The Great American Christian Heresies (Party 2)

 We will discuss the following false teachings when I get the time. Meanwhile, without discussion judge the spirits. Are these Biblical or not?

1. Water Baptism is NOT required for salvation (John 3:3 = John 3:5 and so many other passage but meditate on this very words of Christ. Didn't Christ confirm this by HIS OWN baptism? Didn't the Spirit descend on him as soon as he rose from the waters?)
2. Holiness is NOT required for salvation (Hebrews 12:14)
3. You don't need to have a home church to be a Christian (Ephesians 1:22-23; John 1:16)
4. You don't need to detest the world or separate from it to be saved (1 John 2:15; James 4:4; Mark 10:21; Luke 18:22; Mark 8:36; Luke 9:25)
5. ... more later...

The SEPTUAGINT is a MUST HAVE (Part 2)

Did you know that Jesus and the Apostles quoted MORE from the Septuagint (Greek Translation of the Hebrew Old Testament before the time of Christ)?

In fact, among all the Apostles, ONLY Matthew (and later St. Paul) could read Hebrew! All the other Apostles spoke either Koine Greek or Aramaic, BUT NOT HEBREW. They were mostly uneducated in Jewish Schools because they were poor fishermen who lived hand-to-mouth and could not afford the more sophisticated education that St. Paul had under Gamaliel.

When St. Paul declared that "All Scripture is God-breathed..." Paul was talking to Timothy who was HEBREW ILLITERATE (Yup, Timothy did not read nor understand Hebrew), he was referring to the Septuagint because that was the ONLY Bible that Timothy can read.

Timothy was the son of a Greek father and an uneducated Jewish mother AND grandmother. So, literally, it was the Greek that was "God-breathed". But we will discuss this in another post.

Meanwhile, take Matthew 1:23. Compare the Greek New Testament quote to the Greek Old Testament source and Matthew quoted Isaiah 7:14 almost word-for-word from the Greek. Now, compare this with the Hebrew. The word "virgin" in NOT in the Hebrew. The Hebrew word used is "young maiden" which does NOT necessarily mean "virgin" although it may in common usage. The Greek, however, is very specific! The Hebrew used "almah (young woman)" instead of "bethulah (virgin)".

How about "what Old Testament text did Jesus read in the synagogue in Luke 4:18-19?". Note that this was read IN A JEWISH SYNAGOGUE at the time of Christ! Read the passage and then read the Greek Old Testament source in Isaiah 61:1-2. IT WAS QUOTED BY CHRIST WORD-FOR-WORD in the GREEK!!! Now compare this to the Hebrew version. The Hebrew SKIPS ONE CRUCIAL phrase: "to give sight to the blind".

We can give other countless examples like Jude 14-15 was quoted entirely from the Greek Book of Enoch. This is NOT in the Hebrew but is part of the Old Testament of some of the Eastern Orthodox churches like the Ethiopian church and the Syriac churches.

THE SEPTUAGINT IS A MUST READ for any serious Bible student and especially TEACHER of the Word.

https://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/nets/edition/

The SEPTUAGINT is a MUST HAVE (Part 1)

The Bible of the first 300 beginning years of the  Christian church was NOT the Hebrew Bible. ALL the Gentile churches and even the Jerusalem churches and even the Jewish synogogues read from the Greek translation now known as the Septuagint (LXX written in Koine Greek, the same Greek as the New Testament).

This means that the original theologies of the early churches were based on the Greek Old Testament which was later refined and completed by the Apostles Teachings (now known as the New Testament)

It is very important then for every serious student and especially TEACHER of the Bible to have a copy of the LXX to study even before they read the Protestant or Roman Catholic Old Testaments (which are based on the Hebrew versions called the Masoretic Text) to see how the early church understood their doctrines and teachings.

The ONLY compiled Bible whose Old Testament is from the Greek Septuagint is the Orthodox Study Bible published by Harper but available on Kindle.

Most people especially in countries like the Philippines will have a hard time obtaining a copy. FORTUNATELY it is FREE on the internet in PDF form which you can download anytime. The only downside is that you can download only one Old Testament book at a time (they are not yet compiled into one book).

But no matter for as long as we have UNLIMITED ACCESS to it without any fee or membership required.

Just click on the link below. God bless you in your serious study.

https://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/nets/edition/

Clarifications on Book Names:

09 1 Reigns (or 1 Kingdoms) is 1 Samuel in the Protestant Bible

10 2 Reigns (or 2 Kingdoms) is 2 Samuel in the Protestant Bible

11 3 Reigns (or 3 Kingdoms) is 1 Kings in the Protestant Bible

12 4 Reigns, (or 4 Kingdoms) is 2 Kings in the Protestant Bible

13 1 Supplements is 1 Chronicles  in the Protestant Bible

14 2 Supplements is 2 Chronicles  in the Protestant Bible

15 1 Esdras is Ezra in the Protestant Bible

16 2 Esdras is Nehemiah in the Protestant Bible

Also, the numbering of the Psalms is different starting Psalm 9 because the LXX Psalm 9 is the Hebrew Psalm 9 & 10 all the way to Psalm 146 which is the Hebrew Psalm 147:1-11; and Psalm 147 is the Hebrew Psalm 147:12-20. Then the LXX has a Psalm 151. The Hebrew does not. The LXX also has the Apocryphal books many of which is in the Roman Catholic Bible. It may be a surprise to many that the Apostles quoted many truths from the Apocrypha which the early church considered as Scripture included in St. Paul's 2 Timothy 3:16.

The Saddleback Church and the Case for Women in the Ministry of Teaching and Preaching

 

The Saddleback Church, the Southern Baptist Convention and

the Case for Women in the Ministry of Teaching and Preaching

We enthusiastically salute and strongly support the stand of the Saddleback Church established by Rick Warren for their stand on ordaining women pastors. As a result, the whole church was recently kicked out of the Southern Baptist Convention (Perhaps someone should approach Rick Warren about affiliating with the Church of the Nazarene?) last February 2023. See

https://www.christianitytoday.com/news/2023/february/saddleback-church-southern-baptist-sbc-disfellowship-female.html

 This has been an age-old debate between Christian legalists and Christian core values defenders. I use these terms because the Southern Baptist Convention’s position is completely legalistic and un-Biblical in at least two major ways.

 First, they make mountains out of mole hills. More hermeneutically speaking, they cannot distinguish between the SHOUTS of God and the w-h-i-s-p-e-r-s of God in the Bible. It seems that to them every statement in the Bible has equal value, like allowing women to preach is right there equivalent to any of the Ten Commandments, for example. This mindset is preposterous and very misinformed. To be on the safe non-cultic side we have to let the SHOUTS of God interpret the whispers of God, not the other way around. It’s plain rational thinking.

 Second, they disregard the decidedly male chauvinist culture that made the statement and they completely disregard the rest of that same culture that the early church changed and practiced that allowed women leaders, women apostles and women prophets. They preach to a modern culture insisting on the LETTER of the LAW instead of the SPIRIT of the LAW. Yet these same people refuse to see what Christianity has done to slavery and polygamy, both ALLOWED BY THE LETTER of the LAW but no longer allowed as practice in the NEW CREATION of God which is the church of Christ. Hence, like most legalists, they are adamant about violations of the letter of the law and not the heart of it.  They are like Cain who sacrificed correctly (Genesis 4:7 LXX) but his heart was never right with God (1 John 3:12)

 This brings us to a very important explicit principle from Matthew 12:1-8; Mark 2:23-28; Luke 6:1-5 which these groups of misinformed people always ignore or maybe cannot exegete properly.

These legalists, similar to the infamous Pharisees of Christ’s day, nitpicked on the disciples for disobeying the Sabbath laws. Now note that the Sabbath as explained in the Torah is part of the Ten Commandments, ALL WORK IS PROHIBITED. In the book of Numbers 15:32-36, one was even stoned to death for just “gathering sticks on the Sabbath day”! (Compare that to this thing about women is just mentioned in passing by Paul and we refuse to look at the context and culture.)

Technically, the disciples would be RIGHTLY stoned to death (something that they did to Stephen for alleged “blasphemy”). But what did Jesus do and SAY as a matter of principle????

 First, he cited the case of David violating the law against the “bread of the Presence” which is just outside the Holy of Holies. Second, he cites the “priests in the temple profane the Sabbath and are guiltless”. So did Christ who is Yahweh change the LAW, meaning God changed his mind? The answer is YES and NO.

YES because the disciples were guilty of violation and yet they are now “guiltless”! NO because Christ is setting a key principle in understanding the Torah IN THE CONTEXT OF the New Creation. In fact, He came to “fulfill the Law and the Prophets”.

There are a hierarchy of laws where some laws pre-empt the other laws. That is a reality in our legal system and a reality in God’s order. In David’s case, hunger and satisfying hunger was a higher principle than maintaining a ritual. Jesus demonstrates here that the law is NOT ABSOLUTE over human need. This is where Christ declares, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.” (Mark 2:27). Besides, when St. Peter declares that believers are "a royal priesthood", does that apply ONLY to men? Was he talking only to men?

Second, Christ also shows that the law is NOT ABSOLUTE over service to God as Christ himself mentioned, “Or have you not read in the Law how on the Sabbath the priests in the temple profane the Sabbath and are guiltless?” (Matthew 12:5). The priests who serve God in the temple “necessarily” and “intentionally” violate some rules in order to accomplish the greater preoccupation to serve God, and Christ declares them “guiltless”.

Third and most important, the Lord is teaching the principle of the Law being our baseline for standards of order but he explicitly declared in Matthew 5:20, “For I tell you, unless your righteousness EXCEEDS that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.” In this particular event, Christ follows up THAT SAME PRINCIPLE by stating it another way in Matthew 12:7, “if you had known what this means, ‘I desire MERCY, and NOT SACRIFICE,’ you would not have condemned the guiltless.”  Where sacrifice represent the letter of the law or the legal requirements of the law, mercy is the spirit of Christlikeness that God expects of those who claim to be his followers. What is the point of ALL those Sacrifices in the Torah as it relates to Christ expecting MERCY instead of obedience to the performance of these sacrificial meals? FYI, Mercy is expected BEYOND any sacrifice of thanksgiving or sacrifice of praise, for that matter.

 

“The harvest is plenty but the laborers are few.” These legalists who only look at the LETTER of the Law mean to divide and lessen the testimony of the church with only half the laborers by excluding women, obeying the LESSER law in favor of the more important one. It is similar to the “korban” teaching of Christ (Mark 7:1-13) where the Pharisees ignore one of the Ten Commandments just because their offering has been “korban” or committed to God. This sin of hypocrisy, Christ squarely condemns! We don’t ask you to forget the letter of the Law but Christ himself requires YOU to EXCEED it. Otherwise, “you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.”! 

“Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written,

“‘This people honors me with their lips,
    but their heart is far from me..."
7 

 When people like John MacArthur tell outstanding teachers like Beth Moore  to “go home” we realize that people make mistakes, some BIG, some small, even with the best intentions no one is infallible except Christ Himself.

Yes, the Roman Catholic Church and the Greek Orthodox churches practice the male-only tradition but even they are NOT INFALLIBLE too as PROVEN many times in history.

In conclusion, “It’s just a molehill, use your big foot to step on it”… the Spirit and NOT the Letter….?  Matthew 12:1-8? Are you listening…?

“He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God? (Micah 6:8)”

Fallacies of Modern Christianity

 Saved by Faith alone?

There is ONLY ONE verse in ALL of Scripture that has the words "faith" and "alone" in one sentence: James 2:24 declares, "You see that a person is justified by works and NOT by faith alone".

Once saved, always saved? 

Then who is Christ condemning in Matthew 7:21-23 and Luke 13:23-39?

21 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22 On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not PROPHESY IN YOUR NAME, and CAST OUT DEMONS IN YOUR NAME, and DO MANY MIGHTY WORKS IN YOUR NAME?’ 23 And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’

Can unbelievers PROPHESY IN HIS NAME? Can unbelievers CAST OUT DEMONS IN HIS NAME? Can unbelievers DO MIGHTY WORKS AND MIRACLES IN HIS NAME? OF COURSE NOT!!!!

All of these are gifts of the Spirit and can only be done by those who have the Holy Spirit. Yet, at at the judgment seat of Christ on Judgment Day, Christ will tell these believers who lost the Holy Spirit and their salvation, "I NEVER KNEW YOU, DEPART FROM ME!!!"

LESSON: Don't base your belief on a few isolated Scriptures and what other people tell you. Make sure you know the overview of Scripture including God's plan for his creation, how man (and angels) tried to ruin the plan, God's remedial steps to solve this and His overall plan up to his final redemption, restoration and reconciliation plan. Without that context, you're simply using the Bible as a book of wise sayings with nothing to do with your eternity.

BEST ADVICE FROM THE LORD: "STRIVE (requires great effort) to enter through the narrow door. For many, I tell you, will seek to enter and will not be able". Learn what this means and DO THE FATHER'S WILL!

BEST PAULINE ADVICE: "WORK OUT (requireS great effort) your salvation with fear (Greek: phobia) and trembling (Greek: quaking due to great fear)". Learn what this means and DO THE FATHER'S WILL!

“Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do what I tell you? Luke 6:46. Salvation is free but IT REQUIRES GREAT EFFORT....THAT IS THROUGHLY BIBLICAL, THERE IS NO OTHER INTERPRETATION! Learn what this means and DO THE FATHER'S WILL!

The Great American Christian Heresies (Party 1)

 Heresy: the “corruption of truth” has traditionally be known to be caused by the following:

1. Teaching that deviates from the Apostles doctrine and that of the post-Apostolic church: “strange doctrine”
2. Teaching that over-emphasizes a misinterpreted Bible principle even if it contradicts the rest of Scripture
3. Teaching based on a mistranslation of Scripture or a disrespect for canonical tradition

Picking up from the above definition, let's follow this up by statements from the Holy fathers:

"8 But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed. 9 As we have said before, so now I say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed." Galatians 1:8-9

“Now all these heretics are of much later date than are the bishops to whom the apostles committed the churches. . . . It follows, then, as a matter of course, that these aforementioned heretics—since they are blind to the truth and deviate from the way—will walk in diverse roads. Therefore, the footsteps of their doctrines are scattered here and there without agreement or connection. In contrast, the path of those belonging to the church circumscribes the whole world, as possessing the sure tradition from the apostles”. Irenaeus (c. 180, E/W), 1.548.

Therefore, on account of the heresies, the toil of discovery must be undertaken. Yet, we must not at all abandon [the truth]. Suppose that fruit were set before us. Some of it was real and ripe, and some was made of wax. However, the wax fruit was as much like the real as is possible. Would we abstain from both kinds of fruit merely because of the similarity? . . . Among garden-grown vegetables, weeds also spring up. Are the gardeners, then, to desist from gardening? Clement of Alexandria (c. 195, E), 2.550.

THESE AGREAT AMERICAN CHRISTIAN HERESIES ARE

THE MAIN SOURCE OF DEFEATED, FRUSTRATED AND LOST CHRISTIANS

• “Once saved, always saved”
• Prosperity Gospel
• Altar replaced by the Pulpit as the center of worship and degrading the Eucharist to secondary importance
• Vague definition of HOLINESS

The greatest heresy of western American Christianity is the unfounded belief on “once saved always saved”. It is definitely the direct opposite of Bible teaching and was propagated by the Gnostic heresy, followed up by Augustine’s teaching on predestination and further worsened by the Calvinist TULIP. Why we continue to use Latin theologians baffle me. Augustine was Greek-illiterate and created his theology entirely based on Jerome's Vulgate. Contrast his theology to that of the Greek Archbishop, John Chrysostom and it's night and day.

The second greatest heresy of the American church is the prosperity gospel. Focusing prayer, worship and the interpretation of Scripture on earthly concerns instead of the things of God. Clear direct opposite of the Matthew 6 teachings, especially Matthew 6:33; Colossians 3:2; James 4:4; 1 John 2:15-16 with "minds set on earthly things" Philippians 3:19. Also, Montanists were heretics in the early church who started the “word of faith” movement

The third greatest heresy of American Christianity is the replacement of the altar with the pulpit as the center of church worship and degrading the Eucharist to secondary importance. The early church believed that the Eucharist was actual food for immortality. The less we do it, the less we are prepared for eternity. The concept of Christ being actually present in the Eucharist has been replaced by symbolic ritual with no presence nor expectation of divine transformation.

The vague definition of holiness use words like sanctification, growth, perfection, etc. However, the early church definition of Holiness is plain SEPARATION FROM THE WORLD (Colossians 3:2; James 4:2-4; 1 John 2:15-17) AND CHRISTLIKENESS (Eph. 3:17-19; 4:11-13; Col. 1:19; 2:9-10; Matt. 25:29), living/walking by faith and not by sight. The world is the source of all evil and tribulation. Hence, any one was not allowed to be baptized as a believer if he has not renounced the world. Therefore, any believer claim to be Christian is totally false unless he has actually renounced the world. The martyrs are the clearest example. Remember, Hebrews 12:14 states that "without holiness, no one will ever see the Lord"

The Wesleyan tradition basically defines holiness as undivided attention to love God with ALL heart, ALL soul, ALL mind, and ALL strength and your neighbor as yourself. Obvious as this actually means if anyone diligently analyzes the meaning of the Great Commandment, most modern Christians seem to lack the correct understanding of the command.

Let me re-articulate it since obvious as it means during Wesley's time, it seems to escape modern Christians, especially western Christians (Roman version of Christianity, i.e, Roman Catholic to Reformation Protestantism, Roman Catholic to Anglican and all the resultant offspring of this branch of the Great Schism. And it is simply this...

IF ONE'S SOURCE OF JOY NO MATTER HOW SMALL COMES MOSTLY FROM THE WORLD OR THE THINGS OF THE WORLD, SUCH IS THE DIRECT OPPOSITE OF HOLINESS. HOWEVER, IF ONE LOSES EVERYTHING IN THIS  WORLD BUT HIS SOURCE OF JOY IS GOD ALONE, THEN NO JOY IS LOST SINCE GOD REMAINS. THAT IS HOLINESS, IN FACT, THAT IS ENTIRE SANCTIFICATION. Let us go back and review John Wesley's version.....

If one love  God with ALL mind, ALL soul, ALL mind, and ALL strength there is nothing left of the love one  gives other than the love of self. But the Great Commandment continues to say that we need to love our neighbor as we love ourselves. Hence there is absolutely no love left for anything else, especially love for the world!!!.  When this is true, one has reached holiness, in fact one has reached entire or full sanctification.

When one truly loves, his source of joy is always from what he loves! Love God alone and all your source of joy comes from God. Love the world, and that simply means you don't love God at all and St. John calls you, a liar. Also, your source of joy is something that is fleeting and passes away, that is why your joy is unstable.

CONCLUSION

• Beware of the church you attend.
• Beware of those radio and TV preachers that you listen to

Most popular American preachers are completely ignorant of Apostolic church tradition and therefore, so are the seminaries they came from and the churches that they lead.

THE STORY OF THE NAKED WOMAN

 Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. [Colossians 3:2]

THE STORY OF THE NAKED WOMAN

A completely naked Brit gets into a taxi whose driver is a Chinese. He looks her up and down several times.

The worried woman asks: Have you never seen a naked woman?

The Chinese taxi driver replies:

- I'm not looking at you because you're naked. I'm worried because I look and look and I don't see where you have the money to pay me.

Moral:

You must be like the Chinese! Focus on your business, not the distractions!

This is a good object lesson for Christians who pray, read the Bible, attend church or other means of grace. We get distracted by the world and our mind focuses on the trivial things below instead of the business of things above. We get to be Marthas instead of Marys focusing on the things of the world instead of the things of God. We get to be Esaus instead of Jacobs setting our eyes on small and temporary pleasures instead of the wide future of our eternal inheritance.

The Chinese man in the above story will refuse to drive for the naked lady unless there is proof of payment. Most of us would just drive while distracted.