Saints Beware!
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II Timothy 3:16 – “All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness.”
The church needs God’s Word. The preachers need God’s Word. The saints of God need God’s Word. The sinners need God’s Word. No wonder Satan has tried to ban it, burn, it, and banish it from the face of the earth. He has also tried adding to it. Saints beware.
PSEUDEPIGRAPHA
From the inception of the church, Satan has attempted to lead the saints astray through extra biblical writings. Pseudepigrapha (false inscription) writings began to spring up throughout Christendom. These letters were distributed as if they had been authored by one of the apostles. In fact, they were not. Contained within these letters were false doctrines meant to lead the elect astray.
THE FIRST GOSPEL OF THE INFANCY OF JESUS CHRIST
This troubling piece of fiction suggests that Jesus talked to Mary while still an infant in the crib, and, as a child, He also named the two thieves who would be crucified on the right and on the left of Him. It’s interesting that other pseudepigripha books can’t even agree on their names. This work of fiction also speaks of a demon-possessed boy who slapped the child Jesus. That boy was later revealed to be the young boy called “Judas.”
CHILDREN KILLED FOR OFFENDING JESUS
“Another time, when the Lord Jesus was coming home in the evening with Joseph, he met a boy, who ran so hard against him, that he threw him down; To whom the Lord Jesus said, ‘As thou hast thrown me down, so shalt thou fall, nor ever rise.’ And that moment the boy fell down and died” (Infancy, 19:23, 24).
This boy was killed for knocking Jesus down, yet Jesus later taught, “Ye have heard that it hath been said, An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth: But I say unto you, That ye resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also” (Matt. 5:38-39).
It seems that a lot of people were killed for offending Jesus. “Then said Joseph to St. Mary, henceforth we will not allow him to go out of the house; for everyone who displeases him is killed” (Infancy 20:16).
THE HISTORY OF JOSEPH THE CARPENTER
This pseudopigrapha writing presents the life of Joseph, the husband of Mary, as supposedly told by Jesus to His disciples on the Mount of Olives. It starts off with a troubling introduction: “The history of the death of our father, the holy old man, Joseph the carpenter. May his blessings and prayers preserve us all, O brethren! Amen.”
The notion that someone who had died could be a mediator between God and man goes clearly against God’s Word: “For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus” (I Tim. 2:5).
It’s not Joseph’s blessing that we seek, it’s God’s blessing!
MARY HAD NO OTHER CHILDREN
They went on to say that Jesus didn’t have brothers or sisters through Mary. They stated that those mentioned in the Bible were from Joseph’s previous marriage. However, the Greek word for “brother” (adelphos) literally means “from the same womb” and discredits their notion.
PSEUDEPIGRAPHA OR SOLA SCRIPTURA?
Should we believe the psudepigraphal books or the Bible? Jesus answered this question in the gospel of Matthew: “But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God” (Matt. 4:4).
Saints beware!
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