A JESUS OF OUR OWN MAKING

 

A “Christian” Mystic had written me: “Christ said follow me.... Not follow the book that will be written about me.”

How can we possibly follow Christ without His Biblical instructions! How can two people, let alone a church, find unity without the teachings of the Bible! We cannot. Instead, everyone has his own gnosis without any way to reconcile the differences.
 

Regarding the Scriptures, Jesus had a lot to say, and it’s all positive. In fact, Jesus always quoted the Scriptures in support:

• Matthew 4:4-7 Jesus answered, "It is written: 'Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.'" ….4:11 Jesus said to him, "Away from me, Satan! For it is written: 'Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.'"
  

• Matthew 15:3-9 He [Jesus] answered them [the Jewish leadership], “And why do you break the commandment of God for the sake of your tradition? For God commanded, ‘Honor your father and your mother,’ and, ‘Whoever reviles father or mother must surely die.’ But you say, ‘If anyone tells his father or his mother, “What you would have gained from me is given to God,” he need not honor his father.’ So for the sake of your tradition you have made void the word of God. You hypocrites! Well did Isaiah prophesy of you, when he said: ‘This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me; in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’”
  

·       Matthew 5:17-18 "Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. 18I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished.

• Luke 24:25-27 He said to them, "How foolish you are, and how slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Did not the Christ have to suffer these things and then enter his glory?" And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself.
  

• Luke 24:44-45 He said to them, "This is what I told you while I was still with you: Everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms." Then he opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures [not Church proclamations].
  

• Matthew 22:29 Jesus replied, "You are in error because you do not know the Scriptures or the power of God.”
  

• John 5:45-47 "But do not think I will accuse you before the Father. Your accuser is Moses, on whom your hopes are set. If you believed Moses, you would believe me, for he wrote about me. But since you do not believe what he wrote, how are you going to believe what I say?"
  

• Matthew 22:43 He said to them, "How is it then that David, speaking by the Spirit, calls him 'Lord'?”
  

HE PLACED HIS TEACHING ON THE HIGHEST FOOTING POSSIBLE:

• John 12:49-50 “For I have not spoken on my own authority, but the Father who sent me has himself given me a commandment—what to say and what to speak. And I know that his commandment is eternal life. What I say, therefore, I say as the Father has told me.”
  

• Matthew 24:35 “Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words [Not His portraits, icons, or Church councils concerning Him] will not pass away.”
  

• Matthew 22:29 Jesus replied, "You are in error because you do not know the Scriptures or the power of God.”
  

• John 5:45-47 "But do not think I will accuse you before the Father. Your accuser is Moses, on whom your hopes are set. If you believed Moses, you would believe me, for he wrote about me. But since you do not believe what he wrote, how are you going to believe what I say?"
  

• John 12:49-50 “For I have not spoken on my own authority, but the Father who sent me has himself given me a commandment—what to say and what to speak. And I know that his commandment is eternal life. What I say, therefore, I say as the Father has told me.”
  

• Matthew 24:35 “Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words [Not His portraits, icons, or Church councils concerning Him] will not pass away.”
  

You will not find a single verse where Jesus disparages the Scriptures. Therefore, to reject the Scriptures as the word of men and not of God, is to reject the Biblical Jesus in favor of your own Jesus. It is also to ignore the many Scriptural warnings:

Galatians 1:6–9 I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel— not that there is another one, but there are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed. As we have said before, so now I say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed:

The Book and the One who gave it to us are inseparable. To hate the One is to hate the Other.

• John 14:23-24 Jesus answered him, “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. Whoever does not love me does not keep my words.”
  

I pray that you will reconsider. Please ask yourself if you have placed your trust in your own understanding rather than in the revelation that comes directly from God!