The Prince George's enquirer and southern Maryland advertiser. (Upper Marlborough, Md.) 1882-1925, 1915-11-05

aSoA
this the meaning
- would be that
those who present such heresies will
be subjects of this condemnation.
What Is Heresy?
Scripturally, one meaning is that it
refers to sects or persons, and anoth-
er that it refers to discords or dis
sensions In Peters time there were
persons in the communities to which
he wrote, who were giving out teach
ings that were not in accord with
what he had taught. Notwithstanding
that all that is not in accord with the
accepted teaching of the church is not
"damnable'' nor destructive" it is
a simple matter of fact that there have
been men, and it Is sad to say wom-
en-, too, who have been bringing in
"heresies of destruction" We re-
teachers bringing in damnable here
sizes, even denying the Lord that
bought them" The ordinary result
of such work has been the securing to
these teachers many followers, and
bringing upon themselves the de-
force entails.
Many Heresies of Today.
Probably never in the history of
Christian thought and teaching were
there so many destructive heresies"
as today. These are not in accord
among themselves, and the man who
does not like the truth of Gods Word
and has rejected the people of God
is greatly perplexed to know what one
of the many heresies he should adopt.
The followers of these heresies, as a
natural result, contend with each 9TH
er just as bitterly as any one of
them contends with the Gospel as &C.
cepted by the church through all of its
history, everywhere, and by all (sem-
per, Unique, ct alb omnibus). And
never in the history of the church
were Christians needing to be under
guard as today, for these false teach
ers are not always outside of the
church. Peter says they are among
you" In some cases they have re-
pudiated the church formally, but in
many cases they cling to the church,
wear it's livery and pose as its teach.
ers and leaders.
A heresy of today may be one of
two things. 1t may be by an adding
to the Word of God, or by omission, or
ignoring some of it. There is hardly
a modern religious fad that does not
connect itself in some way with the
Bible. The Bible may not be the chief
literary authority, but in this coun-
try the religionist must come to the
people with profession of love for
the Bible. The country is run over
by religionists who sell, or if need be,
give away religious literature, and
oftentimes this literature is professed-
ly based on the Bible. Paul avoided
heresy and told the elders of the
church at Ephesus that he had not
failed to declare unto them the whole
counsel of God. The most prominent
of the modern teachers of the "de-
structive heresies" teach much that is
in the Bible, but they leave out much
which, if given out, would utterly
change their teaching, and it is be-
cause of this that we speak of their
teachings as heretical.
Peter sums up the heresy in mind
in these words, denying the Lord
that bought them" Here we have a
safeguard when we come to define
heresies of destruction. They are in
one way or another denials of Jesus
Christ, either of his person or of some
phase of his work. It Is not worth
while for intelligent Christians to
worry about the little alterations
from the orthodox doctrines concern
ing many things, but when the per-
son or work of Christ is touched, then
it is their duty to become defenders
Of the faith
Person and Work of Jesus Christ.
The great question of questions is,
What think we of Christ-whose Son
is he?" We are confined to the work
of Christ as the Son of God. Now,
briefly, what is the truth about the
person of Jesus Christ? AS taught
by the church from the beginning, it
is that Jesus Christ is the very Son
of God, born of the Virgin Mary, was
historically a person in the days of
Pontius Plate, was absolutely sinless
in his thought, teaching and life. died
as the only sufficient sacrifice for the
sins of the world, rose again from the
dead, assembled into heaven, where he
now sits on the right hand of God,
from whence he will come as judge
and to be the meditorial king on
earth, and after manifesting his
kingship in that form, will yield that
kingdom up to God, that God may be
all in all