Jesus Christ surfaces in Australia

I was surprised to read on the web today about an Australian by the name of Alan John Miller who was an ex elder in the Jehowah’s witnesses claiming to be the Lord Jesus Christ. I copied a short paragraph about this gentleman from the Wikipedia and this is what it has to say about Mr …”Miller, the spiritual leader of Divine Truth, claims to have realised he was Jesus Christ over a one-week period. Miller claims to remember nearly everything that has happened over the past 2000 years, including his crucifixion. When questioned about whether he could speak Aramaic, the language spoken by Jesus, he said, “It can be spoken. Not now I can’t.”^[3] Miller goes on to say that he has met historical figures such as Plato, Aristotle, Socrates, Gandhi and biblical figures such as Moses, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the afterlife.^[4][5] In a seven-minute interview which aired on A Current Affair, Miller went on to claim Divine Truth as God’s truth and as the “absolute truth of the universe” 

How does one respond to news items like this?

1. Do not be surprised but be very wary because the Lord Jesus tells us that many will come and present themselves as the Christ when they are counterfeit.
2. Jesus tells us that He will return when no one is expecting Him and so He encourages his followers to be vigilant, alert and faithful in what they have been called to do.
3. The Bible also tells us that when Jesus returns everyone will  immediately recognise Him and He will come in glory.

In the case of Alan J Miller, we are told that his own mother reported him to the authorities because of his delusional behaviour and was worried for him and for others. We also know that  Mr. Miller abandoned his first wife and has a relationship with a lady  who  believes that she is Mary Magdalene. I am both surprised and alarmed by the innuendo that Jesus had an intimate and inappropriate relationship with Mary Magdalene that was sexual in nature. Which is not how the Gospels and the history of the apostles present this relationship between the Lord Jesus  and his disciple Mary.  It is also alleged that Miller has been to several other women and suggested to them that they were in fact Mary Magdalene. All this and the core of his teaching makes me very sceptical of the truth claims of the Australian Alan J Miller. I would not waste any time on this guy except to warn people of cult figures like him.

The Resurrection of Jesus is incredible news:

The Easter message “He is alive”!  Jesus Christ is risen from the dead! is an amazing and wonderful truth. Jesus continues to offer hope by touching and mending broken hurting lives today. The early church and Christians down through the centuries have  believed in the death and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth. They proclaim this wonderful reality, however preposterous it might have sounded. The question today for us is how does one explain to people that the Lord Jesus who was sentenced to death by Pontius Pilate, who was crucified and certified well and truly dead  actually rose up on the third day and is alive today?  It is CRAZY!!!  The Good news is that after two thousand years Jesus is still alive and very active here and around the world. We have a wonderful truth to tell!

It is an inconvenient truth to proclaim:

I am sad that many have lost the excitement and joy about the incredible nature of the Easter event that  ‘Jesus is alive “He is risen!  Alleluia! ” It is an unpalatable truth to  announce and it is an  awkward truth to  proclaim in a scientific evidence based world.  The fact is that the Easter message is an inconvenient truth but central to the faith and life of a disciple of Jesus.

Determining the date of Easter is very complicated and sometimes we have a very early Easter.  What do we do with an early Easter? It is inconvenient to say the least. Why doesn’t the moon behave itself?  What an inconvenience for academic establishments whose academic terms in Europe use these Christian festivals as fixed points in the academic calendar !  Our academic timetable at the university has been under intense pressure. How do we cram everything into such a short term?

Talking about timetables: The truth of the Gospel is that the best is yet to come. Jesus is coming back. His timetable is not known to us, but he said that he is coming soon. We are all called to live in the light of his imminent return. I have this sense of urgency, the sense that we are to be alert and vigilant, lest when Jesus returns he finds us unprepared and genuinely surprised and bewildered. Some of us may even be incredulous that he actually does return, because after all people don’t always really mean what they say, and sometimes these things are to be taken figuratively, or seen as a creative metaphor…  Jesus did however say that he is coming back soon and we have a choice to believe in Him and to live our lives faithfully in the light of His promise that He will return..