OUR INTENTIONS ARE GOOD AND NOBLE IN EXPOSING THE FALSEHOOD OF OTHER RELIGIONS
Critics believe and frankly
suggest that the Iglesia Ni Cristo (Church Of Christ) ministers should only
preach Church doctrines without mentioning other faiths. They do not understand
why ministers have to condemn beliefs alien to the Holy Scriptures.
However, the impression that
Iglesia Ni Cristo (Church Of Christ) ministers intentionally offend others is
totally unfounded. They only expose unscriptural teachings and practices of
other religions without the intention of maligning, insulting, or degrading
persons or personalities. Statements about other religions are uttered with the
specific purpose of presenting the truth, one way of which is by exposing
contradictions between religious doctrines and biblical teachings.
Why do the true Christians have
to denounce teachings that contradict the Bible? Would it not suffice that the
Christians just preach their faith, and avoid touching other faiths?
A BIBLICAL
PRATICE
Christ Himself frankly and
courageously denounced unsound doctrines and their teachers. In a confrontation
with Pharisees, He said:
“Jesus
answered, "And why do you disobey God's command and follow your own
teaching?...You hypocrites! How right Isaiah was when he prophesied about you!
'These people, says God, honor me with their words, but their heart is really
far away from me. It is no use for them to worship me, because they teach
man-made rules as though they were my laws!'” (Matthew 15:3, 7-9 TEV)
The Lord Jesus Christ Himself
called the Pharisees hypocrites. He chided them for their utter disregard of
God's command in order to follow their own teachings citing the Prophet Isaiah
who wrote:
“The
Lord said, "These people claim to worship me, but their words are
meaningless, and their hearts are somewhere else. Their religion is nothing but
human rules and traditions, which they have simply memorized.” (Isaiah 29:13
TEV)
Through the Prophet Isaiah, God
categorically condemned religions that are based on human rules and traditions.
Why then should we be surprised if His ministers today expose unscriptural
teachings? The Lord Jesus Christ Himself chided the teachers of unsound
doctrines (the Pharisees) for their utter disregard of God’s command in order
to follow their own teachings (human rules and traditions).
Christ was informed by His
disciples that the Pharisees were themselves offended at His frankness when He
told them that they were hypocrites:
“Then
the disciples came to him and said, ‘Do you know that the Pharisees had their
feelings hurt by what you said?” (Matthew 15:12 TEV)
However, the Lord Jesus Christ
curtly replied:
“Don't
worry about them! They are blind leaders of the blind; and when one blind man
leads another, both fall into a ditch.” (Matthew 15:14 TEV)
Thus, true ministers of the
Gospel can never condone false teachings even if people’s feelings get hurt in
the process.
FOLLOWING
CHRIST’S EXAMPLE
Christ's fearless stance by God's
words was carried on by the Apostles. In the event that a true minister of God
encounters teachings and practices that seek to invoke worship service to the
Lord in any manner, contrary to what the Bible teaches, he will surely speak
out against them.
Apostle John, following Christ’s
example, fiercely spoke against those who claimed to know God but did not
submit to His commands. He said:
“If
someone says that he knows him, but does not obey his commands, such a person
is a liar and there is no truth in him.” (I John 2:4 TEV)
Apostle John called those who
profess belief in God but do not follow His commands liars! He did not hesitate
to rebuke those who go against the will of God.
Thus, a true minister follows the
example set by the Lord Jesus Christ and the Apostles in gallantly standing by
the truth. Clearly, Christ and the Apostles did not hesitate to confront other
faiths that contradict God’s words.
THE DIVINE
TASK OF GOD’S MINISTERS
In their teaching of the Gospel,
the true ministers of the Gospel firmly upheld God’s truth above anything else.
Apostle Paul wrote:
“When
I came to you, my brothers, to preach God's secret truth, I did not use big
words and great learning. For while I was with you, I made up my mind to forget
everything except Jesus Christ and especially his death on the cross…
“And
my teaching and message were not delivered with skillful words of human wisdom,
but with convincing proof of the power of God's Spirit.” (I Cor. 2:1-2, 4 TEV)
This is also the resolve of the
ministers of the Iglesia Ni Cristo (Church of Christ). Their honest motive is
to convey God’s truth to all as what Christ and the Apostles did. Thus, the
ultimate purpose of the true minister is what Apostle Paul expressed with great
resolve:
“Therefore,
since through God's mercy we have this ministry, we do not lose heart. Rather,
we have renounced secret and shameful ways; we do not use deception, nor do we
distort the word of God. On the contrary, by setting forth the truth plainly we
commend ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God.” (II Cor.
4:1-2, New International Version)
The ultimate purpose of the true
minister of God is to "set forth the truth plainly" without
distortion. Because of this, another task given to true ministers of the Gospel
is the following:
“Have
nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them.”
(Ephesians 5:11 NIV)
Thus, the divine tasks of the
true ministers of the Gospel are to preach the truth and to expose the untruth
(the falsehood). And if in the process of doing so some may feel slighted, the
minister of God does not lose heart because his divine work is not his own but
God’s. Apostle Paul emphatically declared:
“Whereof
I am made a minister, according to the dispensation of God which is given to me
for you, to fulfill the word of God.” (Colossians 1:25 KJV)
The ministry in the true Church
of Christ is according to the dispensation of God. It is God's calling (cf.
Heb. 5:4). Thus it is not to men that God's ministers are held accountable but
to Him who called them.
The truth is the ultimate guide
of a true minister of God as he fulfills his duty. God's word is the truth (cf.
Jn. 17:17). Hence, it is the minister's obligation to preach the truth and
condemn the untruth. And if in doing so people will turn their ears away, he
should endure. As what Apostle Paul admonished his fellow minister, Timothy:
“Preach
the word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with
all longsuffering and teaching. For the time will come when they will not
endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have
itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; and they will turn
their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables. But you be
watchful in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist,
fulfill your ministry.” (II Tim. 4:2-5 NKJV)
Thus, though exposing the untruth
may be offensive to many people, the Iglesia Ni Cristo ministers are obliged to
do so, because the ultimate purpose of the true minister of God is to set forth
the plain and pristine truth. For whose sake?
“For
this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all men
to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.” (I Timothy 2:3-4 NKJV)
The Lord God desires all men to
come to the knowledge of truth in order to be saved.
__________________________
“One of the divine tasks of the true
ministers of God is to
set forth the truth plainly without any
distortion – to expose falsehood to arrive at biblical truth. The Lord God desires all men to come to the knowledge of truth in order to be saved.”
__________________________
No comments:
Post a Comment
Know why more and more people worldwide convert to Iglesia Ni Cristo (Church Of Christ). Learn more about this Church and find out what makes it unique.