APOCALYPTIC HOPE

Time Bomb 2000
http://pub16.ezboard.com/ftb2kfulltopicfrm1

Subject: [Rel Xn]The Fake Jesus: Categories To Consider
Posted By: data junkie  (Registered User)
Posted At: 2/22/01 3:54:30 am 

Got this e-mail, kinda simple but some valid categorizations to ponder.--DJ
I thought it good to share this from my friend and brother -
Jonathan Cahn

DON'T BE FOOLED
The Jesus most people know is fake. The Jesus most people know is
religious: The Jesus of pews, liturgies, and stained-glass windows, of
rituals, doxologies, holy days, and once-a-week services. That Jesus never
existed.

The real Jesus was not religious. In fact, the biggest problem He had was
with religious people: Those who saw holiness as a matter of tradition and
ritual rather than of the heart. The real Jesus never asked his disciples
to be religious, but instead to open their lives and hearts to the real
power of the living God.

The real Jesus is still that way. The once-a-week Jesus is a counterfeit.
Jesus was never once a week. Nor could His presence be confined to the
four walls of a church or synagogue. He is either present seven days a
week, outside of church walls, in ones everyday daily life, or He is not
present in ones life at all.


THE HISTORICAL JESUS
The scholars quest for the historical Jesus is misdirected. The historical
Jesus is a fake as well. Not that Jesus did not exist in history. He
existed in history as much as do the scholars who search for Him. His feet
walked the first-century roads of the Judean wilderness, His hands touched
the welts and sores of the first-century wandering lepers, and His body
was scourged by first-century Roman soldiers.
But the Jesus who lived 2,000 years ago is not the real Jesus. The real
Jesus is not the Jesus of the past but the Jesus of the now. To his 12
disciples and to those who truly knew Him, He was never the Jesus of the
"then." Even then, He was the Jesus of the "now." And that never changed.
For He said: "I am with you always, even to the end of the age." The real
Jesus still walks the Earth, still touches the needy, still heals and
makes whole, still works His miracles, and still transforms the lives of
all those who truly receive Him. Those who truly know Him, know Him no
other way. Because anything else is just history, not the real Jesus.


THE NICE JESUS
Many people see Jesus as a good teacher, a nice man, an enlightened
leader, a righteous prophet, a man who taught great truths, or a spiritual
guide to help one live a successful life. This Jesus is a phony also. He
never existed. The real Jesus came as Lord of all, the God of heaven come
down to give life. One cannot simply call Him a good or nice man. He did
not come to be nice. He came to change lives: Period.


THE EASY JESUS
Among the most popular of the Jesus versions is the easy Jesus. This is
the one you fit into your life and around your schedule and plans, the one
you call upon when you are in trouble or need a favor, the one you add to
your life so you can feel better about yourself. But this one too is a
fraud. The real Jesus is neither comfortable nor convenient. And those who
try to fit Him into their lives can never know Him, since the only way to
know the real Jesus is to know Him as Lord: Lord of every part of your
life. This means you conform your life to His. You follow Him. You seek
His will above your own. For if He is not Lord of all, He is not Lord at
all. You don't fit Jesus into your life-you fit your life into Jesus.


THE NON-JEWISH JESUS
For almost 2,000 years, the world has known a non-Jewish Jesus, a Jesus
for which a Jewish person must sacrifice his or her Jewishness or else be
forced to reject Him. This Jesus never existed either. The real Jesus is
as Jewish as Manischewitz kosher-for-Passover egg matzoth. He was born in
Bethlehem, according to the Hebrew prophet Micah (5:2), to a Jewish mother
who was never called Mary, but Miriam. He was a rabbi who observed
Passover, Yom Kippur, Hanukkah, and all the holy days of Israel. He died
in the Jewish city of Jerusalem as the Sacrificial Lamb, according to the
prophecy of Isaiah 53. The fact that He was rejected by His own and became
a Light to the Gentiles was even foretold of the Jewish Messiah by the
Hebrew prophets.

The real Jesus was never called Jesus, His real name was Yeshua, which
means "God is Salvation" in Hebrew. Nor was His last name ever Christ.
Christ is simply a Greek-English version of the Hebrew word Mashiack: The
long awaited Jewish Messiah. And the word Christian is simply a Greek way
of saying "follower of the Messiah," and what could be more Jewish than
that.

The first believers in Jesus were not called Catholic or Protestant,
Orthodox, or Baptist. They were Jews who believed in their Messiah, which
seemed to be the most Jewish of all possible beliefs. It was these Jewish
believers who, from the holy city of Jerusalem, gave to the world the
faith that would later be known as Christianity. So, from the Pygmy of
Africa to the Eskimo of the Arctic Circle, it remains a Jewish faith. As
the rabbi from Tarsus, Shaul (known to the world as St. Paul), also said:
"...the Gospel is the power of God for salvation to the Jew first and also
to the Gentile." So no matter whether one is for or against Him, the real
Jesus Christ--or rather the real Yeshua the Messiah, remains strictly
kosher.

Therefore anyone who claims to love Jesus, but does not share a love for
the Jewish people does not know the real Jesus. One cannot profess to love
the King of the Jews, and then withhold that love from the people to whom
He is king. The Bible records that Jesus wept out of compassion for His
people. One cannot claim to know His heart if one cannot do the same.

According to the New Testament, a true Christian is one who has become an
adopted child of Abraham, a citizen of the commonwealth of Israel. A true
Christian is one who has received salvation, new birth, and a heritage
from the children of Israel and who, in turn, blesses them back
By the same token people ask, "Is it possible for a Jew to believe in
Jesus and still be Jewish?" The real Jesus came as the Jewish Messiah.
There is no way around it. If Jesus is not Messiah for the Jews, then He
is Messiah for no one. But conversely if He is the Messiah, then the
question is not, "Can a Jew still believe in Jesus and still be Jewish?"
but rather, "Can a Jew not believe in Jesus and still be Jewish?" For if
He is the Messiah for anyone - then He must first and foremost be Messiah
for the Jewish people. Today, after two thousand years Jewish people are
embracing Jesus as the Jewish Messiah in greater numbers than at any other
time since that of the apostles. At the same time Christians and churches
of all backgrounds are rediscovering the long lost Jewishness of Jesus.

The two, Jew and Gentile, are together again worshiping the Lord with the
original richness of the Jewish roots of Christianity, in Messianic
congregations and fellowships across the world, just as in the beginning.
Its not only possible...It is happening.


THE FINAL IMPOSTER
The last and most fake of all impostors is the Jesus who does not totally
and absolutely change your life. This is the one who neither requires nor
causes any real transformation in the lives of those who claim to know
Him. But the real Jesus did not come so that your life would remain the
same. The real Jesus is the one who said the words, "You must be born
again." He never got wrapped up in religion. But He did speak of a new
birth, a total surrender, a total new beginning, and a total change of
heart and life. IF your life has not been totally and absolutely changed,
you do not know Jesus or, at least, not the real one. And a Jesus who is
not real will never be able to make a real difference in any life. So do
not be fooled by imitations. Life is too short and eternity too long to
make a mistake on this one. Seek the real Jesus for yourself. As it is
written, "Then I will be found by you, when you search for Me with all
your heart." He is the real thing. And He came to give you something real:
life, real life. Everything else is just a pale imitation.

Shalom & Simcha,
Jim Searcy
Written by Jonathan Cahn