With the rise of the internet, purveyors of various doctrinal heresies have an easier time of it than ever before in spreading error. The apostle Paul warned us that such conditions would be prevalent in these latter days as we get nearer the return of Christ. One such anonymous “theologian” sneaked up during our recent Tuesday evening revival services and taped his religious “thesis” to a window and slinked off into the night. No doubt, since the date of this occurrence was Oct. 31, he fancied himself a modern version of Martin Luther, the Catholic monk who nailed his Ninety-five Theses to the door of the Catholic church at Wittenberg on Oct. 31, 1517.
Following his internet religion, our furtive theologue had decided that since a believer is forgiven of all his sins at the point of genuine salvation, that God is no longer concerned if the believer sins after he is saved. It was evident from some of what he wrote, that he had been deeply confused by the erroneous doctrines of the Pentecostal groups who teach that Christians can lose their salvation by falling into sin. In rightly trying to refute that error, he committed numerous other doctrinal errors.
Of course, he found it necessary in developing his position, to say that the Authorized Version is wrong in many places and he offered the “corrected” wording from his own deep internet “well of wisdom.” It is remarkably arrogant for anyone to suggest that they have greater wisdom and ability than the 54 scholars who labored in translation work under the authority of King James of England from 1604 till the first printing in 1611. Divided into many companies, they labored over different portions of the Word until the company of scholars in each group was satisfied that the portion they worked on was an exacting and accurate representation of the original language. Each group’s work was studied and annotated by every other group until all the translators were confident that all the work of the translation was accurate.
Our “take-away” from all this is that when we come across young “master theologues” who are “called” to reveal “new doctrine” to “enlighten” us, let’s give preference to truths which have stood the test of time, and let’s prefer to embrace the Biblical doctrine of the preserved Word of God. We have truth which traces back to the days of our Saviour and his disciples, so let us rest our confidence there. 2 Timothy 2:2, And the things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also.