MZTV 1695: This is Why A.E. Knoch Lowered the Bar of Truth

In 1917, A.E. Knoch, translator of the Concordant Literal New Testament, wrote in an article titled, "The True Basis of Fellowship," that "differences in doctrine do not demand a severance of fellowship." In this article (which became a book) and elsewhere, Knoch went so far as to insist that not even those who deny the very resurrection of Christ ought be to discriminated against. In other words, someone who believes the Jesus is still dead is to be accepted as a believer in Paul's gospel, notwithstanding the fact that a key element of Paul's gospel includes a belief in the resurrection of Christ.

What could persuade an intelligent man like Knoch to so desperately "bend the rules" so as to include as many as possible in the body of Christ, even those who deny EVERY essential element of Paul's gospel?

A.E.K. bore deep scars from the pain he experienced at being shunned and ejected from the Plymouth Brethren. Why was he put out? Simply because, by studying Scripture in the original languages, he discovered truths that clashed with the foundational tenets of the Brethren. The Brethren, being hardcore sectarian bastards, tolerated no dissension. One kowtowed to their traditional teachings (Eternal Torment; Free Will; the Trinity), Scriptural revelation be damned.

That Knoch is so rightly revered by truth-lovers (myself included) has caused many (myself excluded) to adopt his misguided insistence that differences in doctrine—even primary, essential doctrine—must not be used as a wedge to keep people out of the body of Christ. This, of course, becomes impractical and even illogical when these other doctrines (Eternal Torment and Free Will, for instance) deny the foundational teachings of Paul. For how logical is it to say, "As long as you believe in the death of Christ (Paul's gospel), you can also believe that Jesus Christ never died (not Paul's gospel)," or "As long as you believe that Jesus Christ saved you from your sins (Paul's gospel), you can believe that you save yourself from your sins (not Paul's gospel)."

To deny, for the sake of artificially expanding the believing ranks, the essentiality of certain teachings belonging to Paul's gospel is to undersell the satanic brilliance of Satan's premier "doctrines of demons," which have been specifically designed by him as tripwires to the faith.

If one wishes to keep butterflies from the world with as little trouble as possible, one destroy the cocoons. If Satan wants as few members of the body of Christ as possible, he does not wait until such BECOME members of Christ's body and then seek to apostatize them from that high position. No, but rather, he will keep them from becoming members in the first place. This he does via "doctrines of demons" (1 Timothy 4:1) which include the Trinity, Free Will, and Eternal Torment. Those like Knoch who dismiss the danger of these teachings, categorizing them as mere "doctrinal flaws" rather than what they truly are, which is truth-preventing distractions, play into Satan's hands and compromise their usefulness as full-orbed evangelists.

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