Jesus said: " I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the father but through me." (John 14:6) Think about that for a minute, it is a pretty bold statement. In fact it can be taken as downright offensive. By saying this, Jesus is basically saying that any other claims of any other religions are false and will not lead you to heaven. He is claiming to be the only true means of salvation.

Can a claim like that fit in with today's climate of tolerance and acceptance? Can we truly go around and teach that any other teaching or religion is false? Can we actually tell people that they cannot get to heaven but through Christ?

Absolutely!

It seems people are more afraid of offending people then telling them the truth. It is more important to make them feel comfortable and accepted so we water down the Gospel. We seem to think that we are the ones to save people so we manipulate the truth and give it every twist we can to fit into today's culture.

Popular or not, the Bible is the truth, and Christ's claim to being the only way to the Father is true and nothing can change that. Will people be offended? Yes. Should we change what we teach and believe because of that? No.

I am not sure where the thought that Christ never offended people came from, but it is far from the truth. I don't know how anyone can think it is up to us to save people and we need to make the Gospel "cool" or "modern" to fit today's culture. Jesus is the same today, yesterday and forever. He is relevant to today without us having to dress Him up or soften His message.

If you don't want to offend people, then you probably better not read the Bible to anyone. If you don't want to offend people, you probably better not teach the Gospel. If you don't want to offend people in your church, you should probably replace the parables and teachings of Christ with nice fluffy stories and analogies. If you don't want to offend people, then you should definitely not get involved with Stand True and should unsubscribe to this newsletter.

We do not set out to offend. There's a big difference between our being offensive and the offense of the Gospel. We want to set out to proclaim the truth that Jesus is the way, and the truth, and the life. We will proclaim that no one will come to the Father but through Him. We will proclaim that the killing of innocent children in the womb is murder. We will proclaim that the ten commandments were actually commandments and not suggestions. While our goal is not to offend, if we are not offending then we are probably not doing our job.

For Christ I stand,

Bryan Kemper