Joan Boney ... apostle/prophet
Some people wear crosses around their necks.
I am always astounded when I see this. I guess they are trying to identify themselves as Christian but mostly what I know about them is the opposite. If they were Christian, they wouldn't want to wear a cross for they would know how terribly painful the cross is ...
Have you ever been led by God to share a message of God? Have you ever suffered rebuke and been shamed by the people who heard the message? If so, you know some of the pain of the cross. The cross is filled with rejection and shame from other people.
Mt. 27 ... And they crucified him, and parted his garments, casting lots: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, They parted my garments among them, and upon my vesture did they cast lots. 36And sitting down they watched him there; 37And set up over his head his accusation written, THIS IS JESUS THE KING OF THE JEWS. 38Then were there two thieves crucified with him, one on the right hand, and another on the left. 39And they that passed by reviled him, wagging their heads, 40And saying, Thou that destroyest the temple, and buildest it in three days, save thyself. If thou be the Son of God, come down from the cross. 41 Likewise also the chief priests mocking him, with the scribes and elders, said, 42He saved others; himself he cannot save. If he be the King of Israel, let him now come down from the cross, and we will believe him. 43He trusted in God; let him deliver him now, if he will have him: for he said, I am the Son of God. 44 The thieves also, which were crucified with him, cast the same in his teeth. 45Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land unto the ninth hour. 46And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? that is to say, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? 47 Some of them that stood there, when they heard that, said, This man calleth for Elias. 48And straightway one of them ran, and took a spunge, and filled it with vinegar, and put it on a reed, and gave him to drink. 49The rest said, Let be, let us see whether Elias will come to save him.
50 Jesus, when he had cried again with a loud voice, yielded up the ghost.
The mental anguish of the cross was terrible. The physical suffering was terrible. It became so bad that Jesus finally said "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" This is really bad. The cross is terrible.
Phil. 2 ... Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: 6Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: 7But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: 8And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.
But Jesus didn't want to go to the cross. No one in his right mind wants to suffer and be shamed by other humans and this is what the cross is ... The cross is shame ...
Jesus said ... Mt. 15:20 ... If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you; if they have kept my saying, they will keep yours also.
We who are of God do not wear a cross ... We speak truth from God and when we speak they despise us and hate us and we fully know what the cross is.