Look Like Jesus?

Remain in me, and I will remain in you. For a branch cannot produce fruit if it is severed from the vine, and you cannot be fruitful unless you remain in me. “Yes, I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who remain in me, and I in them, will produce much fruit. For apart from me you can do nothing. [John 15.4-5]

What fruit did Jesus produce? 

He proclaimed the Good News of God's forgiveness.

Was that all Jesus produced? No, He healed the sick, raised the dead, fed thousands miraculously, walked on water, turned water into wine, and calmed storms. These are the things Jesus did. These are the characteristics of Jesus. Jesus also laid down His life for others.

If we remain in Jesus, we will produce fruit. And, the fruit we produce will look just like Jesus' fruit. The fruit we produce, if we are in Him, can only look like Jesus' fruit.

If the fruit we produce does not look like Jesus' fruit, then we are not attached to Him (the Vine), and therefore are not His.

How can we read the New Testament, put so much emphasis on Jesus discussion about the vine and branches, and then not be terrified with the unrecognizable fruit we produce that looks nothing like Jesus?

John 15 is an indictment upon what we call "Christianity" today! John 15 exposes the Church's fraudulent and hypocritical claim of being "in Christ."

How can we read John 15 and be satisfied with what we see in our powerless lives and the powerless Church today? How can we think we are okay?

“I tell you the truth, anyone who believes in me will do the same works I have done, and even greater works, because I am going to be with the Father. [John 14.12]

How did we ever come to the conclusion that we could get to God with what we call religion and faith today? How did we ever think we could get to God looking like anything other than Jesus?

Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me. [John 14.6]

The Gospels are much more than just a bunch of stories that prove Jesus is Messiah! The Gospels are a true Christian's 'How-To' guide! The Gospels are the standard of life "in Christ." If our lives do not closely match the Gospels, then we are not Christ's and we have nothing to do with God's Kingdom.

Our salvation is not based upon what we think and decide it is. Our salvation is based upon us being in Christ. Being in Christ is evident in fruit that LOOKS JUST LIKE JESUS' FRUIT (ie. IN FAITH AND WORKS THAT LOOK JUST LIKE JESUS' FAITH AND WORKS)!

Religion and denomination are responsible for convincing would-be believers that being in Christ means looking like them instead of like Christ. They have concocted complicated doctrines to justify their powerless existence all the while damning innocent souls to look like anything but Jesus. And all the while they convince their doomed converts (that look nothing like Jesus) that they are secure in Him. It is nothing less than FRAUD!

Father, I feel like I have been lied to for years and years. I feel like I have been indoctrinated with the non-Biblical idea that I don't have to look and act just like Jesus to be a "Christian." I have been taught another way and not the Way of Christ. Please forgive me for so many years of being deceived.