The Bible in the Hands of the Common Man (According to Manalo's Iglesia ni Cristo)

It has been long rumored that Iglesia ni Cristo members are discouraged, even prohibited, by their leaders from reading the Holy Scriptures. We have a primary source that seems to point to that direction. This is from page 57 of the late Eraño Manalo's book The Fundamental Beliefs of Iglesia ni Cristo.

In page 57, this question was asked: "Why is a messenger (Felix Manalo) necessary to preach the Gospel when the Bible can just be read by anyone who knows how to read?"
Their answer: "Because the Bible is hidden in mystery"-- they're implying of course that only their messenger could see through the mysteries.

The next question asked is: "If those who are not sent by God study the Bible diligently, will they be able to understand and see God's will which he has hidden in mystery?"
The answer they gave is basically saying that you will only contribute to the confusion in religion if you will study the bible by your self. Only a messenger could handle the Bible safely.

This is directly opposite to what Evangelical Christianity we teaches: the perspicuity (clarity) of Scriptures even to the common man. For this reason, we encourage everyone to feast on reading and studying the God-breathed Scriptures.

Then in the next Q&A, they teach that if you will listen to non-INC preachers, your destiny shall be destruction. These is one of the ways cults control their people. They keep the Bible away from away from their members so they will not see the light. They can only believe what their ministers tell them. They scare them of punishment  if they dare to open their minds to other viewpoints.

This is what we ought to realize: though INC members may posture themselves as if they are knowledgeable in the Bible, the truth is they are ignorant about its message because their leaders kept the source of light away from them. May we find opportunities to bring the eternal lamp of the Holy Scriptures to these folks so that some of them may see the glory of Christ as revealed on its pages.

Joel Osteen: Visiting the Facebook Pages of Prosperity Preachers, part 5

Taken from the Facebook page of Joel Osteen Ministries

This lady bought Principle One of Joel Osteen's book Your Best Life Now. This principle  is "Enlarge Your Vision"; here you must believe that God gave his children "special advantages" and "preferential treatment". The way to avail of these is to declare them with your mouth, which by the way is related to Principle Three "Discover the power of your thoughts and words".

The lady in the photo is declaring that people will bless her, even her enemies. Because according to  Osteen, as the children of the Most High God, we can expect people to treat us differently. We must expect them to do good things for us.

Of course the Lord can do that if he wills. The Egyptians who were naturally cruel to their Israelite slaves suddenly turned super generous to them just before the Exodus because God supernaturally controlled their wills and desires (Exodus 11:2-3). But that wasn't the norm. Right after that, the Egyptians pursued them again relentlessly until the LORD drowned them in the Red Sea.

So in our time, we can believe that the Lord can supernaturally work in the desires and wills of the people around us (bosses, teachers, politicians, neighbors, drivers, barbers, doctors, criminals, etc.) so we can receive favors. But never expect that to be the norm. What we should expect is that everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ will be persecuted (2 Timothy 3:12). They may stone us to death (Acts 7:57), throw us to prison (Acts 22:4), confiscate our properties (Hebrews 10:34), toss us to the lions' den, or burn us on stakes. And when these things do happen, we should not be caught surprised. The Apostle Peter wrote:

"Dear friends, do not be surprised at the painful trial you are suffering, as though something strange were happening to you." (1 Peter 4:12)

When people mistreat you because of your faith, do not for a single minute think you're not getting the best out of what God has provided for you. The very opposite could be true. For our Lord Jesus Christ taught:

Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you. (Matthew 5:10-12)

Bowman Disagrees with McConnell and Hanegraaff on the Origin of the Positive Confession Movement

Robert Bowman Jr. (Director, Institute for Religious Research)

It was in  D. R. McConnell's book A Different Gospel where it was first proposed that the Word of Faith Movement (a.k.a "Positive Confession"; a.k.a. "Name-it-Claim-it"; a.k.a. "Hyper-faith") traces its roots to the Metaphysical cults. Most of the subsequent critical evaluations of the movement then followed McConnell's conclusions. For example, Hank Hanegraaff wrote:  

"Essek William Kenyon, whose life and ministry were enormously impacted by such cults as Science of Mind, the Unity School of Christianity, Christian Science, and New Thought metaphysics, is the true father of the modern-day Faith movement." (Christianity in Crisis)

Veteran counter-cult researcher Robert Bowman Jr. disagrees with this assessment. His own research led him to the conclusion that the movement's origin could be traced back to the faith healing movement within the evangelical tradition in the 19th and early 20th centuries. I don't have a copy of his now out-of-print book The Word-Faith Controversy, but I'm grateful his lecture Frequently Asked Questions About the Faith Movement is available for download or online listening at the website of Calvary Santa Fe.

I was able to list at least three grounds of his objection to the McConnell proposal.

First, though it might be true that E.W. Kenyon was exposed to the metaphysical cults in Boston, the same is true for most of the people in that area. Rather, the person who probably influenced Kenyon the most at Boston is the prominent Baptist pastor A.J. Gordon who was a firm believer in faith healing. There were no Pentecostals yet then for the Azusa Street Revivals won't be held until 1906, yet faith healing was already a part of American evangelicalism. Kenyon got married in Gordon's church and it was even Gordon who ordained him.

Second, Bowman questions the soundness of the methodology McConnell used in his research. For instead of demonstrating Kenyon's debt to the metaphysical cults from Kenyon's works, McConnell lumped together Kenyon-Hagin-Copeland quotes. Though there are parallels between the metaphysical cult teachings with the statements of latter Positive Confession teachers such as Kenneth Copeland, it is irrelevant to the question of the movement's origin.

Third, when we look into the big theological issues, one would not find parallels between Kenyon and the Mind Science cults. What we find are contrasts.

• Mind science cultists believe in an impersonal god referred to as the "cosmic mind"; Kenyon believed in a personal God.
• Mind science cultists' method of biblical interpretation is esoteric-- that is they often find hidden, spiritual meanings in the Bible which no one else has ever seen before; Kenyon's interpretative method is very literal.
• There is no concept of sin in mind science systems; Kenyon taught men are sinners in need of salvation.
• Since there is no sin in the mind science cults, Jesus doesn't have to die for atonement. Jesus' death was a travesty of justice. Some of them even toyed with the idea that Jesus did not die. Kenyon taught that Jesus died both physically and spiritually to redeem humanity. That spiritual death part is unsound, but it is nevertheless in contrast with the view of the mind science cults.

Make no mistake about it; the Positive Confession teaching  is indeed a false doctrine says Bowman. His concern is this: they will rightly dismiss us if we misdiagnose the problem. That should be our concern too for it would be extra difficult for us to rescue our friends and loved ones from the claws of the Word of Faith heresy if we fail to understand the nature of the horrific monster.

You can listen to the lecture HERE

Creflo Dollar: Visiting the Facebook Pages of Prosperity Preachers, part 2

Quotes from John Piper, J.C. Ryle, and The Valley of Vision. These are what I usually see in my Facebook news feed. The insights they offer are truly edifying; truly soul-nourishing.

I wonder what if the Lord has not enlightened me on the evils of the Word-of-Faith Movement? What if I was left in darkness listening and reading these dangerous teachers? What would appear on my news feed if the Lord has not kept me away from their clutches? 

On March 30, 2012, I decided to visit the Facebook Walls/Timelines of some of the big names in the movement.

Their Facebook posts appears in red in this series.

"Today’s faith confession- ”Father, I believe and receive my right to be healed, whole, and prosperous in my body, spirit and soul according to 3 John 1:2.” After you have confessed, believed and received, click “like” and leave a comment below letting us know that you have come into agreement with today’s faith confession."

The originator of the use of 3 John 2 as a proof text for prosperity teaching is the late Oral Roberts (1918-2009). Through this verse, Oral and his wife Evelyn discovered that God's "highest wish" for believers is "to prosper". And because of this discovery, God gave the couple a brand-new car-- a Buick to be specific.

But as top-notch Pentecostal exegete Gordon Fee has pointed out, 3 John 2 is "the standard form of greeting in a personal letter of antiquity". Fee says further. "to extend John's wish for Gaius to refer to financial and material prosperity for all Christians of all times is totally foreign to the text. John neither intended that, nor could Gaius so understood. Thus, it cannot be the 'plain meaning' of the text" (The Disease of the Health and Wealth Gospels)

Notice also that in Creflo Dollar's Facebook post, he presents health and prosperity as a right, something you must  claim or else, you submit yourself to injustice.

This right must be claimed by faith confession. Therefore it follows that when a Christian suffers, it's because he failed in the area of exercising faith through confession. I engaged a fan of Kenneth Copeland, Jesse Duplantis and Jerry Savelle in a Facebook thread and this is what he said:

"John 10:10 – Jesus said the thief comes but to steal, kill and destroy but I came that you might have life and have it more abundantly.. now tell me sino pumapatay? If a believer is sick, poor, broke, dies, sins… it isnt because of God did it,No, it is because of we did and decide for it.." (~SGBB)

There you have it. In this evil belief system...

• Joni Eareckson Tada should never be counted as a hero in the faith.
• Jim Elliot should never be regarded as a model missionary.
• The Foxe's Book of Martyrs should be retitled as Foxe's Book of Faith Weaklings

Walter Martin's "last appearance" on TBN

As the program was about to end, Walter Martin thanked Trinity Broadcasting Network president Paul Crouch and his wife Jan for having the courage for letting the concerns be discussed; he also conveyed his hope that the dialogue will continue. Yet when host Doug Clark announced that there is a scheduled replay of the program, he expressed his doubt if it will ever be replayed. Indeed, TBN did not replay it and Martin was never invited again.

Dr. Martin pulled no punches. On air, he specifically mentioned the names of Kenneth Hagin, Kenneth Copeland and Oral Roberts as  purveyors of cultic doctrines within our camp.

I thought of giving a detailed review of this program, but I think there is no need for it. I'll just embed the entire program below. I will comment on one point. The host asked Martin three questions regarding the men he's criticizing:

"Do you believe they are Christian?"

"Born-again?"

"Love the Lord?"

In all the above questions, Martin answered "YES". Yet there is also evidence that after this appearance, the original Bible Answer Man changed his mind, at least regarding Kenneth Copeland.

"For ten years I have warned- And I'm on tape and in print on this- that we were heading into the Kingdom of the Cults with the faith teachers. You are no longer heading there, baby, you are there."

~Walter Martin

Kenneth Copeland's False Prophecy

an audiotape cited in Hank Hanegraaff's Christianity in Crisis

By the way, Martin was a staunch Charismatic.

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

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Buy a copy of Walter Martin's The Kingdom of the Cults 

The One in us vs. the one in them (part 6 of 6: HOLY UNBELIEF-- Insights from 1 John 4:1-6)

The ministry of discernment can be a very intimidating task. Some leave it ONLY for the gifted. But you know what, you may not be especially gifted in this field of ministry, but I want to assure you that you can discern. Yes you can.

1 John 4:4 "You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world."

You have overcome them, not because of anything inherent in you. Our text sets out the reason why: because he who resides in us is greater that those whose resides in them.

Rom.8:14, “because those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God”

The same Holy Spirit who leads you to a holy living will also lead you into holy believing, and if necessary, he will also lead you to holy unbelief.
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The Congregation Test 2: Holy People listen to holy teachers with holy messages (part 5 of 6: HOLY UNBELIEF-- Insights from 1 John 4:1-6)

Spiritual messages from spiritual teachers will be received by spiritual men

John 10:27: "My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me."

John 10:5: "But they will never follow a stranger; in fact, they will run away from him because they do not recognize a stranger's voice."

The word of God will come upon his people with great conviction (1 Thess. 1:4-5)

In the process of testing, we should also ask,"What is the church's attitude towards this teaching?"

“if the community we have always trusted, if the church as the historic custodian of truth refuses this prophesy, we should be warned” (Gary Burge, NIVAC)

In the Roman Catholic church, the final authority is Sola Ecclesia- whatever the church says. As evangelicals, we are for Sola Scriptura. Yet it is wrong to think that the church has no value in teaching the truth.

“Those who claim that the church has no value and isn’t instrumental in teaching Scipture are wrong. The church is the pillar and foundation of truth and this “community of God” is instrumental in keeping us in check with the rest of the Christian community.” (Ray Aviles, BARM Public Square)

On his appearance on the June Cain Miller show Dr. Walter Martin pointed out that though he wrote a book on cults (The Kingdom of Cults), he was not the one who classified groups such as Jehovah’s Witnesses, Mormonism, Cristian Science, etc. as cults. He said that it was the Christian Church who classified theses groups as cults.

I could recommend contemporary statement on the essentials of the evangelical faith:

The Gospel of Jesus Christ: An Evangelical Celebration
The Cambridge Declaration by the Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals
The Chicago Statement on Biblical Inerrancy

.
Aside from contemporary statements, ancient documents are also helpful: the Heidelberg and Westminster cathechisms; The Apostles creed, Nicene Creed and Athanasian Creed.

These are helpful tools for testing the spirits.
Ano ba ang paniniwala ng mga taong banal noon at ngayon?

I have a friend from Grace Communion International (GCI), formerly the Worldwide Church of God (WCG). He is very much into theology; we discuss theological issues once in a while. Recently, GCI has embraced Karl Barth soteriology. What I am trying to do is to show my friend that Barth’s view is far from the evangelical consensus. I’m trying to warn him about the effects of these recent developments within GCI. This will surely affect GCI's standing in the evangelical community. I even think that GCI’s position is worse than Barth’s now, for they mix it with their long-held error of post-mortem salvation.

Test everything. Hold on to what is good. Shun evil.
Let us ask ourselves:
Will godly Christians celebrate this teaching?
If they treasure this doctrine, why would I reject it?
If they abhor this doctrine then why should I accept it?

Godly men will accept truth; and when you offer the same to ungodly men, they will reject it. They will find no beauty in it.

“He who belongs to God hears what God says. The reason you do not hear is that you do not belong to God" (John 8:47)
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Photo credit: http://sharecare.wordpress.com/2008/01/24/the-good-shepherd/

The Congregation Test 1: Worldly people listen to worldly teachers with worldly messages (part 4 of 6: HOLY UNBELIEF-- Insights from 1 John 4:1-6)

In this test, we will ask these questions:
Who listens to them?
Who celebrates when they teach?

They are from the world and therefore speak from the viewpoint of the world,
and the world listens to them. (1 John 4:5 NIV)

For the unspiritual message of unspiritual persons will be received by an unspiritual congregation.

Nasa likas ng makasalanang tao ang ipagbunyi ang masama:
"Although they know God's righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them.” (Romans 1:32)

What does John mean when he says “they are of the world”?
Worldliness is opposed to what is heavenly and it appeals to carnal pleasures: envy; self-seeking; sensuality. It is associated with the demonic (James 3:13-15)

False teaching is enjoyed by sensual people; by a congregation hostile to God. Ang mga nakikinig sa mga gurong makasanlibutan ay yung mga kapwa nila makasanlibutan.

Nasa likas ng makasalanang tao ang ipagbunyi ang masama :

"Although they know God's righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them." (Romans 1:32)

So a rapper can release a perverse album and receive a platinum award.

So an ungodly book like Dan Brown’s The Da Vinci Code could sell 80,000,000 copies.

That’s why they love documentaries such as James Cameron’s “The Lost Tomb of Jesus” which would tell them that Jesus’ bones were found in the Talpiot Tomb. They like those lies very much because if Jesus’ bones were found, that means the resurrection was a hoax. And if Jesus is dead, that means there is no Lord to obey. They could do whatever they want.

John 3:19 says ”men loved darkness instead of light” that’s why they love men from the dark.

Same is true with regards to false teaching.
Minsan, naiisip natin: “Kawawa naman, niloloko sila ng false teacher na ito”. But the bible reveals that they are not innocent. They are willing participants in the crime

2 Timothy 4:3-4: For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths.”

From these verse we glean the following:
a. The demand for false teachers increases the supply. They collect false teachers around themselves
b. They listen to satisfy their itching ears; they want messages which are suited to their carnal desires
c. They deliberately turn their ears from what is true to listen to what is false.

~ What they want is not God. What they want is a BMW, that’s why they hired Kenneth Copeland so that someone will frequently tell them that God wants them to have a BMW.

~ They want to belittle Jesus, and so they hired an executive minister who will deny the deity of Christ. And when that executive minister dies, worldly people in the government will declare a National Day of Mourning in honor of the one who belittled Jesus Christ.

~ They love cursing that’s why they will gladly listen to their “Sugong Palamura” At habang pinagmumumura ng kanilang pinuno yung katunggali sa debate, nagdiriwang sila kasi mahilig sila sa pagmumura.

~ Who will celebrate at Brian Maclaren’s call for a 5-year moratorium on making pronouncements on homosexuality ? Only worldly people will celebrate that.

~ Who will celebrate Antinomianism? Who will rejoice over a notion that a a thief converted in 1999 can remain as a thief until 2009?

The unspiritual message of unspiritual persons will be receive by an unspiritual congregation.
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The Creed Test (part 3 of 6: HOLY UNBELIEF-- Insights from 1 John 4:1-6)

In my previous post, we have tackled the need for testing the spirits to see whether they are from God or not. The first test that we have to do according to Apostle John is the creed test— what do they believe?; what are they teaching?

Is it consistent with Apostolic doctrine (Galatians. 1:8-9)?
Is it in harmony with previous revelation (Acts 17:11)?

In our text, John was addressing a particular Christological problem in their day—“a combination of elements, including emerging Gnosticism, docetism and Cerinthianism” (Craig Blomberg, The NT Definition of Heresy, JETS Mar. 2002). This is the reason why he laid down a Christological test.

Yet John does not intend here that the creed test will only be Christological. There are many other things that the Bible lays down as essential tenets of the faith. One helpful tool for this matter is Robert Bowman’s A Biblical Guide to Orthodoxy and Heresy (Part 2: Guidelines for Doctrinal Discernment).

The suggestion of Bruce Demarest and Gordon Lewis is also worthy of consideration. They stressed the importance of using provisional authorities like confessions of faith and historic Christian creeds:

“when new in the faith. Like young children under the authority of their parents, Christians wisely depend rather heavily on their received traditions… They function as authorities until we have been able to check out their faithfulness to Scripture for ourselves” (Integrative Theology, Vol.1)
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The Source of False Teachings (part 2 of 6: HOLY UNBELIEF-- Insights from 1 John 4:1-6)

Apostle John commands believers not to believe every spirit. Rather we are asked to “test“ the spirits. The Greek word is dokimazo- “to try to learn the genuineness of something by examination and testing” (Louw & Nida lexicon). For not everything that glitters is gold; I know at least two store owners in our baranggay who were deceived by nice looking fake 500 peso bills. Same is true when it comes with doctrines. Not everyone who looks like an angel of God is from God.

Our text says that many false prophets have come into the world. “marami”—naglipana—nagkalat kung saan-saan at sila ay naghahasik ng lagim. They are not harmless. In his farewell address to to the Ephesian church, Paul referred to them as savage wolves (Acts 20:29).

They are the initial installments of the final anti-christ. In the end times, someone will emerge to ”oppose" and “exalt himself over everything that is called God or is worshiped”, and shall proclaim himself to be God (2 Thess. 2:4). He will be hostile to Christ and to truth. That is the future anti-christ. Yet smaller versions of him are already in the world by means of false teachers, promoting doctrines that are hostile to God.

As to the source of these anti-God ideas, it seems clear to me that here in our text and elsewhere, that such thoughts are diabolical.

1 Tim.4:1 “The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons”(Yikes!!!)

2 Cor. 11:13-15 “For such men are false apostles, deceitful workmen, masquerading as apostles of Christ. And no wonder, for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light. It is not surprising, then, if his servants masquerade as servants of righteousness.”

—If your idea of demons is drawn primarily from watching horror films (yung mga biglang sumusulpot sa likuran; duguan ang mukha kasabay ng nakakakilabot na sound effects; o di kaya ay yung halimaw na lumalabas sa banga—at sabi ni Matet ay “Takot ako eh,”) then you know very little about demons.

One of the main activities of Satan and his minions is deception. He was present in Eden to deceive Adam and Eve and he would be present in Gog and Magog to deceive the nations. So Scripture testifies that from the beginning of history (Genesis) to the end (Revelation), Satan and his assistants are active deceivers.

These are not merely differences in opinion:
“behind the false prophet or false teacher is an evil spirit. Men simply do not speak out of their own intellectual attainments. Quite unconsciously they are being guided--really misguided--by an evil spirit, a “spirit of error,” (Ray Stedman)

Herbert Armstrong, founder of the Worldwide Church of God (WCG) now Grace Communion International (GCI) taught some perverse doctrines during his lifetime: Legalistic observance of Mosaic feasts; Saturday as the only true worship day; dietary laws; WCG’s exclusivity as the true church. He also define God as a family (Father & Son are members). After resurrection, believers become a part of that God-family. And when you finally become a member of the God family, you will not find the Holy Spirit there for he is not a person but a force.

After his death, WCG moved to more orthodox positions on various essential issues of the faith. Yet WCG never declared Armstrong as a false teacher. I have read two books written respectively by WCG/GCI’s current leaders: Transformed by Truth (Joseph Tkach Jr.) and Liberating the Worldwide Church of God (J. Michael Feazell). In both books, it is implied that Armstrong was saved and is in heaven!

I was disturbed. So I asked my WCG friend if he himself is hopeful that Armstrong was saved. He affirmed it.

In defense of Armstrong, he reasoned out that his former shepherd was just uneducated that’s why he fell into such ideas. I replied gently that though we are not the judge of men’s eternal destiny, we should also hold that a man who has rejected the gospel is presumed to be lost. I would add now based on 1 John 4 that the source of Armstrong’s false teachings is not his lack of education. By John's apostolic authority, I believe that Satan gave birth to such dangerous doctrines.

In fact, you can be very educated and still teach anti-God and Anti-christ ideas. Bart Ehrman is a case in point. He is a top scholar. He studied at some of the best evangelical theological schools: Moody Bible Institute and Wheaton College. He studied under top textual critic Bruce Metzger. Yet he now denies the reliability of Scriptures. He is now an agnostic.

Good education or lack of it is not the source of false doctrines-- demonic influence is.

Photo credit: http://rachidian.blogspot.com

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Intro: HOLY UNBELIEF (part 1 of 6-- Insights from 1 John 4:1-6)

1 John 4:1-6 (NIV)

"Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming and even now is already in the world.

You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world. They are from the world and therefore speak from the viewpoint of the world, and the world listens to them. We are from God, and whoever knows God listens to us; but whoever is not from God does not listen to us. This is how we recognize the Spirit of truth and the spirit of falsehood."

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If you have watched debates, you may have noticed that a debate starts with a proposition. One will be on the affirmative side; another on the negative side. A college debate may have this proposition: “Charter change will be beneficial to our nation”. One will agree with the proposition, one side will disagree. Then the debate happens.

When the Word of God expressed in propositions is preached, we must accept it as it is. We have no right to reject it. We don’t even have the right to propose amendments to the word of God. The word of God is perfect, so to modify it or revise it is indeed to destroy it. Spiritual people are believers. They say “AMEN” to biblical propositions.

But there is also a sense where spiritual men must not believe. The Macarthur Study Bible describes it as “healthy skepticism”—“doubting the validity of what is being said". Aside from John Macarthur, I will quote other respected bible teachers who espouse the same thing:

S. Lewis Johnson: "just as belief is an aspect of spiritual maturity so is unbelief a mark of spiritual maturity. In other words, to believe not certain things is just as significant as to believe other things" (a sermon titled "Test the Spirits")

Ray Stedman "To be a Christian you must be a believer, but it is equally true that every Christian is also called to be an unbeliever. There is a time when unbelief is the only right thing. The very same Scriptures which encourage us to believe likewise urge us not to believe. In fact they not only urge us, they command us not to believe. This is no contradiction, any more than to say that in order to live it is necessary both to inhale and to exhale. These are contradictory things: you cannot inhale and exhale at the same time, but both are absolutely necessary to maintain life." (Life in the Son, Expository Studies in 1 John)

You see, not all propositions are true.
Some are lies such as:

“Ang uling ay kulay puti”

“Ang yelo ay mainit”

“Si Bro. Manny ay guwapo” (I hope my mother will take the affirmative side; How about modifying the proposition by adding the word “medyo”… hahaha)

Not all propositions stated by a teacher/preacher are biblical. There are times when what is being taught has no scriptural basis. Even worse, there are times when a doctrine being stated directly opposes what the bible teaches. There are times when the holy man must withhold his “Amen”, even when everybody are shouting “Amen”. In some circumstances, to believe is evil and to doubt or disbelieve is holy.

Photo credit: http://www.promotionalpro.com/

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