Christadelphian Church

I had heard about Christadelphians in the past, but never knew anything about them except I was told they are a cult that formed in the 1800s.  Then earlier this year Christian Research and Apologetics Ministry had an article about what Christadelphians believe and I linked to that.

Sevearl months ago a friend gave me a few boxes of books which came from a pastor’s library after he passed away.  This pastor was part of a liberal church, which is why I got to see what was worth keeping and what needed to be destroyed.  Very few of the books were worth saving.

One book caught my eye because of the title:  Bible Basics: A Study Manual.  There was no author on the front cover (I later discovered it on the spine - Duncan Heaster) so I opened to investigate and discovered it was published by the Christadelphians.  Well, that got my interest up so I put it on my “to read” shelf, where it sat until a couple weeks ago when I picked it to be my next “bedroom book” (what I read when I’m not ready to sleep).  I just finished it, and I have to agree with the CARM post about just how heretical they are.

If you missed my earlier posting with a link to the CARM article, then you missed that the teachings of the Christadelphians have a lot of similarities with the Jehovah’s Witnesses.  The book was one of the worst examples of twisting Scripture that I have ever read!  So, let me give you a rundown on teachings from this book which prove this group to be a cult.

1.  They are unitarians and claim the “trinity” is a man-made false teaching.  Jesus is not God, and the Holy Spirit is just the force/power God uses to do things.

2.  Satan does not exist, and is another man-made idea originating in pagan beliefs.

3.  Hell does not exist.  

4.  The unsaved are annihilated; there is no immortality for the unbeliever.  In fact, all those who did not hear the gospel, or children too young to understand it (and I guess adults who are retarded) are also annihilated.

5.  Baptism is “a vital prerequisite for salvation.”  Faith is only the start, but isn’t any good without baptism. Even then, salvation isn’t guaranteed, because one may leave his faith and lose his salvation; which is why no one can know if they are truly saved, because they have no idea what they will do in the future.

6.  Angels have the same powers as God, share the same nature as God, and God used them to create the world.

7.  When we die, we are unconscious in the grave until the resurrection.

8.  Jesus did not exist before he was born.  He wasn’t really tempted by Satan, rather it was all in his mind; he imagined it because of his state of mind from being hungry.  However, Jesus was tempted the same way as man is tempted — by his own evil desire (the book references James 1:14).  The “devil” he saw in his mind was just his own evil desires, and he had all the human sinful tendencies, being in need of salvation from death.  And, as the JWs say, Christ was crucified on a pole — which proves the use of the cross is erroneous.

9.  “True Christians” should never celebrate Christmas because Jesus wasn’t born on December 25th, and it is a pagan celebration.

10.  Since there is no satan/devil, God allows the evil or He actively brings it about for his own purposes.  Therefore, we should never resist evil because we may then be resisting God — which is why we are to never be a member of the police force or the military.

11.  Involvement in politics is also wrong, because we cannot improve the world - it is supposed to degenerate.  Since God establishes governments, our voting may be against one God has chosen, which would mean we are rebelling against God!

12.  Referring to 1 Cor. 11:1-16, they completely read into the text to come up with the idea that a woman must have her head covered whenever a man is teaching from God’s Word, and this means she should always wear a “hat or headscarf” to all church meetings.

13.  When it comes to the Lord’s Table, it must be weekly, and if one is unable to meet with the body of believers, then they are to have the communion alone.  

14.  Marriage must have a ceremony in order to be biblical; no ceremony, no real marriage.

15.  We are only animals by nature, but God chose us for a special relationship.

And, of course, only the Christadelphians have the true teachings about God, Jesus, and the Gospel.

I think most of my readers could easily find the correct Bible passages to refute most of these teachings.  It always amazes me how people can be so easily deceived by such mental gymnastics with Scripture rather than actually reading for themselves what it says.

Christadelphians preach another Christ and another Gospel, as defined by Paul (2 Cor. 11:4), and he said such people should be eternally condemned (Gal. 1:6-9).