The mystery of the murdered Nazarene at Golgotha

The Jews could not comprehend what had all along been revealed in their prophetic Scriptures. But, whatever caused the misunderstanding of the Jews, continues to mystify Christians, through modern theology. Christ was revealed in Jesus, who remains the same yesterday today and forever.

To the Jews, the Man called Jesus, could not be the Christ. They expected the Messiah to come in other dignified ways, not as prophetically revealed. The same applies to the Theologians of today. This is revealed in Theologians’ failure to comprehend who Jesus is, yet easily revealed in Scriptures:

“Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.  For I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink, I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not clothe me, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.’ Then they also will answer, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to you?’ Then he will answer them, saying, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.’ And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life” (Matthew 25:41-46) (ESV).

In this Scripture, nothing is ambiguous about who Jesus is. This is just as nothing was ambiguous to the Jews, about Jesus being the Christ. Paul, who later became one of God’s instrumental apostles, had his eyes opened while on his way to Damascus. His journey had been for the purpose of killing those who proclaimed the name of Jesus:

“Now as he went on his way, he approached Damascus, and suddenly a light from heaven shone around him. And falling to the ground, he heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?” And he said, “Who are you, Lord?” And he said, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. But rise and enter the city, and you will be told what you are to do” (Acts 9:3-6) (ESV).

Just like those people mentioned by Jesus in Matthew 25:41-46, Paul had not known who Jesus was. He had been zealously persecuting the people whom he assumed to be against God. But, at this time, the angelic voice clearly told him that he had been persecuting Jesus. However, Paul ought to have known better, having been educated under the Jewish Scholar, Gamaliel? (Acts 22:3).

Image result for the murdered Jesus pictures

The most interesting thing about confusion is that what is true is taken as false and what is false is taken as true. As zealous as Paul had been, when persecuting Jesus, he thought he had been on the side of the Lord. There is no doubt that the Trinitarian Theologians today, are as zealous as Paul had been, in advancing falsehood about who Jesus is.

As far as they are concerned, those theologians assume it to cause persecution on those they label as heretics. They consider this necessary, as bestowed upon them, to protect Christians? Nevertheless, they simply do not know who Jesus is. To them, Jesus is a member of the Trinity, who cannot be associated with heretics. Their blindness is complicated in the assumption that they know better. See [Permanent hindrance towards access to knowledge].

“By this is love perfected with us, so that we may have confidence for the Day of Judgment, because as he is so also are we in this world. There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love. We love because he first loved us. If anyone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen. And this commandment we have from him: whoever loves God must also love his brother” (1 John 4:17-21) (ESV).

It is probably an understatement, to declare that our beloved Theologians are stone-scared of those they label as heretics. In other words, they are not prepared to share space with those they label as heretics—yet they profess to hold the truth? They cannot confront falsehood, yet they profess to represent the truth in their endeavours. The simple logic that they cannot grasp is that darkness is the one that disappears when confronted by light—not the other way round.

Where there is light, darkness disappears. My simple question, therefore, would be: Why are our esteemed Theologians are not prepared to engage those labelled as heretics? If the theologians hold truth—according to their claim—why do they lack confidence in confronting those viewed as heretics?

Jesus never sought to avoid those Pharisees and teachers of the Law. He spoke with confidence, about God’s truth, in their own synagogues. He confronted the highest echelons of leadership, without regard for their scholarly backgrounds. He started confronting them, even when still at His tender age of twelve (Luke 2:46).

But our renowned Theologians cannot share the same space with those they consider to be heretics. As a result of pride, they seek to dissociate themselves from those they consider to be uninformed. They do not even realise that their conduct goes against what the apostle John declared:

If anyone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen” (1 John 4:20) (ESV).

These people can cause anyone to be killed for preaching what they consider to be against Jesus—whose identity they have no clue. They do so, out of sincerity, assuming to be on the side of the Lord. They have legions of followers behind them—ready to be unleashed and cause havoc against the so-called heretics.  

Ask any of those theologians a simple question: “Who gave you the authority to defend Christianity?” The obvious answer—considering the legion of those following behind them—is that they were given leadership responsibility by God. However, their only confusion would be in not knowing that deception is associated with making what is unreal to be real and what is real to be unreal.

The name of Jesus has got nothing to do with a deity, yet in Jesus deity was found to be. Orthodox Christianity is sustained by a belief in the Trinity. But Trinity has got no basis, except through the manipulation of textual references, without a revelatory connection. The doctrinal authenticity of the Bible came through the prophets, more than through theological studies.

A true Christian is aware of the fact that he/she cannot authenticate theology, without invalidating Jesus and the prophets. To start with, Jesus was not a theologian. He also entrusted the gospel to those who were not theologians. It may be good, for an inquisitive mind to pay attention to theologians. But there is no doctrinal inspiration found in theology.

Jesus brought a message that had nothing to do with theology. His message simply fulfilled the long-held prophecies about Him. There is no other way of checking who Jesus was and is, even today—except through observing the fulfilment of prophecies. For instance, the following statement, by Moses did not imply that Jesus would be a member of Trinity:

The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your brothers—it is to him you shall listen—just as you desired of the Lord your God at Horeb on the day of the assembly, when you said, ‘Let me not hear again the voice of the Lord my God or see this great fire any more, lest I die” And the Lord said to me, ‘They are right in what they have spoken. I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers. And I will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I command him. And whoever will not listen to my words that he shall speak in my name, I myself will require it of him” (Deuteronomy 18:15-19) (ESV).    

Prophecies are recorded in written words. It is therefore important to ensure that one understands the meaning of those written words. A prophet like Moses could not imply that the man called Jesus would be sacrosanct—being ascribed as a member of the Trinity. This is just as Moses was not sacrosanct, though used by God. Even today, those used by God are not sacrosanct.

God cannot be likened to anything created, because He is the only creator, not likened to anything created. This is where our theologians miss the mark. In their educated minds there is void, which they seek to fill up by assuming that God is not different from created human beings.

Jesus cannot be separated from ordinary humans, especially the most despised of society, as confirmed in Isaiah’s prophecy: “He was despised and rejected by men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not” (Isaiah 53:3 (ESV).

In their appetite for obtaining something to worship, the theologians targeted Jesus—having walked on this planet, with an impeccable record. The comfort in worshipping Him, so obtained, enables those theologians to then assume that Jesus should be regarded as a member of Trinity.

I fully understand where they are coming from, as far as their idolization of Jesus. But I completely fail to understand how they then come up with an idea that the Holy Spirit should be regarded as another member of the Trinity. I suppose they are fully aware that God, being Spirit, cannot be likened to anything physical? This is just as this is plainly revealed by the same Scriptures that they use to come up with such concepts. All this is not surprising though, as revealed by the apostle Paul:

“But we impart a secret and hidden wisdom of God, which God decreed before the ages for our glory. None of the rulers of this age understood this, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. But, as it is written, “What no eye has seen, nor ear heard nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him”—These things God has revealed to us through the Spirit…….The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned” (1 Corinthians 2:7-14) (ESV).

It shudders the mind, when noticing that such scriptures do not make sense to theologians. In their educated minds, they assume that Godly things can only be understood through higher learning. They cannot fathom the evidence of the Christ, coming from the uneducated Jesus, who surprised those of His time (John 7:15).

Also, it seems they remain blind to the fact that Jesus’ disciples were not meritoriously inducted into the ministry. Let alone, their blindness—when considering failure to understand the clear confessions made by the most educated theologian, who later became the apostle Paul. Interestingly, the more these people think they see, the more they become blind, just as Jesus declared (John 9:39).

To cut a long story short: In an ordinary man called Jesus, was the Almighty God. Even today, among the most ordinary people of this world dwells the Almighty God. May the world—with its most educated people—know one thing: The Man called Jesus is still with us today, among ordinary people, as was the case during the first century.

Those of the first century could not identify with Him, because he looked too ordinary for the honour assumed as befitting of the Christ. Those of today still cannot identify with Him, as represented among those assumed to be too ordinary—unbefitting of the honour assumed as representing Christ. This is very simple, but too complicated for our theologians.

Andrew Masuku is the author of Dimensions of a New Civilization, laying down standards for uplifting Zimbabwe from current state of economic depression into a model for other nations worldwide. A decaying tree provides an opportunity for a blossoming sprout. Written from a Christian perspective, the book is a product of inspiration, bringing reliefs to those having witnessed strings of unworkable solutions––leading to the current economic and social decay. In a simple conversational tone, most Zimbabweans should find the book as a long awaited providential oasis of hope.

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