Matt Slick: False Christs – Echo Zoe Ministries

matt-slick

For if one comes and preaches another Jesus whom we have not preached, or you receive a different spirit which you have not received, or a different gospel which you have not accepted, you bear this beautifully. (2 Corinthians 11:4)

The Apostle Paul (not to mention the Lord Himself) warned us that there would be many false Christs. Matt Slick of Christian Apologetics and Research Ministry joins me for this episode to discuss several of the false Christs that we see around us today.

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An Outline of the Discussion

To understand false Christs, you must first understand the true Christ:
- Jesus is a man (right now), with two natures: human and divine.
- The Trinity is one God in three distinct, simultaneous persons.
- Jesus is eternal
- Jesus as a man didn't come into existence until he was born of a virgin 2000 years ago, but The Word (Second person of the Trinity) has always existed.
- When “The Word became flesh” (John 1:1,14), His divine nature joined with the human nature in the person of Jesus Christ. (He is one person with two distinct natures). This is how he always WILL BE, he will always be a man.
- A false Christology (understanding of Christ) necessarily leads to a false soteriology (understanding of salvation). If Christ is a created being, he couldn't have made an infinite sacrifice, and we're still in our sins.
The Jesus of the Jehovah's Witnesses
- Jesus is a created being.
- Jesus pre-existed as Michael the archangel.
- Did not resurrect bodily
The Mormon Jesus
- Best understood in light of their understanding of who God is.
  - Their god is an exalted man from another planet near a star called Kolob.
  - He's about 6 feet tall, and has a body of flesh and bones.
  - He has a wife, also with a body of flesh and bones.
  - Both were exalted to godhood by following the laws and ordinances of their god on their planet.
  - Their god and goddess had physical relations on their planet in order to make spirit babies intended to inhabit bodies here on Earth.
  - Matt likes to point out that if the Mormon god is a man from another planet, that makes him an alien.
- Given the nature of the Mormon god, Jesus is the literal brother of the devil, and of all of us. He was the firstborn offspring of their god and goddess.
- “Jehovah” is the name of the pre-incarnate Jesus. (“Elohim” is the name of his father, but they call him “Heavenly father”).
The Unitarian Jesus
- Trinitarianism teaches one God in three persons, Unitarianism teaches one god in one person.
The Modalistic Jesus
- Known as Modalistic Monarchianism or Sebellianism, expressed today in Oneness doctrine (Oneness Pentecostal or Oneness Apostolic).
- One being that is God, but that He does not exist as three simultaneous and distinct persons, but rather as one person with three manifestations or modes.
- Their doctrine is dangerous because it denies Jesus' true incarnation.
Emerging Church/Emergent Church Jesus
- Matt sees the Emerging Church as having some good ideas, but with weak doctrine in some areas, whereas the Emergent Church is more aberrant.
- The Emergent Church emphasizes sincerity as important, that it doesn't matter what you believe, as long as you're sincere about it. Matt points out that appealing to sincerity is another way of appealing to one's own pride. It appeals to works and the condition of the heart.
- Matt explains that the Emerging Church seeks to reach out to the culture in ways that they find relevant (which can be a good thing), but compromise on some areas where they shouldn't.
Roman Catholic Jesus
- The Jesus of Roman Catholicism is perfectly orthodox. You can get a decent understanding of Christology from Roman doctrine.
- That said, Roman Catholicism has a heretical soteriology.
- Romanism is false because it adds works to faith, and it has a heretical view of Mary.
The Seventh Day Adventist Jesus
- Officially orthodox in its view of the Doctrine of the Trinity and the Incarnation.
- They say that Jesus is Michael the Archangel of the Old Testament, but not in the same sense as the Jehovah's Witnesses do. The JWs say that Jesus/Michael is a created being, that an angel became a man. The SDA says that The Word manifest himself in the Old Testament as Michael, and that “angel” simply means “messenger”, not necessarily a specific type of being. It is wrong, but because it doesn't (strictly speaking) violate the Doctrine of the Trinity, it isn't heretical.
- They hold to some troublesome, if not heretical doctrines (baptismal regeneration, investigative judgment, etc.), but their Jesus isn't outside of orthodoxy.