Christian Living

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Undercover Trade Off

Jesus Is Real and He Is Coming Back Again

What is man, that thou are mindful of him? Many say Jesus was just a man. But what they miss is that Jesus took on flesh and became a man. He wasn’t born through the lineage of a man but a woman gave him his lineage. Jesus is real and He is coming back again. Will we be ready when He come back is what we should be working on.

The spirit of Judas is back also and is alive in the Church of Jesus Christ. Spirit in earlier times among the Hebrew and Greek is that of “wind” which suggests the comparison used by Jesus in John 3:8. The term is usually connected with a manifestation of a presence, power, influence, or wisdom. In the New Testament the idea of the Third Person of the Trinity is expressed in such terms as Spirit of God, Spirit of the Lord, Spirit of Jesus Christ, and Holy Spirit. The term is also used to describe powers of evil, as well as powers of good. Here we are talking about a spirit of a person partaking more of a dependent relationship. Judas had the spirit of a thief. This spirit was a deed of the flesh and was in direct contrast of the fruit of the spirit and the Ten Commandments that said thou shall not steal. It is through the Spirit that man was united to God in the Creation, and through Jesus Christ, that union which was broken is remade through the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ. The Spirit is now called the inner man.

Judas played a role in getting Jesus to the cross and it was because of the spirit Jesus recognized in him. Not only was he a thief, he was a traitor. Judas was the son of Simon Iscariot. John 6:67-71 then said Jesus unto the twelve, will ye also go away? (After Jesus told the disciples that followed Him what would happen to Him many turned away and left). Then Simon Peter answered him, Lord to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal life. And we believe and are sure that thou art that Christ, the Son of the living God. Jesus answered them, Have not I chosen you twelve and one of you is a devil? He spake of Judas Iscariot the son of Simon: for he it was that should betray him, being one of the twelve. What is betrayal and why would Judas betray the Lord? Betrayal means to be disloyal or unfaithful, to lead astray, charmed, or bewitched. The undercover tradeoff came about because someone failed to keep the Word close in the heart. The gifts Judas had to steal were one Jesus needed to get his work finished in the earth. God can use whoever, whenever, and however He so please; He is the Creator. Jesus knew His future traitor.

Jesus told the twelve that one would betray him but none of them took it to themselves. Jesus saying this had to be disturbing to the Apostles. Judas had been called to be an Apostle of Jesus Christ. Judas in the book of St. John is described as a thief while treasurer of the funds of the Apostles, as the explanation of the indignation against the waste of money by Mary of Bethany at the feast in the house of Simon the leper in St. John 12:5. Why would Judas betray Jesus, he loved him? Look at his father Simon, a liar. None of the twelve Apostles was sinless. They had issues as we do today. If we think we are something when we are not then we are a liar.

Many motives probably combined to make a traitor out of Judas. The undercover tradeoff was to sell out Jesus for money. Judas loved money. Many of us love money we don’t trust God as we think. Anyone that seems to be a threat to the ministry, we turn them away no matter how true they are to the work of the ministry. Fear is another reason. We are so fearful of people walking away with our members that we destroy the reputation of that other person. Fear causes many to be an undercover agent of harm. We have harmed the work of Jesus Christ unbeknown to us.

Judas failed because of yielding to ambition for power, to greed for money, to selfish interest, to the desire to save what he could out of the wreck of the fortune of Jesus, to resentment at the public rebuke given him by Jesus. So he left the house of Simon in a rage and went to the Sanhedrin with the offer to betray Jesus while the feast was going on. How was he able to pull this off?Judas knew the habits of prayer that Jesus had in going out to Gethsemane at night. The devil entered Judas then, as before and later. He took the price of a slave for Jesus and probably had glee in the fact. He had to bluff it out to put through his hellish bargain. He did what he did but didn’t fully understand the repercussion until after it happened. This is the undercover trade off and that spirit is still alive today. The Church is trading Jesus today for money. For the love of money men are selling their souls. Jesus died for the sin of the world and we put him back on that cross over and over again with our acts of undercover tradeoffs.

When a man fears that someone in the church body is being loved more than him, he will divulge himself in this same undercover tradeoff. He is no better than Judas. He will trade off a soul for another one with more money to bring into the ministry. He will trade off God’s divine plan and will for a person because of his own fears that they would rise above him in ministry. He will make a point to point out the ills of a person’s past although God have already forgiven that past. He will tell all of the secrets and dirty laundry that God has already forgiven. He will keep the work of God at bay because of his own failures. Why did Judas fail? Judas had his own plan of how he thought things would turn out. Jesus could not have meant what He said to them; He was the Christ. Surely Jesus could escape these people as He had always done. Well it didn’t happen like Judas thought but the way God had intended it to be. Judas was caught up in a death trap.

Many of us are guilty to tearing down the work of God because of our own personal reasons. God forbid! When Jesus pointed out at the last Passover meal that one of the twelve would betray him, they all looked at one another in amazement and asked Jesus: “surely not I?” Even Judas asked that question. Curiously enough when Jesus gave the sop to Judas, no one else seemed to notice it because of the excitement. Jesus had answered them saying in Matthew 26:23-25 that he that dippeth his hand with me in the dish the same shall betray me. The rest misunderstood the command of Jesus, but Judas knew full well what Jesus meant and got up and went out into the night. The Devil had Judas in his grasp at last. Many churches have succumb to this same spirit, do whatever we have to do to get the money. Leaders have a spirit of persuasion to make the people think what they want them to and they will lie to do it. This too is an undercover trade off. When things don’t go as they plan, they throw people down to the ground as the Sanhedrin did Jesus after the kiss from Judas. Jesus had the power to throw all of the soldiers down and the other Disciples were ready for war but they would war the wrong warfare. This is spiritual warfare we are in. We cut each other down at the first threat of someone else rising up in ministry. Preachers are guilty of this undercover trade off. They will destroy a person’s life to keep theirs alive. This spirit of Judas is alive and active in the Church of Jesus Christ today.

What happen though after Judas betrayed Jesus? Judas has a spell of remorse and went to the Sanhedrin and flung the money at the feet of the chief priest to their disgust. Suicide was his fate, due not to real repentance, but to anguish and remorse for his horrible sin. What’s wrong with the church today with all of the undercover trade-offs. The spirit of suicide is raging again and many doors will be closed because man choose to do things there way rather than trust God. It’s a trade-off, if you do me, I will do you. It’s God way or no way. It’s holiness or hell. The choice is put out today and when the choice is made; make sure that the choice is one of Jesus Christ. Death is waiting on the answer. Death waited on Judas. And when death got its chance it made Judas feel so low, he felt he was worthy of death. How could he face his daddy, Simon? Simon was the one that God used to reveal who Jesus was. Simon was the one that always spoke first. Simon also was just as guilty as his son was because he was also a liar. He lied and denied Jesus three times before the cock crowed as Jesus had said he would.

Judas died a horrible death falling headlong and bursting his bowels open. He hanged himself and burst asunder as he fell. Peter said that Judas at his own death went to his own place in Acts 1:25. He was clearly saying that Judas made his bed in hell and he went there. Judas walked with God but he didn’t realize that he was given repentance. Peter and the rest would say that Judas got what he deserved and that he had purchased by his sin. Many will die without fulfilling their purpose at the hands of men, but woe unto that man that stands in the way of sinners and cause them to sin. If we think we are right and God is wrong, woe be unto us. God’s ways and thoughts are so much higher than ours, He is the God of all Creation; who are we that we rise above God?

We too in our own righteous indignation think we know how God will operate; but we better be sure that what we do is God. We have traded God in so many times to fulfill our own dreams. Many even say they are doing what God called them to do or what God told them to do but without any manifestation. If God send us to do a work there will be manifestation. We allow our own ideologies to come center front and put God on the back burner to us; this is an undercover trade-off. We are as guilty of kissing Jesus as Judas was. When we plant seeds of discord against our brothers and sisters it is an abomination unto the Lord. Seeds of discord contain lies. Speak the truth as it is and stop lying to our self. We are just as guilty of murder as Judas was. He lied, stole, killed, deceived and destroyed after all the time he spent with Jesus; we are no different. After Satan uses us he first wants us to destroy ourselves because it mocks God and all that God is. If we say we trust God then we should pack our artillery with truth. Jesus said I am the way the truth and the life, no man come to the Father except by me. If we try going in any other way we are a thief and a robber.

It’s time to repent. We didn’t know we were trading Jesus in for a monster Devil but now we know so repent and be restored. Make that thing right that we have messed over. God is waiting and He is giving us a chance to repent. Act now, tomorrow may be too late. Why put off today for tomorrow. In the day you hear my voice said the Lord, harden not your heart. Judas didn’t really know Jesus in the fullness of who He was but he came to know him before he died although he never repented his deeds. He took his own life so he didn’t know Jesus. In hell he lifted up his eyes, we have a choice today. Let’s get it right! No more undercover trade-offs.

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