I was on a Social Media site where a Christian was talking about who is Jesus. Just to be clear, Christians believe that Jesus is fully man and fully God. Despite what the news says, Christians and Muslims do not worship the same God. Even Muslims who know their Quran would agree to this (as the man stated above in his post about who the Muslim Jesus is).
So, as a Christian, what do you say to these claims made above? Are you ready to dialogue with someone who has vastly different beliefs than you do?
First, PRAY
BEFORE you start speaking or meeting with an unbeliever, you have to prepare through prayer. Ephesians 6 reminds us that our battle is not against flesh and blood “12For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. 13Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm.”
2. Study the Bible
It’s not enough to do a little devotional from time to time. If we want to know the truth, we need to be like the Bereans in the Book of Acts who were commended by the Apostle Paul for searching the Scriptures (Acts 17:11). Recognize your own need for knowing the word of God. 2 Timothy 3:16-17 states “16All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, 17that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.” Unless you know what is TRUTH, you will not be able to detect falsehood or counterfeit.
3. Who do you say “I Am?” (Mark 8:29)
Some Christians treat Jesus as their buddy, while others treat Him as a genie who brings them their wishes. They would tell you that they are Christians and they know who Jesus is. It’s not enough to simply “believe in Jesus.” Today’s messaging is that it’s enough to know Jesus or to believe in Jesus. If you read the man’s post above, he is a Muslim and he “believes in Jesus.” The Book of James says “19You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe—and shudder!” There are a lot of false religions out there that get Jesus wrong. Deny His Deity and you deny Christ. Deny His Humanity and you deny Christ. Not only are we called to know who Jesus is but we need to submit in obedience to His teachings. He is fully human, fully God. He is Lord and Savior. He is the One who is coming back to judge.
He is God. He accepted worship from others throughout the Gospels. He knows people’s hearts. He is the embodiment of Truth and He declared His divinity clearly in John 8:58 “Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am.” When the Pharisees heard this, they picked up stones to kill Him.
4. Beware of those who speak for Jesus
There are many devotionals out there that claim new revelation from Jesus Himself (like Jesus Calling and God Calling). These books state right in the introduction that Scripture is not enough and that they had a special download from Jesus… this is exactly what the Quran says. There are statements in the Quran that they claim Jesus made that He never said. They not only deny the deity of Christ, but also they take the verses from John 16 about the Holy Spirit and attribute them to Muhammad. There is a misunderstanding and outright denial of who the Holy Spirit is. For Christians, we believe in One God, three persons: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. All three are active throughout the Old Testament and New Testament.
Ligonier explains this best “The orthodox doctrine of the Trinity affirms that God is one in essence and three in person. Contrary to the assertions of Muslims and others, this is not a contradiction. If God were to be one and not one (that is, three) at the same time and in the same relationship, then we would have a logical contradiction. For example, if we were to say God is one in essence and not one in essence, then we would be confessing nonsense. But we believe that God is one and God is three at the same time, but the way in which He is one (in essence) is different than the way in which He is three (in person). To be sure, this doctrine is mysterious and we cannot understand it fully. Yet that does not mean it is illogical.”
https://www.ligonier.org/learn/devotionals/trinity
There are many factors that can go into apologetics (defending the faith) and evangelism. If you are going to engage in apologetics, you have to be in the Word of God. I cannot stress that enough! After I share my testimony, many come to me and ask where they can get a Quran. My answer is standard “You have no business reading counterfeit, when you have not read or studied the truth.” As 2 Timothy stated… “ALL SCRIPTURE” (emphasis mine). It’s not just a part of Scripture that is God-breathed, but ALL. It’s not just a verse or two that you need to know, it’s ALL.
Read your Bible – you will then be equipped for all the things that come your way. Even a social media post.
“4For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope. 5May the God of endurance and encouragement grant you to live in such harmony with one another, in accord with Christ Jesus, 6that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. 7Therefore welcome one another as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God.”
Amen.
Oh ho… ho… Dear One! Mona! I have a BIG mouth too, and my tongue is not only able to ramble on and on, but it’s also …a bit too sharp at times (Lord help me!), so yeah…I have A LOT TO SAY about this!
Muslims, like all deniers of Christ’s deity, cherry pick the Scriptures that highlight his humanity, but conveniently omit the ones that speak of his deity. Like John 8:24. Jesus said, “You will die in your sins if you do not believe that I am he.” That title: “I am he,” is used in Isaiah 43:25; 48:12; 51:12. These verses are where God Almighty is talking and saying of himself, “I am he.” And then a few verses later, Jesus says, “Before Abraham was, I am!” That is yet another direct reference to the Almighty, it’s yet another name or title that he gave to Moses to reveal to him and his people, who he is.
And to prove that the Pharisees knew EXACTLY what Jesus was saying, they said, “We aren’t going to stone you for your good works, but because you BEING A MAN MAKE YOURSELF TO BE GOD!” There! They said it! They only saw Jesus as being a man, just like those who deny his deity, but they ALSO said that they knew he was saying that he was the one and only true God, the Father!
Yes, Mona, you read that right! I humbly say to you that Jesus’s claim wasn’t just to deity, but he claimed that he was God the Father. I hope…I pray… I haven’t lost you, Mona. Please prayerfully read Isa. 9:6. Does it say that the Messiah would be called: Wonderful Counselor, Mighty Second Person of the Trinity, and Everlasting Son? No. It says, Wonderful Counselor, MIGHTY GOD, and EVERLASTING FATHER!
The Jews, didn’t even know who Jesus was, and they were supposed to! How much less do most “Christians” know who Jesus is? Only 5% of professing Christians read their Bible! The Jews thought Jesus was a reincarnation of Elijah, and/or John the Baptist — Oh come on man! HOW IS THAT POSSIBLE?! (by the way, it is a common but not talked about teaching in Judaism that reincarnation is godly. Oy vey!)
Only Peter, with the aid of the Father, said that Jesus was the Messiah, the Son of God. Not a mere man, but God in the flesh, as foretold in Psm. 110! Please recall what Jesus asked the Jews about this; the identity of the Messiah. They answered correctly that the Messiah would be David’s son, but Jesus didn’t stop there, he kept going, because there was MORE to reveal! Don’t you LOVE that about him? I DO! Anyway, they refused to answer his next probing question, “If the Messiah is David’s son, then why does he call him Lord?” Why did they refuse to answer his question, Mona? Because, who is David’s Lord, if not God the Father?!
Truly, the only things the Muslims have right about Jesus is that:
1.He is coming back to judge the quick and the dead, and
2. “Christians” worship three gods.
Uh…I want to humbly ask you to please not balk at this and allow me to explain further. In all honesty, for a Christian to say that the Trinity isn’t polytheism is like a Catholic who says they don’t worship Mary, they venerate her! Selah!
The Trinity, as far as church history goes, started in the second century, not in the first century. In 325 the rudimentary belief of the Trinity was made into the state religion by law, by the pagan Roman Emperor, Constantine. But the question of the Holy Spirit wasn’t fully decided at that time, 325 A.D. Isn’t that incredible? It took some 250 years for Greek philosophers to come up with their definition of God. It wasn’t until 385 A.D. that the Trinity as we know it was fully developed by Pope Nazianzus.
Truly, God is not so mysterious that we can’t know, or comprehend who he is. He wants us to know who he is, but he won’t reveal himself to the proud, or the spiritually dead who love lies. He reveals himself to the humble and to those who love the truth!
The church philosophers started off with two unequal gods – believing that Jesus was a created god under the Father. But later on they decided that there was two equal gods, and then in the fourth century, they finally came up with the three personsthat all claimed the title of: God. Like I said, even at the first council of Nicea in 325, many of the bishops and deacons didn’t know WHAT to think about the Holy Spirit! Was he God himself? – or was it a mere power of God?- or was he another lesser person of God? Honestly, this is proof of the blind leading the blind!
A true believer in Christ knows that the Holy Spirit IS Jesus, according to John 14:18. Jesus literally said after promising the Holy Spirit, “I will not leave you as orphans, I will come to you.” That proves that Jesus is the Holy Spirit. As well as 2 Cor. 3:17. I have heard other Trinitarians rightly affirm this truth, but they don’t even realize what they have done by doing so! They have blasphemed their doctrine of the Trinity, for the Trinity doctrine teaches that God the Son isn’t God the Holy Spirit! Those titles, by the way, are not found in Scripture. Only the titles of: the Son of God, and the Holy Spirit, or the H.S. of God etc. are found in Scripture. Those Trinity titles are man-made to help support the philosophy of the Trinity.
Mona, we have been warned over and over in the epistles to avoid the “wisdom” of the disputers of this age i.e. philosophers; men who profess to be wise, and seek wisdom, but are fools. What did Paul say about this? He said that God confounds the wise with his wisdom, which they think is foolish! I can’t tell you how many “Christians” think it is foolish, even ridiculous for God the Father to humble himself by becoming a man so he could die for us on the cross! They think it’s impossible for Almighty God, the Father, to become a man. They think that if God the Father became a man, then he would no longer be God, but only a sinful man! Yet they think it’s entirely possible for the second god person of a fictitious trinity, the “eternal son” to become a man?
This is amazing to me!
Obviously they do not understand the angel Gabriel’s words to Mary! He said that her child was the Holy one, the Son of God! Jesus told Peter to not call unclean what he has called clean. Yes, by circumstantial appearances, it seemed to people that Jesus was conceived in sin, but he was not! Those who say that are antichrist, like the Pharisees (John 9:34)!
Why have we been warned away from human philosophers? Because they seek knowledge as a means of salvation apart from God. And they are not alone, the Jews, the Pharisees in particular, believe the same thing, that salvation would come to them by way of knowledge of the Torah and obedience to the 613 commandments of G-d. Hardly any mention of the need of blood atonement is mentioned in their literature. If any atonement is mentioned it is the need for the OT sacrifices to be reinstated.
Did Jesus not say that the Jews search the Scriptures for salvation, but completely missed that they speak of him? That is Judaism 101, knowledge of the Torah, Talmud, and Zohar, and adherence to the 613 commandments of G-d are what will bring about redemption for the Jews – not the Messiah’s blood atonement.
A Jew’s religious education of the Torah is minimal, the bulk of their religious education is in the Talmud, and Zohar, which help them to interpret Scripture through numerical divination – gematria. This is why Jesus was constantly correcting their faulty interpretation of Scripture! Judaism is nothing more than Jewish witchcraft: Kabbalah. We see Kabbalah, even now, subtly creeping into the body of Christ with the help of smooth talking Antichrist rabbis!
Incredibly, Judaism, Kabbalah to be specific, has a trinity in Kether, Binah, and Chokmah! I can’t find a trinity in Islam — yet! I find that amazing, since Islam is a syncretistic blend of Catholicism and Judaism. But Allah was a moon god, and in Babylonian mystery religion, the moon god is accompanied by a sun god and some other god. I have found in my studies that all Trinities express the Babylonian philosophy of god; that god is a trinity!
Don’t believe me? According to Catholic theologians, the Trinity is the product of philosophical men like Philo of Alexandria. He is the one that all of the other “Christian” philosophers were inspired by. Philo of Alexandria was a Jewish Hellenistic Philosopher and was a contemporary of Jesus and his disciples. He was also a student of Kabbalah, or Jewish witchcraft. In other words, he wasn’t saved, not even close! So how could God reveal himself to an unsaved man as being a Trinity? The answer? God didn’t! So where did Philo get this idea from?
Philo said that while he was meditating repetitively on the secret names of G-d for the purpose of enlightenment, his own soul told him that G-d wasn’t alone when he created the heavens and the earth like the plain text states. Philo’s soul, or his spirit guide more like (Greek philosophers prided themselves on having a consulting demon, or “spirit guide”), told him God had two primary powers with him, Wisdom, and Word.
Wisdom is even said to be the female consort of God – his Shekinah, which is manifested as a dove. Over time, those powers developed into person. That is how philosophers have corrupted the logos in John 1:1. The “word” was not a second created god person. Remember, Philo said his soul told him God had two powers with him, Word was one of them. Shekinah isn’t found in the Hebrew text as God’s presence, but kavod IS found in Scripture to describe God’s weighty presence! This is just a few of the philosophical teachings that have crept into the body of Christ, unawares!
Logos is spoken word, but since anything God the Father speaks comes to pass that means his word IS him, and it became flesh, just as he is light and love! The literal Greek text reads verbatum: “In the beginning was the word, and the word was with (related to) God, and God was the word.” Did you catch the subtle inversion in the last verse? Why was that verse inverted when it didn’t need to be in order to be understood? That was done by Trinitarian scholars, and it’s not the only thing they messed with. 1 John 5:7b-8a is another. The Comma Johanium was never part of the original text, it was added much later from marginal notes of about 8 late manuscripts.
So, is there a mystery of godliness? Yes! But it isn’t Mystery Babylon’s philosophy of the Trinity. It is the mystery of God the Father becoming his only begotten Son!
I Cor, 2:6-16 speaks of this mysterious and hidden wisdom of God. What is this mysterious and hidden wisdom of God that “wise” men that are spiritually dead don’t understand? Again, it is simply this: God the Father, in the process of time, humbled himself and became his only begotten Son, so he, and not another “god person,” could acquire human flesh so he could died on the cross for us! That is the true gospel! God the Father, lived among us (Immanuel), as one of us, so he could died for us (as the Messiah)!
Did not the angel Gabriel herald our Lord’s birth by quoting Ps. 2 as being fulfilled? “Today in the city of David a Savior has been born to you. He is Christ the Lord!”
Ps. 2 makes it clear that the Son would be revealed on a certain day, TODAY. That day happened in Bethlehem 2000 years ago! Ps.2 doesn’t say: “You are My eternal Son; I’ve always been Your eternal Father.” Today is a point in time, it is NOT a metric of eternity. So according to Scripture, there is no eternal God the Son! Only the Son of God, born “today” in Bethlehem of Judea as foretold by God himself and his holy prophets.
According to Jesus in John 17:3 salvation depends on knowing who the only God and Jesus is, for we both know there are many counterfeit christs! Dear Mona! I’d like to lovingly and humbly ask you to look into this matter with an unbiased mindset and see if what I say is so, just as the Bereans did.
Is God really three separate co-equal, co-eternal persons like the Catholic philosophers said, way back in 385 A.D., which the Protestants later “borrowed,”? Or is God only one, as clearly stated in Scripture, God the Father who is holy and who is Spirit, who became a man at his incarnation – Jesus?
I hope and pray that you will answer Jesus’s question :”Who do you say that I am?” in Spirit and in truth! As for me and my house, we say that Jesus is God the Father manifested in the flesh, the Son of God, the Messiah!💕