Another Jesus

(Author’s Commentary)

By Jeffrey D. Dean Sr.

This book has been 32 years in the making. I did not arrive at any
of my conclusions overnight, nor did I lightly interpret any of the
scriptures I quote in this book. I spent most of my adult life at
“odds” with fellow Christians, Pastors, and ministry leaders. I
have been alienated by entire Christian communities because I
took a vocal stand against the clear and obvious disregard for the
righteous principles of Holiness that I continually encountered in
every ministry in which I became involved within the organized
Christian system.

When I found churches and organizations that preach Holiness and

the “perfection” that we have promised and available to us as
believers I found that these organizations had “ulterior” motives
and serious errors. For example, many who preach that Holiness is
possible through the Spirit also teach that you have to “speak in
tongues” to be a believer, and teach that someone who does not
speak in tongues doesn’t even have the Holy Spirit at all!

Most of the churches I find teaching righteousness and purity

through Holy Spirit living were founded by self proclaimed
prophets and even Messiah’s. I have come to the conclusion that
the reason for this is twofold. First, and foremost the Devil himself
is afraid of the basic truth of the gospel that believers can obtain to
the righteousness of the Messiah! He, therefore, has taken an
active part in creating false religions that preach this basic truth
(but have obvious and ridiculous errors) in order to discredit the
righteous preachers of the gospel who are to come. The second
reason for the use of these truths by the “cultish” fringe groups
within Christianity is simple, false religions have always used
basic truths as a “carrot” to attract their followers and there is no
more appealing truth than Christ in YOU, the hope of Glory!
There is also no easier doctrine to twist and pervert to their own
means.

I firmly believe that Christianity is abdicating their rightful place

as the “light of the world” and as the “salt of the earth.” I also
firmly believe this is the “great falling away” predicted in the
scriptures. All one has to do is watch television and specifically
the news and it becomes obvious that wickedness is taking over.
When Christians, who claim to follow the LIVING MESSIAH are
involved in all manner of wickedness themselves, what hope do we
have of finding morality in the world?

Dennis Rader- BTK KILLER

In Kansas there was a serial killer known as BTK (Bind, Torture,

Kill). When he was finally apprehended it was discovered that he
was President of his Congregation. This man would lay in wait in
people’s homes and catch them unawares, tie them up, torture
them, and kill them. Among his victims included a teenage girl.
He was using the Church computer to send taunting messages to
the police! This is not an isolated incident, either. More and more
members of the Christian congregations the world over are
discovered to be the worst offenders in society! Incidentally,
before Dennis Rader was captured I was active heavily on
America’s Most Wanted Forums. I posted my own profile of the
BTK killer in which I theorized, based upon his writings and taunts
to the police, that the BTK killer, when he was apprehended would
turn out to be a Churchgoer, possibly even a leader in his
congregation. How was I able to make such a prediction? When
you read his letters he sent to the police the basic notion of being
“helpless” to the “devil’s influence” and to his “fleshly desires”
was prevalent and this concept is UNIQUE to Christian doctrine!
No where in the world or in any other religion do you find the
teaching that we are “helpless to the flesh” and incapable of
battling our fleshly impulses!

Romans 7

There are few Christian churches that do not, at least on a semi

frequent basis turn to Romans 7 to explain why they are so full of
sin in their lives!

Romans 7: 19- 25

“19 For the good that I would do I don’t do: but the evil which I
would not, that I end up doing.
20 Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin
that dwells in me.
21 I find then a law that, when I would do good, evil is present
with me.
22 For I delight in the law of God after the inward man:
23 But I see another law in my members, warring against the law
of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which
is in my members.
24 O wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me from the body
of this death?
25 I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the
mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of
sin.”

Christians unanimously use the above verses to not only excuse

their sin but to place the blame for that sin on their bodies. They
paint a picture of Christians who are forever “captive” to giving
their members over to sin and who have only one hope and that is
the “atonement” of Jesus Christ. Well, if Christians are “captive
to the law of sin” in their members there is therefore no true
“liberty in Christ,” other than being set free from the law of
righteousness to “live in sin!”
It’s quite amazing that most who quote Romans 7 seek to apply
these verses to THEMSELVES, because Romans 7 isn’t even
talking about a BELIEVER who has Christ “in them.” Their
quoting of this chapter and application of it to themselves is also
the biggest indictment that the denial of “Jesus Christ is come in
the flesh,” has already begun! I say this because of the verse
preceding the ones that I just quoted.

Romans 7: 14- 18

“14 For we know that the law is spiritual: but I am carnal, sold
under sin.
15 For that which I do I allow not: for what I would, that do I not;
but what I hate, I end up doing.
16 If then I do that which I would not, I consent unto the law that it
is good.
17 Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.
18 For I know that in me (that is in my flesh,) dwelleth no good
thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which
is good I find not.”

When Christians apply Romans 7 to THEMSELVES and their

current life situation they reveal many things about themselves.
First and foremost they are admitting openly that they see
themselves as still “sold in bondage to sin!” They also see
themselves as “carnally” minded. Finally, they do not see that
within their flesh “dwells Christ.” Verse 18 describes a person that
doesn’t have Christ in them! In fact, the entire Romans 7 chapter
is describing the state of a man BEFORE Jesus Christ enters in and
provides a way of escape.

Romans 7: 4-5

“4 Wherefore, my brethren, you also are become dead to the law

by the body of Christ; that you should be married to another, even
to him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit
unto God.
5 For when we were in the flesh, the motions of sins, which were
by the law did work in our members to bring forth fruit unto
death.”

The context of Romans 7 is to show the contrast between those

who bear fruit (through the New Covenant and the marriage of the
Lamb) and those who can never bear fruit. Paul says, “when we
were in the flesh” we were sold under sin and in captivity to it! He
then begins describing the FORMER STATE we were in prior to
receiving the Spirit of Christ in us! This is underscored by the
following verse:

Romans 7: 9- 11

“For I was alive without the law once: but when the commandment
came, sin revived, and I died.
10 And the commandment, which was ordained to life, I found to
be unto death
11 For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me,
and by it slew me.”

Clearly, Paul in Romans 7 is NOT talking about himself but is

speaking about “unregenerate man,” for, the commandment came
through Moses and we know that Paul was NOT ALIVE when the
commandment came, yet Paul says “I was alive once but then the
commandment came.” Everything we read after verse 11 is
contextually guided by this beginning premise, that Paul is not
actually describing HIMSELF but is describing mankind in general
and specifically mankind without Christ! Once you understand
this it becomes extremely frustrating when you have Christians
reading this chapter and applying it to themselves!
Paul even concludes that Christ saves us from this captivity to the
“sin within our members,” in verse 24. Then in Romans 8 he goes
on to show HOW through the Holy Spirit we no longer live “in the
flesh” and are no longer “carnal” but we “walk in the Spirit!

Romans 8: 3

“For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the
flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and
for sin, condemned sin in the flesh:”

Most Christians stop reading Romans 8 right here at verse

THREE! I have been in Sunday school and heard pulpit ministries
that cover Romans 8 more times than I can count and I noticed a
long time ago that most Christians are under the impression that
there are only 3 verses in Romans chapter 8. They stop here
because they want to say that Jesus Christ, being the propitiation of
our sins has ONLY saved us from the PENALTY of this fleshly
conundrum described in Romans 7! Yet, Romans 8 goes on to
show that the PURPOSE of the crucifixion had far more power
than just Christ paying the penalty for our sins!

Romans 8: 4

“That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who

walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.”

Paul couldn’t get much clearer than this! The purpose of God
sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh was so that we
could FULFILL the RIGHTEOUSNESS of the LAW in us by
walking after the Spirit rather than after the FLESH!

Romans 8: 5-8

“5 For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh;
but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit.
6 For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is
life and peace
7 Because the carnal mind is at enmity against God: for it is not
subject to the law of God, neither indeed can it be.
8 So that they that are in the flesh cannot please God.
9 But you are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the
Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of
Christ, he is none of his.
10 And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the
Spirit is life because of righteousness.”

While Romans 7 described what state we were in when we were

“in the flesh” Romans 8 states clearly that those who join Christ in
the New Covenant and in the marriage are no longer “in the flesh.”
Logic therefore will bring you to the conclusion that those who
have Christ cannot and should not apply Romans 7 to their own
lives, because Romans 7 concerns those who “were in the flesh,”
and concerns those who are “carnal,” and those who are still in
“captivity to sin,” whereas Romans 8 states that we are “free” from
this law of sin that wars in our members!

Romans 8: 10 appears to state that, even though Christ is in us, our

body still remains dead because of the sin that remains in our flesh
warring against the Spirit, and despite this contradiction we are
still “alive” in the Spirit! While this is true, and Christians are still
in this fleshly body of sin, (at first), according to Paul it does NOT
have to remain so!

Romans 8: 11- 13

“11 But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead
dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also
quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwells in you.
12 Therefore, brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after
the flesh.
13 For if you live after the flesh, you shall die: but if you through
the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, you shall live.”

There we have it then! The promise of the BLESSED HOPE! We

can and WILL be empowered to live, not after the flesh, as did the
poor creatures described in Romans 7, but to live after the Spirit.
We have the promise that our sinful bodies will be “quickened,” by
that same Spirit to live in newness of mind and sinless. We have
the promise of KILLING the deeds of the flesh through the Spirit!

The very fact that Christians STILL read Romans 7 and apply it to
their own CURRENT EXISTENCE is all the evidence that we
need that the “great falling away” is well underway!

Many think I’m being too judgmental and being too hard on people
for making a “simple” mistake. Yet, is it a simple mistake to live
your life thinking that you are still “carnal” and “sold under sin” in
the CLEAR LIGHT of scripture concerning the POWER we have
through the Holy Spirit? I don’t see that error as a small matter at
all. It becomes a VERY BIG matter, especially when those who
teach this are asking me to entrust my children to them in Sunday
school. It shall become an even BIGGER matter if they
CONTINUE living after the flesh, relying on Romans 7 as a
comfort to them that “even Paul had the same problem.”

Righteousness and overcoming sin is the CENTRAL THEME of

not only the Gospels, not only the Epistles, but of the book of
Revelation as well! This is because the purpose of the crucifixion
was to destroy sin in the world and especially in those who
believe! I firmly believe that the true GOSPEL has not even
BEGUN to go forth to the entire world for this very important
element of overcoming sin has not been included in the message.
Instead people are sent to Romans 7 and taught that they are
merely stuck in sin as long as they live in this fleshly body!
This was the main reason I wrote this book. I discovered many
years ago that the final battle between God and the Devil would be
over sin and that in the end, when the Church emerges victorious
through the Spirit, everyone who falls short of this victory will find
themselves in the same place as the Devil! It’s a sobering message
that MUST be preached and I make no apologies for it!

Jeffrey D. Dean, Sr.