I was just watching Benny Hinn ( I know, I know, mostly out of curiousity) when he started in about Mary the mother of Jesus.
He said,to a room full, that the body of Jesus was given entirely from God. Jesus’ body was entirely from God and that nothing came from her. Body and blood came all from God and that’s why He is incorruptible. That’s why Jesus’ body can be in heaven because His blood is divine. If Mary’s blood was in Jesus His body would decay.
She was nothing more then a vessal.
He continued on and on…I had to turn it off and walk away.
He’s basically teaching then that Jesus has only one nature and not two.
That He is God and not a man.
It’s so sad to see the people taking notes and eating it all up.
My question to that would be then why choose a woman at all?
God didn’t and doesn’t need anyone. If He wants to appear in the flesh he would.
But instead He works through us. He has since the begining. Moses the prophets and the Apostles.
Did I miss anything?
What heresy does this fall under?
Benny is out of the line. His theology is backward. I would consider such belief a new form of heresy.
The common orthodox Christian belief is that Jesus was born of a woman.
St. Paul wrote in Galatians:
Gal Chapter 4 verse 4-7
[4] But when the time had fully come, God sent forth his Son,
born of woman, born under the law,
[5] to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.
[6] And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!”
[7] So through God you are no longer a slave but a son, and if a son then an heir.
Mary consented to God’s will and become the Mother of God. Jesus’ flesh and blood comes from his mother period.
“He was the ark formed of incorruptible wood. For by this is signified that His tabernacle was exempt from putridity and corruption.” Hippolytus, Orations Inillud, Dominus pascit me (ante A.D. 235).
“This Virgin Mother of the Only-begotten of God, is called Mary, worthy of God, immaculate of the immaculate, one of the one.” Origen, Homily 1(A.D. 244).
“Let woman praise Her, the pure Mary.” Ephraim, Hymns on the Nativity, 15:23 (A.D. 370).
“Thou alone and thy Mother are in all things fair, there is no flaw in thee and no stain in thy Mother.” Ephraem, Nisibene Hymns, 27:8 (A.D. 370).
“O noble Virgin, truly you are greater than any other greatness. For who is your equal in greatness, O dwelling place of God the Word? To whom among all creatures shall I compare you, O Virgin? You are greater than them all O Covenant, clothed with purity instead of gold! You are the Ark in which is found the golden vessel containing the true manna, that is, the flesh in which divinity resides.” Athanasius, Homily of the Papyrus of Turin, 71:216 (ante AD 373).
“Mary, a Virgin not only undefiled but a Virgin whom grace has made inviolate, free of every stain of sin.” Ambrose, Sermon 22:30 (A.D. 388).
“We must except the Holy Virgin Mary, concerning whom I wish to raise no question when it touches the subject of sins, out of honour to the Lord; for from Him we know what abundance of grace for overcoming sin in every particular was conferred upon her who had the merit to conceive and bear Him who undoubtedly had no sin.” Augustine, Nature and Grace,4 2[36] (A.D.415).
“As he formed her without my stain of her own, so He proceeded from her contracting no stain.” Proclus of Constantinople, Homily 1 (ante A.D. 446).
“A virgin, innocent, spotless, free of all defect, untouched, unsullied, holy in soul and body, like a lily sprouting among thorns.” Theodotus of Ancrya, Homily VI:11(ante A.D. 446).
“The angel took not the Virgin from Joseph, but gave her to Christ, to whom she was pledged from Joseph, but gave her to Christ, to whom she was pledged in the womb, when she was made.” Peter Chrysologus, Sermon 140 (A.D. 449).
Benny claims that Jesus is just God. Not both God and Man. He is preaching Docetism.
Docetism is an early Christian heresy which claimed that Christ was not truly human. Docetism denies the true and full humanity of Christ. The word ‘Docetism’ is derived from the Greek word “dokeo” which means “to appear or seem”. Proponents of this error taught that Christ only appeared or seemed to be human.
The apostle John trumpets explicit warnings against this early heresy:
“Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world.
Hereby know ye the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God:
And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world.” 1 John 4: 1-3
“For many deceivers are entered into the world, who confess not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh. This is a deceiver and an antichrist.” 2 John 7
These ominous warnings by the Apostle John confirm what secular history also states; that Docetism had appeared very early among the churches. But, where did it come from? The answer is obtained by understanding the influence pre-christian gnosticism had on the ancient Greek and Roman world. Harold O. J. Brown says:
“The gnostic movement as a whole and even church-related Gnosticism are really too big and too foreign to the New Testament to be called heresies; they really represent an alternative religion. In producing docetism, Gnosticism presented us with the first heresy that can be clearly lodged ‘within’ Christianity.”
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**for impersonating a clergyman…**Yup, he’s not even a real pastor; just a con-man).
looking for an emotional “event” instead of a time of worship. I just don’t get it.