The Scripture
Church of Almighty God
the Bible contains errors – Not the whole Bible is the Word of God
“The Word Appears in the Flesh” is the new Bible, the words of Almighty God of the Last Days.
- Only words directly spoken by Jehovah and Jesus are the Word of God.
- Books written by the Apostles are not God’s words; they are tainted by human experiences, opinions, and knowledge.
- The Bible is obsolete and outdated for the current age.
- God is greater than than Bible. He is not restricted by the Bible.
- In the Age of Kingdom, God has new words. We ought to accept the words of Almighty God, “The Word Appears in the Flesh.”
- People are to obey Almighty God; only Almighty God can conquer man by speaking words.
- Now in the Age of Kingdom, God surpasses the Bible. God has new ministries.
- CAG followers often cite verses directly from its new Holy scripture to prove itself as an authority even over the Bible. Here is a direct quote from CAG’s new Holy scripture stating that the New Testament is outdated. “The Word Appears in the Flesh,” says, “The Old Testament documents the work of God during the Age of Law, and thus the Old Testament is a historical book, while the New Testament is the product of the work of the Age of Grace. When the new work began, the New Testament also became out of date — and thus, the New Testament is also a historical book.”[1]
[1] The Church of Almighty God, The Word Appears in the Flesh, Google e-book, accessed August 11, 2021, 1858; “Concerning the Bible (1),” accessed August 11, 2021.
CAG also rejects Apostle Peter’s epistles as inspired Scriptures. “For instance, Paul wrote an epistle to the Galatian churches which contained a certain opinion, and Peter wrote another, which had another view. Which of them came from the Holy Spirit? No one can say for sure. Thus, it can only be said that they both bore a burden for the churches, yet their letters represent their stature, they represent their provision and support for the brothers and sisters, and their burden toward the churches, and they only represent human work—they were not entirely of the Holy Spirit. If you say that his epistles are the words of the Holy Spirit, then you are absurd, and you are committing blasphemy!“[2]
- Please see CAG’s Additional Arguments and Explanations below:
Christianity
The Bible is Word of God – The Word of God is infallible and inerrant, that is no errors of any kind in the original autograph
“Revelation” is the last book of the Bible
- The Bible is the Holy Spirit inspired Word of God. (2 Tim. 3:16-17)
- Heaven and earth will pass away, the Word of God will not pass away. (Matt. 24:35)
- The Bible both OT and NT repeatedly give warnings against people who add (their own ideas) to or subtract (any parts/words) from God’s words. (Deut. 4:2, 12:32; Prov. 30:6; 1 Cor. 4:6; Rev. 22: 18-19)
- The Bible is inerrant Word of God in its original manuscript.
- The Bible canon is closed with only sixty-six books, thirty-nine OT and twenty-seven NT.
- “You shall not add to the word that I command you, nor take from it, that you may keep the commandments of the Lord your God that I command you.” (Deut. 4:2, ESV)
- “Everything that I command you, you shall be careful to do. You shall not add to it or take from it.” (Deut. 12:32, ESV)
- “Every word of God proves true; he is a shield to those who take refuge in him. Do not add to his words, lest he rebuke you and you be found a liar.” (Prov. 30: 5-6, ESV)
- “……… that you may learn by us not to go beyond what is written, ……” (1 Cor. 4:6)
- Most Christians today are self-identified as evangelicals. Evangelical Christianity is gospel centered which means “whatever is contrary to the gospel of Jesus Christ is to be rejected as heresy.”[1] However, evangelical Protestants also believe that the Bible alone is the written Word of God as the only infallible standard for faith and practices in all church matters.
Furthermore, evangelicals embrace the orthodox teaching with respect to the Trinity and the incarnation of Jesus Christ and reject any doctrine that contradicts what the church as a whole has regarded as essential to the Christian faith. (See Essential Doctrines and Non-Essential Doctrines)
[1] Rob M. Bowman, Jr. Orthodoxy and Heresy – A Biblical Guide to Doctrinal Discernment (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1993), 59-67.
- “All orthodox Christians have in common is one Bible, two Testaments, three confessions, four councils, and five centuries.”[2] If a self-proclaimed Christian group denies one or more of the essential doctrines, especially the salvation essentials, noted above, regardless of its Christian origin such a group should be considered as a cult of Christianity.
[2] Norman Geisler and Ron Rhodes. Conviction without Compromise – Standing Strong in the Care Beliefs of the Christian Faith (Eugene Oregon: Harvest House Publishers, 2008), 9-13.
CAG's Additional Arguments and Explanations
CAG claims that Apostles Paul and Peter’s epistles are not suitable for the current age, even the God’s creation and His work in Israel in the Old Testament are obsolete or outdated. “The Word Appears in the Flesh” says, “although the Bible brings together some of the books of the words of life, such as the Pauline epistles and Petrine epistles, and although people can be provided for and assisted by these books, these books are still out of date, they still belong to the old age, and no matter how good they are, they are only suitable for one period, and are not everlasting….. They can only provide for the believers of the Age of Grace, not for the saints of the Age of Kingdom, and no matter how good they are, they are still obsolete. It is the same with Jehovah’s work of creation or His work in Israel: No matter how great this work was, it would still become outdated , and the time would still come when it passed.” [1]
[1] The Church of Almighty God, The Word Appears in the Flesh, Google e-book, 1887, accessed August 11, 2021; “Concerning the Bible (4),” accessed August 11, 2021.
The Bible is the Word of God only to the extent that the words which were actually spoken by Jesus in the NT and by Jehovah in the OT; and all other passages and books are tainted by the writers’ personal experience, human knowledge, and opinions. “The Word Appears in the Flesh” explains: “Not everything in the Bible is a record of the words personally spoken by God. The Bible simply documents the previous two stages of God’s work, of which one part is a record of the foretelling of the prophets, and one part is the experiences and knowledge written by people used by God throughout the ages. Human experiences are tainted with human opinions and knowledge, and this is something which is unavoidable. In many of the books of the Bible are human notions, human biases, and humans’ absurd comprehension. Of course, most of the words are the result of the enlightenment and illumination of the Holy Spirit, and they are correct understandings—yet it still cannot be said that they are entirely accurate expressions of the truth.”[2]
[2] The Church of Almighty God, The Word Appears in the Flesh, Google e-book, 1873, accessed August 11, 2021; “Concerning the Bible (3),” accessed August 11, 2021.
“The Word Appears in the Flesh” specifically denies Pauline epistles as the Word of God, inspired by the Holy Spirit: “Pauline epistles, for example, arose from the work of a man, they were all the result of the Holy Spirit’s enlightenment…. They were not words spoken by the Holy Spirit —Paul could not speak on behalf of the Holy Spirit, and neither was he a prophet… They are merely words of exhortation, comfort, and encouragement that he wrote for the churches during the course of his work… All he said that was edifying and positive to people was right, but it did not represent the utterances of the Holy Spirit, and it could not represent God. It is an egregious understanding, and a tremendous blasphemy, for people to treat the records of a man’s experiences and a man’s epistles as the words spoken by the Holy Spirit to the churches!”[3]
CAG’s view on Apostle Paul and his ministries: “Problematically, there appeared one called Paul, who set himself in mortal enmity to God. Even after he was struck down and became an apostle, Paul did not change his old nature, and he continued to walk the path of opposition to God. During the time he worked, Paul wrote many epistles; unfortunately, later generations savored his epistles as the words of God, and they were even included in the New Testament and confused with the words spoken by God. This has been an utter disgrace since the advent of Scripture!“[4]
[4] The Church of Almighty God, The Word Appears in the Flesh, “Man Can Only be Saved Amidst God’s Management,” Google e-book, 2915, accessed August 11, 2021; pdf, 2908-2902.
Clear Thinking Exercises
- In written words, one the one hand CAG claims that the Bible is outdated and obsolete for the current age. In practice, on the other hand CAG often quotes the Bible as authoritative to make its points to attract Christians.
- CAG has been adamant about only the direct spoken words of Jehovah and Jesus are the words of God; and words spoken by other individuals and the books written by the Apostles such as Paul and Peters are their personal opinions.
CAG often quotes 1 Peter 4:17, “For it is time for judgment to begin with the household of God” as an authoritative text warning the Christian churches around the world. In fact, there is a book called “Judgment Begins with the House of God” specifically edited for this purpose.[1] In an article called “Analyzing and Discerning the CCP Government’s and the Religious World’s Rumors and Lies (2),” a CAG webpage even cites this specific verse written by the Apostle Peter as a “prophecy” that has been fulfilled.[2] Are the Epistles written by Peter the word of God? Or only this particular verse is word of God?
[1] The Church of Almighty God, Judgment Begins with the House of God, accessed August 11, 2021.
[2] The Church of Almighty God, “Seeing Through Satan’s Schemes – Analyzing and Discerning the CCP Government’s and the Religious World’s Rumors and Lies (2),” accessed August 11, 2021.
- CAG’s Holy book has a statement clearly questioning the purpose and authority of the Bible. It reads, “the Bible is now a great stumbling block, keeping people from accepting God’s new work, and makes it hard for Him to spread it.”[3] Today, there is a new English translation which has toned down the negativity from the original statement. Currently this passage says, “The Bible has become a great obstacle to people’s acceptance of God’s new work, and a difficulty to God’s broadening this new work.”[4]
[3] The Church of Almighty God, The Utterances of Christ of the Last Days (Selection), “A Selection from the Four Passages of God’s Word on “Concerning the Bible,”” (downloaded pdf file on October 17, 2016), 319.
[4] The Church of Almighty God, The Word Appears in the Flesh, Google e-book, 1855, accessed August 11, 2021; “Concerning the Bible (1),” accessed August 11, 2021.
Regarding the issue of inerrancy of the Bible, the CAG says, “the Bible is a record written by man and is not all the personal utterances of God. Consequently, it is inevitable that the Bible would be tainted by man, with man’s absurd interpretations. So how can we say that it is completely accurate and inerrant?”[5] This is a very clear statement that the CAG denies the inerrancy of the Bible. In addition, CAG apparently has an odd view that the word of God was recorded through human by means of God’s dictation, not by inspiration through the Holy Spirit.
[5] The Church of Almighty God, “Striking Directly at Rumors, Rebuttal of Fallacies – Fallacy: Someone said, “The Bible was inspired by God. It is absolutely not tainted by man’s will and is entirely the word of God. All the words in the Bible are multi-faceted and foreshadowing, the Bible is absolutely authoritative, there is no other book that can compare, and everyone must admit that the Bible is inerrant. Anyone who says the Bible is tainted by man’s will or contains errors is attacking and denying the Bible, and all such people shall be cursed,” accessed August 11, 2021.