STIFF CHRISTIANS People who call themselves Christians because they are caught in traditions such as, going to church on regularly scheduled times, or pray on schedule, or wash their hands five times a day, or pay tithe every time the basket is passed, or need the preacher to pray for them, are STIFF CHRISTIANS. Stiff Christians remind me of totem poles, you know they have something to do with worship, you just don’t know what. Totem-poles stay put, where ever they are placed. Through wind and rain, they stay put, like stiff christians, when they hear Truth. In reality, stiff christians don´t hear Truth. Their ears are stopped with traditions and pride. In nature it takes a strong wind to destroy a totem-pole, trying to move a stiff christian is like blowing a totem-pole over with your breath. I have met many people that were convinced they were chosen, by God, to be God´s spokesmen. Many these people base their lives on stiff christian views, and good feelings. People who are led by their feelings cannot be led by the Spirit. You will always know when it is the Spirit leading. For the Spirit always lead us to consider others, as we would be considered. When you do what your feeling are telling you, instead of what your heart is telling you, know that you are operating as a stiff christian. Let me say it was stiff christians that went against Jesus. That’s right, the preachers and teachers of Moses laws, were so caught in traditions, they neither saw nor heard the Master. These highly praised, prideful men, were so caught in their lifestyle that God became just a password, for their pleasures. They though they had some sort of special place with God, because of their wealth and outward dress. When Jesus came alone, He destroyed their ideas of serving God. Jesus used God´s truths to show mankind the way to God. He never went along with the existing program. Today we are faced with the same situations, people staying in the way they have been trained. People willing to sacrifice their happiness, here on earth, and their eternal life, for pride. You can see people everywhere acting as if they really have a relationship with Master, but Jesus specifically told His followers that the world would know them by the Love they showed. (Jn 15:8) Again in (Jn 15:12) we are commanded to love one another like the Master loved us. Stiff christians so adapt to their surrounding they become a part of it. Take for instance a deacon, who wears his title as bestowed from God. How do you get him out of acting like a deacon? In his ignorance he will lead others that have no title the wrong way. His title will begin to direct his path, instead of being guided, he will do what he feels like. If it is wrong, he will make a quick prayer to God for forgiveness (from his lips) and continue his way. Because his heart is not convicted, he will make the same mistakes over and over. Take Jane; for example, who has been going to Mount Zion for five years, She always sits in the same seat, unless she gets to church late and someone is sitting in her seat. When this happens, she gets very upset, so upset that she would miss Jesus if he stood in front of her. Jane makes sure she is one of the first person in church, every Sunday. When Jane´s preacher saw her in church so early, he decided she would be perfect for secretary. Jane has been the secretary every since she started and is not about to give her position to someone else, even if they are more qualified. She is the secretary, finished. Jane goes home alone every night because she cannot share her life with others. She has developed a dislike for younger girls, because she sees them as a threat. Jane does not know that she is far from being a servant of the Master. And if you want to stay on her good side, don´t try telling her she is wrong. If we look at the lives of most preachers, we will find them so caught in traditions that their own children have a hard time being with them. I remember a young man, we will call Joe, who always cried at night because his father was so involved with building a church, he had no time for his family. Joe, at twelve, was the first person to get me to skip church service. He hated going to church so bad, that he pretended to be sick, but fifteen minutes in the woods proved he was lying. To my amazement Joe told my husband and me just how miserable his father was, and how he hated God and church, because they were responsible for stealing his father from him. When I attempted to talk with Joe´s parents, I was met with strong resistance and asked to leave the service. Joe´s parents were so stiff that light could not break through their shields of religious pride. The Bible tells us not to get built up in church so young. People need time to experience life, and commit themselves wholeheartedly to the leading of the Holy Spirit. A truly committed Christian would never perform a job, unless it was a service for the betterment of all mankind. If you are kind and gentle to those that are close to you, or go to the same church organization, or people who look, act, and feel the same way as you, but have no love for other people, you are stiff. Remember Paul said if we give our bodies to be burnt, and have no love within, it means absolutely nothing, and you are nobody. (1 Cor 13:1-3) Please let us not forget that our performance will remain here, but true in heart will see the Master.