The following "Question" was asked by a member of the congregation at Grace Community Church in Panorama City, California, and "Answered" by their pastor, John MacArthur Jr. It was transcribed from the tape, GC 70-16, titled "Bible Questions and Answers."  A copy of the tape can be obtained by writing, Word of Grace, P.O. Box 4000, Panorama City, CA 91412 or by dialing toll free 1-800-55-GRACE.  Copyright John MacArthur Jr., All Rights Reserved.

Question

What about those Bible Study courses advertised in the newspapers and magazines by the Christadelphians?

Answer

There was another article in the Daily News, actually it was an ad, and it says, "Reading the Bible Carefully--An Exciting 12-week hands-on seminar beginning Thursday, January 11th."  It goes on to talk about the fact that, "Many of the problems people have in understanding the Bible," it says, "comes from not reading it carefully."  So this man, and his organization are going to help you to read the Bible "carefully."  

They give as an illustration, "Did you know that even though most everyone talks of the 'apple' that Adam was given by Eve to eat, the Bible mentions nothing about an 'apple' at all.  So you can join us as we sit down together in a class and read the Bible carefully."  Well, in the first place, who said it was an "apple"?  I never said it was an apple, and I am not sure that any Bible teacher ever said that it was an apple.  I don't think that is a very good way to attract a crowd, because who really cares whether it was or it wasn't, and why would people want to come to discover such trivial things as that?  But anyway, it tries to pull you in, and if you read through it carefully, it says that they are going to talk about "Creation, the Garden of Eden, Cain and Able, Noah and the Great Flood, the Tower of Babble, the Promises made to Abraham," and so forth.  

And then there is a little tiny note at the side that says, "The expense of these seminars is being absorbed totally by the Christadelphians."  You need to know, because I have been asked this, regarding this article, that the Christadelphians is a cult.  Their subtleties is that they say here, "That they are fundamentalists."  It says, "That the sessions are sponsored by the Christadelphians, a fundamental Christian Community that wholeheartedly believes the Bible alone holds the answers," and so forth.  But the Christadelphians are a cult, they have been around for a while, and they do not hold to the doctrines of Scriptures, and you need to be very careful about that.

But if you were to read that; if the average person was just to read that, it would sound like this is evangelical, fundamental, basic Christianity.  And when they pick up the Times and read about "God is doing something," then this is how people view Christianity.  This is supposed to be it; this is supposed to be the movement of God, and I think even believers and unbelievers can really be duped if they come to those conclusions, so you need to be very discerning.  It's a real battle out there to reach people with the truth in the midst of all of this aggressive error.  So we have to be discerning people and we know that, and we are working hard to make sure we are.

Added to Bible Bulletin Board's "MacArthur’s Questions and Answers" by:

Tony Capoccia
Bible Bulletin Board
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