“If you believe trinitarians are saved…God is against you.
“…If you deny a holiness message of separation from the world in dress and conduct…then God is against you.
“If you wear jewelry or condone it….God is against you.
“If you condone women cutting their hair or men growing long hair….God is against you.”
You can read more of this diatribe in the photo.
Such is what I stumbled across today as I glanced at an Apostolic discussion board. I am so thankful and glad to be away from this type of teaching.
He started his post by quoting two passages: Jeremiah 23:32 & Galatians 1:8. (This is the only part of the post not seen in the screenshot.) He used these to justify all his “God is against you” statements. What a message of love he shared! Can’t you just feel it? Don’t you want to dash out and visit his church? No wonder people in unhealthy churches develop a distorted view of God.
I am reminded of the believers in Corinth in New Testament times. Oh, did they have problems. They were carnal and divisive. Spiritual gifts were misused and there was sin among them, including sexual immorality. They were worldly and some were arrogant.
Yet Paul in his two letters to them never started shouting and naming a dozen or more ways in which God was against them. He tried to correct and teach them in love. It wasn’t about shaming them or tearing them down. He wanted to build them up and help them to see their place in the body of Christ.
To me, the harshest words in the New Testament were made by Jesus to the religious hypocrites. He told people to beware of the hypocrisy of the Pharisees. They were the separated ones; people who appeared to be religious and following God but inside they were dead. They wanted to stand apart from others in their manner of dress and where they sat. While they prayed and looked toward the heavens, they looked down upon the publican who knew their spiritual condition, and described to God the ways in which they were holier and better than him.
The author of that post should spend some time meditating about the passage immediately before the one he quoted in Jeremiah: “Behold, I am against the prophets,” declares the LORD, “who use their tongues and declare, ‘The Lord declares.’ (NASB)
Colossians 4:5 Live wisely among those who are not believers, and make the most of every opportunity. 6 Let your conversation be gracious and attractive so that you will have the right response for everyone. (NLT)
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