Articles

Myths vs Facts

Straw Men and Misrepresentation 

Many who are unaccustomed to Acts 28 right division  will find the teaching here, at first glance, hard to digest. One reason for this is that the teaching of Biblical doctrine has given way to and replaced by entertainment in many churches. The other reason is that Acts 28 teaching lays to rest many of the sacred cows of confessing christianity though this is not by any means the only fruit that it produces. If something is seen only in terms of negatives, that is if Acts 28 teaching is seen only in terms of denying this or denying that so that the message one gets is a long list of doctrines that are negated this can have the effect of turning many would be investigators into righteously indignant detractors.

The other problem and this is very common from my perspective, is that people will often associate the Acts 28 position with what is or is commonly perceived to be manifestly incorrect doctrine that is not directly dependent on Acts 28 or with persons who are shunned and called heretics. 

Whatever reason people have in their heart to use illogical reasoning to misrepresent the Acts 28 position I will not here attempt to expound. But misrepresentation is common and the building of straw men and burning them is very common.

In the paragraphs below I will attempt to answer some of the Myths that are commonly thrown at Acts 28ers and supply some facts to couterbalance the straw men.

Myths and Facts

• Myth: Acts 28 believers are hyper dispensational.
• Fact: This is an accusation and as such would need to be established by the accuser. To be a hyper-dispensationalist one would have to hold to an incorrect bounday for the start of the church for which Christ is head. Since any other start would be incorrect we would have to say that our accusers would be the ones that are hyper-dispensational. This we have established many times and in different ways on this sight (see blogs etc on mid-Acts).

• Myth: Acts 28 believers are No – Hellers
• Fact: Some are some are not. This is a teaching that one could have regardless of when you thought the church began. 

• Myth: Acts 28 believers also believe in two bodies. 
• Fact: This is false, since Acts 28ers believe that the metaphor used in 1Cor. 12 and Eph.1:20ff, 4:5 are two different metaphors for two different groups of people. Therefore the bodies are different and not of the same kind. Example a “body” in one is made of a full human body (head and torso) with members differing through gifts of the Spirit and with uncomely parts while on the other the body is a sussoma with equality of membership and is a torso with Christ the head. See blogs on mid-Acts.

• Myth: Acts 28 believers teach that one can only be saved if a person comes to understand the Acts 28 boundary.
• Fact: This is false. Salvation is by Grace and one need only believe the gospel prophesied by the prophets and re-inforced and embellished with further explanation by Paul in the Acts epistles and confirmed in his prison books. 

• Myth: Acts 28ers teach that there is nothing in the Acts ministry of Paul that applies to us!
• Fact: This is a false. Acts 28 is the boundary after which new doctrine is added and some older doctrines that are tuned peculiarly to Israel’s rights and privileges are removed.  This means that there are truths from the Acts that are as applicable today as they were in the time given — See the myth above.

• Myth: Acts 28ers are just rehashing “Bullinger”
• Fact: This is false. One need only look at the contributors to this site to see that there is a lot of diversity and originality in the articles, blogs and media presented here. Bullinger was instructed by Welch in regards to Acts 28. If we can take his openness to correct our own error then that would be a good thing to re-hash. In fact we must point out that “most” of Bullingers works were produced under an incorrect view of the scriptures which he himself admitted. So to re-hash Bullinger’s books would be a big mistake.