Yoga - the Untold Story It is very unlikely that you haven't seen or heard anything about yoga. From an ancient philosophy out of India, yoga made its way to North America and Europe and is becoming more and more accepted as a form of modern exercise. Many people who try yoga are enthusiastic about its touted benefits of weight loss, stress reduction, improvement of health problems and the like. Maybe you have tried yoga already and experienced some of its benefits, but are wondering what yoga is really all about at the core and if it is okay for you to practice it. Maybe you are contemplating giving it a try, but you are unsure. This book sheds light on the confusion about yoga. It will show where yoga came from, how it developed into its modern forms, and what the effects of yoga really are. In short - what are the roots and fruits of yoga? Is it possible that despite all the benefits of yoga, there could be some dangers in it? Are we in the end bowing to yoga? Finally, if you are looking for alternatives to yoga, this book will suggest several which are great exercises and also fun to do. Born and raised in Germany, Armin Weidle also lived for five years in the U.S., where he earned his Master of Arts in Intercultural Studies. He also spent time studying Indian culture, both in the U.S. and while living in India for a brief time. He is especially interested in understanding more about how Western cultures are influenced by the Indian culture. When I was Pastoring, Church planting, and raising up Eph.4:11 leaders in Germany, Armin was a vital part of my Apostolic Ministry team. He is committed to seeing the body of Christ growing up in Christ and in His Word, and stands as a watchman on the wall against cultic practices that come into the body by ignorance. Today Armin works in business and lives near Frankfurt, Germany, with his wife Ratna.
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THE DANGERS OF M.G.T. (MORAL GOVERNMENT THEOLOGY): PART 7
This is the last study on M.G.T. DOCTRINE: The Atonement of God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ. MGT says that the atonement shows a willingness on God's part to forgive sin, rather than a desire to punish sin. MGT says that God forgives completely out of His grace rather than a need for personal vindictive satisfaction. In other words, M.G.T. says that God would not have sent Jesus to the cross to die for sin. It would say that we are saved by the good life of Jesus and by God's goodness and God's grace. M.G.T. would say that the cross was not necessary for mankind to be saved. However, the Bible teaches sin needed to be judged and punished, and that true Biblical atonement is Christ taking the punishment for our sins on the cross. (Is. 53:5; Nah. 1:3). The Bible teaches that the work of the cross is the punishment of sin that satisfied God's wrath on sin. (1 John 2:2 ). (Note that the word “Propitiation” in Greek is “hilasmos" which means “a satisfaction”, or “that which turns away wrath and makes amends for sin”). THE DANGERS OF M.G.T. (MORAL GOVERNMENT THEOLOGY): PART 6
DOCTRINE: The Omniscience or the All-Knowing and Foreknowledge of God MGT says that God's foreknowledge is limited in the area of man's free decisions. In other words M.G.T. say that God knows only after man has decided and acted on something. This means God is not in the future seeing our actions but is a step behind man in the present. MGT says that many of the things God predicted never came true. They would say that God can lie and that His predictions are noting more than when predicts, a hit or miss situation. However, the Scriptures say that God's understanding is infinite (Ps. 147:5). The Scriptures say that what God predicts is true and amen and has or will come true. Deuteronomy 18:22 ESV when a prophet speaks in the name of the LORD, if the word does not come to pass or come true, that is a word that the LORD has not spoken; the prophet has spoken it presumptuously. You need not be afraid of him. Isaiah 40:21-23 ESV Do you not know? Do you not hear? Has it not been told you from the beginning? Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth? (22) It is he who sits above the circle of the earth, and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers; who stretches out the heavens like a curtain, and spreads them like a tent to dwell in; (23) who brings princes to nothing, and makes the rulers of the earth as emptiness. Numbers 23:21 ESV He has not beheld misfortune in Jacob, nor has he seen trouble in Israel. The LORD their God is with them, and the shout of a king is among them. THE DANGERS OF M.G.T. (MORAL GOVERNMENT THEOLOGY): (PART 5)
Let's look at the doctrine of Government or the complete Sovereign Rule of God MGT says that God does not have sovereign control over earthly events. They would say that acts and responds as a result of man's choices. The bible teaches however that God has sovereign control over all matters and things of the world and will, in the end, work all things out according to His will and purposes. Job 42:2 ESV “I know that you can do all things, and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted. Romans 8:28 ESV And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. Psalms 97:1 ESV The LORD reigns, let the earth rejoice; let the many coastlands be glad! Matthew 6:10 ESV Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Let's now look at the doctrine of the Omniscience or the All-Knowing and Foreknowledge of God. MGT says that God does not know His future actions. MGT says that God does not know ahead of time the free decisions of humans. The Scriptures say that God does know His future actions (Is. 46:9,10). The Scriptures say that God, in His eternal nature, does know the free decisions of man ahead of time (Jn. 13:38; 1 Sam. 23:12). THE DANGERS OF M.G.T. (MORAL GOVERNMENT THEOLOGY): (PART 4)
MGT attacks the holiness of God by teaching that He is holy only because He chooses to use His attributes in a loving way towards humans. In other words He can choose to be unholy in nature. MGT says that God can and does make wrong choices and sin. MGT teaches that God does not fulfill some of His own prophecies. They say that God changes His mind and is not immutable or that God is always in a state of change. BIBLICAL EVANGELICAL VIEW: Only false prophecies, spoken by false prophets do not become reality. God does not change His mind according to His purposes. God never changes and one of the things that we can be confident in is the immutability of God. He cannot lie and He cannot be moved or change for His ways are pure, holy and righteous and need not be changed. (See Num.23:19; Deut. 18:18-22; 1 Sam.15:29; Hab.2:2-3; Mal.3:6; Tit.1:2; 2 Pet.3:9; Heb.6:18; Jam.1:17). THE DANGERS OF M.G.T. (MORAL GOVERNMENT THEOLOGY): (PART 3)
I have been warning believers about a seriously dangerous false cultic teaching that is within the body of Christ and is being taught by some of the most well-known "Christian leaders" in our nation today. Moral Government Theology believes that God not only has the capacity to lie but that He chooses to do so. Really? What will they do with these Scriptures? Numbers 23:19 ESV God is not man, that he should lie, or a son of man, that he should change his mind. Has he said, and will he not do it? Or has he spoken, and will he not fulfill it? Titus 1:2 ESV in hope of eternal life, which God, who never lies, promised before the ages began MGT would say that God speaks forth things that He never intends to do because He constantly changes His mind. MGT does not believe in the immutability of God or that He is unchanging. Hebrews 6:17-18 ESV So when God desired to show more convincingly to the heirs of the promise the unchangeable character of his purpose, he guaranteed it with an oath, (18) so that by two unchangeable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled for refuge might have strong encouragement to hold fast to the hope set before us. MGT does not believe that God has control over the events on the earth and that He does not know what is in the future nor does He know His own future actions. According to MGT the decisions of God are limited to the choices of mankind. Once mankind makes their choices then and only then can God decide what to do. THE DANGERS OF M.G.T. (MORAL GOVERNMENT THEOLOGY): (PART 2)
Where did Moral Government Theology (MGT) come from? Moral Government Theology traces its roots back to a 16th-century Dutch jurist named Hugo Grotius. (A “jurist” is a professional who studies, develops, applies, or otherwise deals with the law). Moral government theology cannot truthfully be called a Christian doctrine as it is based on the unbiblical and erroneous idea that both God and man have a form of freedom known as the “power of contrary choice.” For man, this power enables all men to act and make choices free from the tyranny of our sin nature. According to the Word of God mankind are slaves to sin and their sinful nature, yet MGT says that mankind can make choices overriding that sinful nature. Moral government theology claims that man is born morally neutral and is always capable of choosing whether or not to sin, and his moral character is determined by the choices he makes. One of the most disturbing doctrines of MGT is that it teaches that the atonement of mankind does not need the work of the cross. In other words according to MGT our Lord Jesus Christ died needlessly and in vain. They would say that the perfect life of Christ was enough for us to be redeemed and that God would never us wrath to get rid of or punish sin. But Paul says in Galatians that this is not true. Galatians 2:21 ESV I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness were through the law, then Christ died for no purpose. MGT would say that the love of God and the willingness of God to forgive are greater than His desire to punish sin and therefore God would not demand a blood sacrifice. Therefore MGT would say that Jesus did not need to die on the cross. MGT would say that for someone to believe that our Lord Jesus Christ died on the cross to pay our ransom is believing in a deception from the devil. MGT does not believe that our Lord Jesus Christ paid our sin debt. They say that for the believer to accept the ransom teaching and believe that God allowed Christ to be killed on a cross makes God vindictive and bloodthirsty. And these doctrines are being held and taught by some of the famous mainline mega-church Pastors in our day. THE DANGERS OF M.G.T. (MORAL GOVERNMENT THEOLOGY): PART 1
2 Peter 2:1-2 ESV But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing upon themselves swift destruction. (2) And many will follow their sensuality, and because of them the way of truth will be blasphemed. One of the dangers within the body of Christ in the day which we live is an abundance of false doctrines. The problem lies in the fact that they are “dressed up” in a way that they are not recognized by the average Christian. This study is revealing the false doctrine of “Moral Government Theology” also known as “MGT”. We will look at some of the teachings of this false doctrine and then place the Biblical teaching beside the false teachings of MGT so that we can compare what the Bible says. This doctrine is not an isolated belief, but one that is spreading throughout the Christian church due to a lack of knowing the Word of God. The average believer would be shocked at some of the famous TV preachers that embrace this false doctrine. Moral Government Theology (MGT), is rooted in the philosophical definition of freedom as the "power of contrary choice." MGT denies the fundamental Christian doctrines of God's perfection in knowledge, goodness, and power. MGT denies the fundamental Christian doctrines of original sin, human moral inability, the substitutionary satisfaction of God's justice in Christ's atoning death, redemption, and justification. I will document in this study, using only the Word of God, these false denials of the MGT teachings. The teachings of MGT are so serious that it warrants classifying as a serious non-Christian doctrine and cultic in doctrine and practice. So follow me over the next couple weeks in exposing the false teachings of Moral Government Theology. |
AuthorCharles Morris. Founder and Senior Pastor of RSI Ministry, RSI School of Ministry, and RSI Publishing L.L.C.. Archives
March 2021
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