The Jesus Test: What Would Jesus Say?

Years back wearing a WWJD (What Would Jesus Do?) bracelet was all the rage among evangelical Christians.  Glancing down at the bracelet was supposed to filter our daily actions through the prism of Christ and keep us from doing “bad stuff”.  As you can guess, it didn’t work so well (except of course for company selling the bracelets)

But now I realize I have developed my own little test.  It’s much more fun really and doesn’t have the law enforcing attributes of it’s WWJD cousin.  (i.e. no guilt)

It’s WWJS test… (What Would Jesus Say)

The test is actually quite fun and produces a fair bit of laughs…which is why I like it.

It’s simple really…take any pastor, preacher, author, teacher who is speaking in their capacity as a Christian leader and simply run their words in your mind as if they were flowing from the lips of Jesus.

What is the reaction?

If the thought makes you laugh, squirm, cry, or wince in pain there is a fair chance then Jesus is probably NOT tacking with what the guy or gal is stating.

(I do wish I was more of an tech guy because I would have loved to include on this post a real animation of Jesus speaking out the words of some of our most visible and influential Christian leaders.   Though I don’t know if the image of Jesus blaming Hurricane Katrina on the gays would illicit more laughter or more tears.)

For example take a recent appearance by Bible teacher Rick Joyner on a Christian talk show:

Now I think for our country not to have seen ISIS     (insert Rome) and not to see the threat we are under in this country because we’re not sealing our borders and many other reasons..but..to me this is either the greatest naivety, I think, ever in history of leaders or it is treason!  I don’t see anything in between those two.  We are being sold out……we have people who are not competent in their positions of defending us, and we are going to pay a terrible price for this.

Rick Joyner on the Jim Bakker Show

So picture those words flowing from the lips of Jesus.  Christ’s message to his followers is not one of proclaiming Hope and the Kingdom of God that is preparing to be released to every tribe and language.

No…

Instead it’s a message of fear, paranoia, and accusation.  The Romans and the foreigners are threatening our way of life and our nation’s leaders are incompetent and failing to defend us. That this is treason…

Yes, it makes me laugh at first when I picture the absurdity of statements like this coming from the heart and lips of Jesus.  But then there is also sadness.

Sadness that tens of thousands of American Christians listen and get spiritual direction from Rick Joyner.  They read his books, are subscribed to his newsletter, and attend his talks and he regularly fails the What Would Jesus Say test.

And Joyner is not alone.  There are many other leaders who are setting the tone for the Life of Christ by promoting fear and nationalism.

So do a quick test the next time you are watching a Christian speaker, reading a Christian book, or perusing a ministry newsletter.  If the words coming out are not words fueled with hope, compassion, and peace, they are probably not part of the Good News we are supposed to share.

Oh, and as always, if someone asks you to “Take a Stand” (as Joyner does at the start of the clip) that is always a good indication that the person is preparing to fail the WWJS test! 🙂

Peace,

Steve