The scriptures warn that Christians do not all worship the same Jesus. Read on.
The 11th chapter of 2 Corinthians contains some of the most startling and eye-opening revelation found anywhere in scripture. In this chapter, the apostle Paul warns of “another Jesus,” “another spirit” and “another gospel.” He goes on to speak of “false apostles” (verse 13) and “false brethren” (verse 26). In verse 15 he speaks of Satan’s “ministers,” and those ministers, however unwittingly, present to the world a counterfeit Jesus!
The average believer hasn’t the vaguest idea of how powerfully deceptive Satan is. To the average believer those “false brethren” are the Mormons or those snake-handling weirdos in the Kentucky and Tennessee mountains. False brethren, of course, are false Christians, men and women who think they are followers of the real Jesus while, in fact, they have been duped by Satan’s clever deceptions into giving allegiance to that other Jesus spoken of by Paul.
Few realize that true Christianity was corrupted early on, even while many of the apostles of our Lord were still living. In writing to the believers at Galatia, Paul said, “O foolish Galatians, who has bewitched (deceived) you, that you should not obey the truth?” (See Galatians 3:1).
And the apostle John says, “I wrote unto the church, but Diotrephes, who loves to have the preeminence among them, receives us not. Wherefore, if I come, I will remember his deeds which he does, prating against us with malicious words, and not content therewith, neither does he himself receive the brethren, and forbids them that would, casting them out of the church!” (3 John 9-10). The true people of God go underground at that time, you might say, and a great false “Christian” church arises, establishing their headquarters not in Jerusalem or Antioch, but in Rome, and from this ancient counterfeit church arises various and sundry denominations known commonly as protestants! With the passing of the centuries men arise – and sometimes women – who either form another denomination or have a denomination spring forth that is built upon their beliefs and teachings.
Jude, in his tiny epistle, writes: “Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort you that you should earnestly contend for the faith (the set of true doctrines) which was once delivered unto the saints. For there are certain men (false apostles, false ministers and false brethren) crept in unawares….ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness (licentiousness, lewdness), and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ” (See Jude 3-4). The true doctrine of grace was corrupted and a false doctrine of grace was then preached and accepted by the multitudes – a grace that fostered sin and scorned the holiness doctrine.
These false ministers were preaching a Jesus who wasn’t the believer’s LORD! The doctrine of grace became warped and watered down, a grace that taught believers all their sins, past, present and future, were blotted out on Calvary. This perverted grace assured believers that when God looked upon them all He could see was the righteousness of Christ. Never again would any of their sins be charged against them. Jesus paid it all! And like most other deceptions of Satan there is an element of truth found in this false doctrine of grace, and that element of truth is what makes such false doctrines believable and acceptable to those who don’t connect all the dots and allow all the scriptures to speak on this and other super-important subjects. (Read Revelation Chapters 2 and 3 slowly and carefully).
While it is true Jesus Christ died for all the sins of all mankind on Calvary, only our PAST sins are forgiven when we first repent and are baptized into the body of Christ. (See Romans 3:23-26). Any sins committed after that point must be confessed and forsaken in order to obtain forgiveness for those sins. The apostle John makes this clear when he writes: “If we (we believers) confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins (yes, at that point), and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (See I John 1:9). A counterfeit Jesus is presented when one is told that Jesus has pre-forgiven you of even your future sins before they are committed.
The counterfeit Jesus leaves you in your sins while supposedly forgiving you of your sins. The real Jesus forgives you of your forsaken sins and delivers you from returning to those sins like a sow returns to the mud after being washed. “God, having raised up his Son Jesus, sent him to bless you, IN TURNING AWAY EVERY ONE OF YOU FROM HIS INIQUITIES!” (See Acts 3:26).
Christ’s Faithful Servant (Galatians 1:10-12),
Donald Wiley