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Every believer’s salvation hinges upon their knowledge of the Bible, and their desire to do what God and Christ say is right.

If a believer rests their entire salvation on the education of our church leaders and that leader is not taught the entire Bible or the proper concepts it holds then not only the leader suffers, but the believers suffer too.

Every Bible, God and Christ believing person deserves to know the truth of what is being taught to church leaders, and the difference between learning actual doctrine and theology. Once we know the difference between the two and what they teach, then we can make an intelligent choice as to what we are to learn and who to believe.

With that said it stands to reason that we should do some research as to what is being taught to our church leaders to make sure it is accurate according to factual Bible scriptures and concepts.

Knowing how much healing Christ did in the N.T. leaves us to wonder why there is so much sickness today among Christ believers now.  Where did we go wrong to become such a sickly nation, and what can we do about it?

Many people do not understand the ties between religion and the health care and financial crises we are facing now, but this article will help to shed some light on their connection.

This article compares the difference between learning factual biblical concepts and the theology concepts taught in religious schools.

We will start with the basic definitions on the words theory and theology and what they mean.

Standard Encyclopedia Dictionary - © 1966

Theory – [Gk. theoria; view, speculation] A plan or scheme existing in the mind only: a speculative or conjectural view of something.

Theology – [Gk. theos, god; + logos, discourse] 1. The study of religion, culminating in a synthesis or philosophy of religion. 2. A body of doctrines as set forth by a particular church or religious group.

Theo – God; of or pertaining to God.

-logy- The science or study of, speech, discourse. [Gk. logos, word, study]

Discourse – 1. Communication. 2. Oral or written treatment of a subject. 3. To converse.

Webster’s New World College Dictionary - © 2000

Theory – [Gk. theoria, a looking at, speculation]. Supposition put forward to explain something; speculation; exposition of general principles as distinct from practice and execution; general idea; notion. 3. Hypothesis, guess. 4. Abstract thought.

Theology – [Gk. see theo and –logy]. The study of religious doctrines and matters of divinity. 2. A specific formulation or systemization of religious doctrine or belief as set forth by a given religion or denomination or by one or more individuals. (Where in the Bible does God give a particular church, religious group, denomination or individual the authorization to do that?) (Merriam-Webster) 1. The study of religion and of religious ideas and beliefs. 2. A theory or system of theology.

Theo- [Gk. theos, God].

-logy- [L. logia < Gk. logos, word]. A specified kind of speaking. 2. Science, doctrine or theology.

Discourse –[L. discursus, of discurrere, to run to and fro]. A communication of ideas, information, etc, esp. by talking; conversation. SYN – speak.

It certainly looks like Theory and Theology lead to the same thing.
As we can see theories are based on speculation, So… let’s see what speculation means.

Speculate – (Standard’s)To form conjectures regarding anything without experiment; theorize; conjecture. (Webster’s) To make theories or guesses.

Conjecture – (Standard’s) To conclude from incomplete evidence; guess, infer. (Webster’s) n. A guess; an opinion founded on insufficient proof; surmise; inference; v.t. to guess, to infer on insufficient grounds; to surmise.

Guess – (Merriam-Webster’s) To form an opinion from little or NO evidence. (Webster’s) To form a judgment or estimate of something without actual knowledge or enough facts for certainty; conjecture; surmise.

Surmise – 1. An idea or opinion formed from evidence that is neither positive nor conclusive; conjecture, guess.

Much of the discourse theology students are trained with comes from previous theology doctrines, traditions, commentaries and basically guesses of man from thousands of years ago that have passed down their own opinions and theories of what they thought the Bible means. As the definitions show, the theories are based on incomplete evidence and lack proof their theories are correct.  Relying only on man’s theories and opinions is how Satan’s deceptive teachings sneak in and distort God’s actual teachings.  Theologians and philosophers from thousands of years ago got a lot of their ideas from religious groups or denominations that made up their own beliefs and expect certain students in those denominations to adhere to their doctrines they base their beliefs on.  Some of those practices from other doctrines have been transferred into doctrines of other denominations which go against what God and Christ really teach. Christ and the apostles say not to have other doctrines and that those who teach other doctrines will be accursed. (Gal 1:7-9). We’re also told in Tit 3:10-11 that any one who is a heretic and refuses to change is subverted, and condemns themselves.  Heretic means “schismatic – the characteristic or nature of causing schism. “Schism – a split or division in an organized group or society, especially a church as the result of difference of opinion, of doctrine. Biblical definitions include, “to make a choice, to choose, to take for oneself, to prefer.” Christ also tells us in Rev 2:6 & 15 that he hates the doctrines of the Nicolaitanes and tells us to repent of that doctrine. The Nicolaitanes doctrine is a doctrine of heretics. This means Satan made schisms (false doctrines) in God’s doctrine thousands of years ago. Those who believe and take for themselves the false doctrines and schisms they make are setting themselves outside the protection and blessings of God. When the schisms teach people to break the commands of God and the people believe the schism more than they believe God and Christ then they will suffer the consequences. God says that diseases and problems are the main consequences we will suffer with if we break his commands. Ex 15:26, Deut 28: all.

This is the main reason why it is more important to base our religious education exclusively on the scriptures and not on the opinions and theories of theology and philosophy that includes the schisms Satan made thousands of years ago.

The one definition of theology above says it is a culminating in a synthesis or philosophy of religion. Now let’s see what synthesis and philosophy mean.

Synthesis – (Standard’s) 1. The assembling of separate or subordinate parts into a whole. 2. A complex whole composed of originally separate parts. (The Bible is already a whole, complete with instructions for our lives. What “parts” did theologians add that we don’t know about and have been mislead with?)

Philosophy - (Standard’s) 1. The inquiry into the most comprehensive principles of reality in general, or of some sector of it, as human knowledge or human values. 2. The love of wisdom, and the search for it. 2. The study of beliefs regarding God, existence, conduct, thought, and of man’s relation with the universe.

Philosophy leads to theory, speculation, conjecture and guess, and robs and leads us away from the good teachings God and Christ has for us. The Bible clearly tells us not to be led by philosophy for it will spoil and rob us of salvation for following man instead of God and Christ. Our religious relationship and education is supposed to come from God and be with God, not man or the universe.

Col 2:8 Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ.

Following are quotes taken from an accrediting association as to what theology courses are based on.

Goals of the Theological Curriculum

Theological study requires extensive encounter with historical and contemporary texts. While theological education is informed by many resources, the textual tradition is central to theological inquiry.

The collection shall include relevant materials from cognate disciplines and basic texts from other religious traditions.

As we can see theologians are basing their education on textual speculations, traditions, and schisms of Satan and man only, but not on God's factual scriptures, which leaves them bereft of the actual knowledge of the Bible concepts. The substantial part of theology teaching depends on other religious doctrines and cultural traditions outside of factual biblical scriptures. It also bases it’s foundation on the writings of individuals opinions over the years that may or may not coincide with factual scriptures. They also expect man made heathen traditions to transfer into other religious beliefs. All it takes is one person who hates God or religion thousands of years ago to write a commentary on something they didn’t like or understand in the Bible to lead people to the wrong conclusion today of that certain concept. The curriculum required in these studies tend to be more man influenced by what the schools want and not what God wants.

God and Christ expect us to only use their Bible as the main source of our learning. They also never told us to follow other men’s beliefs, ways or traditions. Following and believing other man-made traditions and theories is what has caused us to have thousands of different religions today.

Now we will see actual course descriptions for attaining a biblical degree. This is a partial listing, (see entire list here), to give people a better understanding of what is being taught to the student pastors. Every Christ believing person’s education and salvation hinges upon the pastor’s ability to learn the contents of the Bible so they may teach it to their congregants. As you read each course listing take special notice of what the course is about, and what they focus on the most.

Basic Biblical Studies

Old Testament Survey - Credit Hours: 3
A survey of the books of the Old Testament, authorship, characters, events, theme, purpose and geography.

New Testament Survey - Credit Hours: 3
A survey of the culture, history, geography, authorship, chief characters, events, and teachings of the N.T. including the inter-testament period.

Acts - Credit Hours: 3
A detailed study of the Book of Acts, the missionary development of the early church, the life and missionary journey of Paul, and along with the geographical and social backgrounds as they relate to the early church.

Pauline Epistles - Credit Hours: 3
A study of the life, literature and thought of Paul within its historical and cultural setting. Each of the letters is examined for content, structure and contemporary application.

Bible Survey - Credit Hours: 3
This course covers the topic of canonization, that is, how our Bible came to be in its present form of sixty-six books. Also, included are studies on Biblical archaeology and prophecy.

Historical Books - Credit Hours: 3
A study of the history of Israel and the cultures of the nations in the land of Canaan as recorded in Joshua through Esther.

Isaiah - Credit Hours: 3
A study of the life of Isaiah and the historical background, prophetic aspect and main ideas of the book.

Minor Prophets - Credit Hours: 3
A study of the historical background, the theological aspect, time and place of ministry and personality of each of the authors of the books of Hosea through Malachi.

Romans and Galatians - Credit Hours: 3
A practical study of Paul's letter to the Galatians and Romans. The course deals with the background of the book. The contemporary implications for the church in the 21st century.

Hebrews - Credit Hours: 3
A chapter by chapter study of the book of Hebrews, its message, authorship, form, and historical setting.

I have done research on these courses and have found that what they cover is basically an overview “about” each book, “about” the person who wrote each book, their historical settings and have come up with their own commentary (i.e. discourse) opinions based on previous theological texts of individual peoples’ personal opinions.  A close reading of each course shows just how much of the course is “about” the contents instead of the actual contents. No amount of learning “about” the people or books can substitute for the actual concepts we are to learn. To base a belief on people’s opinions of what they think a single passage or concept means is wrong.  Their conclusions come from speculations of other people instead of coming from studying factual Bible scriptures on a subject by subject basis.

The broad overviews barely skim the surface of the concepts and end up contradicting each other in other books or passages that speak of the same concept. The overviews make the person and the historical settings more important than the message itself and cause the students to miss important information necessary to come to a more accurate conclusion. The whole idea of the Bible is not to place more importance on the person or setting but for us to get the message.

Unless a person puts all the scriptures together that involve a certain concept they will not come to a conclusive biblical understanding of the concept. These theological studies are bereft of the Holy Spirits guidance. And without the Holy Spirits guidance that biblical understanding will never be achieved. God searches the hearts of those who take these biblical / theological classes. If he finds wrong intentions in their reasons to learn about him and his message then he won’t let them learn the true concepts he teaches. Those true concepts cannot be taught by man, instead they are revealed by the Holy Spirit. God says he only gives his Holy Spirit to those who obey him, so for the schools to teach wrong things like breaking the commands they will never be given the Holy Spirit.  If the schools are only teaching speculations instead of actual biblical concepts then the student will never learn the concepts that are to be obeyed. Without true obedience to the actual scriptures then the student will never attain the Holy Spirit or a biblical understanding. If these theology students never attain a true understanding of the scriptures and the concepts, then how can they be able to teach others the concepts and lead them to salvation?

Now let’s compare what God and Christ say the Bible is about and how they compare to what the schools teach. This list is what our life, health, love, joy, salvation and everything we hold dear in our lives is based on.

These are the main points that the Bible is about:

-     The 10 commandments God gave and Christ told us we should keep.
-     Prosperity, success, good health and long life
-     The Holy Days - God taught and Christ kept
-     Salvation  - Who gives it, what it is, why and how to have it
-     Attaining the Holy Spirit and proper baptism, faith and righteousness concepts
-     Repentance of all of mankind
-     Satan, his tempting of man, how to defeat him and recognize his workers.
-     Physical and spiritual miraculous healings Christ shows us we can have 
-     Obedience and the consequences of wrong doings
-     Israel – God’s chosen people, (Gentiles too) – and still are.
-     The sin – disease connection
-     Life in general

Now, how many of these topics did you see covered in the course descriptions? Where are the in-depth studies of the ten commands? What about Christ’s main message of repentance? It is not listed in any of these courses. What about the Holydays God taught and Christ kept? God and Christ teach their importance, so why do the schools eliminate them? And what about the sin-disease/consequence connections that are liberally spoken of throughout the Bible especially by the prophets? Why did the schools eliminate those teachings?  What happened to the rest of the history of the Israel nation? Why is there no course on achieving physical and spiritual healing like Christ shows we can have? Do the instructors in these courses not believe in Christ’s ability to heal us? Where is the course on how to attain the Holy Spirit? Where is the course on how to spot Satan’s false teachers - in seminaries and churches too? Those who teach against the commands are teaching false doctrines. Why don’t the schools teach about the dangers of false heretic doctrines, how to spot them and how they damage us? All of these things matter to our salvation so why do the schools not see the importance of them?

To establish a belief based on a speculation that contradicts Christ and God makes that belief a false teaching that comes from Satan. The theological speculations taught in seminaries now cause unsuspecting people to sin and lead to their destruction from breaking the commands God and Christ tells us to keep. As stated before, breaking the commands is how people end up with diseases. This is the reason it is so important to not have courses based on theology and speculation. Biblical courses need to be based on subject by subject factual biblical instructions that give the entire conceptual understanding. Anything short of that leads to false teachings.

We also need to remember that Satan uses all kinds of deceptions to get us to ruin our own lives. The easiest way he has learned to deceive us is by replacing God’s actual knowledge of the scriptures with mans’ theology taught in Bible schools. His deceptions are subtle and cunning and always oppose God, and biblical scriptures. This is Satan’s trademark – to oppose God and all Bible teachings. Bible students who don’t know that will be deceived.

Our diseased, dysfunctional and screwed up society is proof that theology is not working to bring salvation to people. The in-depth study in my book “The Incomplete Person” of what salvation really is reveals that it covers more than just going to heaven. It also includes divine help during our whole lives. Our salvation is not based on speculations or theories. It is based on obedience to living by the facts God and Christ give. After learning all this, how many believers do you know would want to leave their salvation to guesswork? Would you?

It is now time we return to using the Bible only to learn the biblical concepts and eliminate theological teachings based on texts from other religious traditions and theological opinions in our seminaries. God’s list of what the Bible is about is his corrective measures for reforming the biblical and seminary schools of our day. God is now requiring all accreditation associations, seminaries and churches to be reformed to meet the standards that He and Christ gave us.

He also lets us know that from now on that those who refuse to be reformed will be known by their numerous diseases and heavily cursed lives just like Paul teaches that they will be accursed. For those who want a true biblical education and be accredited with God I strongly suggest you avoid the seminaries that teach theology.

For those who are now suffering with diseases and numerous problems, the only way to change lives around now is to stop believing and following man’s theories and start believing and following God and Christ instead. This means keep the commandments. The main commands that have been taught to be broken are #2 – No graven images or idols and #4 – keep seventh day Saturday Sabbath.  We also need to stop practicing the man-made traditions and schisms theologians and philosophers have transferred and attached to God’s original religion.  Blatantly breaking these like the Catholic Church has done and having theologians teach others to do the same is the reason for our diseased society.

To those who value their health and salvation, you now have the option of learning the actual biblical concepts that weren’t taught in seminary. My book “The Incomplete Person” exposes all the false teachings that theologians have misled us with over the past 2,000 years. It covers in great detail the meanings of each command, the list of requirements that God says the Bible is about and how to repair our health through Christ’s healing powers. It is an excellent resource for every pastor or individual that wants to learn the Holy Spirit based true biblical concepts not taught in seminary. I pray that every one that reads this will have their eyes be opened by God so they can believe God more than man.