Jesus- Messiah or Fraud

I was at a restuarant recently, when a conversation a couple of tables over caught my attention. "You know the Christian's legends, the Bible Stories, they all had a mansion in them." I exchanged a quick look with my Dad. We both fell silent, listening in for several minutes. In rapidfire motion, the ladies and bored host were running through different religions and their basic beliefs. Occasionally, as if suddenly concious other people were around, they would lower their voices for a few minutes. A lot of the conversation was meaningless without the enlightenment the full conversation would have brought. However, one part stands out in my mind. "I just want to know," one of the ladies' raised her voice, "What the Islams think of Jesus."

"They think he's a prophet, but nothing else," the host replied.

The gears in my mind began to turn. If they think he's a prophet, then who do they think he is a prophet from? This one thought gave me a revelation.

You see, Jesus Christ can only be one of two things: a fraud, or the Messiah. There is no middle ground, and those who call him a 'prophet' only do so as a compromise. If they truly believed Jesus to be a prophet, then they would believe every last word he said. This presents a problem for many of them. Jesus stated that he is the only way to God and Heaven, and, if this is true, then their religions are obsolete.

Obviously, they do not believe this. After all, he is a 'prophet', not a 'messiah.' So my question becomes, if he is a prophet, then why would he lie? After all, isn't the very definition of a prophet 'someone who God communicates through?' So it would seem to me that a single lie spoken in the name of God would prove that a person was not a prophet, but, in fact, a fraud. Besides, if Jesus truly did tell one lie (which I do not believe he did), then what would keep him from lying about everything else he said?

So, I believe that a person cannot logically believe that Jesus was 'just a prophet'. He has to be either the prophesied Messiah, or a common liar. Which do you believe?