Jesus Christ said something that is like a light house flashing over a rocky shore for every person who has faith in his teachings. With regard to a future time of trouble for mankind, Jesus said: (Mat 24:21-22 & 23-27) 23 “Then if anyone says to you, ‘Look! Here is the Christ,’ or, ‘There!’ do not believe it. 24 For false Christs and false prophets will arise and will give great signs and wonders so as to mislead, if possible, even the chosen ones. 25 Look! I have forewarned you. 26 Therefore, if people say to you, ‘Look! He is in the wilderness,’ do not go out; ‘Look! He is in the inner chambers,’ do not believe it. 27 For just as the lightning comes out of eastern parts and shines over to western parts, so the presence of the Son of man will be. Please notice how Jesus follows his warning about the danger of false Christs, with a verse to comfort us. He provides what appears to be our protection against being misled by them. In verse 28, Jesus adds: Mat 24:28 Wherever the carcass is, there the eagles will be gathered together. What did Jesus mean by a gathering of Eagles, and why did he give us the warning about those who would be telling us the Christ is here or there? What was he trying to protect us from?

It is not hard to understand if we reflect on what we see around us. Today, we find religious groups without number, all of them claiming to be Christian. There are Baptists, Mormons, Catholics, Protestants, Methodists, Jehovah's Witnesses, Amish, Mennonites, Alliance Churches, Calvinists and Presbyterians, to name just a few. Apart from asserting they are all Christians, do you know what else these groups share in common? They each claim it is they alone who are God's true followers. They say their religious group alone possesses the sayings of life. They each try to convince you any future hope you have of pleasing God rests in your becoming a member of their respective sect, and/or, on your learning the truth from them. Think about that! They all have different doctrine or dogma, and yet they each demand you express faith in their group to gain life. They are defined to have different doctrine because that is what makes them different one from the other. It certainly can't be the Bible that makes them different, and yet the Bible is what they all claim to follow. Since each group claims to be following Christ Jesus and the Bible, where do their differences come from?

Jesus made that clear because he had the very same problem while he was alive on earth. As he went about teaching people the truth (Mar 10:1), the religious leaders of his day tried to interfere with his work. (Mat 21:23) They said he was a Samaritan (Samaritans were often descendants of mixed nationality marriages. In the mind of those religious leaders, being a Samaritan would mean Jesus was a lower class person.[Joh 4:9]) and that he had a demon. (Joh 8:48) On one such occasion, Jesus told them very simply: (Mark 12:24) 24 ... “Is not this why you are mistaken, your not knowing either the Scriptures or the power of God? The reason the religious leaders of Jesus's day were lost as to truth was simply because they didn't know what the Bible taught. They thought and said they did, of course, but they were ignorant. In another account, Jesus made it plain why they didn't know what was in the Bible. Jesus said to them, as recorded in Mark 7:1-9. 7 Now the Pharisees and some of the scribes that had come from Jerusalem gathered about him. 2 And when they saw some of his disciples eat their meal with defiled hands, that is, unwashed ones, 3 for the Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they wash their hands up to the elbow, holding fast the tradition of the men of former times, 4 and, when back from market, they do not eat unless they cleanse themselves by sprinkling; and there are many other traditions that they have received to hold fast, baptisms of cups and pitchers and copper vessels; 5 so these Pharisees and scribes asked him: “Why is it your disciples do not conduct themselves according to the tradition of the men of former times, but they take their meal with defiled hands?” 6 He said to them: “Isaiah aptly prophesied about you hypocrites, as it is written, ‘This people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far removed from me. (Isa 29:13) 7 It is in vain that they keep worshiping me, because they teach as doctrines commands of men.’ 8 Letting go the commandment of God, you hold fast the tradition of men.” 9 Further, he went on to say to them: “Adeptly you set aside the commandment of God in order to retain your tradition.

It has not changed in our day! What Jesus came to bring was Christianity, not religion. Religion is made clearly distinct from Christianity by its tradition and doctrine. All religious groups form traditions, which follow to become their religious doctrine or dogma. Their religious leaders then govern their flock from that doctrine, using it to replace the Bible in policing their group's form of worship and conduct. They will all place that doctrine above the Bible in rendering decisions. It is easy to recognize that is true because they all "study" from their organizational literature instead of the Bible. (They all study from the Bible a little bit, of course. Most don't even spend 10% of their time studying the Bible.) Every single one of these groups will say it is not true of them. Most all of them, however, will admit it is true of the other groups. Sincere Bible students who get caught up in these religious sects will at some point be faced with some organizational doctrine which the group will assert all members must put faith in, simply because God's true servants (their group) say it is true. They will make the demand even thought there is no Bible support for the teaching. If members don't comply, they will be asked to leave and/or branded as wicked. If you don't believe that is true, print out this webpage along with supporting scriptures, and ask your religious group to discuss them in open forum as a Bible study. Or, if that seems too argumentative (Mat 10:32-37), ask them if they would join as a group in reading Matthew, Mark, Luke and John all the way through, making notes to follow the theme of each book beginning to end. What could possibly be wrong with such a request? You need to recognize Christianity to be very different from religion. Christians look to the Bible, and to the teachings of Christ Jesus, as their one and only source for spiritual direction. They use that Bible counsel as a mirror to pattern their own lives (James 1:22-25), not to develop rules to set themselves up as judges over others. They do, of course, take every opportunity to talk with others about the beautiful teachings contained in the Bible. It then rests with the individual hearer as to whether they want to build faith in the teachings of Christ. We must always remember: it is God who is helping people, it is not up to us. God starts the process of helping as he looks throughout the earth for all those individuals who love what is right. (2 Chron 16:9a) As He identifies them, He directs each one of them to the teachings of his son. Jesus, in turn, helps us all to know and have a relationship with his father. (Joh 6:44a ; Mat 11:25-27 ; Acts 4:12 ; Acts 2:32-36) It happens based on each individual's faith in Jesus's teachings. Only if people are looking, because God has seen them and is drawing them to the teachings of his son, can we help them. Even then, the only help we can be is to direct them to Jesus's teachings. We should take every opportunity to support our God by helping others learn what Jesus taught. We can never know which persons are looking today, or will be looking tomorrow. We need to encourage everyone we can. In addition, though, as for you and me, our personal responsibility is to be certain our own faith is built on the teachings of Jesus. (Philippians 2:12) There is no club we can join to grant that approval. (Joh 17:3) Jesus warned of the danger from those groups who believe or say they can grant you God's approval. All religious sects are anxious to provide that service for you, in the form of membership or baptism by their group. They have no authority to grant God's approval!

Do you now see the meaning and the importance of Jesus's warning about those people who assert they know "where the Christ is"? What these groups are really saying is, "here in our midst is the Christ. We have his spirit and you must join us to gain an understanding of his teachings." Don't be deceived by them! The Bible is simple and clear, and it was written for you; for each one of us. To very briefly outline the Bible: The Old Testament (OT) explains how mankind sinned and how God immediately promised to help those who wanted a chance for life: God said in (Gen 3:15) He would raise up a seed from the woman who would crush Satan's head. From (Gen 3:15) forward (from about page 3 forward), then, the OT expands upon and clarifies that prophecy, further identifying the seed of the woman as the coming Christ or Messiah. It provides many details to identify that promised savior when he arrived. Following the OT, in the four short Bible books of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, Jesus introduces the New Testament (NT) by presenting himself as that promised OT Messiah. The rest of the NT provides the recorded efforts of Jesus followers as they tried to put his teachings into practice in their lives, as well as some prophecy. The teachings of Christ Jesus were recorded two thousand years ago in the Bible books of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. Please realize: That is where the Christ is! The teachings Jesus brought to the earth were (and are) like lightening that has lit up the whole earth for centuries. This year is 2014 on our world calendar system, because Jesus was born 2014 years ago. Since Jesus's teachings were recorded, the Earth has become filled with Bibles containing his teachings, available in most languages that exist. It seems anyone alive in the earth today who wants to learn what Jesus taught, can somehow find a Bible; or could have at some point in their life. That is where the Christ is, and the only place he is: in the Bible recordings of his teachings done by Matthew, Mark, Luke and the Apostle John. (Christ is, of course, alive and seated in heaven at the right hand of God. [Ephesians 1:20] Jesus is not, however, talking to us from heaven. As far as our gaining knowledge of his teachings, Jesus exists in the four Gospel accounts.) Don't be fooled by someone telling you your salvation is in some way tied to them or to their group. All these groups don't possess Christ, and they can't replace him in your life. Their approval and blessing means nothing at best. As Jesus warned in Mat 24:24, they all perform great signs by gathering huge memberships and constructing great edifices to their own organizational glory. They all construct elaborate doctrine and tradition they can trace all the way back to... They all appear very real and tend to command respect; if and only if, you are ignorant of what they really are! All the members of each of these vainglorious sects insist Christ is in their midst, and allege that is where you need to be. He isn't! He warned you about them. The simple fact is: the teachings Jesus came to bring us exist only in the Bible, and that Bible is your only reliable source of truth. If you join with any of these groups, you are responsible. Protecting you against being misled by them is what the Bible is for. What though, of Jesus's comforting statement about a gathering of eagles? What Jesus gave his very life to bring us, his teachings (Joh 18:37b), can in some sense be thought of as his remains; or as the body of Christ. (1 Cor 10:16b-17 ; Joh 6:48-51 ; Joh 17:3 ; Joh 18:37) Looking to Jesus as our source of truth helps us understand (Rom 15:5 ; Prov 14:6) the illustration he gave right after his warning about false prophets who would be telling us they know "where the Christ is." His illustration helps us build faith in where our protection really is. When Jesus said: "Wherever the carcass is (or the remains of Jesus are), there the eagles will be gathered together," (Mat 24:28) he was helping us understand: Everyone who is clear sighted (like an Eagle) in seeking God, is gathered around Matthew, Mark, Luke and John to feed on the words, or works, or earthly remains, of God's son Christ Jesus. (Eph 3:6) They have not been tricked into following groups of men, who have in turn become so arrogant as to assert and assume salvation rests with them and their teachings. All such groups are trying to replace Christ in your life by telling you Jesus is with them.

Make no mistake: It is the responsibility of every person alive to manifest personal faith (Mat 17:19-20 ; Mat 15:28) in the son of God. That is God's provision of life. (Acts 4:12 ; Mat 21:42 ; Mar 12:10-11) We must each and every one become noble minded (Acts 17:11), however, by being certain our faith is built on what Jesus actually taught, and not in what some religious sect has told us Jesus taught. We don't have to know everything there is to know about Jesus, since none of us do. We better each and every one, however, be certain what we build faith in actually comes from Jesus Christ's own lips. We can not build faith in the reasonings and traditions of men, no matter how well meaning some of them might be. Knowledge of Jesus's teachings, and then faith in him based on those teachings, is your personal gift of life from God! Jesus is talking to you from the Bible. Read his words in the four short books of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. All four books combined make up only about 200 pages. How simple can it really be! (Mat 11:25-30 ; Micah 6:8)

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