Why Non-Denominational?
Introduction
Why be non-denominational? Well, the biggest problem with denominations (even those who consider themselves non-denominational and yet still sell ideologies of mainstream denominations) is that they absolutely love to reverse doctrines in the Bible leading up to what's known as 'patchwork carnality', getting some things right, reverse some things, getting most wrong, etc. This means that you will probably ultimately grow out of a denomination as your relationship with Christ strengthens, for the focus is always Christ, not the denomination.
This article is not meant to attack anyone in any denomination but instead audit the Bible against them and also highlight how most denominations overlap. If someone wants to be in a denomination it's their right to do so. Yes it's true there's demonic influence in denominations (anything with a large surface area gets demon attention), but remember, God turns all tragedy into triumph so it's nothing we personally concern ourselves with.
- Christ never specified a single denomination.
- Even though many denominations want to 'prove' how they have some illustrious lineage, it's really meaningless if they can't read the Bible. And most of the denominations that want to distance themselves from one another, often 'agree' on some of the worst doctrines and ideologies you can imagine.
- It's weird saying Christ is proprietary. If He exists, obviously He wants a relationship with you with no barriers.
- Denominations often add extra resources to the Bible and/or contradict it
- Does the Bible say this is a good thing? Quite the opposite (Revelation 22:18).
- If you can't see or understand why the added portions to the Bible are not canonical, then that is also a casualty of how you can't read the Bible.
- Denominations often encourage their body of believers to parrot everything without fact checking. Does the BIBLE actually say this? Or is it the denomination saying this?
- Religion is wholly sponsored by Satan, and comes pre-packaged with all of the Satanic trimmings we know and love:
- Religious clothing
- Religious legalism and/or culture
- Repetition (+ mindlessness, + time wasting)
- Forbidding very real concepts God has created (which suffocate individuality, your happiness, and your growth)
- Forbidding eating certain foods
- Forbidding to be married
- Reversing key Bible Doctrines
One major contradiction to denominations is actually the fact that God is patient to EVERYONE (including them). A lot of denominations preach a god that is intolerant yet, we see the world for the most part, ticks along without their flavour of bias.
With all of those things in mind, can you still be in a denomination? Of course, you still have a heartbeat, don't you? Do you have to be opposed to everything listed above? Of course not, some people have allergies so 'abstaining from food' is still a normal function. As always, it comes down to your thinking--are you preventing yourself from doing things because you think God will zap a lightning bolt at you, or is there a functional purpose behind it?
When Christians ATTACK
I've noticed that some denominations (like Churches of Christ or fringe extremist protestants) will go after Roman Catholicism with tooth and nail using petty arguments, all the while doing half of the exact same stuff that the Catholics do! Perfect example of hypocrisy. There seems to be very little self-awareness with extremists in a denomination, but you could also say that applies to anyone with brazen ideologies that they want to sell you. It's even worse when Christians become antisemitic and start attacking Israel or the original Hebrew text in the Torah. Antisemitism is CANCER and if you want a quick path to divine punishment (or death), that's one route you can take.
If someone wants to be in a denomination because they find something about it they enjoy, that is their decision and right. If someone wants to be an atheist, that is also their right. Attacking someone because YOU feel the need to sell your little microcosm of limited thinking, is utterly wrong.
As representatives of Christ, we're supposed to salt others and make them thirsty for Bible Doctrine in a positive way. Door-to-door witnessing is also wrong because it's just selling an idea rather than letting God set the stage (1 Peter 1:12); any denomination that forces you to sell Christ is cutting Christ out of the picture. Did they ever talk to God and ask what HE wants? Clearly not (Psalm 66:18). Being mean to others and misreading Bible and misrepresenting Christ will turn you into a hollow nasty person for the rest of your life. You'll notice the group that Christ Himself had the most contention with were always the RELIGIOUS crowd just like what we observe today.
There is such a thing as respect (Matthew 22:22), and in your professional life you WILL need to respect others and treat them decently. Christians who rant and rave at other people because they have an attribute they don't like (Matthew 7:5), are spitting at God. Christians also forget, GOD LOVES EVERYONE EQUALLY (Genesis 1:26, Matthew 19:17).
Comparison Between Denominations
Below is a chart proofing some common (and often distorted) doctrines and reversed doctrines (R). I've tried to condense the denominations as best I could, there are too many to encompass every single one, and most of the time when denominations think they're different from another one, they're actually not as far as Bible Doctrine is concerned. For instance, many denominations 'claim' to support salvation through belief alone, but then they'll spin around and still claim salvation can be lost if you ever stop believing. Well... 'faith-keeping' is a work, the old sin nature dictates we're always unreliable.
It's also important to point out that denominations are rarely consistent, despite most of the denominations having strict guidelines on salvation, many still deviate. For instance, there's a lot of Roman Catholics and Anglicans who would be able to correctly identify "just believe Christ paid for your sins, and done", even if higher-up religious authorities disagree.
Also, the comparisons are aimed directly at Bible Doctrine. There may be differences between the Amish and Mennonites for instance, but doctrinally they're pretty much identical.
It's funny to me that a lot of denominations teach original sin (old sin nature), but then forget to link that up to salvation through belief only. Because, if we have an old sin nature, we're always going to be imperfect and make mistakes until the day we die. Therefore, it's entirely illogical to teach original sin in conjunction with works salvation or salvation 'through faith' with a bunch of invisible strings attached afterwards -- because salvation would be impossible for everyone.
Bible Doctrine Overview (for table comparisons)
- (R) Apostolic Succession: this is a satanic reversal because the Word has been completed, and thus the Apostleship (in all capacity) has ceased. The only valid occupation bearing any similarity is a pastor-teacher, and pastor-teachers do not have the ability of 'tongues' or healing. You cannot also elect yourself as a pastor-teacher like many do, GOD has to set the stage for you.
- (R) Aqua Baptismal Regeneration: the display of water baptism (there are many different types of 'baptism') was meant as an analogy. It was NEVER meant for salvation or a component of salvation. There is no point of dunking yourself in water in the Church Age Dispensation because you get 'baptized' every time you take a shower. If you're that stupid of performing water dunking you'll probably also think Christ's blood is literal.
- (R) Specialized Religious Clothing: one of the hallmarks of religion is to implement special or fancy clothing with a distorted purpose in mind. None of this is relevant in the Church Age Dispensation and in fact the individuals going against Christ the most wore religious clothing. It also makes you look STUPID, and the demons love to have us make fun of ourselves :)
- There's nothing wrong with clothing in general, but what matters are your thoughts that precede it. If the thoughts that precede it are "this makes me holier" or you're trying to make a RELIGIOUS statement, it's likely that it's misplaced and you just make yourself look foolish. The sillier the garment, the sillier the thoughts that precede it tend to be.
- 1 John 1:9: the key component of the spirtiual life that most denominations ignore completely or misread. When you sin you get cut off spiritually and need to get refilled (obviously God can't maintain a connection with you when you sin so you have to be cut off each time). The more Bible Doctrine you learn, the less you'll sin over time. Of course you'll ALWAYS sin because we carry the old sin nature with us until we die.
- The anthropomorphic analogy, is that you need to use it like (physical) breathing. As soon as oxygen gets cut off, the biology starts to wither. Well, as soon as you get cut off spiritually by not saying "I've sinned" to get refilled, you too, wither spiritually.
- Adds Extrabiblcal Literature: this is a big one, a lot of denominations cannot resist adding to the Bible. All of these additions completely contradict the Bible, but many people can't READ the Bible and so they are none the wiser.
- Christ paid with His thinking not blood: when Christ died on the cross, the death in the original Greek is plural. Therefore, He died spiritually (to pay for our sins) and also physically (which had no significance in the payment for sin). This also means that the 'blood' was an analogy for Christ's thoughts, for, thinking circulates just like how blood circulates. It's an analogy, not literal. Christ's literal blood no longer exists, it's gone.
- Dispensations: dispensations are important because they underlie how God Orchestrates Time, and also explain very specific differences and changes within each period of time. If this were not the case... then we would have some serious issues as to why many things were different in the past.
- Divine Authorship of Bible: the Bible is a supernatural piece of literature that goes beyond the capacity of human thought. To deny its supernaturality (which is EXCLUSIVE to the original langauge texts, translations do not carry the supernatural qualities), means that you don't believe it's God's Word. It's impossible to properly understand without 1 John 1:9 & your right Pastor-Teacher. Translation and your personal understanding can only get you so far. You NEED assistance from God.
- Free Will (Volition): while God is omniscient, and while 'we' cannot control everything, we still make our own decisions. There is no predestination in the sense that God's controlling us or making our decisions. God can 'play' on what He foreknows, but ultimately it's due to the decisions we, of our own volition, make. And let's say that God does set the stage for you through foreknowledge, AT ANY MOMENT you can do something irrevisibly bad, such as committing suicide or comitting spiritual suicide bad enough that you get a terminal illness. It happens all the time as God gives us all many many chances, these 'chances' disprove predestination.
- Hades & Lake of Fire: this is an integral part of the Angelic Conflict. If you don't believe that Christ paid for your sins, you'll end up in hades (hell) and then ultimately the lake of fire along with Satan & company once the trial ends. Obviously there's still more to it because if God wanted to kill us (truly) He would 'turn off' our souls rather than place us there. God gives us what we want, and this is also why there'll be a disproportionate amount of religious unbelievers there, who 'never believed' for a microsecond without works, because they wanted their religion rather than the Bible. Ouch.
- It's very likely hell and (later) the lake of fire persist because those people and demons just don't want God at any cost. They get stuck in a perpetual feedback loop and the thought of even saying 'yes' disgusts them, forever. It's kind of like when our emotion goes out of control and you WANT to continue to be unhappy even though being unhappy is depressing and destructive, yet, it still gives the individual a certain 'high' and they continue to WANT it. But see, God loves all of us with equal intensity, and with an intensity that we can't begin to understand, therefore all souls are always on.
- While many may scoff at the concept (or abuse it by screaming at everyone: "YOU'RE GOING TO BURN IN HELL IF YOU DON'T HALLUCINATE CHRISTIANITY AND TURN AWAY FROM SIN EVEN THOUGH ME SCREAMING AT ALL OF YOU IS A SIN IN ITSELF"), its realization is a creation of what Satan, demons, and unbelievers ultimately want, NOT God Himself. That's probably the most horrific thing about this doctrine. They actually want it.
- Old Sin Nature: sometimes called "original sin", but a few denominations take it farther and start adding to it. Our old sin nature is a casualty from Adam sinning (which kickstarted reproduction, before Adam's fall biological reproduction was NOT possible as for God to prevent there being a mix of sinful and sinless beings -- sex was possible but not reproduction). We are all born with an old sin nature, which is genetic, and stays with us until we die. This is the whole reason for requiring 1 John 1:9, and also why Christ had to pay for our sins, for, there is nothing a sinful or regular sinless being could do to pay for us. Only God Himself could pay such a debt.
- Of course if our sin nature is genetic, then how did Christ (the GOD-MAN) bypass it? That would be because it's carried on the chromosome from the male. That's why when the Holy Spirit impregnated Mary, it was possible without the faulty chromosome from male sperm.
- A common counter-argument would probably be: well if God doesn't want sin, why did He allow for its creation. Many reasons for this: A) He wants to show us what a world of sin is like, B) it's integral to Satan's claims in the Angelic Conflict, C) the angels won't sin and thus learn from us when we do, D) we ourselves learn more with sin than we could without -- you don't 'know' the burner on the oven is hot until you stick your hand on it.
- Poetic Meter: a once prolific doctrine that has largely been forgotten by most denominations. It was 'rediscovered' a few times but then forgotten, again. Modern academia is somewhat aware that there 'should' be a poetic meter but still fails to find it. It is impossible to see or virtualize without the original language text (RIP KJV-Onlyism and Unitarianism since they lust after English), and, the text has to be complete without any errors. And you guessed it, this also doubles as a form of error correction for the Bible.
- Pre-Tribulation Rapture: this is one where a lot of Christianity trips up on, or, gets really weird about. It goes (again) back to how God Orchestrates Time, and yes it's pre-tribulation; it's the only way it actually makes sense in all contexts. The REASON why a pre-tribulation rapture occurs is when there are believers left, but interest in the Bible is so low that God has to pull the plug. This also means that so few will be raptured up that the unbelievers likely won't even notice. Needless to say, the rapture isn't a 'happy' thing as the nutjob "WE'RE GOING TO BE RAPTURED ANY DAY NOW" Christians will have you think; we should be championing the fact that the rapture hasn't occurred as that means there's still interest in learning the Bible in its original langauges!
- Salvation through belief + 0: the bane of all Christianity as it reverses salvation which is: believe Christ paid for your sins with NO additives (belief + 0). If you stop believing you're still saved because you cannot be unsealed. It's also possible to observe the effects of some unbelieving believers. It's important for Satan to reverse salvation because without getting it right, nearly everything falls apart afterwards. You can't use 1 John 1:9, you vote 'yes' to the cosmic system, you walk with two left feet in society, etc. The hallmark of ALL RELIGION is that it's not free and you must 'do' something apart from one microsecond of belief.
- Trinity: most denominations adhere to the doctrine of the trininty, but they usually get it slightly 'off', they'll say God is three IN one, which is incorrect. God is three persons with identical essence, of whom, have agreed to become 'unequal' with regards to humanity's salvation. Therefore God is three AND one.
- Uses 1st party Translation to replace OLT: it's a very common defense mechanism of a denomination whose ideologies don't match the Bibles, to resort to using translations or promote an exclusive translation. This undermines the whole purpose of a translation in which... none of them will ever be perfect, each is to give you a different perspective.
Table Comparison
Y = Yes
N = No
S = Sometimes
This table is subject to change and won't speak for everyone in every denomination (remember, a lot of denominations are never 100% consistent), it serves just as a general overview to give you an idea of the differences between them all.
[1] I have placed 'No' for belief + 0 for Calvinism, because they maintained the decision was not yours and God predestined it. In other words, Calvinism doesn't believe in "eternal security" as defined by the Bible because the "security" is a result of not having volition, rather than simply being permanent once you believe.
[2] While there appears to be variances between Episcopals and Methodists regarding whether water baptism is 'required' for salvation, most will say it's not, but then advise it's a part the "ongoing process" for salvation. Since salvation is NOT a process and water baptism is NOT required for anything (you get baptised with literal water every morning you take a shower), we can assume that they do require it for salvation if it's a process.
[3] While the Jehovah's Witnesses don't have "religious themed" clothing, they do in fact require strict dress codes that follow through legalism. If you're not free to dress as you please, that's edging into religious clothing territory. You should be able to wear WHATEVER you want in Church, witnessing, outside, etc.
[4] Jehovah's Witnesses do believe in "dispensations", but not according to what the Bible specifies, it's completely inverted, bizarre and distorted. Therefore I'm flagging it with a 'NO'.
[5] The function of 1 John 1:9 still existed in the Old Testament (slightly altered since animal sacrifices were done in place of Christ, and then the animal was also eaten afterwards), therefore it's still relevant, and which is why I'm still including it for Judaism even if the NT is omitted from their manuscript roster. Cross references to Psalm 66:18.
[6] KJV-Onlyists do not believe the present original language texts we have are divinely preserved and therefore they are not divinely inspired. Because English translations are not the original words Christ spoke, they by proxy do not believe in divine authorship of the original language texts. To use the excuse that "there were original languages that God inspired but changed his mind to English" does not meet the requirements for Divine Authorship.
[7] Pentacostals believe in Apostolic Succession in a slightly different way, whereby certain individuals *are* Apostles just like the original 12, including gifts from that dispensation which have ceased with the completion of the Word.
[8] While there's a lot of claim from some Pentacostal groups that water baptism isn't a requirement for salvation, a good portion will say that it's required and the others will say it's intrinsic to salvation, so for all intents and purposes it's basically a requirement for their 'brand' of salvation, which is a similar pheomenon to Methodist & Episcopal.
[9] It would appear Pentacostals are starting to reverse the doctrine of Hades (hell) and the Lake of Fire, whereby it's no longer an actual literal place. Some still believe it, but many now do not.
[10] Catholicism 'sort of' got 1 John 1:9 in the sense it's a mechanic that needs to be done, but it has been reversed. So instead of naming your sins to God directly (1 Timothy 2:5) to get refilled (Ephesians 5:18), you're naming them directly to another man! Obviously it goes nowhere and so you remain OFFLINE spiritually (Psalm 66:18). It's too bad since they're the only ones who give much exposure to this doctrine even if it's reversed.
Doctrinal Litmus Test (Against Denominations)
Test #1 [Psalm 66:18] + [1 John 1:9]
Psalm 66:18
אָ֭וֶן אִם־רָאִ֣יתִי בְלִבִּ֑י לֹ֖א יִשְׁמַ֣ע׀ אֲדֹנָֽי׃
Psalm 66:18 If I exhibit sin in my heart (mind), the Lord will not hear me
1 John 1:9 ἐὰν ὁμολογῶμεν τὰς ἁμαρτίας ἡμῶν, πιστός ἐστιν καὶ δίκαιος,
ἵνα ἀφῇ ἡμῖν τὰς ἁμαρτίας καὶ καθαρίσῃ ἡμᾶς ἀπὸ πάσης ἀδικίας.
1 John 1:9 If we state our sins, He is faithful and just in order that our sins are forgiven and purify us from all unrighteousness
- We are to use 1 John 1:9 (like breathing) and tell God we've sinned to get refilled and get back 'online'. If we do not, we remain spiritually offline and God does not acknowledge any of our requests. This is done directly through Christ and not through another person (1 Timothy 2:5), because it's also dependent on 3-Way Gifting.
Test #2 [Isaiah 55:8-9] + [Philippians 2:5]
Isaiah 55:8-9
כִּ֣י לֹ֤א מַחְשְׁבוֹתַי֙ מַחְשְׁב֣וֹתֵיכֶ֔ם
וְלֹ֥א דַרְכֵיכֶ֖ם דְּרָכָ֑י נְאֻ֖ם יְהוָֽה׃ כִּֽי־גָבְה֥וּ
שָׁמַ֖יִם מֵאָ֑רֶץ כֵּ֣ן גָּבְה֤וּ דְרָכַי֙ מִדַּרְכֵיכֶ֔ם
וּמַחְשְׁבֹתַ֖י מִמַּחְשְׁבֹתֵיכֶֽם׃
Isaiah 55:8-9 "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways," declares the Lord. "As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.
Philippians 2:5 τοῦτο φρονεῖτε ἐν ὑμῖν ὃ καὶ ἐν Χριστῷ Ἰησοῦ
Philippians 2:5 Have this mind in you, which was also in Christ Jesus
- We are to get Christ's brains in our brains (His mind in our minds): but His thinking is unlike our thinking, which means it's opposed to the majority of humanity, then that means the majority observed will naturally be incorrect.
- A few of these differences that contradict common human thinking: all sin is equal (regardless of the sin), God loves everyone equally (regardless of what they've done), God has paid for everyone (regardlesss of their status), salvation is free (regardless of what we do, for, there's nothing we can do to add to the cross, hence why God had to pay for it).
- It's no surprise then that these items are always contested by human thinking as it feeds into Isaiah 55:8-9.
Test #3 [2 Timothy 2:15] + [Matthew 4:4]
2 Timothy 2:15 σπούδασον σεαυτὸν δόκιμον παραστῆσαι τῷ θεῷ,
ἐργάτην ἀνεπαίσχυντον, ὀρθοτομοῦντα τὸν λόγον τῆς ἀληθείας.
2 Timothy 2:15 Study to show yourself approved to God, a workman that doesn't need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the Word of truth
Matthew 4:4 ὁ
δὲ ἀποκριθεὶς εἶπεν, γέγραπται, οὐκ ἐπ᾽ ἄρτῳ μόνῳ ζήσεται ὁ ἄνθρωπος,
ἀλλ᾽ ἐπὶ παντὶ ῥήματι ἐκπορευομένῳ διὰ στόματος θεοῦ.
Matthew 4:4 But He answered and said: "It is written, man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.
- We are to study to ensure we're not ashamed/disgraced, this requires the Original Language Texts (EVERY SINGLE WORD), and we cannot rely on English translations for the entirety of our spiritual growth.
- Studying Bible Doctrine is the core focus of all believers as it's on-par with physical maintenance of your biology (eating food).
- Does not work without 1 John 1:9
- Does not work without right pastor-teacher
- Does not work without persistent monologue to God (you need to dribble questions and argue with God WHILE being refilled)
- Does not work without Original Language Texts, translation is merely an aide
Test #4 [Matthew 7:15-23] + [John 6:40] + [Exodus 20:7]
Matthew 7:15-23 Προσέχετε ἀπὸ τῶν ψευδοπροφητῶν, οἵτινες ἔρχονται πρὸς
ὑμᾶς ἐν ἐνδύμασιν προβάτων, ἔσωθεν δέ εἰσιν λύκοι ἅρπαγες. ἀπὸ
τῶν καρπῶν αὐτῶν ἐπιγνώσεσθε αὐτούς. μήτι συλλέγουσιν ἀπὸ ἀκανθῶν
σταφυλὰς ἢ ἀπὸ τριβόλων σῦκα; Οὕτως πᾶν δένδρον ἀγαθὸν καρποὺς
καλοὺς ποιεῖ, τὸ δὲ σαπρὸν δένδρον καρποὺς πονηροὺς ποιεῖ. οὐ
δύναται δένδρον ἀγαθὸν καρποὺς πονηροὺς ποιεῖν οὐδὲ δένδρον σαπρὸν
καρποὺς καλοὺς ποιεῖν. πᾶν δένδρον μὴ ποιοῦν καρπὸν καλὸν
ἐκκόπτεται καὶ εἰς πῦρ βάλλεται. ἄρα γε ἀπὸ τῶν καρπῶν αὐτῶν
ἐπιγνώσεσθε αὐτούς. Οὐ πᾶς ὁ λέγων μοι· κύριε κύριε,
εἰσελεύσεται εἰς τὴν βασιλείαν τῶν οὐρανῶν, ἀλλ᾽ ὁ ποιῶν τὸ θέλημα τοῦ
πατρός μου τοῦ ἐν τοῖς οὐρανοῖς. πολλοὶ ἐροῦσίν μοι ἐν ἐκείνῃ
τῇ ἡμέρᾳ· κύριε κύριε, οὐ τῷ σῷ ὀνόματι ἐπροφητεύσαμεν, καὶ τῷ σῷ
ὀνόματι δαιμόνια ἐξεβάλομεν, καὶ τῷ σῷ ὀνόματι δυνάμεις πολλὰς
ἐποιήσαμεν; καὶ τότε ὁμολογήσω αὐτοῖς ὅτι οὐδέποτε ἔγνων ὑμᾶς·
ἀποχωρεῖτε ἀπ᾽ ἐμοῦ οἱ ἐργαζόμενοι τὴν ἀνομίαν.
Matthew 7:15-23 Pay attention for the pseudo-prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inside they are ravenous wolves. You will know them (pastor-teachers) by their fruits (doctrines). Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? Even so every good tree brings forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree brings forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. Every tree that doesn't bring forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire. Whereby by their fruits you will know them. Not every one that says to me: "Lord, Lord", will enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that does the will of my Father which is in heaven. Many will say to me in that day: "Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in your name? and in your name have cast out devils? And in your name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess to them, I never knew you: depart from me, you that work iniquity.
John 6:40 τοῦτο γάρ ἐστιν τὸ θέλημα τοῦ πατρός μου, ἵνα πᾶς ὁ
θεωρῶν τὸν υἱὸν καὶ πιστεύων εἰς αὐτὸν ἔχῃ ζωὴν αἰώνιον καὶ ἀναστήσω
αὐτὸν ἐγὼ ἐν τῇ ἐσχάτῃ ἡμέρᾳ.
John 6:40 This is the will of my Father that sent me, that everyone who perceives the Son and believes in Him, will have eternal life: and I will raise him up at the last day.
Exodus 20:7
לֹ֥א תִשָּׂ֛א אֶת־שֵֽׁם־יְהוָ֥ה אֱלֹהֶ֖יךָ
לַשָּׁ֑וְא כִּ֣י לֹ֤א יְנַקֶּה֙ יְהוָ֔ה אֵ֛ת אֲשֶׁר־יִשָּׂ֥א
אֶת־שְׁמ֖וֹ לַשָּֽׁוְא׃ פ
Exodus 20:7 "You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God: for the Lord will not hold anyone guiltless that takes his name in vain."
- Pseudo-prophets (false prophets) sell themselves as the 'truth', and they are also common.
- You will know pastor-teachers by their doctrine (fruit), for, only a mature tree can ever bear fruit.
- [Because] pseudo-prophets are so common, you can use the [majority] to measure against the [minority], therefore the minority will lean closer to the truth.
- Pastor-teachers who know the truth cannot reverse Bible Doctrines, and likewise, pseudo-prophets cannot teach Bible Doctrine since they can only reverse it.
- The people who won't ENTER that think they will be through human effort/works, are the ones who don't do the Will of the Father, and the Will of the Father is ONLY BELIEVE -- > [John 6:40]
- The people feigning Christianity will be numerous and many. We can assume the majority of Christianity and the majority of what Chrisitanity says therefore will be incorrect.
- The groups will be claiming to have 'prophesized' on behalf of Christ (which is false since the Word has already been completed)
- They will be claiming exorcism/casting out demons (which is impossible since not even Christ could IF THE PERSON BEING POSSESSED WANTED TO BE)
- These people are ascribing everything IN GOD'S NAME (which is the real meaning behind taking the Lord's name in vain, it has nothing to do with 'swearing' as commonly interpreted.)
- Vocabulary itself is dead, it's our thinking that fuels it. Therefore, if you swear with any references to God, if you don't even BELIEVE in God to begin with it's null. Someone who shouts "JESUS CHRIST" when they stub their toe most likely isn't thinking about Christ. However, it can be a little nod towards God each time. If I stub my toe and shout JESUS CHRIST, it makes me think of God.
Note: the reason why I've corrected the translation to 'pseudo-prophets' instead of the more common 'false prophets' is that the Greek says pseudo. If something is pseudo it's masquerading as something else and as a result YOU DON'T EXPECT IT to be false. When Christians throw around the phrase "false prophet" they say it as if they can easily detect a lie and aren't the very ones falling victim to it.
Test #5 [2 Corinthians 11:14-15]
2 Corinthians 11:14-15 καὶ οὐ θαῦμα· αὐτὸς γὰρ ὁ σατανᾶς
μετασχηματίζεται εἰς ἄγγελον φωτός. οὐ μέγα οὖν εἰ καὶ οἱ
διάκονοι αὐτοῦ μετασχηματίζονται ὡς διάκονοι δικαιοσύνης· ὧν τὸ τέλος
ἔσται κατὰ τὰ ἔργα αὐτῶν.
2 Corinthians 11:14-15 And no wonder for Satan himself is masquerading as an angel of light. Therefore it's not surprising if his agents are also masquerading as the agents of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works.
- Satan masquerades 'as an angel of light', he will be appealing to us and our old sin nature.
- The demons will perform works to satisfy our old sin nature, and also to mislead or trip us (assuming we want it).
- Satan and the demons are not idle, they're at constant work; and we're unable to perceive any of it if we don't know the Bible, and certainly not if we ignore "every word" in the original languages.
Test #6 [Matthew 23:4-10]
Matthew 23:4-10 δεσμεύουσιν δὲ φορτία βαρέα καὶ ἐπιτιθέασιν ἐπὶ
τοὺς ὤμους τῶν ἀνθρώπων, αὐτοὶ δὲ τῷ δακτύλῳ αὐτῶν οὐ θέλουσιν κινῆσαι
αὐτά. πάντα δὲ τὰ ἔργα αὐτῶν ποιοῦσιν πρὸς τὸ θεαθῆναι τοῖς
ἀνθρώποις· πλατύνουσιν γὰρ τὰ φυλακτήρια αὐτῶν καὶ μεγαλύνουσιν τὰ
κράσπεδα, φιλοῦσιν δὲ τὴν πρωτοκλισίαν ἐν τοῖς δείπνοις καὶ τὰς
πρωτοκαθεδρίας ἐν ταῖς συναγωγαῖς καὶ τοὺς ἀσπασμοὺς ἐν ταῖς
ἀγοραῖς καὶ καλεῖσθαι ὑπὸ τῶν ἀνθρώπων, ῥαββεί. ὑμεῖς δὲ μὴ
κληθῆτε, ῥαββεί, εἷς γάρ ἐστιν ὑμῶν ὁ διδάσκαλος, πάντες δὲ ὑμεῖς
ἀδελφοί ἐστε. καὶ πατέρα μὴ καλέσητε ὑμῶν ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς· εἷς γάρ
ἐστιν ὑμῶν ὁ πατὴρ ὁ οὐράνιος. μηδὲ κληθῆτε καθηγηταί, ὅτι
καθηγητὴς ὑμῶν ἐστιν εἷς ὁ Χριστός.
Matthew 23:4-10 For they chain heavy loads and lay them on people's shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers. But all of their works they do for to be seen of men: they widen their phylacteries and magnify the edges of their garments. They also love (being seated at) the head of the table at dinner, and the prime seats in the synagogues. And greetings in the markets and to be called of men: "Rabbi, Rabbi." But don't be called Rabbi for one is your teacher, Christ, and all of you are brethren. And call no man your father upon the earth for one is your Father, which is in heaven. Neither be called masters for one is your master, Christ.
- Hypocrisy is evident in everything they do
- Promoting visible works that are seen, and disregarding anything that's invisible (i.e. Bible Doctrine)
- Promoting religious clothing and ensuring it's flashy
- They love a good meal and sitting at the head of the table
- They love being called spiritual titles reserved for God (i.e. Father)
- It's totally fine to call your boss at work, *your boss*, because he is. What's not okay is if you changed your mindset and called him 'your boss' in a spiritual sense like how you would with a priest. It's the result of how you attribute your thoughts (Revelation 22:8).
Test #7 [Matthew 6:7]
Matthew 6:7 Προσευχόμενοι δὲ μὴ βατταλογήσητε ὥσπερ οἱ
ἐθνικοί, δοκοῦσιν γὰρ ὅτι ἐν τῇ πολυλογίᾳ αὐτῶν εἰσακουσθήσονται.
[Friberg] βατταλογέω 1aor. ἐβατταλόγησα; use many (meaningless) words, babble, use vain repetitions (MT 6.7)
[Danker] βατταλογέω [onomatopoetic prefix, λογέω, cp. βατταριζω
‘stammer’ and Lat. buttubatta] ‘speak in a repetitive manner’, babble,
prattle Mt 6:7; Lk 11:2 v.l.
Matthew 6:7 When praying don't repeat words like the religious foreigners, for they assume because of their many words they'll be heard.
- Repeating prayers or words with no thinking behind them (the Greek plays into the 'batta batta, batta batta' onomatopoeia which is lost in translation. This is because it's implied if you're repeating something over and over, it's being done for the sake of repeating and not actually thinking.
- Emphasizing time wasting with something meaningless
Test #8 [1 Timothy 4:3-5]
1 Timothy 4:3-5 κωλυόντων γαμεῖν, ἀπέχεσθαι βρωμάτων, ἃ ὁ θεὸς
ἔκτισεν εἰς μετάλημψιν μετὰ εὐχαριστίας τοῖς πιστοῖς καὶ ἐπεγνωκόσιν
τὴν ἀλήθειαν. ὅτι πᾶν κτίσμα θεοῦ καλὸν καὶ οὐδὲν ἀπόβλητον
μετὰ εὐχαριστίας λαμβανόμενον· ἁγιάζεται γὰρ διὰ λόγου θεοῦ καὶ
ἐντεύξεως.
1 Timothy 4:3-5 Forbidding marriage and abstaining from certain foods, which God has created to be received with thankfulness (by those) who believe and know the truth. For every creation of God is good and nothing to be rejected if it is to be received with thanks. For it is sanctified by the Word of God and prayer.
- Emphasis on forbidding marriage (for whatever reason)
- Emphasis on forbidding to eat certain foods
- The reason why certain foods were forbidden during the Mosaic law was for health, with medical technology and hygiene today, it's nothing we have to worry about.
Litmus Results
From all of the above verses we can then build a picture of the Bible both says and warns about, and measure it against denominations (and more importantly 'religion' as a whole, as this is the main issue really).
- Litmus: The doctrine of telling God "I've sinned" to be refilled when you constantly go 'offline', will either be reversed or ignored.
- Survey says: 99% of denominations ignore it, misread it, and the only one to nod at it (Catholicism) reverses it.
- Litmus: God's thoughts will be the opposite of humanity and the opposite of the common narrative
-
Survey says: 99% of denominations employ humanistic thinking, 'claim' God for themselves as the benefactors, and most of the denominational and religious narratives align with one another. If they all align with one another, how they "my thoughts are not your thoughts" if they're all of OUR thoughts?
- Litmus: There will be a de-emphasis on the original language texts, a de-emphasis on studying, and an emphasis on physical actions and works, a de-emphasis on a constant monologue to God
- Survey says: 99% of Christianity ignores the original langauge texts and immediately heads for translations. Some denominations promote their translation above all else or claim translation is 'inspired'. KJV-Onlyism takes it a step further by reversing original language texts being inspired to an English translation. Virtually nobody maintains a constant monologue to God nor asks Him for anything while being refilled (so the request never goes anywhere).
*Sure God "hears" you (omnipotence hears all), but you'll have to employ some critical thinking here. If we WANT God and don't have the answers, He'll set the stage up for that to happen. If we choose NO to that but spin around and want to ask Him things after we've just turned Him down (ignoring 1 John 1:9), any requests get ignored. He'll continue to tap you on the shoulder, though.
- The majority of both Christians and unbelievers alike will be 'ashamed' due to lack of studying. This means the common narratives and arguments from both the religious and secular sides will be rife with misinformation, puny thinking, and they will especially be fighting amongst themselves over mistruths.
- Litmus: There will be MANY pseudo-prophets and nobody will be able to tell the difference and potentially even 'misplace' identifying what a pseudo-prophet is
-
Survey says: all religion aligns its ideologies, therefore denominations are aligned to one another. They point fingers at one another and simply assume they're correct and "everyone else is wrong" not realizing they share the same flaws as everyone else just wearing a different sweater.
- Litmus: You will know pastor-teachers by what they teach (their fruit), and only mature trees can have fruit. The Bible takes a lifetime to study as well.
-
Survey says: you have many self-elected pastor-teachers, some even going as far to say they're apostles or something beyond that. All of them carry the same narrative regarding salvation in that it's not free and you can loose it. They rely solely on translation and can't read the original language texts fluently.
- Litmus: The emphasis is that MANY (the majority) won't "Do the Will of the Father", which is simply believing.
-
Survey says: 99% of Christianity will either add to salvation or claim it's free and then add hidden caveats that lead to 'losing' salvation. 99% of Christianity gets obsessed with performing 'good works', feigning exorcisms, miracles, and a host of other things. Christians never pay attention to see how this is directed at us; it's one of the biggest warnings in the Bible. The only time it IS used, are by radical evangelicals who can't read and reverse it for themselves and ignore the Will of the Father.
- Litmus: Satan comes as what we perceive as 'holy' and it will be APPEALING to our old sin nature. The demons also perform works and methods as bait to ensure we stay satiated.
-
Survey says: nobody in Christianity (or religion as a whole) questions with what they're doing might actually be demonic. If Satan is a prolific author of what WE perceive as holy, and all of his demon agents go out of their way to provide us with these experiences... wouldn't this affect the MAJORITY?
- Litmus: The religious crowd in Christ's day promoted: hypocrisy, good works that are visible, religious clothing, enjoyed basic pleasures of life (in place of Bible Doctrine), they like spiritual titles.
-
Survey says: this is basically verbatim what we're still observing today with the religious crowd.
- Litmus: There will be individuals who repeat prayers without any thought and waste their time
-
Survey says: we see this in the majority of older 'Orthodox' denominations, but it also extends to modern evangelicals who 'pray' nonsensical word salads: "Oh Heavenly father we come to you this day, blah blah blah blah blah blah".
- Litmus: Christ straight up warns about denominations that forbid marriage and eating different foods
-
Survey says: forbidding marriage and eating foods are so common in many older denominations. Although this does extend to fringe ones like Jehovah's Witnesses who also forbid blood transfusions.
Unfortunately all of these litmus tests point towards the MAJORITY of religion. They exemplify the MAJORITY of thought. And predictably, everyone opts for refusing to read the warnings or treats everything the Bible says as white noise or unimportant.
Denominational Rot
It's come to my attention after creating the above table that a lot of the 'modern' interpretation of scripture in some of the above denominations are slowly reversing a lot of few doctrines they actually got right. This can be attributed to how English-centric everything is, and this is also why modern Catholics and Protestants often use the same misreadings of ENGLISH verses to prove works salvation.
- Anglican Church used to properly teach the doctrine of hades(hell) and the later resulting lake of fire. They also used to know about 1 John 1:9. It seems like they've now reversed this like the Orthodox Church. Some Anglicans will still correctly teach salvation although a good portion have fallen victim to adding works to it.
- Anglican Church and Calvinists used to know about the Poetic Meter, this is now forgotten.
- Ancient Judaism used to teach the trinity along with the poetic meter (for the Hebrew), this too is largely fallen out of fashion even when a good portion of this was 'rediscovered' during the protestant period.
- KJV-Onlyists used to be exclusively salvation through belief + nothing else, a good portion are now devolving into works-based salvation.
- A lot of Pentecostals are reversing the (correct!) doctrine of the pre-tribulation rapture and are now reversing it to something else or abandoning the doctrine entirely. KJV-Onlyists also used to know pre-tribulation rapture is correct, but majority are reversing that too.
- Biblical Unitarianism is on the rise as the reliance on English translations increases. Unitarianism is incompatible with the Hebrew and Greek original text languages.
- Works salvation and the mandate of faith-keeping is on the rise more than it has ever been as well across ALL denominations. This is in part because the idea of having 'to do something' other than believe is appealing to our human nature, and it also ensures you remain spiritually dead.
- Calvinism has become hypocritical in that they used to believe works weren't required for salvation because you were already "predestined" to be saved, but now you have Calvinists who are both works salvation and forced salvation! Wow! The whole thing makes even less sense now.
If you can't read the Bible and remain spiritually dead for too long (no 1 John 1:9), you'll start to reverse more and more doctrines in the above chart. It's especially interesting to see how denominations begin to wither once they realize they're only believing in them "because the denomination said so", and since they can't proof them, reversing everything is far too appetizing. This also happens in individuals themselves when they decide denominations don't suit them and they switch to being atheists; why bother sticking with 'a faith' that withers?
- Amish: Apocrypha
- Eastern Orthodox: Apocrypha
- Episcopal / Methodism: Apocrypha
- Judaism: Talmud, non-canonical portions of the Tanakh
- Messianic Judaism: non-canonical portions of the Tanakh
- Mormonism: Book of Mormon, Doctrine and Covenants, Pearl of Great Price
- Roman Catholicism: Catechism, Apocrypha
Advisory: I'm not saying you shouldn't read any extrabiblical material (in fact, it's quite useful to see how it reverses the Bible), but it's wrong to use and believe it as if it were of divine authorship. A lot of the denominations promoting the Apocrypha do so in a positive light when it has Satan's thumb print all over it and they can't read ACTUAL Bible to identify that, they instead mistake it for something wholesome since they find religion pleasing.
1st Party Translations
Here we have the denominations that either enforce or suggest you use their translations above others:
- Biblical Unitarianism: Revised English Version (REV)
- Jehovah's Witnesses: The New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures (NWT)
- KJV-Onlyism: 1769 revision of the AV1611 (KJV)
- Lutheranism: Evangelical Heritage Version (EHV)
- Messianic Judaism: Tree of Life Bible (TLB)
- Mormonism: Joseph Smith Translation (JST)
- Roman Catholicism: The New Revised Standard Version, Catholic Edition (NRSV-CE)
There's absolutely nothing wrong with Bible translations, and in fact they're necessary and God uses them all the time. What's NOT necessary however is:
- Using them to overwrite the original language texts for all doctrinal matters and/or build a religion with it
- Using particulars of the translation that do not exist in the original language text to 'prove' your denomination or reversed doctrines
- Requesting that 'only this translation' be used as an authority: no translation is perfect so you need to use ALL translations. As far as English concerned, most translations just mimic the King James Version (and all of its nasty errors) anyways.
Conclusion
As mentioned in the beginning, it's not wrong to know Bible Doctrine and still remain in a denomination if you so wish: it might even be someone's 'style' to be denominational even if they don't always agree with everything the core of what the denomination teaches. However; if you reverse or 'undo' too much of what the Bible says -- ESPECIALLY salvation -- you inch closer towards religion and farther away from God. What the Bible says (in the original language texts!) and your relationship with God always come first.
God prepares everything for your personality and style; some of which may even be denominationally motivated, but you can never let that overwrite your individuality otherwise it'll generate misery. And of course if a denomination PREYS on you for your money, your time, your privacy, enforces bizarre rules to your everyday (...) run far away.
The ultimate question always becomes: do you want God or do you want the Cosmic System (religion)? For every action that emphasizes religion, you vote 'yes' to Satan's case and 'yes' to what he offers.
References
All of the pages I've used to build my analysis of certain denominations' stances on doctrines, read at your own risk (or better yet, ask God) as some the fringe denominations get very nasty. One of the worst being Churches of Christ's bible.ca as it's insanely Antisemitic, paranoid, and contradictory: of course it needs to declare itself as the "true/authentic/genuine" gospel.
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