Sound Doctrine-15

We are to say, “No!” to ungodliness but what is ungodliness? Why are so many “Christians” involved in ungodly teachings that lead to ungodly lifestyles?

2 Timothy 4:3–4 (NIV84)

3For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear.

4They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths.

Jeremiah 23:16–18 (NIV84)

16This is what the Lord Almighty says: “Do not listen to what the prophets are prophesying to you; they fill you with false hopes. They speak visions from their own minds, not from the mouth of the Lord.

17They keep saying to those who despise me, ‘The Lord says: You will have peace.’ And to all who follow the stubbornness of their hearts they say, ‘No harm will come to you.’

18But which of them has stood in the council of the Lord to see or to hear his word? Who has listened and heard his word?

Jeremiah 23:18 (NLT2)

18 “Have any of these prophets been in the LORD’s presence to hear what he is really saying? Has even one of them cared enough to listen?

Little gods Doctrine

Genesis 3:1–5 (NIV84)

1Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?”

2The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden,

3but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’ ”

4“You will not surely die,” the serpent said to the woman.

5“For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

Satan first questioned God’s Word by asking Eve, “Did God really say…?”

Satan then contradicted what God had said by stating to Eve, “You will not surely die.”

Satan then tempted Eve with the prospect of being like God.”

[Satan] told [Eve] that she could become more like God by defying God’s authority, by taking God’s place and deciding for herself what was best for her life. In effect, he told her to become her own god.

Satan’s strategy for deception has not changed; he still deceives people through false teachers who distort God’s Word and lead others away from the truth.

These false teachers claim: “As little gods, we have the ability to manipulate the faith-force and become prosperous in all areas of life. Illness, sin, and failure are the result of a lack of faith and are remedied by confession: by claiming God’s promises for oneself into existence.”

The Word of Faith movement is deceiving countless people, causing them to grasp after a way of life and faith that is not biblical. At its core is the same lie Satan has been telling since the Garden: “You shall be as God” (Genesis 3:5).

Psalm 82:1–8 (NIV84)

1God presides in the great assembly; he gives judgment among the “gods”:

2“How long will you defend the unjust and show partiality to the wicked? Selah

3Defend the cause of the weak and fatherless; maintain the rights of the poor and oppressed.

4Rescue the weak and needy; deliver them from the hand of the wicked.

5“They know nothing, they understand nothing. They walk about in darkness; all the foundations of the earth are shaken.

6“I said, ‘You are “gods”; you are all sons of the Most High.’

7But you will die like mere men; you will fall like every other ruler.”

8Rise up, O God, judge the earth, for all the nations are your inheritance.

The judges or other rulers of OT times were called gods not because they were divine, but because they were dignitaries clothed with an authoritative commission from God.

The word gods (’ělōhîm) is used here for authorities in Israel. It refers to God’s representatives who are in authority on earth.

God warned the wicked judges that they will perish. He had appointed them as “gods” and as sons of the Most High, His representatives on earth. But despite their exalted position, they were held accountable by God.

These gods are human leaders, such as judges, kings, legislators, and presidents. God, the Great Judge, presides over these lesser judges.

God was pronouncing judgment in the assembly of these wicked judges who were called gods, not because they have the same creative power as God but because they are God’s representatives to the people.

They were supposed to exercise the authority God gave them to judge properly, but they were judging unjustly, showing partiality to the wicked in court.

I said, You are “gods.” I have given you my name and power to rule your people in my stead.

Many Word of Faith proponents use this passage to suggest that we are little gods. The word gods here refers to a position of authority. They are not gods by nature but have a godlike function in bringing justice to the world and in judging human life.”

God has appointed men to positions of authority in which they are considered gods among the people. But even though they are representing God in this world, they are mortal and must eventually give an account to Him for how they used that authority.

John 10:31–36 (NIV84)

31Again the Jews picked up stones to stone him,

32but Jesus said to them, “I have shown you many great miracles from the Father. For which of these do you stone me?”

33“We are not stoning you for any of these,” replied the Jews, “but for blasphemy, because you, a mere man, claim to be God.”

34Jesus answered them, “Is it not written in your Law, ‘I have said you are gods’?

35If he called them ‘gods,’ to whom the word of God came—and the Scripture cannot be broken—

36what about the one whom the Father set apart as his very own and sent into the world? Why then do you accuse me of blasphemy because I said, ‘I am God’s Son’?

Why did Jesus say this? Was he acknowledging that people were gods?

When Jesus quotes Psalm 82:6, “Is it not written in your law, ‘I said, you are gods’?” He was not endorsing the “little gods” doctrine. He’s answering a blasphemy charge:

The Pharisees accused Him of claiming to be God.

Jesus replied, in effect: “If your own Scripture can call human judges ‘gods’ because they spoke God’s word, why is it blasphemy when I, the One truly sent and sanctified by the Father, call Myself His Son?”

His argument is from lesser to greater: if the title could be applied to unjust human rulers, how much more appropriate for the divine Son.

Jesus used Psalm 82 to defend His unique Sonship, not to make all humans divine.

Jesus is arguing from the less to the greater.

If the word god could be used of people who were no more than judges, how much more could it be used of one with greater dignity, greater importance and significance than any mere judge, one “whom the Father sanctified and sent into the world”?

He is not placing himself on a level with men, but setting himself apart from them.

If in the Scriptures, which always remain in force, the people of God could be called “gods,” how much more can the one whom God has consecrated and sent call himself “the Son of God.”

“If it was OK in Old Testament times for people who were mere mortals to be called gods, how much more legitimate is it for one who is God incarnate to be called God?”

If there are others whom God can address as “god” or “sons of the Most High,” why then should the Jews object to Jesus’ statement that He is “the Son of God”?

If mere men, who were evil, could in some sense be called gods, how could it be inappropriate for Jesus, the One whom the Father sanctified and sent into the world, to call Himself the Son of God?

Exodus 21:2–6 (NIV84)

2“If you buy a Hebrew servant, he is to serve you for six years. But in the seventh year, he shall go free, without paying anything.

3If he comes alone, he is to go free alone; but if he has a wife when he comes, she is to go with him.

4If his master gives him a wife and she bears him sons or daughters, the woman and her children shall belong to her master, and only the man shall go free.

5“But if the servant declares, ‘I love my master and my wife and children and do not want to go free,’

6then his master must take him before the judges. He shall take him to the door or the doorpost and pierce his ear with an awl. Then he will be his servant for life.

Judges = אֱלֹהִים elohim = any person characterized by greatness or power: mighty one, great one, judge.

The term “gods” refers to human judges, particularly the judges of Israel.

In Exodus 21:6, as part of the Jews’ civil law, the people were told that if a man who had been a slave for six years and was to be set free in the seventh year should nevertheless have come to love his master and want to remain with him, he was to be brought to the elohim, who should pierce his ear as a sign that he had chosen to be a servant for life.

Genesis 1:26–27 (NIV84)

26Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.”

27So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.

The founder of the Word of Faith movement stated: “You are as much the incarnation of God as Jesus Christ was. Every man who has been born again is an incarnation and Christianity is a miracle. The believer is as much an incarnation as was Jesus of Nazareth.”

“Man was created on terms of equality with God, and he could stand in God’s presence without any consciousness of inferiority.”

To suggest that anyone other than Jesus was God incarnate is blasphemy and heresy.

This teaching seems to suggest that the delineation between Jesus and those He came to save should be minimized.

False Teacher: “If horses get together, they produce what? Horses! If dogs get together, they produce what? Dogs! If cats get together, they produce what? Cats! So if the Godhead says, ‘Let us make man in our image,’ and everything produces after its own kind, then they produce what? Gods!”

False Teacher: “Gods. Little-g gods. You’re not human. The only human part of you is this flesh you’re wearing.”

Rather than recognizing that humans are both physical and spiritual, body and soul, he claims that we are gods who are only wearing human bodies.

False Teacher: “When you say, ‘I am a Christian,’ you are saying, ‘I am a little Messiah walking on earth. I am a little god walking in the earth.’”

The basic idea behind the controversy is that humans are actually divine, created “in the image of God” (Genesis 1:27) not only in having a soul, having dominion over the earth, or living in relationship with others, but by being of the same “spiritual class” as God Himself.

Isaiah 44:6–8 (NIV84)

6“This is what the Lord says— Israel’s King and Redeemer, the Lord Almighty: I am the first and I am the last; apart from me there is no God.

7Who then is like me? Let him proclaim it. Let him declare and lay out before me what has happened since I established my ancient people, and what is yet to come— yes, let him foretell what will come.

8Do not tremble, do not be afraid. Did I not proclaim this and foretell it long ago? You are my witnesses. Is there any God besides me? No, there is no other Rock; I know not one.”

Exodus 20:3 (NIV84)

3“You shall have no other gods before me.

Isaiah 42:8 (NIV84)

8“I am the Lord; that is my name! I will not give my glory to another or my praise to idols.

Claiming divinity for Christians is unsupportable, especially taking the rest of the Bible into account. God is God alone (Isaiah 37:16). We have never been God, we are not God now, and we never will be God.

Isaiah 45:22–24 (NIV84)

22“Turn to me and be saved, all you ends of the earth; for I am God, and there is no other.

23By myself I have sworn, my mouth has uttered in all integrity a word that will not be revoked: Before me every knee will bow; by me every tongue will swear.

24They will say of me, ‘In the Lord alone are righteousness and strength.’ ” All who have raged against him will come to him and be put to shame.

Ezekiel 28:6–10 (NIV84)

6“ ‘Therefore this is what the Sovereign Lord says: “ ‘Because you think you are wise, as wise as a god,

7I am going to bring foreigners against you, the most ruthless of nations; they will draw their swords against your beauty and wisdom and pierce your shining splendor.

8They will bring you down to the pit, and you will die a violent death in the heart of the seas.

9Will you then say, “I am a god,” in the presence of those who kill you? You will be but a man, not a god, in the hands of those who slay you.

10You will die the death of the uncircumcised at the hands of foreigners. I have spoken, declares the Sovereign Lord.’ ”

Just as the king of Tyre was humbled for claiming divine status, modern false teachers who elevate themselves and distort God’s message will ultimately face God’s correction.

Generational Curses

The concept of “generational curses” is a misinterpretation of biblical text that wrongly suggests people are perpetually bound by their ancestors’ sins. Proponents claim that people are supposedly still suffering from the evils of their fathers and grandfathers, stuck with ancestral curses and hang-ups.

The teaching of generational curses suggests that the sins or failures of one generation cause automatic spiritual curses on the next — meaning children and grandchildren suffer for the sins of their ancestors unless some ritual or declaration is made to “break” the curse.

They believe that believers must break ancestral curses or cast demons out of Christians to be free.

Generational curses, they say, are past judgments of God brought into the now because somehow we are supposedly still suffering for the evils of our father and grandfathers.

Exodus 20:4–6 (NIV84)

4“You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below.

5You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me,

6but showing love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments.

The effects of sin are naturally passed down from one generation to the next. When a father has a sinful lifestyle, his children are likely to practice the same sinful lifestyle.

Implied in the warning of Exodus 20:5 is the fact that the children will choose to repeat the sins of their fathers. So, it is not unjust for God to punish sin to the third or fourth generation—those generations are committing the same sins their ancestors did.

If one chooses to continue to sin as their fathers did, then they will reap the consequences of God’s punishment (verse 5).

If one chooses to repent and turn to the Lord, then the Lord will show His love to them instead of punishing them (verse 6).

Generational Curses Doctrine: It is the view that occult powers or curses are passed from parent to child.

Those who advocate this view usually quote Exodus 20:5: “You shall not worship them or serve them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, on the third and the fourth generations of those who hate Me.”

Proponents of this view believe that if a parent’s or grandparent’s curse or occult power is not specifically uncovered and removed by renouncing it, a Christian can be oppressed by such a past curse which would include “demonization.”

This kind of “I-inherited-it-from-my-parents” view is also a popular explanation for all kinds of aberrant behavior within many Christian psychology circles as well.

It is used to avoid personal responsibility and to explain mental and emotional disease, chronic sickness, all sorts of female problems from miscarriage to premenstrual syndrome, marriage and financial problems, and rebellious teenagers.

According to the generational-curse view, personal sins and repercussions of others are passed down to their offspring from generation to generation. It implies that salvation in Christ is not quite enough and that born-again believers need additional deliverance. Some even say that in salvation we are forgiven personal sins, but not generational sins. Satan somehow still has legal claims over us and forgiveness comes in stages.

Is this true?

Are we under a curse because of the sins of our forefathers?

Can a Christian be demon-possessed and thus need deliverance to be free from a generational curse?

Next Week!!! (The Lord Willing)

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