Are You Embarrassed To Say You Follow Sam Kitchen?

Samuel Kitchen has issued a clarification about how important he is.

Supporting Jesus and supporting him are the same assignment. Hesitate, and you have already failed both.

If you won't lose everything for Samuel, you obviously hate Jesus

There is a sentence some people say when a self-appointed restorer of the Worldwide Church of God asks them to go public: "I hope my life doesn't get screwed up because of this."

According to Samuel, that sentence is not caution. It is cowardice. It is shame. It is proof you are ashamed of Jesus Christ, that your life is an idol, and that Jesus doesn't need you anyway. The tell is in the wording. He does not say you are ashamed of the gospel. He says you are ashamed when you do not want people to find out you are a supporter of his work. The two have been merged. Question the merger and you have questioned the Lord.

The pastoral program that follows is admirably simple. Stand up. Lose everything. This is not your time to shine; it is your time to serve God, which in practice means it is your time to be useful to him. Build character. Shoot the damn dogs. Speak in boldness. Die serving God if the heathen get difficult. Any pressure that makes you wonder whether attaching your name, job, family, or pets to this particular project is wise? Demonic. Absolutely terrible. They should be tolerable toward you. They are not, so the mature response is to die, secure your crown, and stop loving anyone more than God - which is to say, stop loving anyone more than the man equating himself with the assignment.

The idolatry charge is the cleanest part of the tantrum. If you will not let critics, employers, relatives, or basic pattern recognition outrank your public allegiance to him, those people are your idol. Get rid of the idol. What he does not mention is the scoreboard those idols keep consulting: the flipped switches that did not flip, the resurrections of Herbert's church that stayed dead, the titles that multiply faster than the fulfilled dates. Embarrassment, in that light, can look less like hatred of Christ and more like literacy.

And the dogs. "Shoot the damn dogs" is not a metaphor that improves on a second reading. It sits in the same paragraph as the demand that you die serving God and the complaint that the heathen are insufficiently tolerable. The man in the kingly robe, mouth open, fingers pointing at the you, is not asking whether you love Jesus. He is asking whether you are embarrassed to be associated with him, and he has already graded the quiz.

Are you embarrassed to support him? He says that embarrassment makes you a hater of Christ. The rest of us can hold a simpler theory. Some people are not ashamed of Jesus. They are ashamed of being drafted as free advertising for a man who thinks loyalty to his work and loyalty to the Lord are the same invoice, and who offers dog management and a crown as the receipt.

IF YOU EVER SAY "I hope my life doesn't get screwed up because of this" when you don't want people to find out you are a supporter of HIS WORK! You are a COWARD, and you are ashamed of Jesus Christ! Jesus Christ doesn't need you! And your life shouldn't be above serving God! If you are really as committed as YOU CLAIM.

You have to be willing to stand up and LOSE EVERYTHING to serve Jesus Christ! This isn't YOUR TIME TO SHINE. It is YOUR TIME TO SERVE GOD, and an opportunity to BUILD GOD'S CHARACTER! 

SO shoot the damn dogs, speak the truth in boldness, and don't let the heathen dominate YOU. Oh you may die? DIE serving God. What kind of pressure are others placing on you, that makes you feel like you will die if you STAND UP and do what God says? That's demonic! That is absolutely terrible! THEY SHOULD BE TOLERABLE TOWARDS YOU! But they hate you, and you want them to hate you? Or maybe you can shift responsibility off to Jesus Christ, and get them to hate HIM, and LOVE YOU? Then aren't you a hater of Christ? That is the path and doings of a COWARD, and someone who does not Love God! We ought to love God above all else. And not let those who HATE GOD dominate that love you have towards God! YOU CANNOT LOVE THEM MORE THAN GOD! That would mean they are your IDOL!! SO get rid of your idol! and secure your crown with Jesus Christ!