Facts about Bible Translations,
Inerrancy And Threats To the
Authentic Gospel (Pt. 2)
Rock of Offence Special Commentary
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This is Part 2 of a two-part Bible study.
Click on the link below to return to
Part 1 of this study.
Part 1
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Unintended Spiritual Consequences
Weaknesses in the translations create various loopholes, which allow the dangerous heresies of the first century church that Saint Paul warned about (such as “the different gospel and another Jesus”) to be reintroduced by church leaders who take full advantage of these weaknesses. Doctrine that was rejected and condemned by the Jerusalem apostolic council of Acts chapter 15 - and later by Saint Paul in his epistles is now accepted by many churches and denominations within the worldwide Christian Church. As a result, the reader should understand an important truth: The ‘different gospel and another Jesus’ do not present themselves as something opposite to Bible truth. They always appear as a spiritual counterfeit (an imitation or close copy) which is designed to be nearly indistinguishable from the original. This means that these imitation salvation doctrines, similar to the deceptive characteristics found in counterfeit money, cannot be easily identified with a simple surface examination. Recognizing these wrong doctrines and teachings (or what we tend to call ‘theology’) is both frustrating and confusing because they’re based on ‘out of context’ Scripture ...
Which makes it appear that
God says something - that
He does not actually say.
More detailed information is available
at the following link:
The Great Imposter
The illusion of being “established on the Holy Scriptures” (through abusing Biblical context) is the reason these doctrines are accepted as “God’s truth” in many areas (but thankfully not every area) of Christendom. This includes various expressions of Calvinism, which includes its close relatives of Reformed and Holiness theology. The practice is also found in Roman Catholicism under different names. Most Protestants fail to realize that some of their major teachings, such as Amillennialism, Replacement theology and various forms of Legalism are “carry-overs” from Catholicism subtly embedded in the Reformation over 600 years ago. Many leaders of the Protestant Reformation, such as Martin Luther, were either former members, or were influenced (to a greater or lesser extent) by Roman Catholic theology. All of the previously mentioned groups (under countless different names and labels) represent a vast majority of the world-wide institutional Christian Church. For more insight into how God used Luther to change church history, click on the link below.
Our Position on Martin Luther
A Warning about Toxic
Forms of Theology
One of the most dangerous influences (as if we need another) is commonly found in most mainline denominational churches. It should appear ‘first’ on any list of warnings about false doctrines due to its covert and spiritually lethal characteristics. Few church-going Christians even know it exists. Yet, it influences most things they hear from the pulpit. It’s commonly referred to as ‘Replacement theology’ or by its alternate name of ‘Supersessionism’. In its simplest form, it teaches that God has eternally rejected Israel for crucifying Jesus Christ, their Messiah. As a result of this sin, God has now permanently “replaced” Israel with the Christian Church. The most spiritually toxic forms of this theology attempts to rewrite or redefine Scripture by removing words and phrases pertaining to Israel ... replacing them with ‘the Church’. God clearly warns that He is angered by religious leaders who redefine His Word to make it fit their religious beliefs. Yet, this popular theology is accepted and taught in many main-line denominations.
The tenants of Replacement Theology were injected into the foundational doctrine of Christianity by a prominent Roman Catholic theologian named Augustine (354-430 A.D.). His 'replacement doctrine' is now almost universally accepted as ‘foundational and fundamental’ within what’s often called, “Historic Christianity”. The belief started in the early days of Roman Catholicism, but has now been incorporated into most mainline Protestant churches. This occurred because many of the leaders of the Protestant Reformation came out of the Roman Catholic Church to form the new “Protest Movement” (hence the name “Protestant”), which opposed many of its unscriptural teachings.
From around 400 to 1500 A.D., the Roman Catholic Church (often referred to as the RCC) became the most recognized ‘Christian Church’ in existence. Today, its leaders still refer to it as ‘the mother church’. In the early days before the Protestant Reformation, you couldn’t just attend another church if you didn’t like what you heard. Yet, God desired to change this spiritual monopoly because His words and intentions concerning eternal salvation had been redefined. After more than 1000 years of dominating the spiritual scene, the Roman Church had not only corrupted itself, but also the Gospel of Christ. This apostasy inspired and motivated certain individuals who respected Biblical truth - such as Martin Luther, William Tyndale and many others - to address the problem. Unfortunately, after leaving Catholicism, some of these men retained and continued to teach the toxic doctrine of Replacement theology (Note: it wasn’t known by this name at that time). Replacement theology originally came from Augustine’s Catholic theology some 1000 years earlier. Because of the weaknesses often found in human nature, no revival or movement is based on 100 per cent truth. As a result, nearly all contain inaccuracies and misconceptions in their foundational teachings – regardless of what their supporters say. Yet, we agree with many Bible Scholars - that the Protestant Reformation, despite its shortcomings, was initiated and used by God to change the course of church history.
Avoiding the Error of Replacement Theology
The Assault On the 1000 Year Reign Of Christ
Looking For Answers By
Examining The Past
In the fourth century, the Catholic Church began to dominate the religious world. Christianity was still in its early stages and very vulnerable to religious doctrines and influences that seemed to originate with God - but didn’t. If you were a leader with religious beliefs that appealed to the people, along with sufficient power and influence, you could design a theology and forcibly inject it directly into the Church’s foundational doctrine. If your teaching was accepted and preached enough times, it would slowly and incrementally become tradition that would be placed on an equal level with the Holy Scriptures. Over time (in our case it’s had approximately 1700 years) man-made traditions that uses out-of-context Scripture as its defense can become “bedrock Christian doctrine”, or what some today might call “Historic Christianity”. Jesus warned about this common, yet dangerous religious practice that transforms the teachings of man into the doctrines of God.
"…this people honoureth me with their lips, but their heart is far from me. Howbeit in vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men." (The Words of Jesus from Mark 7:6-7)
We attempt to shed light on what Jesus calls “doctrines and commandments of men”. Yet, many are now entrenched, not only in the foundation of the Catholic Church, but also in most Protestant and various ‘Fundamentalist’ churches as well. More information is available HERE. We estimate that these doctrines, created by various historical religious leaders, now dominate more than 80% of the modern world-wide institutional Christian Church. We agree with and quote Scripture which uses strong words to condemn these teachings ... a practice that will undoubtedly offend many of our readers. Yet, our Lord Jesus Christ along with the leading apostles of the first century church conducted their ministry the same way. As a result, our comments leave the impression that we are against all members of the present day Roman Catholic Church. We continue to have strong disagreements with the historical core teachings of Catholicism. But, we also recognize that many authentic Christians exist – and continue to work for change within the organization. We understand that it has gone through various positive transformations since the fourth century, which includes the more recent changes brought about by the “Catholic Charismatic Renewal”. This revival took place between 1958 and 1985 (some believe it’s still in progress) and spilled over into the Protestant side of the church. I was involved in this move of God, which changed my life - and I am not Catholic. During this time, I met some Charismatic Catholic evangelists who preached a correct Jesus-centered evangelistic message. Some came to a saving knowledge of Christ in this movement.
Unfortunately, the Catholic Charismatic Renewal is fading into history and the RCC is slowly returning to its old ways. Looking at the signs of the times, we don't think that God will give the Catholic Church (or the institutional Christian Church as a whole) another major revival. According to Scripture, the next revival will be on a global scale and takes place during the Tribulation, which follows the removal (or rapture) of the Church. It is now 2018 and the Lord Jesus Christ will soon return to initiate this event. This 'removal or rescue' will end what's known as "The Church Age" (also called "The Age of Grace") on earth. Unlike any other time in history, all the Biblical signs – especially the return of Israel to its ‘Divinely promised land’ in the Middle East – are in perfect alignment.
The Preeminence of the Authentic
Gospel of Christ
Like any earthly government’s rejection of counterfeit money ... God also rejects and refuses to honor counterfeit salvation doctrine. The Apostle Paul sounds this warning throughout the New Testament. We are concerned for the millions of professing Christians (some refer to themselves as ‘Bible-believers’) who have unknowingly placed their faith in one of these popular counterfeit gospels. Most are good people who love God with all their heart and seek to obey His Word. However, good intentions and "desiring to obey God” never automatically equates to truth. The danger revolves around a distorted understanding of Christ’s salvation and its principles caused by refusing to respect the Bible’s context (or failing to ‘rightly divide the Word’ – 2 Timothy 2:15). Addressing these distortions and their consequences is one of the goals of this commentary.
We take every opportunity to warn about how easy it is to place our faith in a counterfeit salvation teaching skillfully designed around out-of-context Scripture. Here is the reason for our actions;
If we get Christ’s salvation
wrong - if we put our faith in
something that God says He
does not honor … then
everything else we teach
from the Bible is influenced
by the same error.
This is why we must first look at the salvation doctrine taught by any preacher, evangelist, church or denomination. Their ‘loving attitude and good intentions’, while important for other reasons, are not relevant in this situation. The test is especially important if we’re evaluating the words of someone who claims to be a prophet (and yes, the New Testament office of “prophet” still exists today).
If their gospel message doesn’t
match Christ’s New Covenant
grace-based definition (revealed
in the Epistles of Saint Paul),
it corrupts everything they say
and teach.
If the gospel message is wrong, the popularity of the church doesn’t matter – nor does the size of their congregation or the scope of their international outreach.
The 'acid test' for any church,
movement or denomination is
whether the authentic Gospel of
Christ is being taught ... and
it overrides everything else.
From Genesis to Revelation - Christ's sacrificial death, and the gospel message connected to it, is the 'focal point' of nearly everything in the Bible. Yet, the biggest disagreement in the Christian Church revolves around the question “What is the Gospel”. No one can talk about this topic without getting into an emotional war of words. But, it represents a problem that carries unthinkable eternal consequences.
Additional Studies
The Holy Spirit's Role in Salvation
After the Cross
The New Testament Believer's
Position In Christ
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This is Part 2 of a two-part Bible study.
Click on the link below to return to
Part 1 of this study.
Part 1
*****************************************************
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