The Need to Address Alternative and New Religious Movements

The nature of faith is believing in God's promise (Rom. 4:20-21). It is amazingly how that many Christians today misinterpret such biblical passage with such wrong application. Interpretation precedes with that of application; not application goes before interpretation (2 Tim. 2:15). Also many Christians today fail to give into the account the biblical, historical, and theological analysis of the biblical passage/s of scripture so as to give a clear meaning of what it says and mean. Even though there are some who will make such analysis, but the goal is to bend the text to fit within the cultural understanding of that culture instead of allowing scripture to speak for itself.  We do not speak by putting into the mouth of scripture, but scripture once again speak in behalf of its own witness. Also in order to understand the message of the Bible is to read the immediate context of the passage of scripture in light of its own context along with previous and preceding verses: that of...

The nature of faith is centered upon the Person of Jesus Christ. A "faith" that does not focus upon the message of Christ is a false gospel whereby there are "legion" of gospels that oppose the true nature of the Gospel of Christ (Gal. 1:8-9). It is quite important that the nature of faith are defined according to the standard definition of the Bible. It is amazingly difficult that there are cultist that utilize biblical terminology (e.g. "firstborn") but have radically different meanings (2 Pet. 3:16, 17). For any Christian to be effective in pre-evangelism and discipleship is to insult that many of cultist define biblical terms (e.g. "firstborn") according to the standard definition of the Bible. That is the way by which many Christians can "stripped" the cultist of its most powerful arsenal (2 Cor. 4:3-4).  It is very unfortunate that there are cults within the Faith movement that utilize at will biblical terminologies (e.g. "...

The greatest enemy within the Church today is that of Gnosticism. The basic premise and belief of neo-Gnosticism is, "Spirit is good; flesh is evil."  For example: When it comes to Christ's resurrection is that most Gnostics within the professing church today believe that Jesus Christ resurrected "spiritually"; not that of such glorified physical bodily resurrection (2 Tim. 2:17, 18).  For Gnostics to deny the physical bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ is deny the true nature of the gospel of Christ (1 Cor. 15:1-4).  The appeal of Gnosticism is to compete with the teaching (e.g. the "divinity" of Christ), but seek to destroy the true faith and to ruin the moral lives of believers.    Within this article I will begin to address (1) the nature of Gnosticism. (2) the worldview knowledge of Gnosticism. And (3) the anti-cosmic attitude of Gnostics within the professing church today.  In order to see the "ugliness" of Gnosticism for what it t...

People who attend neighboring Word of Faith service are not aware as to where it came from. The leadership of  "Word" churches and ministries will have the Church to believe that they are "Word" only; no creed nor doctrine. The "dogma" of many Faith churches and ministries is, "Faith" (Rom. 10:17).  Their understanding of the doctrine of Faith is associated with "act upon God's Word, "activating one's faith," "releasing one's own faith," and "the believer's walk of faith."  The question (?):  "Is this the true biblical concept of faith (Heb. 11:6)? Or Is it a "metaphysical" understanding of what Faith is? (2 Tim. 6:20).  The problem is that there are those who are followers of the Faith movement especially within the context of the African American Word of Faith movement churches who are unaware of  "how" the doctrine of Faith have been "redefined" to fit with...

Throughout my previous article, "The Nature of Faith" I dealt with the fact that the travesty of faith is God-centered faith in contradiction to the worldview understanding of the Faith movement's anthropological view of atheistic evolutionism: that the theistic God of the Bible is a "Faith" being that is subject to such spiritual laws. That the "impersonal" god of the Faith movement have to "utilize" the "force of faith" through faith-filled words to create the world of its own imagination (Rom. 1:21-23). Thus the whole of the Faith movement understanding of "Faith" is rank atheistic; not what is monotheistic (1 Cor. 8:6).  Not only is the God of the Bible humanistic, but the doctrine of Faith is an "carcinogenic" faith that of such "electrical, tangible "force" that the "Faith" Christian utilize through visualization and "word" power to create the world of their own desires....

The centrality of faith is centered upon the theistic God of the Bible! The theism of God is based upon Who He is based upon His divine character: that of His trustworthiness. There are many professing Christians who have problem trusting God for who He is and his promises. The nature of faith is centered upon God thus to replace faith in God for something else (e.g. "faith in faith") is to dishonor the Creator by which it is a false faith. According to Word-Faith theology is that, "Faith is a force; words are the container of the force by which the "Faith" believer can create their own world." The "impersonal" God of the of the Faith movement is some "cosmic" gofer at the beck and call of the Faith believer's selfish desires. As the "Faith" Christian utilize his or her "force" of faith through words can manipulate the spirit world to bring about such tangible results whether it be a house, car, money, or succe...

The Bible is God's revelation to man. What is meant by God's divine revelation is what God has already given to man without any further revelation of the spirit (2 Pet. 1:19-21). Many who attend neighboring Word of Faith churches throughout the United States and around the world will contend that the Bible is God's success Book (Joshua 1:8). Whenever the term "special" revelation comes to the mind of many Faith leadership especially within the context of many African American Word of Faith movement churches that God gives Revelation Knowledge that is beyond such "sensory" or self-ruled knowledge. It is reveal within a person's [human] spirit without the aid of human reasoning prompted by the Holy Spirit.  The Holy Spirit is our divine Teacher whereby He leads believers into all truth (John 14:26). The Holy Spirit illumines our understanding of God's Word; not through the agency of a person's [human] spirit. Early Gnosticism hatred of the Mi...