This Jesus hath God raised up, whereof we all are witnesses (Acts 2:32).
" + "One of the major problems in the world that people have been struggling with for centuries is the preponderance of counterfeits. Counterfeits harm us because they betray our sensibilities. They look like the real thing but they are not the real thing. For example, counterfeiting currency is a very big issue in many countries. In fact, there are whole syndicates geared towards making up money. These bills have no reference to what's actually in the country's account. Consequently they have the possibility of creating a bigger problem than the bill itself. It can make the government think that they have more money than they think they do. As a result, things could fly off of the handle. The country could be bankrupt while it looks like it is rich. This is not the case in this country since we have left the Gold Standard. But, the issue remains that making something up to look like something else is a problem.
" + "A counterfeit is a counterfeit because it looks like the real thing. Counterfeit American currency must look like the real currency else there would be no ability to deceive the person using it. This type of deception, then, has the look of truth. It has to portray itself as something that can add value, something that can offer real substance, but, essentially, does not. Brothers and sisters, this is the problem we are all attempting to grapple with in the kingdom of God. We have to choose between the real and the counterfeit.
" + "In the scripture above, we see language that helps us understand why this is so. Peter makes certain to say, "this Jesus" in reference to his resurrection. Throughout Acts, the language of "this Jesus" is used. Many scholars have debated interpreting such verses. Why is it necessary to claim that "this Jesus" is the one whom they bore witness to, in the context of the book, isn't it obvious? The sad reality is that the answer to this question is that it may not be. "This Jesus" is the same one the Old Testament prophets spoke of, and the same one the gospels describe. "This" is the correct Jesus, there is no other one. The problem is that we have other Jesuses. Even in Paul's time he had to warn the Corinthians about this problem. He warned them that there would be those who would bring them "another Jesus" (2 Cor. 11:4). So what's the problem with "another Jesus?" Besides the fact that there is only one through whom we can receive salvation, the other "Jesus" is problematic because he's counterfeit. Let's remember our aforementioned discussion on fake things. The issue with the counterfeit Jesus is that he makes you think he is the real Jesus. He looks like the real one, he even wants you to believe he's the real one, but he is not.
" + "And worse, these fake Jesuses have witnesses too. They have their own people who will testify to their power and might. They have their own apostles, prophets, and ministers. Moreover, they have their own gospel that backs them up. These other Jesuses are not based in a proper understanding of the word of the Lord. The prophets never spoke of them. The apostles did not bear witness to them. No gospel bears their mark. So how do they even have the ability to be counterfeits, how do they even look like the real thing? The reason is that people use some of the truth to testify of them but then do not use the rest of the truth to continue their testimony. For example, one of the biggest fake Jesuses of our time is the white supremacist Jesus: the one born in Germany in the medieval period with blond hair and blue eyes. Many artists have attempted to paint him over the years. Another Jesus is more modern, he doesn't have many pictures but people say his name a lot: he is the Jesus of "my prosperity" the one who grants wishes when you make sure to pay him off with your money and not with your life.
" + "Neither of these is the real one. The reason is that these Jesuses are not based on the gospels, the Old Testament, or anything else in the Bible. These Jesuses are based on taking scriptures out of context, taking snippets of the word of God and placing them together to validate the gospel that you want to believe. For racist folks, their Jesus supports their belief in their supremacy over others. For prosperity-minded people, their Jesus supports their avarice. Jesus supports neither of these beliefs, how do we know, because the whole of scripture does not agree. John 3:16 tells us that God loved the world and gave his son, not whites, blacks, or anyone else, but the whole world. So, Jesus is not for certain races and not for others. Second, 1 Tim. 6:9 explains that the will to be rich causes us to fall as people of God: Jesus is not for making us financially prosperous.
" + "The problem we face as Christians is that we go between the Jesus we've created and the real Jesus. What's needed is a real fidelity to the word of God. We no longer need to make decisions about how we will worship our God without consulting the Bible. The God we will worship is determined by the basis we use to get to that God. Either we choose the God of the scriptures, or we are choosing the god of our own creation. The God of the Bible is manifest to us through Jesus the Christ. The apostles and prophets bear HIM witness. Everyone else is a pretender, standing in the way of the true risen Lord.
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