Post by philiprosenthal on Jun 21, 2006 15:15:03 GMT
ARE THERE TWO DIFFERENT GOSPELS IN THE EVERYNATION DENOMINATION
I believe the summary of all the posts here is that there are two different gospels being taught inside EveryNation-His People. People slip from one to the other without realising they are very very different. Some ministers belong to one gospel - others to the other gospel. Some are confused and preach a bit of both.
TRUE GOSPEL: The one gospel is historic biblical Christianity, with a Charismatic-reformed slant.
FALSE GOSPEL: The other gospel is that of man-centred personality cultism and success.
The latter is not just another interpretation of Christianity. It is a different gospel. Call it cultishness if you want to.
This is what the two different gospels preach on different issues:
AUTHORITY
True gospel: The Bible the word of God is the final authority. Anyone can read this for themselves and must obey it.
False gospel: The hierachy of the church is the final authority. You can't interpret the Bible for yourself or challenge church authority.
SUCCESS
True gospel: Success is faithfulness and obedience to Christ, even if this costs you all worldly things.
False gospel: Success is worldly achievement (money, power, status) that God helps you to achieve. It is achieved by human effort of working together.
THE KINGDOM
True gospel: Our denomination is a small part of a great kingdom of Christ. We must work with other groups to help grow this kingdom.
False gospel: Our denomination is the best reflection of the kingdom. We are superior and must compete with other Christian groups.
LEADERSHIP
True gospel: Leaders must be the least and serve the people as Jesus did.
False gospel: Leaders are the elite and must lord it over the people.
REVELATION
True gospel: God speaks mainly through the Bible, but can God can speak through anyone.
False gospel: God only speaks through leaders. To disobey them is to disobey God.
DISCIPLESHIP
True gospel: Discipleship means teaching in greek and can take many forms. Many people can disciple you.
False gospel: Discipleship means a one-on-one contolling micro-managing relationship.
DESTINY
True gospel: God has prepared good works for us to do. He is sovereign over us.
False gospel: God wants you to be important and you will be so if you hang around people and churches which have lots of importance/destiny.
SALVATION
True gospel: By believing in Jesus Christ, you can be saved from the fires of eternal cursing and suffering.
False gospel: By becoming a Christian, you get on to the lifestyle success path that God wants you to have.
MUSIC
True gospel: True worship depends on the heart which is right with God and seeks to exhalt him.
False gospel: A good worship session is one where the volume is high and everyone dances around and shouts as loud as they can.
OUTWARD APPEARANCES
True gospel: Outward appearances dont matter much. What matters is truth and repentance before God for sin. Leadership and organisational repentance needs to be public.
False gospel: We must protect the work of God by hiding the scandalous stuff going on in the organisation. If we don't we will upset the people and hurt God's work.
PRAYER
True gospel: Prayer is us asking God to do his will on earth.
False gospel: Prayer is trying to manipulate God into doing what we want.
I am oversimplifying here - but you get the idea.
Note that in all of the above, the true gospel has us people below and God as sovereign. The false gospel has God as a servant helping us to achieve our success potential.
One could list lots more doctrines where different stuff is being taught. Some of the false gospel is half-true. Most successful deceit needs a component of truth in it.
I believe the summary of all the posts here is that there are two different gospels being taught inside EveryNation-His People. People slip from one to the other without realising they are very very different. Some ministers belong to one gospel - others to the other gospel. Some are confused and preach a bit of both.
TRUE GOSPEL: The one gospel is historic biblical Christianity, with a Charismatic-reformed slant.
FALSE GOSPEL: The other gospel is that of man-centred personality cultism and success.
The latter is not just another interpretation of Christianity. It is a different gospel. Call it cultishness if you want to.
This is what the two different gospels preach on different issues:
AUTHORITY
True gospel: The Bible the word of God is the final authority. Anyone can read this for themselves and must obey it.
False gospel: The hierachy of the church is the final authority. You can't interpret the Bible for yourself or challenge church authority.
SUCCESS
True gospel: Success is faithfulness and obedience to Christ, even if this costs you all worldly things.
False gospel: Success is worldly achievement (money, power, status) that God helps you to achieve. It is achieved by human effort of working together.
THE KINGDOM
True gospel: Our denomination is a small part of a great kingdom of Christ. We must work with other groups to help grow this kingdom.
False gospel: Our denomination is the best reflection of the kingdom. We are superior and must compete with other Christian groups.
LEADERSHIP
True gospel: Leaders must be the least and serve the people as Jesus did.
False gospel: Leaders are the elite and must lord it over the people.
REVELATION
True gospel: God speaks mainly through the Bible, but can God can speak through anyone.
False gospel: God only speaks through leaders. To disobey them is to disobey God.
DISCIPLESHIP
True gospel: Discipleship means teaching in greek and can take many forms. Many people can disciple you.
False gospel: Discipleship means a one-on-one contolling micro-managing relationship.
DESTINY
True gospel: God has prepared good works for us to do. He is sovereign over us.
False gospel: God wants you to be important and you will be so if you hang around people and churches which have lots of importance/destiny.
SALVATION
True gospel: By believing in Jesus Christ, you can be saved from the fires of eternal cursing and suffering.
False gospel: By becoming a Christian, you get on to the lifestyle success path that God wants you to have.
MUSIC
True gospel: True worship depends on the heart which is right with God and seeks to exhalt him.
False gospel: A good worship session is one where the volume is high and everyone dances around and shouts as loud as they can.
OUTWARD APPEARANCES
True gospel: Outward appearances dont matter much. What matters is truth and repentance before God for sin. Leadership and organisational repentance needs to be public.
False gospel: We must protect the work of God by hiding the scandalous stuff going on in the organisation. If we don't we will upset the people and hurt God's work.
PRAYER
True gospel: Prayer is us asking God to do his will on earth.
False gospel: Prayer is trying to manipulate God into doing what we want.
I am oversimplifying here - but you get the idea.
Note that in all of the above, the true gospel has us people below and God as sovereign. The false gospel has God as a servant helping us to achieve our success potential.
One could list lots more doctrines where different stuff is being taught. Some of the false gospel is half-true. Most successful deceit needs a component of truth in it.