It matters. The truth about Jesus matters. Just because some say and claim the name "Jesus" does not mean that they know the one true Jesus. There are a lot of distortions of Christianity that claim to be true religions. Mormonism, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Islam, and scientology come to mind. As much as some of them claim to have the truth about Christ, it is impossible that all of them are true based on the law of non-contradiction, and there is something else very interesting that we should see.
Paul says in Galatians 1:6-9,
I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel— 7 not that there is another one, but there are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. 8 But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed. 9 As we have said before, so now I say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed.
One might argue that this passage doesn’t actually condemn say, Mormonism, Jehovah’s Witnesses, or Islam, because they might argue that being accursed does not mean “bound for hell.” This is definitely wrong thinking, because there is only one gospel, as Paul says in this passage… “not that there is another one.” There is only one true gospel, one true Jesus.
Mormons and the like will often tell Christians (who are for whatever reason are unaware), that they are Christians as well, and that they believe in the same Jesus. But as we can see above, if there is a difference between the way that Jesus is being taught, such as that in Mormonism that he helps you become saved (2 Nephi 25:23 in the Book of Mormon says, “for we know that it is by grace that we are saved, after all we can do.”) or in biblical Christianity that He saves you (Ephesians 2:8-9 in the Bible says, “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast.; and Acts 4:12 in the Bible says, “Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved”). The role of Jesus is different between these two religions and therefore makes Jesus a different person altogether. Similarly, Jehovah’s Witnesses teach that Jesus was crucified on a torture stake and not on a cross. The problem with this is that we have very early symbolic evidence that He was crucified on a cross, and there is no evidence that He was crucified on a stake. Not only this, but Jehovah’s Witnesses teach that Jesus was not resurrected bodily, but as spirit. This goes against what 1 Corinthians 15:3-8 and 12-19 teaches…
For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, 5 and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. 6 Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep. 7 Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. 8 Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me…
Now if Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? 13 But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. 14 And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain. 15 We are even found to be misrepresenting God, because we testified about God that he raised Christ, whom he did not raise if it is true that the dead are not raised. 16 For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised. 17 And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. 18 Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. 19 If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied.
The bodily Resurrection of Christ matters. Paul uses the Resurrection as an example of what will happen to those who are in Christ Jesus. He says that “For we believe that Jesus died and rose again, and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him.” Paul uses the Resurrection of Christ as the example of what will happen to those of us who die in Christ. The true Jesus.
With Mormons, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Muslims, scientologists, Christian Scientists, and the like, we have “another Jesus” as 2 Corinthians 11:4 mentions. We have other gospels as the Galatians passage speaks about above, when considering these. The problem is that these other gospels and other Jesus’s are insufficient to save one from his or her sins.
It seems that we should also bring another passage in focus. In Matthew 25:1-10, Jesus tells a parable, and at the end of the parable is what we might call the mic drop today.
Then the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went to meet the bridegroom. 2 Five of them were foolish, and five were wise. 3 For when the foolish took their lamps, they took no oil with them, 4 but the wise took flasks of oil with their lamps. 5 As the bridegroom was delayed, they all became drowsy and slept. 6 But at midnight there was a cry, ‘Here is the bridegroom! Come out to meet him.’ 7 Then all those virgins rose and trimmed their lamps. 8 And the foolish said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.’ 9 But the wise answered, saying, ‘Since there will not be enough for us and for you, go rather to the dealers and buy for yourselves.’ 10 And while they were going to buy, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with him to the marriage feast, and the door was shut. 11 Afterward the other virgins came also, saying, ‘Lord, lord, open to us.’ 12 But he answered, ‘Truly, I say to you, I do not know you.’ 13 Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour.
Notice what Jesus says in verses 11 and 12. The virgins came to His door and asked them to open to them that they might come in as well. But Jesus replies that He does not know them. They called Him by name, and they thought they were addressing the one true Jesus, but Jesus says, “I do not know you.” This seems to me to be the thing that is most important in this passage. The virgins were not prepared for what was about to take place, that being the wedding. There are some who will knock on the doors to heaven, so to speak, and Jesus will not let them in! Though they called on Him as their Lord, He will reply that He does not know them. This should instill a healthy God-given fear in those who have been taught about “another Jesus.” Our eternity depends on the one true Jesus saving us from our sin, and to eternal life.
The wise virgins were prepared. They stood firm. They kept watch. They anticipated the coming of the bridegroom and dealt with the anticipation accordingly. So how do we deal with the anticipation of the return of Jesus?
We prepare. The emphasis is not necessarily that the virgins had oil, but the emphasis I think is on the amount of oil that they had. The wise virgins were prepared. They anticipated His return. The foolish were unwise and did not watch and keep alert. They didn’t consider their own preparedness. They didn’t consider the consequences of being ill-prepared.
We learn who He is, we learn what He asks of us, and we do what He says. Not only will seeking Him help you find him (see Matthew 7:7-8), but being obedient to His commands will cause you to bear fruit… fruit that will last (see John 15:14-17). We do not want to be included in the crowd of people to whom the Lord says, “I do not know you.” This means that there will be people who have not prepared or prepared incorrectly. The Bible is the true word of God, and this is where we begin. The fact of the matter is that there will be people who are rejected at the doors of heaven. Like I said, this should cause us to have a healthy fear of God. We need to know the one true Jesus.
Second, to help us be prepared, we keep watch. We anticipate His return. We don’t know when it will be, but we know it is coming. We know that He is not lying. This is why the Bible tells us to “keep our minds set on things above. Not on things that are on earth” (Colossians 3:1). Keep your mind set on eternity, this will help you keep watch. It will help you anticipate His awesome return. Keeping watch will motivate us to do what we are supposed to do.
The reason we keep our minds set on eternity, on the one true Jesus is because the wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23). The reason why the death rate is one per one is because we fall short of His glory (Romans 3:23) through sin… through our moral failures against God. The cost of our moral failures against God is the reason why we die. But the gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord (Romans 6:23). So, we keep our minds set on Jesus because the fact of death is barreling towards us at an unstoppable rate. We need to know the one true Jesus in order to be saved. As we have seen, there are many who say the name of Jesus Christ, but it is not the same Jesus Christ that the Bible describes. The others mean someone completely different. Someone incapable of saving you from your sins. Paul says in Romans 10:9 that “if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, then you will be saved.” There are many things about this that we should consider. First, Christianity exists because the bodily Resurrection of Christ was a true historical event. Paul says above in the 1 Corinthians passage that if there is no Resurrection, the Christianity is false. It is a farce. It is futile, and you are still in your sins. The reason he can say this is because the Resurrection is a true, historical event that actually took place. Jesus rose from the dead. Second, confess this with your mouth, that Jesus is Lord. It seems to me that because the mouth is a physical object and the “heart” is a spiritual object, that the whole person should confess Jesus, and continue to confess Jesus. Matthew 10:32-33 says, “Whoever acknowledges me before others, I will also acknowledge before my Father in heaven. 33 But whoever disowns me before others, I will disown before my Father in heaven.” Therefore, tell the world who it is you place your trust in, your hope in, and your life in. Jesus of Nazareth. The one, true Jesus Christ. It matters who we call Lord and savior. I pray that you seek and know one true God and Jesus Christ whom He has sent (John 17:3).
Other helpful links:
https://apologeticsandevidence.blogspot.com/2018/05/straight-from-horses-mouth.html
https://apologeticsandevidence.blogspot.com/2022/08/identity-crises-hinder-ability-to-know.html
https://apologeticsandevidence.blogspot.com/2020/06/the-jehovahs-witness-training-videos.html
Written by Nace Howell through the grace of the Lord Jesus
© Nace Howell, 2023
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