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By
Dr. Stan Fleming
Chameleons
are really amazing little creatures. They show
the wondrous imagination of an awesome Creator.
As a child, living in Phoenix, I had one of these
strange lizards. It would change color to match
its surroundings. If I put it on the grass, it
turned green. While on the sidewalk, it was a
milky sort of color. It was brown on brown and
yellow on yellow. It did not turn every color,
but it did turn many.
For years
I have been studying the cults and world religions,
and have discovered an amazing thing: they treat
Yeshua like a chameleon, blending His identity
with their perverted doctrinal aberrations. He
becomes what they want Him to be, and in the process,
He loses His biblical identity.
THE
CRUCIAL QUESTION
Today, we look for the soon return of the Lord
Yeshua the Messiah. But who is this Yeshua that
will return? Many view Him in different ways.
This raises the most important question of our
day, the same one Yeshua asked His disciples nearly
2,000 years ago. He asked, “Who do you say that
I am?” (Matthew 16:15). Each of us must eventually
come to terms with this same question.
Simon
Peter answered that question by stating, “You
are the Messiah, the Son of the living God” (Matthew
16:16). Yeshua acknowledged the accuracy of Peter’s
answer and told him that it was the Heavenly Father
who had revealed this truth to him.
Who do
you say that Yeshua is? I hope for your sake that
your answer is based on a personal relationship
with the real Yeshua, for there are many religions
that will try to sell you a false Yeshua, and
only the real One can redeem you.
The Yeshua
of the cults and the world religions is not the
Yeshua revealed in the Bible. They follow “another
Yeshua” (2 Corinthians 11:4) rather than the true
One. Their concept of Yeshua does not come from
the Heavenly Father. Rather, their views come
from “the father of lies” (John 8:44).
In order
to avoid deception and witness to those in the
cults, it is important for Christians and Messianic
Jews to understand how the cults and world religions
view Yeshua. So, let’s take a look:
ANSWERS
OF THE CULTS
To the Bahai, Yeshua is but one of nine great
world prophets or manifestations. He is not considered
as great as their latest prophet Baha’u’llah.
To the
Hare Krishna, Yeshua is an enlightened vegetarian
teacher of meditation, maybe even Krishna himself.
To the
Christian Scientists, Religious Scientists, Divine
Scientists and the Unity School of Christianity,
Yeshua is merely a man who discovered a divine
idea or principle.
To the
Jehovah’s Witnesses, He is Michael, the Archangel,
the first being created by God. He did not rise
physically from the dead, only spiritually. And
He has already returned invisibly to the earth
in 1914 and now embodies the Watchtower organization.
To the
Moonies, Yeshua was a man who failed to bring
physical salvation. The Cross represents His failure.
Moon is considered the new Messiah.
To the
Mormons, Yeshua is the spirit brother of Satan.
He is but one god in a pantheon of gods, and many
male Mormons are striving to become gods equal
to Him.
To many
in the New Age Movement, Yeshua is an ascended
master, a guru, or spiritual guide. He is not
God and not the Savior.
To the
Rosicrucian, He is a manifestation of cosmic consciousness,
but not uniquely God.
To Freemasonry,
Yeshua was mystical, an exemplar, but not divine,
nor the only means of salvation.
To those
in Scientology, Yeshua is not significant at all.
To the
Way International, Yeshua is the Son of God, but
not God the Son.
To Spiritists,
Yeshua is an advanced medium of the sixth sphere
of the astral projection.
To those
in Theosophy, He is no greater than any other
man since all men are Christs.
To those
involved in Transcendental Meditation, Yeshua
is an enlightened guru who never suffered for
anyone.
To the
Unitarians, He is a good man who was mistakenly
deified by his followers.
To the
Muslims, He is but one of over one hundred thousand
prophets and is nowhere near as great as Muhammad.
THE
BIBLICAL ANSWER
So who is the real Yeshua? Well, Simon Peter told
us. He is the Messiah, the Son of the living God.
As the “only begotten” Son of God, He is all-powerful,
all-knowing, and all- present. Colossians 2:9
tells us that in the Lord Yeshua “all the fulness
of Deity dwells in bodily form.” The Bible presents
Him as fully man but also as fully God. He is
jointly knit together in the person of the one
true God (the Trinity) along with God the Father
and God the Holy Spirit. In light of these scriptural
truths, those who view Yeshua as a mere man are
not seeing His biblical portrait.
I ask
you again: who do you say Yeshua is? Is your Yeshua
the real One, or is He a chameleon image of the
truth? The question is critical because you cannot
be saved by putting your faith in a false Yeshua.
Only the true One can save you!
Dr. Stan
Fleming teaches on the cults and world religions.
He may be contacted at 754 Silver Birch Lane,
Oldtown, ID 83822, 208- 437-2032. |
