THERE ARE TWO JESUSES IN THE BIBLE (PART I)

“Abel Damina Says the Incarnate Christ Was of No Use to Him”

By Akin Ojumu

As someone who wears his emotion on his sleeves, you can always tell where I stand on issues…well, almost always. Blunt, biting, cutting, direct, edgy, pointed, even harsh. That’s me. Guilty as charged. But sugarcoating, pussyfooting, prevarication, and equivocation? Those aren’t traits you’d find in my rap sheet. 

I’m transparent enough to poignantly and pointedly let people know how I feel. You could say, “I tell it, as I see it.” Even without me uttering a word, my facial expressions are like screaming words in an open book that readily give me away. 

As my facial expressions go, so do my commentaries. They are an open display of the preoccupation of my mind. If you want to know what I’m thinking at any given moment, go to my blog. The things that keep me up at night can be found here on this social media blackboard. The tone and intensity of my writings are like the readings of the barometer of my mind.

Precision and accuracy in the handling of Scriptures is my pet peeve. This is a familiar theme in all my commentaries. Those who have read my writings long enough are by now well acquainted with the stridency and insistence with which I remind anyone who cares to listen about the importance of rightly dividing the Word of Truth.

For any Bible text to have true meaning, it must be interpreted perfectly. The effectual and transforming power of the Word of God in our lives comes only when Bible passages are properly understood and precisely applied. Erroneous interpretation, understanding, and application of Scriptures will bring nothing but ruination and devastation to the soul.

2 Peter 2:1

“But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing upon themselves swift destruction.”

Just as false prophets plagued the people of Israel in the Old Testament, so also is the House of God infested with false teachers today. Manifest heretics now hold sway in the assemblies of Believers, lording it over the people of God. From their bully pulpits, these sons of Satan spread their poison upon the laity. With their weaponized megaphones they pollute the hearts and minds of those who are genuinely seeking God.

In 2 Peter 2:1, Peter forewarned the Church to whom he wrote of an impending invasion of false teachers. It was not a matter of if, but a matter when. The old sage, who at this time was nearing the end of his life, wanted the people of God to be on the alert and be prepared for the coming deluge of the emissaries of the Lawless One.

Peter described the teachings of false teachers as “destructive heresies” in 2 Peter 2:1. Destructive in this verse, in the original Greek, means something that brings damnation. This is what makes imbibing false teachings a deadly thing. Those who consume heretic teachings put their soul in jeopardy. A Christian who, for whatever reason, makes a habit of feeding on erroneous doctrines endangers their own life. Believers who think there is some virtue in tolerating, and even defending, pushers of unscriptural teachings and ideas are walking on the path that leads to damnation.

There’s no wickedness greater than for someone to claim to speak for God to the salvation of souls when in reality he speaks for Satan to the damnation of souls (Credit: MacArthur Bible). So, it is with false teachers. These are wicked souls whose destruction is not asleep.

Abel Damina is a modern-day example of a wolf in sheep’s clothing who pretends to speak for God to the salvation of souls but who, in reality, is speaking for Satan to the damnation of souls. 

This video clip is an excerpt from a “sermon” preached by Abel Damina at the Faith to Faith Conference held by House on the Rock back on May 31, 2016. Among several other doctrinally atrocious things that Damina said during his hour-long spiel, the one that I found exceptionally disturbing and got me all riled up was his asinine assertion that there are actually two Jesuses in the Bible.

In his telling, there is the incarnate Christ and the glorified Christ. These two Christs aren’t one and the same Person. As far as Damina was concerned, the incarnate Christ is as useful to him as a blind, deaf and dumb man standing as a prosecution eyewitness in a murder trial.

Let’s hear Abel Damina in his own words.

“There are two Jesuses in the Bible. There’s the incarnate Christ, which was not useful to me. Then there’s a glorified Christ. These are two different Christs. Let me tell you, there was one miracle Jesus couldn’t do as the incarnate. He couldn’t do it. As an incarnate Christ, He couldn’t do one particular miracle. And that’s a miracle of miracles. He couldn’t. Yeah. He couldn’t. He did everything…deaf, dumb, everything…raise the dead and all that. But he couldn't get anybody born again.”

Like all other modern-day false teachers and heretics, there’s nothing Abel Damina is saying in this video that’s original or innovative. What he is teaching here is a heresy that dates back centuries. The man has simply plunged into the garbage bin of historical heresies to dig out his blasphemous ideas. Damina is just another one in a long line of heretics that Satan has unleashed on the Christian faith since its inception.

Contrary to Abel Damina’s preposterous assertion, the incarnate and the glorified Christ are one and the same. The incarnate Christ who walked the earth for thirty-three years is the glorified Christ who ascended to Heaven. He is God, the Creator of the Universe. 

Colossians 1:15-20

“He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities – all things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.”

Cross references: John 1:1-3, John 1:14, Acts 2:32-33, Romans 1:3-4, Philippians 2:6-11, 1 Timothy 3:16, Colossians 1:15-20, Hebrews 1:3, 1 John 1:1-2.

The Bible tells us that the incarnate Christ had to be fully human to experience temptation and suffering, making Him a relatable and qualified mediator to bring us to God and show us how to live. 

If the incarnate Christ was as useless as Abel Damina claims He was, then He would have been powerless to save and He could not have been able to fulfil the very purpose for which, as fully God, He became fully man, which was the expiation (atonement) of our sins, i.e., take away our sin by paying a penalty. 

2 Corinthians 5:21

“God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”

1 Peter 3:18

“For Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive by the Spirit”

If, as Abel Damina suggests, the incarnate Christ was useless, that meant the life He lived was not efficacious in the propitiation of our sins, i.e., take away the wrath of God and make us acceptable to God. 

Romans 5:9

“Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God.”

1 John 2:2

“He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world.”

In essence, Abel Damina’s spurious declaration that the incarnate Christ was useless is a direct assault on God, Christ and the Gospel. It is an overt attempt to undermine the Gospel of salvation by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone according to Scripture alone for the glory of God alone. Which makes Abel Damina an enemy of the Cross of Christ.

We’ll take it from here next time.