I am the Christ

On By In Topical, Idolatry, Charismatic, Spirituality and Mysticism

Be careful that no one misleads you

Matthew 24:4 and 5, which this blog is about, initially has meaning for those who live in Judea (verse 16), so Jews, who will soon experience the 'great tribulation'. Yet it is also a warning that we can take to heart in our time as Christians and from which we can learn something.

When the disciples of the Lord Jesus ask Him in Matthew 24 about 'His coming and the end of the world' the Lord Jesus answers:

'Be careful that no one misleads you. For many will come in my name and say,
I am the Christ; and they will deceive many" (24:4,5)

I have always found this a bit of a misunderstood text. Because let's face it, if you come across thirty or more preachers who all say of themselves that they are Christ, then it is clearly not right, isn't it? Impostors are the ones whose deceptive arts are actually zero and to whom you would not lend your ear. Walk through quickly.

Yet there are many preachers in the evangelical and charismatic Netherlands (and beyond) who fit this statement. Only then we have to read the Lord's statement a little differently and put the emphasis differently than we are used to.

…that I am the Christ

The preachers of the end say they come on behalf of the Lord, they preach Him and refer to Him and 'say I am the Christ'. They mention the name of the Lord and point to Him as the Messiah, the Anointed of God.

That's a very different cake. Then they are really good preachers, or are they not? No, for the Lord warns against their deception. This also happened to the people of Israel, and the Lord says:

“I have heard what the prophets say who prophesy lies in My Name
by saying: I have dreamed, I have dreamed!” (Jeremiah 23:25).

They prophesied in the Name of the Lord, they said. But the Lord says they are lies,'deceit from their heart' (Jeremiah 23:26). The same applies to the deceivers who act in our time, just before the coming of the Lord Jesus. What they preach is not God's truth, not the Word of God, but rather untruth; deceit from their own heart.

I am the Christ

But the question now is what is the deception; what is the content of the deception? What do they say that is not right and what is posited as Word of God, but is not? Now you could write books about the things they preach that are not right, but that is (to me) too much work.

Therefore it is remarkable that there is always something in common with all those 'prophets' and that is that they say 'I am like Christ'. It is the view that people say that what the Lord Jesus could do, we can do too. Our relationship with God the Father is the same as He had, they say. Did He have a supernatural life? Then we also have that through the Spirit. Was He in constant contact with heaven? Then that's for us too. Did He perform miracles and healings? Then we can also do that through God's Spirit.

It is the idea, as expressed for example by Henk Stoorvogel in his book 'Jesus Leven' (see here). We have already written about it once (see here) and show that Stoorvogel says we'exact’ to live like Jesus. In that same article we get Jos Douma[1] (VGK Zwolle) who says, among other things:

“(…) The man who says 'Je suis Jesus' (I am Jesus) calls us to say in his footsteps 'Je suis Jesus' (I follow Jesus). Yet I believe that Christians should also learn to say 'I am Jesus'“. 

Apparently 'following Jesus' means 'to be like Jesus' and it is a term that means the same as 'intimacy with God', 'supernatural life', 'coming to your destiny', 'discovering who you are' and more. those kinds of indications.

They point the way to life in a higher consciousness, where you are more – and preferably continuously – open to 'Jesus', 'the Spirit' or 'God'. Meanwhile, without realizing it, one opens oneself to the invisible world and 'communion with demons' (1 Corinthians 10:20). The prophets themselves have been deceived and deceive many others into going the same way. They are 'false teachers' (2 Peter 2:1ff) who show the flock the way to idolatry, the apostasy from the true God. We've already said more about that here (here).

It is the same idolatry as in the Roman Catholic Church that officially teaches that Christ became man."that we might be gods' (see ao here).

Contemplative and Charismatic

Ultimately, both the "contemplative way" and the "charismatic way" both lead to idolatry, the somehow physical (with the senses) experience of "God" or the "divine things. This teaching is increasingly permeating evangelical circles as well. Many examples can be found, for example, on YouTube. One example is the below "Believe in Your Miracle.

You don't have to listen to the story. Still, I want to pick up some points from it as an illustration.
The preacher indicates that he himself has had and continues to have supernatural experiences and that he suggests to the flock that this is normal and they should reach out for it. Not for nothing is the speech called "Believe in your miracle."

I'll highlight a few things that indicate to me what it's about.

  • In the beginning (2') a story about 'immediately' which means that it would be biblical to have 'now moments' in which God 'breaks through' and manifests Himself in a special way. Something you can experience.
  • He also calls it 'the anointing' (of the Holy Spirit?) (3') The church has to 'move', then there will also be an 'immediately'.
  • A little later (5:20') it is said that 'power of the Lord' was at work in Jesus, so that He could heal. He spoke 'a word of power' that caused immediate healing. Then he directly (7.35') makes the link to his own ministry, that it also happens to him that a word through 'the anointing of the Spirit' has a direct effect.
  • It is difficult 'to put into words supernatural power' (8'). Indeed, pastor, that is not possible at all because your mystical experiences cannot be put into words. He then makes the link to the audience that they also have those special experiences. They can't articulate that either, when you experience God 'in your body' (he says it literally!)', you feel something like 'power', like 'energy', but it is 'hard to describe'.
  • "The Holy Spirit makes eternity now" (10'). That concept of 'now' is an important theme in the speech. But actually he says nothing more than the postmodern pagan man who also 'live in the now'[2] by which they mean that they have special internal experiences (without most knowing that they are in contact with the invisible world). A moment later he says that we'have to walk in an activated now-belief' (15.23') and this should actually be continuous (16.10). He also calls it 'praying'.
  • He also says (16:40) that 'we are afraid to step out in the now-moment'. That understanding'to get off' you often come across in the charismatic world. It is derived from history that Peter gets out of the boat and walks towards the Lord Jesus on the water. What they mean is that you must have faith that the supernatural can happen to you too. That 'faith' is nothing more than that you surrender to it and let it happen. It's what Paul says '(…) withdrawn to the stupid idols. That's how you let yourself be carried away' (1 Corinthians 12:2).
  • Furthermore, the preacher claims that all you only (really) live through the 'expressions of God' and he then mentions hearing God's voice, a feeling, a vision and so on. So apparently you only live your Christian life when you get these kinds of physical perceptions from 'God'. Apparently you've still missed the real thing when you don't have this kind of experience. What a lie this is! Because – according to the Bible – we cannot experience God with our physical senses. But the pastor's speech pushes the listeners into the path of idolatry: 'experiencing God'!

So you will be like God

It is clear that the pastor takes the Lord Jesus and His service as a starting point, shows that this also works for the pastor himself and calls on the flock to live their faith in a supernatural way ('an activated now-faith'). We can, he says, actually live the same life as Jesus Christ. In this he says – albeit with a completely different story – the same as the contemplatives. It is the lie that Satan proclaimed at the beginning: “(…) so you will be like God” (Genesis 3:5).

Walking in faith

What the Lord asks of us is to walk in faith. Believing what He has written in His Word and holding on to it while we

“(...) run with perseverance the race that lies before us, keeping our eyes fixed on Jesus, the Author and Finisher of the faith. He endured the cross for the joy that was set before Him, and despised the shame, and now sits at the right hand of the throne of God.”
(Hebrews 12:1,2)

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Footnotes:

[1] Jos Douma is one of the pioneers of contemplation in Protestant Netherlands (see www.josdouma.nl, https://www.contemplatio.nl/ and its other sites).

[2] For example, Sam Harris' The Present Moment. Spirituality without religion'. (see here)

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