If the world hates you, remember that it hated me first. – John 15:18 (NLT)
Think about the Avengers or X-Men. Those guys were bitten by spiders, struck by gamma rays or born mutated, only to emerge with super powers that spanned the full range of strangeness. As much as we may love Professor Xavier, we certainly do not want anyone reading our minds or trying to control our thoughts.
We’re like these mutated brothers and sisters to a degree. The world does not understand us, so in turn, it despises us and seeks to destroy us. The world resists what we have to say, especially about Jesus. It will consider us weird because of how intensely we follow the steps of Jesus along with His words, almost in the same way that some follow Star Wars or Star Trek. For us, our church conventions and praise festivals are like our own version of Comic Con spread from town to town.
No one in this world will ever hate the follower or fan as much as they hate the original icon. We are not hated because Captain Kirk and Spock grew old or that someone got thrown off because Mr. Sulu came out of the closet and that viewers discovered somewhere around Babylon 5 that the same plots keep playing over and over. No, we’re hated because the world first hated Him.
Just like Professor X and the Uncanny X-men, we represent the world’s opposition to tolerance. We stand in outright defiance of all that seems so-called normal to the folks who cannot accept change. We live as the litmus test of the degree of openness such an “open society” really has for all of its people, even the ones who seem to be as weird as mutants.
The world cannot hate you, but it hates me because I testify that what it does is evil. – John 7:7 (NIV)
Revbruce's Blog 
POWERFUL insight and word-picture illumination. As I was reading your article… my mind drifted toward the “SHAPE SHIFTER” characters. Many Christians resemble a shape shifter instead of a battle tested soldier for the Lord.