Bible Study 18 | Who is a heretic?
- The NLM
- Apr 28
- 6 min read
Updated: May 8
Everyone, in the Old Testament sacrificial system, to remove the sins of the people of Israel, there had to be a sacrificial offering, laying on of hands, and the shedding of blood, as well as a priest recognized by God.
What about today?
Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God, received baptism (water) like the laying on of hands, taking all the sins of the world onto Himself, and by shedding His blood on the cross, He paid the full price for sin, thus removing all the sins of the world.
Therefore, He has saved from all sins everyone who believes in this gospel of truth. And what qualifications should the so-called clergy who preach this gospel of truth have before God?
They must be born again, with no sin in their hearts through faith in this gospel of water (baptism) and the Spirit.
Today’s message was excerpted from English Series 2, ‘RETURN TO THE GOSPEL OF THE WATER AND THE SPIRIT,’ written by Pastor Paul C. Jong of The New Life Mission.
Through this sermon, you can examine what the Bible calls heretics and false clergy, and if you want to learn more detailed sermons, you can download e-books (pdf, ePUB), audiobooks, bilingual books, etc. in multiple languages from around the world ‘for free’ on The New Life Mission website.
Reading English Series 1, ‘HAVE YOU TRULY BEEN BORN AGAIN OF WATER AND THE SPIRIT?’, which is in the same series, will be of greater help in understanding the Word and enlightening your spiritual eyes.
Those Who Work in the Priesthood Without Being Born Again Are Heretics.
In today’s Christianity, there are false ministers who tell others to receive cleansing from sin when they themselves haven’t received it — these people are all heretics. They do not know the gospel of water and the Spirit, so they themselves have not been born again, yet they tell others to be born again through water and the Spirit. This is truly absurd, and it is the way false clergy conduct their ministry.
False shepherds distort the truth of the gospel of water and the Spirit that cleanses all sins, telling their congregation members to resolve their personal sins individually before God on their own. They say, ‘Try mountain prayers, try fasting prayers, serve diligently, do well in dawn prayers, be obedient, give construction offerings. Just figure out how to receive cleansing from sin on your own.’ This kind of ministry by false religious leaders is fraudulent and merely an empty shell ministry without substance.
Someone shared their testimony of being born again, saying that in a dream there were people standing in line, and when it was their turn, Jesus called their name. They testified that this is why they believe they were born again — but is this the correct assurance of salvation?
However, God does not speak this way. In John 3:5, it is written that “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.” God’s written word states that only those who are born again through the gospel of water and the Spirit can be called born-again believers and born-again ministers. Those who believe they are born again through dreams, visions, or prayers of repentance are all false ministers.
Today, many follow denominational faiths within Christianity, but in reality, those who have not been born again according to Jesus’ words — by water and the Spirit — and those who fail to preach the gospel of rebirth are the very pseudo-clergy and heretics.
The Teachings of False Clergy!
When did the rise of false clergy within Christianity begin?
Before Jesus Christ came, the Israelites worshiped the one true God, Jehovah. However, as the nation of Israel, a single ethnic group, became divided, pseudo-Christianity and heretical faith began to emerge during the reign of King Jeroboam, as recorded in 1 Kings 12 and 13. Please understand this historical fact.
The Bible clearly speaks about the teachings and doctrines of pseudo-Christianity in Isaiah 28 and Titus 3:10–11.
Scripture states that those who believe in Jesus yet still have sin are false clergy and false believers.
Anyone who believes in Jesus but still has sin in their heart is considered a heretic before God — in other words, a false believer.
And concerning the teaching of heretics, Isaiah 28:9–10 says, “Whom will he teach knowledge? And whom will he make to understand the message? Those just weaned from milk? Those just drawn from the breasts? For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept, line upon line, line upon line, here a little, there a little.”
When speaking of the teachings of heretics, who are false clergy, it says they add precept upon precept and line upon line — what does it mean to add precept upon precept? The meaning is that they say ‘Be careful! Be careful! Be careful of those who claim to be born again in Jesus.’ They unconditionally tell people to be careful. They unconditionally tell people not to listen and not to go. They say this is how people fall into heresy.
If their faith is true, why can’t they defeat what these mere heretics preach by examining it against the Word? It’s truly pathetic to see them struggling without the Word while claiming to be orthodox and true believers. Those who are truly born again by faith overcome heresy with the Word.
What we really need to be careful about are false clergy.
Today, there is a problem with those who call themselves traditional denominations unconditionally labeling as heretics the ‘righteous who are born again of water and the Spirit’ simply because they are different from them. Why is it heresy to believe in the gospel of salvation through being born again of water and the Spirit, as Jesus said?
Even if someone belongs to a denomination currently labeled as heretical, if they believe in and preach the gospel of being born again of water and the Spirit, they are a true evangelist. On the other hand, those who claim to be the true faith but do not believe in or preach the gospel of being born again of water and the Spirit are the real heretics.
The distinction between heresy and true faith depends on whether one believes in and preaches the gospel of water and the Spirit.
It also depends on whether, after believing in Jesus, one still has sin in their heart or not.
If one has sin after believing in Jesus, they are heretics; if not, they are true believers. How can it be heresy when one knows and believes in Jesus’s gospel of water and the Spirit through the Bible’s words, and is born again through the spiritual elimination of sins?
Today, there are too many false clergy who hold beliefs that have strayed from the Bible. They only emphasize their doctrine of the blood of the cross and ignore Jesus’s baptism (water), claiming their gospel to be orthodox, which is why they are gradually moving away from the gospel of being born again of water and the Spirit.
Is someone who has no sin in their heart, being as white as snow through faith in Jesus’s baptism and blood of the cross, a heretic? Or is someone who has sin in their heart because they don’t believe in Jesus’s gospel of water and the Spirit a true believer?
We must not fall into the sin of Jeroboam, nor should we follow such clergy.
If you are curious about the ‘gospel of water and the Spirit’ that spiritually remits sins and makes one truly born again, please visit The New Life Mission website. Sermon collections containing God’s Word based on the Bible are provided ‘for free’ in the form of e-books and audiobooks.
If you would like to read more of Rev. Paul C. Jong’s sermon books, please download free ebooks and audiobooks (PDF, EPUB) translated into various languages from around the world at our The New Life Mission official website. These materials are freely provided for the true salvation of your soul. Feel free to click the link below and make use of them.
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