We know that God is truth and He cannot lie nor contradict His written word. So when we consider the things we hear and the things we read and believe, we must ask ourselves as to where does this line of thinking, this belief we have, whatever it might be, as to where is comes from. Is it of God or somewhere else and if somewhere else then from whom?
We know that Satan is the father of all lies.
John 8:44 You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it.
Satan's intent is to destroy God's children, we Christians.
1Peter 5:8 Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.
Satan wants to destroy us. So how does he accomplish this? He simply tries to get us to believe in his lies. Lies can be serious, that is believing in them, because they can potentially cause you to drift away from Christ.
1Timothy 4:1 Now the Spirit expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons,
Doctrines of demons! This is where False teachings come from. They come from Satan, from demons.
2Tim 4:3 For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers;
4 and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables.
There are a great many False Doctrines/Teachings out there in Christianity so be on guard. Study the Word with an open heart and mind and be willing to be wrong in what you believe so that God can reveal His truth to you with His written word guided by the Holy Spirit. Be wise, be discerning.
1John 4:1 Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world.
I think very highly of you. And not only because of the above post! You are a great partner in debate and I quite enjoy your vulnarable and humble approach. You know more than you show my dear brother in Christ.... :bow::bow:
You said: "If you think that in the year 2010 AD, you can come with a brilhant statement that false teachings in christianity come from satan.... then I suggest you finish your highschool.
WALTER: Please explain the mean spirited response and what relation the year 2010 has to do with False Teachings and it's relation to Satan?
SOS: But of course you are right! You cannot help me
WALTER: 1Timothy 4:1 Now the Spirit expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons,
While this was occurring during Paul's time, it is also a prophesy that in the LAST DAYS, (LATTER TIMES) people are going be deceived by "Spirits and doctrines/teachings OF DEMONS. That includes the year 2010.
You said: "Devil can't imput his doctrines in anyone if again, the person has the doctrine of Christ living in their hearts.
WALTER: Are you saying that a Christian who has "the doctrine of Christ" living in their hearts cannot be deceived into believing a doctrine of demons?
ELLA: You're right PJ, and demons can't tell you nothing if you're rightly dividing the word of Trutha dn trusting in the Holy Spirit to illuminate you into God's knowledge and wisdom in His word. False teachingg is how denominations get started, everybody wants to be their own interpretor of God word, and no one cares to search out or have a teachable spirit, not do they allow the Holy Spirti to convict their own hearts with the word, before trying to give it to someone else. They themsleves are not obeying in humility what God has said..."
WALTER: Do you rightly divide the Word in all things? Are you including yourself within the context of your statement in that "no one cares to search out or have a teachable spirit nor do they allow the Holy Spirit to convict their own hearts with the word" ?
Do "Baptists" teach all truth or do they have False Doctrines too?
Since as you say... "False teaching is how denominations get started"...and Baptists are a denomination...Can you tell us which doctrines Baptists teach that are False?
Harriet, thank you very much:bow: though I sometimes think I show more than I know... sometimes I don't know myself what I'm saying...:goofball:
@Walter:
Tell me one thing please, as you say wrong teaching is the beginning of denominations. What would than be the right thing? I mean, is there any Christian that is not in a denomination (and be it called non-denominational)? Maybe this is again something special to American Christianity I don't understand for lacking background. How would you define denomination and what is the difference to a group of "real" Christians with right teaching? I'd call them a denomination as well, but again, maybe that's just me being stupid...
You asked: Tell me one thing please, as you say wrong teaching is the beginning of denominations. What would than be the right thing? I mean, is there any Christian that is not in a denomination (and be it called non-denominational)? Maybe this is again something special to American Christianity I don't understand for lacking background. How would you define denomination and what is the difference to a group of "real" Christians with right teaching? I'd call them a denomination as well, but again, maybe that's just me being stupid...
WALTER: First off I am not the one who said that wrong teaching is the beginning of denominations. It was Ella. I was merely quoting her.
I don't think you are being stupid. There are many Christians who do not understand what separates a denomination from a Non-Denomination. Basically a Denomination is an organization that has a head or body that presides over the entire group, that is, all the various churches affiliated with it. All their beliefs are the same without any variation. Example: The Southern Baptist Convention presides over all Southern Baptists churches.
On the other hand a Non-Denominational church has no head other than Christ guided by a board of Elders as the New Testament establishes. No board dictates it's beliefs other than what is internally established within that particular local church. However it is interesting that many, not all, but many Non-Denominational churches beliefs seem to fall within the "Baptist" or "Charismatic" category.
What you write sounds nice, but still it seems to be something like a nice fairy tale to me. For whenever there is some kind of organisation and structure, there will be some people, called president or not, that preside over others in one way or another. On the other hand there are Catholics that do not believe every doctrine of their church or what the pope says, though they should be doing so being Catholic.
We have denominations in Germany, well, we speak of churches meaning local branches of the one church, that bind themselves to certain confessional writings, especially the Lutherans which are the majority protestant branch in Germany, but also others. And we have churches like my home church, which is historically a church union of Lutherans and Reformed Christians. While others ordain their pastors on certain confessional texts, our pastors are ordained only on the bible. It's similar here in Switzerland, where I live for this year, where the Reformed churches (again: local branches of the one church) decided to have not fixed confessional text. Excepot of course the bible.
But still, my church has a president, the synod can decide on things concerning doctrine, and the congregations have their own parlaments (we speak of presbytery) which decide on all kind of things, including doctrines if necessary. Everyone needs some kind of organisation, and nobody will be kicked out for minor differences in how to understand things...
So what I wonder is: Would my home church qualify as non-denominational (which we never called ourselves and I don't see this happening any time soon - we just don't know the term in Germany), or is it still too much that we have a president and a synod?
I'm rerally trying to understand the concept. Because I think, there are even Southern Baptists who do not agree with all their board tells them, but I've never knowingly met a Southern Baptist, so I cannot tell, only guess...
