“THE PLOT TO MISREPRESENT JESUS”

By Temeka Atkinson

“God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds; who being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high.” (Hebrews 1:1-3 NKJV)

“So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness. See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the elemental spiritual forces of this world rather than on Christ. For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form, and in Christ you have been brought to fullness. He is the head over every power and authority.” (Colossians 2:6-10 BSB)

“Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand.” (Ephesians 6:10-13 NIV)

Hello fellow servants of Christ. I want to talk about how important it is for us as followers of Christ to proclaim the truth about Jesus in the earth and to reject and combat any lies or misrepresentations about Him that are coming from others.

In the Book of Hebrews, Jesus is described as the express image of God. The Greek translation of the word image in this scripture is “icon.” We usually use the word icon to describe someone that is inspirational; someone that is considered worthy of us to aspire to be like them.

In the Book of Philippians, we are told that God the Father has highly exalted Jesus and given Him the name that is above all other names in the earth. In humility and obedience, He laid down His perfect life as a ransom for all of humanity. He humbled Himself and was slandered, taunted, and tortured, yet He never sinned or turned back from His God given assignment to redeem mankind back to the Father. As God’s children in the earth, He expects us to become more like His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ through relationship and allowing the Word of God and the guidance of Holy Spirit to change us.

God is constantly moving in the earth through His Holy Spirit and His earthly children to try to evangelize and witness to the sinner who does not truly know or accept God. Because of this, Satan, the adversary of man and God, has been insidiously trying to deceive the believer and the unbeliever into misunderstanding Jesus. Satan knows that if he can make Christianity and Jesus undesirable to the sinner, then they will reject Jesus and therefore reject salvation. He also tries everything possible to make believers doubt God’s faithfulness and love towards us. Humans are constantly being inundated with fleshly propaganda that encourages us to do the very opposite of what God tells us to do, and the devil uses ‘shiny’ appealing things and people to attempt to weaken our faith.

The enemy’s revenge plot began after he was cast out of heaven for leading a rebellion against God. He had convinced a third of the angels to join him due to his desire to be in God’s place of authority. He was defeated and cast down to earth. He hates humanity because we are beloved by God. In the Book of Revelation 12:12, it is written, “Therefore rejoice, O heavens, and you who dwell in them! Woe to the inhabitants of the earth and the sea! For the devil has come down to you, having great wrath, because he knows that he has a short time.”

Long before Jesus came to earth in the flesh to redeem humankind, in the Book of Genesis, Chapter 3, God gave us a preview of things that would come to pass in the earth. As He was pronouncing judgment on Adam and Eve for their disobedience in the Garden of Eden, He prophesied to Eve that her Seed (Jesus) would bruise Satan’s head, and he (Satan) would bruise Jesus’ heel (Crucifixion). Because our Lord and Savior Jesus defeated death, hell and the grave, He powerfully tells those that believe in Him that He has given us authority to trample on serpents and scorpions and has given us all the power of the enemy and nothing can hurt us. That’s why it’s imperative that we read God’s holy Word so that we can know the will of God for our lives; how to wield the power that He has given us, and how to combat the attacks and lies of the enemy.

The deceiver and father of lies desires to lead as many souls to hell as he can. He uses people and the systems of the world to wage war against humanity. He and his demons are constantly trying to tempt people into sinning, even those who confess Christ. In the Synoptic gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke, the Bible describes an encounter between Jesus and Satan in which Satan approached Jesus right after He had finished a forty day and forty night fast in the wilderness.

The adversary knew that Jesus had been in a place of isolation for forty days and nights and that His natural body would be weak from not having had any food or water for such a long time. It is a common tactic of the devil to approach a believer when he senses vulnerability in us due to isolation. A believer is very vulnerable when they are far from God due to unrepentant sin, willingly giving into their fleshly desires, and lack of faith.

Jesus was tested through temptation in three different ways in a manner that seemed to be offering helpful assistance, which is another of the enemy’s common tactics. Jesus resisted each temptation by speaking the written Word of God to each offer the enemy dangled before Him. In Matthew 4:8-11, we read that the adversary presented his best and final offer to Jesus when he “took Him up on an exceedingly high mountain, and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. And he said to Him, “All these things I will give You if You will fall down and worship me.” Then Jesus said to him,“Away with you, Satan! For it is written,‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only you shall serve.’” Then the devil left Him, and behold, angels came and ministered to Him.”

When the believer is in a place of strength– connected to Jesus through holiness, righteousness, sanctification and consecration; the adversary’s approach is a lot different because he understands that we are submitted to God and can proclaim with boldness and faith that, “it is written,” as we watch him flee from our presence.

We as believers should be acutely aware that there are many voices speaking in the world today: on platforms, on podcasts, news shows, social media and any other avenue that they can find. Many say that they are sent of God, but their words and the actions that they condone and uplift tell a different story. The Bible tells us to test every spirit by the Spirit of God; to know a tree by the fruit it bears; and to use the spirit of discernment that is available to every child of God to discern between good and evil.

Our Omnipotent, Omnipresent, and Omniscient God foreknew that there would be wolves in sheep’s clothing that would try to devour the people of God and scatter them into the wilderness of the world. He knew that not everyone that says they are of God would be from His flock. He says in His Word that there are many that say, “Lord, Lord” who do not have His heart or spirit and that at the great and final Judgment day, they will try to explain to God that they have done so many things for Him in His name, but will be rejected because their hearts were far from Him.

In the Book of 1 John 5:19-21, the Bible tells us, “We know that we are of God, and the whole world lies under the sway of the wicked one. And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us an understanding, that we may know Him who is true; and we are in Him who is true, in His Son Jesus Christ.”

Below are some ways that we can evangelize by actions in conjunction with our words:

• We should examine our approach to make sure that we are speaking the truth in love to the sinner so as not to push them farther away from God. (Ephesians 4:15)

• We should show love and compassion for our fellow man, just as the good Samaritan from the Bible, not passing by when we see a need that God has prepared us to fill…hence why the need was brought to our attention. (Luke 10:25-37)

• We should be markedly different in behavior from the unbeliever by exhibiting the fruit of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. (Galations 5:22-23)

Brothers and sisters, we who have the blood of Jesus, must stand up for our God in the earth. We shouldn’t let liars and wicked people speak on behalf of our God or speak against our God. We have been empowered to show forth the love of Christ in the earth. There are many people that will never enter a physical church or stream a Christian message. However, we are the church, the ecclesia which means the ‘called out ones.’ We are the ones that are supposed to be in the world but not of the world in thoughts, actions and words. God left us here after we accepted Christ for the purpose of demonstrating His goodness, faithfulness and love in the earth.

We should be sharing the true Gospel message based on God’s Word. We should be exhibiting the nature of Christ everywhere the soles of our feet tread, or where we can write it in a blog, or share it on our social media pages, podcasts or YouTube. We are the witnesses of Christ to our co-workers, strangers, cashiers, homeless, hungry, fearful, family members, friends, etc. We are His ambassadors in the earth beseeching others to flee sin, accept Jesus Christ as Lord and be saved from eternal separation from God.

Scriptures for Reflection

Isaiah 5:20; 14:12-17

Jeremiah 6:10; 8:9

Luke 10:19, 25-37

2 Timothy 3:16

James 2:14-20

2 Peter 3:17

Dear Reader—

I pray this blog has been encouraging. Please know that the intention of this blog is to encourage you as we walk out our Christian faith together. It is not intended to replace God’s Holy Word, neither could it ever do so. The Bible is the inspired Word of God lovingly given to us to teach, convict, correct, and instruct us in righteousness. God’s Word is living, active, and powerful. It will never pass away.

As your sister in Christ, I pray God’s continued blessings and covering over you and your family. May He strengthen you and give you peace as you journey.

Always His,

Temeka