The Theologically Confused Christians
 

by Dr. Ken Matto

(Acts 19:32 KJV) Some therefore cried one thing, and some another: for the assembly was confused; and the more part knew not wherefore they were come together.

Normally I view the above verse as a description of the typical congregation meeting. I have been in congregational meetings where the main agenda is diverted from and the reason of assembly normally gets lost in all the personal agendas which come to the forefront. However, When I look at this verse, I see something else, a very confused assembly. In the last three months I have been on a web chat site called Paltalk. Paltalk allows you to speak to anyone in your group from around the country or around the world. I have made some excellent connections with some solid Christians but the worst thing I have encountered are many Christians who hold to many different aberrant views. I sometimes shake my head and ask the question, has Christianity become so confused that the truth has virtually been eliminated or so trodden down that is unidentifiable?

Some of what I have heard on Paltalk follows: One person calls the Doctrines of Grace a doctrine of demons and refuses to hear any explanations so he consistently lies to all that hear him by intentionally misrepresenting the truth. Another person claims that the written word of God is not the word of God. Messianic Jews who refuse to take the name of Christian. A man claims to talk to God and anyone who disagrees with him is sentenced to the bottomless pit. A person said that those who use King James only are stupid and ignorant. There are people claiming to be prophets who believe they are still receiving direct revelation from God. There are people who believe in the partial atonement of Christ on the cross. Pelaginaism is a belief system that teaches a person has enough good in them to regenerate themselves. The problem with that belief system is it goes totally contrary to the Scriptures.
(Rom 3:10-12 KJV) As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one: {11} There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God. {12} They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one. So the Bible teaches that no one is good and that we are all totally depraved, yet this system is alive and well. That system started in the 5th century. What I have mentioned are but a few of the blasphemous and condemnatory beliefs that Christians hold to.

I am not blaming Paltalk for these beliefs because a person has to hold to a belief system before they will attempt to spew its evil tentacles all over the place. What I have heard on Paltalk is nothing more than Satan’s accepted work in the body of Christ. When I say “accepted work” I am speaking of the fact that Christians will rather accept anything rather than to do an objective study on what they are being presented with. Just looking above we see that Pelagianism is totally refuted by just two verses of Scripture, yet Christians will defend the false and totally reject that which is true. How did we get into such a mess? I believe the answer is found in the following verse:

(Mat 13:25 KJV) But while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went his way.

Satan knows that Christians will reject instantly a doctrine or teaching which straightforwardly attacks the person of Christ or denies some cardinal aspect of the truth. So how does Satan attack us? He uses one of the most effective back door techniques which never fails. He attacks the intellect! He doesn’t attack the intellect to destroy it but he strokes it and feeds it. In other words, Satan will not get you to deny truth in 100 words, instead he will pump up your intellect with 100,000 words and then when false teaching is firmly rooted in your mind by way of philosophy or reason, you have become a willing pawn in Satan’s fifth column. Let me give a quick example:

(Col 1:14 KJV) In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins:

Look at the same verse in:

NIV - “in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.”
NASV - “in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.”

I have seen many books which are written on the non-scientific method (attack mode) called “textual criticism.” Textual criticism is taught in the majority of your main line seminaries and then is taught to you from the pulpit by your pastor with his stroked intellect. Textual criticism affirms that God was totally incapable of preserving His Word down through the ages and because of His insufficiency, we need modern scholarship to give us the completed Bible. Textual criticism also asserts that we cannot know whether we have God’s Word in its entirety or not because archeology keeps digging up new fragments. Let’s go back to the Colossians 1:14 verse for a moment. Intellectual pastors and theologians will defend the modern versions and tell you why they are so accurate and other such lies ad nauseum. I am still waiting for any of these self-absorbed Ph.D.s to explain to me why the phrase “through his blood” is removed from the text. How would removing this phrase help me to understand the atonement better? You will never get a straight answer because they will send you round and round with their Bruce Metzger/D.A. Carson theories.

I used textual criticism as an example of how Satan uses the intellect of Christians as a weapon against themselves and the truth. Pastors and theologians who can flaunt big words and sound so biblical while saying nothing are revered by their congregation and eventually when they speak, it is as if God is speaking through them. Eventually the stroked intellect of one man infects the entire congregation and now everyone leaves with ammunition on how to embrace the false and defend against the truth. I am not saying that we should not listen to those who teach or preach, but we must be on our spiritual guard when it comes to accepting any type of teaching. A good indicator is that if a teaching is not compatible with the Bible and must be over-justified by many books, then you may have a false teaching on your hand. The Bible can refute in ten words what people can over-justify in ten thousand words. That is the simplicity of Scripture. Let’s go back to Colossians 1:14 for a moment. When I compared the NIV and NASV to the KJV, I can see that these two modern versions literally and without question, attack the blood of Christ and the atonement of Christ concerning the shedding of His blood for the sins of Hs Elect. Now why would I want to own a Bible which, in just one verse, attacks the blood and the atonement of Christ? If I am a child of God, why would I want a book (I don’t consider them real Bibles) which teaches contrary to the other truths of Scripture? How would attacks and omissions cause me to grow in the Christian faith? A simple pondering of these three questions would cause you to use your intellect to the glory of God and would cause you to come to a Godly conclusion.

One of the main reasons I see why Christians are so confused in this world is because they continually follow men. (Jer 17:5 KJV) Thus saith the LORD; Cursed be the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth from the LORD. There is a man on Paltalk which teaches Pelagianism, and as soon as he signs on and opens his room, he shoots up to the number one position. I have seen over 100 in his room! Why is this? It happens because in these last days, Christians have chosen to follow men and not Christ. How many reading this, find a passage of Scripture they are not familiar with and then filter the meaning through their pastor or some teacher, and then walk away feeling they have the answer? WE all do it but the key is to see if the answer we get lines up with the other Scriptures.
(1 Cor 2:13 KJV) Which things also we speak, not in the words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual. This verse tells us we are to compare Scripture with Scripture and if the answer we get lines up with Scripture, then we can accept it as truth. If it doesn’t line up, we better make sure that we do not proliferate a lie aka false teaching.

I will conclude with one more example. The majority of Christians believe in a pre-tribulation rapture whereby all the believers on earth are going to be raptured to heaven. It sounds good and has been taught that way since 1830. Now let us look at the following set of verses:

(John 5:25-29 KJV) Verily, verily, I say unto you, The hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God: and they that hear shall live. {26} For as the Father hath life in himself; so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself; {27} And hath given him authority to execute judgment also, because he is the Son of man. {28} Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice, {29} And shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation. Do these verses teach a segregated resurrection? The normal teaching is that only the believers are going to be raptured but these verses teach a general resurrection where both unbelievers and believers are going to be raised. In John 6:39,40,44,54, John 11:24 & 12:48 Jesus says He is going to raise the believers at the last day. 1 Corinthians 15:52 speaks of a last trump. So let us compare these verses. In John 5 we read of a general resurrection of both saved and unsaved. Then in John 6, 11, 12 we read of Believers being raised on the last day. Then in 1 Corinthians 15, we read of them being raised at the last trump. When we compare the general resurrection of John 5, with the last day time clue in John 6, 11, and 12, we now safely conclude, by comparing Scripture with Scripture, that the rapture of the Saints will be on the last day with the unbelievers, and not seven years between. Oh, you are not satisfied yet?

(Mat 25:31-33 KJV) When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory: {32} And before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats: {33} And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left.

These verses confirm what we already looked at. Notice that the goats, which are the unbelievers, and the sheep, which are the believers, are before the throne of Christ. I call this the final separation. How could they both be there if the believers are raptured seven years earlier? Now we saw this great truth unravel in just one short paragraph. Now go to a Christian bookstore and look at the Prophecy section and you will see books on the Pre-tribulation Rapture with 3-400 pages and all filled with hyperbole and sensationalism. We already saw that God has laid out the rapture question very plainly and concisely. We don’t need to buy a 400 page book to derail the plain truth of Scripture on this subject. Now those who read this article and reject the two plain examples are showing how Satan can confuse Christians even when the truth is plain. If Christianity is ever going to be strong on Earth, it must start to refute the false teachings which permeate it now. I know many will suffer from “sensationalism withdrawal” but the Bible is not a book of entertainment and must never be made to be such. Maybe if our view of Scripture was a little more serious we would not treat it as just another religious book. Did you ever ask the question of these scholars as to why the Bible is the only book from antiquity which is always being revised and not books like Josephus or Caesar’s commentaries? It is because Satan has stepped up his attack on the word of God since 1881, and has found millions of partners in the body of Christ to help him. Woe unto us of we give aid to the enemy! No wonder Christianity has become weak. It is not too late or is it?  (4/16/04)

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