Since the day I set my heart to be a serious Christian, I began to discover that there is one bible but many version of Christ. Even the bible itself consists of many versions and translations, but nevertheless they all speak about the same thing in a different light and wordings. The major difference in the Christian world is that there are actually many types of Jesus and all of them half truths, partial and bias, not the complete understanding of our Lord God and Savior.
Jesus of Grace
Here, the preacher claims that once you are saved by saying the sinner's prayer than you are saved forever. No need to work hard to be righteous, Jesus will give you that righteousness without us trying even a little to be good. No one can be good by his own effort, so don't need to try to be good.
Jesus of Prosperity
When you come to God, all you have to do is to give your tithes and God will bless you. Give more get more. God wants you to be rich and wealthy and to do that we have to give to God so that he can bless us with what we give. Sow seed get tree with fruit, sow money to God get money from God.
Jesus of Baptism
Be baptized and all is well. You have received Jesus through confessing his name and accepting his sacrifice and be baptized and read your bible then you are saved.
Jesus a Nice Good God
God is good so he does not condemn you anymore. No chastisement, all good things will come to those who are Christians, as we are already his children and God will pamper us with all good things, money, wealth, health and favor. God does not punish anymore, he does not kill as well. All the disasters in the world are of the devil and God does nothing to stop him until Jesus comes again.
Jesus the God who gives Power
Jesus gave power to his disciple so he also gives us power to proclaim, bind and cast out devils. Our untrained tongues suddenly have the anointing once you begin to know that God has given you his inheritance to rule the world.
Jesus the human being
Jesus is not God, he is only a human and he comes to do show us how to be a good man. God is one and there is no Trinity, no father, son and Holy Spirit, only one God.
Jesus the Prophet Not Messiah
Jesus is only a prophet and he is not the savior, he came to preach about God and show the love of God for the world. Jesus is not God, he was sent by God as an enlightened one.
Jesus the answer it all God
Come to Jesus and all your problems will be solved. Your debts will be paid, or supernaturally cancelled, your sickness will be healed, your amputated leg will grow back, you will get gold teeth, and diamonds will fall all over you, gold dust will cover your body, your lost love will return and you live happily ever after.
Jesus the Institutionalized God
Jesus is a regimental God, so wants you to go to church every Sunday, pay our tithes on time, go to prayer tower to participate in 24 hours a day prayer for the world since he does not know he has to take care of the world and we have to remind him constantly. If we don't pray he does not move.
Jesus the Bible God
Jesus is all about the bible, he speaks to us only from the bible and no where else. Everything we need to do is found in the bible and its bible and bible only, nothing else. Jesus is a God who lost the ability to talk to us directly even in dreams and visions or through the still small voice. Jesus is not present everywhere he can only be found when we read the bible.
Which is the True or Real Jesus?
The above is only a small segment of what the present Christians think of who Jesus is all about. Jesus is who he is, the I am that I am. Jesus has been stereotyped by our limited minds which classify things in the worldly human understanding. They preached a Jesus whom they think he should be but not what he actually is.
Jesus is the great I am that I am. He is whatever he wants to be and we have to learn from him. We all have to make a life long journey to know and have a relationship with him. Men tried very hard to stereotype who Jesus is so that they can feel that they have worshipped him in truth. But they did not know that Jesus is too big for them to imagine. They read the same bible but came out with many types of Jesus based on their own weaknesses and character flaws. These preachers are sincerely wrong and they don't know Jesus. There is only one Jesus Christ and one narrow gate. Now what did Paul say about this?
2 Corinthians 11:3-4 (New International Version)
3But I am afraid that just as Eve was deceived by the serpent's cunning, your minds may somehow be led astray from your sincere and pure devotion to Christ. 4For if someone comes to you and preaches a Jesus other than the Jesus we preached, or if you receive a different spirit from the one you received, or a different gospel from the one you accepted, you put up with it easily enough.
Now it has come to past, because many now preached a different Jesus from the original authentic message of Jesus. The age old message is still very simple and clear. The message is one of salvation from our sin and eternal damnation in the fires of hell.
Jesus came to die for our sins, so that we can be transformed from sinners to sons and daughters, to repent and seek forgiveness for our rebellious life which is against the word of God. We are to receive Jesus as our Lord and Savior and be baptized in his name so that we can receive the gift of the Holy Spirit to lead an overcoming life, a true life of freedom from bondages and death. And to constantly be renewed from glory to glory through the washing of his words spiritually until we be changed from a heart of stone to a heart of flesh where, love, joy, peace, kindness, patience, faithfulness, goodness, self-control and gentleness, grows in our hearts.
Finding the real Jesus to gain the favor of God
Only when God favor us, will he then promote us. No man can promote anyone unless God has approved, as all promotion comes from God. You will find that promotion does not come to the smartest or the most capable, it came to those whom the Boss likes. This is called favor.
Psalm 75:5-7 (New International Version)
5 Do not lift your horns against heaven;
do not speak with outstretched neck.' "
6 No one from the east or the west
or from the desert can exalt a man.
7 But it is God who judges:
He brings one down, he exalts another.
In the Book of Daniel, God moved Nebuchadnezzar to favor Daniel because God gave Daniel the meaning of Nebuchadnezzar dreams. And in the Book of Genesis, God favors Joseph, because God moved the heart of Jacob to give Joseph a coat of honor, he also made Potiphar favor Joseph and finally the Pharaoh himself favored Joseph because God gave Joseph the meaning of his dreams. When God favors you, he will cause kings to favor you since all authorities are instituted by him. Kings may or may not be Christians; it is irrelevant, simply because all kings are approved by God himself. Cyrus was a pagan king whom God favored and made him great, but he was no Israelite.
Proverbs 21:1 (New International Version)
Proverbs 21
1 The king's heart is in the hand of the LORD;
he directs it like a watercourse wherever he pleases.
Why did God favor Daniel and Joseph? They were men of excellent character and qualities who do not compromise on their beliefs and they were whole hearted in their life style because they honor their heavenly father. They did not try to be good Christians; they are simply walking in the ways of the Lord God.
Unless you also walk in the ways of the Lord our God, he will not favor you and so you cannot be the head. So confessing Jesus as Lord will not bring about this favor, unless you absorbed the word of God and embed it in your life style you will not gain favor with God much less gain any gifts of the Holy Spirit. If you do not turn away from your old ways and seek to walk in the righteous ways of the Lord thy God, he will not favor you. Your salvation is also not real, no deeds, no actions all talk and unless prayers with no sincerity.
God is not mocked and he can see into the intentions of the hearts of men. A sinner's prayer is not enough to get you into the favor of God. God's approval comes from the gift of the Holy Spirit into the lives of many. Jesus is the only baptizer of the Holy fire and Spirit and no pastors can give you that. God must sanctify you with the truth before he can bestow a gift upon your life, and that is a spiritual one.
When you confess and receive Jesus Christ into your life, you have only enrolled yourself in his School of Holiness and the work has only just started. It's a life long process of transformation and bearing good fruit. Until you produce the fruit of the Spirit you are never truly his disciple. A tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down.
Matthew 3:10
The ax is already at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.
Matthew 7:17
Likewise every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit.
Matthew 12:33
"Make a tree good and its fruit will be good, or make a tree bad and its fruit will be bad, for a tree is recognized by its fruit.
Galatians 5:22-23 (New International Version)
22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.
Many Christians are walking Zombies, they hear a sermon, agree to it and the minute they step out of church they forgot everything they heard. They have ears but they do not hear. If they heard, they would have done what God said to do. These people do not honor their own word let alone honor God's word. Every life situation is a test and yet they do things their own ways and not the ways of the Lord God. It is always easy to walk in our own ways by doing what comes to our minds and we don't consider how others may feel. It is much more difficult to decide to change our ways and to walk in the ways of the Lord our God.
John 14:21
Whoever has my commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves me. He who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love him and show myself to him."
John 14:23
Jesus replied, "If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.
John 14:24
He who does not love me will not obey my teaching. These words you hear are not my own; they belong to the Father who sent me.
Here is an example of how I changed my ways, in the past, I will take justice into my own hands so I need to formulate a plan and perform some manipulation. But today, after coming to Christ, I read that vengeance belongs to God, so I petition God with my request and seek justice from God and I found he never forgets, he always give me the justice due to me. That is provided I walk in his ways and also on condition that I am on a right standing with God, which means I was not the evil one.
Here is another example, in the past, I would be very zealous for Christ and I would evangelize to anyone I met without the wisdom from God. Sometimes, I offend; some times I intrude into other people's life style by being over zealous. Now, I let God speak to me and then I will open up, but I speak only he words he gave me and no more. I do not try to be too smart by helping God, God need our cooperation as being available and be bold and willing to be used by him. God does not need our knowledge and wisdom to try to help him win souls. Jesus Christ himself is the promise not us, and we will never have the power to change anyone unless God works with us through the Holy Spirit.
Here is a third example, in the past, I thought we have to sow, plant and reap all at once. Now, I know, I may be called to sow into one person, plant in another and reap what I did not sow. So this understanding made my life a joy and great peace and ease came to all my work because I decided to do things God's way. It's a fantastic way to learn the heart of the Father. If you have never run an errand for God, you will never learn his ways, reading the bible is not enough, you need to have a relationship with God by doing things when he commands you. But then again, how can you do things for him, if you can not hear from him. My sheep hear my voice, and they follow me, says the Lord your God.
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