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Lesson 88

PRESENT WESTERN RELIGIONS (Part 1)

Satan's tactics are to flood the inhabited earth with religion in countless forms and varieties. In the United States alone the latest census lists 256 different religious denominations operating. Many more dot the Western religious realm, which comprises Europe, Africa, and the Americas. A sect is a religious organization of persons who follow a particular creature in their belief and practice a specific religion based on the traditions of men. A denomination is a religious sect that is identified by a particular name or designation. A cult is a system of religious belief practicing ceremonies and traditions of men in an organized body. In this and the following lesson attention is briefly drawn to twenty-seven of the leading sects and cults of Western religion.

ADVENTISTS. There are six sects of the Adventists, the largest of which is entitled Seventh-Day Adventists. These take their name from their belief as to the second coming or advent of Christ. They sprang from a movement started by William Miller in 1831, and proclaimed the year 1844 as the date for Christ's coming. The Seventh-Day Adventists hold that the Ten Commandments are still in force and the sabbath must be kept literally. There arc about 165,000 adherents in the United States.

BAPTISTS. Today there are at least 25 different Baptist sects, having 71,725 churches throughout the world, with

a claimed membership of 11,276,091. The Baptists sprang from the Separatist movement in England from about 1593. Some of their principal teachings are repentance, baptism by immersion, laying on of hands, resurrection of the dead, eternal torment, "trinity," and "immortality of the soul".

BRETHREN. Also known as "Plymouth Brethren". They are divided into 8 sects, with 25,000 adherents in the United States. The sect was founded by John N. Darby about 1827, in Dublin, Ireland. However, Plymouth, England, later became the center of the movement. They reject creeds and rituals and have no ordained ministry. They hold to baptism, partake of the "Lord's Supper" every Sunday, and teach doctrines such as the "trinity" and "immortality of the soul".

CHRISTADELPHIANS. Otherwise called "Brothers of Christ". This sect was founded in the United States in 1834, by John Thomas, an Englishman. Today there are about 3,000 members in the United States and a number of adherents in England. They hold that all other churches are apostate, do not believe in the "trinity" or in a personal devil, and teach that Christ's kingdom will be set up on earth, centering in Palestine. They believe in baptism by immersion and do not have an ordained ministry.

CHRISTIAN SCIENTISTS. This denomination (named "Church of Christ, Scientist") was founded at Boston in 1866, by Mary Baker Eddy, discoverer of "Christian Science" and author of its textbook, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures." They teach that all cause and effect is mental and that sin, sickness, and death will be destroyed by a full understanding of the Divine principles of Jesus' teaching and healing. In the United States they have a following of 268,915.

CHURCH OF ENGLAND. Up to the time of the Reformation the official religion of England was Roman Catholic. As a result of Luther's activities in Germany a convocation of British clergy met in 1531 to begin discussing a separation from Rome. Later recommendations were made to Parlia-

ment favoring a separation. King Henry VIII, for private reasons, also favored such a step. In 1534 Parliament abolished all papal authority in England, and, instead, the reigning king was to be the head of the church, even as it is today. Later in the course of years the Church of England revised its teachings along Protestant lines. It rejected the teaching of "purgatory", indulgences, adoration of images, and the making of "saints". However, the church still holds to the "trinity", "eternal torment," "immortality of the soul," and binds its teachings by creed. Members of the Church of England are also designated Anglicans. Several efforts at reform gave rise to the Separatist movements starting in the sixteenth and continuing into the seventeenth century. It was these movements that gave birth to the Baptist, Plymouth Brethren and Congregational denominations. In the eighteenth century a further division occurred in the separation of the Methodist movement from the established church.

CHURCH OF GOD. Otherwise known as Winebrennerians. A small body of about 45,000 adherents who accept no authority, or creed, except that contained in the teachings set forth in 1830 by its founder, John Winebrenner of Pennsylvania.

CHURCH OF THE NAZARENE. This group was organized by Dr. P. F. Bresee, at Los Angeles (1895), and later (1908) reorganized in its present form. There are about 136,000 followers of this movement in the United States. They hold to "Fifteen Articles of Faith", and place emphasis on their doctrines of "entire sanctification", baptism with the holy spirit, and divine healing.

CHURCHES OF CHRIST. Originally a part of the Disciples of Christ group, in 1906 they became a separate sect with a following of over 300,000 in the United States. See "Disciples of Christ" as to teachings.

CONGREGATIONALISTS. Congregationalism had its origin in the Separatist movement in England in the seventeenth century. They hold to the congregational form of church

government where each local congregation chooses its own pastor, elders, and servants. Otherwise their doctrines arc similar to those of most Protestant sects, including "trinity", "immortality of the soul," "eternal torment," etc. In the United States they have 936,000 adherents, and there are approximately 1,378,000 abroad, principally in the British Isles.

DISCIPLES OF CHRIST. This sect was founded in Pennsylvania by Thomas and Alexander Campbell, in 1809, and has grown to its present claimed strength world-wide of 1,535,658, of which more than a million are in the United States. They reject human creeds and sectarian names, hold the Bible alone to be the rule of faith and practice, celebrate the "Lord's Supper" every Sunday, and baptize by immersion only, and have a congregational form of church government.

DUNKARDS (Also Dunkers). The Dunkard movement was started in Germany in 1708, by Alexander Mack, and later became known as German Baptist Brethren because of their belief in triple baptism by three immersions, one for each title in the "trinity". In 1719 they came to settle in Pennsylvania, and there they have now grown to a body of about 186,000 members. Their belief in the literal nonconformity to the world includes prescribing plainness of dress, manner of wearing the hair, avoiding of luxuries in the home, and abstaining from strong drink and tobacco. They also believe in the washing of feet, and the anointing of the sick with oil.

EASTERN ORTHODOX CHURCHES. Originally the Church of the Eastern Roman Empire, and having its beginning A.D. 325. The Orthodox Church, more definitely designated "The Holy Orthodox Catholic Apostolic Eastern Church", is the dominant "Christian" body in eastern Europe, from which the church of Koine originally seceded to satisfy her lust for power. Today it comprises some fifteen independent churches, some of which are the Churches of Greece, Cyprus, Russia, Yugoslavia, Bulgaria, Rumania,

America, and the Ukraine. The Orthodox churches claim a combined following of 127,629,986 in the world.

EVANGELICAL. There are several religious bodies entitling themselves Evangelical, meaning that they hold to the evangel of the four Gospels and all of the Greek Scriptures as the basis for salvation. They hold that due to man's sinful condition salvation through faith in Christ Jesus is of greatest importance. They teach the doctrines of the "trinity", "eternal torment," and "immortality of the soul".

JUDAISM. Those who adhere to the Jews religion in the United States number 4,641,184; and in all the world, 15,000,000. Their religion is based (more strictly by Orthodox Judaism and less strictly by Reform Judaism) on the traditions of the ancient Jewish rabbis as recorded in the Talmud, though there are some ten or twelve thousand Karaite Jews scattered throughout the earth who do not accept the Talmud. The Talmud consists of two parts: the Mishnah, the actual text of Jewish canon law and oral tradition, and the Gemara, which is a commentary upon the Mishnah made by various eminent Jewish religious leaders down through the centuries. The Talmud is a most voluminous work. According to the Encyclopedia Americana, Orthodox Judaism believes in "immortality of the soul".

From this variety of religion one can see how broad and ensnaring Satan's net has become.