1. If he/she believed Jesus is not God but man alone.

The Lord Jesus Christ is God who became human. His attribute in eternity past is divine then He added humanity’s nature unto Himself thus being the God-Man walking on planet earth worthy of worship. (cf. Jn 1:1, 14; Phil. 2:5-7; Col. 2:9; Matt. 2:2; Heb. 1:6)

2. If he/she believed Jesus is an inferior God in nature with the Father just because He said “The Father is greater than I.”

In John 14:28, when Jesus mentioned the word “greater” (Gk. μειζων), it is clear that He is referring to His role or position being human. If He is referring to His nature then He should have use the Greek word κρειττων which can be translated as “better” to clearly indicate the Father’s superior nature than the Son. In Hebrews 1:4, the reason why Jesus is “better” (Gk. κρειττων) than the angels is because His nature is far superior than the angelic host since His name is more excellent than the angels (Heb. 1:4), He is called Son by the Father (Heb. 1:5), He is worship by all the angels (Heb. 1:6), He is called God by the Father (Heb. 1:8), He loved righteousness and hated wickedness (Heb. 1:9), He created the heavens and the earth (Heb. 1:10), He is eternal (Heb. 1:11), He is immutable (Heb. 1:12), and He has authority equal to His Father (Heb. 1:13).

3. If he/she believed the Holy Spirit is not God but an impersonal force.

The Holy Spirit is not mere impersonal active force but a personal God who communicates, guides, leads, reminds, teaches, and fellowships with us. He is address by Jesus and the apostles in the personal masculine pronoun despite the Greek πνευμα being neuter which is suppose to be “it.” The Holy Spirit also convicts the unbelievers or makes the world guilty as to sin, righteousness, and judgment. The Holy Spirit is also honored, exalted, adored, and worship, along with the Father and the Son, Jesus Christ. After all, the Holy Spirit is called Yahweh in the Old Testament. (Acts 5:3-4; Acts 13:2; Jn. 14:16-17, 26; 16:7-9; Matt. 28:19; 2 Cor. 13:14; Psa. 95:7-11; Heb. 3:7-11)

4. If he/she believed the Trinity is of pagan origin.

The Trinity is not of pagan origin but the pagan triad concepts are merely false copies derived from the original. You will notice that there is already some false concept of a resurrected god in the Egyptian religion not because resurrection is original to them but they probably derived this from the writings of the prophets. The prophets Daniel and Isaiah already mentioned about resurrection in their writings. In addition, a Messiah was also prophesied to resurrect by the Psalmist. If this is the case, then the Trinity and the Messiah’s resurrection are just merely copies made by pagans to the point of perversion. After all, the enemy can only pervert the truth not invent nor create something. (Dan. 12:2; Isa 26:19; Psa. 16:9-10)

5. If he/she believed there is only that Hebrew name you can call the Father, while the name Jesus, Lord, and God came from the name of pagan gods.

The Hebrew name of God in the Old Testament Scripture is in the sacred tetragrammaton YHWH traditionally called Yahweh where the vowel of Adonay was inserted. The Sacred Name cult movement explains that they should not use the name Jesus, Lord, or God because of it’s pagan background Zeus and Baal. If their logic is correct then they should not also use the terms “divine” and “king” in reference to Yahweh since these words were derive from the pagan gods Diana and Molech.

6. If he/she believed water baptism can saved him/her.

The act of water baptism can never saved us because water cannot cleanse us from our sins but only the blood of Christ. The water baptism only serves as an answer based on a good conscience towards God in relation to one’s faith in Jesus Christ that He the God-Man rose from the grave. It serves as a symbol of the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, and newness of life. (1 Jn. 1:7; 1 Pet. 3:21; Rom. 6:4)

7. If he/she believed membership in his/her church can saved any person from damnation.

The English word “church” came from the Greek plural word εκκλησιαν which literally means “called out ones” referring to the believers. Will they now say, the believers can saved the non-believers? This is not what the Scripture teaches. The Scripture tells us that believing in the Lord Jesus Christ saves us. It is only by grace through faith in Jesus Christ that we are saved not by church membership or joining a church organization. (Jn. 3:16; Acts 16:31; Eph. 2:8-9)

8. If he/she believed legalism and good works can saved him/her.

The Scripture teaches that man can never be justified (declared righteous) by good works in order for him to be saved and be righteous in the eyes of God. Grace would no longer be grace if works were added. However, after being justified or declared righteous to be saved from eternal condemnation, surely the people around him will want to see the transformation. This is where the believer is declared by the people around him that he is truly righteous externally (justification by works). The people says “Show me your faith apart from your works, and I will show you my faith by my works.” They will want to see the evidence in a believer’s life through the transformation works of the Holy Spirit. (Eph. 2:8-9; Rom. 11:6; Jam. 2:14-24; Jam. 2:18; Phil 2:12)

9. If he/she shun proper hermeneutics in interpreting the Bible.

The word hermeneutics came from the Greek word ἑρμηνεύω which means to expound, to explain, and to interpret. This word was used in interpreting a certain words (see Jn 1:38, 42; 9:7; Heb. 7:2). We are to interpret the Scripture based from the original language not from the translation of any versions. The apostle Paul reminds Timothy to “Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth.” We are commanded, not just Timothy, to handle the word of God without perverting it. There are many people today who had difficulty understanding the Scripture which leads them to ignorant, unstable, and uneducated teachers that twist the passages to their own destruction not knowing that a proper understanding of grammar and historical setting is needed to get a good grasp of the over all unity of the Scriptures doctrine. (2 Tim. 2:15; 2 Pet. 3:14-18) Remember, the prophets and the apostles, though many of them are uneducated, knows the Hebrew, Greek, and Aramaic language. If this is the case then we should learn to study their language to know the real meaning and context of what they are saying.

10. If he/she believed the only “knowledgeable” person who can interpret the Bible is the one who founded his/her religious movement.

Usually, cult founders claim that he or she alone can understand and interpret the Bible. This is spiritually dangerous because these people has the tendency to manipulate their members’ minds using the Scripture without any check-and-balance. As they remain alone on top of the pyramid without any accountability, imagine the more than 7 billion people in the world who can be part of his or her religious group. He or she can just control anybody based on how he or she wanted them to move according to how he or she understands the Bible. It is true that we need the help of several believers who are gifted in teaching to guide us but not that there should only be one sole interpreter. Christian believer can agree to disagree agreeably if they find themselves not convince with the other’s interpretation. As St. Augustine once said, “In essentials unity. In non-essentials liberty. In everything charity.” Remember, the believers can be taught and guided by the Holy Spirit on how to interpret the Scriptures.

11. If he/she believes there is another inspired set of literature/s besides the Bible.

They normally have sets of literatures in addition to the Bible. The founder may claim the literatures he or she wrote are not at par with the Scripture but his or her members revere his or her writings so much that the treatment is much the same as if it’s the written Word of God. Can you disagree with his or her writings? Are you required to read the writings as accompaniment to the Scriptures? Are the founder’s writing free from any error just like the Bible? Are you free to read other Christian literatures? You need to discern if you are being subtly guided into a roller-coaster ride towards the founder’s interpretation because he or she wants to put forth to his or her members that his or her writings are actually inspired as well without him or her being vocal about it.

12. If he/she believed the Philippines is located in the east of the Bible map.

There are some cults who believed the Philippines is the one referred to in the Bible as the “isles of the sea” located in the east. (Isa. 24:15; 46:11). The problem with their reasoning is their attempt to inject the modern-day map into the world of the Scripture not knowing the center of the modern-day map is different depending on which country is located in the center. However, the Scripture is clear that the center of the Bible map is Jerusalem (Eze. 5:5) And if this is the center then the isles of the sea which is located in the east of Jerusalem will surely not refer to the Philippines but the islands surrounding Crete and Athens.

13. If he/she believed the Bible is no longer needed but one needs to listen directly to God to hear His voice.

This practice came from the practice of Gnosticism for they rely on their subjective attempt to connect with God without any objective way to validate whether the message they are receiving is truly from God or not since they reject the Scripture as their final authority.

But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing upon themselves swift destruction. – 2 Peter 2:1

© 2021 The Bereans Apologetics Research Ministry

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