Poisoned!

The scriptures exhort the church to "examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves" (2Cor.13:5). Take this quiz to see if many of the church's commonly accepted doctrines have "poisoned" your understanding of God's truths.

1) A person who is born again is already saved. (T, F)

2) Every born again person should join a good church. (T, F)

3) Every born again person ought to be baptized. (T, F)

4) Jesus taught that man no longer should fear a loving God. (T, F)

5)The Bible tells us to go by faith and not our "feelings". (T, F)

6) The devil creates bad things for us because he hates us. (T, F)

7) Believers should go to church regularly. (T, F)

8) Doing good works has nothing to do with our salvation. (T, F)

9) When a person becomes a Christian, God gives them the Holy Spirit. (T, F)

10) The Bible is the "infallible word of God". (T, F)

Answers:

1) FALSE. Salvation is the "hope" of the saints, to which Paul said we should draw nearer to every day (Rom.13:11). Peter also expressed this "hope" of being saved in the future (Acts 15:11). It is extremely important to note that no apostle ever claimed to have "gotten saved". Nor did any apostle ever tell anyone to "come get saved". This "getting saved" doctrine is a 20th century phenomenon, and God never sent any man to tell any of God's people that they are already "saved". Jesus will bring salvation with him when he comes (1Pet.1:5), and it will only be given to those who are found worthy, and who "endure to the end" (Mat.10:22).

2) FALSE. The "church" is not a club, and it cannot be "joined" by any person. The only way to get into God's church is to be baptized into it by the holy Ghost: "for by one spirit are we all baptized into one body" (1Cor.12:13). While every believer will benefit from having a "spiritual home" where they can love and be loved by others, it is wrong to teach or to even leave the impression that the church can be "joined". Jesus alone said "he will build his church", and he does it by assembling together those who have his Spirit.

3) FALSE. Every born again person is already baptized, because it is the baptism of the holy Ghost which makes one born again! John's water baptism was one of faith and repentence, pointing to a better baptism from the one to come after him (Luke 3:16). John's baptism has faded away as he himself stated it would: "he must increase, and I must decrease". Now God recognizes only one baptism, the one given by Jesus. Have you received it? Water baptism is not a "demonstration of faith" as some say, but is a demonstration of "unbelief", for only the baptism administered by Jesus can benefit the soul, save from sin, and result from obedience. All who obey God receive the baptism of the holy Ghost, with the evidence of speaking in other tongues (Acts 5:32). The holy Ghost baptism is the baptism that Jesus purchased with his blood, which cleanses and saves from sin (1Pet.3:21), and which puts us in the body of Christ (Rom 6:3; 1Cor.12:13). Any baptism which does NOT come from heaven is now one without significance (which has "faded away"), and is merely a "tradition" of men; for Jesus and God only practice ONE baptism!

4) FALSE. Jesus taught men to fear God as he himself did! "And I say unto you my friends, Be not afraid of them that kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do. But I will forwarn you whom ye shall fear: Fear Him, which after he hath killed hath power to cast into hell; yea, I say unto you, Fear him" (Luke 12:4-5). Truly loving God is fearing God enough to trust Him alone to save you: "[Jesus] who in the says of his flesh, when he had offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto him that was able to save him from death, and was heard in that he feared; though he were a son, yet he learned obedience by the things which he suffered (Heb.5:7-8). Every person in the Bible that stood in the presence of God or his son Jesus, or even before angels, fell trembling with fear. When men fear God they will truly come to know Him, for the fear of God is the beginning of wisdom!

5) FALSE. Most times, your feelings are what God uses to guide you into truth. Paul wrote: "The kingdom of God is . . . righteousness, peace, and joy (Rom.14:17). Two of the basic elements of the kingdom of God are feelings (peace and joy) so pay attention to them! Here's one example: when a person feels doubt about whether they are "already saved", ministers have been trained to tell them not to go by their feelings. God is showing a sincere heart the truth (that they can only be saved in the end - see answer #1 above), but in order to accept that minister's false doctrine, one has to go against what they are feeling inside. If you have received the Spirit of God (evidenced by speaking with other tongues when it comes in), you have a "teacher" and a "counsellor" within. The Spirit will teach you how to rightly respond to the feelings you have. That is learning to "walk in the Spirit". Nowhere in the scriptures do we read: "don't go by your feelings"!

6) FALSE. God is God of all. . .good and bad! After the fall of man, GOD cursed the serpent and the ground. Because of man's evil on earth, GOD sent the flood. When Israel sinned against the Lord, GOD sent plagues and judgments. A careful study of the scriptures will show that it is GOD, not the devil, who corrects us with "evil". Whom the Lord loves, He chastens (Heb.12:5-11). One reason men teach that God send good things, and the devil sends bad things, is that Satan wants you to fear him, and NOT God! Blaming Satan for "evil" is actually a medeival Catholic superstition which many in the church continue to cling t . Child of God, know that the devil can afflict nobody without GOD'S permission. So fear GOD, and God alone!

7) FALSE. It is impossible for any believer to "go to church". How can one "go" to something they are born into and made a part of by God? The Bible does exhort the church (which is people) to gather together in Jesus' name, but a building is not a church, and if we call it one we are misleading ourselves and others. Misunderstanding what the church really is has caused people to think there is a way for a person who is not in the church to "go to" or in some way be a part of it. Friend, the church consists only of those people who have been baptized with the holy Ghost (with the evidence of speaking in other tongues). In reality, a person can only go to church once, and that is when they are born into it!

8) FALSE. In the light of all that the Bible has to say about salvation, only the disobedient, evil, foolish, or deceived believe that our "works" have nothing to do with being saved in the end. Almost every Biblical reference to the final judgment says that our "works" (our moral deeds in this life) will have EVERYTHING to do with where we spend eternity! "The hour is coming...in the which all that are in the graves shall hear [Jesus'] voice, 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" (John 5:28-29). Jesus and the apostles taught that only those who "do the will of the Father" will enter into the kingdom of heaven. The works that now have nothing to do with salvation are only the ceremonial works of the law of Moses. When Paul penned the often quoted verse: "For by grace are ye saved...and not by works" (Eph.2:8-9), one must refer to his same teachings in Romans 3:28 and Galatians 2:16 to see what kind of works Paul was teaching would not save! Nobody is "justified" without doing good works! (James 2:24)

9) FALSE. God gives His Spirit to whomsoever He will. Being a Christian has nothing to do with it. Becoming a Christian is something people decide to do because they have been persuaded to believe that doing this will please God. But receiving the holy Spirit is something God does, and it can happen inside or outside of Christianity! Since becoming a Christian does not give one the Spirit, the question must be asked, "is Christianity necessary?" We have found that being a part of Christianity will most often hinder a person from receiving the Spirit, or prevent them from walking in the Spirit after receiving it. God has given a sign for every unbeliever (and the church) to know when God's Spirit has truly come in, and that sign is "stammering lips and other tongues": "Wherefore, tongues are for a sign" (1Cor.14:21-22). Since Christianity denies the necessity of the Spirit's confession that Jesus has come into a person's "flesh" (1Jo.4:1-6), the doctrines of Christianity are therefor "antichrist". It is possible for a person to be a Christian and NOT actually be born again. But those who have the holy Ghost are the ones whose Lord truly is Jesus: "No man can say that Jesus is Lord but by the holy Ghost" (1Cor.12:3).

10) FALSE. The "Word of God" is what God says, just as your word is what you say. The Word of God existed before the Bible, and will exist after every Bible is burned up with this world. We see in the Bible the phrase: "the Word of God came to the prophets saying", because the Word of God speaks. We never hear of anyone "reading" the Word of God. The Word of God is the life giving light, guidance, and leading which comes through the Spirit of God. For that reason the Spirit is called the "Word of God" (Eph.6:17). The Bible is not the Word of God for the letter killeth, but the Spirit giveth life. Men today teach the Bible is the Word of God because the true Word of God has not come to them. They can claim to have the Word of God if it is a book, instead of receiving the true Word of God from God's own mouth. We need the true Word of God today!