KAYFABE

I Was Just Thinking About – KAYFABE.

What is Kayfabe? The Oxford Dictionary defines it as: “(in professional wrestling) the fact or convention of presenting staged performances as genuine or authentic.” The National Review Magazine referenced this in a column written by John Daly in which he wrote: “There’s a difference between news and news entertainment. Kayfabe is a word that you probably won’t recognize unless you’re familiar with the professional-wrestling business. It’s a term used by insiders and passionate fans to refer to the portrayal of wrestling personas, storylines, and choreographed action as real to spectators. These days, professional wrestlers are widely recognized as actors who are simply playing a role but decades ago, kayfabe was fiercely protected within the wrestling industry, deemed to be a key element in drawing fans to arenas and television sets. Revealing the truth would have been professional suicide for a wrestler, like a magician giving away how his tricks were done.”

The Scripture references kayfabe when Jesus Christ chided a group that he referenced as Hypocrites. A Hypocrite is defined as: “A person who pretends to have virtues, moral or religious beliefs that he or she does not actually possess; especially a person whose action belie stated beliefs.” When this is the behavior of a church member or professing Christian, such a one is subjected to the woes declared by Jesus Christ in Matthew 23:1-33. Jesus does not look kindly upon the “Kayfabe Christian” who uses the correct words but does not believe or live by them.

In Matthew 11:20-24, Jesus pronounces a woe against the unrepentant: “Then Jesus began to denounce the cities in which most of His miracles had taken place, because they did not repent. Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the miracles that were performed in you had happened in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. But I tell you, it will be more bearable for Tyre and Sidon on the day of judgment than for you. And you, Capernaum, will you be lifted up to heaven? No, you will descend to Hades! For if the miracles that were performed in you had happened in Sodom, it would have remained to this day. But I tell you that it will be more bearable for Sodom on the day of judgment than for you.”

How do you believe the “secularized Church” of today measures up to the words of Jesus Christ? How does the “professing Christian” measure up? We have dramatically ignored any time or place for Biblical Repentance within many so-called Churches, as well as in too many lives of “professing Christians”. Jesus said, (Luke 13:3) “Unless you repent, you too will all perish.” This is Jesus’ factual declaration to any or all “kayfabe-oriented” religious types.

Prayerfully – consider these things with me.