Tag: Heresy

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The two original reformers.

Reading Time: 3 minutes

While Paul and Barnabas were at Antioch of Syria, some men from Judea arrived and began to teach the believers: “Unless you are circumcised as required by the law of Moses, you cannot be saved.” Paul and Barnabas disagreed with them, arguing vehemently. Finally, the church decided to send Paul and Barnabas to Jerusalem, accompanied by some local believers, to talk to the apostles and elders about this question. ‭‭Acts ‭15‬:‭1‬-‭2‬ ‭NLT‬‬

This is a primary role of an Apostle – shut down heretical teaching. This example of bad orthodoxy is just one of many wrong teachings that floated about during the early Church. The group became known as the Judaizers. The judaizers believed in the Jesus+ gospel. Yes, it is Christ that saves, but there are a couple of other things a believer must do to “truly” be saved. This one practice is a very old physical mark of a contractual agreement between men and God – circumcision. The cutting of flesh as a covenant sign of following God. It was commanded by God in Genesis 17:10, “Every male among you shall be circumcised.” In the Old Testament it was a clear sign of being a covenant keeper of God by physically “cutting” a deal with God.

In the New Testament the physical cutting of the covenant was permanently and finally done through Jesus cutting the deal for us! So, the danger of adding anything- ANYTHING to the finality of what Jesus did for us would outside of God’s will and would be no longer be the gospel. Anything humans add or subtract from the once and for all payment for sin by Jesus would be a grave error in teaching.

What’s so interesting about this “conflict” that arose in Acts 15, was in fact a critical necessity in the message and acceptance with the Gentile (Greek or non-Jew) to become a part of the Church. This circumcision as an “extra step” was accepted as truth before Paul and Barnabas called it out. This well known “heresy” or contrary to orthodox belief was completely accepted by most Jewish believers until Paul and Barnabas contested it! Of course, the Gentiles weren’t in agreement! And even though Paul & Barnabas argued with the men from Judea, it was accepted and taught as a part of this “new” faith, known as Christian faith.

This confrontation led to the Church’s first summit or gathering and would later become known as a “ecumenical council.” There have been a number of them over the centuries. The first seven councils were generally accepted by all the denominations (sects of Christianity), but after that there are differences between Catholic & Protestant Councils. Today only trinitarian (God as Father, Son and Holy Spirit) believing denominations take part in protestant (non Catholic) councils.

I have always been amazed that there were and are teachings within Christianity that are just ACCEPTED as truth, even using the Bible as the main argument for its belief. But they are not true at all! Some of these teachings just continue to float about even in our churches today. These errored teachings come and go like stubborn warts that won’t go away. We no longer seem to have a sense of “Apostles” confrontations nor legitimate councils that take in these teachings and call them out as wrong, or worse, outright heresy. There are still councils that meet in modern times.

I find it encouraging that Christ said that he would build his church and the gates of hell would not overtake it. I also find it interesting that Jesus told us that there would be “tares” or weeds sown right alongside good wheat. Jesus said to NOT pull the weeds because it may harm the young seedling. I believe the tares or weeds to be similar to bad teaching. And, I wonder how much harm we do when people take it upon themselves to police all the preachers out there – looking for heresy, then they blast it out on social media.

I also believe all the major theological issues were highlighted and dealt with in the first 500 years of the Church. I don’t think there’s anything “new,” that we already consider dangerous and damnable. The old heresies just seem to recycle through with new names and a fresh coat of nonsense.

The best way to guard against false teaching is like the Bereans did in Acts 17:11, “And the people of Berea were more open-minded than those in Thessalonica, and they listened eagerly to Paul’s message. They searched the Scriptures day after day to see if Paul and Silas were teaching the truth.”

Prayer

​Dad,
I love that you entrusted the Church to us as human beings. I know that the gospel will withstand any and all evil schemes that come against it. I just hope that we can maintain a civil and unified message presented as one body of Christ and not thousands of factions jabbing and poking one another. Help us Oh Lord. May your word continue to go forward with power.

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A lot of quibble over dribble.

Reading Time: 3 minutes

Teach these things, Timothy, and encourage everyone to obey them. Some people may contradict our teaching, but these are the wholesome teachings of the Lord Jesus Christ. These teachings promote a godly life. Anyone who teaches something different is arrogant and lacks understanding. Such a person has an unhealthy desire to quibble over the meaning of words. This stirs up arguments ending in jealousy, division, slander, and evil suspicions. 1 Timothy‬ ‭6‬:‭2‬b-‭4‬ ‭NLT‬‬

The Apostle Paul writing to Timothy, his young protégé, not only reconfirms his authority as an Apostle, but also gives us the truth about leading and teaching the Church. Timothy was sent by Paul to the church in Ephesus to get them back on the right track – unity in the faith. Paul simply passed on the teachings of Jesus, as he was taught, but also as the Holy Spirit relayed, reminded and reinforced what God wanted to accomplish through His Church. It is sound doctrine. It promotes a godly life, Paul writes.

But “others” taught something different. Paul calls them out as arrogant and lacking. Apparently there are people who have a (noseó) sickness or spiritual disease to mince words or quibble over dribble. They have a bad case of (logomachia) a strife of words or unprofitable controversy! And, what’s worse is that these folks with diarrhea of the mouth cause far more damage to the body of Christ than their claims of hair-splitting of the truth. Out of this diseased thinking comes (phthonos) envy, (eris) contention, (blasphémia) abusive language and evil (huponoia) suspicions!

Here’s the thing though; these heresy-hunters cause far more damage to the unity of the body of Christ than their claims of corruption. I find it interesting that the majority of heresies concerning the truth of God’s Word, mostly surrounding the identity of Christ himself, were fought over a thousand years ago. They are old and have been proven wrong long ago. Yet, we still have those who believe it is their job to police the body of Christ sniffing out the modern errors of denominations, pastors and teachers in the Church.

The fact is – they are still causing more damage than good. And now, their words are still logomachia – sowing strife faster than ever because of the speed and reach of social media. What are the results? Well, take the church of Ephesus for example. Timothy pastored that church until his death when he was around 80 years old. Where is the church of Ephesus today? GONE. There is no effective church in this little ancient tourist-town. There are a tiny handful of lonely believers, but no church. How do I know? I met the shop owner of a small gift shop across the street to the famous Apostle John’s burial place. She told me she was so thankful to have Christian “tourists” come through and pray with her – that’s her only fellowship.

I am not saying that these people that spread strife caused the downfall of the Ephesus church. I am saying that Paul is absolutely right, these squabbles over minutia lead to nothing but trouble.

Prayer

Dad,
I know you are at work – constantly! I know your plans, your will are unstoppable. It still hurts my heart that we, as believers, still have these spiritual diseases of strife-spreading among us. It gives your Church a bad rap! I am sorry for any contribution I have made to the problem. Help me to speak well of Your bride, the Church. Help me to see the body of Christ as whole and beautiful as it should be. Forgive us of our arrogance and contentiousness. Amen.

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Quit pulling up good grain.

Reading Time: 4 minutes

“Here is another story Jesus told: “The Kingdom of Heaven is like a farmer who planted good seed in his field. But that night as the workers slept, his enemy came and planted weeds among the wheat, then slipped away. When the crop began to grow and produce grain, the weeds also grew. “The farmer’s workers went to him and said, ‘Sir, the field where you planted that good seed is full of weeds! Where did they come from?’ “‘An enemy has done this!’ the farmer exclaimed. “‘Should we pull out the weeds?’ they asked. “‘No,’ he replied, ‘you’ll uproot the wheat if you do. Let both grow together until the harvest. Then I will tell the harvesters to sort out the weeds, tie them into bundles, and burn them, and to put the wheat in the barn.’” ‭‭Matthew‬ ‭13‬:‭24‬-‭30‬ ‭NLT‬‬

It may not seem like the most appropriate object lesson for Jesus’ series on the Kingdom of Heaven, but it is soooo TRUE.

Why are we risking the health of good wheat by chasing down bad weeds? First of all Jesus told his followers, the enemy sows weeds right among the wheat! This “enemy” has to have double meaning.

I am positive that people being people, means that your farmer neighbor might feel the need to passive-aggressively send you a clear signal that he’s tired of the loud, weekend bonfires you host way too often. Thus, having his field workers run willynilly through your fields flinging weeds (tares). My understanding is that tares look a lot like wheat when they begin to grow. Jesus must also clearly be stating that there is an enemy of all enemies, the slanderer, the liar is also sending his little demon imps throughout the world generously distributing weeds, in the form of well placed lies, right among the good seed of the gospel.

Since the early results of both the good seed and the impostered-lies seed look similar when starting out, it’s hard to tell right away. But as the farmer and expert field workers watch both wheat and tare grow to maturity, they easily spot the difference. The natural response would be to PULL THE WEED! Farmers hate weeds, we hate weeds. We only want to see the beauty and benefit of what we planted! Whether it’s food or flowers, we don’t want to be reminded of sin, evil, or purposeful perpetration scattered around our perfect field or flowerbeds!!!

We must pull the weed to satisfy our idea of how evil must immediately be eradicated! Get it out now. The kindness of Jesus telling the story comes out when he says the field workers asked, “should we pull out the weeds?” Now, there’s a lesson in great management. When in doubt, ask. Ask, until you learn the owner’s ways. The owner (personified as wisdom) answers, “No!” He says wait. Why wait? But but but…weeds are evil and despised, they’ll make more weeds and take over the whole field and destroy the whole world….🤯. Why wait?

Why not pull those evil broods of fakery? Jesus said, “because you’ll uproot the good wheat.” In trying destroy the evil stalk of satan, you’ll pull the good out with it! In what seems so counterintuitive, Jesus says, let them grow together – and wait until harvest! What, did he say, let them grow? Together? What? The thought of letting an evil seed grow is just not possible in my limited understanding of justice.

In the Church world, in our understanding of the gospel and God’s righteousness, we do this all the time. We hate evil. We hate lies. We hate fake, slick, propaganda and small amounts of truth laced with deception! I’m sure this doesn’t extend to ALL EVIL, but think about how much damage we do to the gospel and the Church when we don’t obey Christ’s illustrative object lesson. We hunt down error and evil like weed-seeds sown across the globe. We have whole sects of heresy-hunters scouring every recorded sermon, every book written, every tasty sound bite lifted from some obscure interview. Their job, as they see it – PLUCK EVIL where ever it be found! And, in doing so, we often uproot the young, sprouting seeds of the gospel.

Dear heresy hunters: you can’t stop evil by pulling it out for everyone to see without uprooting the young shoots of gospel good. Heresy existed then, it exists now. Evil seeds existed then, they exist today. Be careful when examining the fields of belief across our land. Let the harvesters sort out the weeds later. Let the Bible do its work. Let the local pastors sort out the weeds from the wheat. Folks are already hoping from one church to another because they are absolutely obsessed with the perfect church with the perfect theology. It’s not helping matters that some are policing every sermon of those they believe are receiving too much attention or have too large a following. Quit trying to foster a christian cancel culture by sowing seeds of disunity. Thank you.

Dear believers: read the Bible for yourself. Listen to the Spirit of God who primarily speaks through the Word of God. The Holy Spirit can and will lead you into all truth, if you’ll listen and obey. Don’t get caught up in church’s or denominational differences, listen and follow the core beliefs of Christianity. We are one Church under Jesus Christ. And don’t mistake various preferences of churches as contrary to the gospel, but just as practics of how things work within that particular community of faith.

Prayer

Dad,
Am I wrong for wanting unity in the body of Christ? Of course solid theology and doctrine is important, but at the expense of sacrificing love and the commands of the one anothers? We are all under the one banner of Jesus, right? Forgive us God. Help us in these last days to be one in the Spirit.

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The Magnanimous Gift!

Reading Time: 3 minutes

“The Lord possessed me at the beginning of his work, the first of his acts of old. Ages ago I was set up, at the first, before the beginning of the earth.” ‭‭Proverbs‬ ‭8‬:‭22‬-‭23‬ ‭ESV‬‬

[WARNING: This contains theological controversy]

Who knew this little verse in Proverbs and this one little word, in this verse, would have such controversy and division surrounding it. You may have never heard of Arian or the “Arian Heresy.” However, this one verse and one particular word in this verse gave cause for some to believe that Jesus was less than the Father and it was a teaching that attempted to dismantled the three-in-one or trinitarian understanding of God as Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

Here in the ESV translation, the word, “qanah: to get, acquire” is translated “possessed.” “The Lord possessed me at the beginning.” The problem is the Greek Septuagint (Hebrew to Greek translation) wrote it as ἔκτισεν” which can also be translated as “created” or “formed.” The more simple NLT translation, sadly uses the word “formed.” A first century theologian named, Arian, chose to see the translation as “created.” Another theologian, Aquila, stood his ground and translated it as “possessed.” Arian the took this translation, along with some words from John 1:1 and built an entire belief system that still exists in cults today – that Jesus was a created being and far less than God himself. Arian’s own Bishop Alexander of Alexandria met with him and told him this was an unacceptable translation/interpretation of this verse and other passages of scripture. He was in error and Alexander tried to prove to him that if Christ is not God himself then there was no perfection of sacrifice for our sins and the whole gospel would be reduced to works alone and not by grace! You see the same lie living in modern cults today – one must EARN salvation.

This controversial persistence on Arian’s part, caused the second major council meeting of leadership. The First Council of Nicaea (325), I say second, because Acts 15 is really considered to be the first council (meeting) of leadership. As a basic common declaration of what Christian’s believe, the Nicene Creed is still taught, quoted and recognized as “orthodox” (correct). Arianism was declared heretical and forced it to be dismissed as the way or teachings of Jesus.

Not knowing the controversy behind this one verse is actually helpful, because we are able to take in the full power and beauty of this personification of Jesus depicted as wisdom. The word, “before,” is used in an escalation of scope pertaining to EVERYTHING that wisdom predates and sits in judgement over.

“Ages ago I was set up, at the first, before the beginning of the earth.” Read Proverbs 8:23-29 yourself and just grasp the magnitude of all that wisdom can offer us. Then listen again as she woos those who lack her gifts, “And so, my children, listen to me, for all who follow my ways are joyful. Listen to my instruction and be wise. Don’t ignore it.”‭‭

Prayer

Dad,
It is some seriously dark comedy to see what we have been able to do to Your Word. We’ve broken it, we’ve bent it, manipulated it and flat out misrepresented it! How can you even put up with us and our evil ways? No wonder you search the whole earth just looking for a few righteous. The rest of us are using your Word – your living, eternal Word to start own own religions, or make ourselves rich, famous and powerful. What is wrong with us? I have a hard time wrapping my mind around how patient you are with us. Honestly, I am embarrassed to think about how we want to warp something so good, so pure and make it into some cheap gimmick to gain such a temporary advantage over others. Shame on us, this is NOT wisdom, this is NOT the way. Your wisdom is not only beautiful it’s right, just and true… always.