Editorial

False messiahs

On false Christ's and the real messiah.

Eric Calvin Ward is a special assistant of Ministry.

My family made a Sunday afternoon visit to some old friends we hadn't seen in a while. As we prepared for dinner, I passed a well-appointed bedroom with a picture poised on decorative pillows, the portrait of a bald, middle-aged Black man. Curious about who he was, I learned that he was the newfound god" of this prosperous family.

Their "messiah" had recently flown to Los Angeles from New York. (I was surprised that God would need to "fly the friendly skies.") His picture was also at the head of the dining table, behind the best of the family's china and silver setting. The family placed the picture there for every meal eaten in that house. I say house because what I considered for many years to be a home for this couple and their two lovely daughters had become merely a house. You see, the husband and wife received orders from their messiah, Father Divine, that for the sake of their faith they could no longer sleep in the same bedroom. Any cohabitation between this husband and wife of three decades must cease, for such conduct was sinful and of the flesh evil. They were to live as born-again "virgins." Additionally, all properties owned in joint tenancy had to be deeded over to the "kingdom," in the name of the Most Reverend Father Divine, other wise known as George Baker.

Thousands across America and Canada flocked to this new messiah for free meals, free dormitory housing, and a free lifestyle in renovated apartments and second-rate hotels. Members had freedom from the burdens of marital and material cares.

According to Father Divine, one's husband was now a brother, and the wife became a sister. Children were simply younger brothers and sisters. Therefore there were no fathers and no mothers, only one Father Divine. Without marriages in this kingdom, many families disintegrated, disinherited children, and deeded over millions of dollars in real estate across North America. In the new kingdom, getting sick or dying was considered the result of secret sin that hadn't been confessed to Father. You may have read about all this in Life, Time, Newsweek, and other magazines.

The messianic shock

Then came the shock to Black America. That ebony messiah had left the United States, skipped across its northern border, and married a young white Canadian woman.

Immediately his disillusioned, disgruntled, and dismayed followers wanted to know why their messiah could demand that his tens of thousands of fol lowers dissolve their marriages and live celibate lives, while he could marry. The marriage was especially resented by the kingdom's Black female "virgins." Why didn't "Father" pick one of them to be "Mother Divine"?

Next came war in "heaven." Harlem in New York City happened to be part of that heaven. Father Divine called a press conference there to explain to the world why he had the right to marry. He announced that he was fulfilling Bible prophecy. The problem, he said, was not with him getting married, but with the spiritual ignorance of his critics. He demanded, "Haven't you ever read Rev elation 19:7: 'Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to him [Father Divine, supposedly]: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife [the white Canadian sister] hath made herself ready.'"

The messiah's explanation yielded only further disappointment, which deepened into despair, delusion, and finally defeat and disintegration. The final climax to this modern-day pseudomessiahship came when Father turned up missing from his weekly banquets. Rumors circulated that he was ill. Days passed into weeks. The news spread that he would make a television appearance. He appeared with "Mother Divine," who did most of the talking. Father seemed to be feeble. Some weeks later, word leaked out of the kingdom that Father had died and was buried.

In such deception, delusion, and demise ended a messiah, his kingdom, and his credentials. He had indeed fulfilled Bible prophecy Jesus Christ, the real Messiah, predicted: "There shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and ... if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect" (Matt. 24:24).

Since that prophetic declaration of Jesus, hundreds have come and gone, declaring themselves messiahs, prophets, or divinely commissioned leaders. Only recently the terror of Waco showed the world how real and tragic such claims can be. Persons like David Koresh, a high school dropout, rock musician, and polygamist, have the audacity to say, "If the Bible is true, then I'm Christ."

How does one discern the truth when so many messianic hoaxes abound? For Christians, there's only one rule: 'To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them" (Isa. 8:20). Following the Holy Scriptures is our only safety from deception by pseudo messiahs.

The real Messiah

The biblical testimony bears witness to only one Messiah, only one Redeemer: Jesus Christ. In support of that claim, the Bible points out seven realities about Christ:

1. Jesus Christ, the real Messiah, is the only man ever born of a virgin (Isa. 7:14; Matt. 1:18-25; Luke 1:26-38).

2. Jesus Christ, the real Messiah, is the only man who ever claimed prior to death that He was dying for the sins of the world. No other Messiah has ever claimed this and proved it (John 12:31- 33).

3. Jesus Christ, the real Messiah, is the only man who ever demonstrated that He could go to the grave and return from the dead when He chose (John 10:17, 18; 2:19,21).

4. Jesus Christ, the real Messiah, is the only man in history to ever walk on water and permit a disciple to do the same, without sinking (Matt. 14:22-33).

5. Jesus Christ, the real Messiah, is the only man who ever left earth by space flight, went to heaven, and re turned to earth the same day (John 20:17- 19).

6. Jesus Christ, the real Messiah, is the only one deemed worthy by the Father of worship by the angels of heaven (Heb. 1:5, 6).

7. Jesus Christ, the real Messiah, is the only person who ever claimed that He will bring every holy angel in heaven with Him when He soon returns the second time (Matt. 25:31). Our belief in Christ's glorious return is based upon more than 265 promises or references in the Old and New Testaments.

When Christ came the first time the religious, political, and social leaders did not accept Him. Why? They expected a military Messiah, leading armies. Jesus appeared as a baby in the cradle. "He came unto his own, and his own received him not" (John 1:11). Nevertheless Jesus Christ, the real Messiah, is the only one who can save from the power of sin (drugs, alcohol, promiscuity), the pollution of sin (addiction, licentiousness, profanity), and the presence of sin (defeat, disease, death).

Final deliverance will take place at Christ's grand and glorious appearance in the atmospheric heavens. That's good news from the real Messiah to the pulpit as well as to the pew.


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Eric Calvin Ward is a special assistant of Ministry.

July 1993

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