I was a huge Beatles fan. Huge. I’m old enough to vividly remember their first appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show program on Sunday, February 9th, 1964. Our family went to my aunt’s on the east side to watch the program. My immediate family spent a lot of time with my mother’s sister, and my aunt and her family had the only color television of any people we knew. We did not have a TV at the time.

I bought all of the Beatles albums. My mother would subsequently throw them in the trash while I was at school. I would work part-time jobs and buy the albums again.

The music, everything about The Beatles was life-altering. Say, think what you will, The Beatles did change world history. At the time, and for a long time, I thought, as did millions of others they changed history for the better. Many still do believe this.

I remember when, in March of 1966, words John Lennon spoke to an interviewer, and friend of his, Maureen Cleave, were made public:

“Christianity will go,” Lennon said, according to Cleave’s article. “It will vanish and shrink. I needn’t argue about that; I’m right and I will be proved right. We’re more popular than Jesus now; I don’t know which will go first—rock ’n’ roll or Christianity. Jesus was all right but his disciples were thick and ordinary. It’s them twisting it that ruins it for me.” As Cleave noted in the profile, Lennon had been using his time off from Beatles commitments to read about religion.

At the time, though my parents were austere very fundamentalist Christians, and I was made to go to every service with them, three on Sundays, one mid-week, and the Friday youth group, I understood the words, “We’re more popular than Jesus now,” as among young people they were.

As for the other things Lennon said at the time they didn’t hit home with me. I was 13 years old at the time he said those things. I cared about the music. It transcended all other things at that time, except for the interest in girls, which was squashed as no federal penitentiary warden or corrections officer had anything on my mother. I wasn’t permitted to date, go to school functions, or use the telephone. I was watched like a hawk watching a meal in a field. My room would be randomly and frequently searched while I was at school. Anything deemed undesirable, or offensive in my mother’s eyes was removed.

This is only the short version. You have no idea. I made up for these things becoming another of the hundreds of millions chief among sinners upon leaving my parent’s house.

So, I got lost in the music of the time. Music was what was most important to me. Since the barriers to even spending 5 minutes with a girl were about as viable as launching myself to the moon using a really large rubber band slingshot.

I revered what John Lennon said. The music he and Paul McCartney wrote.

For most of my life.

This lead me to become immersed in not only the British Invasion and what was taking place in the 1960s but into Blues, real Jazz, and even Classical music. Along with many of the attitudes, practices, and behaviors of that time.

Fast forward, thanks to the time machine known as a word processor, a computer, and memory…

I no longer listen to Beatles music or any similar genre of music. Contrary to what many think or say all things heard, all things seen do FASHION us in some way, shape, or form. We cannot hear something, or see something without it having some sort of influence on us. This is why it is vital to pay close attention to what we read, what we listen to, the places we go, and the people we spend the most time with become our influences — what FASHIONS us whether we believe those things do or not. Nothing is truly benign, save for a tumor.

At this point in my life, and for the past couple of decades, I don’t give any credence to anything John Lennon or anyone such as he had to say. Either then, or now.

Yet this brings us to the article found below. What John Lennon Said About Jesus Just Before He Died. And religion. Because it spotlights the prevailing philosophies of the people of the world today. And John Lennon, over 40 years after his death is still making news. At least for a while yet.

Those folks imagining themselves as so educated, sophisticated, enlightened, smart, wise, and on top of things, their fingers on the pulse. They know, they think, and they say so.

Or so they vainly delude themselves…

John Lennon is the perfect example.

Arguably considered the intellectual Beatle, the one with the greatest influence, the unspoken leader of the band. This will be illuminated in reading the article below.

Studying religion, being religious doesn’t really mean a thing. Doesn’t cut it. At all.

There are many religions, religious beliefs, religious practices, religious pursuits, and religious paths but there is only one way to God the Father. And that is only through faith in, and not merely faith in, believing, for even Satan and all the fallen angels, all the demons believe in Jesus, know Jesus as the Son of God — belief is just one step.

It doesn’t matter how religious a person is or thinks that they are.

Have they been truly transformed within their heart, their mind, and their life by the Supernatural power of the Spirit of God to confess their sin, humble themselves, have the faith needed, the obedience required, the sacrifice required, to commit their life, making Jesus preeminent in their life, Lord of their life? To be a disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ and understand what that daily walk entails and means.

Contrary to what Mr. Lennon said in one of his final interviews before passing on, God is NOT a concept.

Lennon: “…the agnostics, meaning self-knowledge, were the true essence of Christianity.”

Reading about Jesus, merely reading the Bible does not imbue understanding.

The Gnostics, the false teachers that exposed self-knowledge above all else were entwined within the early church. The apostle Paul addresses this in more than one of his epistles. To make sure I’m not making this up why not begin studying Paul’s letter to the church at Colosse?

Gnostics [ones that claim to know, the people who said that they were “in the know,” combining Eastern philosophy, paganism, and legalism], agnostics [ones that don’t know — agnostics believe that nothing is known or can be known of the nature of God and only believe in the material world, claiming neither faith nor disbelief in God], and every false teacher always possess cunning and pleasing words and ideas to the human ear, the human heart. To the inherently evil human nature.

Our nature within is inherently evil. Not good. If this were not so the entire history of the world would be utterly different than it has been and is.

Jesus is not just a nice idea. A good man. Another prophet that came along.

Jesus was fully, truly a man while also fully, truly God. Jesus IS alive and resurrected from the grave and IS fully, truly God.

No other substitutes.

Not even the cunning wisdom and words of man.

The gnostics mingled paganism and worldy practices and ideas in their professed faith. Preaching that Jesus was just another emanation, as gnostics believed in a form of astrology along with myriad Eastern beliefs. They believed that spiritual perfection could be attained in this life if folks would only follow their teachings.

Within churches. Within Christian churches, the early churches, refusing to have the Lord Jesus Christ be preeminent, sufficient to them.

The “There has to be more!” people, and the MORE being, as always, whatever they concocted in their evil hearts and demanded the people ascribe to.

Nothing has ever changed. Nothing has ever changed from the beginning in the Garden other than two factors:

Population growth.

Technology growth — due to disobedience and eating from the Tree of Knowledge bringing sin into the world and the Fall.

To where we now are.

But this is NOT an ever-changing world as so many teach, including many Christian pastors and teachers. To teach or believe it’s an ever-changing world is a delusion. Because to do so also incorporates within its teachings that man and woman’ natures have evolved, adapted, and changed with time. Such thinking and teachings are a lie. Nothing has changed from the beginning. Since Adam and Eve. Other than the expansion of the human population and the growth of technology.

That’s it. That’s all.

Giving the illusion, the delusion of such massive change.

The heart, the nature within every man, woman, and child remains the same — identical — unwavering since there were two in the Garden of Eden.

Don’t merely read the words from Jesus. Do not merely read the Holy Bible.

Do not think being religious is the answer.

Do not turn to and idolize any man or woman or thing on this passing world.

All fame, all worldly honor, all material wealth, all the success, accolades, and any and everything deemed so important by us will pass away. Be forever forgotten. Forever. Forgotten for eternity.

No matter the level of fame. No matter the degree of material wealth. How many followers a person might have. How frequently their names appear in the news.

All things will pass away.

And be eternally forgotten.

This is how it will be, must be.

It’s what is in the heart, the mind, the life, what each day in the life is regarding an individual, and that individuals faith, trust, service, submission, obedience, and consistent, humbling love to the Lord Jesus Christ, of the Lord Jesus Christ and their repentant, changed heart and mind, making Jesus sufficient, preeminent within their daily, nightly lives while in this life.

Don’t read.

Do. Live the truth, bear the fruit.

And there is only ONE WAY. Not many as the world professes. For the world speaks with the tongues of Satan and evil, the lies of the devil. Not with the voice of God which is only found in the inerrant infallible living and active Word of God — not to be merely read, but to be studied, daily, meditated upon continually, and applied to daily life.

You can twist and shout otherwise all you want, but in the end, I imagine the faith and words I have come to know and believe will ring true while the words of men and women will be burned up like chaff, like the emptiness they truly are.

It’s more important, oh so much more important what Jesus said, what God says throughout the whole of the Holy Bible than what ANY man or woman may say. No matter who they may be. No matter how we may have at one time thought of them.

Jesus. Only Jesus. Always Jesus.

I do not know the true condition of Mr. Lennon’s heart towards God, towards Jesus Christ in his last days, his last day, but if his words are any indication? Oh, poor, poor truly tragic and lost, John…

At least in the end, Mr. Lennon did want his fans to read the words of Jesus. Hopefully, among those that listened to him then some became truly renewed of mind and spirit and not mere readers, but believers, and doers of the Word. True disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Imagine that…

Read on…

Ken Pullen, A CROOKED PATH, Tuesday, May 16th, 2023

What John Lennon Said About Jesus Just Before He Died

Tuesday, May 16, 2023

By Matthew Trzcinski

Reprinted from Showbiz Cheatsheet

John Lennon discussed his views on Jesus in 1966, the same year as his infamous “more popular than Jesus” comment. Shortly before he died in 1980, John revealed his thoughts about Christ’s words. Notably, John identified as “religious” near the end of his life, but he had his own definition of what that meant.

John Lennon said he never meant to say The Beatles were superior to Jesus

The book Lennon on Lennon: Conversations with John Lennon includes an interview from 1966. During the interview, John discusses what he thought about Christianity at that time. He said he was raised Christian; however, he did not profess the faith.

On the other hand, John said he wasn’t “anti-Christian.” He believed the good things people said about Jesus. He said his comment that The Beatles were “more popular than Jesus” was made offhand, and he wasn’t trying to say the Fab Four were superior to Christ.

John Lennon said he was ‘religious’ rather than ‘anti-Christ’

The book All We Are Saying: The Last Major Interview with John Lennon and Yoko Ono includes an interview from 1980. In it, Yoko said people often understood God as an old man with a beard. “They don’t know it’s an old woman with a beard,” John said. “[Chuckles] It’s easier to identify with a human than with a concept.

“The [Muslims] tried it by not allowing images,” he added. “There’s a little of that in the Christian church; the agnostics, meaning self-knowledge, were the true essence of Christianity, but they were stamped out or chased to the hills.”

John then promoted individual religious figures. “Read Christ’s words, read Buddha’s words, any of the great words,” he said. “But we don’t need the imagery and the ‘Thou must worship like me or die.’ People got the image I was anti-Christ or anti-religion. I’m not at all. I’m a most religious fellow.” John felt the message of Christianity was very similar to the message of Marxism.

The former Beatle wanted his fans to read the words of Jesus

John explained what religion meant to him. “I’m religious in the sense of [admitting there is] more to it than meets the eye,” he revealed. “I’m certainly not an atheist. There is more that we still could know. I think this magic is just a way of saying science we don’t know yet or we haven’t explored yet. That’s not anti-religious at all.”

John created controversy with his remarks about Jesus, but near the end of his life he asked his fans to read Christ’s words.