From time to time, you and I need to remind ourselves that we are very blest people. Amen? That statement could take us in many directions, but I have a special one in mind this afternoon. We were never directly a part – or else we were rescued from – the religious world of the occult. There are millions, if not billions of people, whose religion involves spiritual mysteries and the working of demonic beings. 80% to 90% of those people have no idea that they worship and serve Satan and demons, because the Devil loves to cover himself and deceive. “The god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not.” Those people “are of (their) father the devil, and the lusts of (their) father (they) will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.” Some of these people practice mystical arts, which even they say are on the fringes of common society. Others are practitioners of accepted world religions like Buddhists and Hindus. Then others are in mainline churches of Christendom, speaking in tongues, performing “miracles,” and teaching hidden words and messages – sometimes straight out of misconstrued Biblical texts.
You and I have had the privilege of being taught that Jesus of Nazareth is the Messiah of God – the Christ. Perhaps you have never looked to any other historical figure, tempted to believe the lie that this person was Christ – but millions of people have. And beside these poor souls, there are thousands – today – at this very moment – who are looking at living men in the false belief that these people are the Christ – or supernatural representatives of Christ.
When the disciples asked Him about His eventual return and for signs to consider, one of the first things that Jesus did was to warn them about the coming plethora of false Christs. “Take heed that no man deceive you. For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many.” “If any man shall say unto you, Lo, here is Christ, or there; believe it not. For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect.”
I realize that when the Son of God became incarnate, most of the Jews said that He was not the Messiah. In that sense, when Jesus taught that He was the Messiah, it would have been like Sun Myung Moon saying that he was Christ. But the great difference is the EVIDENCE which we find throughout the New Testament. The difference is seen in the undeniable miracles of Jesus Christ. The difference is seen in the purity, holiness and total honesty which we seen in Jesus. The difference is in the testimony of God the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.
You may not be aware that there have been hundreds, and there are still a great many people who claim to be Christ in one form or another. Believe them not. This may not be my usual Sunday message, but I think that it would be good to realize that Christ was not beating the air when He gave us this warning.
There are four categories of False Christs in history.
According to a current Wikipedia article there have been more than twenty major Jewish false Christs since the time of the Lord Jesus. Some of them were more political than spiritual, but we have to remember how the Jewish mind blended those two things into one. There were people like Simon of Peraea who lived during Jesus’ day – a former slave of Herod the Great who rebelled and was killed by the Romans. There was Menahem ben Judah, who lead a revolt against Agrippa before being killed by a rival leader. Some of them were so foolish as to be considered insane, but they had their followers. For example, there was Moses of Crete, who in about 450 AD persuaded many of the Jews of that island to walk into the sea in order to return to Israel just as the first Moses had done. In just about every century there has been one or two of these Jewish messiahs. In 1994 Menachem Mendel Schneerson died. This man only claimed to “prepare the way” for the Messiah, but a number of his followers declared that he actually was the Messiah. Jesus’ warning to His disciples is not without merit.
Surprisingly, in that Wikipedia article there is a list of seven Muslim false Christs. And then there are eight or ten Messiah’s which don’t fit into any special category. Some of you might remember the name Haile Selassie of Ethiopia. He was a Rastafari. Again this man didn’t claim to be the Messiah, but his followers applied the term to him. There was a man born in Colombia, named Victor Rodriquez, who founded the “Universal Christian Gnostic Movement.” There have been some female Messiahs, like Nirmala Srivastave who died only four years ago. Riaz Shahi founded of the “Messiah Foundation International.” This man declared himself to be the Muslim Mehdi, Jewish Messiah and the Kalki Avatar. Ryuho Okawa, born in 1956, founded something called “Happy Science,” and claims to channel the spirits of Muhammad, Christ, Buddha and Confucius, declaring that he is the incarnation of the supreme being El. One thing to keep in mind in many of these so-called Messiah is their direct connection to the occult. These people who claim to channel others are as demon-possessed as the girl in Philippi. And yet they claim to be Christ.
After these there has been an almost incalculable number of so-called “Christian Messiahs.” There is Simon Magus in the early first century, who called himself “the standing one” in an obvious reference to the Christ of the Book of Revelation. There have been these “Christian Messiahs” in every century and on every continent – from Asia to North and South America. Baha’u’llah who died in 1864 founded the Bahai Faith, which still has followers today. Cyrus Reed Teed, an American, died in 1908. He was a physician turned alchemist, religious leader and messiah, claiming divine inspiration. He took the name “Koresh” and proclaimed the truth of “Koreshanity.” The Seventh Day Adventist, Branch Davidian, David Koresh obviously took some of this mans ideas. Some of you might remember Father Divine, who died in 1965. Sun Myung Moon who died two years ago, founded the Unification Church and claimed to be Christ. Brian David Mitchel is a Mormon fundamentalist, claiming to be a type of the Messiah. David Shayler a former MI5 agent declared himself the Messiah in 2007.
Why am I leaving our ordinary Bible study to pursue these names? To show you that Jesus’ warnings about false Christs have merit. “Take heed that no man deceive you. For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many.” “If any man shall say unto you, Lo, here is Christ, or there; believe it not. For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect.”
Why these people are so extremely dangerous.
It is not just a matter of their lies and the stupid things that they sometimes ask of their followers. And as serious as it is, this is not just a matter of locking souls into spiritual prisons away from any presentation of the true gospel. So many of these false Christs are clearly demonic – satanic. And yet, as our Saviour warns us, some are so clever or demonically empowered, that if were not for the grace of God, they might deceive even God’s Jewish elect.
Sergey Torop who also refers to himself as “Vissarion,” considers himself to be Jesus Christ returned to earth. He is currently living with two wives in Siberia and has about 5,000 followers. Many of those people have given up everything and moved near to the mountain where their god on earth lives. Sergey used to be a Russian traffic cop who when 29 years old had the epiphany that he was the Son of God. From where did this idea come? He wrote a book called “The Last Testament” and delivers the periodic sermon to his followers in Siberia. Despite claiming to be Christ, he has said, “I am not God. And it is a mistake to see Jesus as God. “But I am the living word of God the Father. Everything that God wants to say, He says through me.” Do you remember Jonestown – could the same thing happen again, but this time in Siberia?
Alan John Miller is an Australian who claims to be the returned Jesus Christ. He used to be a Jehovah’s Witnesses preacher, but I guess that the money was better off on his own. At public events he starts off with the phrase: “I am Jesus – deal with it!” He has sold thousands of DVDs and attracts a lot of people from all over the world. The people in his inner circle are almost more bizarre than he is. The return of Christ according to Miller is enhanced with other Biblical characters coming with him. His partner, Mary Luck, claims to be Mary Magdalene, and one of his lieutenants claims to be Cornelius. Miller and Luck say that they were married in their first lives, and had a baby girl together. From the outside, this appears to be full blown insanity, yet on the inside of this circle there is a significant following of thousands of people who are glued to every word coming from the mouth of this fake son of God.
There is not one, but two men, calling themselves “Rael,” – one spelled “RAEL,” and the other “RAYEL.” The first is a Frenchman formerly named Claude Vorilhon who claims to have been visited by aliens. I have no reason to doubt that the man was visited, but the aliens were demons, sent with the purpose of leading this man into self-deification. He has since founded the “Raelian Movement” which is a mix of new age UFO, pseudo christian/judaic faith interspersed with a lot of science fiction. He claims to have 70,000 followers.
Then there is “Lord Rayel” who is an American by the name Raymond Elwood. Apparently in January, 2011 there was some light over Jerusalem allegedly indicating the return of Christ. Some sort of light was apparently really there and was certified by the news media. But according to Elmwood it apparently turned into a lightning flash, shot all the way to America and hit Ray Elmwood in the chest – who then turned into “Lord Rayel.” At that point he became the reincarnated Jesus Christ. Again the ministry of this false Christ may have been directly Satanic.
In Brazil: Alvarro Theiss, also known as Inri Cristo (Jesus Christ) runs “Suprema Ordem Universal da Santmssima Trindade.” He maintains a compound that houses his followers – mostly women. Theiss, 66, dresses in a white robe and wears a cloth “crown of thorns.” Theiss and those who live with him at his compound are vegans, which is something often seen in these New Age religions. The United States, Britain and Venezuela have banned this man because of they consider him dangerous, and he has been arrested over 40 times. He supports abortion but speaks against capitalism. The man has his own 24-hour television internet channel, which airs messages from the self-proclaimed Messiah. “My mission is to prepare the elect, the survivors of the inevitable nuclear holocost that will culminate in the end of this chaotic world, for the formation of the new earthly society, which will strive to fulfil the Creators will.”
Notice a few common characteristics between these modern “messiahs.” Several, if not all of them, confess to demonic inspiration, although they might not use the word “demonic.” They also often have very low moral standards rather than high and holy. They are self-seeking and spot-light centered. And they show little resemblance to the Christ of the Bible or to the Word of God itself. “Take heed that no man deceive you. For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many.” “If any man shall say unto you, Lo, here is Christ, or there; believe it not. For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect.”