Relative Heresy and Absolute Heresy Taught by Christ Ahnsahnghong

Relative Heresy: A heresy judged by the dogma of a denomination

Sometimes, the true church is branded as heretical by the relative standards of men,
not by the absolute standard of the Bible. The representative example is the belief of the early Church, which was branded as heresy.

“We have found this man to be a troublemaker, stirring up riots among the Jews all over the world. He is a ringleader of the Nazarene sect.”Ac 24:5

Judaists didn’t believe in Christ who came in the flesh, and stuck to the Old Covenant.
Moreover, they denounced the belief of the early Church that kept the New Covenant, as heresy.
However, the early Church absolutely believed the promise that God would come in the flesh (Isa 9:6) and establish the New Covenant (Jer 31:31).

The early Church absolutely believed that Jesus is God in the flesh, and spread the New Covenant that Jesus established. The early Church looked heretical in the eyes of the Jewish leaders, but was the true church in God’s point of view.

The history of the Bible teaches us how dangerous it is to accuse a church as heretical on the basis of one’s own doctrines. Then what is the “absolute heresy” that the Bible defines?

“Heresies don’t teach the words of God, but made-up stories [doctrines], and they will be finally destroyed” (2 Pe 2:1).
We can discern absolute heresies that the Bible defines, by checking if they are of the New Covenant established by Jesus, or if they are of man-made doctrines.

First, the church that keeps Sunday service, a man-made doctrine, is heretical.
God commanded us to keep the Sabbath [Saturday] holy as the fourth Commandment of the Ten Commandments (Ex 20:8).

And Jesus said that keeping the Sabbath was His custom, and read the Scriptures in the synagogue on the Sabbath day [Saturday] (Lk 4:16). The reason Jesus kept the Sabbath [Saturday] was to set us an example that we should follow (Jn 13:15). So, the church that keeps Sunday service, which is not found in the Bible, is heretical.

Second, the church, which does not keep the Passover, is heretical.
The Passover, which God commanded us to keep, is the truth that saves us from all disasters (Ex 12:12-13).
Jesus ordered His disciples to keep the Passover (Mt 26:19). The church, which does not keep the Passover recorded in the Bible, is heretical.

Third, the church, which celebrates Jesus’ birth on Dec. 25 that is not found in the Bible, is heretical.
Christmas originated from the pagan custom of worshiping the sun-god. There is no record in the Bible that Christmas should be kept on Dec. 25. So, the church, which celebrates Christmas on Dec. 25 that is not found in the Bible, is heretical.

Fourth, the church which sets up the cross is heretical.
The cross was an instrument used to carry out the death penalty by the ancient Romans. The Bible warns that the man-made cross is an idol which cannot give us salvation or eternal life. So, the church, which sets up and sanctifies the cross, an instrument of death, that was used to treat Jesus as a criminal and inflict great suffering on Him, is heretical.

The only standard to determine heresy is the Bible. Two thousand years ago, the people who accused Jesus as a heretic on the basis of their own doctrines, were all destroyed.
It is the same in this age. The church that follows man-made doctrines will perish in the end, because what they follow is absolute heresies from the viewpoint of the Bible.

The Church of God is the true church that rejects heresy and keeps the New Covenant established by Jesus as it is in the Bible.