It Was not the Jesus of The Bible

Imagine yourself sitting with a friend having coffee or lunch enjoying each other’s company and he then mentions the name of a mutual friend that he caught up with recently.  But as he begins to describe the nature and character of that person, you are wondering if he is talking about the same one, because what you are hearing is totally foreign to all you know about that friend.  It just does not sound like the same person at all. Although the names are identical, you now believe that he’s describing another man altogether.

Working with the religious in my community as a gospel messenger, it was almost a daily experience for me to be sitting in a person’s lounge room discussing what appeared to be our mutual Friend, the Lord Jesus Christ.  The only problem was however, when these dear people described their Jesus to me, it was not the Jesus of the Bible. The nature and character they were describing was not at all the same.  This was not really foreign to me though, because until I met the biblical Lord Jesus, I had my own descriptions of what I thought He was like.

I had no love for the Jesus I’d created in my own mind however, but most of those people said they did. Especially did the migrants from southern Europe. At the mere mention of Jesus’ name, many (both men and women) would cry, cross themselves, kiss religious pictures, prayer books and crucifixes and in broken English declare, “Me love Jesus.”  Among the various Jesus’ they described was one who bodily lives in the form of a wafer inside a small box-like tabernacle on the altar of their church.  Others declared their love for Baby Jesus, the miracle worker, and still others for the Jesus hanging on their crucifixes.  In their eyes He had not come off that cross.

Other religious people told me of their love and respect for Jesus, but when they described Him, it was not the Jesus of the Bible either. They said that Jesus existed in three different and separate states. He was the Archangel Michael in heaven before He came to earth, and a brother of Lucifer (the devil). He was nothing but a mere man when He was here, and He is now, again, Michael in heaven.  They denied Jesus’ divine status, informing me that He is a mighty god, but not Almighty God, therefore, He is neither eternal nor co-equal with God the Father.  These people claimed to know their Bible, but they were determined to deny that Jesus Christ is Who He says He is in it.

I met those who told me that Jesus is a created being, the first-born spirit child of a long line of children who were sexually conceived in spirit form by a Heavenly Father who is called God of the universe, and a Heavenly Mother.  They too told me that Jesus and Lucifer were brothers in the spirit world.  God the Father chose Jesus to be the Savior of the world and Lucifer argued with that decision among other things, whereby God threw him out of heaven, taking one third of the angels with him to become Satan and his demons.  They said Jesus was married to Mary, Martha and Mary Magdalene, all at the same time.

One day I was having a coffee with a young lady who told me she had recently given her heart to Jesus.  She had studied some material written by an author commonly known and popular for his prosperity gospel teaching – also known as “name it and claim it” theology.  She bought into that teaching, telling me Jesus wants His people to become rich financially and materially – big dollars, big houses, big cars etc.  So all one has to do is believe for whatever it is they want by faith and sooner or later it will show up.  When asked what if Jesus’ teaching had more to do with spiritual prosperity than materialism, she replied, “I’m looking for a church that teaches what I believe, regardless!” 

One man told me he was a Christian psychologist and he did not like the biblical declaration of us all being born in sin.  He much preferred to embrace another common teaching which talks of Jesus coming to earth and dying for us on the cross to secure our self-worth or self-esteem.  When challenged with the idea that our problems are not in the realm of the mind (psyche) but rather, deep-seated in our spirit – the realm which only Jesus is qualified to enter – I got a glimpse of how the Lord Himself must have felt when insulted by those old Pharisees – “What would you know?  Where are your qualifications?” 

Many other people did I meet whose practice it was to pick and choose from the Bible. One dear old lady was brought up as a child under the temperance society – a once influential social movement against the use of alcoholic beverages. Any discussions we had about Jesus, His mission, His promises and the Bible in general – all of them were interpreted by her through the eyes of intolerance for “the demon drink.”  More than once I shared that I was a former alcohol abuser, but had now been redeemed and delivered by the Lord, and more than once did she tell me, “You don’t know your Bible.”  Her Jesus had no room for redemption to boozers!

Other biblical pickers and choosers spoke of a Jesus so full of love for us all that He turns a blind eye to all things morally injurious in the world and, regardless of repentance, heaven is their destination.  Some people asked me for my opinion about hell and when I replied that it is a place where one sends themselves at death because of one’s lifetime denial or rejection of Jesus Christ, they told me in no uncertain terms that, “Jesus would not at all be impressed with your judgmentalism and lack of love.”  I found that always to be a remarkable statement because as deniers of biblical declaration, they failed to see judgmentalism and lack of (biblical) love within themselves. 

Although worshiping the Jesus of one’s imagination was rampant among those people I met, it was nothing new.  This practice was going on at the beginnings of the church in Corinth, being such a concern for Paul the apostle that he was compelled to bring it to their attention.  In New Testament 2 Corinthians 11:3-4 he spoke of his fears of them becoming corrupted and seduced from, “the simplicity (singleness) that is in Christ” by accepting teachers who brought them to “another Jesus” and “another spirit” as well as “another gospel.”  Well, it was not the same people, but it certainly was the same spirit that had seduced these dear people – a religious, but unholy spirit.

In this blog I have spoken previously of the common “mantra” I encountered among the religious, “It all depends on how you interpret the Bible.”  Not everybody used that statement as a smoke-screen to hide behind, but when I asked the apparently sincere ones, “How do you interpret it?”  They had no answer.  They could only fall back on what their churches or other influential people had imparted to them, most of which was a mixture of misquoted Scripture coupled with extra-biblical teaching.  They had plenty to tell me that the Bible never mentions, but very little to tell me what it does mention.

So the question is, at that time, can we say we were talking about the same Jesus, regardless of biblical accuracy?  No.  We can not.  Did they truly and sincerely know and love the Lord Jesus Christ, the One Who shed His blood for us on that cross in a once-and-for-all sacrifice?  No.  They did not.  The Gospels tell us Jesus is THE TRUTH, not A truth.  Those same gospels tell us that Jesus can only be known in TRUTH by those who seek TRUTH John 14:6; 18:37.  By their numerous actions, reactions and responses to my message, they gave no indication (again, at that time) that they were willing to shift from their “theological” positions.  “You shall have no other gods before Me” Exodus 20:3.  “I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk (live) in truth.” 3 John 1:4.