Derek Prince - Contemporary Versions Of Another 'Jesus'
This is an excerpt from: True & False Church - Part 1
And then Paul goes on to explain the process of mental corruption in verse 4: For if he who comes That is some other preacher than Paul, who followed Paul. And one of Paul’s great problems was that after he presented the simplicity of the gospel, other men came along and made it complicated and tried to get people involved in all sorts of legal restrictions and regulations which are not part of the gospel. He had this problem in Corinth, in Galatia and in other places. So, he says this: For if he who comes preaches another Jesus whom we have not preached, or if you receive a different spirit which you have not received, or a different gospel which you have not accepted, you may well put up with it.
Notice there are three phases. First of all, another Jesus. Then, a different spirit. And then, a different gospel. So, it all centers in Jesus. Jesus said, I am the truth. When you change Jesus and cease to present the historical, Biblical picture of Christ, you’re going to get another spirit and it’s going to result in another gospel. Remember the Corinthians. If anybody was Charismatic, they were. They were ultra-Charismatic. So don’t imagine that the fact you’re baptized in the Spirit and speak in tongues and all that, which is wonderful, guarantees that you will not be deceived. It doesn’t. I’d like to offer you just three contemporary versions of another Jesus. Wish are in your outline, but I'll put them up. The first one, number one, is some kind of oriental guru.
Now, there’s a movement today which really so interprets Jesus. Puts Him on a level with Buddha and all sorts of other people. It’s called, who can tell me? The New Age Movement. That’s their version of Jesus. If you really want to deal with this problem, there’s one epistle above all others you should study which is Colossians. Because it presents Him as the great Creator by whom the whole universe was brought into being and who upholds the whole universe by the word of His power. He’s not just some Oriental teacher wandering around in a saffron robe with sandals. He’s God in person, the Creator and the Judge of all humanity. So, the New Age Movement, having presented another Jesus, is taken over by another spirit and presents another gospel. You understand? Once you change the character, and person of Jesus you’re into error.
The second type is a Marxist revolutionary. There’s one continent where this is particularly presented which is South America, that’s right. And it is known as Liberation Theology which teaches that it’s the job of Christians to resolve the problems of the poor, demand social justice, eliminate the wealthy and set up a new political order. Well, Jesus never did that. He had great compassion on the poor, but He never sought to institute another social order by force. He said: My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would fight. And so, the process of trying to bring the kingdom of God in by armed force is a denial of the teaching of Jesus. What they do is substitute one kind of dictator for another. One of the tactics that Satan uses to institute political revolution is to make people discontented with the present regime. He’s a master of getting people discontented. And really, if you work hard enough at it you can get discontented with almost any government in the world today. And the implication is, if you get rid of this government the next one will treat you fairly. But never has done. And actually, today Marxism is largely discredited. It has produced more poverty and more distress than the unjust regimes which preceded it.
So, that’s number two. Number three, is what I call a universal Father Christmas. They kind of picture Jesus walking around patting people on the head, saying: There, there, never mind. It will all work out. Don’t worry. That’s not a true picture of Jesus. The places which primarily purvey this doctrine are called liberal churches. And one thing they do not speak about is the judgment of God on sin. In fact, they don’t like to mention sin at all. And in each case where Jesus is misrepresented, once you have another Jesus you’re going to have a different spirit, which is not the Holy Spirit, and you’re going to have a different gospel which is not the gospel of the New Testament. How many of you would agree that this land of ours is full of that. Is that right? This is not something that’s going to happen in the next century it’s something that’s all around us. And, I would say, increasing rapidly in most places.