Heresy
Versus "The Gospel Truth"
by
Jim Hammond
(Note:
To my knowledge, the "church" in question is no longer in
existence in Cottonwood. However, much can be learned about the
truth when compared to the twisting of the truth.)
There is no shortage of
religious ideas out there, even in our community, Cottonwood Arizona.
Have you heard of the new church in town? It is promoting itself as “Old Town Community Church” and
is located on the corner of 5th and main. Though they sometimes call themselves simply the Old Town
Community Church, it’s official name is “The Temple of Eternal
Light, The Universal Community Church.”
Even the church insurance business is wary of churches with such
elaborate names. They have
good reason to be wary. Let
me convey to you some information about this church that came out in
there promotional publications. I
tell you about it as a dark backdrop in contrast to the true Gospel.
The “Prophetess” Rev.
Rhys DiPalma writes, “The Temple of Eternal Light is
a universal church where all ways to the center are accepted and
respected. I believe that a
church should be a higher school of thought as well as a cultural
center. I have planned a
number of activities and events for the month of June to introduce our
services to the community.”
“Who are the Children
of Eternal Light?”, asks “Prophetess” Rev. Rhys DiPalma. “The
Children of Eternal Light are a mystical order of the inner sanctum of
the body of Christ and the heart of the mother.
They are a group of disciples sent to spread the sward of truth
to the new millennium, they work in the deep arts of mysticism and
religion under their spiritual advisor and mentor Prophetess Reverend
Rhys DiPalma. We study the
path of the working of miracles and exorcisms.”
“The
Children of Eternal Light work deep in worlds of telepathy and astral
projection. They are a
group of devoted warriors whose patron saint is Arch Angel Michael.
Their motto once spoken by an ascended master states our purpose
well. ‘In our lifetime we
have come to conquer the universe by the force of truth.’
Devoted to raising consciousness of the world, the Children of
Eternal Light seek to enlighten people of the true nature of the
universe, the oneness of mankind in their environment, communities, and
nations."
The “Prophetess” Rev. Rhys DiPalma closes this brief
description with the statement “In Love of Christ, The children of the
Eternal Light.”
Let me react first of all
with a comment from Paul, in 2 Corinthians 11:12-14:
“And I will keep on doing
what I am doing in order to cut the ground from under those who want an
opportunity to be considered equal with us in the things they boast
about. {13} For such men are false apostles, deceitful workmen,
masquerading as apostles of Christ. {14} And no wonder, for Satan
himself masquerades as an angel of light.”
On the same publication,
one page begins with the bold assertion “The Prophetess Speaks” in
big bold print. Her message
is printed as follows. “A
new age is upon us, once again the cycle of life has come full circle
and once again I am among you.” Notice
her boldness in claiming authority.
Perhaps she speaks the oracle of another within her.
Her bold claim continues by misquoting Jesus as if Jesus were
referring to her, or the spirit she speaks for.
She speaks, “Of this the Messiah Jesus, when speaking to the 12
at the last supper, said “John
why do you cry that I should go, do you not know that it is better that
I should go, for if I do not go the comforter will not come.
This comforter is one with God, but the world receives her not,
for it sees her not, but you will know her and receive her, for she will
abide by in thy heart. There
are many things yet to be said, things this age cannot yet comprehend,
but I say unto you before the great and coming day of the Lord the
comforter will make herself known. When she comes she will teach the
immortality of mankind, the soul, and mankind’s oneness to each and
every man. When she comes
she will teach the truth of the words I have spoken and proclaim the
judgment of the just. When
she comes the world will recognize her as it recognized me and the
father will love you as he has loved me, and I need not intercede for
you anymore.”
I want you to notice the
dangerous twisting of words. I
don’t know where “Prophetess Rev. Rhys DiPalma” gets her quote
from, but it’s not the Bible. It’s
not even a bad translation of the Bible.
Here is the closest quote from scripture available.
Note that in scripture the spirit to come is always “he” not
“she”.
(John
16:5-14) "Now I am
going to him who sent me, yet none of you asks me, 'Where are you
going?' {6} Because I have said these things, you are filled with grief.
{7} But I tell you the truth: It is for your good that I am going away.
Unless I go away, the Counselor will not come to you; but if I go, I
will send him to you. {8} When he comes, he will convict the world of
guilt in regard to sin and righteousness and judgment: {9} in regard to
sin, because men do not believe in me; {10} in regard to righteousness,
because I am going to the Father, where you can see me no longer; {11}
and in regard to judgment, because the prince of this world now stands
condemned. {12} "I have much more to say to you, more than you can
now bear. {13} But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide
you into all truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only
what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come. {14} He will
bring glory to me by taking from what is mine and making it known to
you.
Notice also the
difference in character the quotes.
Who is exalted in each of these quotes.
In the true quote of Jesus, he gets the glory.
In the false quote “Prophetess Rev. Rhys DiPalma” or the
spirit she channels brings glory to herself.
If it isn’t already
clear that the teachings of “Prophetess Rev. Rhys DiPalma” come from
the pit of darkness and not light, note the activities planned on their
church calendar. Included
is a dissertation on Prophecy and the New Age, Karate classes where the
students are warned, “If you are not prepared to be a spiritual
warrior of passive nature this class is not for you;” a beginners
class on the use of Tarot (as in Tarot Cards used for fortune telling?);
and a drum circle (whatever that is). She ends her promotional packet with the quote “The Temple
of Eternal Light offers a number of services to the community.
We have a massage therapist on staff, an astrologer, and psychic
advisors and readers.
The Gospel in Contrast to this Heresy
With that heresy as a
backdrop, let us consider the Gospel Truth.
A clearly definable consistent teaching of the Bible, that
Christians have agreed upon since Christ, regardless of denominational
differences. But before we
do let me tell you a couple of jokes to make the point you need to hear.
Deacon
Jones was the sharpest horse trader in the county and also the
county’s most noted Bible Scholar.
No matter how questionable the transaction, he was always able
tot come up with a verse or two from Scripture to seemingly justify his
actions.
When
a city slicker moved into the neighborhood the deacon persuaded the
greenhorn to pay top dollar for his oldest horse—a swaybacked critter
with one hoof in the glue factory.
“You ought to be ashamed of yourself for talking that poor,
dumb city feller into buying that old nag,”
Mrs. Jones scolded. “Now,
tell me what does your Bible say about behavior like that?”
The
deacon thought a minute and then said, “He was a stranger, and I took
him in.”
I
tell that joke because you will be “taken in” not by a horse trader
but by people like “Prophetess Rev. Rhys DiPalma” if you are a
“stranger” to the Gospel. Do
you know enough about the Gospel to recognize false teaching when you
hear it?
“The Gospel Truth”
A man
died and approached St. Peter at the Pearly Gates.
St. Peter said, “Before you can enter, you have to be able to
correctly spell the password.”
What’s
the password the man said,
“Love”
replied Peter.
The
man spelled it correctly and St. Peter welcomed him to heaven. Then, St. Peter asked him if he’d be the gatekeeper while
he tended to some business elsewhere.
The man agreed.
Lo
and behold—the next person to approach the Pearly Gates was the
man’s wife. She explained
that she had been killed in an auto accident returning from his funeral.
Being faithful to his duty, he told her that she must correctly
spell the password before she could enter.
When she asked what the password was, he said, “Czecholslovokia.”
I
tell you this joke but the password to heaven is not Love, or
Czecholslovokia. The
password to heaven is the Gospel. But
just what is “the Gospel.”
The Gospel:
First let’s define this term Gospel.
The Definition of Gospel is “Good News.” “Gospel” is
Middle English, from the Old English word godspel;
or god, meaning good. + spel,
meaning news. But this old
English word is simply a translation of Greek Bilbical word euangelion.
Which also means good, news. Eu
the prefix, meaning good and angelion – meaning message
[angelion comes from the same root as angel, meaning messenger, or
bearer of the message]. Our
english word evangelize comes from the verb euangelizo,
crudely translated “good messaging” better translated “to tell the
good news”, “announce the good news,” or “preach the good
news.” Now you know where we get our term for evangelize.
It means to tell others the good news about Jesus.
We are rightly called
evangelicals because we believe in the Gospel, the euangelion
Proclaiming the Gospel/good news/evangilizing/good newsing/or
preaching of this truth about Jesus is what Christ commanded his
disciples to do. It is
central to all of Paul’s letters and thinking.
The core of the Apostolic teaching is The Gospel.
The motivation of the Apostolic teaching is the spreading of the
Gospel.
Now in our day “The
Gospel” has come to mean “The Truth.”
If something is “Gospel” then that something, that idea or a
principle, is understood and accepted as unquestionably true: The
teacher said it, and that made it gospel.
The reason the word is understood this way is because that is the
way the Apostles looked at the “good news” that the Gospel is about.
But what exactly is the
Gospel truth? What is the
message content of the “Good News” that the “Gospel” is all
about. It is one thing to believe the Gospel because we have grown
up with it. It is quite another thing to have enough understanding to be
able to explain from the Bible how we got this belief.
That is what I hope to equip you with today. I want you to be able to identify the Gospel and any
counterfeit that twists the Gospel.
With today’s outlandish abuse of the Bible the Word of God, we
need to be able to know what we believe, why we believe it, and to be
able to show someone else that teaching in the Bible which the Bible
calls “the Gospel”. The
Bible is clear and straight forward about the content of the Gospel Good
News, though False teachers have a way of making something that was very
clear suddenly seem foggy.
Perhaps
the following points and scriptures will help you to understand “The
Gospel.”
1. The Gospel is Peace with
God through Jesus Christ who is Lord of All (Acts 10:36)
(Acts
10:36) You know the message
God sent to the people of Israel, telling the good news of peace through
Jesus Christ, who is Lord of all.
2.
The Gospel is the good news about the event that saves people.
·
Namely, Jesus, the
Son of God came from heaven to earth to save us from our sins by dying
on the Cross, as a sacrifice for our sins.
(1 Corinthians 15:1-4)
(1
Corinthians 15:1-4) Now,
brothers, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which
you received and on which you have taken your stand. {2} By this gospel
you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you.
Otherwise, you have believed in vain. {3} For what I received I passed
on to you as of first importance : that Christ died for our sins
according to the Scriptures, {4} that he was buried, that he was raised
on the third day according to the Scriptures,
·
The Gospel is
Jesus’ Sacrifice, (1 Corinthians 15:3)
3.
The Gospel is based on a correct understanding of the person of
JESUS.
·
The Gospel is
effective because of who Jesus is, the one and only unique Son of God,
fully man and fully God. Any
other understanding of Jesus is a “different Jesus” and a
“different Gospel” (2 Corinthians 11:3-4; Colossians 2:9).
(2 Corinthians 11:3-4)
But I am afraid that just as Eve was deceived by the serpent's
cunning, your minds may somehow be led astray from your sincere and pure
devotion to Christ. {4} For if someone comes to you and preaches a Jesus
other than the Jesus we preached, or if you receive a different spirit
from the one you received, or a different gospel from the one you
accepted, you put up with it easily enough.
(Colossians 2:9)
For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form,
4.
The Gospel is what Jesus did not what you do. (1 Corinthians 15:3; Ephesians 2:8)
(1 Corinthians 15:3)
For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance :
that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures,
(Ephesians 2:8)
For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith--and this
not from yourselves, it is the gift of God--
5.
The Gospel is absolute, unchanging, and clearly black and white
(Galatians 1:6-10)
(Galatians
1:6-10) I am astonished
that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you by the grace of
Christ and are turning to a different gospel-- {7} which is really no
gospel at all. Evidently some people are throwing you into confusion and
are trying to pervert the gospel of Christ. {8} But even if we or an
angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached
to you, let him be eternally condemned! {9} As we have already said, so
now I say again: If anybody is preaching to you a gospel other than what
you accepted, let him be eternally condemned! {10} Am I now trying to
win the approval of men, or of God? Or am I trying to please men? If I
were still trying to please men, I would not be a servant of Christ.
·
The Gospel
presupposes the reality of Sin, and the need for forgiveness
·
The reality of a
coming judgment for those not forgiven
·
Therefore the
reality of heaven and hell.
·
The reality of
absolute truth
·
The reality of
Jesus as the way, the truth, and the life.
·
The effectiveness
of the Death, Burial, and resurrection of Christ.
6.
The Gospel is the Word of God, received from God. (Galatians
1:11-12; 1 Thessalonians 2:13)
(Galatians 1:11-12)
I want you to know, brothers, that the gospel I preached is not
something that man made up. {12} I did not receive it from any man, nor
was I taught it; rather, I received it by revelation from Jesus Christ.
(1 Thessalonians 2:13)
And we also thank God continually because, when you received the
word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of
men, but as it actually is, the word of God, which is at work in you who
believe.
7. The Gospel must be
believed and received. (Ephesians 1:13)
(Ephesians
1:13) And you also were
included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your
salvation. Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the
promised Holy Spirit,
Receiving “THE GOSPEL”
It is not enough to understand the Gospel.
For it to be good news to you, you must receive it.
1.
You Must Believe “the Gospel” (the Good News Message) and
Receive “the Gospel” (the Good News Event) by faith, identifying
yourself with Jesus’ Death, Burial, and Resurrection through Baptism
(Acts 2:38; 8:12; 10:47-48; Romans 6:3-4; 1 Corinthians 12:12-13;
Galatians 3:26-29; Ephesians 4:5; Colossians 2:10-13; 1 Peter 3:21)
(Acts
2:38) Peter replied,
"Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus
Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift
of the Holy Spirit.
(Acts
8:12) But when they
believed Philip as he preached the good news of the kingdom of God and
the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women.
(Acts
10:47-48) "Can anyone
keep these people from being baptized with water? They have received the
Holy Spirit just as we have." {48} So he ordered that they be
baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. Then they asked Peter to stay with
them for a few days.
(Romans
6:3-4) Or don't you know
that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into
his death? {4} We were therefore buried with him through baptism into
death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the
glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.
(1
Corinthians 12:12-13) The
body is a unit, though it is made up of many parts; and though all its
parts are many, they form one body. So it is with Christ. {13} For we
were all baptized by one Spirit into one body--whether Jews or Greeks,
slave or free--and we were all given the one Spirit to drink.
(Galatians
3:26-29) You are all sons
of God through faith in Christ Jesus, {27} for all of you who were
baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. {28} There is
neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all
one in Christ Jesus. {29} If you belong to Christ, then you are
Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise.
(Ephesians
4:5) one Lord, one faith,
one baptism;
(Colossians
2:10-13) and you have been
given fullness in Christ, who is the head over every power and
authority. {11} In him you were also circumcised, in the putting off of
the sinful nature, not with a circumcision done by the hands of men but
with the circumcision done by Christ, {12} having been buried with him
in baptism and raised with him through your faith in the power of God,
who raised him from the dead. {13} When you were dead in your sins and
in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with
Christ. He forgave us all our sins,
(1
Peter 3:21) and this water
symbolizes baptism that now saves you also--not the removal of dirt from
the body but the pledge of a good conscience toward God. It saves you by
the resurrection of Jesus Christ,
Someone has called John
3:16 "the heart of the Bible--the gospel in miniature."
It's so simple a child can understand it; yet it condenses the
deep and marvelous truths of redemption into these few pungent words:
"God"
.................
The greatest Lover
"So
loved"...............
The greatest degree
"The
world"..............
The greatest number
"That
He gave"...........
The greatest act
"His
only begotten Son"..
The greatest Gift
"That
whosoever".........
The greatest invitation
"Believeth"..............
The greatest simplicity
"In
Him".................
The greatest Person
"Should
not perish"......
The greatest deliverance
"But"
...................
The greatest difference
"Have"...................
The greatest certainty
"Everlasting
life".......
The greatest possession
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