False Christs

And Jesus answering them began to say, Take heed lest any man deceive you: For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many. (Mark 13: 5, 6)

We have over the years been treated to much hype and bewilderment concerning this topic.

But today I want us to simplify this statement. And this because very few would be misled if a person stood up and claimed he was Christ, the first reason being that we know what Christ taught concerning the same.

Yet do you realise that it is this same fact that could very easily lead many believers to a false christ?

Incidentally, even nonbelievers are in the know about the existence of the real Christ and a false one and so would rarely run to someone just because they said they were Christ.

Again do you realise that Christ did not announce His divinity except to those closest to Him?

The truth of the matter is that those false christs will be created to run side by side with the real Christ so that people will simply drift toward the false one all the time thinking they are on the path to the right one.

Until probably towards the final hours, I doubt someone will openly stand up and proclaim that they are Christ (or God) as that could easily trigger the greatest revival in the world.

Most religions expect Christ and know what He represents though they are at war with Him albeit ignorantly.

A flesh and blood false christ will simply unblock their eyes as they will then have a chance of connecting to the real Christ, the Christ they have been fighting as Paul once did.

It is the false prophet we should be on the lookout for.

Incidentally, it is important for us to realise that he is not false because he gives false prophecies, or even prophesies at all.

Be on the lookout for a slightly more appeasing gospel. Be on the lookout for more interesting worship. Be on the lookout for a more inviting church experience. And be on the lookout for a more inclusive fellowship.

It is in those settings that the false christs will quickly fit.

You see, it is the false representation of Christ that is the greatest danger we have. It is the twisting of the meaning of grace that will very easily lead us to a false christ as we will be having a blurred vision when we look at Christ.

Let me allow us to go back a few years, especially those of us in Kenya and probably the East African region of the world.

Remember Loliondo some years ago? What were people looking for and why were all roads heading there?

There was a man of God, whatever that means, who had a secret connection to a very simplistic healing. We can easily conclude that he had the connection to the Healer.

I wonder what happened as I was not in the least persuaded that he was leading people to Christ.

Yet people were flocking there.

Then came the mightiest of the mighty a prophet whose presence required streets to be washed with detergent to be worthy of him.

Yet he did not claim to be Christ. He only claimed to be His prophet.

Then very recently (I know some are smarting from it) came a preacher who had the key to unlock one’s star (whatever that means).

Then all the roads led to Mavueni in Kilifi. All PSV companies had to have a few of their vehicles on that route.

And lastly we have Shakahola where people starved (or were starved) to death to be able to see Jesus.

All these ‘ministers’ were leading people to a christ different from Christ of the Bible.

Of course we have a Jesus of Tongaren even as we had Jehovah Wanyonyi but very few, if any, take them seriously.

It is the misrepresentation of Christ and what He came for that has any capacity to mislead.

Thinking Christ as different from who He is revealed to be is the same as worshiping a false christ. It is actually worshiping a false christ. It is not that complicated.

Christ did not call us to look for, identify and deal with false Christs.

He calls us to know Him so well that anything slightly different from what He is revealed to be is quickly identified as false. As with bankers and fake money, we are to be so immersed in the real Christ that any variance, however minor, immediately rings alarm bells in our spirits.

It is not my business to point at false prophets. It is my primary and sole business to point people to the only Christ worthy of our worship.

It is your sole business as a believer to know this Christ, and Him alone, as your eternity depends on this singular fact.

Let me give a few pointers to what I am saying.

If your pastor approaches the Bible in authority, I am sorry to say that you are on the path to a false christ. You probably are worshiping a false christ.

Only the word of God has supreme authority over each and every facet of our lives. A spiritual leader who points to his revelation (however valid) than to the scriptures is a dangerous threat to our looking unto Jesus.

I am talking about our favourite pastors from major denominations and churches who have slowly risen in authority (especially after so much success) over their flocks that the sheep will pray and fast for their man of God to receive a word to guide their year instead of asking for the word from God directly.

God does not have brokers of His revelation. That is the essence of the doctrine of priesthood of all believers.

The other factor that will very easily lead the most devout astray is the presence of miracles.

Many believers are of the opinion that miracles only originate from God, that miracles can only point to the real Christ and nowhere else.

Yet is that the teaching of the Bible? Matthew 24 talks about miracles from a false Christ. Revelation 13 talks of a ‘resurrected’ false christ who can even give ‘life’ to inanimate things.

Further to that is the belief that provision can only come from the real Christ when that is not the reality in the spiritual realm.

We cannot have a lord without anything to dish out to his faithful servants. And we know that the evil one is the lord and god of this age.

It therefore does not take much reflection to realise that he has enough goodies to dish out to those sold out to his cause. Or do we not remember him offering Christ the world in exchange for His bowing to him?

Ooh, we love miracles.

But we should love the source of those miracles and especially want to connect more closely to Him because that is the only way we will be able to differentiate sources of the same.

Though money is money, many people have gone to jail because that same money was not acquired rightly. Others have gone to jail because they had received money without knowing its source.

That is the way to treat miracles and provision.

Thou shalt not bring the hire of a whore, or the price of a dog, into the house of the LORD thy God for any vow: for even both these are abomination unto the LORD thy God. (Deuteronomy 23:18)

Money is not just money to God. Why should it be different for His servants?

Our obsession with miracles and provision will very easily lead us to a false christ since that is the primary package he will be marketing.

You might deny him but he will not mind that since you will be feeding off his garden. And he won’t mind since he is working with the big picture in mind.

Like addiction, a constant intake of that poison disguised as food will leave me always yearning for more, finally deciding that it does not matter where it comes from provided I can get it.

Or do you not know people who started their search in church and ended up in witchcraft?

The devil will subtly package his ‘miracle’ and ‘provision’ in such a way that it will become addictive or the central need, making even our relationship with Christ and His church secondary.

That is the danger of the miraculous.

The simple method of identifying a false christ is intimately knowing and walking with the Real Christ that the false one has no place to even approach me.

You must remember that Christ never used miracles to draw people to Himself. In fact, miracles many times made Him hide from the crowds since He knew that they had no capacity to raise genuine worship.

You also remember that the rich man was denied the irrefutable proof of the afterlife when he requested someone from the dead be sent to convict his brothers. He was simply told that only the word of God has the capacity to convict.

So forget the miraculous for now and focus on the word as it is the only thing that has the capacity to distinguish between the two messiahs.

Only the scriptures have the correct check list of what we should be looking out for as it paints the clearest picture of the real Christ since it not only came from Him, it is actually Him (John 1:1)

Any other source is secondary and subject to many other interferences.