The writer of Ecclesiastes declared that there is nothing new under the sun. While this is true in all of life, no more so than in the realm of theology. Last month, Philip Pullman published his latest book, 'The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ', and as I was reading Michael Green's book 'The Books The Church Suppressed', itself refuting the heresies promoted in Dan Brown's 'The Da Vinci Code', I discovered that Pullman seems to be propogating an old Gnostic heresy, that of Cerinthus:
Cerinthus sought to sever the man Jesus from the heavenly Christ: born as the child of Joseph and Mary, the divine Christ came upon Jesus at his baptism and left him before Calvary. To which John, the eyewitness and apostle, replies that Jesus Christ is one person, that he is God's Son, and that he passed through both baptism and death, water and blood. Cerinthus' morals were highly suspect ... and John has to rebut his immorality.
While the clothing and style may change, the same old heresies keep coming back. It's why we need to be sure of what we believe, holding firm to the faith once delivered to the saints, and watching for false teaching within and without the church. Otherwise, we'll be swallowing poison in our honey.
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