And you believe it?!?

If Jesus appeared to you today and said something that is not in the Bible or even contradicted it, would you believe him or the Bible?
This question was asked a few months ago on a Christian page (on the social network Facebook) and, while about 90% of the people who responded stated that they would believe in the supposed Jesus, only a negligible portion of users said they would believe in the Bible.
This is a misconception… and not just any misconception: it's something extremely dangerous!
Jesus himself warned about the emergence of false Christs and false prophets, and that his coming will not be through "normal" means, that is, in a way that anyone could accomplish. This is quite evident in the text of the eschatological sermon:

So if someone tells you: Behold, Christ is here, or there, do not believe him;
For false Christs and false prophets will appear, and they will perform such great signs and wonders
who, if it were possible, would deceive even the elect.
Behold, I have foretold it to you.
Therefore, if they tell you:
Behold, he is in the desert; do not go out.
Behold, he is in the inner rooms; do not believe him.
For as lightning that comes from the east is visible in the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man.

(Matthew 24:23-27 – ACF)

Anyone who readily accepts the words of an alleged "Christ" who—before the day of judgment—presents himself in a visible and tangible way is invariably believing in a false Christ or false prophet, if this person does not claim to be the Son of God but preaches things that contradict Scripture.
The fact is that in modern times, the Bible—even within many "churches"—has been used as a mere pretext, a way to "justify" the most absurd thoughts and ideologies, and for that very reason, because of this campaign of distortion and discredit, many believe in supposed "Christs" and self-proclaimed "prophets," even though they declare nonsense.

Alleged “pastors” — such as Caio Fábio — often record videos claiming that the condemnation of same-sex sexual relations, something explicitly stated in the Scriptures, was simply a “cultural issue”…
That is why one of its admirers, Ed René Kivitz, claims that the Bible is "insufficient" and needs to be "updated.".
Considering the context of today's world, where what matters is "being happy" and having all desires fulfilled, many—including those who frequent church businesses—end up believing in this discourse, which is completely contrary to what the Scriptures present.
All of this goes against a very strong statement Paul made to his friend Timothy:

I therefore charge you before God and the Lord Jesus Christ,
who will judge the living and the dead at his coming and his kingdom,
That you preach the word,
insists on time and out of time,
redarguas,
reprimands,
exhorts,
with all patience and doctrine.
For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine.; but having itching in his ears,
They will gather around themselves teachers to suit their own desires;
And they will turn their ears away from the truth and turn to myths.

(2ⁿᵈ Timothy 4:1-4 – ACF)

This divine truth, found in Scripture—reveals the complete depravity of human nature, which does not submit to God's law and cannot do so (see Romans 8:7)—is not pleasing to human nature corrupted by sin.
As Charles Spurgeon said:

The Bible contains what men hate: the truth!

Only through accepting Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior is reconciliation with the Father possible (see John 14:6), because accepting Jesus implies renouncing one's own desires, taking on a burden—contrary to the sinful longings of humankind—of renunciation and submission to the divine will, being willing to suffer hostility, being despised by the world, and persevering in this condition to the end (see Matthew 10:22).
That is exactly what it means to “take up the cross and follow Christ,” according to Luke 9:23.

Thus, in a way, it is understandable—though not justifiable—that many prefer to believe in “fables” like those of false Christs and false prophets: both because divine truth is unpleasant to the fallen nature of man, and because the message of these ravenous wolves is, in general, much more “palatable” to the human ego.
generally not exhorting anyone to repentance, not calling sin by its name, and "liberating" a good part (if not all) of human desires and lusts.
However, the consequences of believing in fables, or, to put it bluntly, LIES, are never good, and in the case of spiritual lies, these bad consequences are eternal.

I want to clarify that I am not a cessationist.
I am not the type of person who thinks that God no longer manifests himself in our days, that spiritual gifts ceased with the end of the apostolic era.
If such an idea were true, Ja Huss's prophecy concerning Luther as he was being led to the stake could not have come true. Huss, condemned to death for heresy, stated:
“"Today, you are burning a goose (Huss means "goose" in the Bohemian language), but in 100 years a swan will appear that you will not be able to burn.".
Exactly a century later, Luther began preaching in his first parish.
I recount this story only to clarify one of the reasons why I disagree with the thesis that the gifts of the Spirit no longer manifest themselves after the end of the apostolic era.

However, great caution is needed when analyzing alleged "revelations.".
First, because there is nothing more to be revealed concerning salvation: that revelation has already been completed, so much so that John affirms that, although Jesus performed other signs while he was physically in the world that were not recorded, what remains is already sufficient for one to believe and have life in his name (check John 20:30-31).
Therefore, any supposed "revelation" that changes anything that has already been said is, without a doubt, the work of a false prophet.
And secondly, because any revelation, now without quotation marks, needs to be fulfilled in order to be true.

LEARN MORE ABOUT

THE TRUE PROPHECY

But the prophet who presumes to speak a word in my name that I have not commanded him to speak,
or what to say in the name of other gods,
This prophet will die.
And if you say in your heart:
How will I know the word that the LORD has not spoken?
When the prophet speaks in the name of the LORD,
and that word does not come to pass, nor does it happen as it did;
This is a word that the Lord did not speak;
That prophet spoke arrogantly;
Do not be afraid of him.

(Deuteronomy 18:20-22 – ACF)

Of course, on certain occasions, the lies of these charlatans are exposed in an embarrassing way, and an example of this is the Kenyan. Eliud Simiyu, Jesus, who declared himself to be Christ, founded a sect in his name and… now needs police protection because his followers want to crucify him!
In reality, if such people had truly read the Scriptures, they would never have believed in him, because the return of Jesus will not be in that way, but, as mentioned before, it will be something that everyone will see, with the Earth and the sky literally melting.

However, the Day of the Lord will come like a thief.,
in which the heavens will disappear with a terrible roar,
and the elements will disintegrate due to the action of heat.
The earth and everything built on it will be exposed to fire.

(2ⁿᵈ Peter 3:10 – KJA)

However, the mask of such charlatans is not always ripped off so obviously.

Therefore, and from the outset, the only truly reliable source of divine revelation is the Bible.
And this is not simply a matter of faith or doctrine, but a completely rational one: since all the writers of the biblical text have been dead for centuries, the only way to know what they taught is by examining what they left written.
That's why it's also very risky to believe in "oral tradition," as happens in Catholicism: anyone who has ever played "telephone"—where children stand in line and the first one says a phrase to the second, who passes it on to the third, and so on—knows what happens: when it reaches the last person in line, the phrase is said and, most of the time, comes out completely different from what it was at the beginning.
How, then, can we trust words supposedly spoken over centuries, passed down from generation to generation, even across different cultures and languages… words that often change and even contradict each other?

Therefore, the question in the first paragraph has only one possible answer: in the Bible!
Only in her can the true revelation of God be found.
This is so true that the sacred texts of other religions do not share several things that exist only in Christianity, such as the Triune God—there are even religions that preach the existence of a divine triad, however, they are three gods, not one God in three persons—; the salvific sacrifice of God himself in the person of his Son; salvation by grace…
This last point, in particular, is more distinct than many imagine: while in all other religions, the respective deities only save "good" people — that is, those who dedicate themselves to fulfilling the dogmas and rituals, conforming to the moral standard accepted within them — in Christianity we find the only faith that presents a God so merciful that He saves lost, fallen, depraved people, totally incapable of pleasing Him by their own strength, sacrificing His Son for this purpose.

Therefore, complete and total trust can only be placed in the Bible.
Even to "test the spirits," as instructed in the record. 1ˢᵗ John 4:1, It should be the "compass" that guides each child of God as to what should be accepted and what should be rejected.
Guided by it, no Christian will fall into the traps of "prophecies" and false messianism that are growing ever more prevalent in the world.

In the Bonds of Calvary.

Eduardo Pydd Teixeira

It seems that the end times are unfolding ever more rapidly, and before the Lord returns like a thief in the night, we can already observe signs of the prophesied reign of the Antichrist consolidating not only in Brazil, but throughout the world!
In the 2023 phase of "The Worst Gospel," I decided to use new formats in the hope of helping to increase the reach of content related to the Scriptures—stories, videos, shorter texts, guest authors…—and this publication, which I took the liberty of revising and illustrating, is part of that project.
Thank you for reading this far.
I still need all the help I can get: comments, shares, and reactions help spread this content, which was entirely produced with the intention of contributing to the edification of the Body of Christ in the world.