Hosea 4:6 My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee…
False Teachers
JESUS makes sure to tell us that deception is a mark of the end times. Mat 24:4 Beware of any church or church doctrine that encourages you to believe that you can dictate your relationship with GOD – that you can have your cake and eat it too. Church doctrines that encourage people to believe that they can satisfy their worldly desires and still be saved are soul destroying deceptions.
Many preachers only preach “smooth words” and will not talk about the sin being practiced by their own church members. They will not talk about hell, repentance, the end times or any other important theme from the BIBLE that might make their lukewarm church members feel uncomfortable. If your church does not continually preach about deception, repentance, the narrow way, judgement, hell, and end time tribulation, it is essentially misrepresenting the character of GOD.
GOD is love but HE is also judgement. As symbolized in the BIBLE by the “two-edged sword”, knowledge of the scripture cuts both ways - it saves those who obey but destroys those who do not. Many preachers are in hell because they misrepresented GOD’s character as love only, they deceived their members into believing that they did not have to fear GOD’s judgement. Churches that do not teach that salvation is conditional, are leading many church goers down the path to perdition. 1 Jo 4:1 2 Pe 2:1-6
Beware of false doctrines:
Proof Texting
Most good Christian teachers say that the smallest division in the Bible that you should use as a Doctrine (a teaching to live by) is an entire paragraph. Always examine the doctrine of your denomination, your preacher’s sermons, and any other BIBLE teaching for proof texting. Ask for the context and see if that is what the BIBLE really says.
Prosperity Gospel - Materialism
The prosperity gospel seems to be the most popular false teaching in American churches today. Prosperity is a perversion of a true BIBLE concept – sowing (planting) and reaping (harvesting). GOD will reward you for helping those in need. Luke 6:38 However, GOD is probably not going to bless you for being deceived and giving all your money to someone preaching falsehoods.
The prosperity gospel is sometimes called “transactional christianity” because it is like a business transaction - a deal. You pay a preacher, hoping that GOD will pay you back with inflated interest. Sadly, many people have accepted the possibility of making money as the reason to go through the motions of Christianity. The BIBLE says that the love of money is idolatry and is the way to hell. Jas 5:1-5 1Timothy 6:10 Matthew 6:24
Hoping to get rich is the very opposite of taking up your cross and following JESUS. JESUS was essentially homeless and lived w/o even the meager material advantages of HIS day. Christianity is not a good times free boat. Christians are meant to have challenges. Every true Christian will see testing and tribulation. GOD chastens (corrects via tribulation) those who HE loves. Heb 12:6 That is the point, to be tested and overcome – to take up your cross (personal sacrifice) and deny yourself the pleasures of the world. Luk 9:23 The prosperity gospel is a false, idolatrous, “love of the world” gospel. James 4:4
Pretribulation Rapture (“Pretrib”)
The Book of Revelation describes the end of the world scenario where GOD judges the world through a series of catastrophes. At some point during these “tribulations”, the dead will be revived and taken (raptured) to heaven by GOD – along with the Christians who are alive at the time. Revelation is written in symbolic language which causes many good Christians to have different opinions about the timing of the event described therein.
People who accept the pretribulation rapture theory need to hear that the “pretrib” rapture theory is NOT actually presented in the Bible. The theory was created in the 1830’s by a man named John Nelson Darby and was popularized in America by an ex-con and swindler named Cyrus Scofield. (More on him later) People love the idea of being removed from the world before they are exposed to any suffering because, like the prosperity gospel, it is another “have your cake and eat it too” scenario.
Self-satisfied middle-class Americans have been deceived into believing that they will never have to see any tribulation or hardship, or even any inconvenience connected to their practice of Christianity. Note however, that GOD’s people never escaped tribulation in the BIBLE. GOD uses tribulation and suffering to drive sinful people to repent and seek holiness. Both the Israelites and the original Christians were persecuted - to death.
How many christians would take the mark of the beast right now to get a cure for Covid 19?
The pretrib rapture doctrine has a potentially devastating downside. When nominal (in name only) christians realize that the tribulation has started and they have not been raptured, many will lose faith and even accept the mark of the beast because they won’t be emotionally prepared to deal with persecution and disaster. How many people – including nominal christians - do you think would accept the mark of the beast right now to get a proven cure for Covid 19? (Written early in the pandemic and not meant to conflate vaccines with the mark. After all, who would say such a thing about the polio vaccine - which almost everyone gets? The point is that neglecting to read the BIBLE can cause Christians to not take it's warnings seriously.)
At the very least, all Christians should be aware that the Pretribulation Rapture is just a theory (man’s teaching) and that they should prepare themselves for the possibility that it is not correct.
Once Saved Always Saved (OSAS) – Unconditional eternal security
Does your church teach that making a one-time profession of faith – claiming JESUS as your “personal Savior” - means that you get to go to heaven, no matter what? Many nice people believe this, but it is yet another “have your cake and eat it too” doctrine. The Bible teaches that God’s promises are conditional, based on your obedience to HIS WORD. The modern church takes obedience and the fear of GOD out of the equation, but you might not know that unless you have taken the time to read the BIBLE for yourself.
OSAS, or greasy grace as it is sometimes known, is the type of “broad way” teaching that JESUS told us to avoid. Mat 7:13-14 It skirts obedience, ignores Christlikeness, and shockingly, it completely ignores the Great White Throne Judgement where JESUS promises to damn sinful Christians at the last judgement. Mat 7:21 Like the Jews religion before the coming of CHRIST, the American church thinks it is getting away with its sinful formulaic partial christianity, which is really adultery against GOD. Jas 4:4
What OSAS does is keep people coming to and tithing to churches that don’t preach uncomfortable messages about obedience, self-sacrifice, and repentance.
The Calvinist doctrine of “unconditional election” morphed into the “once saved always saved” doctrine that Americans adore because, like the pilgrims, modern Americans want to justify their partial Christianity and their Love of Money. If you can convince yourself that because you once made some kind of legalistic commitment to God, that nothing you do after that point in your life will cause you to be damned, then you can go about making money by whatever means possible - even if it destroys the lives of other human beings. That is a tremendous incentive (from satan) to justify your actions and delude yourself that you are still safe.
If the Apostle Paul says he can be lost – so can you. 1Cor 9:24-27 and 1Cor 10
NO HELL and NO DEVIL
Many churches teach that there is no hell. If you don’t believe in hell, you are not a Christian. Why? Because you don’t believe the BIBLE. Christians believe the BIBLE.
The BIBLE mentions hell more than 100 times, as the pit, hades, tartarus, Sheol, Gehenna, lake of fire, etc. JESUS himself mentioned the existence of satan, the devil, the evil one, adversary, tempter, accuser, prince of demons, god of this world, belial, beelzebul, dragon, etc., at least 83 times in the New Testament. (American Standard Version) He mentioned the existence of demons 46 times. If you don’t believe what JESUS said, you are calling HIM a liar.
Dispensationalism and Cyrus Scofield
If your church uses a Scofield bible – RUN! Dispensational theology is not specifically taught in the BIBLE. It was formalized by John Nelson Darby in the mid-1800s. Scofield’s version of dispensationalism teaches that GOD has two different standards of judgement for Jews and for Christians. It led to the modern false teaching that Jews in Israel don’t have to accept JESUS to be saved. On the other hand, numerous BIBLE verses teach that the Jews and the gentiles (non-Jews) are under the same covenant – the New Covenant. There are no special rules for people that claim the Jewish religion. After all, JESUS and all the original disciples, as well as their enemies the Pharisees, were Jews. Did JESUS tell the Pharisees it was OK not to believe on HIM?
1 Corinthians 12:12-13 Ephesians 3:6 John 10:16 Romans 11:1-36.
Scofield’s bible, published in the early 1900’s, not only popularized dispensationalism, it popularized the pretrib rapture theory, and tragically, it also revived a blasphemous justification for anti-black racism.
Racism was baked into Southern Baptist right wing christianity through the Scofield bible’s footnotes. Scofield (a confederate army veteran) revitalized a pre-civil war pro-slavery justification known as the “curse of Ham” and thus, gave his blessing to continuing anti-black racism in the US. The “curse of Ham” theory is a grotesque misinterpretation of Gen 9:27; the BIBLE episode where Noah cursed his grandson Canaan, NOT his son Ham. Slavers and racists falsely claimed that the supposed curse gave them BIBLE justification to use Africans as slaves because all Africans were cursed through Ham – when Ham was not cursed by GOD or, in fact, cursed at all! People believed it because it was printed in a BIBLE; even though it was only a footnote. Many American christians continue to believe that their racism against blacks is justified because they heard somewhere that the bible says Blacks are cursed.
Of course, everything in the BIBLE points to the fact that it is the racist who is under the curse for ignoring JESUS’ command to love your neighbor and believing that GOD is sponsoring their hate. Jas 2:8-9
Dominionism and Patriotic Racism
Dominionism is a heretical right wing christian scheme that calls for a christianized government to take over all secular institutions and create a christian world government – a theocracy based on Old Testament law – a kind of worldwide Calvinism. Dominionism is white nationalism on steroids and is an end time deception from the pit of hell. Dominionists rarely admit it but behind the scenes their doctrine grew out of another heresy, so-called christian reconstructionism, which is an openly racist form of libertarianism.
Dominionism is white nationalism on steroids
In total opposition to the BIBLE, Dominionism claims that Christ cannot return until this white American right-wing christian takeover of the world has been accomplished. There will be no need for a rapture because the victorious (white) church will have already begun god’s kingdom on earth. It denies that JESUS will return to rule over the earth – instead he will rule through his white church.
When JESUS came, the Jews did not recognize John (as the symbolic return of Elijah) and subsequently did not recognize JESUS, the promised Messiah. The ancient Pharisees didn’t accept JESUS because he was not the kind of worldly messiah they were looking for. They were expecting a military kingdom - not spiritual refinement that destroyed their sins. White dominionists are doing the same thing by rejecting the New Testament and the second coming – they want a worldly kingdom where they are in charge. Notice that their silly fantasy has GOD bound by man’s actions. Their focus is on the love of the world and racial domination of others – the BIBLE says that those who love the world are enemies of GOD. This is just another satanic “rule the world” fantasy – white supremacy gone mad. It’s cheerleaders are no doubt funded by the same rich men of the earth that satan has used to create all the other end time false doctrines.
Those expecting white American patriotic dominion over world affairs in our day will simply be cut off.
New Apostolic Reformation, 7 Mountains, Restoration, Purpose-Driven, Latter Rain, and Reconstructionism are just some of the new heretical protestant movements that are associated with Dominionism. If there are Dominionists in your church, they may not be open about what it really means.
The Bottom line - Recognize the False by Knowing the True
We can go on all day listing unbiblical practices and false church doctrines; satan has been way busy for 2000 years. The best way to get discernment is to study the WORD of GOD – the BIBLE - for yourself. By learning the things that are righteous and true you will automatically recognize those things that are evil and false. We are living in the age of deceit – spend time in the WORD or be deceived. 2 Tim 3:16 2 Tim 2:16 1 Joh 4:1
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