"17 Signs Of The Great Apostasy"

                    Subject by the Theologian:

                           Dr. Hiram Almirudis.

                       "WRITING THIS. . . "

"It was written in the past, remains written in the present, and will continue writing in the future,"

              Matthew 4:4.

             In defense of biblical truth

                and against all heresies.

Number 10 JUNE , 2006

"In the Christian faith, all that is new, not true, and all that is true, is not new."

                       (John Wesley, 1703-1791)

"We have no curiosity after Jesus Christ, no need to investigate after the Gospel.

When we thought not miss other faiths, because the first thing we think, is that there is nothing to believe "

                                     (Tertullian, 160-225)

Pastor Gilberto collaborations Founzán Lamb

Pastor of the Assemblies of God

Chihuahua, Chihuahua, Mexico

© 2006 Hiram Almirudis. All rights reserved. C 2 June 2006.

EDITORIAL.  " Seventeen signs of the great apostasy of the last days "

And his is a topic little discussed in the contemporary church. Preachers enthusiasts, neo Pentecostal, charismatic and Pentecostal  evangelists who travel mainly churches, speak of great revivals that occur preceding the second coming of the Lord. Cesar  Castellanos says:

"We have received the Word in the sense that in the coming years there will be people hungry for the message of salvation , millions and millions will run through the streets demonstrating their desire to know Christ ... " 1

He also claims alienating tones:

"The parish congregations type in which no more than 200 people will not be in the model because each church will be at least a hundred  thousand members, with a pastorate specialized coordinated through the twelve model impacting a city or an entire nation. " 2.

Proponents of the "Theology of Reconstruction" or "Kingdom now", which is cousin to the teachings of Castellanos says that Christ did not come until the Church has conquered the world through the conversion of all nations. But the New Testament speaks of great revivals anticipating the second coming of Christ, but a great apostasy.

With respect to the second coming of our Lord and our gathering together, the apostle Paul wrote:

"No one deceive you by any means: for that will not come unless there come a falling away first, and they show the man of sin, the son of perdition " (2 Thessalonians 2:1-3). To Timothy, the apostle wrote: "Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some  shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits  and doctrines of demons "

(1 Timothy 4:1), and even before he had said: "This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come " (2 Timothy 3:1).

Apostasy in the Bible, both Old and New Testaments, is characterized by the following:

                                            One: 

The abandonment of the faith, to follow what the world offers. The apostle Paul said of Demas: "For Demas hath forsaken me, having loved this present world, and has gone ... " (2 Timothy 4:10). Therefore, apostasy is a  willful abandonment of the Christian faith, believing that the world with its attractions is superior.

The apostate is a comparison between the Church and the world, Christ  and the devil, heaven and hell, holiness and pleasure, and is decided by the world, the devil, hell and pleasure. This was the case not Others only, but of Israel in the Old Testament with its many apostasy.

                                              Two: 

In the jumble that is made of the Christian faith with the customs, beliefs and styles that dominate the world: that is, is a mixture of both to create a hybrid religion. This is the most dangerous kind of apostasy.

 Etymologically, apostasy among the ancient Greeks meant:


"Leaving the road, keep walking alongside the highway  thinking it passes through it, but arriving at a different destination. "

"Apostasy" is an alarming term that scholars and genuine men of God are playing with their trumpets to awaken the church. But thanks to all the church soporific drugs have been consumed with extraordinary delight, no you can wake its deep slumber. 

And if you do not know, "lethargy" (Greek, λήθαργος) is not an afternoon nap, but "a symptom of various nervous diseases, infectious or toxic  condition characterized by a deep and prolonged drowsiness. "

Many pass through a religious way, have fun at it, find fulfillment, are entertained with meaningless codes and biblical content, attend churches where pastors are evil ability to make everyone feel good with their antics. But do not pass through the road which is Christ, but by the parallel which leads them to a destination of  condemnation.

Joel Osteen, pastor of the megachurch in Houston, Texas, he inherited from his father (because now the churches are owned by the shepherds as they withdraw their children installed but not worth a straw), vowed to his congregation "never in life used in their messages the word ' sin '.

 Thus, everyone who attends his church will feel

While comfortable in the clumping of anatomies are now called "church." Evidence that the church crosses a clear time of apostasy are many, including:

 The frivolous life of Christians.

 The insensitivity to the holiness of God.

 The naturalness with which they practice sin.

 The introduction into the church worship style as extravagant and ridiculous that is emerging.

 The contempt held towards sound doctrine.

 despise instruction. Hence, the elimination of Sunday School.

 The marked indifference to the Word of God.

 The materialism of the churches, ministers and members.

 The skills to see who has the biggest church.

 The alarming number of ministers who fall into adultery, divorce, and are still entrenched in their pulpits.

 The concept so low that the secular world has of churches, ministers and Christians.

 The sensual worship styles of musicians, vocalists and singers nomads.

 The role and that many pastors have dominion over the churches.

 Nepotism makes the church a family business.

 The ease with which people are Christian, are baptized and become church members.

 Replacement of the Bible for psychology.

 The politicking, caciquismo village, sponsorship, and the bureaucracy that distinguish so many people who hold church offices.

Whoever has truly sensitivity and discernment of the Holy Spirit knows perfectly well that this is the reality of the contemporary church.

What do our part, is what the Bible says:

 Humble

 heartily Repent

 Return to the Bible

 Leave all that is not in the Bible

 Try to be as the church of the book of Acts.

The habit of Cesar Castellanos of speculating on the Bible.

¿ One can speculate with the Bible? By "speculate" means "lost in subtleties without real foundation or hypothesis." The biblical hermeneutics in order to be  Worthy of such a distinguished title, must be a carrier, for sacred duty, a strong endowment of honesty.

No one should have the audacity to open the sacred pages to handle at your convenience any passage of it. Be pastor, Sunday School teacher, Bible school teacher, writer, theologian, or evangelist, or can not misrepresent the shortest of the biblical texts with the intention of giving doctrinal basis of their creations. much speculation and conjecture are not place within the fields of hermeneutics and exegesis.

 Speaking of conjecture, not referring to various theories about the meaning of some obscure passage, difficult to interpret. What we want to affirm in the most emphatic and energetic potential is that you can or should develop interpretive illusions because you want to invent some new doctrine or defend something that fits in the scheme of their ideas. 

The biblical text does not serve those who wish to bring into being a new doctrine, much less to give genesis to a new religion. It is common to hear in apologetic circles the words "name", "cult" and "cult". But much of what is considered "cult" or "cult" are nothing more than new

Biblical religions strokes.


 The source to which all converge is the Bible: distorting, speculating with it, speculating, denying it to ñadiéndole, an allegory of what is objective and concrete, which is actually spiritualizing material, updating what is futuristic, futurist and doing what is contemporary. Nobody should be surprised that the Bible is the book where they have gone more sects, cults, heresies and unorthodox religions.

If two thousand years of history of interpretation of the Bible, if from the time of the Apostles, the Apostolic Fathers, the bishops who convened the ecumenical councils anxious to clearly determine the faith of the Church, its scholars who gave us a huge amount theological works, if all this academic and spiritual effort has been perpetuated as

backbone of the Church for two millennia of existence, why is it that whenever there is a new heterodox movement within the Christian Church, there must be a willful and haughty contempt for all the effort glorious mentioned to give prioritize their supposed new "revelations"?.

 It was referenced in a previous issue of Mary Baker G.

Eddy, founder of Christian Science, Joseph Smith, founder of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, William Miller, founder of the Seventh-day Adventist Church, Charles Taze Russell, founder of Jehovah's Witnesses, Sun Myung Moon, founder of the Unification Church. All these people came in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. But we can also refer to the heretics (authors of heresies) of the first

Seventeen centuries of church history and find that the similarities between them are identical.

They have behaved, including flags, that of the irrefutable claim to introduce new doctrines into the Church, new revelations, new strategies, new approaches, and of course!, Restore, if not found, the so called "true church" .

 What happens in a South American country many years ago. The name Church of God had split off, and they split another denomination founded under the name The Church of God , they also suffered a split, and those who called their group departed True Church of God. 

Cesar and Claudia Castellanos no different to the heretics who have been mentioned. Moreover, the arsenal of them is much more variety than other heretics. In any case, the characteristics of all of them are similar. We will mention only two.

A: In any dishonesty heretical movement interpreting the Bible is a dominant gene. As simple as this: If there is honesty in the work hermeneutical there can be no doctrinal aberrations.

Honesty propels the hermeneutic to see the best and most respected sources of interpretation of the Bible to biblical advice to those exhibitors who have established their reputation as learned through  long years of study, knowledge of Scripture, service to God, and transparency spiritual. 

The heresiarch rejected the efforts of such for the simple reason that the only thing that matters is to push their news at all costs. The work of theologians is a great hindrance to him.

Two: In any heretical group shields the hero with the shield of a vision that gives continuity to its genesis and movement. This is the case of  Cunningham with the aggravating circumstance that their visions and revelations are numerous.

 As there is no way that their movement has strength following the traditional interpretation of the Bible, its classical doctrines, its hymnody, traditional liturgy, and organizational and administrative systems, it has been necessary to resort to:

 the alleged 1) vision, 2) revelation, 3) conversations with God the Father, 4) with the Holy Spirit, 5) with our Lord Jesus Christ, 6) dreams, 7) body experiences, 8) appearances of  angels, 9) prophecies of people who have self made ​​prophets and prophetesses, 10) conjectures, 11) merciless outrages to the Bible, 12) Misrepresentation, 13) evidence of alleged experiences,  14) miracles, and 15) crass lies. 


As is very clear , all bases are  overly subjective. 

No single point of support that is concrete. There is no scriptural basis or support in a healthy theology. Common sense screams at one of the world in secular professions not consent to even a thousandth part of what Castellanos imposed in the religious sphere.

 What would happen to a doctor, an architect, an engineer, a lawyer, a physicist, a chemist, if applicable in their work procedures implemented in the religious world the Castilians? When asked the  most renowned biblical scholars in the world, Bible teachers most respected seminaries, what they think of the teachings of Castile, the rejection of them will be unanimous and immediate.

By testimony of the same Castellanos, the traditional organization of the church for it's algoanticuado, the traditional liturgy is obsolete; the chorus  with their traditional robes, are a nuisance classic hymns and traditional Christianity, now lacking, the departments were essential to any church, Sunday School, Knights.

Ladies, Youth, are unproductive bodies counselors (consistory, deacons, elders) of the pastor, are old-fashioned, Bible seminars  traditional curriculum with universal, are irrelevant to current needs. As one of his obsequious followers, 

"The only thing that produces the School Sunday is legalism ... I went to seminary and got a Master of Divinity, but nothing helped me ... I am a pastor's son, and grandson of a pastor, but until I met Castellanos movement, I learned the truth . "

All this means that the movement of Castellanos is a new religion, a completely new system, which is changed from the  theological to the attire of the vocalists. How did the Castilians defend all these changes? Arguing that are visions that God has given them.

But the problem is that the above views front and loudly clash with the Bible. Therefore, lasalternativas to camouflage the divergence is to ignore the Bible, twist it, speculate with it, guess,  say that the original (not knowing a shred of biblical languages) say something different, make use of experience and questionable testimony to give a bias different from the biblical text, ah, and that never fails to disgust towing, the toss of the miracle-tattered flag! ¿Pavilion ... or rag?

"Conjectures found in the books

Cesar Castellanos is a terrible distortion of the Bible "

                                King David.

Quote: "When David was young, being the youngest in the family, told him the work to others was a bore, but he took as a great opportunity for your life, and put all his heart by the things as unto the Lord. His job was to herd a few sheep, but this meant that if he should answer for something to happen to any of them. That led him to spend whole nights without sleep. " 3  Comment: Does the Bible that? 

Quote: "David took many years working on the character of these people (his army . HS), since, because of his background, had very bad manners, but David had the patience and wisdom with them, and little little was forming up to be one of the strongest armies of the time, learning to beat together, as if they had a single heart. " 4.

Comment: Does the Bible say that?

Quote: "... but one of the qualities of King David, was that although at first surrounded himself with brilliant people, he taught them how to be brave , and over the 3 Cesar Castellanos, Successful Leadership through the twelve , G12  Editors, Miami, 1999, p.35 . The bold is mine.  4 Ibid. , p.56.

years, who trained them, became David's mighty men. " 5

Comment: Does the Bible say that?

Quote: "David did not understand that someone else knew his sin, Satan, who, with his demonic legions appeared before God and blasphemed the name of an aggressive way. David practically know what was happening in the spiritual world, but Satan to appear before God, found arguments to attack in the financial field, in the countryside spiritual, sexual, and unleashing a spirit of violence in his family. " 6

Comment: Well, the obsession with demons everywhere! Do you like to advertise the devil and demons! The abundance of the heart the mouth speaks! Recall that the calamities that befell  the family of David, was a punishment from God for the sins he committed. In this the devil had nothing to do!

Quote: "David began to be tried by God from an early age. As a child, his father rejected him, was the least of the house and sent him to tend sheep ... " 7

5 Ibid. , p.101. The bold is mine. 6 Ibid. , pp.114, 115. The bold is mine.  7 Cesar Castellanos, dreams and win the world , G12 Editors, Miami,  2003, p.143.

© 2006 Hiram Almirudis. All rights reserved. C 6 June 2006.

Comment: Can you prove Castellanos with the Bible that David was "rejected by his father" ? Where does the Bible say that "David was the least of the house " ? In the family of Jesse was no one that was  considered "insignificant." Castellanos saying that "David was the most insignificant " states, with the comparative adverb "more", a comparison between himself and others. That is, saying "it was the least of"  claims that there were other insignificant, but David was the greatest of them into insignificance.

 And what does "insignificant" ? It means "trivial"

"Negligible", "useless." Have you had forgotten Castellanos this "trivial", "despicable", "useless" and the "most insignificant of the house " was a distinguished musician who was born to the royal palace to quell outbursts of madness that made ​​him the king Saul an evil spirit? (1 Samuel 16:23), what was so bold that they snatched the lions and bears of their very mouths of his father's sheep? (1 Samuel 17:34), what was so expert in the use of the sling that she killed a giant stone incrustándole on the forehead? (1 Samuel 17:49), what one of the servants of King Saul said to David: 

"I have  here I have seen a son of Jesse of Bethlehem who knows how to play, and a mighty valiant man and war, and prudent in his words, and beautiful, and the Lord is with him " ? (1 Samuel 16:18).

Go insignificance! But, as in the G12 system must always appear the issue of parental rejection, since according to Castellanos, suffered not only David but also Abraham, you must leave the  Babada that David was "rejected as a child by his father. " And here opens the door to imply that David needed inner healing, such as Abraham needed. 

If what the Bible says about David, his brilliant

ability to perform musical instruments, their courage to kill with bare hands lions and bears that attacked the flock of his father, his agility in the use of the sling with which he killed one stoning  the giant Goliath, who was recognized by the servants of King Saul as a great musician, brave, vigorous man of war, prudent in his words, beautiful, and with the presence of the Lord in all his chores, which

tragedy that my father, my mother, my paternal and maternal grandparents, my uncles and my brothers, I have rejected in my childhood to have been like David! If I was David was the result of rejection of his father as a child I hope that everyone suffered rejection by their parents!

Quote: "In general, the great men of God, they were confronted with the cross. Although the suffering of Jesus was many years after David, God took the spirit of that king and moved in time,

leading him to feel everything that Jesus would suffer . " 8.

Comment: According to Castellanos and his wife supposedly was crucified with Christ and suffered the same pain that Christ suffered (read the book The revelation of the cross ) for three hours, as happened to King David. As a result of the crucifixion with the Lord, was that King David wrote Psalm 22, which is a Messianic Psalm. the apostle Paul.

Quote: "Although this herald of the faith (the apostle Paul. HS) had managed to taste success more remarkable that the world of that time you could give someone, however, having  met Jesus in a personal way , everything else lost charm for him because he could not conceive of happiness outside of Jesus Christ. " 9

Comment: What was "the most extraordinary success that the world at that time provided that Paul could taste" ?

Quote: "One of the concerns of Paul was to form brilliant leaders and for that used various strategies , such as getting out of his position and placed at the level of the people that interested him transform. " 10

Comment: ¿" Leaders bright " or "faithful and humble servants"? Speaking of "brilliant leaders" is to use the values ​​of unconverted world. Nowhere in the Bible speaks of "brilliant leaders." John the Baptist declared that it was necessary for Christ to grow, and that he will wane (John 3:30), Paul sought Christ was glorified as he disappeared into Christ (Galatians 2:20). It is an insult to God's grace and power of the Holy Spirit to speak of "strategies". The Gospel is not spread strategies or methods, nor the servants of God are the product of such.

Other cases biblical

8 Cesar Castellanos, The revelation of the cross, G12 Editors, Miami,

2003. p.13.  9 Ibid., p.191. The bold is mine.

10 Ibid., p.184. The bold is mine.

© 2006 Hiram Almirudis. All rights reserved. C 7 June 2006.

Quote: "This model (the G12. HS) we can define, as the principle that drives the dynamics of growth for the contemporary church. From my own experience, I think the model of the twelve is the strategy that will hold together the cell vision, development of the Church of Christ in the XXI century ... The principle of the twelve not only comes from God in a specific time for those leaders who  wish to take, but is embodied in the Scriptures as a constant inspiration. It is eminently biblical strategy to conquer entire nations . "11.

Comment: Absolutely false! Nowhere does the Bible speaks of the G12 or the "cellular vision." Want to associate the G12 unbiblical to the twelve tribes of Israel and the twelve apostles is a gross distortion of the Bible.

Quote: " Abraham immediately began to count the stars not caring at all the circumstances ... Abraham learned the importance of faith to give a dream, and spent hours at  night watching the stars, and seeing in them the faces of their descendants, thanking God for their lives. " 12.

Comment: You say that the Bible somewhere? Do you can add "dreams" to the faith? "Is it important to give dreams to the faith"? So faith is faith more dreams? The moment that man adds something  to the faith, it ceases to be? As Castellanos invented his G12 with a supposed vision he had on the beach where he claims he saw the faces of people who would become under his system, it is now joined  Abraham, saying that the stars Abraham looked at the face their descendants, and dares to say that Abraham "gave thanks to God for their lives."

While Cunningham was in the sand of the sea of ​​faces that would become, Abraham saw the stars. And there are still historic church ministers who follow this false prophet vesanias!

Quote: "Why is it so important to have the twelve? What would have been the result of Christianity or who had written the New Testament, if Jesus had chosen twelve? " 13.

11 Ibid., p. 152.153. The bold is mine.

12 Ibid., p.198. The bold is mine.

13 144 the key to multiplication, p.12. The bold is mine.

 Review: 'So that the New Testament was written by the Twelve Apostles? This is amazing! Only seven of the New Testament books were written by members of the apostolic college:  Matthew, John, 1 and 2 Peter, 1,2, 3 John, and Revelation, the other nineteen, by people who did not belong to the group of Twelve. All you need to say, to push the teaching of G12, is that the twelve patriarchs of Israel wrote the Old Testament. Again, all these ravages of the Word of God does not mean anything for ministers

Promote the teachings of Castellanos.

Quote: "If you have not properly given to God, must break the curse (being that for this release are also needed arguments). Give a gift extra to cancel the arguments, and break  all financial curse. Then make a covenant of faithfulness to God . " 14.

Comment: First, who has not God given "right" whatever (money, time, service, affection, obedience) is not a curse to be broken: it is simply lack of obedience to the Word of God.

For that you do not need "liberation" (again, the obsession with the devil) that is needed is to fulfill what God commands in His Word. That they "also need arguments " Castellanos only knows what that means for the simple reason that it is not biblical terminology. 

¿Arguments to convince who? Then what of the offering to be given: "Take an additional offering to settle arguments. " guess  "arguments" are what the devil brings against Christians, which need to be "canceled". Gee, what does this gentleman tangles!


 Where do you get all these messes? According to this teaching, with an offering extra fix all the problems! There is no difference with the Catholic Church of the Middle Ages when Johaan Tetzel, German monk of the order dominica, representing the Pope, ensured that when the gold coin fell into the bottom of the chest, the soul by which redemption was paid out Purgatory. As the Indian saying: "Goat out, peseta to the hat."

 One  again, the obsession with curses that need to be broken: "... and break every curse finance. "The lack of curses but blessings are not a result of infidelity to God. Moreover, Christians do not have to walk when making deals with God is what He requires obedience to His Word. 

The Christian belongs only thing to do is obey what God commands.

14 Ibid., p.90. The bold is mine.

© 2006 Hiram Almirudis. All rights reserved. C 8 June 2006.
Put in the covenants conditions and the believer is not one to put conditions on God.

Quote: "When Jesus was born, did not come into this world as any human being. He became the Incarnate Word of God. When people saw him, he understood that this man was not any man, that was the Word in a  human body, the Word of God covered with skin and flesh, who was God in the person of Jesus Christ ... The words that came from the lips of Jesus, were words of life. So people are worshiping and exalting, because they saw the miracles he performed. People fell prostrate, saying: 'My Lord and my God. '" 15.

Comment: Castellanos says exactly the opposite of what the Bible teaches. To say that "people understand that Jesus was the Word of God in a body human, " is to attribute to people who were in contact with Christ a spiritual discernment extra special.

The knowledge of Christ as the Word of God has come through the gospel of John, and not  before. When people heard the teachings of Christ and the miracles he looked, thought of him as a great prophet that God had raised, but no way they had discovered in the miracles  that Jesus was "the Word of God." On the other hand , Castellanos speaks of Christ as "the Word of God covered with skin and flesh" , which is an egregious mistake Christological.

 It is the same as saying that "the Word was disguised with skin and flesh. "The Word is not" covered with skin and flesh ", but made ​​flesh: "And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us ... " ( John 1:14). "He became flesh" means that a being was human in every way. His incarnation was not limited to physical, material, but also included his mind, spirit and soul. It was for this reason that Origen (185-254 AD), the great Alexandrian exegete and theologian preferred to use the word "human" or "humanized" instead of flesh in reference to human presence of Christ  on earth. 

Why? Because it was not a mere "incarnation" but a "humanization" in every sense of the word, including body, mind and spirit. Christ was human in every way. God did not put in a shell of skin and flesh, as taught by Castellanos. But is it true that people knew that Jesus "was God in the person of Jesus Christ? " Wow,  Castellanos is stating that people knew that  Jesus was divine, it was God! So why  not accept it, why was it rejected, and ended up crucified, if they knew that "was God in the person of Jesus Christ " ? "He came unto, and His own did not receive Him " (John 1: 11). 

After healing the lame man who placed the temple gate called La Hermosa, the apostle Peter accused the Jews of killing Christ because of their ignorance, if they knew who he was, had not done: "But Now, brethren, I wot that through ignorance ye did it, as did also your rulers " (Acts 3:17). The prophet Isaiah predicted that Christ would be "despised",  "rejected", "undervalued", "would hide his face," and was not estimate "for the simple reason to ignore who he was (Isaiah 53).


 No miracle reveal Christ as the Word of God, or that "Jesus was God in  the person of Jesus. " The discernment of Christ's identity could only happen by divine revelation. So when the apostle Peter told the Lord: "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God, " the Lord replied:

"Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, because flesh and revealed to you, but My Father who is in heaven" (Matthew 16:16,17). Miracles do not reveal the mysteries of faith: Only God through His  Holy Spirit! Consider now the words: "People fell prostrate, saying: My Lord and my God. " First, no single case in the Four Gospel that "people have fallen prostrate" and have told the Lord: "My Lord and my God." 

The only  case recorded is that of Thomas who told the Lord, eight days after His resurrection: "My Lord and God mine " (John 20:28). But nowhere did John say "prostrate". Did he think the people that Jesus "was the word in a human body, the Word of God covered with skin and flesh, which was God in the person of Jesus Christ " ? Quite the contrary:

 They thought it was a person possessed! "The people answered and said, Devil you ... " (John 7:20), "Then answered the Jews and said unto him, Say we not well that thou art a Samaritan, and have a demon? " (John 8:48);

"Then the Jews said: Now we know that thou hast a devil ..." (John 8:52), "Many of them said, has a demon and is mad: why hear ye him?" (John 10:20).

 What so eloquently, as Castellanos, to recognize the Jews "Jesus was the Word of God covered with skin and flesh, who was God in the person of Christ" !

© 2006 Hiram Almirudis. All rights reserved. C 9 June 2006.

"The hermeneutic process to establish a biblical doctrine"

E n First, it is imperative to know what is a biblical doctrine, have a clear definition of it. In simple words, "doctrine" is the systematization of biblical teachings.

 Is an ordered collection  so that both the Old and New Testaments teach about a certain subject. Hence the term "systematic theology", "dogmatic theology" and "biblical theology". "Theology" is not only the study of God (θεός λογία) is still studying the Christian faith, faith which was revealed by an act of providence and sovereign God and recorded in a book  known as sacred Scripture .

Both what is known as "natural theology" and "oral tradition" can not be placed on the same level of authority than the Bible. Theology is a revelation and discovery. While religions the main character is the man in the Christian faith, is God.

 The doctrine stems from the need of human beings to understand clearly and intelligently with regard to all issues associated with God. What I can not think, reason and express contérminos convincing, does not merit acceptance: "... and be ready always to do this with gentleness and respect to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you " (1 Peter 3: 15). 

Doctrine, on the lips of San Anselmo, is "faith seeking understanding. " The very clear and defined doctrine is important because otherwise there can be no compromise with the  Christian faith. There can be no unconditional devotion to a cause that is hazy. When inclination toward something that does not make sense, sliding down the polished slope of fanaticism, passion and blindness. None of them can be called conviction.

 The hermeneutic process of teaching the following steps:

A: The doctrine has to explain the Bible and not vice versa. The important thing is not knowing the doctrine, but what the Bible says by the doctrine. That is, the doctrine serves the Bible, the Bible and service doctrine. When using the Bible to prove a doctrine that teaches an arbitrary group, then there is the sect, cult, and even a new religion, such as the Mormons.

Two: The next step is to collect everything the Bible says about a certain subject. Unable to establish a doctrine unsupported by the Bible, or using an isolated text. The doctrines and theology as a whole, it may result from social situations that require biblical support.

 The social situations that require a solution must be viewed from a theological perspective, this is what the Bible says about it. Therefore, it is an incongruous to speak of social or political theologies, such as "liberation theology", "theology of prosperity "," Latin American Theology, "" theology Asian "," African Theology "," feminist theology. " They can talk about what the Bible says about these issues, but can not be diversified theology. 

The theology is one and indivisible. Furthermore, all pseudo theologies that emerge according to the social, imposing a regionalism that does not apply to other sectors and situations, branching and biblical truth that can be fragmented. Furthermore, the theologies of particular interest airtight, imposes strong  feelings and priority needs of the moment.

Three: The next step is to distinguish what the Bible is narrative and what is normative. No doctrine can make narrative passages, or mere historical descriptions. 

Neither can take the individual experiences with applying and generalizing universal. For example, the case of Saul of Tarsus has fallen, heard a voice, that voice answered, and  been blinded by a supernatural light, no model of what should happen in each conversion. That on the day of Pentecost has blown a strong wind that filled the place where the disciples were, and have appeared tongues as of fire spread on all present, is not a model of what must happen when someone is baptized in the Holy Spirit.

Four: The next step is to see if both Testaments agree in doctrine under study. case of a dispute, or apparent discrepancy between the Old and New Testaments on a particular matter, the New Testament has priority. Most evangelical churches,  mainly Pentecostals teach that "The New Testament is our only rule of government and discipline."

© 2006 Hiram Almirudis. All rights reserved. C 10 June 2006.

Five: The following has to be clearly the text. Many passages of the Bible differ from one manuscript to another.

 In order to establish the reading considered original, the Hebrew and Greek Bibles contain what is called Apparatus which is a means of evaluating the historical evidence of a passage, how to say different manuscripts and  ancient scrolls .

Six: Then comes the detail work, professional and responsible exegesis and hermeneutics. This author prefers to distinguish between exegesis and hermeneutics, exegesis as referring to the science that studies and interprets the text, and hermeneutics, the science that focuses on the different figures that occur in the Bible.

 Both, of course, are intertwined. exegesis is the scientific attempt to establish and understand the biblical text in its original scope. To understand the biblical text in its original context requires the exegete is familiar with the world

literary and historical (macro-environment) within which the biblical text arose. In an effort to properly interpret a text, we need to know the context within which is: what he's talking to the author, what it says before and after the text, and how it fits the relevant passage in the book that is.

 No text of the Bible should be interpreted in isolation!

Seven: When interpreting a biblical passage to confirm a doctrine, you must have the following care:

 Do not spiritualize the passage if clearly literal.

 Do not make literal the allegorical.

 Do not allegorize the literal.

 not to canonize a particular version of the Bible and reject the others.

 Do not temporize the passage lost its original meaning (the problem of popular versions and paraphrases).

 Do not do what is historical futuristic or historic

what is futuristic.

Eight: In doing exegesis and hermeneutics is essential to know the biblical languages. In this way one can study the etymology of words, their  various meanings. In the case of verbs and participles, time, mode and the event play a role.

Nine: As required in all disciplines: Honesty! Integrity! The lack of honesty is a very marked work of the flesh, and as such, leads to the worst doctrinal aberrations. By irrevocable decree  divine, no human can be an interpreter of the Bible, nor should mess with it, if not carried in the fibers of his soul the hallmark of honesty. If you do, follow in the footsteps of him who Christ quoted the Bible (Matthew 4:6)

to fall into disobedience: Satan, the father of all dishonest interpreters of the Bible!

Hiram Almirudis.

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"When you feel you are on the side of the majority,  it is time to pause and reflect. "

                        Mark Twain.

BIBLICAL RELIGION OR RELIGION OF STEREOTYPES:

¿ What is a stereotype? In the case of people, a stereotype is "someone who has or is believed to have characteristics or qualities that typify a particular group." Stereotyping is a congenital habit of human beings. Our opinions are the result of our stereotypes, our appreciation of the people and things, also a consequence of our stereotypes, our beliefs and prejudices are a result of our stereotypes.

 In general, we refer to our stereotypes as "generalizations". But the habit of stereotyping that goes far beyond the simple act of generalizing. To soften the action of stereotype use the word "gray" when we make a failure to be specific between black and white. When we stay within  the penumbra of gray is because we are slaves of the stereotype. 

The habit of stereotyping is a resource for not committing to the clear and specific definition. A stereotype a person because of their nationality, skin pigmentation, race or language. Stereotypes are marcadísimos within regionalism. This is guy has to be so and so  because of the region it comes from. Nathaniel stereotyped Christ when he said: "From Nazareth can leave something  good? " (John 1:46). 

Our subconscious slavery to the habit of stereotyping prevents us from understanding many areas of our lives are controlled by that vile tyrant. And we do not realize that often our religion is a religion of stereotypes. The stereotypes we form us because of our spiritual poverty, for our complex, our vices, our ignorance, our dislikes, and our envy and egocentrisms. In other words, stereotypes are marked stamp staff. 

We invent. And, the most disastrous of all stereotypes is that of religion. A religion has its own god stereotyped stereotyped, his own Bible, the gospel itself, its own liturgy, their own dogmas, its own song (for now are songs not hymns), their own Christ. 

What is not his cross, because it suits him. That is, religion is a regional, not to play because we live in άίων of individualism, nationalism, regionalism, racism, feminism, homosexuality, and all the isms have or might have, which are untouchable. Therefore, everyone is entitled to invent his own god, your own Bible (eg, The Message {The Message}), their own doctrines, their own religion, their own styles of worship (?), its own everything.

 No one can criticize, because everything works, you have to implement it! At the time when religion is the panacea that solves all problems and makes a man feel good,

is discarded as the Gospel of Jesus Christ. If you offer economic prosperity, prosperity in all spheres of life, physical health more careless we are with our bodies, the acquisition of all our desires, and that God is the supplier of all temporary, and says nothing of the values the spirit or things where Christ sitteth at the right hand of God, religion is a stereotype.

 We invented according to our convenience! Faith the Gospel calls us to repentance, to deny ourselves, to confession, if necessary public humiliation, selfless service, to leave all that separates us from Christ, to put Christ first, to take up the cross daily, obedience, to incorporate the Beatitudes of Matthew 5, to sell everything to buy the pearl of great price, to lay down our arrogance, our lies, our truths, our opportunism, our arrogance, our pedantry, our ego foul, our indomitable character, our tastes

banal, trivial our illusions, our frivolous talks, our stupid jokes, our gossip crawling.

 Stereotyped religion is very, very easy to identify because it is not in the Bible, and just realize that those who study it. We in the United States have perforated eardrums to hear so many prayers for "our heroes fighting for democracy and against terrorism." 

I have not heard a prayer that the Lord save and bless the Arabs and Persians, which are many millions and for which Christ also died. We pray for the peace of Jerusalem, but do not pray for peace in Medina, Mecca and Istanbul. Before he had a grudge against Russia, after North Vietnam, then to China. We lived under the anguish of Communism and a nuclear holocaust. Now, thanks to our ability to stereotype people, live under the threat of Arab terrorism, nuclear armament of Iran and North Korea. 

And Russia and China do not concern us, nor communism, but Cuba, Venezuela, Brazil, Bolivia and Peru in Latin America we fly the hammer and sickle. The dangerous are Arabs, mostly Muslims. We pray for our military because they represent the kingdom of God and democracy, we are told, and for others, for others not, but Christ died for them too. No one thinks that the above said is a political stance. 

No way! It is a theological position! What I want to say is that the stereotype always focuses on others, but never yourself. Evaluates, judges, monitors, and determines things with schemes that do not apply to your own life. 

It is a protection to its anthropocentrism and egocentrism rampant. The Gospel is Christ-centered, so theocentric. All cults, sects and religions of the world, including the one invented by Cesar and Claudia Castellanos, are products of interests, aspirations and idiosyncrasies of the region from which they arise. When a religion, denomination, cult or sect specializes in a particular area of ​​the globe, is not the faith of Jesus Christ because the gospel transcends racial and cultural boundaries to offer salvation to all mankind. 

The Gospel is not tribal or regional: It is universal.

Posted by John D Calvo