Quote:
Originally Posted by Unregistered
This is not Christianity or anything to do with it, it’s the pagan religions like Hinduism posing as a Christian. It’s very common in India to have gurus that people follow to their grave, and this men just rebranded himself, possibly because he couldn’t attract big enough following as a enlightened Hindu guru! Using the name of Jesus tends to bring in a bit more of a crowd, and many have done so.
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The NT does not give any room for this kind of thinking, it comes from ignorance on the basis of the church members, not to see and reject this kind of thinking, combined with the selfish, egostistic manipulation by would-be gurus, who take advantage of the ignorance of the masses.
Everyone wants to think they are something over and against their fellows. It's a natural human tendency. "And they all quarreled, over which one of them was the greatest." (Luke 22:24-27). Likewise, the commands to humble ourselves and NOT elevate ourselves are myriad in the NT.
Yet the would-be "deputy God" thinks that someone (themselves) must be immune from all this as God's special anointed leader of the flock. Unfortunately there is no basis for this in the NT. Paul said that he was the apostle to the uncircumcised, just as Peter was to the circumcised. There is always plurality and mutuality seen in the flock. Always.
The Deputy God is Jesus Christ, risen from the dead. God's Oracle is Jesus Christ, whose Spirit now dwells in each of us. All of us, like Peter, James, Paul, Mark, and John, have the opportunity to humble ourselves and to try to obey, to follow the Divine Light. There is no special believer with a special gift apart from the mass, and a commensurate special set of rules. Everyone fails.
Jesus alone dwells in spotless light. The rest of us try to approximate the Light. Jesus is the Spiritual Man, not Paul or Watchman Nee or Martin Luther. We should look away to none but Jesus. To me, these are the ABCs of Christianity, of the common faith handed down, the gospel message given to the world. The so-called Guru or Deputy God or Minister of the Age subverts this by seeking a place for themselves.
What's absolutely amazing is seeing someone like Hank Hanegraff promoting this. Walter Martin's mission at CRI was to call out non-Christian concepts making inroads in our society. Hank took over, and completely flipped the script, and instead will sell the seal of approval to anyone with enough cash.