A headline in the Dallas Morning News seemed to jump off the page at me. It read, “New spirituality: one part Jesus, two parts Buddha . . ..” The author described the growing trend in modern America wherein people are concocting their own personal religion by borrowing what they like from various religious traditions. This combining of different belief systems is known as “syncretism.”
In this subjective, self-centered approach to faith, people view the religions of the world, and the Bible itself, as a great smorgasbord of religious ideas from which they are free to choose what suits their feelings and desires. If something does not appeal to their tastes, they consider themselves free to discard it.
This approach is based in post-modernism, which is the prevailing philosophy being taught in America’s educational systems. They are called post-modernists because they deny the existence of any objective truth. The modernists, who emerged out of the Enlightenment, rejected the Bible and religious dogma as sources of objective truth but insisted that objective truth could be discovered by human reason.
For the post-modernists, however, objective truth does not exist. Truth, therefore, is not something to be discovered, but something to be created. For the post-modernists, truth is very “I” or ego centered. It is all about me and what feels good and right to me. This was clearly expressed by one couple that was interviewed in the above article. They said,
We discovered the God within. That’s why we need God. Because we are God. God gives me the ability to create my own godliness.
This, of course, is the lie of the serpent to Adam and Eve that if they would ignore what God had said and follow their own desires, you will be like God, knowing good and evil (Genesis 3:1-5). In other words, they did not need God to know good and evil. They could become like God and create their own moral and religious system.
Sadly, this kind of thinking has become mainstream in American culture as is indicated by the following examples of spiritual counterfeits that Jesus predicted would come. In Matthew 24:4-5, He warned his disciples, saying, Take heed that no one deceives you. For many will come in My name saying, “I am the Christ,” and will deceive many.
Here are 5 deceptive views of Jesus that have emerged in the modern world: (1) the New Age Jesus of Oprah Winfrey, (2) the Fictitious Jesus of the DaVinci Code, (3) the Malleable Jesus of Liberal Theology, (4) the “Nice” Jesus of Popular Culture, and (5) the Distorted Jesus of Religious Cults.
Deception #1
The New Age Jesus of Oprah Winfrey
This post-modern way of thinking has opened the door for a spiritual, New Age Jesus to emerge that has its roots in Eastern mysticism and ancient Gnosticism. This concept of Jesus, which has been popularized by Oprah Winfrey, is not the real historical Jesus of Scripture but a mystical Jesus, waiting to be discovered within every person’s consciousness.
Winfrey has helped popularize the New Age author, Eckhart Tolle, and his book, New Earth, in which he presents Jesus as a Spiritual Master, along with Buddha and others, who have helped humanity discover the “Christ consciousness” that he says is already residing within every person.
Tolle has also promoted an ancient heresy about Jesus called Gnosticism. Somewhat like the modern New Age movement, ancient Gnosticism emphasized the “spiritual” over the material and went so far as to even deny the reality of the material, physical world. Gnostic “Christians” denied that Jesus had a real physical body and claimed He only appeared to have such a body. John the apostle confronted this false teaching in I John 3:2-3, saying,
By this you know the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God. And every spirit that does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God.
In this same vein of post-modern, New Age thinking, Deepak Chopra, the well-known Indian medical doctor and purveyor of Eastern mysticism, published a book entitled Jesus. Chopra admits that the Jesus of his book cannot be found in the Bible. Where did he get information for his Jesus? He says that he researched the cultural, political, and religious contexts of Jesus’ time, “Then I went into incubation, meditation, and I allowed this story to unfold.” His Jesus is a product of his own mind, thoughts, and imaginations.
This New Age Jesus is completely divorced from the Jesus of Scripture and any rational thought. This New Age Jesus is based in feelings, emotions, and over-active imaginations. This New Age Jesus is just one of the many counterfeits that Jesus warned would appear and deceive many.
Deception #2
The Fictitious Jesus of The Davinci
Code
The very popular novel, The Davinci
Code, made fantastic and false claims about Jesus that impacted many people.
We must remember, however, that the author does not claim his work to be “history.”
On the title page are the words, “A Novel.” The Davinci Code is a genre of
literature known as “historical fiction.”
The author of “historical fiction” sets
their story in a real historical setting with real people and events. He then
inserts his own fictional characters and creates his own fictional but
intriguing story. This is exactly what Dan Brown did with The Davinci Code.
His story includes Leonardo Da Vinci, his painting of the Last Supper, Jesus,
the Bible, the Council of Nicaea, and more. For the naïve, it comes across as
very believable. It is, however, a novel. It is “historical fiction.”
The Davinci Code presents fictional accounts of Jesus and of how the
Bible came into existence. Concerning Jesus, Brown has one of his fictional characters
saying that His followers considered Him a mortal prophet, and not the Son of
God. This fictional character goes on to say that Jesus was given Divine status
by Constantine for political purposes and by the vote of the Council of Nicea in
a.d. 325.
This is blatantly false as is
demonstrated on the pages of my latest book, Discovering the Real Jesus.
The truth is that the Council of Nicaea merely affirmed what the Church had
always believed about Jesus. The Council of Nicaea was convened because a
Christian leader, named Arius, was teaching that Jesus was a created being and
not fully God. This was contrary to what the Church had always believed and
preached.
Because Arius was causing so much
confusion and leading many astray, this Council met together, deliberated, and
issued the Nicene Creed by which they affirmed what the Church had believed
from the beginning. Concerning Jesus, the Creed says,
I believe in one Lord Jesus Christ, the Only Begotten Son of
God, born of the Father before all ages. God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God, begotten, not made,
consubstantial with the Father; through him all things were made. For
us men and for our salvation he came down from heaven, and by the Holy
Spirit was incarnate of the Virgin Mary and became man. For our sake he was
crucified under Pontius Pilate, he suffered death and was buried, and
rose again on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures. He
ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father. He
will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead, and his
kingdom will have no end.
The Da Vinci Code is an intriguing novel, but
it does not convey historical facts. More than anything, it conveys the liberal,
agnostic worldview of the author who is a gifted storyteller. To be continued . . .
This article was derived from Dr. Eddie Hyatt’s new book, Discovering the Real Jesus, available from Amazon and his website at http://eddiehyatt.com.
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