Unbanned Bible Publications |
Defending God’s Truth in Church Doctrine and Political History – Renette Vermeulen |
them supernatural angels and ‘christs.’ Eternal life does not exist in what you have heard about God 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 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 according to the entire truth of His Word, all the days of your life? - Jn. 3:16; Jn. 1:12-13; Gal. 4:6; Jn. 13:34-35; 14:21-24.
APOSTOLIC MOVEMENT: “Where is the Kingdom of heaven?” (Answer: Lu. 17:21: Inside you) - and they say this to state that ‘heaven is just a state of mind,’ not a real place in the spirit world! BIBLICAL TRUTH: Read the verse for yourself and see the abominable twisting of God’s Word! It is actually written, ‘The Kingdom of God, (not of heaven,) is inside you…’ [Inside all sincere believers and followers of the Lord Jesus Christ, the born again nation of the New Testament, (Jn. 1:12-13; Jn. 3:3,5; Gal. 4:6; 1 Cor. 3:16.)] The real Kingdom of heaven is a place in the spirit world where God spiritually/physically lives or ‘dwells.’ According to Rev. 21:9-27, God’s heaven, the New Jerusalem, is a huge palace in the spirit world of 1,500 cubic miles! If ‘apostles’ believe heaven is ‘just a state of mind,’ and therefore heaven is ‘inside their minds,’ they must indeed have very large minds, because heaven is a real place in God’s spiritual realm. Jesus, after He had bodily risen from the grave, had a glorified body. He could physically eat physical food, yet He appeared and disappeared through walls. Similarly, He could ascended bodily into heaven, which is somewhere above the clouds, from where He will also return bodily – please read Acts 1:10-11 without ‘spiritualizing’ such important passages. Yet, Jesus was not a disembodied spirit, as He clearly stated, “Look at My hands and feet, that it is I Myself. Handle Me and see, for a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see I have,” (Lu. 24:39.)
When these apostles ‘lock heaven for you,’ they pretend to turn a lock in the air, and they do the same to supposedly ‘unlock heaven for you.’ TRUTH: If heaven only existed inside the heads of humans, or if heaven were merely a ‘state of mind,’ the apostle had to stick his hand inside you, or inside your mind, to unlock, or to lock heaven, right? Only God, through our personal acceptance or rejection of His gift of salvation, His Son Jesus Christ - and our obedience or disobedience to Him Alone, can ‘unlock’ or ‘lock’ heaven for us! Only God, (and every one of us personally through our own choices,) decides where we will spend eternity, (2 Ths. 1:6-10; 1 Cor. 15:1-2.) For the sake of your own soul, dear reader, read the following verses from the Bible, not their catechism as preached by these ‘apostles’ - Acts 3:19-26; Rev. 3:12; 20:9; 1 Cor. 15:47; 1 Ths. 4:16-17. God declared in Isa. 57:15, ‘I dwell in the high and holy place…’ which is eternal heaven.
APOSTOLIC MOVEMENT: “Where do we find Christ?” (Answer: In His Apostles. Jesus said to His apostles: “In this day you will acknowledge that I am in My Father, and You are in Me and I in you,” Jn. 14:20.) BIBLICAL TRUTH: Read the verse from the Bible. Jesus was not telling His disciples that they were going to “become Him; become Christ” in modern ‘apostle’ form! Jesus was speaking of the Holy Spirit, Whom He, (Jesus) will send to live inside all His sincere believers, (not just His ‘apostles,) after He, Jesus, was crucified, had risen from the dead, and had ascended into heaven. However, these ‘apostles’ believe that the Holy Spirit indwells only the ‘apostles.’ “In that day,” means the day of Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit came to earth to indwell every sincere, New Testament believer of Jesus Christ through the ages, (Mt. 28:19-20.) As the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are One, yet three separate Persons, Jesus is with all His disciples through the Holy Spirit Who lives inside them.
APOSTOLIC MOVEMENT: “Who can see the Father?” Answer: Jn. 14:9, ‘Who has seen Me, has seen the Father.’ So, Who can see Christ today? Answer: Jn. 14:20, ‘I in you, Apostles, and you in Me.’ He is in His Apostles in His word and work. Is it necessary to see Christ? Answer: Yes, because Christ said that everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him, can receive eternal life, Jn. 6:40. BIBLICAL TRUTH: Again, read these verses from the Bible, and read them in context. We do not see the Father and Christ when we see these ‘apostles’. They actually write the Name of Christ and the Name of the Father in small letters, and the word ‘apostle’ with a capital letter, putting themselves in God’s place! Hymn 170: “I will follow, mine Apostle! Wherever the road of life may lead; where You [Apostle] lead there will I follow, there to serve You evermore. Yes! Be always my Leader, does Your word of power not make us free…” (Loosely translated from Afrikaans.) God had commanded us in Deut. 20:1: “You will have no gods before Me…” Singing this hymn and adhering to this religion is worshipping a mere man, who puts himself in Jesus’ place. This is shameless idolatry. Jesus Christ is the One God, the Only God, the Son of God, and the omnipotent, omniscient, ever-living God Himself, (Col. 2:9.) Jesus is the Creator God, the One Who took our place on Golgotha, The Judge of His whole universe! (Heb. 1:1-14.)
APOSTOLIC MOVEMENT: “Who can hear the voice of Christ today?” (Answer: Lu. 10:16: “My sheep know My voice.” Who hears you, Apostles, hears Me.”) “How can we receive Christ today?” (Answer: Lu. 10:16: “Who receives an Apostle of Christ, receives Christ, and who rejects you, Apostles, rejects Me.”) BIBLICAL TRUTH: So, if you heard these ‘apostles,’ you heard Christ? They speak the ‘word of Christ,’ therefore everything centers on the “mouth of the Apostle, which speaks life?” However, Lu. 10:16 does NOT describe these ‘apostles.’ In this passage, Jesus was speaking to the 70 DISCIPLES, whom He sent to bring the Kingdom of God to the JEWS! (Lu. 10:1-11.) In the dispensation before Jesus had suffered, died, was risen from the dead, and ascended into heaven, these 70 Jewish disciples had to proclaim to the Old Hebrews that Jesus is the Christ, (The Jewish Messiah,) and so they were to say that ‘the Kingdom of God came near them.’ God could only manifest His Kingdom inside His true believers because, before Golgotha and Pentecost (Acts 2) “the Holy Spirit was not yet given,” (Jn. 7:39; Mt. 4:17-19.) Before Golgotha, the Kingdom of God only came near the Jews, but after Jesus’ resurrection at Pentecost, God sent His Holy Spirit (His Kingdom) to indwell every sincere believer/follower of the Lord Jesus Christ - (Gal. 4:6; 1 Cor. 3:16; Acts 17:24-25.)
APOSTOLIC MOVEMENT: “Who is an Apostle of Christ?” Answer: Apostles are chosen messengers, the Ones who carry the glad tiding, Angels of God, whom Christ calls His Apostles, Lu. 6:13-16. BIBLICAL TRUTH: These verses say nothing about these so-called modern-day ‘apostle/angels.’ In fact, Jesus’ REAL apostles are NAMED in this passage, ‘Simon Peter, Andrew, James, John, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, James, Simon the Zealot, Judas the son of James, and Judas Iscariot.
APOSTOLIC MOVEMENT: “Who is the true Vine?” Answer: Jesus Christ, and His Apostles are the branches: Jn. 15:1-5. “Can a Vine bear fruit without its branches?” Answer: No, just as a church cannot bear fruit without its Apostles. BIBLICAL TRUTH: Jesus said apart from Him, we can do nothing. If anyone does not abide IN HIM, he or she will be cut off and burnt, (cast out and send to hell, Jn. 15:6.) This has NOTHING to do with these ‘apostles.’ This passage personally concerns every sincere believer of the Lord Jesus Christ; read it for yourself.
APOSTOLIC MOVEMENT: “What is light?” Everything that reveals is light. Eph. 5:13. Light is science of God and His will and knowledge. “What is darkness?” Darkness is a lack of knowledge, doubt, mindlessness, and this is darkness together with all his works. BIBLICAL TRUTH: Jesus Christ, and Only the Lord Jesus Christ, as revealed to us in His whole, contextual Word, the Bible, is the (spiritual) Light of God; without Him there is only (spiritual) darkness. Jesus said in Jn. 8:12, “I Am the Light of the world, he who follows Me, will not walk in darkness, but [will have eternal life, or] the light of life.” Jesus continued in Jn. 8:31-32, “IF you remain in My words, you are truly My disciples, and (then) you will know the truth and the truth will set you free!” The devil is a real entity and he is spiritual darkness; in him there is no light, life, or truth, (Jn. 8:44.) The devil is a person, a fallen angel. Neither light nor darkness has anything to do with ‘science.’ A spiritual lack of knowledge is not to know that God has sent His only begotten Son, so that all who believe in Him will have eternal life, (Jn. 3:16-17.) Jesus Christ, the Son of God, Is God - Is the Christ. He Is the Mediator between God and man. He Is The Savior, the Redeemer, and the Author and Finisher of our faith.
APOSTOLIC MOVEMENT: “Are the Christian Churches also the body of Christ?” Answer: No, because she is divided and the Spirit of Christ cannot live in a divided body, as the Spirit is only revealed in unity. And Christ is the Head of the body, in and through His Apostles, the highest office in the church. TRUTH: None is more divided than the Apostolic Churches. The body of Christ reaches far beyond these ‘apostles,’ that’s for certain. It reaches to the ends of the earth, wherever there are sincere, obedient believers in Jesus Christ, there Jesus Himself is in the midst of them, (Mt. 18:20.) Paul wrote in 1 Cor. 6:15: “Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ... Or do you, [every single, sincere believer] not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit Who is IN you…” Jesus is not the Head of His body through ANYONE, and NO ONE ELSE is the Head “in and through Him.” Jesus Christ Alone is the Head of His body; He Alone is the Head ‘Elder,’ (1 Pet. 5:1-2; 1 Tim. 3:1-12; Heb. 3:1; 12:2.) Every human ‘elder’ is also a pastor, a humble servant-slave of the Lord Jesus Christ, (1 Pet. 5:1-2.) Paul named the ‘elders’ in Eph. 4:11, calling them ‘apostles,’ (ordinary, human planters of new congregations,) ‘prophets,’ (who have the gift of prophecy,) ‘evangelists, pastors and teachers.’ There are only 2 Biblical offices – ‘elders’ and deacons. ‘Elders’ are ALL on equal footing UNDER the Headship of Jesus Christ, (2 John and 3 John.) See Acts 20:17-38, where the servant-‘elder’ Paul spoke to the other servant-‘elders.’ Deacons serve tables, while ‘elders’ administer their spiritual gifts in God’s true calling – not in a lofty ‘highest church office!’
CONCLUSION: The Apostolic Churches deny and twist the Scriptures, put themselves in the place of Jesus Christ, and teach ‘salvation’ through their sacraments of holy baptism, holy sealing, and holy communion, administered by their ‘apostles.’ They annihilate the Scriptural realities of heaven and hell, and without spiritual life in and through Jesus Christ, the Son of God, they lead thousands of gullible souls away from the saving, redeeming, blessing truth of God’s Word, the Scriptures. Additionally, heaven and hell are not a state of mind. These are real places in the spirit world, (Mt. 25:41. Lu. 16:24; 2 Pet. 3:7; Rev. 21:8.) When we willingly and personally accept the atonement of Jesus Christ, we accept Him, and then we receive the reality of eternal life with Him in heaven: Jn. 20:31.
Please pray with me, if you will: “Heavenly Father, I come to You in the Name of Jesus Christ, Your Son. As everyone else in the whole world who are living without You and the truth of Your Word, I confess that I am a sinner in need of the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. I believe and accept the fact that Jesus suffered and died in my place, and that He was raised bodily from the dead as the Scriptures teach, (Col. 2:9.) Please forgive my sins and cleanse me from all unrighteousness. I also forgive all those who have sinned against me. I choose Jesus, the Risen Christ, as my personal Lord and Savior, and I accept Him into my heart, (my human spirit,) soul, (my mind,) and life. Please write my name in the Lamb’s Book of Life, and send Your Holy Spirit to indwell me. I submit myself soul, spirit, and body to You Alone. From this moment on Jesus Christ will be my Apostle and my High Priest, the Author and Finisher of my faith, and Your Holy Spirit will be my Guide and Teacher. Thank you that Your Holy Spirit will lead me into all truth. The entirety of Your Word is truth. I reject all false teaching and renounce these false ‘apostles,’ their false religion, and false church system. Thank you that I am now, by faith, part of the holy, blood-redeemed and Holy Spirit filled body of Christ. I am a temple of Your Holy Spirit. And in the Name of Jesus Christ I take captive every thought and bring it into obedience to You Alone! Protect me under the blood-covenant of Your Son, and help me to follow Him and obey Him above all else, every moment and day of my life. Thank you that you always hear and answer me. Amen.” Revised Article on the Old, New and other Apostolic Churches The Lost Tribe of Israel — Fact or Fiction? ‘Should we call Him Jehovah, Yeshua, Yah, Jeshua — or Jesus?’ Everything is completely free, just as Jesus commanded!
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