The Jesus of Mormonism and the Jehovah's Witnesses: A False Jesus. A False Gospel.

Imagine going skydiving and believing the pack you've strapped to your back and are clinging to for dear life is a genuine parachute.  As you're plummeting to the ground, you reach for the rip cord and give it a yank, expecting the life-saving chute to deploy.  To your shock and horror, nothing happens.  You realize it's no chute at all.  It looked real.  It felt real.  But it's not.  It's a fake.  And it won't save your life.  Tragically, you didn't realize it until it's too late.  No matter how much you believe it's real, it's not.  Believing it's real won't change the reality that you're crashing to your death.

Deception is subtle. What makes a counterfeit so effective is how much it looks real. It looks legit. But it's fake. It's false. Fake money looks real. But it's not. It's worthless.  No matter how much you may believe it's real, it's not.  Believing it's legit doesn't make it so.

The same is true regarding Jesus and the Gospel.  There is one True Jesus.  There is one True Gospel.  Only the true Jesus, the true Gospel saves.  Which Jesus are you clinging to for salvation?  The true Jesus or false one.  The true Gospel or a false one?

During First Friday Fishing March 2, 2012 (an evangelism training opportunity each month in Tulsa, Oklahoma for men who want to learn to share the gospel effectively), we struck up a conversation with Harold.  Harold knew the buzzwords.  He heard the gospel.  He believed in Jesus.  He trusted in Jesus for his salvation.  But as our conversation unfolded and we gently inquired further about Harold's understanding of the gospel, we learned that he was a Jehovah's Witness (JW).  We asked him if he believed that Jesus is God or if Jesus had been created by God to serve solely as God's son.  The JW's don't believe Jesus is God or Creator.  Much like the Mormons (who believe Jesus is the spirit brother of Lucifer, a created being rather than God himself), JWs believe in a different Jesus of their own fictitious fabrication.  Like Mormonism, the JW cult sprang up in the 1800s as the creation of a mere man.  They therefore have a false gospel, a Jesus and a gospel that cannot save.

The Apostle Paul warned Christians in the Churches of Corinth and Galatia to be extremely careful about false Jesus's and false gospels that cannot save.  To the Corinthians Paul wrote:

But I am afraid that just as Eve was deceived by the serpent’s cunning, your minds may somehow be led astray . . . . For if someone comes to you and preaches a Jesus other than the Jesus we preached, . . . or a different gospel from the one you accepted, you put up with it easily enough. . . .  And no wonder, for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light. It is not surprising, then, if his servants also masquerade as servants of righteousness. Their end will be what their actions deserve. (2 Cor. 11:3-4, 14-15)

Similarly, Paul warned the Galatian Christians as follows:

I am astonished that you are so quickly . . . turning to a different gospel—which is really no gospel at all. Evidently some people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to pervert the gospel of Christ. But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let them be under God’s curse! As we have already said, so now I say again: If anybody is preaching to you a gospel other than what you accepted, let them be under God’s curse! (Gal. 1:6-8)

When we explained to Harold what the Apostle Paul said about being so careful to avoid being deceived into believing a Jesus or a Gospel that cannot save, leaving one dead in their sins and subject to God's just wrath, he expressed a sincere desire to hear what the Bible says about who Jesus really is--that He really is God.

We pointed Harold to Isaiah 9:6 as one of many examples in the Bible where Jesus is clearly declared to be God himself:

For to us a child is born,
to us a son is given,
and the government will be on his shoulders.
And he [the son--Jesus] will be called
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

In fact, when Philip the Disciple asked Jesus to show him the "Father," Jesus said:  "Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father" (John 14:9).

When Thomas declared that Jesus is God, Jesus commended Thomas's accurate proclamation and praised his belief.  The revelation of Jesus's deity to Thomas after Jesus's resurrection from the dead is recounted in John 20 as follows:

Now Thomas, one of the Twelve, was not with the disciples when Jesus came. So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord!” But he said to them, “Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.” A week later his disciples were in the house again, and Thomas was with them. Though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!” Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe.”

Thomas said to him, “My Lord and my God!”

Then Jesus told him, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”

Like Thomas, Harold realized that Jesus really is the Everlasting Father, the Mighty God.  It's a mystery to us.  But he is.  That's the Jesus who can save.  The Jesus who is God.  The Jesus whose blood is infinite and eternal and infinately capable of paying for an infinite number of mankind's sins.

Harold thanked us for sharing with him.  We pointed him to a solid bible-teaching church in his area of town.  Pray for Harold.  Pray for grace to share the gospel with others who may need to hear the true gospel and trust in the true Jesus who can save.  You never know.  The person you may share with may be clinging to a false parachute, a false Jesus like Harold.