DU032 - What Are Aberrant Teachings?
To: DepartingUPC@YahooGroups.com
From: "Pastor Buddy Martin" <Bro.Buddy@ChristianChallenge.org>
Date: Monday, April 30, 2007
Subject: Bible Study DU032 - What Are Aberrant Teachings?
Family,
An aberrant belief is a belief that contains an 'element' of truth but when it is made to overshadow others truths it then becomes abnormal to the true Christian faith.
The study to follow is simply a listing of teachings and/or behaviors held generally by the UPC that are at variance with Biblical Christianity. I don't intend to elaborate extensively on each item. Feel free to call attention to any item on the list for further discussion.
This is Bible Study DU032 - What Are Aberrant Teachings?
UPC teachings or practices that can be considered abnormal to Biblical Christianity are:
(1) Calling upon the name of the Lord does not mean saying, 'Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus.' Calling upon the Lord expresses an appeal to the Lordship of Jesus. It is on par with confessing Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.
(2) It is a misteaching to make Jesus so exclusively the Father that a vital connection with the Fatherhood of God is lost. The Father is always seen as being in heaven. This does not take away from the deity of Jesus. It simply allows for the mystery of God to be a thing of the heart and not of theology.
"...lifting up His eyes to heaven, He said, 'Father, the hour has come; glorify Your Son, that the Son may glorify You." (Jn17:1)
"Pray, then, in this matter: 'Our Father who is in heaven...'" (Mt6:9)
(3) Acts 2:38 in itself is not the gospel. The preaching of the finished work of the cross is the gospel message. To understand Acts 2:38 a person needs to place it in the fuller context of Peter's whole sermon. (And then do a fuller study on what is actually taught about salvation in the New Testament.)
(4) No apostle ever preached 'baptismal regeneration.' What the UPC preaches with regard to water baptism is little distinguishable from the Church of Christ doctrine. Water baptism is a rite of covenant. The blood of the cross is actually applied at the point of believing in Jesus.
(5) 'Do not touch My anointing' as applied to the pastoral-pulpit ministry is without foundation. This original statement has regard to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and then to Israel as being the 'elect' of God. All Christians are the 'elect' of God. In that sense the 'touch not My anointed' would equally apply to every believer.
(6) Praying through to the Holy Ghost (Spirit) has no Biblical foundation whatsoever. (By the way is God a Ghost or a Spirit?) The Holy Spirit is always given to each believer at the point of true conversion. Personal faith in Jesus Christ is proof-positive that a person has the Holy Spirit.
(7) Speaking in other languages was never taught by the apostles as a definitive work of salvation or as an exclusive sign that a person had the Holy Spirit. The only church where tongues had to be addressed is that church that was imbued with controversy and bad doctrine.
According to the earliest church writings the church of Corinth progressively worsened.
(8) Leadership in new covenant Christianity never contains an aspect of lording over God's people. Peter strongly warned against this as did the apostle Paul. The pulpit ministry should never be allowed to take the place of personal conviction or of personal conscience.
(9) The spirit of Christianity is gentleness. It is never radicalism and narrow-mindedness. The UPC as a sectarian religion sees itself as holders of the true faith of the apostles. Nothing could be further from the truth.
A simple reading of what the apostles actually preached and wrote should give pause to how the UPC misrepresents the gospel of Jesus Christ.
(10) Isolationism is the trait of a group that attempts to control its members. Any group that dissuades its members from association with other Christians can be considered cultic in nature.
(11) The Bible teaches that holiness is a condition of the heart. Any person who truly believes in Jesus Christ is considered to be one of God's holy ones. (This is what the word saint means.)
(12) Beware of spiritual and emotional and psychological manipulation. Pentecostalism is noted for its 'Thus saith the Lord.' Never accept anyone's 'Thus saith the Lord' as actually being from the Lord. When God speaks to a believer He does not have to make a public pronouncement.
(13) Everything in the new covenant is 'new.' The new covenant cannot be compared to any former covenant. There has never been a covenant like the covenant of Christ, where each believer has the Lord in personal attendance.
Jesus said to the Jewish nonbelievers, "But you do not believe because you are not of My sheep. My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me; and I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of My hand." (Jn10:26,27)
(14) Pentecostal standards should never be equated with salvation in any sense of the word. Standards are a form of Pentecostalism legalism that attempts to 'build a hedge' about its members. (Modesty is the proper word for how we should appear to the world.)
(15) From beginning to end the work of salvation is of the Lord and never of ourselves. No one will ever be saved based on personal goodness. Our salvation is in Christ alone, by faith alone, through grace alone. Salvation is a matter of the cross. God finished His business there.
Enough for now.
Blessings,
Buddy
......
Lawrence "Buddy" Martin
email: Bro.Buddy <at> ChristianChallenge.Org
Web: http://www.ChristianChallenge.org
Forum: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Hebraic-Foundations/
Forum: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/DepartingUPC/
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