This is just a few of the major false teachings and imbalanced doctrine being preached today by many. Apostasy in the church is at an all time high and finding 100% pure truth is getting harder and harder to find all the time. Only believing some scripture is not good enough in these last days. Remember the words of Jesus in Matthew 4:7 if and when you hear someone say "that's not what the bible says," when you know that it does. Jesus said to Satan when he quoted scripture out of context " the scripture also says do not test the Lord your God" . Jesus said this because Satan did quote scripture, but it was putting God to a foolish test and taking it out of context.
Others may take scripture out of context, add or subtract, on purpose to suit a particular belief they want to push more strongly than another. If all scripture is to be used for teaching and it is, than it is unbalanced and dangerous to push one doctrine over another. They ALL are important and one truth does not negate another, instead it is line upon line and precept upon precept. There are no contradictions in the bible. If you think that there is, then you are not understanding it correctly.
ie: One scripture says we can't be plucked from Jesus hand and speaks to the eternal security of the believer, while another says some will wander from the truth and lose their faith and possibly lose their Salvation like in Exodus 32:33. Is one passage more important than the other? No! Some will continue or remain in the faith and be eternally secure, while others will wander and or turn from the truth they were in by their own choosing and lose what they had.
1. Beware of anyone who calls themselves "the one and only" or "the last day prophet of God" and puts their words above that of what scripture says. They are false teachers and or false prophets plain and simple. There are many of these today and some are very educated by mans standards, but don't mind twisting, adding to or taking from the word of God.
2. Anyone who says they are looking for Elijah the prophet or the Antichrist before Jesus is a false prophet/teacher. The early church never ever told anyone in any letter that they were looking for anyone but Jesus himself in the clouds.
3. Anyone who preaches fear only, without the balance of mercy and a blessed hope, is looking to line their pockets and increase their ministry, not that of Jesus' alone. Anyone trying to get you to buy doomsday supplies such as: water filters,Mre's, emergency supplies etc., without also preaching hope and the peace that God can give in the midst of catastrophe, is a false teacher and is hiding some the entire truth from you. Partial truth is not good enough, we need 100% pure unadulterated scriptural truth in these last days. Nothing else will do.
4. Anyone who teaches a middle or post tribulation Rapture, while also beating Jesus fellow servants such as pre-tribbers by calling them liars or calling the doctrine a lie, is a false teacher who does not represent the love of Jesus at the very least. Whether or not we all agree is not so much the issue, as treating each other with Christian love.
5. The teaching that says Christians do not need to repent of future sin after their initial conversion is a dangerous and false teaching. Jesus died once for all sin, but this does not mean Christians do not need to repent of future sin. The prayer of repentance in the life of a Christian should be a daily occurrence as Jesus taught in the Lord's prayer. Jesus said "when you pray, pray like this," and Paul told us how often we should pray: always and about everything.
6. Jesus died only for the elect. This is a false teaching that among other things, can cause pride to well up in the life of a believer. The fact is, Jesus died for everyone(John 3:16 and many more verses), even those whose names have not been written in the Lambs book of life yet. God chose all mankind for Salvation by virtue of Christ's death and resurrection. Mans freewill does not start at Salvation as some teach. We all have to choose the way of the cross and die daily to sin, to obtain our Salvation and then we have an obligation to guard our Salvation by continuing and remaining in the faith. Though we are all depraved and bring nothing to the table for initial Salvation, we do have a role in choosing who we will serve everyday just as Joshua said: Choose you this day whom you will serve.
7. Salvation can be taken away through both neglect and turning or falling away from the full truth. It is a false teaching to only teach eternal security without the balance of loss, when many believe they don't have to repent of future sin. Exodus 32:33 is precedent for names that already have been erased from the book of life and in Revelation 3:5, Jesus shows us that some in the future will also have their names erased from the book of life. There is no such thing as "once saved always saved" and it is not a scriptural teaching. Only those who continue in their faith to the end, whatever their end may be, will be eternally secure. Matthew 24:10 also says with Jesus proclaiming, that many will lose their faith in the last days. Those days are here now.
8. There are miracles going on in the lives of millions of believers today, just as there was in the 1st century church. To teach that the gifts of the Holy Spirit are not for today including healing and tongues is a false teaching. Just because some abuse these gifts does not mean everyone does. Just because much of the church got fat, dumb and lazy for the last 1800 years or so, does not mean the gifts are new, or they should not be in effect in the lives of believers today. We need them even more today than ever. If you don't believe in them, then you have no chance of experiencing them, but to criticize those that do have and practice the gifts, just because you don't, is borderline blasphemy.
9. Putting more weight on some scripture over another is dangerous and should not be done ever. This is the same thing as adding to or subtracting from the word of God as Revelation 22:18 tells not to do. Obfuscating, skipping or saying some scripture is not as important as others is the same thing as adding to and subtracting from. People who do this seek to change original meaning to suit their beliefs. All scripture is God breathed and to be used for teaching and is profitable: 2 Timothy 3:16.
10. The church "reformers" of centuries ago, reformed and split off from the Catholic church to form the Protestant church. But the Protestant church today, is by many accounts just as far from the original Gospel, as was and is the Catholic church. Just because they protested against what was going on with the Catholic church, does not mean they adhere or recognize all scripture as being relevant today. Finding 100% truth in both major denominations is very hard to find.
Some revere the words of the church reformers such as Martin Luther, John Calvin and even some more modern day preachers, above scripture and even excuse Martin Luther for calling the book of James an "Epistle of straw." Problem is, he never recanted those views, so to revere him the way some do, is nothing less than idolatry.
John Calvin was a known "hot head" just as many extreme Calvinists are today. It is getting to be so bad that one modern day Calvanist John Piper, had to come up with the phrase "kind Calvanist", to try and dissuade some militant Calvanists who put Calvins teaching above scripture, to not beating Christs fellow servants, as many are known to do. Since it is in fact the number one job of any Christian, to be kind and loving, we can see how prideful many who following unbalanced doctrine can become.
More to come......
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