My 5 Acres

 

Becoming Radicalized for Christ

WOW do an internet search for becoming radicalized for Christ and see what you get.

Southern Poverty Law Center
Holy Hate: The Far Right's Radicalization of Religion

Quillette
The Josiah Effect: How Moderate Religion Fuels Fundamentalism
From Quillette:
“It soon occurred to me that my church, precisely because it was moderate, was failing to adhere faithfully to Christ’s teachings. What was needed, I thought, was a return to the fundamentals. And that was my first step down a potentially dangerous road. It was entirely logical — after all, if you really have a divine book on your hands, you’d be stupid not to devote yourself to it.”

The Atlantic
How Politics Poisoned the Evangelical Church

The Christian Century
A curriculum for radicalization | The Christian Century

The first page was all negative and how this leads to terrorism. In one article they scolded moderate Christians for tolerating the radicals. I'm probably now on another watch list just for Googling it. How have we gotten to this point in our society. I believe it's because we have very few true radicals for Jesus anymore. We have become lazy and indoctrinated into this worldly society and have not truly died to self. When the world hears being radicalized, they think of Muslims extremists. Because they have not truly seen or been around a true radical for Jesus Christ. Church we must come out of this world and become radicalized for Christ showing the world Christ through us. So, you may ask, am I saying we must give up our secular music and secular movies? It may be possible that you can still be a Christian with those things. But look at it through this scripture
1 Corinthians 3:15 (ESV)
If anyone’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire.

Is this what we truly want or desire to be like. What have we lost if we give all that up for Christ? What will we have gained if we do? You may say well this scares me, I don't know if I can do it. Well, it scares me too just writing about it. But I really do want to be called a radical for Christ. And I hope it does put me on a list somewhere that says he is a radical for Christ. So, what do we do to become a radical for Christ first we must die completely to self.

The cross is a radical thing, and declaring Jesus as Lord of our lives involves a dethroning of Self and a complete abandonment of self and turning to His will. We must be willing to go where He leads, do what He says, and love Him more than life itself. And not just sitting on the pew in church somewhere.