Two guys were hanging out at the local pub having a pint of Guinness.
They just met and since one was wearing his old flak jacket (minus the labels and patches, of course) and the other was wearing a military cap with his old company patch on it, they struck up a conversation.
As is often the case, the first man says, “So, looks like you served at Fort Campbell, huh? Me, too!”
“Oh yeah, what years were you in? I was stationed there about 20 years ago.”
“Oh, wow, me, too! Which unit were you in?”
“I was in the 101st Airborne Division. You?”
“Whoa, me, too! But I don’t remember you – maybe we missed each other by a couple of years or something. Do you remember that guy, John Smith? He was a Master Sergeant when I was there.”
“Yes! I love that guy!”
“Me, too, he was an awesome leader – taught me everything I know about discipline and integrity. Too bad about what happened, though, huh?”
“Wait, what?”
“You didn’t hear? He got sent down the road to Fort Leavenworth for espionage. Turns out, he was selling top secret information to China!”
“Wait, did this John Smith you knew have brown hair, stand about 5’10”, was pretty jacked up, and married with two kids?”
“Yup. Tragedy, huh?”
“Hold on, is this the same highly decorated soldier with many rows of badges on his uniform?”
“That’s the guy. Apparently, he was selling secrets for over ten years. At his trial, he looked smug and his only comment was, ‘Uncle Sam doesn’t pay enough, so I took matters into my own hands. I have no regrets; other than I got caught.’”
“Yowza! I just can’t believe this – I loved that guy. The John Smith I knew was not only the best Army medic I ever met, he was a true patriot. The guy was all heart, a committed soldier through and through.”
“OK, wait, the John Smith sitting in Leavenworth was an infantryman. Are you sure we’re talking about the same John Smith? I mean, that is a pretty common name after all, and the Army is a big place.”
“The medic I knew lived with his family off-base on Smith street, drove a blue Honda Accord, and had the coolest tattoo of his medical unit patch on his forearm.”
“Ahhh – that’s a different John Smith. The one I’m talking about lived in base housing, drove a Cadillac Escalade, and had zero tattoos that I can recall.”
“Now it makes sense – phew – I was getting pretty sad there for a minute and was ready to start ordering shots!”
“How crazy is it that we both knew a John Smith in the 101st Airborne around the same time and that they resembled each other in so many ways?!!”
“Yeah, it goes to show that a name means nothing. So glad we cleared that up. Last I heard, John, the ex-Army medic, was a cardiac surgeon somewhere on the East Coast, saving lives like he did back in the day.”
“Very cool. Well, I finished my beer and gotta bounce, my friend.”
The two men shake hands, and exchange promises to meet back at the pub at some point in the future to catch up some more.
What’s the moral of the story?
Don’t ever assume that just because someone who two people are convinced are the same person, actually is. A name can be shared, along with physical or other defining characteristics, by lots of people.
Just imagine if their conversation was cut short and the two men walked away thinking they were talking about the same John Smith!
This same type of phenomenon happens all the time in so-called “Christian” religions.
There is such a thing as “another Jesus” that lots of people talk about.
I wish you would bear with me in a little foolishness. Do bear with me! For I feel a divine jealousy for you, since I betrothed you to one husband, to present you as a pure virgin to Christ. But I am afraid that as the serpent deceived Eve by his cunning, your thoughts will be led astray from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ.
For if someone comes and proclaims another Jesus than the one we proclaimed, or if you receive a different spirit from the one you received, or if you accept a different gospel from the one you accepted, you put up with it readily enough.
– 2 Corinthians 11:1-4
Just because someone says they love Jesus or believes in Him doesn’t mean it’s the Jesus Christ that we know and love, “the alpha and the omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.”” (Revelation 22:13). I know a lot of people who say they love “a” Jesus, but, upon deeper inspection, whoever he is, he’s definitely not the Jesus of the Bible and the gospel this so-called Jesus represents is not the Gospel of Jesus Christ, which leads me to conclude that it originated with the kingdom of darkness (as all false gospels have been). People love to quote John 3:16 and make proclamations of their undying belief in Jesus, as evidenced by their so-called “good works”; however, as the Bible clearly teaches, unless a person performs such “good works” by godly faith (a la Romans 10:17), they are worthless deeds as they are untethered from the anchor that is the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
Even unbelievers can do good deeds for others. Does that constitute saving faith in Jesus Christ? Nope. It’s Truth that counts, which is an issue of the mind, not human emotions.
The only difference between the purveyor of all false gospels and the evil John Smith in the above story is that Satan hasn’t been put away for good yet. His day is coming; in the meantime, he continues to blind the minds of the unbelieving with lies (2 Corinthians 4:4). He is a very good counterfeiter, so beware! How else would he be given entre’ into the souls of the unsuspecting? He’s not dumb. In fact, he’s brilliant.
So, if a person says they love Jesus, ask them about their doctrine regarding the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Look at the facts and forget about your affections for or against the person standing in front of you. It’s the Truth that counts. For example, if they believe that justification requires human works, they do not understand the Book of Romans, where Paul expounds upon the doctrine of justification by faith alone. In essence, they cling to a false gospel, which is reserved for unbelievers.
I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel—not that there is another one, but there are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed.
As we have said before, so now I say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed.
– Galatians 1:6-9
Paul said it so well, “not that there is another [Gospel]” (v7). Don’t ever let that simple fact escape you! All godly thinking, all Biblical doctrine, finds its roots in the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Get that wrong, and you have nothing, even if the world sings your praises as an upright Christian. If you don’t know the Gospel Truth then you don’t know Jesus Christ. You can say you love Him all you want, even impress it upon others, to the joy of Satan and the advancement of the kingdom of darkness. Your emotions mean absolutely nothing if they aren’t based on Truth.
The Gospel of Jesus Christ is given as a command in the Bible, as in God the Father says, “Obey my Word regarding my Son.” We must neither compromise the Truth nor tolerate lies about the authentic Jesus Christ in God’s Word.
This will sometimes be a hard pill for you to swallow because you have loved ones who you hope have affections for the same Jesus you do. However, I wouldn’t be doing my job as a shepherd if I didn’t fend off the wolves in sheep’s clothing by affirming and defending the Truth about the Gospel. With that said, I hope you don’t lose hope – may such reminders inspire you to evangelize others (Matthew 28:18-20).
Therefore, having this ministry by the mercy of God, we do not lose heart. But we have renounced disgraceful, underhanded ways. We refuse to practice cunning or to tamper with God’s word, but by the open statement of the truth we would commend ourselves to everyone’s conscience in the sight of God. And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing.
In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.
For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake. For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
– 2 Corinthians 4:1-6
As a rule of thumb, you should never assume you’re talking about the same Jesus until you’ve understood what a person believes about Him and His finished work on the Cross. If their Gospel is wrong, nothing else really matters.
Love in Christ,
Ed Collins