“THINK ON THESE THINGS”
Philippians 4:8

February 23, 2020 -- Volume 4.09

PREMILLENNIAL ERRORS
Ney Rieber

  1. Premillennialism questions the power and fore knowledge of God when it says that Jesus came to establish His Kingdom, but because the Jews rejected him, had to establish the church instead (Dan. 2:44, Job 42:2).

  1. Premillennialism makes God a respecter of persons when it assigns a special favor of God to the Jew today. It fails to recognize that all believers, whether Jew of Gentile, are now God’s chosen people and that this has always been His plan (Gal. 3:28-29; Acts 10:34).

  1. Premillennialism rejects the plain statements of Jesus when it insists that Jesus came to establish a material, earthly kingdom (Jn. 18:36; Lk.17:21).

  1. Premillennialism denies the present existence of God’s kingdom when it insists that the kingdom is yet to be established, and they still look forward to its establishment and a millennial reign (Col. 1:13).

  1. Premillennialism denies that Jesus is now ruling as King when it contends that Jesus is still to come and establish a kingdom in the future (Acts 2:33).

  1. Premillennialism makes the church of Jesus Christ an afterthought and a temporary substitute when it contends that Jesus failed to establish His kingdom, so established the church instead (Eph. 3:11).

  1. Premillennialism denies the plain statements of the Old Testament when it contends that God has not yet kept his promises (to the fathers) concerning the land promises made to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob (Josh. 21:43-45).

  1. Premillennialism teaches error when it teaches that there are going to be several resurrections instead of only the one resurrection that the Bible teaches (Jn. 5:28-29).

  1. Premillennialism fails to recognize the true nature of the judgment and Christ’s return when it teaches that Jesus will return several times (Heb. 9:28).

  1. Premillennialism denies Bible prophecy when it teaches that Jesus will rule the earth from Jerusalem during the millennium (Jer. 22:30; Matthew 1:11). 


WARNING AGAINST ERROR
By John Edwards

There is constant need for warning against error. Peter penned, “Ye therefore, beloved, seeing ye know these things before, beware lest ye also, being led away with the error of the wicked, fall from your own steadfastness” (2 Pet. 3:17).

ERROR IS OF THE DEVIL. Error was first introduced by Satan, in the garden of Eden, when the father of lies said, “Ye shall not surely die” (Gen. 3:4; Jn. 8:44). As God is “a God of truth and without iniquity, just and right is he” (Duet. 32:4), the devil, “the god of this world” (2 Cor. 4:4), is a god of error and with iniquity, unjust and wrong is he! Those who propagate error are “the children of the devil” (Acts 13:10; 1 Jn. 3:8, 10).

ERROR INVOKES DIVINE ANGER. When Uzzah “put forth his hand to the ark of God,” which none were authorized to touch (Num. 4:15), “the anger of the Lord was kindled against Uzzah; and God smote him there for his error; and there he died by the ark of God” (2 Sam. 6:6-7). Throughout the pages and ages of sacred history, death has been the companion of error.

ERROR IS TO BE EXPOSED. Ever since man has possessed the knowledge of good and evil, he has been inclined to try to hide and cover error (Gen. 3:5, 10). There is no cloak of any human construction that can conceal error, “For there is nothing covered, that shall not be revealed; neither hid, that shall not be known” (Lk. 12:2). As light expels darkness, truth exposes error (Jn. 3:20-21). Error, and those involved in it, have always been identified in a specific way. God, by His servant Jeremiah, identified the work of idolatry as “the work of errors” (Jer. 10:15; 51:18). Jesus said to the Saducees, which denied the resurrection, “Ye do err, not knowing the scriptures, nor the power of God” (Matt. 22:23, 29). Paul labeled homosexuality as “error” in Romans 1:27, and named Hymenaeus and Philetus as having “erred concerning the truth” in 2 Timothy 2:16-18. Jude made mention of “the error of Balaam” in Jude 11. Children of light are commanded, “And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them” (Eph. 5:11).

ERROR IS TO BE ATONED FOR. Under the law of Moses, on the day of atonement, the high priest entered the most holy place and made a blood offering “for himself, and for the errors of the people” (Heb. 9:7). “But in those sacrifices there is a remembrance again made of sins every year. For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins” (Heb. 10:3-4). Yet, we have been made to “joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement” (Rom. 5:11). One cannot continue to “live in error” (2 Pet. 2:18) and receive atonement. He must make a clean escape from error by coming out, separating himself from error (2 Cor. 6:17), and applying the blood of Jesus in being “baptized into his death” (Rom. 6:3-4), where He shed His blood (Jn. 19:33-34). The Christian who has been “led away with the error of the wicked” (2 Pet. 3:17) is cleansed by the blood of Jesus as he renounces and repudiates his error in repentance, confession of his sins, and walking in the light (Acts 8:22; 1 Jn. 1:7-9). May our desire always be, “Teach me…and cause me to understand wherein I have erred” (Job 6:24). And, as James said, “Let him know, that he which converteth the sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from death, and shall hide a multitude of sins” (Jas. 5:20). 
 


Where Error Leads
By Joe R. Price

16 But shun profane and idle babblings, for they will increase to more ungodliness. 17 And their message will spread like cancer. Hymenaeus and Philetus are of this sort, 18 who have strayed concerning the truth, saying that the resurrection is already past; and they overthrow the faith of some” (2 Tim. 2:16–18, NKJV).

False teaching is not benign. It leads to harmful spiritual effects upon its teachers, those who follow them, and those influenced by the followers (2 Pet. 2:1-2). Yet, some will tell us that false doctrine is really a non-issue. They say things like, “everybody is in error on something;” or, “nobody is 100% doctrinally pure.” Their solution is agreeing to disagree on revealed truth. That is not the Bible solution (1 Cor. 1:10). Today’s passage exposes and explodes this false reasoning about false teaching. First, false teaching is identifiable. Some messages are indeed profane and empty, infecting and destroying souls (v. 16). These stand in contrast with “the word of truth” (2 Tim. 2:15). Second, error leads to ungodliness (v. 16). False teaching is sin. Third, error leads to more error. It spreads. Someone said, “Error does not stand still. It continues to work.” Unopposed, it spreads like cancer (v. 17). Fourth, false messages leads to overthrowing faith (v. 18). It does matter what you believe. Fifth, false messages lead to strife (2 Tim. 2:23). Avoid error. Do not begin to listen to it, or receive those who teach it (2 Jn, 10-11). It leads you away from the truth, and straight into iniquity (2 Tim. 2:18-19). – Sword Tips, January 11, 2018