“If any man preaches any gospel other than that which you received from us, let him be accursed.” When I
was a young Christian, I listened to Christian voices
from many different churches which certainly exposed me to divergent
interpretations within the larger Christian community. However, it
also seemed that, despite occasional differences, most churches were
proclaiming the same Jesus, the Son of God who gave his life for the sins of
the world.
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| [Cross - Photo by Timeo Buehrer on Unsplash] |
During my Christian education, I became familiar with the warnings of the New Testament about coming deceivers, “false prophets,” and “false Christs” - “many deceivers would come and deceive many.” But I imagined they would originate largely from outside the church - “New Age” gurus, occult practitioners, Hindu mystics, new non-Christian sects, and the like.
The reality
has been rather different, and in my case, unexpected. Certainly “New Age” and
occult practices have infiltrated the church, but almost entirely from within,
and frequently promoted by so-called “Bible-believing” church leaders. And
mysticism has become the norm within charismatic and Pentecostal circles,
though it has been rebranded under labels like “contemplative prayer.” Rather
than the careful study of Scripture, many Christians now divine the will of God
by deciphering Hebrew letters and numbers, lunar cycles, solar phenomena, and decoding
the calendar, both the Hebrew and Gregorian versions. I must admit that I did not
see this coming. Well, so much for my “prophetic” abilities!
But what bothers
me the most is how the Christ of Scripture is being repackaged. Almost daily I
hear or read Jesus described as the “roaring lion of Judah”; and
of course, he wants us to “roar” right along with him. And very often, he “roars” with a distinctly American accent.
Yes, once
he was the meek “lamb of God” who sacrificed his life for the entire world.
But all that is about to change as he prepares to launch his final effort to take
over fallen society. No more Mr. Nice Guy, from now on, he is out for serious
payback. And like the occultic arts of divination, that notion is being promoted
by church leaders, and especially by pastors, “apostles,” and “prophets” who have
immersed themselves in partisan politics. In short, they are “preaching
another Jesus.”
None of
this comes as a surprise. Jesus himself warned that “many false Christs and
false prophets would arise,” and use “signs and wonders” to deceive
even God’s “elect.” Already in his day, the Apostle John found himself
opposed by deceivers that arose from within his congregations, men he labeled “antichrists,”
plural. In the original Greek, the sense of “antichrist” was “instead of
Christ” rather than “against Christ.” In short, these men were proclaiming a counterfeit
Jesus.
Likewise,
Peter warned that “false prophets” would arise, “false
teachers, who will introduce destructive heresies, denying even the Master that
purchased them.” And effectively, that is what the promoters of
today’s rebranded Jesus do, thereby denying the very Lord that bought them with
his own shed blood.
And Paul
warned of the coming “man of lawlessness” who would employ “lying signs
and wonders” to deceive others, a figure he linked to the future “apostasy.”
While to my knowledge the “man of lawlessness” has yet to appear,
considering how popular Christianity has been infiltrated by the occult and other
deceptions, I find it difficult not to conclude that the “apostasy” is
well underway.
A verse
from Revelation is cited commonly to validate the new “Jesus.” But its
proponents misrepresent the passage and the theology of the book. They begin,
and end, by reading one brief phrase with no regard to its context: “Behold,
the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David has prevailed to open the scroll
and its seven seals.”
Apparently,
in these last days, Jesus has become the “roaring lion,” and this rather
irritable predator is in no mood to take prisoners. He has become the
sword-wielding warrior who “rides the white horse,” meting out punishment to
all who have opposed him.
But this
reading ignores the larger passage. John first heard “lion of Judah,” but
when he looked, he saw the freshly “slain Lamb,” and it was THAT
figure that immediately approached the “throne,” took the “sealed
scroll,” and began to break open its “seven seals.” What John “saw”
interpreted what he first “heard.” Jesus is the “lion of Judah,” but he
fulfills that messianic role as the “slain Lamb.” He conquered by means of his sacrificial death. He does not reign in the same way as the political powers
of this sin-dominated age.
This
understanding is confirmed by the voices that began to declare the “slain Lamb”
worthy to open the “sealed scroll,” and precisely because “you were
slain and purchased for God with your blood men out of every tribe and tongue and
people and nation and made them a kingdom and priests for our God.”
And this
passage is the first and last time in Revelation that Jesus is called
the “lion of Judah.” In fact, it is the only time he is so labeled in
the entire New Testament. It is also the first time he is identified as the “Lamb.”
However, that becomes the book’s primary name for the Son of God. In Revelation,
he is called ‘Jesus’ fourteen times, ‘Christ’ seven times, but ‘Lamb’
twenty-eight times.
Not only
is the “slain Lamb” the one who conquered his enemies through his death, but that was also how he qualified to sit on his “Father’s throne.” And he summons
his disciples to “overcome” in the very same way – “Just as I
overcame and sat on my Father’s throne.” Thus, anyone who would follow him must
overcome Satan in the same manner – “by the blood of the Lamb, by the word
of his testimony, and because he loves not his life unto death.”
Of
course, Revelation subverts many popular messianic expectations. While
it does apply the second Psalm to him - he certainly is the anointed “son”
- rather than “smash the nations” as in the original prophecy, now he “shepherds”
them. He does not rule by knocking his enemies on their collective noggin with
his great “iron scepter”; instead, he redeems and “shepherds”
them by his own shed blood.
Overcoming
believers reign as “priests,” not tyrants. The call for Christians to overcome
is a summons to persevere through tribulations and persecutions, all while
bearing faithful witness. To suffer for the kingdom is what it means to follow
the “Lamb.” John identified himself to the churches as a “fellow participant in the tribulation and kingdom and perseverance in Jesus.” To
suffer for Jesus is what it means to be his disciple.
Perseverance
and faithful witness, even in the face of martyrdom, are how the church triumphs
over the “Dragon,” the “beast,” and the “False Prophet.”
If believers fail to take up the cross and follow the “Lamb wherever he goes,”
Satan will overcome them. Or perhaps more accurately, turn them into followers
of this counterfeit Jesus.
The
worldly triumphalism that is being promoted within evangelical and charismatic churches
is “another gospel,” one that proclaims a radically “different
messiah” from the one found in Scripture.
Paul
declared that the message of “Christ crucified” was scandalous to Jews
and folly to Greeks, and so it remains to this day. Nevertheless, the crucified
messiah is “God’s power and wisdom,” the very means by which He conquered
sin, death, and Satan. There is no true knowledge of God apart from Calvary.