What Does This False Apostle Teach?

The apostle Eric has a statement of faith on his website. It has many good doctrines listed including the deity of Christ, His physical resurrection, His ascension, His return, sole mediatorship, etc. But what is lacking is mention of the doctrines of the Trinity, the efficacious atonement, the nature of hell and its duration, how one is saved, salvation by grace, etc. This is very troubling. Also, included in his statement of faith is this: "Man must repent of sin and receive the testimony about Jesus Christ in order to be saved. [please see lesson]." This last statement is very suspicious since his lessons are necessary to read in order to find out what you must do to be saved. As someone who has read thousands of pages of cult material for more than 20 years, Eric's website raises many warning flags. The question remains as to whether or not Eric really is a Christian or not. He affirms the deity of Christ and His physical resurrection (But so does oneness theology, and it is ultimately false). When reading his material and email based Bible lessons, salvation seems to be a process that can only be understood through his teachings. Nevertheless, after reviewing his list of 125 false teachings in the present Christian church at large, I have listed a few of them of concern and commented after each one.
1. Jesus sacrifice was not substitutionary
He is wrong here. Jesus bore our sins in His body on the cross (1 Peter 2:24), having been made sin on our behalf (2 Cor. 5:21). On our behalf means that Jesus took our place; hence, a substitutionary atonement.
2. Being saved is a process, not a one time event.
This is incorrect. Justification is the legal declaration by God upon a sinner that the sinner is declared righteous in His sight. This is accomplished by faith (Rom. 5:1). This declaration is based completely and solely on the work of Jesus that is "reckoned" to the sinner. This is an instantaneous occurrence when the person believes and trust in Christ (Rom. 4:5, 22-24).
3. If you are saved, you must speak in tongues.
This is not true. Mormonism where extra-biblical revelations are accepted along with new scriptures and faulty interpretations are offered.
5. Grace is not unmerited favor.
Sorry, but Eric is mistaken again. Grace is indeed unmerited favor in the context of salvation. Grace is God's kindness to us in allowing us to receive something good that we do not deserve. It is, of course, unmerited by us. This is why we are saved by grace through faith (Eph. 2:8-9).
6. Righteousness is gained by obedience to the standard (standard is not defined). This has obvious problems with it. All the cults teach that righteousness is attained through some form of obedience. This alone can qualify the Apostle Eric and his group as a non-Christian group.
7. There is no need for water baptism for new converts.
Eric states that true baptism is of the Spirit, not of water. But in so claiming, he ignores Romans 6:3-4 where we are baptized into Christ "having been buried with Him in baptism." This is an obvious allusion to immersion in the baptismal waters.

Quotes from "False Apostle Eric"

Following are quotes from the writing of "False Apostle Eric" on his website. They are some of the more disturbing comments.
"When Jesus said, 'It is written' He was saying, 'This is the desired pattern of the Spirit.'"
A. This is incorrect. When Jesus said, "It is written," He was referring to the Old Testament Scriptures. Following are a few of the quotes where Jesus said, "It is written."
i. Matt. 4:3, "It is written, ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.’"
ii. Mark 7:6, "Rightly did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written, ‘This people honors Me with their lips, but their heart is far away from Me."
iii. iv. John 6:45, "It is written in the prophets, ‘And they shall all be taught of God.’ Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father, comes to Me."
"There is only ONE God (Eph.4:6), and that ONE God chose to manifest Himself in 3 different ways: The Father, The Son, and The Holy Spirit (Mt.28:19)." (Reference moved by Eric.)
. Eric seems to teach modalism, a denial of the Trinity doctrine. Modalism is unbiblical and teaches that God is one person who manifests in three forms, not three persons (Trinity) as is the correct, biblical teaching. This, combined with his mandatory tongues speaking teaching below, puts him in the class of oneness Pentecostal theology, a false doctrinal position. "Communion --- Jesus was not setting a tradition of faith, but providing symbolism that is seen in our faith. Jesus did not mean for us to repeat the act of the last supper in remembrance of Him. The communion of Christ is the
feast of the Holy Ghost. When we come together we are feasting on the things that the Holy Ghost supplies through each vessel. This is how we celebrate the death and resurrection of Christ." (Reference moved by Eric.)
. His comment that "Jesus did not mean for us to repeat the act of the last supper in remembrance of Him," is ridiculous. Jesus commanded us to do just that in
This is very wrong. Justification, which is a legal declaration by God, upon the sinner, that the sinner is declared righteous in His sight, is based completely and solely on the sacrifice of Christ on the cross.
Rom. 3:24, "being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus."
Rom. 3:28, "For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from works of the Law."
Rom. 5:1, "Therefore having been justified by faith..."
Rom. 5:9, "Much more then, having now been justified by His blood..."
A. This so-called apostle fails to rightly divide God's word.
"Water [baptism] cannot save us from sin, but the Spirit can." (Reference moved by Eric.)
It should be quite obvious that it is Jesus who saves us from our sin, not the Spirit. The Bible never teaches us that the Spirit saves us from our sins.
"False apostles talk about themselves in their testimony." (Reference moved by Eric)
. If this is true, the "Apostle Eric" is guilty of this because he is the subject of his own website a great deal. As I read through his material, in my opinion he talked about how he is called of God, a true apostle, prepared by an angel in the pre-existence, etc. There wasn't much about Christ by comparison in these talks. Later, however, Christ was mentioned but He is not central.
"The so called 'reformers' [Luther, Calvin, etc.] of the past were not apostles and none of them brought the church out of darkness. They contributed to the problem with their 1/2 truths." (Reference moved by Eric.)
Eric sets himself above Martin Luther and John Calvin and others who in centuries past were gifted by God to accomplish great things for the Christian church. The reformation, sparked by Luther and continued by Calvin, carries down to this day, the biblical doctrine of justification by faith. They restored to the light, the truth of God's word that had been hidden by the legalism and tradition of the Catholic church. For Eric to claim he is greater than they is an absurdity.
"Within the basic element of REGENERATION we see the fruits of the Spirit that the Apostles taught." (Reference moved by Eric.)
. Small point, but if Eric were a true apostle of God, don't you think he would know that it isn't "fruits" but "fruit." In the Greek in Gal. 5:22 when it mentions the fruit of the spirit, the Greek word "karpos" (fruit) is in the singular, not plural.
"RIGHTEOUSNESS -- Having met the terms that God has set for our release from sin, God declares that we have met His standard, and we are accepted of Him. The TERMS for our release from the PENALTY of sin are the same TERMS that God set for our release from the BONDAGE of sin. The terms upon which God grants righteousness are always the same: Obedience to grace."
The problem here is that we are not obedient to grace. Grace is unmerited, unearned favor from God. It is something in God that we benefit from. It is not something we obey which is wording too close to works righteousness, for my comfort. Grace is something that rests in God alone. We are the subjects of His grace. We are not obedient to it. We are obedient to His word.
Furthermore, the connection of obedience to grace here is a warning flag in that it hints about us having to do something to be saved. Though it isn't explicit, it is poor wording and caution must be taken lest he start teaching a form of legalism and special knowledge which only the "Apostle Eric" is able to divulge.
"We are JUSTIFIED BY FAITH when the activity of our works is the ordered activity of the law of grace....We are justified because we are acknowledging, molding with, and submitting to God through what He has authorized for our faith. This participation with the system of God's salvation is what justified us; and we are justified by faith" (Reference moved by Eric.)
The phraseology is cryptic and unclear. It is exactly this kind of sentence structure that is subjective and open to a wide range of interpretation. What is he saying here? It isn't clear. When someone speaks in cryptic phrases, in order to understand him you must learn "deeper" things that only "he" can reveal. This, of course, can be dangerous as a person is lead down a theological rode that leads to an unknown place.
"We are JUSTIFIED BY WORKS when we touch only the things of Jesus Christ that He has provided for our labour with Him; when we use only the tools of the covenant that represent Him. These works are provided for us to enter into His rest." (Reference moved by Eric.)
Of course, the danger here is "Justification by works." Romans 5:1 says we are justified by faith and James 2 speaks of justification by works. But the latter reference is justification before man where the former, Romans 5:1, is dealing with justification before God. The "Apostle Eric" does not clarify this in his statement...another warning flag.