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The True Jesus
There is a simple way to see if someone has the true Jesus or not. By true
Jesus, I mean the one of the Bible, not the one of Mormonism who is the
brother of the devil, nor the Jehovah's Witness Jesus who is Michael the
Archangel, and certainly not the one of the New Age Movement who is simply
a man in tune with the divine consciousness.
- The Jesus of the Bible is prayed to (Acts
7:55-60; Psalm 116:4
and Zech. 13:9 with 1
Cor. 1:1-2).
- The Jesus of the Bible is worshiped (Matt.
2:2,11; 14:33;
28:9; John
9:35-38; Heb. 1:6)
- The Jesus of the Bible called God (John
10:28; Heb. 1:8).
In cult
theologies, Jesus is a creation in one form or another (this is why the
Jehovah's Witnesses add the word ‘other' four times to Col.
1:16-17). Therefore, He is not to
be prayed to, worshiped, or called God.
If you are a Christian then you will be
able to pray to Jesus, not just through. You will be able to worship Jesus
equally with the Father. And you will be able to call Jesus your Lord and
God. A cultist cannot do this. A cultist has a false Jesus, and,
therefore, a false hope of salvation.
The following is an
expansion of the above points
If you put your faith in a Jesus that is
not true, then your faith is useless. The power of faith does not rest in
the act of believing, but in its object; the greatest faith in someone
false is the same as no faith at all. Sincerity and false messiahs do not
bridge the chasm of sin between God and man, only the Jesus of the Bible
does that. Who then, is the true Jesus?
Jesus said that He was the only One who
reveals the Father (Matt.
11:27 and Luke 10:22):
"All things have been committed to me by my Father. No one knows
who the Son is except the Father, and no one knows who the Father is
except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him" (NIV).
So, to know the true Father you must first
know the true Jesus. The question is, how do you recognize the true Jesus?
Simple, look in the Bible.
If you were to say, "Father receive my
spirit," who would you be praying to? The Father, right?
If you were to say, "Jesus receive my
spirit," who would you be praying to? Jesus.
In Acts
7:59, Stephen, while full of the Holy Spirit (v. 55),
prayed to Jesus:
And they went on stoning Stephen as he
called upon the Lord and said, "Lord Jesus, receive my
spirit." (See also Acts
9:14; Rom. 10:13.)
Stephen
prayed to Jesus, not just through Him. If it is acceptable for him then it
should be alright for you. The Jesus of the Bible is prayed to. I pray to
Jesus. Do you? If yes, good. If not, why?
But you might say, "Jesus said to pray
to the Father." I do. But I also pray to Jesus as Stephen did. If the
church is only to pray to the Father then why did Stephen, under the
inspiration of the Holy Spirit, address Jesus in His prayer? Was he wrong?
See also 1 Cor. 1:1-2 with Psalm
116:4 where calling upon the name of the Lord is prayer and prayer is
addressed to Jesus by the Corinthian church.
Jesus was
also worshipped. The verses are:
And those who were in the boat
worshiped Him, saying, "You are certainly God's son! (Matt.
14:33).
And behold, Jesus met them and greeted
them. And they came up and took hold of His feet and worshiped Him (Matt.
28:9).
See also Matt.
2:2,11; 14:33;
28:9; John
9:35-38; Heb. 1:6.
The Jesus
of the Bible is prayed to and worshiped. Do you do what Jesus' disciples
did? Do you pray to and worship the true Jesus?
Since it is against Mormon and Jehovah's
Witness theologies to pray to Jesus but only through if you do worship
Jesus, how can you do that without praying to Him? And, do you honor Him
equally with the Father as Jesus said to do in John
5:23? If you do not, then why not?
There is just one more issue to address. Do
you call Jesus your Lord and God?
After Jesus' resurrection He showed Himself
to many people. One of them was Thomas. John
20:28:
Thomas answered and said to Him
[Jesus], "My Lord and my God!" The literal Greek says,
"The Lord of me and the God of me."
"My
God!" is a pagan expression used today. Two points can be made from
this. First, do you agree that Thomas a devout Jew was swearing, like a
pagan of today? Second, there is no biblical account of swear
words. Peter did swear in Mark
14:71 by swearing he did not know Jesus. To say Thomas was
swearing, or merely exclaiming profound surprise has no evidence.
God calls
Jesus God in Heb. 1:8:
But of the Son He [the Father] says,
"Thy throne, O God, is forever and ever..."
Unfortunately,
in the Jehovah's Witness Bible in Heb.
1:8 you'll see that it says, "God is your throne, forever and
ever." This, technically speaking, is a legitimate translation.
The reason this is so lies in the nature of the Greek language and the
fact that the form of the word "God" and "Throne" both
end in a noun construction that is interchangeable, therefore making the
NWT translation legitimate.
Conclusion:
The Jesus of the Bible is prayed to (Acts
7:55-60; Psalm 116:4
and Zech. 13:9 with 1
Cor. 1:1-2), worshiped (Matt.
2:2,11; 14:33; 28:9; John 9:35-38; Heb. 1:6), and called
Lord and God (John 20:28; Heb. 1:8). If I have the wrong Jesus, and therefore I serve the wrong God,
then why do I pray to Jesus, worship Him, and call Him my Lord and God as
the Scriptures teach? But, if you have the true Jesus, why is it you don't
do those things? Why does JW theology not agree with the scriptures?
I think the answer is simple. The Jesus of
the cults is not the true Jesus. Therefore, they are wrong.
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