the gospel in our culture, have we discounted the voice of God in our midst? 

Jesus interprets the rejection of his message as a fulfillment of scripture, referring to Ps. 69:4, “They hated me without reason.” Could it be that some of the opposition to Jesus and his kingdom is the result of thinking within the Body of Christ that discounts the Lordship of Jesus – thinking that has become a stumbling block for us and for unbelievers around us?   Revelation 12:12 reminds us that the devil “knows his time is short.” Yes, we see an almost demonic spirit at work in our nation.  But is it not also possible that we have accepted a watered-down version of the gospel to the point of no return?

By God’s grace I have become more ecumenical as I have matured.  Early on, I learned to see beyond the institutional challenges of the Roman Catholic Church, finding and embracing the rich spiritual streams in its long history.  It all started for me when I met and enjoyed rich, deep fellowship with some Catholic Charismatics.  It continued as I became acquainted with the deep spiritual life found in such people as St. John of the Cross and Bernard of Clairvaux.  So, in this blog, I share two recent articles that could very well be addressed to any evangelical church.  

First, from Ralph Martin’s blog at Renewal Ministries.  I have followed Ralph for years, and believe he has a proven prophetic ministry.  In 1975 at a conference in Rome, he gave this prophecy: “Because I love you, I want to show you what I’m doing in the world today.  I want to prepare you for what is to come.  Days of darkness are coming on the world – days of tribulation.  I will lead you into the desert.  I will strip you of everything that you depend on now, so you depend just on me.”

God is preparing his people for the days to come.  We are to heed the warning.  Days of darkness and tribulation are coming upon us.  We will find ourselves in a spiritual desert.  What we have depended on will be removed.  Through all this the church will be purified. 

Another prophecy that has stood the test of time is from Fr. Mike Scanlan, who spoke these words back in 1980: “What I have not accomplished in my blessings and gifts, I will accomplish by my judgment and my purification.”  Today the Lord is exposing the worldliness in the church.  We are being called to repent. 

Quoting two Catholic brothers who have prophetic ministries might cause some to question my discernment – or to even cry “Heresy!”  Trust me – these are true servants of the Lord.  Their words are for the whole church.  God is allowing tribulation, darkness and pruning to take place.  God is forming a holy, purified church that will speak the truth and shine as a beacon in the days to come.  Don’t be surprised by tribulation. 

Yet another Catholic testimony is from retired Archbishop Charles J. Chaput:  “We need a new Pentecost.”  Speaking to the graduates of St. Charles Borromeo Seminary, the Archbishop lamented the religious life of the church as “a malleable, vanilla kind of religion that can be used to justify almost any ugly idea or behavior that needs a moral gloss.”  He spoke of American Catholic life as “the temptation to accommodate, to compromise, to get along and fit in – and then feel good about it.”   Tolerance is placed above “genuine love, justice, and charity, because it seems so much more peaceful to manage differences that way.”

In the Archbishop’s view, the church has “abandoned who we really are. In one word – “holy” which means “other than” or “different from.”  So, his challenge is for “a church rooted in holiness [and] parishes on fire with faith.  He dares to say “we need priests who will spark a new, Pentecostal fire from every vocation and form of discipleship in the Church.”  “We need a new Pentecost,” he declared.  “Remember that.  Give your life to that.” 

Wow.  This retired archbishop is preaching like a Pentecostal preacher to Catholic seminarians.  Oh, that we would have ears to hear the passion and conviction in his words.  We do need a “new Pentecost.”  Be open to the work of his Spirit in your heart.