Although dolphins are called porpoises they are not the same. Although Dolphins and porpoises are both mammals and related to the whale family, there are distinct differences. Family Coryphaenidae, Dolphins
Coryphaena Hippurus, are not mammals, but rather fish. You will notice that two of the above creatures are called dolphins. The difference is that one is the dolphin most people think of as dolphins, while the other is a game fish.
Today’s Christianity can be just as confusing as the differences stated above. There is the true Christian church, and also the apostate churches. Under the influence of the Devil, there are churches that are distorting the true Bible based Christian message. Just as there are the true dolphins which are confused with the fish dolphins, there are those who confuse the real Church with the false churches, who present themselves as being the same thing.
Denominationalism can be related to the two different mammals most people think of as being the same; they are in the same family. Baptist, Methodist, Catholic, Assemblies of God, Church of God, Presbyterian and others represent the different denominations of the Christian Church. The fish dolphin can only be explained as not being of the same family. There are more and more organizations that, although they call themselves Christian, are not Christian. The differences are the fundamental beliefs of these ‘churches’.
There are essential differences in doctrinal and foundational basics between the real church and the apostate church.
The following are the biblical basics of the true Christian Church:
1. There is one true and living God. He has three parts – God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. There is no other God.
2. God is all knowing, all seeing, all powerful and always present.
3. Jesus was born of a virgin.
4. Jesus was all man and all God.
5. Jesus taught what He wanted us to know, and saw to it that these things were recorded in the New Testament (new testimony of witnesses to what was taught and what took place).
6. Jesus is the Messiah, sent from the Father to be tortured, and die on the cross, so that our sins could be forgiven and we could have an undeserved personal relationship with Him.
7. The Holy Spirit is the personage of God that is in the world to inspire belief in the salvation available through Jesus. He dwells within us and is our comforter, if we are Christians.
8. The devil is real. By keeping you from accepting the free gift of salvation through Jesus, he seeks to destroy you.
9. Eternal salvation is available to anyone who repents of their sin and accepts Jesus as their Lord and Savior. This is the only path to Heaven.
10. In order to enter the kingdom of God, you absolutely must be Born Again. The work has been done, the price has been paid and the availability is there for everyone.
11. The Bible is the inspired Word of God.
12. Jesus rose again, after dying on the cross and being dead for three days.
13. Jesus is going to return in Glory.
14. The Lord is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow.
15. The heavens, the earth and everything else that exists were created by God.
If your church deviates from the above, it is in grave danger. The following are some of the things to look out for:
1. The sign of the cross being removed from the interior and exterior of the church building.
2. Music so loud that it can be ‘felt’. Its purpose becomes more centered on promoting a ‘feeling’ rather than worship.
3. “New” translations of the Bible are in use, which vary greatly from the accepted translations. “The Message” was written by Eugene Paterson who himself says, it should not be considered the word of God, and urges that it not be used in formal worship services.
4. There are many paths to Heaven. This is known as Universalism, Syncretism, or Interfaithism.
5. Social justice, the new code word for income redistribution. Much to the chagrin of some, Jesus was not a communist.
6. Making the church look like a night club.
7. Using the phrases churched and unchurched instead of saved and unsaved. A watering down of the Gospel, such as not talking about sin.
8. Basing your faith on experience, and or spirit guides, rather than doctrine.
9. Replacement theology, which is the belief that the Christians have replaced the Jews, in the covenants.
10. Adding to, or detracting from, The Word of God. Books like’ The Book of Mormon’. If someone tells you to read the Bible less and their book more, be very skeptical.
11. Denying the virgin birth.
12. Denying the bodily resurrection of Jesus
13. Denying the inerrancy of the Bible.
14. Denying the Lordship of Jesus.
15. Denying that the Trinity is the one true and living God.
16. Using wrong names for God. Example: Allah is not the name of the God of the Bible. Jehovah is not the same thing as Allah. God’s name is the name above all names, not Allah, Buddha, Mohamed, mother nature, mother earth or any other name concocted by man.
17. Attempts to combine religions. Example: Chrislam, which attempts to say that ‘Allah’ and ‘God the Father’ are the same personage. It denies the trinity of God, and the lordship of Jesus.
18. The teaching of evolution. The New Age manuscripts worship the creation rather than the creator. ‘Pantheism’ is the assertion that God is ‘in’ all things; again, the worship of the creation.
19. A serious red flag is known as “Conplemplative Prayer” which is nothing more or less than “Eastern Meditation” [1]
20. The assertion that there is no Hell and that everyone is going to Heaven.
21. The denial that Jesus is going to return in glory and bring God’s justice to the world.
There are even those who say that “fundamentalism is dead, and the number of remaining fundamentalists could be counted on your hands”[2] . One such person stated: “The word fundamentalist comes from a document in the 1920’s called the ‘Five Fundamentals of the Faith’. And it is a very legalistic, narrow view of Christianity.”[3] These five fundamentals are:
1. The inerrancy and full authority of the Bible
2. The literal second coming of Jesus Christ
3. The Virgin Birth and full deity of Christ
4. The bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead
5. The substitutionary atonement of Christ on the cross for the sins of the world
I assume that he means that there is some reason to abandon these fundamentals, or simply to ridicule his fellow Christians. I see no reason to do so. Wherein is the error?
“Though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed.”[4] “Many will come in the name of Christ that could deceive even the elect (the elect are those chosen by God). Not that the elect will loose their salvation but rather their reward (their honor in Heaven). The Bible says that many of the elect will stand ashamed at the judgment seat of Christ. This, to my understanding, means that false teaching had robbed them of their crowns (their rewards for doing what is right and good).”[5]
“Today, just as in the time of Jesus and the early church, there are teachers (like the Pharisees and Sadducees) that add extra regulations to the Law and those who subtracted from the Law by saying we were free to do as we please [6]. Jesus and the apostles warned us about those people. Those who distort the basic tenants of the Gospel such as denying the virgin birth, removing the necessity of the cross, and watering down the Gospel message, are subject to the Lord’s vengeance for misleading His people. Adding to the Gospel, by precept or regulation, is subject to the same condemnation. Study your Bible so you won’t be susceptible to being led astray by false prophets and false teaching. “Going to church doesn't make you a Christian any more than going to a garage makes you an automobile.”[7] In the same way, false teachers who will say they are Christian and speaking for God: ‘it ain’t necessarily so’. The Bible tells us not to associate with people who claim to be believers and indulge in practicing sin. We are told to remove those people from among us [8] . We are also told not to judge the person, because they might be saved from their sin like we were. There is a need, and an obligation, for us to judge good from evil. Paul says that correction is needed at times, for the body of Christ. This is not the same as judging, or condemning others, as some would have us believe.” [9]
We need to pray for those who are involved in the apostate church, humanism, secularism and atheism. "But I say unto you which hear, love your enemies, do good to them which hate you, bless them that curse you, and pray for them which despitefully use you.”[10]
There is not a lot of time left to get things right with the Lord. “According to classical Jewish sources, the Hebrew year 6000 marks the latest time for the initiation of the Messianic Age. The Talmud, the Midrash, and the ancient Kabbalistic work, the Zohar, state that the 'deadline' by which the Messiah must appear is 6,000 years from creation. According to tradition, the Hebrew calendar started at the time of Creation, at a moment 3,760 years and 3 months before the start of the Christian era. The current Hebrew year is 5772. The belief that the seventh millennium will correspond to the Messianic Age is founded upon a universalized application of the concept of Shabbat - the 7th day of the week - the sanctified 'day of rest'.” [11] This is not an attempt to ‘set a date’ for the return of Christ, but rather to be vigilant in watching for the ‘signs of the times’ as Jesus commanded us to do.
[1]
Matthew 6:7
[2] Pastor
Rick Warren
[3] Pastor Rick Warren, at the ‘Pew Forum on Religion and
Public Life’, May 23, 20[4] Galatians 1:8
[5] “Why expose
False Teaching” Rick Rahn, 7-26-2011
[6]
Galatians 1:6-9
[7] Billy
Sunday
[8] 1 Corinthians 5:11-1[9] “Truth and Distortion” Rick Rahn, 7-5-2011
[10]
Luke 6:27-28
[11] Wikipedia
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