YM persistently questions and undermines the conviction that the True Jesus Church is the only true church of salvation. From his teachings and criticisms of the church, we can see that his aim is to deny the necessity of the gospel of salvation that we have received and preach.
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1. Places Love and Light above Truth
YM begins his efforts to undermine the gospel by advocating the importance of love, which the Bible indeed emphasizes repeatedly. But in stressing love, he places the gospel in opposition to love. He asks, which saves us: the truth or the love of God? He claims that Jesus only commands us to believe and be baptized and promises that we will be saved. Truth, he argues, is to help us become more and more perfect, but it is not the truth that saves us. He claims that doctrines actually hinder us from practicing the truth.
YM also undermines the importance of the gospel by appealing to God’s commandment of love. He contends that the church must uphold the truth by living a life of love. Without love, we will be rejected by God and we can no longer be considered the church. He asks, how can a church without love have the truth in her?
In one presentation, YM stated that at the final judgment, God would not start by judging based on whether one believes in Jesus Christ or not, much less whether one belongs to the True Jesus Church. By arguing that God would instead judge a person based on whether he walks in the light, he placed the basic beliefs in direct opposition. Thus, he urged his listeners to stop listening to explanations about whether one has been baptized, received the Holy Spirit, partaken of the Holy Communion, kept the Sabbath, and had his feet washed. He claimed that believers do not need these things in order to belong to God. YM has made God’s commandments to walk in the light and to love one another an antithesis to the gospel of salvation. [Back to top]
2. Reduces the Doctrines of Salvation to Being Merely Human Decisions
Typical of his pattern of ambivalence, YM challenges the oneness of the true church while adding a disclaimer that he would not deny that the True Jesus Church is the only church of salvation. He questions the church’s ability to uphold the gospel of salvation. He asks, “Which came first? The truth or the church?” He concludes that since we are born of the truth, we are in no position to define the truth.
According to YM, dogma or basic beliefs were invented to condemn others. He contends that we keep using basic beliefs to judge and determine that those who do not adhere to them will not be saved. To him, dogma are man-made and we should not dispute over them when preaching. Neither does he believe that we should proclaim that the True Jesus Church is the only true church. [Back to top]
3. Challenges the Gospel of Salvation by Condemning Church Organization
Part of YM’s stategy to undermine the truth of salvation is to portray the True Jesus Church as a corrupt organization. He repeatedly insinuates that the current organization of the church is hopelessly hierarchical and that members cannot go directly to God without the mediation of a few top decision-makers. He gives his hearers the impression that the ministers of the church are power-hungry and manipulative. YM concludes that even though sermons in church are lifeless, members continue to show up at church because they are afraid of being excommunicated. According to YM, the True Jesus Church instills fears in members by telling them that they would go to hell if they leave the church. By painting a negative image of the church, he creates doubts in the hearers concerning the gospel that the church preaches. [Back to top]
4. Questions the Necessity of the Gospel of Salvation
YM reminds his hearers that the true church is in heaven. The True Jesus Church is only an entry for us to reach that true church in heaven. But he avoids the question of what defines the true gospel of salvation and the entry to heaven. When asked about the necessity of footwashing, YM answers by saying that it may take 10 points to be saved, but the True Jesus Church goes above and beyond by earning 12 points. By using this analogy he implies that some of the doctrines are good but not necessary for salvation. He sometimes calls these “extras” as “grace upon grace”. When listeners ask why he still chooses the True Jesus Church as opposed to any other Christian denomination, he replies that since his father was in the True Jesus Church and he is confident his father is in the heavenly kingdom, this to him is the sure way to heaven. YM has essentially detached the church from the gospel of salvation, neither of which in his opinion is absolute. He asks rhetorically whether God will judge the world with the ten articles of faith and five essential doctrines. He contends that there is really no standard by which one can measure the truth. [Back to top]
What the Bible Says about the Church and the Doctrines of Salvation
When it comes to the gospel, Paul would not have given in for a moment to anyone who tried to distort what he and the other apostles preached. He writes, “But even if we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to you than what we have preached to you, let him be accursed. As we have said before, so now I say again, if anyone preaches any other gospel to you than what you have received, let him be accursed” (Gal 1:8-9). Unlike YM, who believes that we are in no position to define a standard of truth or condemn others, Paul did not hesitate to condemn anyone who preached a gospel different from what he and the other apostles had preached. Even though Paul was not God and was himself born of the truth, he had no qualms about upholding the gospel as something absolute. It is obvious that, to Paul, there can only be one standard and one way of salvation.
Faced with the infiltration of false teachers in the church, Jude felt compelled to write to the believers concerning the common salvation. He urged believers to “contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints” (Jude 3). There are standards which define our common salvation, and there is no room for compromise when it comes to the faith that has been entrusted to us.
John likewise warned the believers to guard against the spirit of error: “Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world. By this you know the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God, and every spirit that does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God. And this is the spirit of the Antichrist, which you have heard was coming, and is now already in the world” (1 Jn 4:1-3). The apostle laid out for the believers the standard by which they could discern false prophets. He went as far as saying that those who do not submit to us are not of God: “We are of God. He who knows God hears us; he who is not of God does not hear us. By this we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error” (1 Jn 4:6).
The apostles did not hesitate to define truth and error with regards to the gospel of salvation because they had received the gospel directly from the Lord Jesus (1 Cor 11:23). This gospel was then passed down through the apostles to the rest of the believers, and God has confirmed it with signs and wonders and by the gifts of the Holy Spirit (Heb 2:3-4; cf. 2 Pet 3:1-2). It is by holding fast to this gospel which we have received that we are saved (1 Cor 15:1-2). Today, having heard the word of truth, the gospel of our salvation, and having believed in Christ, we have also been sealed with the promised Holy Spirit (Eph 1:13). Not only do we have the written words in the Bible as our standard of measurement, we have the personal experience of the promised Holy Spirit that is identical to the experience of the early church.
The articles of faith, including the five essential doctrines, are no more than what the Lord Jesus and the apostles have taught in the Bible about the way of salvation. They are not man-made laws created to bind or condemn others. For example, baptism, footwashing, and the Holy Communion were direct commands of our Lord, through which we may obtain His grace of salvation. While it is not the exact letters of the doctrines that save us, the articles of faith teach the good news of salvation through faith in Jesus Christ and state the basic beliefs of the True Jesus Church. Just as the apostles faithfully passed on to the believers what they had received from the Lord and fiercely defended the truth against false doctrines, the church today must continue to uphold the truth of salvation.
Love is indeed the sum of all commandments (Rom 13:8-10; Gal 6:2; cf. 1 Tim 1:5). Our faith in Christ Jesus must manifest itself in works of love (Gal 5:6; Jas 2:1-20). Love is the mark that we are disciples of Christ and that we are born of God (Jn 13:34-35; 1 Jn 4:7-12). But love does not replace or diminish the truth. Rather, love is carried out in truth and love rejoices in the truth (1 Cor 13:6; 1 Jn 3:18; 2 Jn 1; 3 Jn 1). True love for one another is to build up the body of Christ in order to attain to the faith and knowledge of God. Love is the spirit with which we speak the truth (Eph 4:11-16).
John, the apostle who stresses the importance of love, tells us that loving God means keeping His commandments (1 Jn 5:2-3; cf. 2 Jn 6). If anyone does not walk in the truth and the commandments, he cannot be said to have love. This is why the same apostle who emphasizes love also teaches us to discern the spirit of truth from the spirit of error (1 Jn 4:1–6). He tells us that love does not tolerate but rejects deceptive doctrines: “This is love, that we walk according to His commandments. This is the commandment, that as you have heard from the beginning, you should walk in it. For many deceivers have gone out into the world who do not confess Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh. This is a deceiver and an antichrist. Look to yourselves, that we do not lose those things we worked for, but that we may receive a full reward. Whoever transgresses and does not abide in the doctrine of Christ does not have God. He who abides in the doctrine of Christ has both the Father and the Son. If anyone comes to you and does not bring this doctrine, do not receive him into your house nor greet him” (2 Jn 6-10).
Love also cannot replace the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ nor serve as the basis of our salvation. Paul writes, “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast” (Eph 2:8–9). To undermine the gospel of salvation in the name of love is to preach salvation by good works. All our righteous acts are like filthy rags before God (Isa 64:6). No amount of charitable works we do can earn us entrance into God’s kingdom.
The truth is, only the love and mercy of our Lord Jesus can save us. Paul therefore elaborates on the basis of our salvation: “But when the kindness and the love of God our Savior toward man appeared, not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior” (Tit 3:4-6).
It is through the washing of regeneration in the blood of Christ that our sins can be cleansed. It is through the continual renewal of the Holy Spirit whom God has poured out upon us that we can fulfill the requirements of God’s law. These saving works of God are due to the grace and mercy of God, rather than our own merit. This is the essence of the gospel that we have accepted and preach. Our works of love should be a response to the grace we have received, and with love we ought to continue to share the only gospel of salvation, the very truth that the True Jesus Church upholds. [Back to top]