Are There Additional Or Missing Pages In Your Bible?
We are living in a dangerous time, spiritually-speaking. Erroneous beliefs and false doctrines have infiltrated the modern church. There are preachers and teachers who have misrepresented, twisted and perverted the scriptures. We are going to address the dark spiritual conditions that were prevalent not only during the early church age, but even today. We will see that the Bible has a considerable amount of warning about wrong doctrine and direction. However unpleasant and unpopular, they are necessary to confront and correct these errors.
Now, when looking at the subject of this message, you might ask, “Jonathan, what do you mean by having additional or missing pages? My Bible has 66 books, 39 in the Old Testament and 27 in the New Testament, with a total of 1,189 chapters and 31,102 verses. Nothing more, nothing less."
Now, our position is this, there are preachers who add to, or subtract from the Word of God. They are promoting man-made heresies and even doctrines of devils. Some claim that they receive special revelation beyond what’s found in the Bible. All those who preach these counterfeit beliefs are akin to either adding to or removing pages from the Bible. It is very important who we listen to, the ministry that we sit under. Our eternal soul can be at stake, if we follow false teachings. We want to take a stand against a few false doctrines. The list is not exhaustive but we will mention those that we are more familiar with. In doing so, we are against the teachings, not the personalities. We do not judge the hearts of individuals, but we must test the fruits.
The first error we will touch on is, Cessationism. This is a belief that the gifts of the Spirit, such as tongues, healing and word of wisdom have ceased with the early church, and are no longer in operation today. Worse still, some say that such gifts are from the devil. I realize that there are counterfeit gifts and false manifestations but to say that spiritual gifts have passed away, is incorrect. Churches and denominations that do not allow the exercise of spiritual gifts are short-circuiting the work of God. To be sure, we do not need to be baptized in the Holy Spirit with the evidence of speaking in tongues or move in the gifts of the Spirit to be saved, but with due respect and love, you can choose to be a cessationist but I would appeal to you not to ascribe all spiritual gifts as coming from the power of darkness. To do so would come close to grieving and quenching the Holy Spirit.
Another unscriptural doctrine is the Word of Faith. Now, we believe in Biblical faith and positive confession. I have been blessed by some of the teachings on prayer and spiritual gifts coming out from the faith movement. However, some of these preachers and their followers focus on prosperity, that we give in order to get rich. While these preachers become financially wealthier, the average layperson becomes poorer. Now, please don’t misunderstand. God wants to prosper us – spiritually, physically and financially. However, this does not mean that every Christian is a millionaire. Some preachers also minimize the power of the cross, and emphasize on the resurrection of Jesus Christ. They say that the cross is a place of defeat while the resurrection is a place of victory. Yes, it is true, according to 1 Corinthians 15:14, that “ …if Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain.” However, it is on the cross that Jesus was the perfect atoning sacrifice who paid the price for our sin. In 1 Corinthians 1:18, the Apostle Paul declared, “For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God.” Then in Galatians 6:14, he said, “But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world.” As we celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ, we must also boast in the power of the cross.
Also, one of the most prominent teachings in some church circles today is what is referred to as the Grace Revolution. Yet, there are other Bible teachers who have evaluated this grace message and found it to be unbalanced and extreme. They call it by terms such as hyper-grace, counterfeit grace, cheap grace and greasy grace. Now, to the Grace Revolution preacher’s credit, there are some good seeds of truths being communicated, such as the teachings on the new covenant of grace and the gift of righteousness through the finished work of Jesus Christ accomplished on the cross. This aspect is generally excellent and sound. Regrettably, there are errors in some other areas. For example, this hyper-grace doctrine claims that whenever a Christian sins, he or she does not have to confess the sin and ask God for forgiveness. It also says that the Holy Spirit does not convict believers when they sin. This is a dangerous and diabolical deception. Their interpretation of 1 John 1:9, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness”, is that this verse applies to Gnostic unbelievers, not to Christian believers. This is incorrect. This pertains to both sinners and saints. Of course, as Christians walk in the Spirit, we do not practice habitual and wilful sin. There are verses that affirm the victory we have over sin, such as, “For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace” (Romans 6:14); “Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin [a better interpretation is, does not practice sin habitually]; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God” (1 John 3:9); and “We know that whosoever is born of God sinneth not [again, a better understanding is that we do not practice sin habitually]; but he that is begotten of God keepeth himself, and that wicked one toucheth him not” (1 John 5:18). While we are not to sin habitually and wilfully, we do sin at times. When we sin, we are to confess, and not to ignore. Known sin that are unconfessed is sin unforgiven. To confess is to agree, in this case, with God’s Word. Not to excuse, justify or rationalise the wrong, but with a contrite spirit, to ask God for forgiveness and repent. In our earthly relationships, there are times that we have done wrong against other individuals. We apologise and seek to make it right. How much more do we need to confess and ask God to forgive us when we fail Him.
The Government of Twelve (or G12, in short) is one more church growth method that is unbiblical. The home cell program works like a pyramid scheme. The leaders have strong control over their group members’ lives. While submitting to spiritual elders and leaders is Biblical, the G12 structure has gone too far in promoting group thinking and manipulation. Through encounter retreats, people are involved in activities such as writing out their sins on paper and then throwing them into the fire or stamping their feet on them. Such physical acts might be symbolic, but it is faith in Christ and His shed blood on the cross that we are forgiven and cleansed. For many G12 members, instead of being led by the Holy Spirit, they are overly accountable to their leaders in an unscriptural way.
The Purpose Driven Life is yet another popular church growth model that have mixtures of Christian and worldly philosophies. It is, in the words of Galatians 5:9, "A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump." In another translation, it means “This false teaching is like a little yeast that spreads through the whole batch of dough!” On the surface, the five main purposes expounded on the Purpose Driven Life book appear scriptural, such as:
· Purpose #1: You Were Planned for God's Pleasure, speaking of worship God
· Purpose #2: You Were Formed for God's Family, about belonging to a local church
· Purpose #3: You Were Created to Become Like Christ, our discipleship journey
· Purpose #4: You Were Shaped for Serving God, in ministry
· Purpose #5: You Were Made for a Mission, in fulfilling the Great Commission
However, on a closer look, the author has quoted from various well-known, humanistic individuals in the fields of business, science, politics and religion. While this is not to say that we cannot learn from non-Christians, we have to be very discerning as many of these perspectives and values are athetistic or anti-God.
One other major reason for apostasy in the church is the variety of modern Bible versions that are widely used. Many of them are not word-for-word translations, but paraphrase. The more accurate translations I would recommend are the King James Version, the New American Standard Bible and to a lesser extent, the New King James Version. Personally, I use the King James Version most of the time. While not a perfect translation, it is very close to the meaning of the original words. The language may be 17th century Elizabethan English but it is really not too difficult to understand. After all, we regularly pick up new terminologies in the news and on social media these days. If we can be savvy about natural facts, how much more should we hunger for God’s eternal truths, by making the effort to read and study from a reliable Bible translation. I exhort you to compare, side by side, the King James Version with these modern translations. You will discover that many present-day versions have either distort, add or omit some words.
Thus far, we have highlighted some of the deceptive doctrines and practices in the church. There are, sadly, other man-made, self-help and seeker-sensitive programs that we have not mentioned in this message. What is important is that we follow the example of the believers in Berea, who check what preachers preach by the Word of God. In Acts 17:11, we see that these believers “ …were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so.” We need to be Biblically accurate and literate, and not just accept every fad and wind of doctrine that is promoted by preachers, no matter how popular or well-known they are.
