Jesus set the tone for what His authentic followers should expect in life.
First, He made it clear that we must choose between Him and the world. We will love, set the eye of our heart upon, and pursue one or the other as the source of our identity and fulfillment. That was “black and white” to Him and it is no more popular today than it was then.
Jesus said that if we choose Him, the world will hate us. “If you were of the world, it would love you as its own. Instead, the world hates you, because you are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world.” John 15:19 BSB. Read all of John 15:19-21.
Up until now, Christians in America have been more loved and accepted than hated and rejected, but that is about to change and we’re not ready for it. Yes, there is a “revival” of sorts going on, but more in a popular way than in the cross-bearing way of Jesus.
Popular Christianity cannot be Biblical Christianity and today’s widespread but unholy merging of faith and politics does not represent the walk that Jesus calls His disciples to. A call to repentance is unpopular but it is the word that is needed in America in our Day.
Our family came to Ohio in 1974, where I would pastor a local Mennonite church. God downloaded THE PROSTITUTE BRIDE to me one Sunday afternoon in the winter of 1976-77, and I read it in our evening service. It expresses my sense of the Life that Jesus invites us into, and the condition of the church in America today. Reading it will help you understand why I was sent away from the church by mid-1978, and why I write as I do today.
Please ask God if this is an accurate description of today’s church, and if so, how He would invite you to respond. Is your local congregation more like those Jesus spoke of in Matthew 15:8, or those who are trained and dressed for battle as they dedicate their lives to the fulfillment of the Matthew 28:18-20 Great Commission?
Ken Stoltzfus
Kidron, Ohio USA
October 25, 2025
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CLICK HERE to read, download or print THE PROSTITUTE BRIDE.
