clcgh.org Building The Capacity Of Christian Leaders, Equipping The Saints For The Work Of Ministry, Redirecting Straying Christians To The Sound Knowledge Of Christ
DURING JESUS Christ’s earthly ministry, He chose 12 apostles who walked with Him and sat face to face to study, pray and eat but none of the disciples recorded an image of Jesus Christ in their books.
Jesus Christ moved from one community to another preaching the Good News of the Kingdom of heaven and healing all who were oppressed of the devil. But there was no camera not even camera obscura, to take photos of Him for reference.
And over the centuries archaeologists have not been able to uncover a drawing depicting Jesus Christ either.
Unfortunately, many Christians including pastors have, over years, been erroneously taking the pictures of American and European FILM ACTORS to be the image of Jesus Christ.
Churches use the images of these actors on their billboards, calendars, posters and sticker thinking they are honoring Christ. No, they are not! They are honoring American and European actors.
How sad that most Christians including pastors have these images in their churches, living rooms, bedrooms, shops, offices and cars to revere them. Some people even pray to them as if the pictures of the actors possess the presence of God to work miracles.
A question we must answer is: “How many Christians will regard the images of African actors as the images of Jesus Christ and hang them in their churches, homes or offices to adore them?”
Will Christians venerate the images of Agya Koo, Ramsey Nouah, Mr Ibu, John Dumelo, Samuel Nyamekye, Adhir Kalyan or Alfred Ntombela and revere them as the images of Christ Jesus?
By adoring these supposed photos of Jesus, many Christians ignorantly worship fellow human beings who may be agents of the devil.
And if caution is not exercised and appropriate steps taken to plead God’s mercy for forgiveness and repentance, many Christians may be guilty of a sin of idolatry.
The so-called pictures of Jesus you see around being sold on the market are not the image of our Lord. They are images of film actors mostly in America and Europe. There are over 14 actors who have portrayed Jesus Christ in Christian movies.
Prominent among them are Jeffrey Hunter, Max Von Sydow, Robert Powell, Claude Heater, H. W. Warner, Jeremy Sisto, Jim Caviezel, Chris Sarandan, Christian Bale, Willem Dafoe, John Ruinstein and Brian Deacon.
An annoying part is that some of these actors are not even known Christians, yet millions of Christians the world over regard their pictures as Jesus Christ. This is sad and unfortunate!
We may watch movies of these actors as they try to show us the birth, ministry, arrest, crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus Christ in relation to Biblical accounts. But we have no business taking the images of these actors as the image of Christ Jesus and revere them.
We Christians must know that money lovers print the images of these actors and label them as Jesus and sell them to amass wealth. Can you not see the different faces of the images? Jesus Christ of Nazareth does not have different faces; He has one glorious face.
God did not call Christians to relate to Him through a strange picture or drawing. You can come up with your defensive theories but the truth is that God called us to relate to Him through His Word and Holy Spirit that live in our heart.
John saw Jesus just as Stephen also caught a glimpse of the King of kings and Lord of lords. Stephen testified of seeing Jesus before he was stoned to death. Both of them saw Jesus while they were in the spirit.
Paul, the apostle, purposed in his heart to know Jesus Christ personally; And the Lord appeared to him a couple of times (Acts 23:11). Christ Jesus lives and He reveals Himself to people. I have read testimonies of ministers and Christians who have seen Jesus in visions and in dreams.
By James Quansah
Thank you for reading. You may support this ministry financially by sending your donation to MTN MERCHANT ID: 951275 or MOBILE MONEY NUMBER: 05301659. God bless you.
James Quansah is the Executive Director of Christ-Conscious Leadership Centre (CLC) and lead Pastor of End-Time Christ’s Commissioners (ECC), Kumasi, Ghana. James is also a journalist by profession. He is married with four children.
