Which Christ Do You Follow? Part 1

Repeat the sermon title. Now let’s think about this before we answer.

Your answer may be simply; “There ain’t but one ya big dummy! And that’s the one I foller!”

But are you sure? If you really look around, you’ll see; if you will but open your eyes you’ll understand.

The problem is, however, that too many Christians are walking around with blinders on or those rose colored glasses that cause everything to look like Christ and they refuse to look at reality.

So before you answer my question I want to show you a few things about the Christ of the 21st century. Actually, these versions of Christ has been around for quite a few centuries.

[Col 1:15 NIV] “The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.”

That one word “firstborn” may very well be the most controversial word in all the Bible.

People have been divided over this one word for centuries.

Even though you may believe with all your heart that only one Christ exists; if you simply look

around you will find that people follow several versions of Christ.

The question is; which Christ is the real Christ?

Way back in 1982, there was an ad that appeared in many newspapers that read;

“CHRIST IS NOW HERE.” Our Lord Maitreya, the long-awaited world ruler, had arrived.

Buried in the fine print of that article was the statement that this man was known by Christians as the Christ; Jews called him Messiah; Buddhist called him the fifth Buddha; Muslims called him Imam Mahdi; and Hindus called him Krishna.

Then the punch line: “these are all names for the same person.”

BUT IS IT? Is the Christ of all these religions the true Christ? Is He an all-inclusive, one-size-fits all Christ?

When we read the word “firstborn” what do we see? “ that’s easy preacher; it means the first one born.”

One of the problems is the wide range of interpretation for the word, which has caused many to translate it falsely.

By making Jesus a “mighty lesser god” the Jehovah Witnesses minimizes the supremacy of Jesus as the “Only Begotten” Son of God.

They teach that He is created and not begotten. So Christ then becomes nothing more than another man who just happened to be the very first creation of Jehovah. According to their teaching, He was nothing more than God’s first creation.

You may say; “Well that’s not hard to accept or I can handle that”…BUT you’re falling for a lie straight out of hell… BECAUSE GOD DID NOT CREATE JESUS.*

In John 8:58 NKJV Jesus Himself said; "Most assuredly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM."

When the JW say He is the “only-begotten Son.” They are saying, according to their belief, that Jesus is the only one directly created by God.

God was a one hit wonder.

After He created Jesus He had to rely on Jesus to create everything else.

The Mormons place Christ in the front of a long line of children born to the “Father” in that God or “Father” literally came down to earth and had sexual relations with Mary. There was no divine intervention!

According to Brigham Young: "The man Joseph, the husband of Mary, did not, that we know of, have more than one wife, but Mary the wife of Joseph had another husband.”

He says, “[The babe in] the manger was begotten not by Joseph, the husband of Mary, but by another Being. Do you inquire by whom? He was begotten by God our heavenly Father" (The Journal of Discoureses Volume 12 n.d., 268).

Joseph F. Smith, sixth Mormon prophet (speaking to young children): ""You all know that your fathers are indeed your fathers and that your mothers are indeed your mothers. . . . You cannot deny it. Now, we are told in Scripture that Jesus Christ is the only begotten Son of God in the flesh. Well, for the benefit of the older ones, how are children begotten? I answer: just as Jesus Christ was begotten of his father" (Family Home Evening, 1972, 125).

Bruce R. McConkie, Mormon apostle and theologian: “Christ was begotten by an immortal Father in the SAME WAY that mortal men are begotten by mortal fathers” (Mormon Doctrine, 546-547).

So are you beginning to get the picture? Now do you see why I said be sure you know which Christ you follow?

Now, one might say that the word “firstborn” means exactly what it sounds like it means in Luke 2: 7 [Luke 2:7 NIV] “and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger,…”

However, this does not say that Jesus is the first of many children born to Mary and Joseph. It does reflect His position to God and His preeminence over creation (Vine, Unger and White 1996).