Three Doctrinal Errors - What Do They Have in Common?

I have noticed three doctrinal errors some Church of God members have held in the last few years.  Recently I have noticed something those errors have in common.  This may explain a situation in which some may hold all three errors.  There may be a reason for that because they relate to each other as I will describe.

I have posted on these errors before, so I will not go into details.  But I will list them and you can look at past posts to get the scriptures and the reasons why they are errors.



Doctrinal Error Number One:  Refusal to Acknowledge Spiritual Healing


The first is the error of refusing to acknowledge the need for spiritual healing or refusing to acknowledge the role that Christ paid in paying the penalty for our spiritual sins so we can be spiritually healed.  Those who hold to this error think that the beating Christ took only paid the penalty of our physical sins - broken laws of health - and only enables us to be physically healed.  They think that the scripture that says, by His stripes we are healed (Isaiah 53:5), only applies to physical healing and not spiritual healing.  

But the context and other passages, as well as the logic of physical healing, indicate that spiritual healing is also included.  Christ was beaten and suffered to pay the penalties for both our physical sins and our spiritual sins.  

Death is not the only penalty for spiritual sin.  Suffering is also a penalty for spiritual sin.  Death is one penalty, and Christ paid the death penalty by His shed blood so we can be given eternal life.  But we need spiritual healing of our character also.  If God gave us eternal life without healing our sinful character, we would live forever in misery.  The beating Christ endured and His broken body pays the penalty for all suffering brought on by sin, both the physical suffering brought on by broken laws of health and all suffering brought on by spiritual sin.



Doctrinal Error Number Two:  We Should Only Believe What Mr. Armstrong Taught


Doctrinal error two is believing in and practicing a way of life, a way of believing church tradition and leaders more than God, more than believing what God says through His word, the Bible.  That way of life is opposite of the way of life practiced by Loma Armstrong first, then Mr. Armstrong, then thousands of radio listeners who heard Mr. Armstrong say, don't believe me, don't believe any man or church, believe God, believe your Bible.  This error is manifested by some if they say they will not correct Mr. Armstrong's errors or learn new knowledge to add to what he taught.  Yet in taking this position, they are going in the opposite direction of Mr. Armstrong himself.  

Jesus said that a disciple will be perfectly trained when he is like his teacher.  "A disciple is not above his teacher, but everyone who is perfectly trained will be like his teacher" (Luke 6:40).  So we will be perfectly trained by Mr. Armstrong when we are like him.

Those who practice this error are making an idol out of Herbert W. Armstrong.  They will deny that, perhaps not realizing that faith is part of worship, and if we have greater faith in the writings of Mr. Armstrong than God's word, the Bible, we are giving Mr. Armstrong faith that belongs only to God.  We are putting our loyalty to Mr. Armstrong's teachings in place of our loyalty to God, and by putting him in place of God we are making an idol out of him.  We are rejecting God's word, the Bible, when we do not allow God to correct our doctrinal errors or teach us new things.  We become like the Pharisees who rejected God's word in favor of their traditions.  They were not willing to accept correction from Christ and learn new things from Him.

"My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.  Because you have rejected knowledge, I also will reject you from being priest for Me; Because you have forgotten the law of your God, I also will forget your children" (Hosea 4:6).



Doctrinal Error Number Three:  Teaching That the True Gospel Is Not About Jesus Christ


Those who say that Jesus Christ is not part of the true gospel are in error.  Do they think that it is not good news but rather bad news that we can be saved from our sins and enter the kingdom of God - a kingdom whose king is Jesus Christ - because of the sacrifice of Christ?  

Without the sacrifice of Christ no one could be forgiven and enter the kingdom of God.  How would that be good news?  It is the sacrifice of Christ and salvation through Christ that enables us to enter the kingdom of God that makes the news about the coming kingdom good news.



What Do These Doctrinal Errors Have in Common?


Is there a common denominator for all these errors?  Yes.  There is something they all have in common.

All involve rejection of Jesus Christ.

Error one, rejection of spiritual healing, rejects Christ's role in enduring physical suffering in being scourged and beaten, which is represented by the broken bread we eat at Passover.  This error rejects the sacrifice of Christ so we can have our evil nature replaced by God's nature.  Christ suffered so we can be healed spiritually.  Those who hold to that error reject the tremendous sacrifice Christ made by suffering so we can be healed of those things that cause us suffering.  That is not just a rejection of doctrine, but a rejection of Christ and His sacrifice.

Error two, rejection of the Bible as a guide to doctrine superior to the writings of Mr. Armstrong, is also a rejection of Christ.  When we refuse to learn new doctrine from the Bible or to correct our doctrinal errors from the Bible, we are rejecting God's word, the Bible.  Mr. Armstrong taught that the Bible is the word of God in print and Christ is the Word of God in person (John 1:1-14, Revelation 19:13), the same word.  When we reject the Bible, we reject Christ.

The third error in some ways is the most obvious.  Rejecting Christ as being part of the good news of the kingdom of God is a rejection of Christ.  It is a rejection of Christ as the king of the kingdom of God.  It is a rejection of salvation made possible by Christ so we can enter the kingdom of God.

Not everyone who holds one or two of these doctrinal errors holds to all three.  But I think, if anyone holds to all three, that may be a powerful witness that that person is rejecting Jesus Christ Himself.  And if anyone rejects Christ, he rejects the Father also.

"He who hears you hears Me, he who rejects you rejects Me, and he who rejects Me rejects Him who sent Me" (Luke 10:16).

It is as if someone is saying, in regard to Christ, I will not have that Man rule over me (Luke 19:14).

In the mouth of two or three witnesses, the truth is established (Deuteronomy 17:6, Deuteronomy 19:15).  Some who hold all three doctrinal errors have a three-fold witness against them that they are rejecting Christ.

Can we expect Christ to give such men an open door for preaching the gospel?

If we reject Christ's word, we reject Christ and the Father who sent Him.  And such men do not have Christ as their head if they are not willing to follow where Christ leads.  

"I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing" (John 15:5).