The Bible instructs every Christian
to “Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose
them.” (Ephesians 5:11, NIV). False teaching,1 most certainly, falls
into the category of the ‘fruitless deeds of darkness.’ Hence, it is incumbent
upon every sincere Christian to expose the false teachings prevalent in
churches today.
Here’s
a list of 10 most dangerous false teachings, which, I believe, have the potency
to ruin our soul, if we believe and act according to them. In other words, we may not2 be saved if we
believe and live according to any of these teachings:
1. No Truth: Postmodernists claim there is no truth. In other words, there
are no objective standards of truth, rationality, and logic. They subscribe to alternate
concepts such as relativism and
subjectivism. Postmodern Christians subscribe to this notion as well. The
Emerging/Emergent Church Movement is a derivative of postmodernism. The devious
import of LGBTQ agenda into the church of Jesus Christ is an outcome of the
postmodern thought process.
2. No Bible: The detractors of Historic Christianity claim that the Bible
is not the sole authority for a Christian. You can assimilate just about any
religious book and trust just about any book that may seemingly offer you
wisdom. This is another postmodern thought.
The Roman Catholic Church buys into
this thought as well. The Catechism of the Catholic Church believes that
Muslims, just as Christians, would be saved even though they do not believe in
Jesus or the Bible, so much so that the Catholic church considers the Quran and
the Bible as coequals, “841 The Church's relationship with the Muslims.
"The plan of salvation also includes those who acknowledge the Creator, in
the first place amongst whom are the Muslims; these profess to hold the faith
of Abraham, and together with us they adore the one, merciful God, mankind's
judge on the last day."330”3
Another variant of this teaching is
to believe that the Bible is corrupt (filled with error) and fallible. This erroneous
belief led the founder of Mormonism, Joseph Smith, to start a new religion.
3. No Jesus: Those who deny Jesus may believe in HIS divinity, but
they also believe that the Lord Jesus Christ is not the only way to heaven. You can believe in just about any god
and still go to heaven, they claim. Even if you do not believe in God, you can
go to heaven. These are some of the various strands of Universalism. Quite a
few Christians believe in Universalism or Inclusivism.
4. No God, this Jesus: Jesus Christ is not God. Jesus Christ was a
mere man during HIS life on earth. “Any teaching that redefines the person of
Jesus Christ. Doctrine that denies the deity of Christ, the virgin birth, His
sinless nature, His actual death, or His physical resurrection is false
doctrine. A group’s errant Christology readily identifies it as a sect or cult
that may claim to be Christian but is actually teaching false doctrine. Even
many mainline denominations have begun the rapid slide into apostasy by
declaring that they no longer hold to a literal interpretation of Scripture or
the deity of Christ. First John 4:1–3 makes it clear that a denial of biblical
Christology is “anti-Christ.” Jesus described false teachers within the church
as “wolves in sheep’s clothing” (Matthew 7:15),” says Gotquestions.org.4
Jehovah’s Witnesses believe that
Jesus was a mere man when he was born on earth.
5. No Resurrection: Jesus Christ did not [bodily] resurrect. Proponents
of this erroneous teaching either subscribe to a notion that Christ did not
resurrect or Christ’s resurrection was not a bodily resurrection. Jehovah’s
Witnesses believe that Christ’s resurrection was spiritual and not a bodily
resurrection.
Another false teaching that can be
accommodated into this category is that Jesus
did not die, but lived on to marry and have children. This was the main
theme of the bestseller book Da Vinci
Code.
6. No Trinity: “Mormons believe that the Trinity consists not of three
persons in one God but rather of three distinct gods. According to Mormonism,
there are potentially many thousands of gods besides these,” says an article in
The Gospel Coalition.5
Christian apologist J. Warner
Wallace claims that those who deny the Trinity subscribe to some form of
polytheism or they deny the deity of Jesus Christ.6
Trinity is actively denied by the
Jehovah’s Witnesses, Oneness Pentecostals, and Unification Church, etc.
7. No Hell: Seventh Day Adventists believe that hell is not infinite torture. An article in Christianity.com states, “Adventists believe
that hell is not an eternity of suffering and torture. They believe God is just
but also merciful and it’s not in the nature of God to torture the unrighteous
for eternity. Instead, sinners and unbelievers will ultimately die for
eternity.
Most Adventists believe some variant
of annihilationism, which says that after final judgment, all unbelievers will
be destroyed rather than suffering in hell. In this belief, the Old Testament
and New Testament say that the final end for nonbelievers is total extinction.
For example, in Romans, Paul describes hell as a final punishment, where the
wicked die, perish or are destroyed.”7
Annihilationism proposes a lack of
hell. Those who subscribe to annihilationism believe that the wicked will die
once and for all, thereby escaping the horror of hellfire.
8. No Grace, But Hyper-Grace: Hyper-grace teachers abuse God’s grace
and teach people that our sins are forgiven once and for all (past, present, and
future). Hence, there is no need to confess and repent our sins to God. “In
short, hyper-grace teachers “pervert the grace of our God into a license for
immorality” (Jude 1:4) and flirt with antinomianism…Hyper-grace preachers also
claim the Holy Spirit will never convict Christians of their sin. Mature
Christians should recognize this fallacy right away. Every disciple of Christ
has felt the overwhelming conviction of the Holy Spirit when he or she has
sinned. Jesus calls the Holy Spirit “the Spirit of Truth” (John 15:26). Truth,
by its very definition, will not tolerate anything false. When the Spirit of Truth
abides in a believing heart (1 Corinthians 6:19), He brings conviction about
anything that is not truth,” says Gotquestions.org.8
The Lord Jesus said, ““But if anyone
causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better
for him to have a huge millstone hung around his neck and to be drowned in the
open sea…” (Matthew 18:6, NET). Hence, if hyper-grace teachers teach people that
sinning is acceptable in the presence of God, they negate the Bible.
9. No Grace, Yes Works: “Teaching that adds human religious works to
Christ’s finished work on the cross as necessary ingredients for salvation.
This teaching may pay lip service to salvation by faith alone but insists that
a religious ritual (such as water baptism) is salvific. Some groups even
legislate hairstyles, clothing options, and food consumption. Romans 11:6 warns
against attempts to mix grace with works. Ephesians 2:8–9 says we are saved by
the grace of God, through faith, and nothing we do can add to or take away from
it. Galatians 1:6–9 pronounces a curse on anyone who changes the good news of
salvation by grace,”9 says Gotquestions.org.
The Bible does not say that Christians
should not do good works. Doing good works, for a Christian, is a logical
corollary/consequence to his/her salvation. This verse in the Bible sums it up
well, “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not
from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast.
For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God
prepared in advance for us to do.” (Ephesians 2: 8-10, NIV).
Major religions emphasize doing
good works (e.g. Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, etc.). Only Historic Christianity
teaches that we are saved by grace through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Therefore, those who believe in Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior will be
saved, “…because if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe
in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with
the heart one believes and thus has righteousness and with the mouth one
confesses and thus has salvation.” (Romans 10:9-10, NET).
10. No Historic Christianity, Yes New Age: If you wonder why many
churches around the world adopt yoga, then you need to keep the New Age
Movement in your radar. Yoga is a Hindu salvific exercise.
In an earlier blog of mine entitled
“Should Christians Practice Yoga,” I stated the false teachings prevalent in
the churches:10
False Teaching In Christianity To Encourage
Yoga
Some false
teachers within Christianity who encourage yoga8 emphasize that the
yogic codes such as Yamas and Niyamas can strengthen our appreciation towards
the Christian teachings. They maintain that the yogic codes resonate with the
Christian moral teachings.
“Ahimsa”
(non-violence) is one of the “yamas” (restraints) of the yoga sutras of
Patanjali (an Indian sage - considered to be an incarnation of the mythical
serpent Anantha, as some believe). It seems Ahimsa resonates with the Christian
moral teaching “love your neighbor as yourself.”
Similarly, one
of the “Niyamas” (observances) of Patanjali’s yoga sutras is “Saucha”
(Cleanliness or purity). Saucha teaches the necessity of purity or cleanliness
in body and mind so to attain union with God. Apparently, Saucha resonates with
the cleanliness teaching of Matthew 15: 16-20, and prayer, fasting and
Scripture reading that focuses on the cleanliness of the heart.
Exposing The False Teaching
At the heart of
the false teaching that yogic codes are essential to appreciate Christianity is
the notion that all religions should converge, and truth (from various
disparate worldviews) is always convergent.
This is
Syncretism (fusion of divergent religions) in full force. Syncretism
presupposes an inadequacy of any single religion to comprehend the divine on
its own.
But every
Christian should understand that God can be adequately understood from HIS Holy
Word – The Bible. Christianity does not require Hinduism or one of its
practices, namely yoga, to help understand and believe in God and HIS Son the
Lord Jesus Christ.
What is the
significance of these similarities between Patanjali's Yamas and Niyamas with
the Bible? None! There is absolutely no significance! So what if two worldviews
teach similarly? Does similarity in teaching syncretize religions? No!
Hinduism and
Christianity are two fundamentally different religions (Godhead, salvation
etc). Certain points of interconnect in the teachings of these religions will
certainly not harmonize these religions.
By now you may wonder why Prosperity Gospel (Health & Wealth
Gospel) does not feature in the list above.
I do not think that those lay Christians who subscribe to health &
wealth gospel would go to hell because they do not deny any of the essential
tenets of Historic Christianity. But their proponents aka the teachers, who
twist the Bible to their own benefit, are most certainly treading on dangerous
grounds, with respect to their own salvation (cf. Matthew 7: 21-23).
Endnotes:
1Any
teaching that contradicts the Bible is a false teaching or false teaching could
be defined as that which denies the essential tenets of Historic Christianity.
The essential tenets of Historic Christianity being God’s Triunity, Christ’s
Birth, HIS sinlessness, death, burial, bodily resurrection & ascension,
Christ’s 2nd coming, the final judgment, heaven & hell, the inspired and the
infallible Bible.
2I do
not want to sit in the judgment seat, which only belongs to Christ, so I say ‘may
not.’ However, the chances of them not being saved are very high.
3http://www.vatican.va/archive/ccc_css/archive/catechism/p123a9p3.htm
4https://www.gotquestions.org/false-doctrine.html
5https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/justin-taylor/the-8-beliefs-you-should-know-about-mormons-when-they-knock-at-the-door/
6https://coldcasechristianity.com/writings/why-is-the-trinity-an-essential-christian-doctrine/
7https://www.christianity.com/church/denominations/10-things-everyone-should-know-about-seventh-day-adventists-and-their-beliefs.html
8https://www.gotquestions.org/hyper-grace.html
9https://www.gotquestions.org/false-doctrine.html
10https://rajkumarrichard.blogspot.com/2014/02/should-christians-practice-yoga.html
Websites last
accessed on 7th June 2019.
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