Replies

Gary,

DouglasKC is a member of the United Church of God, which is an offshoot of Herbert W. Armstrong's Worldwide Church of God (WCG).

Walter Martin and others were dealing with WCG's scripture-twisting for a long time...and a while back.

I have the 1981 Cults Reference Bible that adds notes to what "slants" various cults would place upon different verses (in paraphrase form)...and then offer a response...this way you get "both sides" of what the interpretation "spin" is:

For John 14:16, the notes read thus:

"WCG says: Trinitarians refer to the use of the personal pronoun he with the Greek word for Comforter in this verse and in other verses of John 14, 15, and 16 to prove the Holy Spirit is a third person of the Trinity. Actually the personal pronoun is used only because the Greek word is masculine, and thus its pronoun must take a masculine gender. The other New Testament writers use the Greek word for spirit or breath which is grammatically neuter and thus is represented by a neuter pronoun."

"Christian Response: The personal masculine pronoun is used with the neuter noun Ghost (Spirit) in John 14:26. Other verses with this construction are John 15:26 and 16:8 and Eph. 1:14. There is personality ascribed to the Holy Spirit when He is compared to Christ as another Comforter. (See also Acts 13:2; 20:23)." (p. 904)

So not only is the personal masculine pronoun used here, but the Holy Spirit is another Comforter like Jesus Christ.

Acts 13:2 is also referenced there...where "me" and "I" is used of the Holy Spirit there...

Here's the KJV: "As they ministered to the Lord, and fasted, the Holy Ghost SAID, Separate ME Barnabus and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them." (Acts 13:2)

On p. 83 of the Cults Reference Bible, Martin lists a dozen "Basic Doctrinal Deviations" from orthodox Christianity.

I'll list a portion of them:

1. The key to biblical prophecy is that during the time of Israel's exile ten of the tribes were 'lost' when they migrated across Europe to finally land in England and later in America. This is known as Anglo-Israelism. Today, Manasseh is England, and the company of nations associated with Ephraim is America. After attining great wealth and power, these tribes will be destroyed by a revived Holy Roman Empire comprised of the ten Common Market nations, headed up politically by Germany and religiously by the Roman Catholic Church. England and America will then be taken off into slavery.

5. Old Testament dietary laws and the Ten Commandments are to be followed if one is to achieve salvation.

6. Salvation is future, not present. It is not an act but a process. Justification is merely the wiping away of past sins but does nothing for the sins of the present; the individual is responsible to keep God's law. This is done by faith, but salvation is an ultimate forgiveness and reward that requires lifelong compliance with God's ritual and moral requirements. Only Jesus has achieved salvation. No one is now sure of his salvation.

8. Being born again has nothing to do with a spiritual renewal in one's life. It has to do with a life as spirit beings into which the children of God eventually are born by means of the resurrection.

9. There is no eternal nature of the soul. Man does not have a soul; he is a soul. The soul ceases to exist at death but is re-created in a future resurrection.

11. The Trinity doctrine is pagan. God is a family comprised right now of Jesus and the Father, but eventually will include all who accept God's way of life--they become God. The Holy Spirit is an active, impersonal force.

Bottom line: If you KNOW much of the above to be false, and if you are talking with someone whose spiritual roots exported this to the world, by all means, value them as a person loved by God...but...why would you give them much theological credence to their claims?