![Text Box: This is a love letter, addressed to all the followers of this religious stream of Christianity. Please accept that the motive behind this discussion is pure. It stems from my earnest concern for all mankind, who were bought by the precious blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. As always, I am open to correction, should I miss the truth or really misinterpret church doctrine. If anyone can assist in this quest to reach souls for the Kingdom of God, please talk to me.
It is of great concern that soul-devouring cults of all kinds are proliferating at an enormous pace. When I see the earnest devotion of their members, it breaks my heart, for I know that “it is the will of God that all believers should walk in Jesus Christ, The Way of God, and know how to please God... For this is the will of God, our sanctification… For God did not call us to uncleanness, but in holiness. Therefore he who rejects this does not reject man, but God, Who has also given us his Holy Spirit,” (1 Ths. 4:1-8.)
The Old Apostolic Church, too, is a fast growing religion. It is also known as “The Twelve Apostles, “The Twelve Apostle Church,” and The New Apostolic Church.
F.W. Werner wrote, (translated from Afrikaans,) “The last (Biblical) apostle of Jesus, [John,] died about 100 A.D., and then, almost 1,700 years later, twelve [new ‘apostles’] were suddenly ‘commissioned’ and given ‘power’ to go out and ‘forgive people their sins,’ ‘seal’ them, etc.
Can any intelligent person believe that the omniscient God would leave the world in darkness for all those years without such an ‘apostolic church?’ Should we accept that all those people, including the thousands of martyrs that suffered and died for the Truth of the Bible and the Name of Jesus Christ, were lost for all eternity because there was no ‘apostle’ to ‘forgive their sins’ and to ‘seal’ them for the kingdom of God?”
Dear friend, your soul is much too valuable to gamble it away by merely believing what people have told you! Sane people judge their beliefs to make sure that the road they have chosen is indeed the road of truth, (1 Jn. 4:1-2; 2 Cor. 13:5.) Never place your everlasting soul in the hands of mere mortals! God has given us the Way, the Truth, and the Light – the Lord Jesus Christ, so that we can KNOW that we HAVE eternal life, now and forever more: 1 Jn. 5:13.
Please, even if you do nothing else, just kneel sincerely before the Almighty God and ask Him to reveal His truth to you. Ask Him to reveal to you the Real and Only Mediator between God and humankind. If you put your catechism away and simply read the Bible in CONTEXT, you will find that God SO loved the WHOLE world, that He gave His only begotten Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, so that EVERYONE who sincerely chooses to believe in Him Alone, will not perish, but HAVE, (present tense!) eternal life! Only God, through the atonement of His Son Jesus, can and will forgive sins, and save our souls. Do not simply believe what I tell you, go, and read the Bible! -
(1 Tim. 2:5.; Acts 4:12; Jn. 3:16; Jn. 1:12-13.)
All these questions and ‘answers’ were taken from Apostolic Catechism:
Catechism: “What is the Word of God?” (Answer: The Word of God is the word that comes out of the mouth of one Apostle. As apostle Paul said: You have accepted our teaching, not as the word of man, but as the truth, the Word of God, 1 Ths. 2:13.)
BIBLICAL TRUTH: Paul wrote in 2 Tim. 3:16: “All Scripture, [the written Word,] is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness.” In 2 Tim. 4:13 Paul asked Timothy to bring his books, the Old Testament writings. Jesus Christ Himself, Who Is God, is the Living Word of God (Jn. 1:1-5,) Who became flesh, or became a human being, to dwell among His people, the Jews.
Today, we have His life, truth and light - His Word, on ordinary paper, the entire context of the Bible. But as soon as we sincerely accept these words on paper as truth and life and light, Jesus comes to live in us. Though His Holy Spirit, Christ Jesus indwells the heart or born again spirit of EVERY sincere believer who chose to accept Him as their personal Lord and Savior, (Gal. 4:4-7.) A mere human being has nothing to do with our actual salvation. Our salvation is the work of Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit, by the grace of God the Father!
Humankind is able to take anything from the Bible, twist it, use it and abuse it, and make it into doctrines and religions. Such idolatry and disobedience, however, spell eternal death.
Only the contextual words of the Bible ‘are spirit and life!’ (Jn. 6:63.) “The entirety of Word is truth,” (Ps. 119:160. Only the Holy Spirit Himself can speak the contextual words of the Bible into Life! The spoken word, (Rhema,) can never be interpreted above or viewed apart form the written word, (Logos.)
The written Word is Jesus, (Logos.) The spoken Word is the work and power of the Holy Spirit, (Rhema,) Who brings Logos to life in the hearts, (or spirits,) and minds of all sincere believers.
Catechism: “What we read in the Bible, is that also God’s Word?” (Answer: No, that is the testament of the letter, which, as Paul said, kills, but the Spirit makes it alive.”)
The ‘Spirit’ to whom they refer, and which ‘makes alive,’ is the ‘mouth of the Apostle.’ According to apostolic teaching, only words ‘from the mouth of the Apostle’ is the word of God - and the ‘mouth of the Apostle’ interprets God’s Word any way he chooses.
BIBLICAL TRUTH: This church openly declares that they do not accept the Bible as the Word of God! However, if we reject the Bible, we can never know God. If we reject the (contextual) Word of God the Father, The Son, and the Holy Spirit, there can be NO salvation or redemption for us. God declared in Jer. 17:5, ‘Cursed is the man who trust in man and makes flesh his strength, whose heart departs from the Lord.’ If we trust in man – and these ‘apostles’ are just ordinary men, we are doomed. All of us ‘have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.’ - Rom. 3:23-25 (Read the whole of Rom. 3!)
One of the founders of this church, Edward Irving, prophesied that the world would end in 1864. Other ‘apostles’ prophesied the return of Jesus in 1835, 1838, 1842, 1845 and 1855!
BIBLICAL TRUTH: GOD commanded in Deut. 18:20-22: “The prophet… who speaks a word in My Name, which I have not commanded him to speak… that prophet [must] die… How shall we know the word which the Lord has not spoken? When a prophet speaks… the thing that does NOT happen or come to pass, that is the thing which the Lord has NOT spoken…”
When Irving died, not as ‘apostle,’ but as a glorified ‘angel,’ 12 apostles were chosen. In 1836 this group divided to become 12 ‘tribes’ to collect 12,000 ‘sealed’ apostles and seven ‘prophets.’
BIBLICAL TRUTH: Angels are a different species from human beings. Humans cannot and do not become angels here on earth, nor when they die, (Heb. 1:5-8 and 13-14.) Humans inherit the kingdom of heaven when they die, because of their sincere belief in and obedience to the Lord Jesus Christ. Those who rejected Jesus as their personal Lord and Savior are incarcerated in hell for all eternity - but all those who die become disembodied human spirits, not ‘angels.’
Moreover, the 12 sealed tribes of the New Testament, which are sealed by a REAL angel, are Jews, and these Jews are from ALL the tribes of Israel - 12 thousand from each of the 12 tribes. These Jews were, or are already sealed, and the number is complete. Therefore this ‘sealing’ does not pertain to the members of Gentile nations, like these ‘apostles’ believe. PLEASE read this portion of Scripture again - there cannot be a ‘lost’ tribe of Israel; all the tribes are named in Rev. 7:4-10. [See the booklet, ‘The ‘Lost’ Tribe of Israel – fact or fiction?’] Believers from the Gentile nations, the non-Jews, and the heavenly creatures, the real angels, are mentioned in Rev. 7:9-11. However, ‘apostles’ are not mentioned at all, because Biblically, such ‘apostles’ simply do not exist.
Jesus was supposed to return before these 12 ‘apostles’ died. Infighting split this church several times to form all the different Apostolic churches. Their doctrines, however, remained the same, although each faction calls the other “fallen angels!”
This church is fascinated by the ‘dead’ and their ‘departed loved ones.’
BIBLICAL TRUTH: Human spirits CANNOT and WILL NOT come back after death, please read Jesus Word in Lu. 16:19-31! More importantly, God commanded in Deut. 18:10-12, “There shall not be found among you anyone… who conjures spells, or a medium, or a spiritist, or one who calls up the dead… For all who do these things is an abomination to the Lord…”
Fact is, the spirits of the deceased cannot remain on earth, (Lu. 1:19-31!) The only spirits we might encounter on this side of the grave are the Holy Spirit of God, (Who indwells sincere believers, Jn. 1:12-13; Gal. 4:6,) holy angles of God, (whom He sends to minister to us, Heb. 1:14,) and fallen angels, who are demons. Demons will frequently masquerade as dead people in order to deceive human beings and gain control of their souls and lives.
God is The Spirit, and He wants humans to consult ONLY Him, worship Him, follow Him, and obey Him in spirit and in truth, (Jn. 4:23-24.)
Catechism: “From where do the Apostles come today?” (From the promise of Jesus Christ: In the end of the world the Son of man will send forth His angels, and Angels are the ministers of God, so are the Apostles, Angels: Mt. 13:40-43; Gal. 4:14.)
BIBLICAL TRUTH: Please, read your Bible – the real Bible, not the Apostolic bible or Apostolic teaching! As usual, the Apostolic Church had taken these Scriptures entirely out of context; therefore this interpretation is an outright lie. These Scriptures speak of STUMBLING BLOCKS and THOSE WHO DO UNRIGHTEOUSNESS - false teachers, etc, who live and operate among the sincere believers of Christ. Real angles of God, (supernatural, holy beings,) will deal with these disobedient believers, not men. These passages speak of Judgment Day, not the salvation of souls.
Catechism: “On what do you build your faith?” (On the foundation of the Apostles and the Prophets of whom Christ is the corner stone, Eph. 2:20-21.)
TRUTH: Paul wrote in 1 Cor. 3:11, “No other foundation can ANYONE lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.” Jesus Christ is the foundation of His church, not these ‘apostles!’
Eph. 2:18-22 actually reads, “For through Him (Jesus) we both have access by one Spirit, (the Holy Spirit,) to the Father. Therefore you, (all sincere believers,) are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints, (all other sincere believers,) and members of the (spiritual) household of God, having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets (which symbolize the whole, contextual Word of God: the New- as well as the Old Testaments,) Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone (The Head as well as the Foundation) in whom the whole building, (all His sincere believers) being fitted together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you, (every single sincere believer,) are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.”
Our faith is NOT built on ‘apostles,’ but in and through and on Jesus Christ, the Son of the Living God, Who is God Himself!
Catechism: “In what does eternal life exist?” (Jn. 17:3; 5:24; This is eternal life that they may know you, the only real God and Jesus Christ whom He has sent.”)
BIBLICAL TRUTH: Eternal life does not exist in what you have heard about God and/or Jesus Christ. The crux of eternal salvation is the following. Do you realize that you are in need of a Savior, (Rom. 3:21-23?) Do you sincerely BELIEVE that Jesus is the Christ, (the Messiah/Savior/Mediator,) Who suffered and died in your place? (Isa. 53:3-5.) Do you really believe that God raised Him from the dead? Do you really believe that He will return to earth? Have you willingly, wholeheartedly, and personally ACCEPTED Him into your heart, (or spirit,) soul, (or mind,) and into your whole life as your PERSONAL Lord, Savior, and Redeemer? And do you sincerely desire to follow and OBEY Him above all else, all the days of your life? - Jn. 3:16; Jn. 1:12-13; Gal. 4:6; Jn. 13:34-35; 14:21-24.
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1 Ths. 5:21, ‘Test ALL things, [to see whether they are of God;] hold fast what is good.’
Gal. 1:6-7, ‘I marvel that you are turning away so soon from Him Who called you in the grace of Christ, to a different gospel, which is not another, but there are some who trouble you and want to pervert the Gospel of Christ.’
Gal. 1:8, ‘But even if we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to you, than what we have preached to you, [the full, contextual truth of the Bible,] let him be accursed.’
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THE OLD APOSTOLIC CHURCH With love, from Renette Vermeulen By courtesy of Now Unbanned Publications |
