2 Principles to Discern the True Christ From False Christs

These days, disasters are unfolding on a larger and larger scale. The prophecies concerning the Lord’s return have largely been fulfilled and the Lord Jesus has returned. At this crucial moment of welcoming the Lord, as the Lord Jesus said, “Then if any man shall say to you, See, here is Christ, or there; believe it not. For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall show great signs and wonders; so that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect” (Matthew 24:23–24), some people dare not seek or investigate and worry that they will be deceived by false Christs when they hear someone testifying the Lord has returned. But have we thought about the following? The Lord Jesus prophesied that the false Christs will appear in the last days but He also clearly told us that He will surely come again. As we are afraid of being deceived by the false Christs, we do not seek or investigate the news of the Lord’s second coming; won’t we shut the door on the true Christ? Therefore, as for the matter of welcoming the Lord, it is not good to blindly keep our guard up. The key is to learn to discern between the true Christ and the false Christs. Only if we grasp the principles of discerning between the true Christ and the false Christs can we not be deceived by the false Christs and welcome the Lord. Let’s fellowship about the two principles of discerning between the true Christ and the false Christs below.

The First Principle of Discerning the True Christ From False Christs: God Doesn’t Repeat the Same Work

God is always new and never old and He does not repeat the same work. This is a principle of discerning between the true Christ and the false Christs. Let’s have a look at what the word of God says. God says, “If, during the present day, there is to emerge a person who is able to display signs and wonders, cast out demons, heal the sick, and perform many miracles, and if this person claims that they are Jesus who has come, then this would be a counterfeit produced by evil spirits which imitate Jesus. Remember this! God does not repeat the same work. Jesus’ stage of work has already been completed, and God will never again undertake that stage of work. The work of God is irreconcilable with the notions of man; for example, the Old Testament foretold the coming of a Messiah, and the result of this prophecy was Jesus’ coming. This having already happened, it would be wrong for another Messiah to come again. Jesus has already come once, and it would be wrong if Jesus were to come again this time. There is one name for every age, and each name contains a characterization of that age. In the notions of man, God must always display signs and wonders, must always heal the sick and cast out demons, and must always be just like Jesus. Yet this time, God is not like that at all. If, during the last days, God still displayed signs and wonders, and still cast out demons and healed the sick—if He did exactly the same as Jesus—then God would be repeating the same work, and the work of Jesus would have no significance or value. Thus, God carries out one stage of work in every age. Once each stage of His work has been completed, it is soon imitated by evil spirits, and after Satan begins to follow on the heels of God, God changes to a different method. Once God has completed a stage of His work, it is imitated by evil spirits. You must be clear about this.”

From God’s words, we can see that God is always new and never old and He does not repeat the same work and He does new work according to mankind’s needs in every age. For example, in the Old Testament Age of Law, Jehovah God decreed the law and commandments for man to adhere to according to the needs of mankind at that time, leading them to live normally on earth. When the Lord Jesus came to work, He didn’t repeat the work in the Age of Law but launched the work of the Age of Grace on the basis of the work in the Age of Law. He cured the sick, cast out demons, was put on the cross, became mankind’s sin offering and redeemed mankind from sin. In the last days, man lives in a state of sinning and confessing and can’t free themselves from the bonds of sin. When the Lord returns, He will not repeat His former work but do a stage of work of judging and purifying man on the foundation of the work of the Age of Grace. Just as what the Lord Jesus prophesied, “I have yet many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. However, when He, the Spirit of truth, is come, He will guide you into all truth: for He shall not speak of Himself; but whatever He shall hear, that shall He speak: and He will show you things to come” (John 16:12–13). “And if any man hear My words, and believe not, I judge him not: for I came not to judge the world, but to save the world. He that rejects Me, and receives not My words, has one that judges him: the word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day” (John 12:47–48). “Sanctify them through Your truth: Your word is truth” (John 17:17).

When the Lord Jesus returns in the last days, He will express the truth and do a stage of work of judgment to thoroughly purify and save man, solve man’s corrupt dispositions and sinful nature, save man from the fetters of sin once and for all and make man purified and enter into God’s kingdom. In this way, God’s management work of saving mankind will fully draw to a close. It can be seen that God’s work always progresses forward, each stage is more elevated and more profound than the last, and no stage of work is repeated. But on the contrary, false Christs are the incarnations of evil spirits and they do not possess the divine essence. They can’t conclude the old age, much less usher in a new age. They can’t do God’s work but can only imitate the work the Lord Jesus has done, performing some simple signs and wonders to deceive man. False Christs and evil spirits can’t imitate the signs and wonders performed by the Lord Jesus such as bringing people back from the dead, feeding the five thousand with two fish and five loaves, calming the wind and the waves, etc. Therefore, all in the last days who imitate God’s work, who display a few simple signs and wonders and heal the sick and cast out demons to deceive people, are most certainly false Christs. This is a principle of discerning between the true Christ and the false Christs. Just as what the Lord Jesus told us, “For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall show great signs and wonders; so that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect” (Matthew 24:24).

The Second Principle of Discerning the True Christ From False Christs: Only Christ Can Express the Truth

The most crucial principle of discerning between the true Christ and the false Christs is to see whether they can express the truth and do the work of saving man. God’s words say, “He who is God incarnate shall possess the essence of God, and He who is God incarnate shall possess the expression of God. Since God becomes flesh, He shall bring forth the work He intends to do, and since God becomes flesh, He shall express what He is, and shall be able to bring the truth to man, bestow life upon him, and point the way for him. Flesh that does not have the essence of God is decidedly not the incarnate God; of this there is no doubt.”

“God become flesh is called Christ, and so the Christ that can give people the truth is called God. There is nothing excessive about this, for He possesses the essence of God, and possesses God’s disposition, and wisdom in His work, that are unattainable by man. Those who call themselves Christ, yet cannot do the work of God, are frauds. Christ is not merely the manifestation of God on earth, but also the particular flesh assumed by God as He carries out and completes His work among man. This flesh cannot be supplanted by just any man, but is a flesh that can adequately bear God’s work on earth, and express the disposition of God, and well represent God, and provide man with life. Sooner or later, those who impersonate Christ will all fall, for although they claim to be Christ, they possess none of the essence of Christ. And so I say that the authenticity of Christ cannot be defined by man, but is answered and decided by God Himself.”

From God’s words, we understand that Christ is the incarnate God, is God’s Spirit being materialized in the flesh. Outwardly, He is a normal and ordinary person, but He possesses God’s essence, He is the embodiment of the truth and can express the truth to provide the sustenance that we need in our lives at any time and in any place. For example, when the Lord Jesus was incarnated to work, He brought the way of repentance upon man, did the work of being crucified to redeem mankind, and saved man from the bonds of the law. The Lord Jesus also could express the truth to supply man at any time and in any place, asking man to love God with all their heart and mind, to worship God in spirit and in truth, to love their neighbors as they love themselves, to love their enemies, to be patient and tolerant, to forgive others and so on. We can see from the Lord Jesus’ work and words that the Lord Jesus is the truth, the way and the life, is Christ in the flesh.

False Christs, however, are evil spirits, Satan in essence. They do not have any truth in the slightest, they cannot express the truth, much less supply life for man. They can only misinterpret the Bible, take things out of context, talk about some profound knowledge and doctrines, or imitate some of God’s former words to deceive man. No matter how high and mysterious their explanation of the Bible may sound, it doesn’t prove that what they say is the truth. Truth is what God has and is, can allow man to know God, can be man’s life, and can save, purify, change man. After man listens to false Christs’ explanation of the Bible and talk of absurd theories, they feel dark and muddy in their heart and it can’t make man know and obey God at all, can’t make their life grow, much less make them achieve the transformation of life disposition. It can be seen that only Christ with the divine essence can express the truth to supply and save man. False Christs don’t possess God’s essence, can’t express the truth, can’t do the work of saving man but can only deceive and corrupt man. So, as long as we are certain that Christ is the embodiment of the truth and any who can express the truth, point the way for man and bring life upon man is the Christ, we will not be afraid of being deceived by false Christs.

These are the two principles of discerning between the true Christ and the false Christs. When we hear others testify the Lord Jesus has returned, we seek and investigate proactively and discern according to these two principles, then we will have the chance to welcome the Lord’s return and keep up with the Lamb’s footsteps.

Editor’s Note: From this fellowship, do you understand how to discern between the true Christ and false Christs? If this article has been helpful to you, please share it with others. If you have any further questions, please contact us using the online chat buttons at the bottom. We’re online 24 hours a day ready to answer your questions.