Would you believe that there are dead men walking around on the earth. They’re not zombies, they’re not the undead, they’re not men on death row; they are seemingly born again believers in Jesus Christ. This writer calls them the walkin’ dead!

  These walking dead on the outside look relatively normal, they have all of their body parts, or most of them anyway! From the outside it’s very difficult to tell who the walking dead are, they don’t have blood and stuff oozing out of their bodies onto their clothes. Their skin isn’t falling off….. well you get the picture. They look like regular people! But they’re missing something, not on the outside but the inside!

  The walking dead isn’t a new phenomenon; there have been walking dead among spiritually alive people as long as there’s been people on this planet. Jesus encountered the walking dead during His earthly ministry too. In the Gospel of Matthew chapter 23 verses 25-28 we read about this encounter between Jesus and the Pharisees (walking dead): “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you clean the outside of the cup and of the dish, but inside they are full of robbery and self-indulgence. You blind Pharisee, first clean the inside of the cup and of the dish, so that the outside of it may become clean also. “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs which on the outside appear beautiful, but inside they are full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness. So you, too, outwardly appear righteous to men, but inwardly you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.” Walkin’ Dead!

  I said awhile ago that it’s hard to determine who the walking dead are by their outward appearances but here Jesus shows how to spot theses spiritual zombies. Jesus knew their hearts and could read them clearly but we can’t do that. So, how do we learn to recognize the walking dead among us? We have to learn to watch what they say, what they do, and how they live their lives. “You shall know them by their fruit (or lack of it)!” “They lay heavy burdens upon the people but would not do anything to make the load lighter. Their own works were done to be observed by men rather than God.” People pleasers instead of God pleasers! Seeking the accolades of and basking in the praise of man. Walkin’ Dead!

  Outwardly they can be beautiful looking people and even look and act so righteous and holy. They can even say some of the right things and quote scripture coming and going. They can even claim to be Christians if they want to but Jesus said that they are blind people, and on the inside they are dead and full of all kinds of dead things. Jesus called them white washed tombs full of dead men’s bones. They were full of lawlessness and hypocrisy.

  And while these people aren’t lurking around with all manner of gross stuff on them they are dead inside none the less. And a sad thing about the Pharisees and those who are in the same condition today is that they think that they are alive and well! But they’re pretenders, playing at being a Christian.

  Right now they are living a shell of a life, a shadow of the life that they could have in Christ Jesus. When Jesus makes you alive you are truly alive. In the Gospel of John chapter 10 verse 10 we read this: The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly. Jesus died so you could live!

  They as individuals can trade their dead, zombie like insides for a life that is full and abundant. Zombieism (is that a word) is not just an individual problem. The local church can suffer from being the walking dead as well. Jesus had a lot to say to the Church at Laodicea about being a ‘dead’ church that relied more on its wealth than on Jesus Christ. Here is what Jesus said to the Laodicean Church in Revelation chapter 3 verses 15-19: ‘I know your deeds that you are neither cold nor hot; I wish that you were cold or hot. So because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of My mouth. Because you say, “I am rich, and have become wealthy, and have need of nothing,” and you do not know that you are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked, I advise you to buy from Me gold refined by fire so that you may become rich, and white garments so that you may clothe yourself, and that the shame of your nakedness will not be revealed; and eye salve to anoint your eyes so that you may see. Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline; therefore be zealous and repent.”

  This church is like a colony of zombies. They’re all gathered together (birds of a feather) and because they all suffer from the same disease they are completely blind to what’s wrong with them. Holy Spirit spoke once these words to me…”they refuse to see until they’re blind”. How sad! Just like the Pharisees these people are all white washed tombs of dead men’s bones. They are completely unaware of the fact that while they may have worldly wealth they lack spiritual life. Sound familiar? Wolves masquerading as shepherds, hirelings….caring nothing for the sheep but are after their own reward…..wealth, more money in their pockets. Feeding the people what they want to hear, tickling ears so they can fill their pockets. But that’s a whole nuther message. LOL

  Jesus told them how to fix their ‘zombie’ issues. He recommended that they buy gold from Jesus that was refined by fire and white garments to cover their shame and nakedness. Now, does this mean that Jesus is telling them to ‘buy’ salvation? Absolutely not! Salvation is not for sale! You can’t buy it nor can you earn it. He is talking to them in a way that they can understand and what they’ll receive from Jesus is not physical gold or physical garments but rather spiritual gold and spiritual garments, in other words they will receive salvation and eternal life from Jesus and then they will no longer be wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked or walking dead!

  Jesus also said that they needed a salve for their eyes so that they might see. This isn’t a salve like we would get from a doctor. This salve comes in the form of Holy Spirit who gives spiritual eyesight to those who ‘refuse to see till they are blind’ so that they can ‘see’ the things of God.

  You can see this being played out in churches all over the world today. There are a lot of churches that can’t make up their minds whether they want to be on fire for God or be lukewarm. Wishy washy, double minded! Going with the flow, chasing wild fire, blown here and there by every wind of teaching and never making a stand for anything! There are a lot of spiritually dead churches who for their own reasons either change the Word of God to suit their own purpose, sugar coat sin or they water the gospel down so much that that it doesn’t accomplish that which it is supposed to do and that is to first and foremost teach people that they need a Savior.

  Jesus ‘didn’t stutter’ (as we country folk say) in this passage of scripture about being neither hot nor cold but rather lukewarm. He said that because they were lukewarm that He would spew them out of His mouth. The word in the Greek is even stronger than this and you could really say “I will vomit you out of my mouth”. When you vomit, you’re getting rid of unwanted toxins from the body. Jesus considers the walking dead as toxic to Him. But I totally understand what Jesus is saying here, I don’t know about y’all but I like my cold drinks really cold and I like my hot drinks like coffee really hot. I really don’t like it when either one of these types of drinks get to be lukewarm. Jesus wants us all to be on fire for Him, to be alive in Him and for Him and not be like the walking dead that we see all around us. This church was full of the walking dead and Jesus called them out on it.

  I’ll leave you with this question…..If Jesus were to perform a spiritual X-ray on you, what would He find inside? Would He find Holy Spirit sitting on the throne of your heart or would he find dead men’s bones inside a white washed tomb? I want Jesus to see Himself in me! I don’t want to be lukewarm in the mouth of God, toxic to His body! I pray that for you too!

In His love,
Elizabeth