When it comes to doctrine, there are many, many things that churches can have legitimate differences of opinion about. However, there are three key areas of doctrine that no Christian church or organization must never, ever mess with. If you are involved in a church or an organization that is trying to change one of the things on the list below, than you need to get out of there immediately. Almost every “church” or organization that is considered a “cult” has tried to change one of the things listed below. If you are wondering why God is not moving powerfully in the church that you are involved in, the first thing you might want to check is to make certain that they aren’t trying to mess with the fundamental beliefs of the historic Christian faith. So exactly what are the three things that churches must never, ever mess with?….
1) Who God Is
All over the world, there are “Christian” organizations that are trying to change who “God” is. This generally manifests itself in one of two ways.
On the one hand, there are many “Christian” churches and organizations out there today that are teaching that all religions pray to the same “God”. They teach that the God of Christianity is the same God that Muslims, Hindus and people of all other faiths pray to. In fact, this idea is gaining a lot of traction out in society as a whole. Today, millions upon millions of people around the globe believe that all religions are different paths to the exact same God. This is a very dangerous lie.
On the other hand, there are a growing number of “Christian” churches and organizations that are attacking the Trinity. In particular, there seems to be a relentless assault these days on the deity of Christ. This is one of the major errors of groups like the Jehovah’s Witnesses and the Mormons.
If you are involved with a group that is trying to tell you that Jesus is not God, then you need to get out of there immediately. For much more on what the Scriptures have to say about the deity of Christ, please read the following article that we recently posted on our sister site….
What Does The Bible Say About The Deity Of Christ?
2) The Word Of God
No Christian “church” or organization should ever try to mess with the Word of God. And yet this is exactly what so many of them do.
The truth is that the Word of God is perfect the way that it is. It does not need anything added to it and it doesn’t need anything taken away from it. It is the inspired Word of the Living God.
This is another area where the Jehovah’s Witnesses and the Mormons make huge mistakes. They try to add an additional book to the Bible.
Other groups try to say that certain books in the Bible are not inspired or that they should not be in there at all. For example, a growing number of groups are now openly attacking the epistles of Paul.
Do not listen to them. The Apostle Peter himself declared Paul’s letters to be Scripture all the way back in the 1st century while he was still alive (2 Peter 3:15-16).
If anyone tries to tell you that there is something wrong with the Bible or that something needs to be added to it, run out of there as fast as you can.
3) The Plan Of Salvation
This is probably the area where the most “Christian” churches and organizations get off track. The truth is that God made the plan of salvation very simple. It is faith in Jesus Christ plus nothing.
We can do nothing to earn our salvation. It is a free gift given to us by the grace of God. All we have to do is ask Him for it.
So don’t let anyone tell you that you have to be a member of a certain “church” to be saved, or that you have to be baptized in order to be saved, or that you need to be circumcised in order to be saved, or that you have to do a certain amount of good works to be saved, or that you have to go to purgatory first before you get to go to heaven, or that you have to observe certain commandments in the Bible before you can be saved.
The plan of salvation is very simple as Romans 10:9 tells us….
“If you shall confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus, and shall believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you shall be saved.”
That doesn’t mean that we don’t try to obey God’s commandments.
Of course we do.
But our good works are evidence of our salvation – not how we receive our salvation.
So if anyone tries to tell you that you need to do anything “extra” besides having faith in Jesus to be saved, you know what to do.
Run out of there and don’t look back.
For much more on God’s very simple plan of salvation, please see the following article that we recently posted on our sister site….
What Does The Bible Say About Salvation?