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God became man. That is the central fact of history. It is mind-boggling to conceive a God who would love us that much; but He did, and He continues to do so. Your response to that fact will determine your eternal destiny.
The divinity of Jesus is the central truth of the Bible. It is so fundamental that Christianity stands or falls on it. If Jesus was not God in the flesh, then His sacrifice for our sins was meaningless, and we have no hope.
Satan is determined to convince Mankind that Jesus was someone other than God in the flesh. In Jesus’ own time, Satan created doubt as to His true identity.
A few recognized Him as “the Prophet” or the Messiah who had been prophesied by Moses (Deuteronomy 18:15-18 and John 6:14). But most were ambivalent about His identity. Some believed He was simply a “good man” (John 7:12). Others believed He was a reincarnation of John the Baptist, Elijah, Jeremiah, or “one of the prophets” (Matthew 16:14). Some claimed He was an illegitimate child “born of fornication” (John 8:41). A few wrote Him off as “a Samaritan with a demon” (John 8:48).
The Continuing Attack
Nothing has changed after 2,000 years. The Satanic attack continues to this day. Liberal theologians tend to dismiss Him as either a good man who was self-deceived or a revolutionary who meant well but failed.
All the cults deny His supreme divinity. The Mormons claim He was the brother of Lucifer, one of thousands of minor gods created by the super-god. The Jehovah’s Witnesses identify Him as Michael the Archangel. The Spiritist groups like the Church of Christ Scientists and the Unity Church usually present Him in New Age esoteric terms, claiming He was a spirit without a body or that He was “a medium of the sixth sphere of the astroprojection.” Others argue He was just a man who was able to fully manifest the Christ spirit that is in all of us.
Hollywood presented Him in the movie, “The Last Temptation of Christ,” as a deluded soul who was wrestling with internal demons. And in “Jesus Christ Superstar” the Broadway stage presented a woman in love with Him who sang over and over, “He’s a man, He’s just a man…”
The hottest new book about Jesus, entitled The Jesus Mysteries, goes to the extreme of claiming He is nothing but a myth! Despite the fact that there are few persons in ancient history for which there is more written and eyewitness evidence, these men claim Jesus was nothing but a figment of His disciples’ imaginations.1
Incredibly, the book was endorsed by some Christian leaders like Episcopal Bishop John Spong of New Jersey.
We can be assured that as we near the time of Jesus’ return, the attacks on Him and His identity will intensify. Satan knows Bible prophecy. He can see the signs of the times that clearly point to the Lord’s imminent return. As those signs intensified throughout the 20th Century, Satan launched an all-out campaign to convince the world that Jesus is a fraud. For example, he rallied a group of so-called “New Testament scholars” who formed a discussion group known as “The Jesus Seminar.” This group proceeded to vote on the validity of all the sayings of Jesus recorded in the Gospels. Their report, called The Five Gospels, concluded that only 15 statements attributed to Jesus in the Gospels were actually spoken by Him. The title of their report comes from the fact that they decided to grant the apocryphal Gospel of Thomas equal standing with the four traditional Gospels.2
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