Heresies in the church - Part 6

If ever you had the ambition to become god, the WOF preachers will only add wood to the fire.

New God?

To give you the full effect I am going to give you a lot of quotes by these people. I hope it doesn't bore you to death, but we need to know what these people teach.

Benny Hinn

"When you were born again the Word was made flesh in you. And you became flesh of His flesh and bone of His bone. Don't tell me you have Jesus. You are everything He was and everything He is and ever shall be.... It (the new man) says, 'I am as He is.' That's what it says.. As He is, so are we in this world. Jesus said, 'Go in My name, go in My stead.' Don't say, 'I have.' Say, 'I am, I am, I am, I am, I am.'" [1]

"When you say, 'I am a Christian,' you are saying, 'I am mashiach' in the Hebrew. I am a little messiah walking on earth, in other words. That is a shocking revelation....May I say it like this? You are a little god on earth running around." [2]

Kenneth Copeland

"God's reason for creating Adam was His desire to reproduce Himself. I mean a reproduction of Himself and in the Garden of Eden He did just that. (Adam) was not a little like God. He was not almost like God. He was not subordinate to God even.... Adam is as much like God as you could get, just the same as Jesus....Adam, in the Garden of Eden, was God manifested in the flesh." [3]

"You don't have a God living in you, you are one!" [4]

"Folks, when you were born again, the Bible says you became bone of His bone. You have rights and privileges because you have been born of the Spirit of God. God has been reproduced on the inside of you. These rights re yours because Jesus of Nazareth paid the price for the sin problem and caused you to be reborn." [5]

"You need to realize that you are not a spiritual schizophrenic--half-God and half-Satan--you are all God." [6]

Is this not all very interesting? If we looked for the fingerprints of the one who taught this lie we simply need to read

Gen 3:5 ESV For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil."

From the beginning Satan tried to entice us with being deity, as if he has the authority to offer it. It is man's search for self-rule or deity that has brought man to point of the pit. One more step and man falls into a chasm, which he eventually did when Adam gave in to the devil's temptations.

In the passage of John 10:31-39 the words of Jesus are used by WOF proponents to "prove" their point:

Joh 10:34 ESV Jesus answered them, "Is it not written in your Law, 'I said, you are gods'?

What is the point of what Jesus said here? Does He actually mean that we are gods? Jesus is here responding to his opponents with an ironical use of Psalm 82:6, where God condemns the unrighteous judges of Israel for their self-righteous attitude and pride. These judges sinned by showing partiality towards the wicked rather than defending the weak. The very next verse here is quite telling:

Psa 82:7 ESV nevertheless, like men you shall die, and fall like any prince."

To imagine that we are gods when we are saved is to misunderstand our condition, even though in Christ. Even though the Holy Spirit has taken up residence in our lives, it does not mean that we have been deified! If man is deified, surely we also have to accept the doctrine that we are therefore sinless! Yet, the Scriptures deny that we are sinless, even after our salvation.

1Jo 1:8-10 ESV If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. (9) If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. (10) If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.

"Jesus mocks the people as if to say, 'You all think you're gods yourselves. What's one more god among you?' Irony is used to provoke us, not to inform us. It is not a basis for building a theology." [7]

Copeland continues:

"Pray to yourself, because I'm in your self and you're in Myself. We are one Spirit, saith the Lord." [8]

"I say this with all respect so that it don't upset you too bad, but I say it anyway. When I read in the Bible where he [Jesus] says, 'I Am,' I just smile and say, 'Yes, I Am, too!'" [9]

"If you stood Adam upside God, they look just exactly alike....If you stood Jesus and Adam side-by-side, they would look and act and sound exactly alike....The image is that they look just alike, but the likeness is that they act alike and they are alike....All of God's attributes, all of God's authority, all of God's faith, all of God's ability was invested in that man." [10]

The terms "image" and "likeness" refute Copeland's point. The Hebrew word for "likeness" (demuth) simply means similarity or resemblance, not identity. Furthermore, the term itself actually "defines and limits" the word "image" (Hebrew: tselem) in order "to avoid the implication that man is a precise copy of God, albeit miniature" [11]

However, Copeland continues with his heresy:

"But this must come first! Surely, this is Isaiah 53 Surely he [Jesus] hath borne are grief's and carried our sorrows, yet we did esteem him stricken smitten of God and afflicted. Now what's he talking about?....He was wounded for our transgressions. In other words he said we esteemed him stricken and smitten by God, but he wasn't, he was wounded for our transgressions, where did that statement come from? Well the high religious people of the day.... Ah.... said that this horrible thing we see here on this cross, here you have got three men hanging side by side on a cross; in Scriptures in the 52nd chapter of Isaiah makes this statement....Ah.... That he was so torn up, he was so oh my goodness, he was as many were astonished his visage or his form was so marred. One translation says so twisted out of shape, more than any man and his form more than the sons of men. Now did you ever wonder why that centurion that executioner that stood right their by all three of those crosses why did he say well surely these were the sons of God? Because they all died.... the crucifixion, they all died the same way. But the one in the middle was totally different because his body was so twisted and went into such shape that the others didn't. That they figured only God could have done this to a human being. And he said surely God did this surely this is of God. Why would they think that? Well the high priests said and told everybody that this happened because he accounted and said that he was equal with God....he said he was equal with God, and so they considered that robbing God, they considered that blaspheming God. That it was wrong, it was terrible that he should say such a thing. Well that same religious idea is hear today. It's the same idea. How do you do it? How would anybody do this? You really cannot ever come to that place were you let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who thought it not robbery to be called equal with God. Let this mind be in Kenneth Copeland, Oh my goodness, Ah! that thinks its not robbery to be called equal with God." [12]

Kenneth Hagin

"Every man who has been born again is an incarnation and Christianity is a miracle. The believer is as much an incarnation as was Jesus of Nazareth." [13]

Hanegraaf answers this: "...while the Bible clearly declares Christ to be pre-existent (John 1:1; 8:58; 17:5), nowhere in Scripture do we find the concept of human pre-existence. In fact, human pre-existence remains a concept relegated largely to such cults as Mormonism. The fact that Christians are indwelt by the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit (John 14:17,23) in no way implies that the Bible endorses the concept of incarnation for Christians." [14]

Hagin continues: "This eternal life He came to give us is the nature of God." He then adds, "It is, in reality, God imparting His very nature, substance, and being to one human spirit....Zoe, then, means eternal life, or God's life. This new kind of life is God's nature....Even many in the great body of Full Gospel people do not know that the new birth is a real incarnation....Jesus was first divine, and then He was human. So He was in the flesh a divine-human being. I was first human, and so were you, but I was born of God, and so I became a human-divine being!" [15]

Moriarty writes against this: "This view, developed by the scholarly monk Nestorius (ca.381-ca.452), taught that the Word did not actually become flesh (John 1:14) but only united Himself to a human being. Christ was in effect a God-bearer rather than the God-man. Nestorius ended up making Christ out to be a man in whom, in Siamese twin fashion, the divine and human natures were combined in a mechanical union rather than in an organic union of natures. Hagin's view of the incarnation is very similar to the fifth-century Nestorian heresy." [16]

A final quote from Hagin: "Man...was created on terms of equality with God, and he could stand in God's presence without any consciousness of inferiority....God has made us as much like Himself as possible....He made us the same class of being that He is Himself....The believer is called Christ....that's who we are; we're Christ!" [17]

The next post will be the last in this series: Heresies in the church - Part 7.

Read the previous post in this series here.

Just thinking...

End Notes

[1] B. Hinn, "Our Position in Christ #2-The Word Made Flesh", Orlando, FL: Orlando Christian Centre, 1991, audiotape #A031190-2, Side B.

[2] B. Hinn, "Praise-a-Thon" program on TBN, 6 November, 1990.

[3] K. Copeland, "Following the Faith of Abraham 1", Side A, Fort Worth, Texas, K. Copeland Ministries, 1989, audiotape #01-3001.

[4] K. Copeland, "The Force of Love", Fort Worth, Texas, K. Copeland Ministries, n.d. audiotape BCC-56.

[5] K. Copeland, "The Force of Righteousness", Fort Worth, Texas, K. Copeland Ministries, 1982, p18.

[6] K. Copeland, Believer's Voice of Victory, March 1982, p2.

[7] W. Martin, "Ye Shall Be As Gods" The Agony of Deceit, ed. M.A. Horton, Chicago: Moody, 1990, p97.

[8] Kenneth Copeland, "Believer's Voice of Victory", Feb. 1987, p9.

[9] Kenneth Copeland, "Believer's Voice of Victory" broadcast on TBN, recorded 7/9/87.

[10] Kenneth Copeland, _Authority of the Believer IV_ (Fort Worth: Kenneth Copeland Ministries, 1987, audiotape #01-0304), side 1.

[11] R. Laird Harris, Gleason L. Archer, Jr., and Bruce K. Waltke, eds., Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament, 2 vols. (Chicago: Moody Press, 1981), 1:192.

[12] Kenneth Copeland, Believer's Voice of Victory, Monday 29th January 2001 [GOD TV].

[13] K. Hagin, "The Incarnation", The Word of Faith magazine, 13, 12 (Dec. 1980): p14.

[14] H. Hanegraaff, Christianity in Crisis, Harvest House, 1993, p176.

[15] K. Hagin, Zoe: The God-Kind of Life, Tulsa, OK. Faith Library, 1981, p40.

[16] M. Moriarty, The New Charismatics, Zondervan, 1992, p332.

[17] K. Hagin, Zoe: The God-Kind of Life, p35-36.

Heresies in the church - Part 5

Since the WOF preachers believe that Jesus died spiritually, acquired a satanic nature in hell and therefore had to be saved in hell, it is quite natural for them to also believe that Jesus had to be born again!

Born again?

Let's hear what these preachers teach. Kenneth Copeland has the following: "See you have to realize that He (Jesus) died; you have to realize that He went into the pit of hell as a mortal man made sin. But He didn't stay there, thank God. He was reborn in the pit of Hell and resurrected." [1] "...that Word of the Living God went down into the pit of destruction and charged the spirit of Jesus with resurrection power! Suddenly His twisted, death-wracked spirit began to fill out and come back to life. He began to look like something the Devil had never seen before. He was literally being reborn before the Devil's very eyes. He began to flex his spiritual muscles....Jesus was born again--the first born from the dead." [2] "'They crucified Me for claiming that I was God. But I didn't claim I was God; I just claimed I walked with Him and that He was in Me.'" [3] "And the whole New Testament calls Him the first-born....The word 'born' began to ring in my spirit; it just began to roll around: born, born. I never had let Him go through that in my own thinking....And while I was laying there thinking about these things, the Spirit of God spoke to me. And He said, 'Son, realize this: Now follow Me in this, don't let your tradition trip you up.' He said, 'Think this way: A twice-born man whipped Satan in his own domain.' And I threw my Bible down. I said, 'What?' He said, 'A born-again man defeated Satan. The first-born of many brethren defeated him.' He said, 'You are the very image and the very copy of that one.' I said, 'Goodness gracious, sakes alive!' And I began to see what had gone on in there, and I said, 'You don't mean--you couldn't dare mean, that I could have done the same thing?' He said, 'Oh, yeah, if you'd had the knowledge of the Word of God that He did, you could have done the same thing, 'cause you're a reborn man, too.'" [4]

Gloria Copeland, Kenneth Copeland's wife said: "After Jesus was made sin, He had to be born again. [quote of Ac 13:33 KJV] What day? The first part of the verse explains 'this day' as the day He raised Jesus from the dead. God raised Him up and liberated Him from the pains of death. He was made alive in the spirit or justified in the spirit (1 Timothy 3:16; Acts 2:24; 1 Peter 3:18, The Amplified Bible [The Multiple Choice Bible]) Once again, He was the righteousness of God and, once again, eternal life was His nature. Let the picture of the Firstborn from among the dead become a reality in your spirit and mind: Jesus was not only a being with God's nature and God's Spirit, but also the man that said, 'Behold my hands, and my feet, that it is I myself: handle me, and see; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have' (Luke 24:39). And it was written of Him, 'For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus' (1 Timothy 2:5). Jesus is a born-again man. He came from death back into life. (This is the same new birth that the good news of the gospel still offers to any man who will accept it.)" [5]

Benny Hinn continues the trend: "My, you know, whoosh! The Holy Ghost is just showing me some stuff. I'm getting dizzy! I'm telling you the truth--it's, it's just heavy right now on me....He's (referring to Jesus) in the underworld now. God isn't there, the Holy Ghost isn't there, and the Bible says He was begotten. Do you know what the word begotten means? It means reborn. Do you want another shocker? have you been begotten? So was he. Don't let anyone deceive you. Jesus was reborn. You say, 'What are you talking about?' ...He was reborn. He had to be reborn. ...If He was not reborn, I would never be reborn. How can I face Jesus and say, 'Jesus you went through everything I've gone through, except the new birth?'" [6]

"Begotten" simply means "to be born," NOT "reborn." When the Bible speaks of the "only begotten of the Father" it emphasises Christ's pre-eminence and unique nature. In Hebrews 1:5 when God says "Thou art my Son, today I have begotten thee" it is simply a reference to the resurrection of Christ.

Kenneth Copeland continues: "It is important for us to realize that a born again man defeated Satan....Colossians 1:18 refers to Jesus as the firstborn from the dead....He was the first man to be reborn under the new covenant." [7]

Why is it so important for the Faith-Teachers to ignore such explicit passages as "It is finished," etc? Why must they have Jesus dying spiritually as well as physically, entering hell as a mortal man capable of failure, and being born again to defeat the devil? The reason is that the faith teachers have a diminished view of Jesus. When Jesus is downplayed as nothing more than an anointed man, it brings the faith teachers up to the level of Jesus.

In this way the gospel message of "repent you wretched sinner and plead for God's forgiveness. Find salvation and rest from your sin and guilt at the foot of the cross of your great and mighty and blessed Saviour," is falsified by a wicked stench of a message that says "You shall be like God!"

How do the WOF teachers respond when someone points out their false doctrines?

A classical example of such a response is from Paul Crouch, the head of TBN: "I think God's given up on a lot of that old rotten Sanhedrin religious crowd, twice dead, plucked up by the roots. I think they're damned and on their way to hell and I don't think there's any redemption for them...the heresy hunters that want to find a little mote of illegal doctrine in some Christian's eye and pluck that little mote out of their eye when they've got the whole forest in their own lives and in their own eyes. I say to hell with you! Oh hallelujah. Get out of God's way, quit blocking God's bridges or God's gonna shoot you if I don't! I refuse to argue any longer with any of you out there. Don't even call me. If you want to argue doctrine, if you want to straighten out somebody over here, if you want to criticize Ken Copeland for his preaching on faith, or Dad Hagin. Get out of my life! I don't even want to talk to you or hear you. I don't want to see your ugly face! Get out of my face in Jesus' name." [8]

As is clear, the WOF preachers are so tightly bound to their heresies that it would be difficult for them to renounce it. It would be either denouncing all or nothing.

In the next installment we will look at how these false teachers deify mankind!

See the previous post in the series here.

Just thinking...

End Notes

[1] K. Copeland, "What Happened From the Cross to the Throne" (audiotape) Fort Worth, Texas, K. Copeland Ministries, 1990 #02-0017 or 00-0303.

[2] K. Copeland, "The Price Of It All", Believer's Voice of Victory 19, 9 Sept. 1991; p4-6.

[3] Kenneth Copeland, Believer's Voice of Victory Magazine, Volume 15 Issue 2, February 1987.

[4] Kenneth Copeland, "What Happened from the Cross to the Throne" tape # 02-0017.

[5] Gloria Copeland, "God's Will For You", Harrison House, Tulsa, Oklahoma, Revised 1994, Reprinted 2000, p24-25.

[6] B. Hinn, "Our Position in Christ, Part 1", Orlando, FL: Orlando Christian Centre, 1991, videotape # TV-254

[7] K. Copeland, "Jesus Our Lord of Glory", Believer's Voice of Victory, April 1982, p3.

[8] Paul Crouch, "Praise-a-thon" broadcast on TBN, recorded 4/2/91.

'Democracy' in South Africa

I have for long now believed that "democracy" is simply a buzzword in South Africa. It has NO meaning! For those in the rest of the world, your support, especially financial support and boycotts, have been wasted on a democracy that is utterly meaningless.

 

Let me explain.

 

Every year, round about this time of the year, there is what is called the "floor-crossing." This floor crossing is sanctioned by our laws. "What in the world is a 'floor-crossing'?" you may ask. Before I tell you what that means, let me tell you how democracy works in South Africa.

 

When it comes to voting in South Africa, we have no way to simply vote for a president. We vote for a political party. That means that there could be a number of parties. We vote for the party we like most, and that party's leader will then become president. So, let us say there are 100 seats available in government. Party A gets 60% of the vote, party B gets 25% of the vote and finally party C gets 15% of the vote. That means party A will get 60 seats, party B will get 25 seats and so on. Therefore, the people are represented according to which party they voted for. 25% of the people voted for party B and so they ended up with a 25% representation in parliament.

 

Now, let's move onto "floor-crossing."

 

Right about now this "floor-crossing" is happening. During the year spanning from round about August to August, certain members of party C might become disgruntled with their party. Remember, these are parliamentary seat-warming members from party C. These members, who are representative of 15% of the people who voted for them, decide to "cross the floor" and join party A. Let's say there are 10 of these party C members "crossing the floor." What happens now is that the seats occupied by these 10 members do not remain behind with party C, they actually go with these members to party A. This means that party A will now have 70 seats in parliament and party C will only have 5. In essence, party A now has more representation in parliament than the amount of people that voted for them. Remember, South Africa has a simple "democracy" of one man one vote! It also means that party C no longer represents the 15% of people that voted for them.

 

This is what I mean that democracy is meaningless in South Africa. We did not vote for those 10 "floor-crossers" (sounds much like "cross-dressers" doesn't it?), but rather for party C. In my mind, when a member of parliament wants to "cross the floor" he must immediately lose his seat in parliament and another person from the crosser's previous party must take his seat in parliament! This only will be just!

 

While "floor-crossing" is part of the South African parliamentary system, we can talk about democracy as much as we want, it will remain meaningless.

 

You can push a wheelbarrow in and out of a garage as much as you like, it will not become a car.

 

We can talk about democracy as much as we want in South Africa, and push it down the throats of the gullible as much as we want, it will not make it so!

 

While this continues, I am sure that the constitutional rights of South Africans are being violated!

 

I suppose the South African constitution is the most liberal in the world. It allows politicians to do just what THEY like!

 

I suppose in South Africa it is REX LEX and not LEX REX!!

 

Just thinking...

Heresies in the church - Part 4

The WOF preachers change the meaning of the gospel and all that make the gospel what it is, especially related to the Atonement and how it paid the price of our sin, into a total perversion of the gospel which Paul would have cursed. Paul was so serious about the gospel and it's correct preaching that he proclaimed a curse on anyone who preached a false gospel. How is it that we and especially the charismatic church can allow this rot to spread in the church. It is a cancer that is spreading through the church, and I fear all that can stop the spread is perhaps an amputation! Anyhow, it is time for the church to take drastic measures against the spread of this cancer.

Saved in hell?

Fred Price who said that God never intended to save your clothes but your soul also said: "Do you think that the punishment for our sin was to die on a cross? If that were the case, the two thieves could have paid your price. No, the punishment was to go into hell and to serve time in hell separated from God....Satan and all the demons of hell thought that they had Him bound and they threw a net over Jesus and they dragged Him down to the very pit of hell itself to serve our sentence." [1] Charles Capps has this to say: "In the place of the wicked dead, all the demons of Hell and Satan rejoiced over the prize. The corridors of Hell were filled with joy. 'We've done it! We've captured the Son of God! We'll no longer be in the pit of the damned! The earth and all that is therein is ours! Forever it will be ours!' Rejoicing in hell had never been so great as it was that day. But it was short-lived." [2]

The jesus of the Faith movement had to go to hell and suffer at Satan's mercy. The true Jesus, the One Supreme Commander of the hosts of heaven (1Pet. 3:22), completely triumphed over Satan and his minions upon the cross.

Heb 2:14-15 ESV Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, (15) and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery.

The cross was the triumph of Christ, and it was on the cross that Christ carried our sin, not in hell! Here are some verses that the WOF camp must deal with and need to follow up:

Joh 19:30 ESV When Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, "It is finished," and he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.

Col 2:14-15 ESV by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. (15) He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him.

Col 1:21-22 ESV And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, (22) he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him,

Eph 1:7 ESV In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace,

Mat 26:28 ESV for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.

Act 20:28 ESV Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to care for the church of God, which he obtained with his own blood.

Rom 3:25 ESV whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God's righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins.

Rom 5:9 ESV Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God.

Eph 2:13 ESV But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.

Heb 9:22 ESV Indeed, under the law almost everything is purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins.

Heb 13:12 ESV So Jesus also suffered outside the gate in order to sanctify the people through his own blood.

1Pe 1:19 ESV but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot.

1Jo 1:7 ESV But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.

Rev 1:5 ESV and from Jesus Christ the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of kings on earth. To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood

Rev 5:9 ESV And they sang a new song, saying, "Worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation,

Kenneth Copeland adds to the rest of what the WOF preachers have already said: "He allowed the Devil to drag Him into the depths of Hell as if He were the most wicked sinner who ever lived. He submitted Himself to death. He allowed Himself to come under Satan's control....For three days in the belly of the earth, He suffered as if He'd sinned every sin that exists."[3]

This is what Jesus had to say about Satan's "power" over Him:

Joh 14:30 ESV I will no longer talk much with you, for the ruler of this world is coming. He has no claim on me,

Satan in no way was able to drag Jesus down to hell. There is NO such Scripture in the Bible. This next passage is the truth:

Joh 10:17-18 ESV For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life that I may take it up again. (18) No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This charge I have received from my Father."

Now back to a statement made earlier by Kenneth Copeland concerning Jesus' final words upon the cross, "It is finished". Copeland asserts that, "When Jesus cried 'It is finished!', He was not speaking of the plan of redemption....Jesus' death on the cross was only the beginning of the complete work of redemption." Astute readers will notice that Jesus' words were, "It is finished", and not, it has just begun! The Greek word for this term is tetelestai, which means it is paid; the debt has been paid in full.

The WOF doctrine clearly is another gospel. It is a gospel that should be refuted and denied.

"The fact...that virtually every cult, in one way or another, denies the doctrine of salvation by grace alone through the sinless sacrifice of Christ on the cross. The Bible plainly states that your eternal salvation rests on what you personally believe about the blood atonement of Jesus Christ. It is at the cross--not in Hell--that your salvation is either won or lost. And that is precisely the problem with the most notorious of the Faith teachings. These teachings have transferred the saving work of Christ from the cross to the deepest dungeons of hell."[4]

Did you know that the WOF preachers teach that Jesus had to be born again, just like you and me, in hell after he died?

We will look at that in the next edition of Heresies in the church.

See the previous edition at Heresies in the church - Part 3.

Just thinking...

End Notes

[1] F.K.C. Price, Ever Increasing Faith Messenger, Newsletter Crenshaw Christian Centre, Inglewood, CA. June 1980, p7.

[2] C. Capps, Authority in Three Worlds, Tulsa, OK. Harrison House, 1982, p143.

[3] K. Copeland, Believer's Voice of Victory, September 1991, p3.

[4] H. Hanegraaff, Christianity in Crisis, Harvest House, 1993, p152.

Heresies in the church - Part 3

Having posted on how the WOF preachers such as Kenneth Copeland, Kenneth Hagin, Benny Hinn, Joyce Meyer and many more pervert the Biblical doctrine of the Atonement and also claim that Jesus died spiritually (a physical death for payment could have been accomplished by anyone), today we will go a bit further.

Satanic nature?

One of the main tenets of the WOF is that when Jesus died He actually took on Satan's nature. See what Kenneth Hagin wrote: "Sin separates from God. Spiritual death means separation from God. The moment Adam sinned, he was separated from God. Spiritual death means something more than separation from God. Spiritual death also means having Satan's nature. Jesus said to the Pharisees, [quotes Jn 8:44]. The Pharisees were very religious. They went to the synagogue on the Sabbath, they prayed, they paid their tithes, they fasted, and they did a lot of other fine and good things--but they lied about Christ and murdered Him. Jesus said they were children of the devil--they had the characteristics of the devil. When one is born again, he takes upon himself the nature of God--which is Life and peace. The nature of the devil is hatred and lies. Jesus tasted death--spiritual death--for every man. Sin is more than a physical act; it is a spiritual act. He became what we were, that we might become what He is. [quotes 2 Cor 5:21]. Jesus became sin. His Spirit was separated from God. And He went down into hell in our place. Notice in the following Scripture, that Peter, preaching on the day of Pentecost concerning the Lord Jesus Christ, said, "Thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption." I encourage you to read Peter's entire message. He brings out the fact that David, in Psalm 16:8-10, was really prophesying by the Spirit of God. [quotes Ac 2:25-27;29-31]. Paul is talking about the same thing in Acts 13:33. [quotes Ac 13:33]. It is clear that both Peter and Paul are talking about the same thing. You will not be able to understand the authority in the Name of Jesus until you understand this fact. Down in the prison house of suffering--down in hell itself--Jesus satisfied the claims of Justice on the behalf of each one of us, because He died as our substitute." [1]

If Jesus died spiritually and literally took on a sin nature as WOF teachers teach then Jesus Himself would have been in need of an atonement! At the same time, Jesus would not have been a perfect sacrifice without blemish! According to the O.T., a sin offering, being a substitute, was required to be perfect and unblemished (Lev. 4:3,28; 9:3; cf. Deut. 15:21). The animals chosen for the sin offering were, according to Leviticus 4:32, a bull without defect; Lev. 4:23, a goat without defect; Lev. 4:32, a lamb without defect (see 1Cor. 5:7, Jesus as the Paschal Lamb). Even worse Hagin here wants us to believe that Jesus took on the very nature of Satan! So, in Hagin's mind, Jesus ceased to be God at some point and took on the nature of Satan. God does not change! Jesus certainly would have been in need of propitiation by someone else! Further, in Hagin's mind, the suffering of the cross--where atonement was made as a propitiation against God's wrath--was not enough and Jesus needed to enter hell and suffer there on our behalf. This is not found in the NT. Jesus did not become sin, but rather, sin was imputed to Him.

1Pe 1:19 ESV but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot.

When the Bible says

2Co 5:21 ESV For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

"...scholars agree that the word 'sin' in this passage is used in an abstract sense. They are virtually unanimous in pointing out that the phrase 'to become sin' as used here is a metonym (a word or phrase substituted for another associated word or phrase), for Christ 'bearing the penalty of our sins'. Expositor, T.J. Crawford, maintains that 'there can be no doubt that the expression is metonymical, since it is impossible that Christ, or any person, could be literally made sin'." [2]

This verse teaches that Christ has been considered as though He were a sinner. As with the lamb in the O.T. sacrificial system, sin was imputed to Christ. According to Isaiah 53:4,5, the sin of man was laid to the account of Christ. Our sin was imputed to Jesus, and His righteousness was imputed to our favour. God treated Christ as if he were a sinner, just as He now treats the Christian as if he had never sinned. If Jesus had literally become sin, His offering would have been unacceptable to God. Another point is that the NIV has a footnote saying "Or be a sin offering."

Or, it could be like this:

"God made him who had no sin to be a sin offering for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

"The Hebrew term for 'sin' and 'sin offering' is one and the same. The Hebrew term, hatt't can be translated either 'sin' or 'sin offering'; the context determines the meaning. When hatt't was used in reference to the O.T. animal substitute (which remained holy before and after its death), it was understood by the Jewish people as a 'sin offering'. The same is true in reference to the Greek term for 'sin', harmartia, in 2Cor. 5:21. The apostle Paul, a Hebrew of Hebrews, clearly had sin offering in mind and not literal sin....The O.T. sin offering did not typify something 'sinful' at death to the Jews as Hagin and other charismatics depict Christ; it typified 'a sinless sacrifice for sin'. Jesus did not become unholy on the cross, but was a holy sin offering who 'gave himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God as a fragrant aroma' (Eph. 5:2)."[3]

Isa 53:11 ESV Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied; by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant, make many to be accounted righteous, and he shall bear their iniquities.

"In 1Timothy 3:16, God was manifested in the flesh and justified in the Spirit. Now you can't get somebody justified and made righteous in the spirit if it (sic) wasn't first unrighteous. The righteousness of God was made to be sin."[4] (Kenneth Copeland)

Jesus' being justified in the Spirit means nothing of the kind. This Scripture is simply telling us that Christ's claims of being the Son of God were justified or vindicated by the Holy Spirit.

In my next post we will see how the WOF preachers claim that Jesus had to be saved in hell. Shocking!!

Just thinking...

End Notes

[1] K. Hagin, The Name of Jesus, Tulsa, OK: K. Hagin Ministries, 1981. p31-33.

[2] H. Hanegraaff, Christianity in Crisis, Harvest House, 1993, p159.

[3] M. Moriarty, The New Charismatics, Zondervan, 1992, p362.

[4] K. Copeland, "What Happened From the Cross to the Throne" (audiotape) Fort Worth, Texas, K. Copeland Ministries, 1990 #02-0017 or 00-0303 Side B.

Heresies in the church - Part 2

In my last post I showed how the WOF crowd tampers with the Atonement of Christ.

Spiritual Death

The WOF camp is big on the spiritual death of Christ. It is not the physical death of Christ, in their gospel, that paid the price for sin, but the spiritual death of Christ. Kenneth Copeland has this to say: "Jesus had to go through that same spiritual death in order to pay the price. It wasn't the physical death on the cross that paid the price for sin. Because if it had of been any prophet of God that had died for the last couple of thousand of years before that could have paid that price. It wasn't physical death. Anybody could do that." [1] Kenneth Hagin has this to say: "He (Jesus) tasted spiritual death for every man. And His spirit and inner man went to hell in my place. Can't you see that? Physical death wouldn't remove your sins. He's tasted death for every man. He's talking about tasting spiritual death." [2]

WOF preachers emphasize the "spiritual death" of Christ while excluding the physical death of Christ completely. To them, if all it took was a physical death, then anyone would do! The problem with this is simply that it is unbiblical. The Bible's emphasis is on the physical death of Christ, not the spiritual. The teaching of scripture is: "Without shedding of blood is no remission" (Hebrews 9:22). This points to the physical attributes of Jesus in the atonement.Well, did Jesus die spiritually? How do WOF teachers come to this conclusion? They use

Mar 15:34 ESV And at the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, "Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?" which means, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?"

Jesus uttered these words as a prophetic fulfilment of Psalm 22:1. Did God abandon the psalmist? No! When reading this prophetic psalm we find that the psalmist was merely expressing how he felt in his time of distress. When we read verses 9-11, 19-24 we realize that at the same time the psalmist felt abandoned, he also knew who his help came from. He certainly was not abandoned. Jesus on the cross merely expressed the same feelings as the psalmist did. God never abandoned Christ on the cross. Rather, God turned His back to what was on Jesus, namely sin. Jesus was man's sin-bearer, but He was not polluted with man's sin-nature and the nature of Satan as the WOF teachers claim.

Jesus did not die spiritually. As a matter of fact, the Bible teaches just the opposite.

1Pe 3:18 ESV For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit,

There are many verses in Scripture which attest to our redemption being fully accomplished by the physical death of Jesus.

Heb 10:10 ESV And by that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.

Rom 7:4 ESV Likewise, my brothers, you also have died to the law through the body of Christ, so that you may belong to another, to him who has been raised from the dead, in order that we may bear fruit for God.

Col 1:22 ESV he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him,

1Pe 2:24 ESV He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed.

1Pe 4:1 ESV Since therefore Christ suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves with the same way of thinking, for whoever has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin,

Eph 2:14-15 ESV For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility (15) by abolishing the law of commandments and ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace

Jesus spoke often of His impending physical death, yet never once did He refer to a spiritual death. Man died spiritually because he sinned. Jesus never sinned!

My next post will deal with the supposed "satanic nature" of Jesus when he died spiritually.

Read Heresies in the church - Part 1.
Continue with Heresies in the church - Part 3.

Just thinking...

End Notes

[1] Kenneth Copeland, "What Satan saw on the day of Pentecost" tape #02-0022.

[2] K. Hagin, "How Jesus Obtained His Name, Tulsa, OK: K. Hagin Ministries n.d. audiotape #44HO1, side A.

Heresies in the church - Part 1

On July 26, 2005 I wrote in a blog article called Those who call themselves Christians... the following:

"Something that has been on my mind for some time now seems to have appeared in blogdom. At Pyromaniac, Phil Johnson mentioned the fact that a man like T.D. Jakes made TIME magazine's list of the top most influential evangelicals in the USA. At FROM THE HEAD OF THE MOOR, Jonathan Moorhead blogged two very good and interesting blog messages on T.D. Jakes and also Tommy Tenney.This is a subject that is very dear to my heart. To read a bit more about what I have written about a Oneness pentecostal's views, please visit my article called GWEN SHAMBLIN'S BELIEF ABOUT THE TRINITY: A REBUTTAL.

"It simply amazes me how many churches today, notably charismatic churches, have accepted the books, videos and CDs of both Jakes and Tenney. A very popular singing group--Philips, Craig and Dean (PCD)--is also very popular here in South Africa. A very good article about their doctrine was written by Eric Nielsen at Alpha and Omega Ministries."

Apart from allowing the anti-Trinitarians into the church, the church--especially the charismatic church--has allowed other errors and heresies into its fold to flourish. The amazing thing about this is that this influx of heresies and heretics has gone on without much resistance to it. There is a lot of talk in the charismatic church about discernment, however it is not theological discernment.

Infinite worth

Something that I have been thinking about lately is the perception that the self-esteem crowd has of the atonement.

 

Whenever they preach about anything that touches the atonement, almost invariably they will state that Christ died for us because we are so valuable. To them the death of Christ is almost always seen in terms of how much worth each of us has. This is the reason that the Father sent the Son: we are so valuable!

 

The self-esteem crowd certainly has done one thing for the church...; it elevated pride where humility should have been installed!

 

Sure, as Christians we were bought at a price, but that price was as a result of a ransom paid. In modern terms, that price was not market related! It was a price connected to a ransom. If we have to think logically about our own worth and the worth of the Son of God, and if we connect the death of Christ to the value of a human being, then I think God was ripped off! He paid way too much. Sure, God gave man an intrinsic dignity and worth, but that is hardly what the atonement is all about!

 

Rom 3:23-25 ESV for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, (24) and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, (25) whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God's righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins.

The fact is, we have all sinned, and there was no way we would be able to step into God's glorious presence in that sinful state. God is holy, and we have become evil through the complete fall of man! It is important to note that even though man has great value and Christ died for the elect, the reason for the death of Christ was to turn God's wrath away from man.

 

The ransom had to be equal to the infinite holiness and wrath of God! It is for this reason that blood had to be shed! However,

 

Heb 10:1 ESV For since the law has but a shadow of the good things to come instead of the true form of these realities, it can never, by the same sacrifices that are continually offered every year, make perfect those who draw near.

The sacrifices demanded by the law could not perfect those who came near since those sacrifices could never atone for the sins of the people when an infinitely holy God demanded payment. Only an infinite payment could do that! I am sure you can see the problem now! Nothing that man can ever do, can atone for his sins.

 

Now we see that if an infinitely holy God had become infinitely wrathful against the sins of man, then an infinite payment had to be made. This payment, the propitiation that God himself put forward by the blood of Christ, was the only payment that could be made. Only Jesus could make that payment.

 

Thus, the value of mankind does not determine the value of the atonement. It was God Himself that determined the value of the atonement since it was He Himself that had to be appeased. God, and only God, can appease Himself! Our pathetic attempts to appease God simply draw attention to the fact that in comparison to the infinite wrath of God against our sin, our finite worth can never be the determinant of the atonement's value. 

 

Just thinking...

What should I read next?

Our knowledge of the Bible and of theology is very important. Don't think for a minute that you get enough at church. At most modern churches today a lot is said during the sermon, yet very little of substance is preached.

 

Either very little of the Scripture is used, making it an empty sermon, or a lot of Scripture is used but with re-interpretation. It is difficult to know which of these two types of sermons is the worst.

 

Be that as it may, the point is, many of us need supplemental material. We need spiritual vitamins, since we are under-nourished. Are you planning to add some real value to your spiritual intake, or don't you care that you are underfed?

 

Here are some lists of books you might want to have a look at just to enhance your diet:

Reading List: Pastors

Layman's Reading List

DesiringGod Recommended Reading

 

Just thinking...

The worship of money-changers

Last night while I was putting our children to bed, I read them the story of Jesus cleansing the temple. I found it to be a very interesting story. It somewhat relates to one of my previous blogs called Worship at a price.

 

"The Passover of the Jews was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. In the temple he found those who were selling oxen and sheep and pigeons, and the money-changers sitting there. And making a whip of cords, he drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and oxen. And he poured out the coins of the money-changers and overturned their tables. And he told those who sold the pigeons, "Take these things away; do not make my Father's house a house of trade." His disciples remembered that it was written, "Zeal for your house will consume me."" (Joh 2:13-17 ESV)

 

It suddenly hit me. The temple was the place of worship for the Jews. However, they had turned their place of worship into a commercial enterprise. Now, I know we cannot correlate the temple to our own places of worship since Paul explicitly states that while the physical building was the temple in the Old Testament, we as individuals and as the church are now the temple of the Holy Spirit (1 Cor 3:16; 6:19). So, while we cannot draw a direct line between the places of worship in the Old and New Testaments, I would like to make a point.

 

While the Jews in reality scrapped worship for material gain in the temple by their commercial endeavours in the temple, I find it very disconcerting that in today's church worship itself has become a major money maker. It is the in-thing for bands these days to be into "worship!" Bands who previously simply attempted to sing the gospel have now suddenly jumped on the worship bandwagon. I suppose money does talk! While today's modern church has not scrapped worship for material gain, it has gone much further and is using worship directly for material gain. Worship music has become a major commercial product for the church. Go into almost any Christian book store, and you will find that worship music has grown in leaps and bounds. And..., almost all of them are marketed either by their superior labels or their superior "worship" leaders.

 

If worship music doesn't exist for financial gain, I wonder why we have to pay such a high price to worship? If the worship music marketing engine has such good intentions, why don't they drop the price on worship music? I wonder why not.....?

 

The fact is, Jesus said in John 4:24 that "God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth." With today's worship bands all over the world, and in many churches, it seems that worship music has become much of a status symbol. You have to be following the right label or worship group. "Have you heard of so-and-so?" "Isn't so-and-so great?" Jesus did not say that "God is a method with an amazingly distinct style with excellent modern rhythms and by this method or that group we must worship!" SPIRIT AND TRUTH! Spirit and truth! What has happened to spirit and truth?

 

All of this is geared towards giving the "worshipper" this amazing feeling which is called the "anointing!" What amazes me is that 99% of the time this anointing comes when the song is good according to modern standards. That means that it may or may not contain truth, but it is "good."

 

It is time the "worship" marketers must re-evaluate their motives and so must those who create the music.

 

Maybe this new commercial "worship" is all part of what PYROMANIAC calls New-model Christianity. Is this worship merely part of the modern Christian's Fad-Driven Life? It would seem so when you walk into such a Fad-Driven worship session! Modern Christians are trying so hard to be relevant to the world with its music and its worshitainment, that there is simply nothing the world needs in the church because they have exactly the same in the world!

 

Christians are not called to be "in," but rather to be separate!

 

Just thinking...

.xxx - Will filth prevail?

There has been a move recently by ICANN--the body that controls internet domains--to create a domain specifically for pornographers. It will be the .xxx domain. It will be working exactly like the .com or.net domains and instead of finding a web address of www.<name>.com one would find www.<name>.xxx. This will make it so much easier for people to find pornographic material on the world wide web! Is that really what we want for a medium that has so much to offer? The US government has asked ICANN to postpone their vote for this domain until September 15, 2005.

Why don't you help by letting ICANN know that such a domain is not welcome on the internet by emailing, faxing or calling them by phone.

Here is the contact information for ICANN that you can also find at http://www.icann.org/general/contact.htm.

---

Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN)

Marina del Rey, CA, USA

4676 Admiralty Way, Suite 330
Marina del Rey, CA 90292-6601
USA

Phone: +1.310.823.9358
FAX: +1.310.823.8649

Belgium

6 Rond Point Schuman
Bt. 5
Brussels B-1040 Belgium

Phone: +32 2 234 7872
FAX: +32 2 234 7848

General Email: icann@icann.org

For questions and comments about the website, webmaster@icann.org
For questions concerning operations and content, questions@icann.org
For comments and submitting community feedback, comments@icann.org
For complaints about accredited registrars, go to the InterNIC website.
For questions about registrar accreditation, email accredit@icann.org

---

Alternatively, you may go to this webpage to simply fill in a preformatted form and have your say against the .xxx domain.

---

I wrote a short email to them to ask them to vote against the .xxx domain. Here is that email:

Pornography has become a scourge to the world and not just in the USA. It has been conclusively proven through many studies that almost all rapists commit rape after having viewed pronographic material. This is a serious issue! May the blood of rape victims not be found on your hands. Please do not legitimize this filth by giving them their own domain.

Pornography is abhorrent and not only deprives women of their God-given dignity, but also that of men. We do not want our young men to think that they are merely animals that must act upon their animal, sexual lusts. Yet, that is exactly what pronography does for us. It makes us no better than the dogs in the street. Yet, we have mental and moral capabilities that these animals do not have. Why break down those capabilities by legitimizing pornography through a pornographical domain?

Please, vote against this domain!

Just thinking...

Sex and the Supremacy of Christ - Review

One of the things that I notice these days when I walk through our local Christian book stores is that there is a great concern about sexuality, especially towards teenagers. I can see why. It is all over television, magazines, movies and even the radio.

 

The book Sex and the Supremacy of Christ is based on the brain-child of John Piper, a conference in 2004 with the theme of Sex and the Supremacy of Christ. This book is the result of the messages preached at this conference. John Piper and Justin Taylor are the editors of the book while also contributing four chapters between them, if the Introduction can be counted as a chapter.

 

An added benefit of this book is that 12 very gifted authors wrote the different chapters. I have read some of these authors on the internet via their blogs like Al Mohler and Justin Taylor. It sure has been a wonderful blessing to meet these different authors through this book!

 

The book is divided into 5 parts. Part 1 deals with God and Sex, and the three chapters in this part are written by John Piper and Ben Patterson. Part 2 covers Sin and Sex written by David Powlison and Al Mohler Jr. Part 3 handles the explosive subject of Men and Sex (chapter 6 was written by Mark Dever, Michael Lawrence, Matt Schmucker, and Scott Croftby  while chapter 7 was written by C.J. Mahaney). Part 4 was written by Carolyn McCulley and Carolyn Mahaney and embraces the subject of Women and Sex. The last part, 5, History and Sex, was written by Justin Taylor and Mark Dever. Well, upfront you now know who wrote this book.

 

Apart from being a very practical book, it adds a dimension that I do not see in other books on the subject of sex and the Christian: the supremacy of Christ. It is written on the premise that if Christ is truly supreme in our lives, that life's issues--including the issue of sex--will fall into their proper place resulting in a life that honours God instead of constantly falling at the feet of the modern god of sex. It is only Christ that can give us true satisfaction in life. Piper says it so well on page 30: "...not only do all the misuses of our sexuality serve to conceal or distort the true knowledge of God in Christ, but it also works powerfully the other way around: the true knowledge of God in Christ serves to prevent the misuses of our sexuality. So, on the one hand, sexuality is designed by God as a way to know Christ more fully. And, on the other hand, knowing Christ more fully is designed as a way of guarding and guiding our sexuality." If we are small-minded in the area of the supremacy of Christ in our lives, then other issues, like a depraved sexuality, will become supreme.

 

It is not as if sex is unimportant, it is! Yet, we must learn, like Al mohler says, to speak of marriage when the subject of sex is raised, because that is the only legitimate context within which sex may be found. Sex and the Supremacy of Christ is not just a book about sex and the human problem with sex. It is a book that lays out the theology of sex. It tells us everything from where sex may be legitimately found, to how it should be treated by unmarried people, to finally how it should be enjoyed by married people.

 

Each of the writers had great value to add to this book. In my opinion this book should not just be on your book shelves at home, but should be well-read and well understood. Sexuality has become such an issue in our day, and Sex and the Supremacy of Christ is an amazingly timely book to help us think about the subject of sex with a Biblical worldview. If there ever was a relevant theology that should be understood by Christians today, it would be the theology of sex as found in the Bible.

 

Not only is there such a theology in the Bible, Sex and the Supremacy of Christ proclaims that theology with boldness and joy in the face of our Sovereign Lord, Jesus Christ.

 

In my humble opinion, this is the best book on the subject and it is greatly enriching to those who want to hear the truth!

 

Sex and the Supremacy of Christ can be found at the online bookstore of desiringGod and comes packed with a DVD. It can also be found here.

 

Just thinking...