False Christs

[jewels8]

We know that there have been and will be many false Christ's in the world and people that claim to follow Him.  David Korash, Montreyuh (spelling might be wrong),  the guy who took Eliizabeth Smart, and the list can go on.  I wonder if these people had any similarities.  Did they suffer from mental illness, did they have terrible home lives, did they do drugs, were they afflicted with demons, and they were led astray.  How sad that some have followed people like this and have been victims of their delusions or false teachings.   Why anyone would choose to go that far is beyond me.

      

[NeuroTypical]

Well, Koresh and Mitchell both claimed to be prophets, not Christ.   Mitchell's insanity defense fell through and he was found competent to stand trial, although that's not necessarily proof positive that he wasn't mentally ill.  Plenty of folks with mental illness still know right from wrong.

 

Edited March 5, 2018 by NeuroTypical

[prisonchaplain]

Then there is the phenomena of group's claiming someone is a Messiah-type figure, when that individual never promoted themselves like that. The World Mission Society Church of God teaches that its founding pastor is the Christ for our dispensation, and that he ascended to heaven in 1985. It is not clear that the founding pastor ever saw himself in this light.  Haile Selassie, Ethiopian Emporer from 1930-74, is considered a God by Rastafarians. He never denounced the group, but he did not consider himself divine either.

There are those who want to be treated as a god, in this life. There are others who are attracted to an incarnate deity--especially one who favors them and their elite group.

 

Edited March 5, 2018 by prisonchaplain

[NightSG]

17 hours ago, jewels8 said:

We know that there have been and will be many false Christ's in the world and people that claim to follow Him.      

This is why I stick with original source material.

[Traveler]

40 minutes ago, NightSG said:

This is why I stick with original source material.

 

Sorry to inform you buddy – there are no original manuscripts of any Biblical texts.  Some manuscripts that are used in “versions” of the Bible in our day were created thousands of years after the events they document took place.

Perhaps one of the most interesting texts of antiquities come to us from the historian and Jew, Flavius Josephus (a contemporary of Jesus and his Apostles).  Josephus claimed that his efforts were intended to preserve the theological traditions and teaching of the Jews.  (All Biblical texts have Jewish origin – including the New Testament.  Being that Jesus and his Apostles were considered a Jewish sect and therefore were likewise under assault.)   Josephus claimed that the true teachings were under politically motivated attack with efforts to destroy original scripture texts in order to change understanding of divine revealed truths of the Jews.   So massive was his efforts that in pages it is almost as much as the Bible is itself today.

I would also add that so global was this effort to destroy original Biblical text that by the 2nd Century BC New Testament texts were being hidden in China by Buddhists trying to save them.  I would point out that Jewish scripture was not the only records of antiquity being destroyed – So was the library of Alexandria, Zoroaster, Babylon and as we have records now in the Book of Mormon – sacred scriptures on the American continent.  

 

The Traveler

Edited March 5, 2018 by Traveler

[Traveler]

16 hours ago, prisonchaplain said:

Then there is the phenomena of group's claiming someone is a Messiah-type figure, when that individual never promoted themselves like that. The World Mission Society Church of God teaches that its founding pastor is the Christ for our dispensation, and that he ascended to heaven in 1985. It is not clear that the founding pastor ever saw himself in this light.  Haile Selassie, Ethiopian Emporer from 1930-74, is considered a God by Rastafarians. He never denounced the group, but he did not consider himself divine either.

There are those who want to be treated as a god, in this life. There are others who are attracted to an incarnate deity--especially one who favors them and their elite group.

 

 

I very much agree with your thought that “False Christs” are perpetrated more by followers that misunderstand their leaders.  I would add to you thought that another possibility comes from false notions concerning the actual Christ – that once walked among us.

 

The Traveler

[JohnsonJones]

3 hours ago, NightSG said:

This is why I stick with original source material.

So I wonder who the autograph is from...