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Worldview Weekend

Ozarks 2020

The "Jesus" of the Cults

The "Jesus" of the Cults

by Jason Carlson and Ron Carlson


In Matthew chapter 24, Jesus' disciples came to him and asked, "Tell us, when will this happen, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?"  In responding to this question, it's very interesting what Jesus identified as the foremost sign of his second coming and of the end of the age, "Watch out that no one deceives you.  For many will come in my name, claiming, 'I am the Christ,' and will deceive many." 


Today we are seeing the fulfillment of this warning sign as never before.  Our world is literally flooded with false "christs" and false messiahs.  It is estimated that there are over 1,000 cults in America alone with some 25-30 million followers!  And each of these false cults promotes their own man-made version of "Jesus Christ" who is not the Jesus of the Bible. 


So, who is the "Jesus" of the cults?


Jehovah's Witnesses say that Jesus is actually Michael, the Archangel.  He was the first creation of God.  He came to Earth as a man, died on a stake, and rose from the grave invisibly as a spirit.  Jesus then returned invisibly to Brooklyn, N.Y. in 1914 to head-up the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society.


Mormons (The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints) teach that Jesus is the spirit brother of Satan.  He was once a human being like you and I, but through good works he evolved spiritually to become a god.  However, Jesus is just one god amongst a pantheon of gods, all of who were once human and evolved to become gods themselves.  Jesus was born to Mary through physical incest when his father god had sexual relations with her.  And Mormons teach that the blood and cross of Christ is foolishness and cannot fully atone for our sins (ever notice how there's no cross on any Mormon church or temple?).   


Christian Science and Mary Baker Eddy say that Jesus was only a man and that Christ is a Divine idea.   Furthermore, Jesus never did any supernatural miracles; he simply showed people their mental illusions of sin, evil, illness and disease.  Christian Science says that Jesus did not die and his resurrection was only in a spiritual sense.


Sun Myung Moon (the Korean messiah) claims that Jesus was a man who failed his divine mission and he, Rev. Moon, is the second coming of Christ to unite the world under the banner of the Unification Church. 


The Bahai say that Jesus is only one of nine great world manifestations; he is not a unique path to salvation and all religions are basically the same.


Unitarians believe that Jesus was a good man who was mistakenly deified by his followers.


Freemasonry teaches that Jesus was only a moral teacher.  He was no better than Buddha, Confucius, Moses or Mohammed.  They deny that Jesus was the light of the world and claim that Freemasonry is the true light of humanity.


Scientology and L. Ron Hubbard claim that Jesus is a false dream.


Spiritists say that Jesus is an advanced medium in the 6th sphere of the astrological projection (wherever that is?).


Unity teaches that Jesus is a man who perfected a divine idea.


Rosicrucians claim that Jesus is a manifestation of cosmic consciousness.


Maharishi and Transcendental Meditation says that Jesus was an enlightened guru who never suffered or died for anyone.


The more you study the false cults, the more you realize that the "Jesus" of the cults is not the Jesus of the Bible.  All of the cults promote their own false, man-made versions of Jesus Christ; they are counterfeits and cannot save anyone. 


So, who is the real Jesus? 


In John 1:1 we read, "In the beginning was the Word (Jesus), and the Word was with God, and the Word was God."  A few verses later in John 1:14 we learn, "The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us.  We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth." 


In Colossians Paul tells us that Jesus "is the visible image of the invisible God..."  In Colossians 2:9 Paul says, "For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form" 


The real Jesus is the one true God of all creation.  He is the second person of the eternal Triune Godhead.  He loves us so much that He broke into human history and split history into B.C. and A.D. to personally reveal Himself to us.  The Bible says that Jesus came to "seek and to save the lost" (Luke 19:10; John 3:16-17; Ephesians 2:8-9).  And as Acts 4:12 declares, "Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved." 


Have you put your faith in the real Jesus Christ?