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►►7 common steps to heresy.
There are some talks that you do not want to have to have with your congregation. But they must be said. As we approach the second coming, there will be more and more calls coming that might provide confusion and dissention.
►►Unfortunately, Jesus himself said:
Matthew 10:34 34 "Do not think that I came to bring peace on earth. I did not come to bring peace but a sword.
Now there are generally 3 kinds of people in the world. Those who want bring a sword, those who want to bring peace, and those that just want to be left alone.
The Christian is called to carry the good news of salvation to the whole world. That good news is the message that we have a Savior in Jesus Christ our Lord who loves us, who died for us, and whose righteousness covers us. That salvation not only covers us, as we live in it, we are changed into what Jesus declares us to be. That pretty much sums up Christianity.
We have just talked about justification and sanctification. But no matter which you are focusing on, if you focus on yourself and not on Jesus Christ, you are missing the mark.
Any deviation from Jesus Christ as the center is, well, lets tell like it is, heresy.
►►Acts 4:12 (NKJV)
12 Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved."
Now here at this district we have had several encounters with divergent views of what constitutes truth. They will continue to come. They will come more often. Rather than answer each one, we need to understand basic principles of how the heresy comes.
So we will look at some general principles, and then we will deal with a couple of specifics.
►►First is usually an appeal that we are to look for new light.
There are several quotes from Ellen White that tell us to continue searching scriptures for new gems of truth. But she also says that new truth will not do away with the foundations of our faith, but rather it will enhance our knowledge of that truth.
Any Christian that studies the word, will have a greater and greater appreciation of the truths set out in the Word of God. However, our personal discoveries will not lead us away from God's church, but rather closer to it.
We must also be aware that there are some things that are necessary for salvation. For instance, within the SDA church there has usually been some diversity of understanding of the prophecies of the Bible. But those of Daniel and Revelation for the most part have been agreed on.
►►The next thing that you will hear from those who would disrupt the church is that the church is in dire need of reformation. And I totally agree. Each of us has things in our lives that should not be there. There are things done by church leaders that do not represent perfection. The church needs repentance. But in Jesus' time, and I believe in ours, the greatest sins are pride, self importance, and jealousy. Covering your head or whatever is not wrong. Just make sure that it is not covering a head full of pride.
If you have listened to your pastor and elders, you hear for calls to godly living, upholding Christian standards, deeper Bible Study, faithful Sabbath observance, based on a deeper commitment to Christ. If you have not done that, why listen to someone else say the same thing just to make you dissatisfied with your church?
But true reformation never comes outside of a deepening relationship with Jesus Christ. When we focus on our sins, we become more like ourselves. When we focus on other's sins, we become hypocrites.
►►2 Corinthians 3:16-18 (NKJV)
16 Nevertheless when one turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away.
17 Now the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.
18 But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.
If we are to experience transformation we have to turn our eyes towards Jesus Christ.
►►Which brings us to the 3rd principle: Any heresy takes away from the supremacy of Jesus Christ in the church.
The church is established, not on theories of men, not on long-drawn-out plans and forms. It is built on the Rock Christ Jesus, "and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it." This is the Rock upon which the church may build successfully. It is the living presence of God. The weakest may depend upon it. Those who think themselves the strongest may become the weakest unless they depend upon Christ, as their efficiency, their worthiness. As long as the members of the church shall through faith draw nourishment from Christ, and not from man's opinions and devisings and methods; if, having a conviction of the nearness of God in Christ, they put their entire trust in him, they will have a vital connection with Christ, as the branch has connection with the parent stock. {ST, October 7, 1897 par. 7}
It may seem wonderful to us that John saw Christ as He is, and that Christ addressed Himself to the churches. But we should remember that the church, enfeebled and defective though it be, is the only object on earth on which Christ bestows His supreme regard. He is constantly watching it with solicitude, and is strengthening it by His Holy Spirit. Will we, as members of His church, allow Him to impress our minds and to work through us to His glory? Will we hear the messages that He addresses to the church, and take heed to them? We desire to be among the number who shall meet Him with joy when they see Him as He is. We do not wish to be among those who "shall wail because of Him" when they see Him as He is. Let us make our redemption certain by listening to and obeying the messages that He gives to His church. {2SAT 215.4}
►►Fourth, there is a call to leave the church in some form and join with the more perfect, more spiritually educated. This is usually centered around a single charismatic figure (dead or alive) who claims to have the new light.
When certain groups cannot reform the church, they say that you have leave, or change yourself and become a messenger of the "better" faith.
Many times they could peacefully co-exist with a church family, but their efforts at reformation become obnoxious in their insistence that the only their way can be considered truth and everyone must conform for salvation.
►►John 10:16 (NKJV)
16 And other sheep I have which are not of this fold; them also I must bring, and they will hear My voice; and there will be one flock and one shepherd.
God's children will be coming in to the fold, not moving out of it.
►►Fifth, they will point to those who disagree with them and their methods as proof that they are right because they are persecuted.
Being persecuted is not proof of being correct. However, harassing and persecuting is a sign that you are definitely wrong.
Having your message rejected for any reason is not persecution. It is merely people choosing not to believe what you say.
►►And sixth, they will usually operate in a covert manner.
►►1 John 1:7 (NKJV)
7 But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.
►►John 3:20-21 (NKJV)
20 For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed.
21 But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been done in God."
►►Before some specifics, let's review:
First is usually an appeal that we are to look for new light.
The next thing that you will hear from those who would disrupt the church is that the church is in dire need of reformation.
The third principle: Any heresy takes away from the supremacy of Jesus Christ in the church.
Fourth, there is a call to leave the church in some form and join with the more perfect, more spiritually educated, usually based on the teachings on one individual who usually claims infallibility.
Fifth, they will point to those who disagree with them and their methods as proof that they are right because they are persecuted.
And sixth, they will usually operate in a covert manner.
And I will add one more, a seventh. There is often time setting, particularly regarding the second coming of Jesus.
Now I hope that you hear from this pulpit admonitions for revival and reformation. I hope you hear that as you study, the path to Jesus Christ becomes clearer, and his will is opened to you more and more. That is the intent of my teaching.
But what you will not hear from me, and I believe my elders, anything that diminishes the supremacy of Jesus Christ for the church and for the believer.
And actually, of the 7 points, to me this is the most critical.
So how do we respond?
There are many times things can be cleared up with a simple text from the Bible which has to be explained away so the heresy might appear truth.
For instance, regarding the feast days, Paul says
►►1 Corinthians 5:7 (NKJV)
7 Therefore purge out the old leaven, that you may be a new lump, since you truly are unleavened. For indeed Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed for us.
We could go on and on, but it is clear that Christ our Passover WAS sacrificed for us. That is why the veil in the temple was torn. That is why Jesus said, "It is finished." Any form of re-establishing the sanctuary services is a slap in the face of Jesus' ministry.
What need we of more? Christ is center in the fulfillment of the plan of salvation. No greater sacrifice can be made.
Therefore, this one text must be explained away so that the false doctrine can be implemented.
I am going to give some more specifics, and I have others that I can share afterwards if you are interested.
►►As Adventists I am sure that you know about Daniel 2. We teach that the stone cut out of the mountain without hands is the second coming of Jesus Christ.
In Daniel 2 the prophecy ends with the stone, the coming of Jesus Christ. Daniel 7 ends with the judgment and destruction of the pompous power, which is at the end of time. The destruction is because of Jesus' coming. The Daniel 11-12 prophecy comes to it's climax in the coming of Jesus Christ (he stands up).
There is a teaching among Davadia (and by the way there are serveral branches of the Shepherd's Rod) that takes Christ out of Daniel 2, and teaches that the stone cut out without hands is the 144,000. Now as much as I love the church, for me it can never take the place of Jesus Christ. This teaching says that the mountain is the church and the 144,000 are taken from the church to change the world.
►►But that does not fit with Revelation 12 where the woman that is standing on the moon brings forth a child. We have interpreted that the woman was God's people, and the child that came forth and was taken to heaven, and who is to return to set up his kingdom, is Jesus. Who else could it be?
This taking of Jesus out of Daniel 2 is the foundation of a whole way of looking at scripture, that minimizes the role of Jesus, and magnifies the role of humans in the plan of salvation.
We could share more about Davidia.
They believe that their founder was a prophet.
They teach that there will be a setting up of sinless earthly kingdom in Israel. This is because they teach that the conditional prophecies in the Old Testament are applicable to the church unconditionally. This is the basis of fundamentalist protestant teaching today that looks for the restoration of Israel.
They teach that the sinners in the church will be destroyed before the second coming. There are divergent views on how this is accomplished among the different Shepherd's Rod groups.
Jesus himself said that the wheat and tares would grow together until the harvest.
They are not to reach out to the people of the world. Their ministry is to infiltrate and convert the Adventists. This is to be done by joining and teaching Sabbath school classes if possible. Handing out literature with their beliefs in, around the churches. If the church asks them to quit, moving to the sidewalk or other "public area" next to the church to do their proselytizing.
Jesus told his disciples to take the Gospel to the whole world.
Some have gone on to say that they should make lists of Adventists addresses and phone numbers and "hunt and fish" then, visiting them in the homes to present them with the Rod's message.
Jesus told his disciples to be fishers of men, not fishers of those who already knew Him.
And, by the way, from the beginning the Davidia will tell you that they are good Seventh-day Adventists.
But they have their own conference headquarters, their own literature, their own ministers, etc. Sounds like another organization to me.
I could go on. But the thing that sums the whole picture up to me is something I got from one of the Shepherd's Rod web sites (there are several different groups, with several different web sites).
To "Power in the Blood"
An Angel come with the Truth of the hour;
There’s pow’r in the Rod;
Pow’r in the Rod.
To give the third angel force and the pow’r;
There’s wonderful pow’r in the Rod.
Refrain
There is pow’r, pow’r,
Wonder working pow’r,
In the Truth, Of the Rod.
There is pow’r, pow’r,
Wonder working pow’r,
In the message sent from God.