“A Place To Call Home”

Saturday, May 31, 2014

I have been attending a Charismatic church with my husband.  I saw one of the posts where you mentioned it's sinful.  Is that really so?  We are so confused now if the Charismatic church doesn’t do any good.  So which churches are good, and which should we attend?  Lutheran?  Also, what's the difference between Christian and Catholic?  Catholics pray to God through the mother Mary?  I was told they pray to the same God.

Sincerely,
Where To Next?

Dear Where To Next,

Yes, the Charismatic church is not from God.  The Charismatic movement believes that in order to be saved, you must have the Holy Spirit take control of you and give you spiritual gifts.  They also teach that God still gives people prophecies and visions, even though we have the complete Bible.  Both of these teachings are false and dangerous.  Please read “Lying Wonders” and “Just Gibberish” for further details on that particular religious group.

The Catholic church also isn’t from God because they don’t do what the Bible says (read “Catholics Or Christians?” for some of the reasons why the Catholic church is a false religion).

Many churches profess to serve God, and they profess to love God – but it isn’t enough to say that we love God; our actions must back that up.  Jesus said, “If you love Me, you will keep My commandments.” (Jhn 14:15)  A faithful person and faithful churches must have the right attitude toward God and the right biblical behavior (Jhn 4:24).

Churches that are faithful are ones that use the Bible and the Bible only.  They don’t add to God’s Word, and they don’t subtract from it (Rev 22:18-19).  They don’t replace God’s teachings with their traditions (Mk 7:8).  The denominational world is very confusing because most churches have replaced sound Bible teachings with manmade traditions.  They hold the Bible in their hand, but these churches don’t do the things that we read about the church doing.  For an in-depth look at the problem, read “Down With Denominationalism”.  If you would like, we would be happy to get you in touch with a congregation in your area that could talk to you about these things further.  If that would be of use, please feel free to e-mail us at askyourpreacher@mvchurchofchrist.org.

Share