Man Claims to Be God

So, have you read about the man who claims to be God? Newsweek published an interesting piece about this charlatan last week. Also, last week CNN’S Anderson Cooper presented a brief clip about the pretender.

In short, Jose Luis de Jesus Miranda, the man who thinks he is God, is the head of Growing in Grace International Ministry. At the time of this writing, his organization includes 300 congregations with more than 100,000 followers in two-dozen countries.

So what does he profess? He says, “Jesus came to me and integrated with me.” Just so you will know how out of touch this man is, he professed he was the reincarnation of the Apostle Paul in 1988. If that is not spooky enough, he teaches under a new covenant with God where there is no sin and no Satan, and people are pre-destined to be saved.

For a better understanding click here:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16840066/site/newsweek/

There are some real nut jobs living in our age. I met a man like this years ago in Mississippi. The only difference between Miranda and the man from Mississippi was that the man I met was locked down in the psychiatric ward of the hospital. (By the way, you should have seen his face when I asked, “If you are Jesus then where are your disciples?”) After reading more about this man, I firmly settled on three observations.

First, when we encounter news like this we should immediately ask “what does the Bible say about this man’s claim to be ‘integrated’ with Jesus”?

The Bible records Jesus as saying,

"So if anyone tells you, 'There he is, out in the desert,' do not go out; or, 'Here he is, in the inner rooms,' do not believe it. For as lightning that comes from the east is visible even in the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. Wherever there is a carcass, there the vultures will gather.

"Immediately after the distress of those days

"'the sun will be darkened,
and the moon will not give its
light; the stars will fall from the sky,
and the heavenly bodies will be shaken.'

"At that time the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and all the nations of the earth will mourn. They will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky, with power and great glory. And he will send his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other.
Matthew 24:26-31

Second, this should not surprise us. Again, more than 2000 years ago Jesus warned us about these kinds of reports, when He said:

As Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately. "Tell us," they said, "when will this happen, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?" Jesus answered: "Watch out that no one deceives you. For many will come in my name, claiming, 'I am the Christ,' and will deceive many.
Matthew 24:3-5

Third, we should not be quick to discount these kinds of things, because they tell us more than we want to admit. Yes, we should definitely discount the man and his blasphemous claims, but what does this say about the people who follow this basket case? This man has 100,000 followers! Hello! This should tell us something. It tells people are searching for answers; and we as the church, have the responsibility to tell them THE ANSWER.