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What religion says about Jesus

1 Comment / Blog, Home Bulletin, My Blog / Christopher Peppler

I have found that a good way to determine the integrity and truth of religious, sectarian, or cultic teachings is to first determine what they say about Jesus.

The teachers of many religious systems claim that they worship the same God as the God of the Bible, and that their system of belief is just another way of approaching Him. Now, according to the Bible, Jesus is ‘the image of the invisible God…the exact representation of His being… for in Christ all the fullness of the deity lives in bodily form’ (Colossians 1:15; Hebrews 1:3; Colossians 2:9). The Lord Jesus is therefore the primary yardstick by which we should measure the validity of all spiritual truth claims. What a belief system teaches concerning His deity, uniqueness, and Lordship is an excellent indication of whether or not their god is our God, and their way of salvation the biblical way of salvation. So, let us have a quick look at what five major religious systems have to say about Jesus.

Islam

In terms of Islamic teaching, Jesus is only a messenger of Allah (and a prophet). Muslims deny that Jesus is both God and man and they also deny that he was crucified. However, they affirm that He was born of a virgin and that He was sinless. Islam has a high view of Jesus, but denies His divinity.

Hinduism

Although there are numerous sects within Hinduism, most of them hold to certain core teachings. For instance, Brahman is the name they apply to what they believe is the divine essence of all that exists. Brahman is impersonal, eternal, and beyond all human comprehension. There are many hundreds of gods and goddesses within Hinduism generally believed to be manifestations of the divine essence (Brahman). An Avatar is the name given to an appearance on earth of one of these deities and some strains of Hinduism claim that Jesus was an Avatar. However, most hold that he was simply an enlightened teacher (a master or guru).

Buddhism

Perhaps the best way to understand Buddhism is as a philosophy of how to live a happy life. Although it does include a concept of reincarnation, each new appearance of life on earth does not represent a specific spiritual entity or being. Because Buddhism predates Christianity by some six hundred years, its basic teachings take no account of Jesus. If they have any view of Jesus at all it would be as an enlightened teacher.

Mormonism

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints claims to be ‘the church of Jesus Christ’ but the big question is, ‘is this Jesus the same of the biblical Jesus of Nazareth or is he the Jesus of the latter day saints?’ Their Jesus was birthed in a pre-earthly existence (on another ‘planet’) by a flesh and bone divine man and his wife. He was the first of many sons and Satan was his younger brother. This alone evidences that the Jesus of Mormonism is not the Jesus revealed in the Bible.

Jehovah’s Witnesses

According to Jehovah’s Witness’ theology, God is a single person, not a Trinity. He does not know all things and he is not everywhere. He first created Michael the Archangel through whom He created all “other things,” including the universe. When the time came for a messiah to redeem humanity Michael the Archangel became a human in the form of Jesus. Jesus was created and was therefore not ‘god’ and he is not part of any supposed trinity. The Jehovah’s Witness doctrine of salvation sets out three requirements for salvation – a proper knowledge of god and Jesus, obedience to god’s law, and membership of and loyalty to the one true church (theirs). This neither the Jesus of the Bible nor the way of salvation it reveals.

It is reasonably clear from all of this that the Mormon or Jehovah’s Witness Jesus is not the Jesus revealed in and through the Bible. Nor is the Jesus acknowledged by Hinduism, Islam, and Buddhism the Jesus of the Bible. The Jesus of these religions cannot save anyone in and of himself and cannot be worshipped as God.

Here are links to the source documents of the five religions I have listed, for those of you interested in verifying this information or studying further:
Islam: The Quran
Hinduism: The Vedas
Buddhism: The Dhammapada and others
Mormonism: The Book of Mormon
Jehovah’s Witnesses: New World translation of Holy Scriptures
The Christian Apologetics and Research Ministry (CARM) has a lot of information on these and other religious systems.

PS: Listen to my forthcoming TruthTalk and the Q&A that follows it if you want to know what I think of Roman Catholicism’s take on Jesus and His saving work.

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Redemption and Eviction

2 Comments / Blog, Home Bulletin, My Blog / Christopher Peppler

There is a 180-degree difference between ‘come’ and ‘go’ yet one little Greek word can be translated as either. Come with me into Chapter Six of the book of Revelation to discover the profound difference.

The depiction in Revelation of the heavenly throne-room starts with God the Father sitting on the throne holding a seven-sealed scroll in his right hand. This document represents the title deeds to earth forfeited by Adam and Eve when they rebelled. Someone pictured as a slaughtered lamb steps up as humanities’ redeemer and takes the scroll from the Father. This is of course a representation of the Lord Jesus as the ‘Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!’ (John 1:29). All of creation, heaven and earth, burst into songs of praise, but the climax of the scene is yet to come.

Revelation Chapter Six opens with the words: ‘I watched as the Lamb opened the first of the seven seals. Then I heard one of the four living creatures say in a voice like thunder, “Come!”(NIV) This command is given four times, and each time a horseman rides out to afflict the earth.

Scholarly commentaries usually contain much debate about the one little word ‘come’. Some try to apply it to John the revelator as in, ‘Come and see’, but this makes little sense. The usual understanding is that the command is addressed to the Horsemen of the Apocalypse, but why would the guardians of the throne of God be calling forth devastation upon the earth when the final judgment of God is not yet in view? This doesn’t make sense to me either.

The problem is resolved when we realise that the Greek word translated as ‘come’ may equally well be read as ‘go!’… and what a difference this makes. Scholars like Seiss and Lenski state that the meaning is determined by the context and that ‘Go’ is more appropriate to the context of Revelation Six. The Holman’s Christian Standard Bible gives ‘go’ as an alternative reading and the God’s Word and the International Standard versions don’t even give ‘come’ as an alternative.

This may be a little word but it has big implications, for what is happening here is that the devil is being given his eviction orders;

“Go! Get out you squatter! Leave the earth you have illegally claimed as your own! Be gone!”

Satan and his minions know they have to vacate the premises but they fight every meter of the way. What we see portrayed in Revelation 6:2-8 is something all too familiar in countries such as mine where evicted squatters often do as much damage to the property as they can before being forcibly thrown out.

The first demonic horseman rides out with satanic authority given it to stir the nations into a frenzy of conquest. The German Third Reich is a good example. Hitler’s goal was world conquest and his first rallying cry was ‘Lebensraum – we need more room to live!’. The inevitable result of conquest is war, which in Nazi Germany’s case followed shortly after the conquest of Poland. So, the second horseman of the Apocalypse represents war. The third horseman represents famine, the natural consequence of the ravages of war, and the fourth horseman represents the disease and death which result from war and famine.

Verses 9 to 11 paint a graphic picture of the persecution that invariably follows the devastation of war: When conquests fail then someone needs to be found to take the blame, and the ‘someone’ is usually the people of God. History is replete with the sad record of this evil phenomenon – Rome, Nazi Germany, Communist Russia and China, several African states, and so on.

Verses 12-17 portray the final turn of the wheel of conquest-war-famine-pestilence-persecution… holy judgment! God will not allow the persecutors of His people to go unpunished, and so judgment follows persecution as surely as day follows night.

I use the analogy of a wheel because the cycle I have just described rolls like a wheel down the timeline of history. As we approach the end-of-days the circumference of the wheel grows larger and it turns faster. Wars become more intense and destructive, and famines and pestilence more widespread and resistant. What is more, in 2013 Reuters reported that about 100 million Christians were suffering persecution! Can divine judgment tarry much longer?

In my next post I want to deal with the 144,000 ‘witnesses’ of Chapter Seven: Who do you think they represent?

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Let whoever has an ear, hear

2 Comments / Blog, Home Bulletin, My Blog / Christopher Peppler

Our love for Jesus must be first in priority, just as it was when we first came to know Him.

At last we have come to the end of the letters to the seven churches of Revelation. In an earlier post in this series I gave a summary preview of the contents of these letters, so, Instead of simply representing a similar summary here, I would rather highlight what I believe are my major ‘take outs’. Each letter ends with the words, “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches”, and this implies that more than just receiving the message is required. We need to understand what Jesus is saying to the church of our day through these letters, and we need insight into what He is wanting us to take hold of personally.

I use a yellow highlight pen to illuminate any portion of scripture I believe the Holy Spirit especially impresses on me. In the letter to the church in Ephesus I have highlighted the words: “You have forsaken your first love. Remember the height from which you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first.” Every time I read those worlds I remember that when I committed my life it was not to a theology, tradition, or church, but to the Lord Jesus Christ. As a disciple I am defined by my relationship with a divine person and not by my biblical knowledge, ministry, or life-style: These things are products of who I am in Christ Jesus. But, sadly, I need reminding that my love for Jesus must be first in priority, just as it was when I first came to know Him.

You have forsaken your first love. Remember the height from which you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first

In the letter to Smyrna my yellow pen sets the words, “Do not be afraid” before my eyes. The wine of life is often laced with fret. The devil will sometimes assault me, or I will be foolish and have to reap the harvest of poor decisions, but I need not be afraid of life, for whatever I face the Lord’s words ring in my ears:

Don’t be afraid; just believe

To the church of Pergamum, to us today, and to me, the Lord Jesus says, “I know where you live – where Satan has his throne. Yet you remain true to my name.” It doesn’t take much perception to see that the devil effectively rules over much of humanity, despite the fact that he has no right to do so. Temptations abound, and life is often hard… yet we always have the ability to remain true to Jesus and never deny Him. His words to us are:

Whoever acknowledges me before men, I will also acknowledge him before my Father in heaven

Jesus wrote to the believers in Thyatira; “I will not impose any other burden on you only hold on to what you have until I come”. I have highlighted these words in my Bible but I have never seen them as an encouragement to do nothing more in this life than huddle with the holy until Jesus comes again. Rather, I understand that the call is to focus on what Jesus has taught and modeled and not be led astray by the complex teachings of any so-called prophets. Jesus expects me to simply stay true to Him and His Way.

Hold on to what you have

To the faithful in Sardis Jesus wrote: “I will never erase his name from the book of life” and I too take comfort from this. The Jews of that time believed that on the Day of Atonement each year God would remove from His book of life the name of anyone whose deeds He judged unworthy. But my name is written in blood in the record of eternal life, not by virtue of my worthiness, but by virtue of what Jesus has done.

I will never erase his name from the book of life

The words I have highlighted in the letter to the Philadelphian church are, “I have placed before you an open door that no one can shut.” This does not mean that I will succeed at everything I feel is biblical or worthwhile, but it does mean that if I am convinced that what I am doing is initiated and commissioned by Jesus then nothing can prevent it’s completion. It might be hard, and it may take a long time to accomplish, but it will happen.

I have placed before you an open door that no one can shut

Lastly, Jesus said to the Laodiceans: “those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest and repent”. You may have noticed that I have mentioned only good and pleasant parts of the letters. It’s not that I do not take the warnings and rebukes to heart, because I do, yet I see them as the admonishments of a loving God who cares for me deeply. I would be a fool if I did not repent when confronted with my wrongs, yet I have to confess that sometimes I am a fool… for a while.

Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline

May I invite you to do what I have done? Read through Revelation chapters Two and Three again and highlight in your Bible what you believe the Spirit is saying to YOU through these letters.

My next post in this series will be on something VERY DIFFERENT and I am eager to share it with you.

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My heart – beliefs

2 Comments / Home Bulletin, Special Message / Christopher Peppler

Sometimes a description of a heart-belief is more revealing than a Statement of Faith.

When I find a Christian website or blog that looks interesting I always try to ascertain what the author believes concerning key doctrines. Sometimes I find Statements of Faith, but these tend to be rather bland and impersonal. From time to time people ask me what I believe concerning Jesus, the Bible, and the Church, and, quite frankly, a full answer would take a book to describe. So instead, I want to rather share my heart with you concerning what I consider to be matters central to the Christian Faith. I will post further heart-beliefs in the weeks to come, in between the regular Revelation Revisited posts.

Jesus

The Lord Jesus saved me from certain death when I was a ten month old baby and then as a thirty year old he gave me spiritual life as well. I am so grateful to him; he is truly my saviour. Now for the last thirty-eight years I have been slowly getting to know him and I am wonder-struck. His grace astounds me, his power amazes me and his persistent love overwhelms me. He is the focus of my preaching and my interpretive key to unlocking the meaning of scripture. He is my plum line, my yardstick, and my corner stone. His life prescribes my life and his words guide and instruct all of what I do and who I aspire to be.

The local church

I pastored a local church for 27 years and yet I am not its longest standing member. People have come and gone but many have remained for decades. We are an extended family but I have never been the patriarch, for the Lord Jesus fulfills that role. I truly love this local church that Jesus has built around himself. Its highest good is my chief concern and in a very real sense its wellbeing is my wellbeing. Like all families it has some troublesome members and moments, but the difficult bits are far outweighed by the regular glimpses of glory. When we meet together we are noisily happy to be with each other, but when we worship as one the family becomes a temple and joy transforms into awe. I feel privileged to be a part of something so eternal and so precious to the Lord Jesus – he shed his blood so that churches like this could exist. I love the local church for it is the fullness of him who fills everything in every way – Jesus.

The Bible

From the day I was born again of the Spirit of God I acquired a hunger for the written Word of God, the Bible. I still find it fascinating. I accept its divine inspiration and authority and rejoice in its trustworthiness. I appreciate its absolute honesty and I am constantly encouraged by how transparently it records human frailty. However, what fascinates me about the Bible is that, whilst being divinely inspired, it is also an obviously human production. God did not compel men to write exactly what he wanted penned. Rather, he allowed specially chosen people into a working partnership and together they produced the Holy Scriptures, to God’s specifications. The result is not a theological textbook, or a divine dictionary. It is not a mystical recipe book for proving all things, nor is it a user’s manual for living. Rather, it is paper-and-print forum for encountering God and discerning his purpose and plans. It reveals his character and nature and it also contains his values, principles and priorities. Most of all, the Bible reveals Jesus, the living Word of God.

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Jesus loves the church

4 Comments / Blog, Home Bulletin, My Blog / Christopher Peppler

It is easy to be critical of the church and to sometimes want to stop attending and being involved – but never give up on church for it is much loved by the Lord Jesus.

In Christian parlance we often hear the church of our age referred to as ‘laodicean’. Those who use this term usually mean that they perceive the church in general to be apathetic and materialistic. This idea is reinforced by dispensationalist scholars who take the seven churches of Revelation as representing seven different church ages; Ephesus representing the early church, and Laodicea standing for the end-time church. There is a lot wrong with this way of thinking because, among other things, it makes much of Revelation inaccessible and irrelevant to the church both now and in years gone by. A better way of understanding is to see the churches as representing different aspects of the church in all ages. We can therefore be both admonished and encouraged by what Jesus wrote to all seven churches.

It is easy to see the negative aspects in the letter to the church of Laodicea. It is lukewarm and therefore nauseating; deluded and complacent; spiritually blind… and so on. However, I want to focus on the positive message to the church that shines through the dark smoke of divine displeasure evidenced in this letter.

In verse 19 Jesus writes, “Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline”. If He didn’t care then He wouldn’t bother to correct us. The author of the letter to the Hebrews expresses this more fully when he writes:

‘Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as sons. For what son is not disciplined by his father? If you are not disciplined (and everyone undergoes discipline), then you are illegitimate children and not true sons. Moreover, we have all had human fathers who disciplined us and we respected them for it. How much more should we submit to the Father of our spirits and live! Our fathers disciplined us for a little while as they thought best; but God disciplines us for our good, that we may share in his holiness. No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it’. (Hebrews 12:7-11)

Yes, apathy and consumerism infect the body of the church, especially in an age of affluence, but Jesus still loves His church. If He had given up on us He would simply write something like “… so I have decided to close you down”. But, instead of this He writes, “so be earnest, and repent”.

After these words come probably the most misquoted text in all of scripture – “Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me’”(Revelation 3:20). This phrase is so often trotted out as part of an alter call or some other attempt to encourage people to “just say yes to Jesus” – ‘Jesus is standing at the door of your heart knocking but the handle is on the inside so all you need do is open your heart to him and he will come into your life’. Not only is this a pathetic understatement of the Gospel message, but it is also taken totally out of context. Jesus is writing to the church, the local community of believers, not to individual unbelievers!

When applied out of context it becomes an excuse for a form of spiritual inoculation that often inures the recipient to the true Gospel. But, taken in context it is a great encouragement to the church. In effect, the Lord Jesus is saying, “even if just some of you in this church open it to me then I will come in and fellowship with you”.

So, never give up on the church…. Jesus hasn’t. Yes, you may find hypocrisy, apathy, greed, and pride in the church, but you will also find love, spiritual passion, wisdom, and healing. And bear in mind, dear fellow Christian, you and I are part of the church; part of its problems and part of its glory.

I believe in the church. I have faith in the head of the church, Jesus Christ, and I love the church because I cannot love Him without loving his Body.

Paul instructed husbands to ‘love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her’ (Ephesians 5:25-26), and then a few verses later he wrote, ‘but I am talking about Christ and the church’. When he was on his final journey to Rome he said to the Elders of the church of Ephesus that they should be ‘shepherds of the church of God, which he bought with his own blood’ (Acts 20:28). This is a powerful declaration of just how much Jesus values and loves His church!

The leaders or members of the church may sometimes offend you or even hurt your feelings but they, and you, are members together of the Body of Christ and He loves his church. Never give up on it because you are a part of it and Jesus will never give up on you.

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