false christ

Another Jesus: an example of defective Christology

Posted on July 12, 2013 by elizabethprata

The truth is that there is “this same Jesus” (Acts 1:11) and there is “another Jesus”. (2 Cor 11:4).

I’ve explained before that there are a great many people who claim Jesus who are not saved. This is because they claim another Jesus, not this same Jesus as revealed in the bible.

We read the bible and we read its theology, its history, its poetry…and then we go on with our day, never making a practical application from what we just read as to our church’s theology, our personal history, our poetic hymnody and music. But we must make practical application. Jesus is too important and false doctrine and false teachers who bring these teachings are too destructive.

So what is meant by ‘another Jesus’ as stated in 2 Corinthians 11? Satan is very seductive. John MacArthur explains ‘another Jesus’ in his sermon on the Corinthians verse, titled “Christian Loyalty, Part 2“

“They identified somehow with Jesus, the name Jesus, but it was a different Jesus. … They had somehow invented another Jesus. You have to listen so carefully because Satan is so seductive. They talk about Jesus. They love Jesus. Jesus is the Savior. But it’s not the true Jesus.”

HOW is it not the true Jesus? Look how hard it is sometimes to unearth the seeming follower’s different Jesus — MacArthur continued:

“I said to the Mormon man that I met with, I said, “I want you to tell me who Jesus is.”You love Jesus.” “They said yes.
“You believe Jesus is your Savior.” Yes.
“You believe Jesus died on the cross.” Yes.
“You believe He died a substitute for your sins on the cross?” Yes.
“You believe that salvation comes by faith in the death of Jesus on the cross?” Yes.
“You believe that’s gracious of God to give you that?” Yes.
“You believe Jesus bore your sin in His own body on the cross?” Yes.
I said, “That’s…that’s true, that’s all accurate.”
“You sing praises to Jesus, you long to serve Him, you love Him?” They said yes.
I said, “Who is Jesus?”
“They said Jesus is the created spirit child of God.”
I said, “That’s another Jesus, that’s not the Jesus that we preach.”

Let’s go to the scene in Matthew 16:13-18a. It is very important in considering one’s Christology. It all boils down to the question: “Who is Christ?”

“Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” And they said, “Some say John the Baptist, others say Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” Simon Peter replied, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” And Jesus answered him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church…”

Jesus did not congratulate the ones who said, ‘You are John the Baptist’, saying, ‘Yup! Pretty close! Come on up and stand with me on the Rock.’ He didn’t affirm the ones who said He was Elijah, inviting them to come on in. He didn’t bless the ones who said ‘You are Jeremiah or a prophet.’ He said that the one who said He is ‘the Christ, the Son of the living God’ is blessed. Note, “THE Christ. The one and only. Belief is a bull’s eye and a bull’s eye only. If you’re off on who Christ is, you’re off on everything.

Finally, He told Peter that Peter understood this fact because the Spirit had revealed it to him.

If you know who Christ is, THE Christ, you have the Spirit, because only the Spirit reveals these things. If you claim another Christ, you do not have the Spirit.

Paul said in 2 Corinthians 11:4 that
“For if someone comes and proclaims another Jesus than the one we proclaimed, or if you receive a different spirit from the one you received, or if you accept a different gospel from the one you accepted, you put up with it readily enough.”

–Note Paul said ‘if someone comes…’ but remember that Teachers, Pastors, and Disciples AKA Believers are sent. (Matthew 28:19). Believers are sent in Christ’s authority but the false professors come in their own authority.
–Note Paul said ‘proclaims another Jesus’- indicating it was already happening in 60 AD, an no less from the people that Paul, a first generation witness to the risen Christ, had personally taught!
–Note Paul said they will proclaim this other Jesus ‘by another spirit’, not the Holy Spirit.

Christianity has standards for including believers into it. Non-believers and in some cases even non-members of a particular church may NOT partake of The Lord’s Supper at Communion. (1 Corinthians 11:27-29; 1 Corinthians 10:16). Only believers may be baptized. (Romans 6:3-4). Christianity has commands and is exclusive, separate, and distinctive. Jesus said that His sword of truth is so precise it will divide son from father, mother from daughter. (Matthew 10:34-36). We should not accept anyone and everyone as a brother in the faith simply on the basis their surface proclamation of Jesus. Paul was chiding the Corinthians over that. ‘You accept a different gospel readily enough’.

When Paul arrived at Jerusalem and said “I’m a member of the body of believers in Jesus Christ” the local body didn’t accept him at first. They were afraid of him, even though Paul had been preaching Christ for three years by the time he got to Jerusalem. (Acts 9:26). After all, Saul/Paul had been the chief persecutor and torturer of believers. They had a right to be afraid. But isn’t a false believer who brings a different Jesus just as destructive? Yet we overlook their kind of killing belief, and accept them without a second glance. For many undiscerning people, they utter the holy name of Jesus as simply a magic password. Too many believers have thrown out the “listen carefully” warning. This evidences their lack of discernment.

How is your Christology? Who is Christ? That is the question. Is Jesus God? Was He born of a virgin? Was He both fully man and fully God? Was He sinless? Is He the Word, revealing Himself in the bible? Did He die on the cross as the substitute for our sins, and was resurrected on the Third Day? Is He judge? Is he holy? And so on. Who IS Christ?

The church has watered down theology today because they have accepted many in their midst who have an outwardly pious and sincere belief in another Jesus.

Because of this watering down, the essential doctrines of our faith are under attack. Many people think you can disbelieve in one or more of them and still be in the faith. Not so. There are essential beliefs, and they are absolute. Where Jesus said a belief was essential, it is essential. For some of these, He even included a penalty for NOT believing.

Jesus is going to return and show Himself as Who He really is. His robes will be stained with blood, He will speak a word and millions will be slain at Armageddon, He will judge the living and the dead. JUDGE them, calling them account for their lives- the distinguishing benchmark being whether they believed in this same Jesus, or not. If they did not, they will be sent to hell for all of their conscious tormenting eternity.

Be distinguished from the world NOW, believe on the Christ of the bible. Study Him carefully, diligently, from His word (not visions and dreams and impressions and purpose-driven, motivational books.) Because belief in Him (this same Jesus) is the standard by which your eternity will be divided- heaven or hell, narrow road or broad, there is no other subject to which a person ought to devote himself with more fire or zeal or attention. If you claim Jesus, make sure you claim THE Jesus, and not another.

“and many false prophets will appear and deceive many people.” (Matthew 24:11)

———————–

A man in Australia says he’s Jesus: and his cult is growing

Posted on July 10, 2012May 9, 2016 by elizabethprata

In looking at the end time signs, there are a plethora to sort out and keep track of. They are not all only contained in Matthew 24’s Olivet Discourse, but we read them also throughout the rest of the New and Old Testament. For definition purposes, I define the “end time” as the time when Jesus is building His church, (Matthew 16:13-20, Romans 11:25), Acts 15:13-17), between Pentecost and the Rapture. After that it is the Tribulation period as it is known to the church and the Time of Jacob’s Trouble as it’s known to Jews. Halfway through the Tribulation it becomes the Great Tribulation (Matthew 24:15; Daniel 9:27).

False messiahs are one of the signs Jesus told us about.

“And many false prophets will arise and lead many astray” (Mt 24:11);

“For false christs and false prophets will arise and perform great signs and wonders, so as to lead astray, if possible, even the elect.” (Matthew 24:14);

“For many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am the Christ,’ and will deceive many.” (Matthew 24:5)

There is a man in Australia named Alan John Miller, who says he is THE Christ.

From his website:
“Because of my personal desire and passion for God, as I grew, I recognized not only that I was the Messiah that was foretold by ancient prophets, but also that I was in a process designed by God that all humans could follow, if they so desired. I called this process becoming “Born Again”. It is the process of the human soul being transformed into the Divine, the process of becoming At-One with God. Many persons who were connected with me in the 1st century came to know and follow this path while on earth, the most notable person being Mary Magdalene, who is my soulmate, and who was actually married to me in the 1st century, and was pregnant with our daughter when I died.”

I wrote earlier today about judging and being fruit inspectors, and even the most shrill believer crying “Judge not!” when a false teacher is named, will undoubtedly be able to use whatever vestige of discernment left in them to judge that this man is not Jesus. (If you decide that, aren’t you judging? Aren’t you being fruit inspectors? Yes, and that’s good. More here)

This Australian video news spot is called: “Aussie messiah questioned“. Actually, it is the second spot they did. There was one the night before and the news anchor said that the office had been deluged since it aired with concerned calls from family members who have lost dear ones to the cult.

In the news video, the journalist said, “AJ Miller’s claims to be Jesus Christ would be almost laughable if nobody believed him. The problem is, many people do.”

So back to the prophecy. Jesus said that many would come in His name, claiming to be the Christ, and this has occurred. AJ Miller certainly is not the first man claiming to be Jesus Himself. Remember the Russian-Siberian guy, Sergey Torop, known as Vissarion? I wrote about him in 2010. He claims to be the reincarnated Jesus also. His cult is still going strong. Vissarion’s sect is estimated to have some ten thousand adherents, with claims of up to 50,000 adherents in eighty-three communities spread over 150 square kilometers. (source)

And there have been many more. On Wikipedia, there is a list of people who have claimed to be Christ. The list starts in the 1800s, and you notice the 1900s list is a LOT longer than the previous one. And the list for the 21st century is growing pretty healthily too, despite only being 12 years old.

This entry sort of dovetails with the previous one I’d linked to about being fruit inspectors. It is all about discernment. I listened to a pastor online who had preached on Sunday in firmness and protection of his flock about how he has finally had it with the falsity permeating the global church body today. His sermon is called the Subtlety of Satan. I recommend it!

He gave a short but detailed history of beginning in the 1940s of the acceleration of the downward slide of the evangelical church, and named names (Beth Moore, Richard Foster, Rick Warren, etc) and named the titles of these false doctrines (Gnosticism, Contemplative Spirituality, Post-Modernism, Pantheism and Panentheism etc) and brought it up to the present day. He said he was going to root this stuff out of his church, by going through his library and tossing out the false. Going through every curriculum and tossing out the false. He killed the Beth Moore trip. He will examine every teacher and leader and monitor closely what they teach. He is purifying his church. How did all this false stuff get into the church in the first place? One charge he made to the congregation is that laziness and lack of discernment. It’s got to stop, he said. It is one of the reasons people get so deceived. People simply don’t read the bible any more. The pastor said the last thing people need is “another bible study” when they should just read the bible for themselves and appeal to the Spirit for understanding- and then actually apply the principles to their lives. Amen. You can listen to his sermon here.

Pastor Jim said discernment takes work, and you have to put in the time. I agree. It was a good sermon and I’m proud for him that he is protecting his flock.

Mentioning Pastor Jim’s sermon may seem like it doesn’t fit with the main point of the essay, that a man in Australia is calling himself Jesus, and with my essay yesterday about the outcry not to “judge” or be “fruit inspectors,” but it does. Mr Miller began his cult just a few short years ago, and it really accelerated in 2010. In Australia he already has branched out with cult locations springing up in Queensland, Tasmania, Western Australia and Victoria.

And his influence is spreading around the world, to Europe,

And to the United States:

Any corporate business owner would be so jealous of having an expansion to three continents within two years! The problem is, that what is expanding out is false doctrine, which is actually poison.

How did we get here? Pastor Jim had asked the question rhetorically throughout his Sunday sermon. How did we get this far? As this blogger kindly transcribed, because we failed to discern. We don’t judge and we don’t inspect the fruit. We listened to satan’s subtle voice telling us:

“What is a Christian according to the contextually relevant teachers of today? “Someone who has made the decision to be an emotionally well adjusted self actualized risk taking leader who knows his purpose, lives a no regret life of significance, has overcome his fears, enjoys a healthy marriage, is an attentive parent, celebrating recovery from all of their lusts, their habits, their hangups and practices biblical stress relief techniques, is financially free from consumer debt, fosters emotionally healthy relationships with his peers, attends a weekly life group, volunteers regularly at his church, tithes off the gross and has taken at least one humanitarian aid trip to a third world country. That’s who a Christian is. What about the Gospel? Never once do you read in that modern contextualization that a Christian is one who sees their sin, confesses their sin, repents of their sin, and receives the gift of salvation in Christ alone. THAT IS HOW FAR WE HAVE COME.” (-Pastor Jim Murphy of First Baptist Church, Johnson City NY)

The bible says,

“At that time if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Christ!’ or, ‘There he is!’ do not believe it.” (Matthew 24:23)

That is pretty clear. But Jesus made it even clearer:

They will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky, with power and great glory. And he will send his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other. (Matthew 24:30b-31)

Did you see Jesus in the sky? No? Then AJ Miller is not Jesus. It’s amazing that such a lack of discernment exists when something is so obvious. How will they discern when it is not so obvious? Badly or not at all. Satan is the most subtle creature in the garden (Gen 3:1) but he doesn’t even have to be subtle anymore with a people who lack even a crumb of biblical knowledge and regularly fail to practice discernment. By now, Satan is just shooting fish in a barrel.

On still a serious note but two things that amused me in all this… in one of the videos I watched featuring AJ Miller AKA Jesus Christ, the Perfect Lord of Lords, you notice he is wearing glasses. Hmmm, he is two thousand years older now, so I guess his eyes are fail…NOT!

AJ Miller incorporated his Divine Teachings or whatever he calls it. He named it

God’s Way of Love…Ltd. You know LTD stands for Limited. God’s Way of Love Limited. LOL!

Jesus said there shall be ones coming in His name calling themselves the Christ. His word is so perfect and so true, than even though we mourn over AJ Miller and his wife Mary’s lost state, and pray that the light would come to his followers, we love the True God all the more, because, He said, “See, I have told you ahead of time.” (Matthew 24:25).

“So also, when you see these things taking place, you know that the kingdom of God is near.” (Luke 21:31)

end time, false christ, prophecy, vissarion

"For there will come false Christs…" Vissarion is one such false Christ

Posted on August 22, 2010May 9, 2016 by elizabethprata

“Vissarion, who has proclaimed himself a new Christ, conducts a service during the “Holiday of Good Fruit” feast in the village of Obitel Rassveta (Cloister of Sunrise), southeast of Russia’s Siberian city of Krasnoyarsk, August 18, 2010. Former police officer Vissarion gave up his original name of Sergei Torop and created a sect in 1991, whose members give up their property to join the construction of a so-called Sun City on the slopes of the mountain where their leader is.” REUTERS/Ilya Naymushin

Vissarion, who has proclaimed himself a new Christ, conducts a service during the “Holiday of Good Fruit” celebration in the village of Obitel Rassveta (Cloister of Sunrise), southeast of Russia’s Siberian city of Krasnoyarsk, August 18, 2010. REUTERS/Ilya Naymushin

Members of the religious sect led by Vissarion, who has proclaimed himself a new Christ, take part in a procession on the eve of the “Holiday of Good Fruit” celebration in the village of Petropavlovka, southeast of Russia’s Siberian city of Krasnoyarsk, August 17, 2010. REUTERS/Ilya Naymushin

Sergey Anatolyevitch Torop (born January 14, 1961) known by his followers as Vissarion (Виссарион), is a Russian mystic. He founded and heads a religious movement known as the Church of the Last Testament with its head church in the Siberian Taiga in the Minusinsk Depression east of Abakan, in the southern Siberia Kuraginsk district of Krasnoyarsk territory. He has around 4,000 followers (called Vissarionites) in around thirty villages in the immediate vicinity of his base at Sun City, while having approximately 10,000 followers around the world. Vissarion claims to be a reincarnation of Jesus. He teaches reincarnation, veganism, and the impending end of the world, or at least of civilization as we know it. His religion combines elements of the Russian Orthodox Church with Buddhism, apocalypticism, collectivism, and ecological values. His followers observe strict regulations, are vegans, and are allowed no vices such as smoking or drinking alcohol. Money is banned. The aim of the group is to unite all religions on Earth.

Jesus told the disciples that “many will come in My name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and will mislead many.” (Matthew 24:5) Jesus said this at the beginning of the Olivet Discourse, and these few sentences at the beginning prior to verse 9 or so mark the end time. After verse 9 discusses the Tribulation, but Jesus was speaking in general of the birthpangs at the beginning of the Olivet Discourse. That means now. And it is so, many have come in His name claiming to be Him or from Him when they are not.

“See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of this world rather than on Christ.” (Col 2:8)

“But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let him be eternally condemned!” (Galatians 1:8)

The lost are easily led to a darker forest that the one they live in already. Please pray that these, and all the lost, are led back to the Light. Holy Spirit, let their eyes be opened!