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)