But they have a good doctrinal statement
I get this a lot. People who complain when I expose the false teachings of guys like Rick Warren and Saddleback they many times state "But they have a solid doctrinal statement of beliefs etc.."
Here is a great article by my friend and brother in the Lord- Sandy Simpson.
But they have a good doctrinal statement!"
by Sandy Simpson, 2/26/05
Many "Christians", in attempting to defend their favorite heretical teacher, use the argument "But they have a good doctrinal statement." This would seem to be a strong defense for any organization or individual teacher. The fact that their doctrinal statement is, by in large, based on the core doctrines of the Faith should put the matter to rest as to the biblical nature of their ministry. Let's examine what constitutes a biblical statement of Faith. Five of the most important core doctrines of Christianity are:
1. Theology - The Trinity: God is one "What" and three "Whos" with each "Who" possessing all the attributes of Deity and personality. 2. Christology - The Person of Jesus Christ: Jesus is 100% God and 100% man for all eternity. 3. Eschatology - The Second Coming: Jesus Christ is coming bodily to earth to rule and judge. 4. Soteriology - Salvation: It is by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone. 5. Bibliology - The Scripture: It is entirely inerrant and sufficient for all Christian life.
Christians must also subscribe to the teaching of the Word of God in issues concerning the theological areas of Ecclesiology (Church), Anthropology (Man), Pneumatology (Holy Spirit), Hamartiology (Sin) and Satanology/Demonology (Our Adversary the Devil). But the above are five have been recognized by Christians from the first century as the most important "essentials" according to the teaching of the sixty six books of the Bible.
The Problem
As long as doctrinal statements proclaim the biblical facts as stated above, they can be regarded as orthodox biblical doctrinal position papers. But there is more to a ministry or belief system than a doctrinal statement. That statement must be upheld by both the teachings and the actions of those adhering to them.
Let me explain. If a person or organization is consistently teaching ideas that undermine or destroy any ONE of the core doctrines of the Faith, it doesn't matter what their doctrinal statement says. If a person or organization is doing anything that undermines or destroys any ONE of the core doctrines of the Faith, it doesn't matter what their doctrinal statement says. The bottom line is that if they are not teaching and doing what is in line with what they say they believe, their doctrinal statement is made null and void.
But you say: "How can a person teach something consistently that undermines or destroys a core doctrine they claim to believe?" Example: If a person claims to believe in the sovereignty of the Triune God yet teaches that we can declare anything with our mouths and God will have to rush to fulfill it ... that person is teaching a concept that denies the sovereignty of God, the Triune nature of God.
But you say: "How can a person do something that undermines what they claim to believe in a doctrinal statement?" Example: If people claim to believe in the biblical description of the Trinity yet do slain in the Spirit, pressing the Holy Spirit into people's foreheads, throwing Him across rooms, by virtue of their will (the transferable impartation), they are denying both the Deity and personality of the Holy Spirit. They deny the Deity by claiming they can pass the Holy Spirit to another by virtue of a choice of will they make when laying on of hands, and they deny the personality of the Holy Spirit by demonstrating Him as an "it", a pantheistic imminent "force" instead of the Third Person of the Triune God.
Let me give an admittedly somewhat flawed analogy that can only be taken so far before it breaks down. But I believe that it will illustrate this problem adequately so that you can better understand what it means to have a doctrinal statement that you do not teach and promote by actions.
Let's say there are two egg salesmen. Both subscribe to the facts about eggs as follows:
(1) There are three main parts of an egg that make up the whole egg, namely the shell, the white and the yolk. (2) The egg yolk contains the main source of the egg's vitamins and minerals. (3) You can hard boil an egg on a medium boil in about 10 minutes. (4) Eggs contain all the nine essential amino acids making them a complete protein food. (5) Eggs contain 13 vitamins (except vitamin C) and are one of the few food that naturally contain vitamin D.
The first egg salesman sticks to the facts when selling his eggs, and any other facts he gets come from reliable source materials. The second egg salesman states on his web site the correct facts about eggs, but when he is selling eggs to customers he adds the following facts:
(1) Eggs are all yolk. (2) The the egg white is really the source of vitamins and minerals so we should be paying more attention to the white than to the yolk. (3) No one knows the time it takes to boil an egg, so we should not worry about the end but focus on other things. (4) Eggs contain all the amino acids we need, but there are other amino acids not listed that you also need to have a complete diet. (5) There are many more amino acids that you cannot get from eggs and need from other sources, especially from him.
In addition to the above, in obvious opposition to egg facts the second salesman says he subscribes to, he adds the following:
--When you have an egg you need to declare that the egg has all the vitamins you need for it to meet your "felt needs" of health and wealth. --Eggs make you fall down backwards laughing, screaming, barking, and vomiting. This is all the work of the the egg. --There is a time coming when the whole earth everyone will eat eggs, but it doesn't matter if they believe they are eating eggs or not. --If you say you are eating eggs but really eating maggots, you are simply making a "mistake" and it is only human to make mistakes. --If we all just get together and eat eggs we will cause everyone else to eat eggs and bind all the maggots. --Eggs cause people to come together in ecumenical unity, which is the highest purpose of eggs. --Eggs will give you visions, dreams and prophetic insight. Just go with the flow and realize that every dream is a true dream that comes from the egg. --The more people you get to eat eggs together, they more success you will have.
Analysis
Let's take the first five point by point.
(1) There are three main parts of an egg that make up the whole egg, namely the shell, the white and the yolk.
The facts are that there are three main parts to an egg. We will use this to represent the doctrine of the Trinity, though it is not a perfect analogy. Let's say the protective shell is the Father, the white is the Holy Spirit, and the yolk, the center, is Jesus Christ. All are separate parts that make up One egg. But notice what the second salesman adds:
(1) Eggs are all yolk.
So even though the second salesman says he subscribes to the Trinity, he is actually teaching Jesus Only Oneness. I have seen many Oneness doctrinal statements that were pretty close to the truth, but when you question them or listen to their teachings you find out they are teaching Jesus Only. This teaching denies the FACTS about eggs.
The second egg fact is this:
(2) The egg yolk contains the main source of the egg's vitamins and minerals.
This could be a picture of the fact that the main focus of the Bible, and especially of the ministry of the Holy Spirit, is on Jesus Christ. He is the centerpoint, the central focus of the Bible, the fulfillment of all biblical prophecy. He is also to be the center of our Christian lives for through Him we have salvation and everything we need to come to maturity in Christ. But notice the emphasis of the second salesman:
(2) The egg white is really the source of vitamins and minerals so we should be paying more attention to the white than to the yolk.
The white, representing the Holy Spirit, becomes the central focus. This is what we see in many churches that claim to be focused on Jesus Christ. But the Holy Spirit Himself has as His primary work to focus our entire attention on Jesus Christ (John 15:26; 16:13-14) . So this is a denial of the FACTS about egg yolks.
The third egg fact is:
(3) You can hard boil an egg on a medium boil in about 10 minutes.
Let's use this to illustrate the return of Christ. Obviously hard boiling an egg depends on its size, but generally we can be aware of the "signs" of a hard boiled egg and know when it is done. The rapture of the Church cannot be known as to time and date (Matt. 25:13), but we know that it will be soon because of the signs of the times (Matt. 16:3; 24:37), and because we know He will return to earth bodily to rule and judge. But the second salesman adds this:
(3) No one knows the time it takes to boil and egg, so we should not worry about the end but focus on other things.
Postmillenialists, Preterists and Dominionists have taken away the expectation of a rapture of Christ at any time and have substituted it with an agenda for the Church to rise up and take leadership over the governments of the world in order to bring the return of Christ ushering in the new heavens and new earth immediately. But this is not the agenda of the Church, for our agenda is to fulfill the Great Commission (Matt. 28:19-20), not to take over systems of government, or to even take control over the demonic realm. This second salesman has added to the FACTS about boiling eggs.
The fourth egg fact states:
(4) Eggs contain all the nine essential amino acids making them a complete protein food.
Salvation that we have been afforded through the substitutionary atonement of Christ has given us everything we need to be saved. There is no essential salvation in any other person or any other thing. Yet the second salesman adds:
(4) Eggs contain all the amino acids we need, but there are other amino acids not listed that you also need to have a complete diet.
Works are added to salvation such as water baptism, a subsequent Spirit baptism apart from salvation, slain in the spirit, legalistic clothing and lifestyle requirements, speaking in tongues, modern foundational apostolic heavy shepherding authority, false prophecy, etc. Yet the egg facts are that they contain ALL essential amino acids and are a complete protein food. The second salesman has added to the FACTS about eggs.
Lastly,
(5) Eggs contain 13 vitamins (except vitamin C) and are one of the few food that naturally contain vitamin D.
The Scriptures contain all that we need to grow to maturity in Christ. They contain the words of the prophets, Jesus Christ and the Apostles as they were guided by the Holy Spirit. These are all contingent on the fact of a personal relationship with Christ. But the second salesman adds this:
(5) There are many more amino acids that you cannot get from eggs and need from other sources, especially from him.
The other sources added to the absolute authority of Scripture by false teachers are things like apostolic edicts, false prophetic prophecy and visions, intuitions, signs and portents, books and materials by false teachers. Yet this takes away from the absolute authority of the Word of God. The second salesman has added to the FACTS about eggs again.
Further adding to the confusing of the essentials of the Faith in orthodox doctrinal statements, the second salesman adds MORE:
--When you have an egg you need to declare that the egg has all the vitamins you need for it to meet your "felt needs" of health and wealth. (Word-Faith)
--Eggs make you fall down backwards laughing, screaming, barking, and vomiting. This is all the work of the the egg. (Slain in the spirit falsely attributed to the Holy Spirit.)
--There is a time coming when the whole earth everyone will eat eggs, but it doesn't matter if they believe they are eating eggs or not. (Universalism)
--If you say you are eating eggs but really eating maggots, you are simply making a "mistake" and it is only human to make mistakes. (Degradation of the concept of sin in favor of "mistakes". But sin is a giving over to evil at the prompting of the evil one.)
--If we all just get together and eat eggs we will cause everyone else to eat eggs and bind all the maggots. (False spiritual warfare techniques)
--Eggs cause people to come together in ecumenical unity, which is the highest purpose of eggs. (Unity for unity's sake instead of unity in the Faith.)
--Eggs will give you visions, dreams and prophetic insight. Just go with the flow and realize that every dream is a true dream that comes from the egg. (No one can be deceived, stop judging, don't use discernment, believe everything you hear in a Christian context.)
--The more people you get to eat eggs together, the more success you will have. (Church growth false ideas.)
I could go on and on ...
Conclusion
Those who would buy an egg from the second egg salesman should have their heads examined, don't you think? Their expectations of what they are getting will be dashed when the reality hits home. Yet millions of Christians are willing to "buy" Christianity from people who claim to subscribe to the FACTS about the Lord, yet deny them by what they teach and do.
Why do people have discernment about the FACT of eggs, yet apparently so few have discernment about the FACTS of the Bible?
Here is a great article by my friend and brother in the Lord- Sandy Simpson.
But they have a good doctrinal statement!"
by Sandy Simpson, 2/26/05
Many "Christians", in attempting to defend their favorite heretical teacher, use the argument "But they have a good doctrinal statement." This would seem to be a strong defense for any organization or individual teacher. The fact that their doctrinal statement is, by in large, based on the core doctrines of the Faith should put the matter to rest as to the biblical nature of their ministry. Let's examine what constitutes a biblical statement of Faith. Five of the most important core doctrines of Christianity are:
1. Theology - The Trinity: God is one "What" and three "Whos" with each "Who" possessing all the attributes of Deity and personality. 2. Christology - The Person of Jesus Christ: Jesus is 100% God and 100% man for all eternity. 3. Eschatology - The Second Coming: Jesus Christ is coming bodily to earth to rule and judge. 4. Soteriology - Salvation: It is by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone. 5. Bibliology - The Scripture: It is entirely inerrant and sufficient for all Christian life.
Christians must also subscribe to the teaching of the Word of God in issues concerning the theological areas of Ecclesiology (Church), Anthropology (Man), Pneumatology (Holy Spirit), Hamartiology (Sin) and Satanology/Demonology (Our Adversary the Devil). But the above are five have been recognized by Christians from the first century as the most important "essentials" according to the teaching of the sixty six books of the Bible.
The Problem
As long as doctrinal statements proclaim the biblical facts as stated above, they can be regarded as orthodox biblical doctrinal position papers. But there is more to a ministry or belief system than a doctrinal statement. That statement must be upheld by both the teachings and the actions of those adhering to them.
Let me explain. If a person or organization is consistently teaching ideas that undermine or destroy any ONE of the core doctrines of the Faith, it doesn't matter what their doctrinal statement says. If a person or organization is doing anything that undermines or destroys any ONE of the core doctrines of the Faith, it doesn't matter what their doctrinal statement says. The bottom line is that if they are not teaching and doing what is in line with what they say they believe, their doctrinal statement is made null and void.
But you say: "How can a person teach something consistently that undermines or destroys a core doctrine they claim to believe?" Example: If a person claims to believe in the sovereignty of the Triune God yet teaches that we can declare anything with our mouths and God will have to rush to fulfill it ... that person is teaching a concept that denies the sovereignty of God, the Triune nature of God.
But you say: "How can a person do something that undermines what they claim to believe in a doctrinal statement?" Example: If people claim to believe in the biblical description of the Trinity yet do slain in the Spirit, pressing the Holy Spirit into people's foreheads, throwing Him across rooms, by virtue of their will (the transferable impartation), they are denying both the Deity and personality of the Holy Spirit. They deny the Deity by claiming they can pass the Holy Spirit to another by virtue of a choice of will they make when laying on of hands, and they deny the personality of the Holy Spirit by demonstrating Him as an "it", a pantheistic imminent "force" instead of the Third Person of the Triune God.
Let me give an admittedly somewhat flawed analogy that can only be taken so far before it breaks down. But I believe that it will illustrate this problem adequately so that you can better understand what it means to have a doctrinal statement that you do not teach and promote by actions.
Let's say there are two egg salesmen. Both subscribe to the facts about eggs as follows:
(1) There are three main parts of an egg that make up the whole egg, namely the shell, the white and the yolk. (2) The egg yolk contains the main source of the egg's vitamins and minerals. (3) You can hard boil an egg on a medium boil in about 10 minutes. (4) Eggs contain all the nine essential amino acids making them a complete protein food. (5) Eggs contain 13 vitamins (except vitamin C) and are one of the few food that naturally contain vitamin D.
The first egg salesman sticks to the facts when selling his eggs, and any other facts he gets come from reliable source materials. The second egg salesman states on his web site the correct facts about eggs, but when he is selling eggs to customers he adds the following facts:
(1) Eggs are all yolk. (2) The the egg white is really the source of vitamins and minerals so we should be paying more attention to the white than to the yolk. (3) No one knows the time it takes to boil an egg, so we should not worry about the end but focus on other things. (4) Eggs contain all the amino acids we need, but there are other amino acids not listed that you also need to have a complete diet. (5) There are many more amino acids that you cannot get from eggs and need from other sources, especially from him.
In addition to the above, in obvious opposition to egg facts the second salesman says he subscribes to, he adds the following:
--When you have an egg you need to declare that the egg has all the vitamins you need for it to meet your "felt needs" of health and wealth. --Eggs make you fall down backwards laughing, screaming, barking, and vomiting. This is all the work of the the egg. --There is a time coming when the whole earth everyone will eat eggs, but it doesn't matter if they believe they are eating eggs or not. --If you say you are eating eggs but really eating maggots, you are simply making a "mistake" and it is only human to make mistakes. --If we all just get together and eat eggs we will cause everyone else to eat eggs and bind all the maggots. --Eggs cause people to come together in ecumenical unity, which is the highest purpose of eggs. --Eggs will give you visions, dreams and prophetic insight. Just go with the flow and realize that every dream is a true dream that comes from the egg. --The more people you get to eat eggs together, they more success you will have.
Analysis
Let's take the first five point by point.
(1) There are three main parts of an egg that make up the whole egg, namely the shell, the white and the yolk.
The facts are that there are three main parts to an egg. We will use this to represent the doctrine of the Trinity, though it is not a perfect analogy. Let's say the protective shell is the Father, the white is the Holy Spirit, and the yolk, the center, is Jesus Christ. All are separate parts that make up One egg. But notice what the second salesman adds:
(1) Eggs are all yolk.
So even though the second salesman says he subscribes to the Trinity, he is actually teaching Jesus Only Oneness. I have seen many Oneness doctrinal statements that were pretty close to the truth, but when you question them or listen to their teachings you find out they are teaching Jesus Only. This teaching denies the FACTS about eggs.
The second egg fact is this:
(2) The egg yolk contains the main source of the egg's vitamins and minerals.
This could be a picture of the fact that the main focus of the Bible, and especially of the ministry of the Holy Spirit, is on Jesus Christ. He is the centerpoint, the central focus of the Bible, the fulfillment of all biblical prophecy. He is also to be the center of our Christian lives for through Him we have salvation and everything we need to come to maturity in Christ. But notice the emphasis of the second salesman:
(2) The egg white is really the source of vitamins and minerals so we should be paying more attention to the white than to the yolk.
The white, representing the Holy Spirit, becomes the central focus. This is what we see in many churches that claim to be focused on Jesus Christ. But the Holy Spirit Himself has as His primary work to focus our entire attention on Jesus Christ (John 15:26; 16:13-14) . So this is a denial of the FACTS about egg yolks.
The third egg fact is:
(3) You can hard boil an egg on a medium boil in about 10 minutes.
Let's use this to illustrate the return of Christ. Obviously hard boiling an egg depends on its size, but generally we can be aware of the "signs" of a hard boiled egg and know when it is done. The rapture of the Church cannot be known as to time and date (Matt. 25:13), but we know that it will be soon because of the signs of the times (Matt. 16:3; 24:37), and because we know He will return to earth bodily to rule and judge. But the second salesman adds this:
(3) No one knows the time it takes to boil and egg, so we should not worry about the end but focus on other things.
Postmillenialists, Preterists and Dominionists have taken away the expectation of a rapture of Christ at any time and have substituted it with an agenda for the Church to rise up and take leadership over the governments of the world in order to bring the return of Christ ushering in the new heavens and new earth immediately. But this is not the agenda of the Church, for our agenda is to fulfill the Great Commission (Matt. 28:19-20), not to take over systems of government, or to even take control over the demonic realm. This second salesman has added to the FACTS about boiling eggs.
The fourth egg fact states:
(4) Eggs contain all the nine essential amino acids making them a complete protein food.
Salvation that we have been afforded through the substitutionary atonement of Christ has given us everything we need to be saved. There is no essential salvation in any other person or any other thing. Yet the second salesman adds:
(4) Eggs contain all the amino acids we need, but there are other amino acids not listed that you also need to have a complete diet.
Works are added to salvation such as water baptism, a subsequent Spirit baptism apart from salvation, slain in the spirit, legalistic clothing and lifestyle requirements, speaking in tongues, modern foundational apostolic heavy shepherding authority, false prophecy, etc. Yet the egg facts are that they contain ALL essential amino acids and are a complete protein food. The second salesman has added to the FACTS about eggs.
Lastly,
(5) Eggs contain 13 vitamins (except vitamin C) and are one of the few food that naturally contain vitamin D.
The Scriptures contain all that we need to grow to maturity in Christ. They contain the words of the prophets, Jesus Christ and the Apostles as they were guided by the Holy Spirit. These are all contingent on the fact of a personal relationship with Christ. But the second salesman adds this:
(5) There are many more amino acids that you cannot get from eggs and need from other sources, especially from him.
The other sources added to the absolute authority of Scripture by false teachers are things like apostolic edicts, false prophetic prophecy and visions, intuitions, signs and portents, books and materials by false teachers. Yet this takes away from the absolute authority of the Word of God. The second salesman has added to the FACTS about eggs again.
Further adding to the confusing of the essentials of the Faith in orthodox doctrinal statements, the second salesman adds MORE:
--When you have an egg you need to declare that the egg has all the vitamins you need for it to meet your "felt needs" of health and wealth. (Word-Faith)
--Eggs make you fall down backwards laughing, screaming, barking, and vomiting. This is all the work of the the egg. (Slain in the spirit falsely attributed to the Holy Spirit.)
--There is a time coming when the whole earth everyone will eat eggs, but it doesn't matter if they believe they are eating eggs or not. (Universalism)
--If you say you are eating eggs but really eating maggots, you are simply making a "mistake" and it is only human to make mistakes. (Degradation of the concept of sin in favor of "mistakes". But sin is a giving over to evil at the prompting of the evil one.)
--If we all just get together and eat eggs we will cause everyone else to eat eggs and bind all the maggots. (False spiritual warfare techniques)
--Eggs cause people to come together in ecumenical unity, which is the highest purpose of eggs. (Unity for unity's sake instead of unity in the Faith.)
--Eggs will give you visions, dreams and prophetic insight. Just go with the flow and realize that every dream is a true dream that comes from the egg. (No one can be deceived, stop judging, don't use discernment, believe everything you hear in a Christian context.)
--The more people you get to eat eggs together, the more success you will have. (Church growth false ideas.)
I could go on and on ...
Conclusion
Those who would buy an egg from the second egg salesman should have their heads examined, don't you think? Their expectations of what they are getting will be dashed when the reality hits home. Yet millions of Christians are willing to "buy" Christianity from people who claim to subscribe to the FACTS about the Lord, yet deny them by what they teach and do.
Why do people have discernment about the FACT of eggs, yet apparently so few have discernment about the FACTS of the Bible?
posted by Tim Wirth | 6:06 PM
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