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Chapter 155

BEING DOGMATIC

© 2015 Richard O’Decatur, All Rights Reserved

This chapter is about blind obedience of followers and the mindset of leaders thatis narrow, inflexible, and authoritarian. I hate to admit having played the part offollowers and being the victim of the kind of leadership that takes advantage of the trustfollowers put in leadership. The reason I never thought of myself as one who would blindly follow the wrongkind of leadership is my hardheaded disposition. Sometimes I have looked and said tomyself, “Surely you are an Israelite.” This is not a compliment but rather a self-critiqueof my stubbornness when it comes to Biblical understanding. Most any Bible studentgets my reference to Israel found eight times in the Old Testament.

Exodus 32:9 KJV 9And the LORD said unto Moses, I have seen this people, and, behold,it is a stiffnecked people:The word translated stiffnecked comes from the Hebrew word qasheh (H7186)

and is defined: pronounced kaw-sheh'; From H7185; severe (in variousapplications):—churlish, cruel, grievous, hard ([-hearted], thing), heavy, + impudent,obstinate, prevailed, rough (-ly), sore, sorrowful, stiff ([-necked]), stubborn, + introuble. I really like the last part of that definition: stubborn + in trouble. For sure, ifyou are stubborn, you are in trouble. Perhaps the meanings I underlined best describe mymindset over the years from my childhood to the present. When I think I know a Biblicaltruth I am tenacious like a bulldog with jaws locked ferociously holding on until someincredible force tears me away. For most of my life I now realize that my beliefs werebased on the trust, I had in church leaders and ministers. I trusted my Baptist father and Iheld onto what he taught me. When I was seventeen, I began to trust other ministers ofthe Assembly of God denomination. When they told me things that did not directly goagainst what my father had taught me, I accepted them as well. My father and these otherministers quoted scriptures for what they believed and while I read the scriptures, it wasmy trust of these men not God that established my beliefs. Over the years, I waschallenged by various doctrines of other churches but continually I rejected them whenthey went against what I had already learned.

I do not wish to belabor this point but I feel it is necessary to provide somepersonal insight into my private life so the reader can realize that I have often walked intheir shoes. This chapter is about how a person changes their beliefs and hearing fromanother who once believed as you do should provide more credibility than hearing fromsomeone who never believed such things. This lets you know that I have bothunderstanding and sympathy for what you may have gone through. Whenever I begin toreference scriptures to prove to others that certain beliefs are not truly based on the Word

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of God and are therefore wrong, very often I remember the time when I also believedsuch errors.

Just to back up what I have just said, let me present some milestones of my life. Iattended several different kinds of church groups over the years. As I mention thesechurches, I remember fully accepting what they taught because I thought their teachingswere Biblically based. My grave mistake was accepting what church leaders andministers said without fully understanding the scriptures they quoted on my own. I wasborn and raised in a family with Baptist roots. My father was a Free Will Baptistminister. I will be honest and tell you that while young, whatever my father told me wasas if it had come from the voice of God. I attended nearly every meeting the church’sdoors was open. Sunday School and morning and evening services on Sunday and PrayerMeeting on Wednesday evening as well as Revival meetings that ran every night for oneor two weeks at a time.

When I was a junior in High School, I stopped going to the Baptist church becauseof a dispute between several influential church families in the Baptist church that myfamily attended. For about a year, I began attending various churches with friends: I wentto a Lutheran and then a Methodist church and learned about what they taught. Then Ibegan to regularly attend an Assembly of God (Pentecostal) church. This church had avery large youth group around my age. This was the largest church I remember everattending to that time in my life. There were all kinds of activities for me to join in and Iwanted to become part of it. There were weekend trips up to Snow Valley to gotobogganing, out to the dessert to ride horses, beach parties and swim parties atsomeone’s house that had a pool. It was in this church I learned about speaking intongues, shouting and praising God aloud during and after services, and generally beingvery emotional.

I joined the Air Force and my travels took me away from home for the next eightyears. During this time, I attended various independent Pentecostal churches until aboutthe age of 25. Then I became involved with the Worldwide Church of God (WCG) runby Herbert W. Armstrong. For the first time, I was challenged to read the Bible to findscriptures to support my beliefs. However, I was given a list or chain of scriptures thatswayed me in one direction that actually did not present the whole truth of God’s Word.

After one such study I realized that the Bible was very clear that Christians shouldkeep the Sabbath and that it was on Saturday the seventh day of the week rather than onSunday the first day of the week. I was in shock. Suddenly I had to admit that I was nottaught the truth by my father and other ministers all my life. I thought, “What other errorshave I been taught?” Looking back, I see that after studying the Sabbath issue in theBible with a booklet by the WCG to guide me, I slipped back into accepting the words ofmen and only reading their carefully developed ‘proof text’ scriptures. This resulted inmy abandoning many of my previously learned beliefs in favor of those taught by HerbertW. Armstrong’s church.

I spent about ten years in the WCG and left it in 1981 when I could no longerignore the hypocrisy and evil practices of Herbert Armstrong and other WCG top

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leadership. I was nearly destroyed personally and my faith was shattered as I felt I couldnot trust any church organization. My family lost all friends as they were all part of theWCG and when we left we were marked (which is like ex-communicated) and if theyspoke to us they would be in jeopardy of being kicked out of the WCG as well. At thattime, most members actually thought their salvation depended on being part of the WCG.

I spent the next ten years not regularly attending any church groups. My personallife was shattered as well and my wife and I divorced. It was out of the frying pan intothe fire as I then married a woman that was nearly as bad a mistake as becoming a part ofthe WCG. Eventually, we separated for nearly a year and while living apart I beganattending a Seventh Day Adventist church as I began trying to put my life back together. I knew that the first thing I had to do was get into a right relationship with God. I stillcould not shake free of the belief that I needed to keep the Commandments of God whichdefined righteous living before God (Psalms 119: 172). During that year I did not dateanyone nor did much outside of work, study my Bible, and pray. My second wife and Igot back together after she promised to change her behavior to show that she really lovedme. I admit that life and marriage was much better for nearly ten years.

Then after a series of very unusual happenings in 1992, I began to attend a smallBible Study that received video tapes of services with sermons presented by ministerswho were part of the Church of God, International (CGI) founded in 1978 by Garner TedArmstrong (Herbert’s son). Honestly, I believe that God wanted me to become part ofthat organization as there were still some unsettled issues in my mind since the WCG thatneeded to be resolved. I spent over two years in that Bible Study and never met a singleCGI minister. I was very cautious, and it took a lot for me to begin to think that GTA hadturned over a new leaf, repented, and was behaving as a minister of God must behave tostand in the pulpit and preach. In the Spring of 1994, I had a very strange experiencewherein I knew that Jesus Christ wanted me to become a minister and to serve Him byteaching others what He would reveal to me from His Word. That fall, I attended a BibleAcademy for one year. Shortly after I returned home, GTA was kicked out of the CGI forimmoral conduct and lying to the Ministerial Council. After that I was ready to becomemore involved with this church group. Beginning in 1996, I traveled and preached tocongregations across the USA, from Texas to Florida and across most of states east of theMississippi River up to Ohio and Michigan. I was ordained to the ministry in 1998. Ieven traveled internationally to Canada, Jamaica, and Australia.

After about ten years in this organization, in 2003, I resigned from the CGI after Ilost all respect for its leadership and many of its ministers. I decided that I could not bepart of a church that chose to support and back liars and hypocrites rather than myself. Ihad been a dedicated minister that zealously studied and preached the Word of God. Iwould not compromise how I lived and what I preached but did so according to the truthof God and by the help of God’s Holy Spirit.

As I look back and see several those other ministers who became very jealous ofme as their congregations wanted to hear me preach rather than them, I cannot help butthink ‘How foolish of them. It was God’s Holy Spirit that used me to preach to thevarious congregations.’ Had they become more zealous rather than jealous, their

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congregations would have enjoyed and been uplifted by their preaching as well as bymine. I tried for over a year to get the headquarter leaders and the Ministerial Council tocorrect the misbehavior of the jealous ministers but nothing substantial was ever done. Finally, I gave up on the organization’s leaders and resigned. Since that time, I havedevoted my life to further seeking the truth and to preaching and publishing it whenever,wherever, and to whomever possible.

As you can see, I have had a diverse background involving religious institutionsand their beliefs. What I believed over the years changed several times. Each set ofchanges was a traumatic experience. I now see I was gullible and was swayed by otherswho seemed very knowledgeable, well educated, and experienced. I did not realize that Iwas led down a trail of ‘proof-texts’ that were taken out of context and used to establishdoctrines. This resulted in my flip-flopping in several beliefs. It was only after myexperience in the CGI and leaving that organization and all religious organizations that Iwas finally able to totally break free from what I call ‘institutional thinking.’ I shook freeof all shackles that religious organizations conform to in order to maintain their beliefsystem and doctrines. I was free to examine all my beliefs using only the Word of Godand to establish each one totally apart from traditions that guide all church groups anddenominations.

While religious organization demand blind trust from its membership, theyactually try to instill into their membership a mindset that is ‘dogmatic’ when it comes totheir beliefs and doctrines. However, if you look up related words to ‘dogmatic’ in adictionary or thesaurus, you will find definitions and words that seem to express virtuallyeverything a Christian should not be in their way of thinking and acting. These wordsclearly describe the profile of cults and abusive organizations both secular and religious. The first words that come up on my computer screen when I check the Thesaurusfor the word dogmatic are the words: fixed, rigid, inflexible, and unbending.However, then I had mixed feelings as I remembered some things we are taught in theBible. I recalled a song that was based on scripture and its chorus said something like: “Ishall not be, I shall not be moved; like a tree planted by the water; I shall not be moved.”When I checked my Bible, I found a couple of scriptural passage with similar words:

7 “Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord,And whose hope is the Lord.8 For he shall be like a tree planted by the waters, (Jeremiah 17:7 - 8 NKJV)

6 He only is my rock and my salvation;He is my defense;I shall not be moved.7 In God is my salvation and my glory;The rock of my strength,And my refuge, is in God.(Psalms 62:6 – 7 NKJV)

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Then I remembered a scripture that says that God does not change.Malachi 3:6:

6For I am the LORD, I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are notconsumed.

Still other scriptures came into my mind:1 Thessalonians 5:21:

21Test all things; hold fast what is good.

Hebrews 3:14:14For we are made partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of ourconfidence stedfast unto the end.

1 Corinthians 15:58:58Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, alwaysabounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that yourlabour is not in vain in the Lord.

After all this, I was beginning to think that being dogmatic might not be such abad thing after all. Then I looked on down the list of words in the thesaurus meaningdogmatic and read: strict, assertive, narrow, doctrinal, authoritarian, and dictatorial.This reveals the meaning of the word dogmatic that most of us think of relating tosomeone who does not fully reflect Christian values and character. I hope you noticedthat some elements of this word could be good, or bad depending on its application. There are often two sides to words, if you understand this you can better grasp thenature of the Truth of God found in the Bible.

How many times have you heard this? One preacher says, “What I am saying isthe truth from the Word of God.” Then another preacher says something that is differentfrom the first and might even be the exact opposite, but he too states, “What I am sayingis the truth from the Word of God.” In both cases, these preachers quote Bible scripturesto support their positions. How can this be so? Both men cannot be right when theydisagree on something. We find a key to understanding this dilemma in the writings of the Apostle Paul in1 Timothy 1:8 – 11:

8But we know that the law is good if one uses it lawfully, 9knowing this:that the law is not made for a righteous person, but for the lawless andinsubordinate, for the ungodly and for sinners, for the unholy and profane, formurderers of fathers and murderers of mothers, for manslayers, 10forfornicators, for sodomites, for kidnappers, for liars, for perjurers, and if there isany other thing that is contrary to sound doctrine, 11according to the gloriousgospel of the blessed God which was committed to my trust.

Here, Paul is explaining that even the law of God can be used wrongly therebymaking it bad or evil rather than good as when it is used correctly. Punishment is only

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properly served if applied to those who are guilty of committing a crime. If it is appliedto the innocent then it is bad and wrong. It is the nature of deception to use goodthings for a wrong purpose. Such practice makes something that in itself is good, tobecome null and void, or invalid, where it is not applicable. As we read of what is called the ‘Temptation of Jesus’ in the wilderness by Satan,we read quotes of scripture by Satan. These quotes were the ‘Truth of God’. God’sWord is always good, right? Notice, that in the second temptation, Jesus answered withscriptures that showed Satan’s use of scripture was not applicable therefore, Jesus did nothave to follow it. I will reprint this passage of scripture before further comment. As youread it, I hope you begin to see a great truth. Clearly, we see that even the Word ofGod, which is good, when used wrongly such as in something that is not applicableor intended, it becomes invalid. Matthew 4:1 – 11:

1Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.2And when He had fasted forty days and forty nights, afterward He was hungry.3Now when the tempter came to Him, he said, “If You are the Son of God, commandthat these stones become bread.”

4But He answered and said, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but byevery word that proceeds from the mouth of God.’”

5Then the devil took Him up into the holy city, set Him on the pinnacle of thetemple, 6and said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down. For it iswritten:‘He shall give His angels charge over you,’and,‘In their hands they shall bear you up,Lest you dash your foot against a stone.’”

7Jesus said to him, “It is written again, ‘You shall not tempt the Lord your God.’”8Again, the devil took Him up on an exceedingly high mountain, and showed Him

all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. 9And he said to Him, “All these thingsI will give You if You will fall down and worship me.”

10Then Jesus said to him, “Away with you, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shallworship the Lord your God, and Him only you shall serve.’”

11Then the devil left Him, and behold, angels came and ministered to Him.

I remember watching a video of a church service on the internet. In it, I watchedwhat happens when people take a scripture by itself and then use it to try to justifya practice that can be deadly. In their church services where there are men, women,and even young children, they had boxes that held deadly snakes such copperheads andrattlesnakes. In addition, they set out jars that were filled with water laced with deadlychemicals such as strychnine. As their service began, the preacher started to shout andjump around getting the congregation and himself worked up. There was not much of amessage other than his stating that those who truly follow the Lord will do what Jesussays in the Bible. I will not quote this preacher or how he phrased this verse but he was

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alluding to a verse in which Jesus said, “they will take up serpents; and if they drinkanything deadly, it will by no means hurt them.” As the service progressed, after everyone seemed to be fully engrossedemotionally in shouting and jumping around, some other men opened the boxes with thesnakes. Then the preacher and another man reached in and each took out a rattlesnakeand began to hold it up and wave it around. The snake curled around their arms as theyshouted and sang various choruses. The camera primarily focused on the preacher. I feltuneasy as I watched the camera zoom in close as the preacher continually looked at thesnake and even brought it close to his face. You would have to see the video to confirmwhat this looked like to me. What I saw was a look on the preacher’s face like he adoredthe snake and was virtually worshipping it. Later, he and some other men unscrewed thelid on the jars and began to drink the poison. The video also showed an interview of the preacher. The preacher showed markson his hands where he had received several snake bites and he recovered without medicalhelp. He mentioned that a few of their members had died after being bit or drinking thepoison but many others had survived. He said with strong conviction that those who diedsimply did not have adequate faith. Let me acknowledge that the scripture mentioning ‘they will take up serpents(snakes)’ is in the Bible. However, I want to make a point. What is the purpose of thisscripture and how should it be correctly applied? I have underlined the portion of thisscriptural passage found in Mark 16:15 – 18:

15And He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to everycreature. 16He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does notbelieve will be condemned. 17And these signs will follow those who believe: InMy name they will cast out demons; they will speak with new tongues; 18theywill take up serpents; and if they drink anything deadly, it will by no means hurtthem; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.”

The verse says exactly what the preacher said as far as he went in quoting it. Before further examination, I would like you to read two other scriptural passages by theGospel writers that tell of this same set of instruction by Jesus Christ. It is my firmbelief that no Christian doctrine should ever be based on a single scripture orportion of scripture. It must be established by two or more scriptures and be inagreement with well-laid fundamental truths presented by the entire Word of God.The requirement for two or three witnesses to establish the truth is found in six differentscriptures: Deuteronomy 17:6; Deuteronomy 19:15; Matthew 18:16; 2 Corinthians 13:1;1 Timothy 5:19; and Hebrews 10:28. What was said by Jesus as mentioned in the passageof Mark 16 was witnessed and related in two other Gospel accounts. Matthew 28:18 – 20:

18And Yeshua [Jesus] came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority hasbeen given to Me in heaven and on earth. 19Go therefore and make disciples ofall the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and ofthe Holy Spirit, 20teaching them to observe all things that I have commandedyou; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”

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Luke 24:46 – 49:46Then He said to them, “Thus it is written, and thus it was necessary for the

Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day, 47and that repentanceand remission of sins should be preached in His name to all nations, beginningat Jerusalem. 48And you are witnesses of these things. 49Behold, I send thePromise of My Father upon you; but tarry in the city of Jerusalem until you areendued with power from on high.”

What do two or more of these scriptures have in common?1. Go into all the world. (Includes “all the nations.”)2. Preach the Gospel of Yeshua [Jesus] Christ. (The Gospel is not just the story

of Jesus but includes what He said and His example.)3. Baptize believers. (Believers must repent of their sins and accept Yeshua

[Jesus] as their personal Savior and Lord or Master before baptism.)4. Teach them to observe all things Christ commanded is the same as saying they

should make disciples of Christ. (This directive in Matthew is affirmed byLuke saying “You are witnesses of these things” and ties in with Mark saying“Preach the gospel” which includes those things mentioned in 1. above.)

Since the mentioning of ‘snakes or serpents’ is in only one portion of scripture injust one of the three accounts of Jesus’ Words just before He left this world, I find nojustification to set up a doctrine or practice for purposely performing ‘snake handling’and ‘drinking poison’ during religious services (or anywhere for that matter). Thispractice has every sign of tempting God that Jesus condemned in Matthew 4: 7 and Luke4: 12. These two scriptures provide two witnesses against such a practice of purposelytaking up deadly snakes and drinking poison. This practice of snake handling anddrinking poison is all about self-glorification. I am surprised that they do not includebells and whistles and yelling for everyone to, “Hey, look at me! I am the greatest! Youshould bow down and worship me!” When we should be looking to Jesus Christ andGod, the Father and following the real Truth of His Word. Still, there must be some good reason this verse is recorded in the New Testament. I think we can find one reason in another passage involving someone being bitten by asnake in the New Testament. Acts 28:1 – 6:

1Now when they had escaped, they then found out that the island was calledMalta. 2And the natives showed us unusual kindness; for they kindled a fireand made us all welcome, because of the rain that was falling and because ofthe cold. 3But when Paul had gathered a bundle of sticks and laid them on thefire, a viper came out because of the heat, and fastened on his hand. 4So whenthe natives saw the creature hanging from his hand, they said to one another,“No doubt this man is a murderer, whom, though he has escaped the sea, yetjustice does not allow to live.” 5But he shook off the creature into the fire and

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suffered no harm. 6However, they were expecting that he would swell up orsuddenly fall down dead. But after they had looked for a long time and saw noharm come to him, they changed their minds and said that he was a god.

This passage showed that God would protect those who were doing His will fromdangerous and deadly things. Not only had God just protected Paul from drowning afterbeing shipwrecked, he also protected him from the effect of the deadly venom after apoisonous serpent (snake) had bit him. Did Paul intentionally reach down and ‘take up’the snake? No! While God’s protection of a Christian can be miraculous, Jesus warnedus quoting from the Old Testament to not provoke or tempt God by purposely doinganything reckless or dangerous just to see if God will protect us (Matthew 4:7; Exodus17: 1 – 7; Deuteronomy 6: 16; and Luke 4:12). While the passage in Mark 16 speaks of‘taking up serpents or drinking something that is deadly’ based on other scriptures,examples, and the words of Jesus Christ, no Christian should ever intentionally dothese things for that is ‘tempting God’ and that is evil rather than an exhibition ofgodly faith. A further examination of Mark 16 and what takes place in ‘snake handling’congregations shows other inconsistencies of their practice with the Word of God. I seenothing in this passage that tells anyone to ‘take up serpents (snakes) or drink anythingdeadly (poison)’ in a worship service or congregational meeting. I do see in the very firstpart, that those who follow Christ are directed to ‘Go into all the world and preach thegospel.’ Who are they to preach to? Those who are lost in order for these people to learnabout Jesus Christ and what He taught so they could believe in Him, repent of their sinsand be saved by faith. The scripture tells of signs that will follow those who believe. Through the power of God’s Holy Spirit, they will be able to cast out demons, speak inother languages that they have not been taught. Some will have the gift of healing andyes, some may be protected from the effect of accidentally being bitten by a deadly snake(or other creature) or unknowingly drinking something deadly (there are many deadlythings in drinking water around the world). Paul writes of the many spiritual gifts of the Holy Spirit that God gives tobelievers. Not everyone gets all of them and some may have more than one. Read 1Corinthians chapter 12 and chapter 14. However, in all cases these gifts are given by Godfor the purpose of glorifying God, to serve the brethren in Christ, and as a sign tounbelievers. If anyone attempts to use these gifts to seek self-glorification, draw attentionto themselves, or have others look to them instead of to Jesus Christ, God will not honorthem and may in fact remove His Spirit from them. We can beat the passage in Mark 16 to death by extensive examination but wewill not find anything that will justify the practice of premeditative ‘taking up deadlysnakes or drinking poison’ thereby tempting God. Yet, let us strive to ‘rightly dividingthe Word of Truth’ (2 Timothy 2: 15), as we take a closer look at some of the words inthis passage to see if it provides more understanding of what was intended by JesusChrist. The words ‘take up’ means ‘to lift in order to put away or remove’ (see G142in Strong’s Concordance). This goes against snake handling as they are bringing snakesout not trying to remove them. The word ‘serpent’ can mean ‘an artful malicious

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person, especially Satan’ as well as a snake (see G3789). We are reminded toremove the things of Satan from our lives (Romans 13: 11 – 14). In 1 Corinthians 5, Pauladmonishes the congregation to remove a person who is openly sinning. The word ‘if’means ‘even if, though’ indicates an unintentional action (G2579). Snake handlersand poison drinkers are premeditative in bringing in boxes of snakes and jars of poison aswell as purposefully handling the snakes and drinking the poison. In every respect, suchpeople are not following the express Word of God. From this example, we need to realize that it is not enough to read one verse orpassage and especially a part of a verse and then say, “That is the Word of God so wemust do what it says.” That is what someone or a religious organization does when theyare being dogmatic. It takes a narrow view rather than a wide view of considering allscriptures concerning a specific concept that becomes a doctrine and practice. If you dealwith those who are dogmatic about some belief you will find them ‘rigid, inflexible, andunbending’ in what they believe regardless of proofs you try to show them from theBible. You will find their practices and mannerism are ‘strict, assertive, authoritarian,and dictatorial.’ Their leaders attempt to close the door of the minds of their followers. They try to shut out all influence on the group’s members by separating them from theirfamilies and the friends they had outside of the group other than to try to bring them intothe group. Such groups often become dangerous cults.

There is a great danger to the average Christian in being swayed by thosewho are dogmatic. Remember, a dogmatic person has studied only to affirm theirbeliefs rather than find truth. They are well prepared to not just defend their belief but toattack the beliefs of others that are different. They seek to find a crack they can use intearing down the beliefs of others. Where there are any doctrines and practices of anyChristian Church that are not established by two or more scriptures there is the possibilitythat they are not Truths of God. These doctrines and practices were founded on traditionsrather than scripture and some may go back hundreds of years. Let me be clear, no matterhow long they have been taught or practiced and no matter who put them into the beliefsof the church if they are not adequately based on scripture they are not Truths of God butare in fact traditions of men. When a Christian is confronted by someone who is dogmatic from anotherreligious organization and is asked if what they believe is based on traditions or the Wordof God, most will answer, “the Word of God.” This is where they are caught in a trap asit were. The dogmatic person will then take one or more of the Christian’s doctrinalbeliefs and practices and show them clearly that the Christian’s belief is not according tothe Bible. One after the other of the Christian’s beliefs based on a part of one passage ora portion of just one verse is exposed as not representing the Truth of God found in God’sWord. Perhaps, one of the greatest examples of showing someone their doctrines are inerror concerns the seventh day Sabbath. There is no applicable or contextually accuratescriptural support for any doctrine that allows Christians or any religious churchorganization to change which day of the week to keep the 4th Commandment,“Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy.” The seventh day Sabbath remains the sameas when God created it on the seventh day as we read in Genesis chapter two. Sad to say,

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numerous cults have used this truth to open the door to gullible Christians who keepSunday as their Sabbath. After proving the Sunday Keeping Christian is wrong aboutwhich day is the Sabbath, they continue to lead them into other doctrines that are notscripturally founded as they utilize brainwashing techniques. They are adept at enslavingnew converts in an authoritarian abusive organization that systematically separates themfrom Biblical truth, from their family and friends, as well as their income and even theirhope of salvation.

If the Christian has been slack and has not established for them self what is Truthby studying the entire Bible, they will not see any fallacy in some of beliefs of thedogmatic person. They will be left with three choices.

One, they will realize they are being unintentionally or purposely lied to bythe leadership of their church but they remain in that church waiting andhoping God will correct the leadership.

Two, they will leave their church and join the one the dogmatist belongsto. The danger here is that while this new group may have a few truths,there may be more serious errors in other beliefs especially if this grouphas cultist practices.

Third, the person becomes bitter against all religious organizations and isnot able to trust any so they leave the one they were in but do not join inwith any other.

What is a Christian to do? One thing is to not be dogmatic. Remain flexible tothe Holy Spirit and be submissive to the Truth of God’s Word. Continue to seek a churchthat you determine is trying to live by the entire Bible, allows individuals to think forthemselves, and tolerates difference of opinions concerning beliefs that are not essentialto salvation. I can think of no better instruction to you than you can read in 2 Timothy theentire 3rd chapter. It tells what to be wary of and what to cling to in faith. I will reprint ithere so you can read it now and begin to follow it.

1But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come: 2For men will belovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient toparents, unthankful, unholy, 3unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, withoutself-control, brutal, despisers of good, 4traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers ofpleasure rather than lovers of God, 5having a form of godliness but denying itspower. And from such people turn away! 6For of this sort are those who creepinto households and make captives of gullible women loaded down with sins, ledaway by various lusts, 7always learning and never able to come to the knowledgeof the truth. 8Now as Jannes and Jambres resisted Moses, so do these also resistthe truth: men of corrupt minds, disapproved concerning the faith; 9but they willprogress no further, for their folly will be manifest to all, as theirs also was.

10But you have carefully followed my doctrine, manner of life, purpose, faith,longsuffering, love, perseverance, 11persecutions, afflictions, which happened tome at Antioch, at Iconium, at Lystra—what persecutions I endured. And out ofthem all the Lord delivered me. 12Yes, and all who desire to live godly in ChristJesus will suffer persecution. 13But evil men and impostors will grow worse and

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worse, deceiving and being deceived. 14But you must continue in the things whichyou have learned and been assured of, knowing from whom you have learnedthem, 15and that from childhood you have known the Holy Scriptures, which areable to make you wise for salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.

16All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, forreproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, 17that the man of Godmay be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.

I would say the only thing to be dogmatic about is your faith in Yeshua[Jesus] Christ, that He is the Son of Almighty God, the Father, that He died in ourplace for our sins, that He was resurrected to immortal life, and will come again tothis earth to reward His saints with immortality. Keep your faith in Christ Jesus firstand foremost. However, do not be so dogmatic in other beliefs. Continually study theWord of God. Use a concordance or software such as Quick Verse to do searches for allverses that relate to a specific idea, topic, or subject so you can begin to further grow infaith and in the knowledge of Christ Jesus. Make a list of what you think are the mostimportant beliefs you have or should have. Try to find several scriptures that areapplicable from your search as this will be a truth of God that you can rely on. I wouldencourage you to write in a journal what you have learned based on specific scriptures. As time passes go back and reread the results of your Bible studies. Add scriptures youhave found that are applicable or remove those that you have since learned are notapplicable. Do not be afraid to change your mind and beliefs if God’s Word clearlyshows you have been wrong about something. In all these things, pray without ceasing. Expand your study to include everything in your life. Seek fellowship with others whoare closely aligned with the most important beliefs you are learning from the Bible. Study Bible Articles of others but be very careful to insure they are based on truth. Remember my motto: