Kooks, Wackos and Weirdos

Being a prophet often comes with strange experiences. Today, was one of those days when strange came walking through the front door of our church. And it came on the heels of an ordinary couple looking for a Bible.

A man walked through the door, probably homeless, and asked for a bottle of water. Without hesitation, I said he could have one. Then, he started talking. As he talked, he tried to impress me with his knowledge of scripture. What he said was strange to me. And I thought I had heard everything kooky before. I was wrong.

We must know what we believe about Christ

 The man began to explain to me how he was a real Christian and descended from a particular sect of Christianity that was instituted prior to Constantine. He continued. That God’s real name was Allah and that came from the Aramaic word for Elohim that Jesus spoke. Then he said that anyone who didn’t believe that was a liar. And he asked me what I thought.

I said to him that Allah was not God’s name. And I said Jesus is God’s name. When I said that, it evoked a reaction in him. Yes, Jesus name still has power. He couldn’t stand what I was saying and his falsity came out: he denied Jesus is God.

The reason I’m sharing this post is to help you understand what to do when you meet people who start sharing things that you don’t know anything about. And how to discern their error.

In the case of this person, his error was evident and easily understood by his response to two questions: 1) his response to the name of Jesus, and 2) the divinity of Christ. Hence, his reaction to both.

We must know what we believe about Christ, even if someone else knows more about a specific area of our faith than we do. That means knowing about certain specific things about what we believe. I have found certain areas where errors are revealed. They are:

1. The inerrancy (and completeness) of scripture

2. The birth of Christ

3. The cross (and death) of Christ

4. The blood of Christ

5. The resurrection of Christ

6. The name of Jesus

7. The divinity of Christ

-Rev. Dr. Scott Wallis