An Annual
JUDAS Celebration Day!
John
Stone
Christians should
call Judas1 THE
GREAT
EXPEDITER and honor his role in the "personal" salvation of all
mankind (oops, only those
who believe in Jesus2) from
damnation
and hellfire.
Take
the initiative; get your preacher, pastor, minister, priest
or bishop to start an annual Easter parade in Judas' honor. Use your
imagination―church members could dress in Judas costumes and
children could hand out 30 pieces of silver to visitors along the
parade
route―showing how cheap a price Judas charged to ensure your
salvation. Judas could have held out for 30,000 pieces of silver,
but no,
he thought of all the believers in Jesus and bought your salvation for
only 30
pieces.
Another
way to educate the public on
the great physical sacrifice and suffering that Judas endured to ensure
your
freedom from hellfire and damnation would be for your church to put on
a Judas
Play. This would be a dramatic play showing the possible ways
that
Judas died. Since all true-believer Christians know that the
New
Testament is the "true word," we know that Judas
died TWICE ― the
ultimate price he paid to ensure that Jesus was
crucified for you.
1) "He ...
went out and hanged
himself."
(Matt.
27:5)
2) "...falling headlong,
he burst
asunder in the midst, and all of
his bowels gushed out."
(Acts
Oh,
how terrible was the pain Judas suffered for you to have
eternal life. Use the JUDAS Celebration Day to feel his pain.
For
without Judas, where would Jesus have been? Jesus
probably would have died of old age in prison serving time for crimes
against
the state.
Yes, without
Judas there would never have been a crucifixion,
a resurrection, a new testament and the eventual
salvation for
all of mankind! JUDAS was the real hero behind the scenes―the crucial
player in the whole new testament end-game!
Don't
forget, in Matthew 19:28 Jesus tells the twelve disciples, including Judas,
that when Jesus rules from his throne, they will sit on twelve
thrones judging
the twelve tribes of
Without
Judas making Jesus a hero
― bigger than life ― all mankind would have to be content with
just their creator God, the Invisible Man
in the Sky.
Oh,
no, just think! What would all the Christians, the
faithful believers, have done without having a crutch to lean
on―without Jesus paying for all the sins of mankind on the back of Judas
Maybe
Binny Hinn, Pat Robertson, Jimmy Swaggert,
Thomas Monson or the Pope could take this idea and run with it.
Yes, Christians of all denominations could finally united, in
world-wide
recognition of Judas and the key role that ONLY he played in the
salvation
plan of Jesus.
You
could stage JUDAS fund drives, JUDAS school plays, JUDAS
T-shirts saying "JUDAS, You 'da man!"
Special
JUDAS Christian hymns like "JUDAS loves you
too," or "JUDAS was there when we needed him!" Onward Christian
soldiers, marching as to war, with the blood of Judas leading all your
lore..."
I'm
calling on all Christians to be brave like Judas and "accept that some
days you
are the pigeon and some days the statue."
I'll
see you next year at the JUDAS
DAY PARADE!
"One
man's religion is another man's belly laugh."
-Isaac Azimov (1920-1992)
Footnote:
1
The
apostle Judas, who betrayed Jesus, Simon’s son
(John 13:2)
2 By
the way, your village called, they want their
idiot back
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