Dear Christians, we need to be well-armed with the Sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God (Hebrews 4:12). We must understand what the Bible teaches so we can share it accurately and identify half-truths and false teachings.
One of Satan's favorite lies is to claim that Jesus is not God. When he tempted Jesus, he taunted him by saying “If you are the Son of God” prove it (Matthew 4:1-11)!It's no surprise that cults and false religions such as the Jehovah Witnesses, Mormons, and Muslims also reject Christ as God.
Jehovah Witnesses and Mormons believe Jesus was a perfect created man. Why then do they deny His words when He taught about existing before Abraham (John 8:58) and being one with the Father (John 10:30)?
Why don't they trust Him when He allows people to worship Him (Matthew 14:33; Matthew 28:9; Matthew 28:17; Luke 24:52; John 9:38) and says only God deserves worship (Matthew 4:10)?
Muslims believe Jesus was a prophet, but they don't believe what He taught. Christ said He is the only way of salvation (John 14:6), and the Savior of mankind (John 3:16).
You can't call Jesus a prophet or a perfect created man while denying what He taught unless you have been blinded by Satan (2 Corinthians 4:4). (See C.S. Lewis' quote at the bottom).
Let's pray for these lost people and learn how to refute their illogical claims.
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To understand how to respond to these lies, arm yourself with these verses from sword of the Spirit:
✞ Scripture defines Jesus as God:
John 1:1,14: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God....The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.”
John 1:18: “No one has ever seen God, but the one and only Son, who is himself God and is in closest relationship with the Father, has made him known.”
John 10:30: “The Father and I are one.”
Titus 2:13: “while we wait for the blessed hope--the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ…,”
2 Peter 1:1: “Simon Peter, a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who through the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ have received a faith as precious as ours....”
Isaiah 7:14: “Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel.” [“Immanuel” means “God with us.”]
✞ Jesus has always existed because He's God:
John 8:58: “'Very truly I tell you,' Jesus answered, 'before Abraham was born, I am!'”
Hebrews 13:8: “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever."
1 Corinthians 10:2-4: “They were all baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea. They all ate the same spiritual food and drank the same spiritual drink; for they drank from the spiritual rock that accompanied them, and that rock was Christ.”
Philippians 2:5-8: “In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death—even death on a cross!”
✞ Scripture forbids worshiping anyone or anything besides God:
Revelation 19:9-10: “Then the angel said to me, 'Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the wedding supper of the Lamb!' And he added, 'These are the true words of God.' At this I fell at his feet to worship him. But he said to me, 'Don't do that! I am a fellow servant with you and with your brothers and sisters who hold to the testimony of Jesus. Worship God! For it is the Spirit of prophecy who bears testimony to Jesus.'”
✞ Jesus is worshiped throughout Scripture:
He is worshiped as a baby:
Matthew 2:11
Jesus allows people to worship Him:
Matthew 14:33; Matthew 28:9; Matthew 28:17; Luke 24:52; John 9:38
✞ Jesus, is part of the Trinity, and was active in Creation:
Hebrews 1: “In the past God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets at many times and in various ways, 2 but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom also he made the universe. 3 The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word…. 6 And again, when God brings his firstborn into the world, he says, 'Let all God’s angels worship him.' …8 about the Son he says, 'Your throne, O God, will last for ever and ever; a scepter of justice will be the scepter of your kingdom….' 10 He also says, 'In the beginning, Lord, you laid the foundations of the earth, and the heavens are the work of your hands.'”
Colossians 1:15-17: “Christ is the visible image of the invisible God. He existed before anything was created and is supreme over all creation, for through him God created everything in the heavenly realms and on earth. He made the things we can see and the things we can’t see—such as thrones, kingdoms, rulers, and authorities in the unseen world. Everything was created through him and for him. He existed before anything else, and he holds all creation together.”
✞ Quote from C.S. Lewis
“I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept his claim to be God. That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic — on the level with the man who says he is a poached egg — or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God, or else a madman or something worse. You can shut him up for a fool, you can spit at him and kill him as a demon or you can fall at his feet and call him Lord and God, but let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about his being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.”
― C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity
