Christians Criticizing Christians: Can It Be Biblical?

When it comes to Christians criticizing Christians, the battle lines are already drawn. But are the lines biblical? It is wrong to publicly evaluate the teachings of a Christian pastor, or tell the truth about a popular Christian media figure?

Evangelicals warn people about the false teachings and practices of the cults, which claim compatibility with Christianity and yet deny cardinal Christian doctrine. Our standard is truth and our judge is Scripture. Yet when apologists turn to false teachings within the Christian church, some evangelicals apply a different standard. Frequently heard objections include, "Jesus said it's wrong to judge," and, "Criticism is unloving and divisive." Christians who voice these protests fail their own test -- they criticize and judge other Christians for criticizing and judging other Christians. Furthermore, these critics fail to understand that without such scrutiny, Christians are misled into heresy and duped by those whose public ministries promote false teachings. Careful biblical criticism expresses true Christian love and affords essential safeguards to faith.

Good discernment should be practiced among believers. The Old Testament establishes this pattern. Instructions concerning false prophets in Deuteronomy 13:1-5 assume the prophet arises from the congregation of Israel. People are admonished to banish idolatry from their families: "If your very own brother, or your son or daughter, or the wife you love, or your closest friend..." (v.6). Deuteronomy 13 instructs the Israelites how to practice good discernment within their communities; "You must inquire, probe and investigate it thoroughly." If the community is idolatrous, it must be dealt with publicly (v. 14). Psalm 50:18 states that one who sees a crime and doesn't report it has moral culpability.

The New Testament continues the theme of good discernment within the believing community, most notably when the Bereans test Paul's teachings (Acts 17:11) and the Thessalonians are commanded to test all things (1 Thess. 5:21-22). Judgment is not excluded, but unrighteous judgment is. Jesus declared: "Stop judging by mere appearances, and make a right judgment" (John 7:24).

Jesus expelled the money changers from the temple, denounced the Pharisees and scribes, and rebuked the teachers of the Law. He reprimanded Peter in front of the other disciples (Matt. 16:22-23). Paul followed Jesus' example, naming false teachers in the church (2 Timothy 2:14-19) and openly criticizing Peter (Galations 2:11, 14). The procedure for public leaders caught in false teaching is for them to be rebuked publicly "so that the others may take warning" (1 Timothy 5:20).

Christian leaders are accountable to God's people whom the leaders serve, and should be "above reproach," "respectable," and "able to teach" (1 Timothy 3:2). A Christian leader who is a false teacher should be rebuked to encourage reform (Titus 1:13).

Telling the truth about false teaching in the church corresponds with the ethics and truth which are to characterize the church. The church is the "salt of the earth" and "the light of the world" (Matthew 5:13-14) only if characterized by truthfulness (v.11) and righteousness (v.16). The Christian leader has an obligation to "hold firmly the trustworthy message as it has been taught so that he can encourage others by sound doctrine and refute those who oppose it" (Titus 1:9). No Christian is happy when false teaching arises, but we cannot neglect responsibility for doctrinal accountability.

Christians are sometimes uncomfortable with criticism within the church because they assume that public criticism, since it is painful, is also destructive. On the contrary, the "pain" of biblically conducted confrontation produces individual growth (1 Timothy 4:16), encourages others to Christian maturity (1 Timothy 5:19-20), promotes church strength (Ephesians 4:15), and preserves the church's reputation in the world (1 Peter 2:12).

by Bob & Gretchen Passantino (Christian Research Institute)

False Teachings of Barrie Victory Centre

Statement of Faith of Barrie Victory Centre and Comments by The Grand Poo-Bah!

Barrie Victory Centre Believes:1. FALSE -- The Bible is the inspired Word of God and the revealed will of God.
Needs to be Added -- "And contains the complete revelation of God." Without this part in there, the Statement of Faith allows for extra-biblical revelation which is one of the primary marks of a cult.

2. TRUE -- There is one true Godhead comprised of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. All are co-equal and co-eternal. Jesus Christ, God manifest in the flesh, is the second member of the Godhead.

3. FALSE -- Man was created in God's image. By voluntary transgression he fell and his only hope of redemption is in Jesus Christ, the Son of God.
Comment -- "By voluntary transgression he fell" seems to be an attempt by the writers of this statement of faith to avoid saying that all mankind are sinners. This sentence, if it were properly written, should be included as part of the plan of salvation which the writers call "salvation for man".

Salvation for Man:

4. THE SHELL OF TRUTH STUFFED WITH LIES -- Man's only hope of redemption is through the shedding of the Blood of Jesus Christ. On the Cross, Jesus Christ became sin and sickness, thus providing both salvation and healing for all mankind. This salvation comes by believing in your heart that God raised Jesus from the dead and confessing with your mouth that Jesus Christ is Lord of your Life.
Comment -- The plan of salvation begins where man realizes he is a sinner in need of a Saviour. Neither of these words are used anywhere in the "Salvation for Man" section of the statement. These are very important concepts and should not be left out or worded in another way. This is a deliberate attempt to water down the Gospel and avoid offending people who do not want to be told that they are sinners. The Bible teaches that "All have sinned and come short of the glory of God" and "Ye must be born again." -- OH! I just realized those two words have not been used anywhere in this statement of faith either. Does this church believe in being born again? It certainly does not appear in the statement of faith anywhere.
Scripture is also very clear about repentance for our sin -- being sorry for our sin and turning away from sin. There is no mention of this in the statement of faith. Scripture states that without repentance there can be no remission of sins.
"Man's only hope of redemption is through the shedding of the blood of Jesus Christ." My question here is "what is man supposed to do regarding the shed blood of Jesus Christ?" The statement of faith doesn't say. This seems to be referring to the historical fact of the crucifixion. The Bible says that Satan believes and trembles. What it should say is "the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life." This is the Gospel in a nutshell.
"On the cross, Jesus Christ became sin and sickness, thus providing both salvation and healing for all mankind." This simply isn't true -- there is no Scripture which states that Jesus became sin. The offensive word here is 'became'. How could the sinless Lamb of God ever become sin? And the Scripture does not say the wages of sin and sickness is death. The reason it doesn't say that is because Jesus died for one reason and one reason only! To pay the price for our sins that we could not. This is the Gospel of Grace. The believer receives unmerited favour. Our sins are placed on Jesus but He did not become sin. This teaching is highly offensive and not true.
The idea of condemning people to hell because they are sick or not whole in some way is ludicrous and not loving. (Item #5 in the statement of faith talks about the outward evidence being love.) Remember "God is love." What about all those people who are born with ailments from the time they are in the womb? There is nothing they can do about it. Oh yes, I forgot, there must be sin in their lives or they don't have enough faith. Right?
"This salvation comes from believing in your heart that God raised Jesus from the dead." This is a second reference to the historical fact of Christ's resurrection. Again, I repeat the Devil believed and trembled. It should read, "This salvation comes by placing your faith (trust) in the finished work of Christ on the cross." Knowledge cannot save you. You must accept the free gift of salvation that Christ offers. You must invite Jesus into your heart to be your personal Saviour. He is a personal Saviour and this phrase is not used anywhere in the statement of faith. Does this church believe that Jesus is a personal Saviour? The statement of faith does not answer this question.
"Confessing with your mouth that Jesus Christ is Lord of your life" is the only portion of Item #4 that is true. This is very cleverly inserted at the end to make the reader think that Item #4 is all true when it is not.
The idea that sickness is part of the atonement is an abomination and a slap to the face of God. By so doing, you are saying to God that after all the pain and suffering endured by Christ on the cross, all we get is forgiveness of sin. "What do you mean we only get forgiveness of sin? Is that all there is? We want more. We want to be healthy all the time." How do these people at this church justify this teaching? I would not want to be showing up at the Pearly Gates on Judgment Day with this explanation of the atonement of Christ in my hands.
5. FALSE -- The inward evidence to the believer is the direct witness of the Spirit. The outward evidence to all men is a life of true holiness and love.
Comment -- Only God is Holy. No man can achieve holiness in this life but we are instructed in Scripture to strive after it. Is this church teaching a gospel that brings perfection? There is no Scripture for this teaching. The Christian still has a sin-nature and will continue to have a sin-nature until he gets to Heaven. However, sin no longer dominates his life because of the indwelling of the Holy Spirit which helps us to keep from sinning but we still may sin from time to time. Nobody can live a perfect life and we will not be perfect until we get to Heaven. This is very clear in Scripture.
The Bible teaches that God is love and that we are to love our neighbour as ourselves but nobody lives a life of true love all the time and never has an unloving day or moment. This is a reality of living in a sinful broken world. Nobody can be loving all the time. Is this church teaching that we can be loving all the time? Good luck with that!
6. FALSE -- Salvation is by faith in Jesus Christ and not by human works; however, our works are evidence of our faith and will determine our reward in eternity.
Comment -- It is clear from the Word of God that the Christian is never put under obligation to do, give, sacrifice, or expend himself in any way in order to be more sure that he has the gift of God which is eternal life. He is invited in many earnest ways to commit himself to the service of Christ and to become a useful instrument in the hands of God. The Word of God, however, is clear that service for Christ is a voluntary proposition on the part of the Christian, and nothing that he does will increase his own guarantee of eternal life. He is saved by grace and kept by the power of God. His eternal life came to him without payment on his part. It is dependent wholly on the work of Christ on the cross. (from Know The Marks of a Cult by Dave Bresse).
7. TRUE -- Baptism in water is a declaration to the world that a believer has died with Christ and that they have been raised with Him to walk in newness of life.

8. FALSE -- The celebration of the Lord's Supper by eating of the bread and drinking of the cup is a remembrance of Jesus.
Comment -- This sentence sounds like something has been left off at the end. The Lord's Supper is a remembrance of Jesus' death on the cross for our sins. We are instructed in Scripture to do this until He comes. My question here is "Why has this been left out?"

9. FALSE -- All believers are entitled to and should expect and earnestly seek the promise of the Father, the Baptism in the Holy Spirit; according to the command of Jesus Christ. With this comes the endowment of power for life and service, the bestowment of gifts and their uses in the work of the ministry. The Evidence of the Baptism of the Holy Spirit is found in speaking with other tongues and spiritual power in public testimony and service.
Comment -- There is no Scripture to support this teaching except for "misinterpreted" Scripture. All believers receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit. When you invite Jesus to come into your heart, you are inviting the Holy Spirit into your heart. The baptism of the Holy Spirit in Pentecostal circles means speaking in other tongues. Please tell me where the Scripture is that speaking in tongues is a command of Jesus Christ. I would be very interested to know where this Scripture is. It should be noted here that glossolalia; grunts, groans and noises, are not the Scriptural form of speaking in tongues that was displayed at the time of Christ. I will have much more to say about speaking in tongues in upcoming blogs but I will say this, according to Scripture, speaking in tongues is not for today. Is it possible to attend Barrie Victory Centre if you don't speak in tongues? Are all members required to speak in tongues to demonstrate to their fellow congregants how spiritual they are? There is nothing in Scripture that says speaking in tongues is a measure of your spirituality.
Please see my blog dated Sunday, April 20, 2008 titled "It All Starts With the Baptism of the Holy Spirit" from Charismatic Chaos by John MacArthur.
10. TRUE -- The Church is the Body of Christ. Every believer is an integral part.

11. FALSE -- Total prosperity is available to every believer spiritually, mentally, physically, financially and socially.
Comment -- This is man-made theology based on manipulation of Scripture but has nothing to do with true Christianity. For more information on prosperity theology go to my blog dated Thursday, April 24, 2008. For more information on the Faith Movement, which Barrie Victory Centre is involved in, you need to read "Christianity in Crisis" by Hank Hanegraaff. This book is available through the website http://www.equip.org/.
12. TRUE -- The Blessed Hope is the return of Jesus Christ to gather all His saints to heaven.

13. FALSE -- Those who have not accepted the redemptive work of Jesus Christ will suffer eternal separation from the Godhead in hell.
Comment -- Everyone who attends Barrie Victory Centre is condemned to hell because they all believe the "Salvation for Man" section of the statement of faith to be true when it is not.

14. TRUE -- The Millennial Reign of Jesus Christ with His saints will occur on earth as the Scriptures promise. After this there will be a new heaven and a new earth.

The Grand Poo-Bah says:

The problems with Barrie Victory Centre can be summed up in the following four ways:

1. Misinterpretation of Scripture due to inadequate theological training.
2. Blatant misunderstanding of the Scriptures (common occurrence in cults).
3. Deliberate deceit designed to benefit the leadership.
4. Man-made theology created specifically to serve the purposes of the cult.

The Bible teaches that God is the Head of the Church. The leadership of Barrie Victory Centre do not believe this Scripture because BVC is a church franchise which is owned and operated by Paul and Debbie McCulloch. They are the Chief Executive Officers. They hire, they fire and cannot be removed from office. Don't bother to question anything they say or do.
Barrie Victory Centre is a business first and a church second. The congregants are nothing more than customers coming to the "store". It's not much different than going to Tim Horton's to get a caffeine fix. You go to Barrie Victory Centre each week to get your glossolalia fix. Glossolalia is learned behaviour which is addictive and very difficult to give up; just like caffeine! It's an emotional drug.
Ministers at BVC and other churches like it labour under the illusion that if they say something loud and full of passion that that makes it right. Nothing could be farther from the truth. Hitler spoke with passion but he was dead wrong. T.D. Jakes speaks with passion and he's wrong too. Just because you speak with passion doesn't make it right. You can scream at the top of your lungs that "black is white" but that doesn't make it so. You can probably fool a lot of people a lot of the time but they will eventually figure it out. Better sooner than later!
"He is the same yesterday, today and forever" is the favourite Scripture that is quoted by members of Barrie Victory Centre and Pentecostals in general when anyone questions speaking in tongues, healing or miracles. Just so you know, this Scripture is referring to Jesus' character, not to the things He did while here on earth. This is just another example of misunderstanding and misinterpretation of Scripture by Pentecostals. How can you believe anything they say? They have no credibility!
The Jesus described in this Statement of Faith is not the Jesus of the Bible. Their Christology is totally screwed up. Christology means "how you define who Jesus is." They do not know Scripture. My Jesus, the Jesus of the Bible, did not become sin and sickness to provide both salvation and healing for all mankind. He died only for my sins. Sin is the only thing that will prevent me from getting into heaven. The BVC Jesus will be standing at the Pearly Gates asking everyone "Are you born again?" and, OH yes; "Were you healthy down here on earth?" How ludicrous! This teaching is laughable but when you think that followers of BVC actually believe this nonsense that being healthy is necessary to get into heaven, you can only feel sorry for them.


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UPDATE:  Please visit our latest update on this cultic church. 

For more information on the Faith Movement/Word of Faith and Victory Churches International (the Faith Movement in Canada), go to http://thegranpooba.blogspot.com/2011_07_01_archive.html   
The first 3 books on the list are all "must reads" on the subject and are available through www.amazon.com.

How To Protect Your Loved Ones!

It is surely the case that we are today seeing a spawning of satanic cults in a measure almost beyond comprehension and new cults are beginning with every week that passes. Clever individuals with a smattering of religious knowledge are emboldened by their own pride and motivated by Satan to press for their own piece of influence into today's religious scene. In the face of all of this, concerned people are asking as never before what they can do to protect themselves and their loved ones from these terrible subversive religious influences.

1. Understand Christian doctrine. The chief single reason for the success of the cults is the spiritual naivete on the part of many. Too many Christians are content with a superficial knowledge of the Word of God and think of themselves as thereby being spiritually intelligent. Nothing could be farther from the truth!

The Christian must understand the Bible from a doctrinal point of view. We live in a time when doctrine has been played down in favour of Christian experience. This is the most foolish course imaginable because experience has little or nothing to do with Christian truth. Our experiences are merely human. They are the responses of our nervous system to spiritual truth or error that impinges on our minds and hearts.

The evangelical leader who says, "We do not need more doctrine, but more experience" should rethink his statement. He is playing into the hands of the cultic wolves who prowl on the edges of the flock. The simple lambs who pursue additional feelings may get their titillation from the big, bad, but friendly wolf.

2. Separation from spiritual subversion. The Apostle Paul carefully warned the Ephesians, "Have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness" (Ephesians 5:11).

An inquiry into the nuances of false doctrine is an endless pursuit indeed. Few people have the time or the available energy to know all that can be known about the myriad of false religious philosophies of our time. It is not true that we cannot speak critically of false doctrine unless we have read everything that the leadership of these cults has to say. One only has to eat a good steak to realize that the contents of a thousand garbage cans are simply beneath his standards.

There are foolish Christians who are too inquisitive. The statement that says, "You cannot know what it is until you have tried it" is a satanic doctrine, and it is the very one that he used to subvert Eve and bring the terrible cancer of sin into all of the world.

3. Refuse profane points of view. These are the very words with which Paul advised Timothy, "Refuse profane and old wives' fables" (1 Timothy 4:7). The Apostle Paul was aware that the world would be filled with spiritual exhibitionists and religious lunatics who would tie up the time and energy of anyone willing to listen to them, doing this for hours and even days.

We live in a time in which stories come to us about pictures of Christ in the clouds, resurrections in remote jungle areas, preachers in some obscure town with a new and unheard of doctrine -- the stories are endless.

Christians are enjoined not to give themselves to these things but rather to follow the good advice also extended to Timothy, "Give attendance to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine" (1 Timothy 4:13). Further, we are called upon to "meditate upon these things; give thyself wholly to them, that thy profiting may appear to all" (1 Timothy 4:15).

It is clear then that the Christian must not float through life on the wave of some existential euphoria. Rather the Scripture commands again and again that he must be careful, take heed, watch, remember. He is called upon to be very sober because his satanic adversary continues to go about seeking whom he may devour (1 Peter 5:8).

4. Do not encourage cultic practitioners. The Christian is supposed to be loving in his attitude towards people, but he must also face the hard truth that many deceivers have come into the world who do not believe the Gospel of Jesus Christ and are in fact enemies of the Lord. They are antichrist. Concerning these he is admonished to be very careful and not to risk his spiritual stability by allowing himself to be deceived.

The Apostle John wrote: "Whosoever transgresseth, and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ, hath not God. He that abideth in the doctrine of Christ, he has both the Father and the Son. If there come any unto you, and bring not this doctrine, receive him not into your house, neither bid him God speed; for he that biddeth him God speed is partaking of his evil deeds." (2 John 9 - 11). This is the hard but the necessary course of action for one who would protect himself and his family from spiritual danger.

5. Be willing to contend for the faith. Scripture calls upon us to earnestly contend for the faith, which means of course to be willing to defend the truth of the Gospel in the face of satanic adversaries. (Jude 3). We have illustrations in Scripture that this sometimes means coming to a point of contention with family, friends and associates. The Apostle Paul was surely a beloved friend of the Apostle Peter, but he said, "When Peter was come to Antioch, I withstood him to the face, because he was to be blamed" (Galatians 2:11). In this case Peter was guilty of doctrinal error and was thereby cooperating with the Judaizers who were subverting the people of Galatia into heresy.

Indeed Jesus Christ Himself had on one occasion to turn to His beloved friend, also the Apostle Peter, and say, "Get thee behind Me, Satan" (Matthew 16:23). The true servant of Jesus Christ must be careful that his friendship with Jesus Christ is the association that is absolute. By comparison to this, all human associations are relative.

The first principle of the universe is truth and this must be defended even at the cost of our lives. Surely the Apostle Paul was serious when he named us all as soldiers of the cross and gave us a detailed list of the amour that we should wear in order to function properly as contenders for the faith. (Ephesians 6:10-20).

Our spiritual sentiments, and this is the most sentimental age in the history of the Church, would lead us many times to feel that contention for the faith of the Gospel is somehow unspiritual or undignified. Nothing could be farther from the truth. The analogy of the Christian being a soldier of the cross in a world that is described as a battleground, is repeated many times in Holy Scripture.

The essential struggle is the struggle between truth and untruth

(from Know the Marks of Cults - the 12 basic errors of false religions by Dave Breese)

Syncretism (Mark #12)

We must become all things to all men!

This worthy goal, reflecting a statement of principle by the Apostle Paul (1 Corinthians 9:22), ought to be adopted by every Christian. The witness for Christ must find a way to establish contact with people who come from different cultural, religious, and racial backgrounds. The Christian communicator must find appropriate ways to "become as" the people to whom he ministers.

Within this total context, however, is a line beyond which we must not move. The loving concern for spiritual accommodation can be pressed to the point where it compromises the Gospel of Christ, sometimes beyond recognition. This kind of accommodation involves one in a grievous sin called syncretism.

Syncretism describes the attempt to gather together what some would call "the best qualities" of various religious points of view into a new and acceptable faith. It is the attempt to "synchronize" the otherwise diverse religious elements currently believed by people so as to make a new religion attractive. [like the health and wealth gospel] The definition of syncretism from a religious point of view is "the process of growth through coalescence of different forms of faith and worship or through accretions of tenets, rights, etc., from those religions which are being superseded" (Webster).

Syncretism is a favourite cultic device. Both the older and the emergent cults almost without exception, have accommodated themselves to existing religious points of view, incorporating older doctrines in their systems of faith along with new and creative heresies. Few cults of our times present much that is really new in the world of religion. Almost invariably they are a rehash of existing concepts, orthodox and heretical. They present warmed-over elements of Protestantism, Catholicism, paganism, pantheism, idolatry, local fetishes, and some pure idiocy.

One can almost imagine a cult promoter looking at a city or a country and asking himself, "What will these people buy? What are their hopes, dreams, prejudices, hang-ups, and how can I give them a religious view that they will support?" The cult promoter is not so foolish as to come on the scene talking initially about the Great Pumpkin or green men from Mars. He talks abut Christ, the Bible, the Holy Spirit, miracles, and other elements of the Christian revelation. The untutored listener is impressed, often believing this person to be a Christian who is just a little wiser than most.

Sensing some new, exploitative possibilities, the cultist glues together a bewildering array of religious components knowing that some of these will strike a chord of response. He reaches into every conceivable human interest, promising many benefits. Most recently the health and wealth gospel seems to be the message that people want to hear so it is incorporated with familiar Christian theological terms and thereby he has created another new cult. The cultist is doing what he is doing because he can.

A similar thing also happens on the mission fields of the world. Missionaries, some of them with merely para-Christian backgrounds, arrive in an area already steeped in religion. Animism, ancestor worship, religious paganism, or raw heathenism are flourishing. Hoping to minimize the offence of their "Christianity," the missionaries accommodate themselves to the local religious climate. Sometimes the resulting religion brings together a regional god, an animal sacrifice, the Virgin Mary, and Jesus Christ all in the same system. Syncretism on mission fields is becoming one of the scandals of the religious world. A syncretistic religion is not Christianity at all; it is a cult. The cults have been syncretists for a long time.

Evangelical Christians look with understandable astonishment at syncretistic cults. We do well to remember, however, that syncretism can be a very subtle, creeping heresy, moving into many unexpected places. We hear talk in churches today that may open the door to acceptance of a religious potpourri that is something other than Christianity.

What is the Gospel? The Gospel is the good news of salvation in Christ which is very categorically defined in the Word of God. When writing to the Corinthian church which was already infected with heresy, the Apostle Paul said,

Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the Gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand; by which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain. For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures; and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures (1 Corinthians 15:1-5).

When the Gospel gets wider, more inclusive than Paul's definition in this passage, it ceases to be the Gospel and becomes merely a set of unattainable religious promises. [A good example of this would be the modern day Health and Wealth Gospel as taught by the Faith Movement.]

There are still other forms of subtle syncretism. Many groups of Christians today rejoice in the Gospel plus a wonderful religious heritage. Looking to the past, however, can produce subtle deceptions in our Christian thinking. Heritage can become a dangerous element in the thinking of Christians because it is almost always applied to a human tradition which, at best, is only partially biblical. Indeed, great, time-spanning religious traditions are ordinarily formed to protect by custom certain theological propositions which are unvoiced in the Word of God. "Our sacred heritage" is more often than not a melodramatic expression used to call for loyalty to someone else beside Jesus Christ and something else beside the truth of Scripture.

Another syncretistic tendency has been the movement of the great denominations to include "the imperative of social action" in their preaching of the Gospel. This has been true to the extent that they have been legitimately accused of preaching a social gospel.

Now many evangelical Christians are speaking about "the social implications of the Gospel in our time." Soon the word implications changes to the word responsibilities. It is but a short step to move from here to the use of the word imperatives. The Gospel may indeed have social implications, but this is another, infinitely less important subject than the death of Jesus Christ on the cross and His glorious resurrection. The one produces eternal salvation; the other, endless discussion.

Syncretism, the attempt to synchronize the Gospel of Christ with a godless world, is a deadly virus from which almost no institution recovers. This virus can infect us all and, becoming a plague, can carry us all away.

When the Son of man is come, will He find the faith on the earth?

(from Know the Marks of Cults - the 12 Basic Errors of False Religion by Dave Bresse).

Denunciation of Others (Mark #11)

When one announces himself as the true Messiah, the holder of all true knowledge, all others of course are false and must be put down. Some of the most bitter imprecations in print are the scathing calumny of cultic messiahs upon all who do not believe their views and join their organizations.

One sometimes suspects that cult leaders are infected with a horrible inferiority complex, pushing them to a neurotic defensiveness. They are for the most part unwilling to appear in public debate or answer questions from perceptive Christian scholars concerning the nature of their faith. Expressing their persecution complex, they denounce all alternative views as being satanic and corrupt.

The contrast of true Christianity is very marked. The Bible teaches that there is one Saviour, Jesus Christ, and one way of salvation, faith in His finished work on the cross. Within that wonderful circle of faith once delivered to the saints, however, the Scripture allows for a great diversity of views. Each individual Christian is a believer-priest and he is related to God as a person. The New Testament however, has plenty to say about false teachings. Three quarters of the books of the New Testament talk about and deal with the subject of false teachers. This must be a subject which is of great concern to our Heavenly Father.

The cultic attitude is a fearful contrast. They believe that all other religious points of view except theirs are condemned.

We are often warned in Scripture to be very suspicious of those whose first calling seems to be to produce divisions within the Church of Christ. When grievous wolves from the outside enter in or when from the ranks of Christians there are those who arise "speaking perverse things" (Acts 20:30), there are bound to be those who turn their attention from the things of the Lord to a new fascination with the provocative words of an aspiring human leader.

Much unsettlement has been caused in the ranks of Christians by those with pretended convictions who demand a hearing and who are often purveyors of a new discovery of truth. Therefore the Apostle Paul earnestly exhorted, "Now I beseech you, brethren, mark them which cause divisions and offenses contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned; and avoid them. For they that are such serve not our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly; and by good words and fair speeches deceive the hearts of the simple" (Romans 16:17-18).

(from Know the Marks of Cults - the 12 basic errors of false religion by Dave Breese)

The Grand Poo-Bah says:

This is exactly how Barrie Victory Centre got started. A reliable source has informed me that the current leadership of Barrie Victory Centre infiltrated the congregation at Mapleview Community Church. While they were there, they caused all kinds of trouble and dissatisfaction among the congregants. Mr. and Mrs. Troublemaker managed to convince the hearts of twenty or so simple families to leave the church and start Barrie Victory Centre with Mr. and Mrs. Troublemaker as the new pastors.

Unfortunately, two of my sons were among this simple group that Mr. and Mrs. Troublemaker were able to lead away from Mapleview Community Church. BVC does not deserve to exist because of their marauding behaviour. Its cornerstone reason for existence is the denunciation of others. God's condemnation of this behaviour makes Barrie Victory Centre an illegitimate church. Do you really want to be part of this this church? The wise choice would be to leave it, immediately. There has to be something better out there, somewhere!