Dangers of False Doctrines

1 Timothy 4:1. Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils; 2. Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron; 3. Forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from meats, which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truths. Heresies leave people hopeless when they think they have hope. They are things that sound good and true but lead to destruction. The cults of the world will use some truth, like putting poison in honey. They will tell us that certain meats are a sin to eat or that all meats are sinful. They will forbid us to marry or tell us when and to whom we can marry and even what we can do in the marriage bed. Telling priests they cannot marry is found nowhere in the bible. If your church has a doctrine that is found nowhere in the bible, then how to you weigh it as truth. The bible is our counterweight on the scale of truth, because we must weigh everything with the bible. If the bible says it, it is truth. If it is not found in there then it is false or trivial. If it were important for us to know it would be found in the bible.

This is a time of theological confusion and compromise. A time when so many people have turned aside the truth to follow after things that fit their personal beliefs. How often do I meet a person involved in a false doctrine say that the religion they are involved with matched what they believed so they joined. Psalms 58:3. The wicked are estranged from the womb: they go astray as soon as they be born, speaking lies. Therefore if the bible is true, and it is, we must not follow after our own judgment.

1 John 4:1 Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world. You see the bible warns us clearly about the false doctrines out there and we must be aware of them.

Romans 16:17. Now I beseech you, brethren, mark them which cause divisions and offences contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned; and avoid them. So the word of GOD also instructs us what we are to do here and that is to mark them and then avoid them.

Titus 1:13. This witness is true. Wherefore rebuke them sharply, that they may be sound in the faith; 14. Not giving heed to Jewish fables, and commandments of men, that turn from the truth. So we are to rebuke them, this also includes the person sitting next to you in church that will tell you false doctrines or fables. Within the patriot movement there are many fables today. So I do not have to wary about old Jewish fables so much but there are many fables out there told by so-called people of our faith. I was told that Christians we going to have to run and hide when the government comes to give out small pox vaccines. This is a fable and the bible doesn’t tell me to run but to stay and feed the flocks or to stay and preach the gospel.

Ephesians 5:11. And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them. That means we are not to allow the Jehovah witnesses into your house for tea. We can talk to them at our doorstep. But don’t let them into your house for discussion.

2 Thessalonians 3:6. Now we command you, brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye withdraw yourselves from every brother that walketh disorderly, and not after the tradition which he received of us. This may seem harsh in the standards of the world, but it is there so we don’t get caught up in their heresies or follow them into rebellion. 2 Timothy 3:5. Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away. We are told in the word of GOD that we ought to turn away from those who turn toward false doctrines that deny the power of Jesus over sin and salvation. 2 John:10. If there come any unto you, and bring not this doctrine, receive him not into your house, neither bid him God speed: 11. For he that biddeth him God speed is partaker of his evil deeds. As I said do not let those who come with another doctrine into your house. Don’t bless them or offer then money. Tell them the truth, that which cometh from the word of GOD. Do not fellowship with them whatsoever. They are dangerous. 2 Thessalonians 3:14. And if any man obey not our word by this epistle, note that man, and have no company with him, that he may be ashamed. Titus 3:10. A man that is an heretick after the first and second admonition reject;. We need to reject them that are a heretick. Of coarse we should witness to them in love, but not befriend them to the point were they can influence us. 2 Corinthians 6:17. Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you. We are to be separate from the world and we must remember to be separate from those who have a false doctrine. From the time of the early church even when the apostles were still walking the earth there were false doctrines. To us many false doctrines are obvious, but some are less obvious. Some can come from the person who visits your church. Some can grow inside people in your church many even next to you. Some times those who come to your door have false doctrines sometimes you hear it on Christian radio stations as well. Sometimes rebellion toward the government is told as if it were part of Christian doctrine, which it is not. Beware fellow believers. False doctrines are so thick these days. There are even churches out there that ordain women as Deacons and Bishops when the bible teaches otherwise. There are longhaired hippy-like Christians who want to live according to their way instead of GOD’s way. There are those who marry homosexuals and even ordain them as preachers. There are churches that teach the most, loony doctrines. If the bible says it, believe it and if it doe sn’t don’t. Beware brothers and sisters. Read your bible and pray every day. Attend a church where the bible is the only doctrine taught there, one where they teach out of no other books. I would recommend an unaffiliated independent fundamental Baptist church. Once you find a church that has the doctrine of the bible submit to it

Pontius Pilate

Of Pilate, only two things can be said for certain: that he was, according to the imperial fashion of the day, short-haired and clean-shaven. That in itself says a good deal. He would submit himself to the barber each morning, and perhaps again in the course of the day if he was dark and his beard was strong.
Archeological. In 1961 a Latin inscription containing the words Pontius Pilatus praefectus Judaeae was discovered at Caesarea in Palestine. This inscription gives the correct form of his title. The inscription, which is incomplete, records his two known names but does not give his first name – praenomen. The family name of Pontius was fairly common throughout central and northern Italy at all social levels and was the name of one consul of AD 17 and of another of AD 37. The cognomen Pilate, from the Latin pilatus, means a pikeman, or one armed with a pilum or javelin, or bald, or by another derivation, shaggy. The name is extremely rare; hence the family connections of Pilate remain uncertain. Also we don’t know his first name. He was a Roman equestrian of the Samnite clan of the Ponti; hence his nomen Pontius. Also there are several legends about his origin, of which one is that he was the bastard son of Tyrus, king of Mainz, and was sent to Rome. There, so the story runs, he committed murder and was exiled to Pontus in Asia Minor, were he made good and was rewarded with governorship of Judea. It is far more likely, however, that as the son of an eminent Roman family he underwent the usual diplomatic training, succeeding through other minor posts to the procuratorship of Judea – not a very coveted appointment in any case, and directly responsible to the emperor himself.

Pontius Pilate was the fifth governor of the province and the second longest holder of the office. His included the time of John the Baptist’s activity, as well as that of the public ministry and crucifixion of Jesus. On his appointment in the year 26, some three years before the crucifixion of Jesus, he was about the same age as Jesus, in his early thirties.

Pilate's military powers related primarily to control of Jewish citizens who felt that submission to Rome was apostasy. He had five infantry cohorts and a cavalry regiment, under his command (perhaps 3,000-5,000 men in all) for the maintenance of order, an unusually large force for a province that had no external commitments and was bordered by dependent kingdoms, the Heraclian tetrarchies and the Nabatean Kingdom. Many of the soldiers he commanded were recruited mostly from Samaria and Causarea and were often the most barbarous inhabitants of the province.

Pilate was subordinate to the general authority of the legate of Syria, the supreme military commander in the East. But he had absolute authority in managing his own province, of which Caesarea, not Jerusalem, was the administrative center.

Philo implied that Pilate had a political connection with the eminence grise Sejanus (De legatione ad Gaium 159), commander of the Praetorian Guard. Pilate might been a protegee of the consul of A.D.17. As an equestrian official, he must previously have served as a military tribune or staff officer in a roman legion and possibly in order units before proceeding directly from the army to the governorship of Judea in A.D.26.

Tiberius appointed him procurator of Judea, Samaria and Idumea, subject to the legat of Syria. He succeeded Valerius Gratus as procurator of Judea in A.D.26. He possibly owed his appointment to the Sejanus, and his administration, as described from Jewish stand-point, shows either that he shared the anti-Jewish feelings of Sejanus or that he failed to the understand the temper of the people with whom he had to deal.

Pilate’s procuratorial duties were judicial, military, and financial. His judicial authority was unrestricted in both civil and criminal cases against ordinary provincial persons. Popular reactions, however, could lead to be imperial review.

After the deposition of the eldest son of Herod, Archelaus (who had succeeded his father as ethnarch), Judea was placed under the rule of a Roman procurator. Pilate, who was the fifth, succeeding Valerius Gratus in A.D. 26, had greater authority than most procurators under the empire, for in addition to the ordinary duty of financial administration, he had supreme power judicially. His unusually long period of office (A.D. 26-36) covers the whole of the active ministry both of St. John the Baptist and of Jesus Christ.

The official residence of the procurators was the palace of Herod at Caearea; where there was a military force of about 3,000 soldiers. These soldiers came up to Jerusalem at the time of the feasts, when the city was full of strangers, and there was greater danger of disturbances, hence it was that Pilate had come to Jerusalem at the time of the Crucifixion. His name will be forever covered with infamy because of the part which he took in this matter, though at the time it appeared to him of small importance.

Standing in the praetorium, planting the barricades of his awkward questions, Pilate becomes the prototype of every uncertain man or woman forced into a dialogue with God. He asks, only half-believing that he will ever get an answer. What comes back is elliptical, disturbing; but for a moment the heart has been laid open.

"Are you the King of the Jews?" he asked.

Pilate is a type of the worldly man, knowing the right and anxious to do it so far as it can be done without personal sacrifice of any kind, but yielding easily to pressure from those whose interest it is that he should act otherwise. He would gladly have acquitted Christ, and even made serious efforts in that direction, but gave way at once when his own position was threatened. The other events of his rule are not of very great importance. Philo (Ad Gaium, 38) speaks of him as inflexible, merciless, and obstinate. The Jews hated him and his administration, for he was not only very severe, but showed little consideration for their susceptibilities. Some standards bearing the image of Tiberius, which had been set up by him in Jerusalem, caused an outbreak which would have ended in a massacre had not Pilate given way. At a later date Tiberius ordered him to remove certain gilt shields, which he had set up in Jerusalem in spite of the remonstrances of the people. The incident mentioned in St. Luke, xiii, 1, of the Galilaeans whose blood Pilate mingled with the sacrifices, is not elsewhere referred to, but is quite in keeping with other authentic events of his rule. He was, therefore, anxious that no further hostile reports should be sent to the emperor concerning him. The tendency, already discernible in the canonical Gospels, to lay stress on the efforts of Pilate to acquit Christ, and thus pass as lenient a judgment as possible upon his crime, goes further in the apocryphal Gospels and led in later years to the claim that he actually became a Christian. The Abyssinian Church reckons him as a saint, and assigns 25 June to him and to Claudia Procula, his wife. The belief that she became a Christian goes back to the second century, and may be found in Origen (Hom., in Mat., xxxv). The Greek Church assigns her a feast on 27 October. Tertullian and Justin Martyr both speak of a report on the Crucifixion (not extant) sent in by Pilate to Tiberius, from which idea a large amount of apocryphal literature originated. Some of these were Christian in origin (Gospel of Nicodemus), others came from the heathen, but these have all perished.

His rule was brought to an end through trouble which arose in Samaria. An imposter had given out that it was in his power to discover the sacred vessels which, as he alleged, had been hidden by Moses on Mount Gerizim, whither armed Samaritans came in large numbers. Pilate seems to have thought the whole affair was a blind, covering some other more important design, for he hurried forces to attack them, and many were slain. They appealed to Vitellius, who was at that time legate in Syria, saying that nothing political had been intended, and complaining of Pilate's whole administration. He was summoned to Rome to answer their charges, but before he could reach the city the Emperor Tiberius had died. That is the last we know of Pilate from authentic sources, but legend has been busy with his name. He is said by Eusebius (H.E., ii, 7), on the authority of earlier writers, whom he does not name, to have fallen into great misfortunes under Caligula, and eventually to have committed suicide. Other details come from less respectable sources. His body, says the "Mors Pilati", was thrown into the Tiber, but the waters were so disturbed by evil spirits that the body was taken to Vienne and sunk in the Rhone, where a monument, called Pilate's tomb, is still to be seen. As the same thing occurred there, it was again removed and sunk in the lake at Lausanne. Its final disposition was in a deep and lonely mountain tarn, which, according to later tradition, was on a mountain, still called Pilatus, close to Lucerne. The real origin of this name is, however, to be sought in the cap of cloud which often covers the mountain, and serves as a barometer to the inhabitants of Lucerne. The are many other legends about Pilate in the folklore of Germany, but none of them have the slightest authority.
ARTHUR S. BARNES
Transcribed by Lawrence Progel

APPENDIX: The historical evidence for Jesus (Yeshua)
of Nazareth and his death by crucifixion

by Dr Mark Durie

Non-Christian sources for Jesus

• Tacitus (AD 55-120), a renowned historical of ancient Rome, wrote in the latter half of the first century that ‘Christus ... was put to death by Pontius Pilate, procurator of Judea in the reign of Tiberius: but the pernicious superstition, repressed for a time, broke out again, not only through Judea, where the mischief originated, but through the city of Rome also.’ (Annals 15: 44).

• Suetonius writing around AD 120 tells of disturbances of the Jews at the ‘instigation of Chrestus’, during the time of the emperor Claudius. This could refer to Jesus, and appears to relate to the events of Acts 18:2, which took place in AD 49.

• Thallus, a secular historian writing perhaps around AD 52 refers to the death of Jesus in a discussion of the darkness over the land after his death. The original is lost, but Thallus’ arguments — explaining what happened as a solar eclipse — are referred to by Julius Africanus in the early 3rd century.

• Mara Bar-Serapion, a Syrian writing after the destruction of the Temple in AD 70, mentions the earlier execution of Jesus, whom he calls a ‘King’.

• The Babylonian Talmud refers to the crucifixion (calling it a hanging) of Jesus the Nazarene on the eve of the Passover. In the Talmud Jesus is also called the illegitimate son of Mary.

• The Jewish historian Josephus describes Jesus’ crucifixion under Pilate in his Antiquities, written about AD 93/94. Josephus also refers to James the brother of Jesus and his execution during the time of Ananus (or Annas) the high priest.

Paul’s Epistles

• Paul’s epistles were written in the interval 20-30 years after Jesus’ death. They are valuable historical documents, not least because they contain credal confessions which undoubtedly date to the first few decades of the Christian community.

Paul became a believer in Jesus within a few years of Jesus’ crucifixion. He writes in his first letter to the Corinthians ‘For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He rose again on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that he was seen by Cephas (Peter), then by the twelve.’ This makes clear that belief in the death of Jesus was there from the beginning of Christianity.

The four gospels

• The four gospels were written down in the period 20-60 years after Jesus’ death, within living memory of the events they describe.

The events which the gospels describe for the most part took place in the full light of public scrutiny. Jesus’ teaching was followed by large crowds. There were very many witnesses to the events of his life. His death was a public execution.

Manuscript evidence for the Bible and its transmission

The manuscript evidence for the Greek scriptures is overwhelming, far greater than for all other ancient texts. Over 20,000 manuscripts attest to them. While there are copying errors, as might be expected from the hand of copyists, these are almost all comparatively minor and the basic integrity of the copying process is richly supported.

Futhermore, when Western Christians study the Hebrew scriptures during the Renaissance, they found them to agree remarkably closely with their Greek and Latin translations which had been copied again and again over a thousand years. There were copying errors, and some other minor changes, but no significant fabrications of the stupendous scale which would be required to concoct the story of Jesus’ death.

Likewise when the Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered they included Hebrew Biblical scrolls dating from before the time of Jesus. These too agreed very closely with the oldest Hebrew Masoretic manuscripts of more than a thousand years later. Again, no fabrications, but evidence of remarkably faithful copying.

Conclusion: Jesus of Nazareth is a figure of history

Clearly there are events recorded in connection with Jesus’ life that non-Christians will not accept, such as the miracles, the virgin birth, and the resurrection. However what is beyond dispute is that Yeshua (‘Jesus’) of Nazareth was a figure of history, who lived, attracted a following in his life time amongst his fellow Jews and was executed by crucifixion by the Roman authorities, after which his followers spread rapidly. Both secular and Christian sources of the period agree on this.

The primary sources for the history of Jesus’ public life are the gospels. These were written down relatively soon after his death — within living memory — and we have every indication that these sources were accepted as reliable in the early Christian community, during a period when first and second hand witnesses to Jesus’ life were still available.

m.durie@linguistics.unimelb.edu.au

Dr Durie is an Anglican Minister at St Hilary’s Anglican Church Kew. He is also a senior associate of the Department of Linguistics and Applied Linguistics at the University of Melbourne, with the honorary title of Associate Professor, and was formerly head of the Department of Linguistics and Language Studies. He has written several books on the language and culture of the Acehnese, an Islamic people of Indonesia, and was elected to the Australian Academy of Humanities in 1992 for this research work. He served as a member of the Council of the Academy for a term during the 1990’s.

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