The Name

I just watched another politically correct prayer on live tv. Most of the time people will see a prayer said on tv, and not even realize that there is anything wrong with it because, after all, it’s a prayer! In this tv prayer, God was referred to as God, Holy Spirit, Father, Almighty, but no mention of His actual name. Now don’t get me wrong, God is Almighty, Holy Spirit, and Father, but no mention of the Son’s actual name! Interestingly though the prayer was ended by saying, “in the name that is above all names, amen,” and yet THE NAME was still not said.

I’ve seen a Nascar race on tv where the opening prayer omits “the name”, but only generalizes God down to being just “God”. God could mean Allah to a Muslim, or Buddha to a Buddhist. Saying only “God” is the politically correct way of referring to a supreme being without specifying who God is out of fear that someone will get mad at the one who said it.

I’ve even been to churches and seen pastors stand in a baptistery and say, “I now baptize you in THE NAME of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit”, and then baptizes the person having never actually said THE NAME at all! In a church!!!

My friends, there is “A NAME” that is a specific name. It is the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Not saying this name is an act of omission that sneaks in under our radar.

Let us believers start letting it be known in all the world that this “name” that is constantly undergoing unnoticed omission - is JESUS.

I was once in a restaurant talking to a friend for over an hour about electronics. As soon as I went into a different subject and audibly spoke the name of Jesus, I suddenly noticed that my friend started looking left and right to see who might have heard me. Then he interrupted me in mid-sentence and whispered quietly, “do you know that you’re talking really loud?” I wasn’t talking any louder about Jesus than I was when I was talking about ham radio.

Recently, a teenage girl told me that saying Jesus in public is very offensive to others who might not believe the same as me, but yet as of tonight I went through a grocery store checkout line to see People magazine’s cover saying “I’m Gay” with Clay Aiken’s picture on it. Alternative lifestyles are regarded as “one’s right to do and say whatever they want to because it’s their life, and if others don’t like it - then too bad.” Hypocrisy? Double standard? Why can we as Christians not live our lives in Jesus Christ without being called offensive, while everybody else spouts their ways as “their right?” because we live in a fallen world where Jesus Christ, right down to his very name, is being omitted.

A colleague of mine was asked to say a prayer at a local college event. It was mildly hinted to him to not say Jesus at this event with the reasoning that it would be offensive. He responded by saying, “then you don’t want me to say the prayer here, because Jesus’ name is said in my prayers because He’s the very one I’m praying to!”

Fellow believing Christians in Jesus Christ, this is a sad sign of our times when the world considers the mere mention of Jesus’ name to be offensive with the excuse that it is politically incorrect, and violates against those who do not agree. It’s ok to disagree without friction! Self claimed Christians are not actually afraid of offending someone by saying Jesus’ name. In reality, the name of Jesus makes them afraid for themselves! The fear in them is that an offended person will in some way turn and attack the speaker, so the speaker decides it’s easier to not say Jesus in order to stay on the path of least resistance. Meanwhile, Jesus gets pushed away into the background so that everyone can get along with each other in what they consider to be their own better version of harmony than what the Lord has to offer. Also, in the end of this scenario, a potential witnessing moment has been missed.

Fear is the opposite of faith, and fear keeps a person unproductive when they should be producing fruit from their faith. This fruit is sight-seen evidence to a non-believing world. A believer can stand and among nonbelievers and say in his words and actions, “I believe in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior,” while knowing that the Lord Jesus protects them from evil. If Christians stop proclaiming Jesus Christ, then their faith that the Lord guides and protects them from harm has dwindled. The Lord knew that offense would be the case with unbelievers, so it was written in His word. Please take careful notice of the difference of tense in this scripture because it exposes a big difference between believers and unbelievers.

1 Peter 2:6 For this is contained in Scripture: "BEHOLD, I LAY IN ZION A CHOICE STONE, A PRECIOUS CORNER stone, AND HE WHO BELIEVES IN HIM WILL NOT BE DISAPPOINTED."
7 This precious value, then, is for you who believe; but for those who disbelieve, "THE STONE WHICH THE BUILDERS REJECTED, THIS BECAME THE VERY CORNER stone,"
8and, “A STONE OF STUMBLING AND A ROCK OF OFFENSE"; for they stumble because they are disobedient to the word, and to this doom they were also appointed.
Be careful of what you consider to be offensive or fair, because this verse explains what side of the fence you’re on depending on how you regard Jesus Christ. If you claim Christianity, then maybe it’s time to look at yourself inwardly and understand what political correctness is, and also time to define the word “fair”. If you got what is fair, then realize that for your sin you would be condemned for all eternity. That would be fair. But because of the Lord Jesus Christ dying in your place for your sins on the cross, you now have one way to be saved. That is a gift. Jesus didn’t die for you just so you could escape condemnation. He died so that you could be given undeserved eternal life in Him. Since Jesus is the one who offers this free gift of salvation, then how can we dare think it is right to live our lives out on an earth that He gave us, in bodies that He made to put us in, and feel that it is not right to even mention His name out of fear for what people will do to us of we do?
With all of the omission of “the name” going on out there in the world, we who do believe should step things up and make up the difference caused by the silence of the fearful - by daily proclaiming the name of Jesus as our Lord and Savior.
Acts 4:10-12 then know this, you and all the people of Israel: It is by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified but whom God raised from the dead, that this man stands before you healed. He is " 'the stone you builders rejected, which has become the capstone. Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved."