Jesus said, “And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me.”  John  12:32.  But Satan has worked to bring in a counterfeit christ, which he started these false teachings very early, and Jesus Himself warned us of these deceptions.    

In Matthew 7:21-23, it states:   “Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.  Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works?   And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.” 

There are many in the world today that have been switched to a counterfeit christ, and don’t know that they are worshiping the wrong god.  It has been subtle and it started very early as Jesus warned in the above text.  Jesus tells them that “I never knew you.”  So it must have been another christ that they were uplifting and not the true Jesus!

Jesus Christ wants to have a very personal one-on-one relationship with His followers.  He expects for them to be obedient and keep His commandments, as He stated:   “If ye love me, keep my commandments.”   John 14:15.  It states further in  1 John 2:3-6.  “And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments.   He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.   But whoso keepeth his word, in him verily is the love of God perfected: hereby know we that we are in him.   He that saith he abideth in him ought himself also so to walk, even as he walked.”  

Many today are so busy, that they don’t seek the Lord, they don’t study the Word, which is the only way to get to know our Saviour.  The Lord told us that we need to seek Him!  “But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.”  Matthew 6:33.   And again, “ Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you.”  Matthew 7:7. 

We are told that “There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when ye shall see Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, and all the prophets, in the kingdom of God, and you yourselves thrust out.”  Luke 13:28.  

Many of God’s people have been deceived to follow a false christ, as in all the churches that claim to be Christian, they have been switched and have changed gods.  They have been switched by a wrong view of what sin is, or a rebellion against the plain truth.  “Sin is the transgression of the law,” 1 John 3:4, and the law is based on Love.  If you Love God, you keep His Commandments.

“After the fall of man, Satan declared that human beings were proved to be incapable of keeping the law of God, and he sought to carry the universe with him in this belief. Satan's words appeared to be true, and Christ came to unmask the deceiver. The Majesty of heaven undertook the cause of man, and with the same facilities that man may obtain, withstood the temptations of Satan as man must withstand them. This was the only way in which fallen man could become a partaker of the divine nature. In taking human nature, Christ was fitted to understand man's trials and sorrows and all the temptations wherewith he is beset. Angels who were unacquainted with sin could not sympathize with man in his peculiar trials. Christ condescended to take man's nature, and was tempted in all points like as we, that He might know how to succor all who should be tempted.”  1 Selected Messages 252.

 “For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh”  Romans 8:3.  Jesus came and took sinful and fallen nature, but he relied on a spiritual and holy nature to overcome, and lived a holy life.  He was the “Holy One,” (Luke 1:35), none of the rest of us can claim, as we have fallen and come short.  Jesus kept His carnal nature in subjection throughout His life, and never once did He yield.

If we place ourselves into subjection to Christ, we may have the same victory and overcome sin, and not fall for Satan’s lies and claims which are false.   

“This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God:  Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God,  but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming and even now is already in the world.  You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world.  They are from the world and therefore speak from the viewpoint of the world, and the world listens to them.  We are from God, and whoever knows God listens to us; but whoever is not from God does not listen to us. This is how we recognize the Spirit of truth and the spirit of falsehood.”  1 John 4:2-6. NIV