WARNING: 22 minute read
Over the years, I have been treated to any number of (so-called) Christian "movements".
For me, it started with the "Pentecostal movement", which then dovetailed with the "Jesus-people movement" and the "Charismatic movement". Later, I was introduced to the "Evangelical movement", the "Fundamentalist movement", and then the "Grace movement" followed by a host of others. It took forty years, but the game of musical movements grew tiresome. It was like a blossoming faddish fandom of people with a leader shouting, "BELIEVE ME!" and "I HAVE THE ANSWER!" Can anyone relate?
Even the group of people enamored with Dr. Mike Heiser has warning signs of following this pattern of faddish fandom living on the border of a "Heiser movement". Honestly, I don't have the stomach for it.
Does me writing that imply anything negative about what Dr. Heiser spent his life and energy before the Lord studying, preaching, and teaching to others? Not in the least. Why? Because I see no big evidence that he was that kind of person. He never wanted a movement, but he did do and say some things that started to prime the pump for one. This article is going to point at that primed pump along with other primed pumps in order to remove the priming from the bomb before it explodes.
Movements over 200 years
The last 200 years (circa AD 1800 until now) has seen the rise and rally of various Christian movements. Some have taken the world by storm. Folks these day would say they went viral. Each movement clamored for followers and put more combatants on the battlefield of Christian-v-Christian. Quite frankly, it's time to stop the thing and declare peace. My strong intuition is that by the time you get to the end of this paper, you may understand both my meaning and what I am pointing at as the means of disarmament of Christians going after our own in wholesale ignoring of unity.
I think the best place to start is to list out some movements of the last 200 years and observe them from a high level, ask a few questions, and start busting up some theological concrete so we can get to the good soil beneath the accreted packed soils on top. With that purpose in mind, here is a list of 20 movements from the last 200 years:
1. Seventh-day Adventism: Began in the mid-19th century (circa AD 1850) as part of the Second Great Awakening in the United States.
PRIMARY FOCI: [a] The imminent Second Coming of Jesus Christ and [b] observing the Sabbath on Saturday.
2. Jehovah's Witnesses: Formed in the 1870s in America and known for:
PRIMARY FOCI: [a] Their door-to-door evangelism, [b] denial of the Trinity, and [c] refusal to participate in certain societal practices like military service or celebrating holidays.
3. Pentecostalism: Began in the early 20th century out of the Holiness Movement.
PRIMARY FOCI: [a] a direct personal experience of God through baptism with the Holy Spirit.
4. Charismatic Movement: A movement within several Christian branches that began in the United States in the 1960s.
PRIMARY FOCI: [a] gifts of the Spirit, [b] communal worship and [c] spiritual healing.
5. Mormonism (Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints): Founded by Joseph Smith in 1830.
PRIMARY FOCI: [a] unique scriptures in addition to the Bible, including the Book of Mormon, and [b] Joseph Smith and others as "prophets".
6. Holiness Movement: Began in the 19th century.
PRIMARY FOCI: [a] John Wesley's doctrine of a second work of grace leading to Christian perfection.
7. Southern Baptist Convention: Organized in 1845 in Augusta, Georgia and now the largest Protestant body in the US.
PRIMARY FOCI: [a] Evangelism and Missions, [b] Bible Study and Discipleship, [c] Prayer, [d] Social Issues, and [e] Cooperation.
8. Christian Science (Church of Christ, Scientist): Founded in 1879 by Mary Baker Eddy.
PRIMARY FOCI: [a] spiritual healing based on her interpretation of the Bible, [b] "allness" of God, [c] inherent individual divinity, and [d] freedom in this life from sin, sickness, and death through the teachings of Christ.
9. Fundamentalist Christianity: Emerged in the late 19th and early 20th centuries in reaction to modernist theology and changes in the culture and society.
PRIMARY FOCI: [a] Literal interpretation and inerrancy of the Bible, [b] Salvation through faith in Jesus Christ, [c] The deity of Jesus Christ, [d] Virgin Birth of Christ, [e] Miracles, [f] The Second Coming of Christ, [g] The resurrection of Christ, [h] Literal existence of Heaven and Hell, [i] Opposition to modern interpretations of Christianity, [j] Evangelism, [k] The acknowledgement and opposition to sin, [l] Personal and direct relationship with God
10. Various Independent Baptist movements: Comprised of various churches.
PRIMARY FOCI: [a] independence from any denominational governance, [b] (perhaps) typical Baptist beliefs or (perhaps) Fundamentalism.
11. The Salvation Army: Founded by William and Catherine Booth in London in 1865, combining charity work with the spread of the Christian Gospel.
PRIMARY FOCI: [a] Evangelism and Religious Services, [b] Humanitarian Aid and Disaster Relief, [c] Hardship Relief, [d] Rehabilitation and Support Services, [e] Community Development and Education, and [f] advocacy for Social Justice.
12. Liberal Christianity: A movement that interprets Christian teaching in the light of modern knowledge, emphasizing the broad truth of Christian doctrine rather than literal interpretation.
PRIMARY FOCI: (long list—sorry—it needs to be here):
[a] Progressive Theology: Liberal Christianity prioritizes a progressive approach to theology, often reinterpreting traditional understandings of Biblical texts. This open-ended, evolving approach to scripture is often focused around the belief that understanding of God, truth and morality evolve over time, and therefore, dogmatic stances or strict literal interpretations of scripture are seen as restrictive or outdated.
[b] Social Justice: Strong emphasis is placed on the role of Christians in advocating for social justice issues. This includes support for measures like wealth redistribution, eradication of poverty, civil rights, and equal treatment of minority and marginalized groups. It is based on a reading of scripture that prioritizes compassion and social responsibility.
[c] Inclusivity: Liberal Christianity also stresses the importance of inclusivity. This means an active rejection of any discrimination based on race, gender, social status or sexual orientation. This includes the affirming and welcoming of LGBTQ+ individuals into full participation within church life.
[d] Interfaith Dialogue: There is a strong focus within Liberal Christianity to engage in dialogue with different faith traditions. It is seen as a means to build understanding, respect and peace among different religious communities. This perspective is rooted in a broader view of the divine that is not confined to Christianity alone.
[e] Scientific Integration: An acceptance and integration of science into faith is another focus of Liberal Christianity. This means that its adherents often engage in dialogue between faith and science, and are generally accepting of scientific theories such as evolution and the Big Bang Theory.
13. Mega Church Movement: A modern trend where churches routinely have thousands of people at weekly services, enabled by modern technology and logistical organization.
PRIMARY FOCI: another long list, sorry:
[a] Growth in Numbers: The primary focus of the Mega Church Movement is to increase the number of attendees. This is achieved by various methods such as mass evangelism, attractive worship services, and frequent community outreach programs.
[b] Dynamic Preaching: Mega churches often stick to dynamic preaching styles that engage and entertain the audience. The goal is to offer innovative and contemporary expressions of faith.
[c] Modern Worship Styles: To attract younger demographics, Mega churches focus on contemporary worship styles. This usually includes modern music, innovative use of technology in services, and relaxed dress norms.
[d] Community Involvement: Mega churches encourage their members to play a role in community affairs. They organize social activities and community service programs to foster a sense of belonging among members.
[e] Personal Growth and Development: Mega churches place emphasis on personal growth and development of their members. They conduct workshops, seminars and courses on leadership, marriage, parenting etc.
[f] Financial Prosperity: Mega churches usually teach messages emphasizing financial prosperity and blessings. They encourage tithing and generous giving, arguing that it leads to financial blessings.
14. The Jesus Movement: A wave of Christianity that swept across young peoples' communities in the 1960s and 70s, resulting in many conversions and new church developments.
PRIMARY FOCI: [a] Spiritual Renewal, [b] Evangelization, [c] Social Justice, [d] Communitarian Lifestyle, and [e] Bible Study & Prayer.
15. Prosperity Gospel Movement: Preached by some modern televangelists, teaches that faith, positive speech, and donations to Christian ministries will increase one's material wealth.
PRIMARY FOCI: [a] Financial Prosperity, [b] Health and Wellness, [c] Material Wealth, [d] Personal Success, and [e] Positive Thinking.
16. Emergent Church Movement: A modern movement emphasizing a missional and generous approach to Christianity.
PRIMARY FOCI: [a] Community Building, [b] Social Justice, [c] Discomfort with Traditional Church Hierarchies, [d] Spiritual Practices, and [e] Dialogue Over Dogma.
17. Movement of grace: emphasizes belief that personal transformation/righteous behavior stems from understanding and embracing identity in Christ. This movement encourages followers to recognize the grace of God; allowing it to guide their actions and responses. The belief is: Understanding of one's identity in Christ results in progress towards Christ-like behavior.
PRIMARY FOCI: another long list, sorry:
[a] Emphasizing the Sovereignty of God: This refers to the belief that God is the ultimate authority and power source in everything in existence. Those who believe in the movement of Grace consider that God is the one who decides the future and salvation of every being.
[b] Stressing God's Grace: This is the belief that God's grace is sufficient for all. It emphasizes that humans cannot earn salvation through their works, actions, or accomplishments, but only through the grace of God.
[c] Spirit-led Living: Grace movement believers emphasize the necessity of allowing the Spirit of God to lead one's life. This means submitting human choices and decision-making to the will and guidance of the Holy Spirit.
[d] Encouragement of Personal Growth: The movement encourages individuals to seek growth in Christian life. This includes pursuing a greater understanding of God, scripture and Christian teachings, and advancing towards spiritual maturity.
[e] Community Service: Proponents of the Grace movement encourage service towards others, following Jesus' example. They are meant to show God’s grace and love through their actions to help people in need.
18. Organic Church movement: A recent new-comer to the field based somewhat on Neil Cole's book, The Organic Church.
PRIMARY FOCI: [a] Church where life happens, [b] Putting Jesus as your MVP while having "organic church" meetings.
19. Home Church movement: An older and similar movement to the Organic Church movement.
PRIMARY FOCI: [a] gathering in a home environment, [b] communion together with each other and Christ over a meal, and [c] fellowship and teaching.
20. The below-the-radar movement: This movement is trying to avoid all of the ones above and just have church, be nice, play nice, don't make waves, stay out of the way, gripe—but not too loudly, and so on. These folks want to have church but not make anyone angry or upset about it. Some of these folks quietly seethe in the shadows, but hide in everyday routines hoping it will all go away, Jesus will come, or both. They want sinners to magically convert or just mind their own business. The prayer is for the bad stuff to stay in other countries and just leave us alone about it. I get it. The feeling is understandable.
APOLOGIES: If I missed your movement, then I apologize. I don't know them all and perhaps you have the newest movement that has all the answers and I just have yet to encounter it. So, again—if I missed your movement, then my deepest apologies. </snark-off>
Whew! That's a lot of stuff ...
I hope you read all of that and stewed on it a bit. What I expect at this moment is that you may have found "your personal movement" on the list and then some of you (not all) triggered and blistered into an open sore, complete with an emotional response and bluster. If you did—BULLY FOR YOU! That's good news. I am delighted at your offense. Why? Because, if you have read this far and not thrown your computer or phone through a wall, then perhaps you're willing to set your offense on a shelf and read what follows.
IF NOT: Relax. Breath. Do not continue reading. I am not condemning you. I am not challenging your relationship with Jesus based on the tenets of your "movement". You answer to Jesus and not to me or anyone else (Romans 14). After all, Jesus is the Shepherd and the only Judge with power on that Day of the Lord that is coming (or any other judgment that you and your movement(s) believe in). So—relax. Stop reading. Find something else to do and go back to your life.
For those of you who are still here ...
I want you to notice something all these "movements" all share: They focus their "brand" on something other than the Kingdom of Heaven, Kingdom of God, Kingdom of Christ, or just plain ole' KINGDOM! Not a single one of them put the Kingdom at the head of what they are doing and what they are about and what their message is. They do something else. They focus on something else and make the Kingdom of God drop back. Some of them let it drop back to where it is hidden in the shadows and never talked about; certainly not at the forefront as Jesus projected it.
NOTE: Those in one of the "movements" above will attempt to argue that they are focused on King and Kingdom when presented with a challenge that they are in fact not focused on King and Kingdom. So, how do we tell? What questions do we ask to expose the truth on way or another?
The issue is: Where does one begin? For example: if one is highly focused on holiness, does one start with King and Kingdom and attempt to frame holiness from that focal point—or—does one start with holiness and attempt to frame King and Kingdom from that focal point? It makes a difference. One respects King and Kingdom, while the other distorts King and Kingdom through its (often misshapen) lens. Therefore, be careful around "movements". They tend to distort and humans are generally too dull minded to actually catch the subtle difference.
Oh sure—they put Jesus in-the-mix at some level. He plays a part. He might even be lip-serviced as leading the whole thing. BUT—He really isn't. In reality, the white-hot-topic is whatever the "movement" is blaring on about. Jesus is just a prop on the stage. The real focus is the primal focus of the "movement".
Please note: I write this in a vein to not challenge the genuineness of those who think Jesus agrees with the foci of their movement! Remember, part of the validation process of the focal points of any Christian movement is to claim that Jesus is all-in, aboard, and giving His personal blessing to the whole thing. However, the honest question is: Does Jesus tell us what His focus is? The answer, of course, is—Yes, He does!
Adjusting angle, focus, and subject ...
Right here and now, I want to ask you a very simple and honest series of questions. I want you to ask and answer them to yourself and not just read them. Here are the questions:
- Q: Who and what is Jesus primarily, above all else?
- If you answered "a King"—good for you. If you answered anything else, then perhaps you need to think or to open your mind to reading scripture to ask, "How does Jesus answer this question?"
- Q: If Jesus is primarily the King (not just `a king`), then what is primarily on the mind of Jesus?
- I hope you answered, "the Kingdom". Again, if you did not, then ask yourself, "What is on the mind of every earthly king—ever!?" I think it is quite demonstrable that the primary thing on the mind of every earthly king is his or her kingdom—everything having to do with it. So, why would anyone think King Jesus is any different? Sit with that for awhile.
- Q: What are Jesus' first words as He starts His public ministry in all four gospels in order of appearance?
- 1. Matthew 4:17 - "From that time Jesus began to preach, saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”
2. Mark 1:15 - "And saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.”
3. Luke 6:20-21 - "And he lifted up his eyes on his disciples, and said: 'Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God. Blessed are you who are hungry now, for you shall be satisfied. Blessed are you who weep now, for you shall laugh.'"
4. John 3:3 - "Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.” ... John 3:5 "Jesus answered, “Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit."Therefore, "born again" is entry into His Kingdom
NOTES: Matthew and Mark are pretty clear "first mentions" by Jesus in His public ministry. Luke and John require more finesse and thoughtfulness.
LUKE: The actual first words of Jesus in public ministry by Luke's account is Luke 4:17-19 and the reading of the Isaiah scrolls where it says, 'The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor.'”
Later on, in chapter six, we find the first instance of "Kingdom". What is prescient about it is the context of Jesus mentioning the Kingdom. To the people He is the anointed one, which implies Him as the son of David, which they fully expect to defeat their enemies and be crowned as everlasting King over Israel. In either case—by direct reference or indirect reference, Jesus is pointing at His Kingdom.
JOHN: The Gospel of John is a little trickier, but the thought is there. The actual first words of Jesus are found in John 1:38-39 - "Jesus turned and saw them following and said to them, 'What are you seeking?' And they said to him, 'Rabbi' (which means Teacher), 'where are you staying?' He said to them, 'Come and you will see.' So they came and saw where he was staying, and they stayed with him that day, for it was about the tenth hour."
Jesus provides us an answer even here to the question of "What are you seeking", when He flatly answers this from Matthew 6:33 - "But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you."
It is possible to harmonize these two passages in terms of the recurrent theme of seeking. In John, the disciples are seeking Jesus, the Messiah. In Matthew, Jesus instructs all His followers to make seeking God's kingdom their top priority.
The theological implication is that in seeking Jesus, as in John 1:38-39, one is indeed seeking the kingdom of God as instructed in Matthew 6:33, because Jesus, the King, embodies and brings forth the kingdom of God in His ministry. So, while not directly parallel, they serve complementary roles in the narrative of Jesus' life and teachings.
Therefore, where is the focus of scripture? Namely—it is on the Kingdom and God and His keen interest is in bringing people out of the kingdoms of gods and darkness.
Allow me to indulge a bit. I want you to read the following scriptures from the viewpoint of the Cross and the power of God in it to transfer a human being from the kingdom of darkness into the Kingdom of Light; literally trading loyalties:
- - Romans 2:8-9: "But to those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, there will be wrath and fury. There will be tribulation and distress for every human being who does evil.""they" is outlined in chapter 1 — it is an expose on the "sins of the Watchers" and humans who follow after them in like actions.
- - Galatians 5:19-21: "Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God."again—Paul is pointing at a list based on the "sins of the Watchers" and people following after them in like actions.
- - Ephesians 5:5: "For you may be sure of this, that everyone who is sexually immoral or impure, or who is covetous (that is, an idolater), has no inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God."and again ...
- - Revelation 21:8: "But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable, as for murderers, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death."Resist the urge to fall back on the "inside" and "outside" the gates and chapter 22 and so on. It's not true. Such a view is a distortion of scripture to fit the narrative of a "movement".
Diverging loyalties and sorting it out ...
Does the King care about His role as Messiah? Of course He does. Given the rebellions of fallen sons of God starting in Genesis 3, moving to Genesis 6, and another set of rebels in Genesis 11—what are we to make of King Jesus and His overall mission, attention, and focus in history? It seems rather clear that God is about sorting out the trustworthy and loyal from the untrustworthy and disloyal. Salvation of human beings plays a role in the overall plan, but even humans have to demonstrate loyalty and fealty to the King, yes? No? Maybe? Perhaps? What does Jesus think? Does it matter what we think or you think in the face of what He thinks?
QUESTIONS: What prevents you right this minute from bowing to the will of King Jesus? I mean—you call yourself a "Christian", you name the name of Christ as Savior, yet what thoughts, words, and actions of your right-now life are in loyal following of the sins of the Watchers and demons versus your actions of loyalty to the King you claim is your own? Do your thoughts, words, and actions line up? Are you feeling condemned? Are you running for the closet to hide, suck your thumb like an impetuous child, and of the mind to find something in your "movement" theology to excuse you from having to bow to and obey Him?
Look—I know this is hard stuff. I know that it seems like I am preaching "legalism" to you in this, but am I? Truly, am I? Where does the bar of sloppy-grace get so low that Jesus will count you in with the sheep and not the goats? What "movement" theology will you attempt to point out to Him as clear King in front of you as your theological support that He doesn't already know about? These are serious questions. They are not light, trivial, or meritless questions. You will answer them in this life by your own choice, or you will answer them by force in the future. Pick one!
Preeminence of the Kingdom
And before we move further, let's get a feel for the strength of the message of the Kingdom:
Matthew 3:2 - "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand."
Matthew 4:17 - "From that time Jesus began to preach, saying, 'Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.'"
Matthew 6:10 - "Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven."
Matthew 6:33 - "But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you."
Matthew 7:21 - "Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven."
Matthew 10:7 - "And proclaim as you go, saying, ‘The kingdom of heaven is at hand.'"
Matthew 11:11 - "Truly, I say to you, among those born of women there has arisen no one greater than John the Baptist. Yet the one who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he."
Matthew 13:11 - "He answered them, 'To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given.'"
Matthew 16:19 - "I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven."
Luke 11:20 - "But if it is by the finger of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you."
Luke 17:20-21 - "The kingdom of God is not coming in ways that can be observed, nor will they say, ‘Look, here it is!’ or ‘There!’ for behold, the kingdom of God is in the midst of you."
John 3:3 - "Jesus answered him, 'Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.'"
John 3:5 - "Jesus answered, 'Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.'"
John 18:36 - "Jesus answered, 'My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would have been fighting, that I might not be delivered over to the Jews. But my kingdom is not from the world.'"
Romans 14:17 - "For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking but of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit."
1 Corinthians 4:20 - "For the kingdom of God does not consist in talk but in power."
1 Corinthians 6:9 - "Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality,"
Colossians 4:11 - "These are the only men of the circumcision among my fellow workers for the kingdom of God, and they have been a comfort to me."
James 2:5 - "Listen, my beloved brothers, has not God chosen those who are poor in the world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom, which he has promised to those who love him?"
2 Peter 1:10-11 - "Therefore, brothers, be all the more diligent to confirm your calling and election, for if you practice these qualities you will never fall. For in this way there will be richly provided for you an entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ."
Revelation 1:9 - "I, John, your brother and partner in the tribulation and the kingdom and the patient endurance that are in Jesus, was on the island called Patmos on account of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus."
Revelation 12:10 - "And I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, 'Now the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ have come, for the accuser of our brothers has been thrown down, who accuses them day and night before our God.'"
Reading all of the above really hammers home the reality that everything is about the Kingdom of God. When we then include 1 Enoch, the fall of the Watchers, their dead Nephilim kids who are hell-bent for retribution against God and humanity—when all such things are taken into account what do we see? I will tell you what I see: I see the preeminence of the Kingdom of God and the loyalty test of history that is separating the sheep from the goats and the wheat from the tares.
Movements
There is but a single movement that was started by Jesus and carried forth by the early church: The Kingdom of God movement. Everything falls under this one topic and no other. The other "movements" have cherry-picked elements from the Kingdom upon which they choose to focus. By doing so, they exclude, diminish, or minimize King and Kingdom; they push their pet-topic to the top, which turns it into a filter for scripture.
How many of you know that every Seventh-day Adventist is banging away at the pulpit about what day we have church on? Take each movement and understand that each one is slugging it out for their pet-focal points. Each time they do, their focus is drawn down low and limited to just whatever their "thing" is. And there are dangers lurking in the process and results of doing this.
One of the core issues of non-Kingdom topic focus is that the topic takes control and all of scripture suddenly bows in service to proving and validating the topic. People who get caught up in the thing get mentally, emotionally, and intellectually focused on proving the topic's preeminence at all times to the exclusion of everything else—certainly to King Jesus and His Kingdom. The proof of this is the veneration, praise, and adulation of the topic and those who preach it. They become the "movement heroes"; gaining followers and followings of faddish fandom oozing with ego-stroking praise for their deep knowledge of the movement and tireless energy to keep it going.
NOTE: I have noticed that people at the top of movements will have a modus operandi as they write books about their "movement" theology. They will be long on expounding their movement theology in their own words, offering very little scripture except where they cherry-pick scripture out-of-context, which they think supports their invented focal theology. This is exactly what snake-oil salesmen of every era do. Instead of starting with scripture and doing exegesis from it—they start with their own thoughts, reasonings, opinions, and theories in great quantity. Why? Because they are selling you.
In order to later bend and twist scripture, they must first get your emotional buy-in to their thoughts, reasons, and resulting theological concoctions beforehand. Why? Because they need to build a filter and lens in your mind through which you will then twist scripture to agree with the filter built in your head, where you then say, "Aha!" Just know that by the time you get to scripture from them, you've already been duped, lied to, sold, and brainwashed into a mental framework cleverly foisted on you without you even being aware that it happened.
Another issue is that anything to do with the actual King and Kingdom is subjugated to the "movement" theology, which is the actual thing ruling the hearts and minds of those caught up in the movement. It's all about the movement and Jesus is just there to validate it in their minds, which makes them feel good. If someone can just prove that "Jesus-cares-about-this" then the job is done, the movement people can believe they are assured that on judgment day, the King will agree, give them a pass, and the pearly gates will open wide for them to the Tree of Life and rivers of living water.
Movement Busters
Who ya' gonna call? Belief Busters! Yeah—that's right. Once you see and take on the primal topic that is important to Jesus—Him as King, His Kingdom, and your part in it—then—all this other stuff comes crashing down to where you can finally sort it out.
You see—all (so-called) Christian "movements" start out with and are based around some subordinate issue of the King and Kingdom. Allow me to illustrate: For all of the "Grace Movement" people, do you think Grace is actually a hot-topic in the Kingdom? Of course it is! Is it the primary topic? NO! It's not! The primary topic is Jesus, the King, and His rule of His Kingdom and the purpose of and benefits of Grace (Jesus) within the Kingdom. Therefore—to be Kingdom minded is to be mindful of Grace, but not to let it take center stage and push Jesus, the King off of His Throne—thereby enthroning your "movement" topic and filtering Jesus-as-king through it.
Pick your favorite "movement" from the list above or anything else for that matter (e.g., King-James-only movement). Find the white-hot driving topic living at the core and remove it from the "movement" hype and bring it into the Kingdom and to the King. Let it be subject to Him, His Kingdom, and how He chooses to use it in Kingdom business (and not how your movement says He uses it). When you start doing that, you will find some hard truths. Most of all, you'll find the precious baby (Kingdom truth) and can then toss the dirty bathwater (movement nonsense) without losing the good thing that started the movement.
This includes the whack-a-doodle movements like Jehovah Witnesses, Mormons, Seventh Day people, and so on. Each one has some core bits. Capitalize on them, but don't be afraid to examine each matter in light of the Kingdom of God.
Final critical mass ...
I thank God for Dr. Mike Heiser every day I am alive. While I am not trying to start a "Mike Heiser movement", it is his work that led me to the King and Kingdom through the malaise of "movement" theologies that cluttered my mind and had solidified into concrete (pride). The greatest gift I personally have from the Spirit of Christ in me through Dr. Mike is first—a knowing of the King and Kingdom, but—almost as important—a knowing of the anti-kings (fallen sons of God) and their kingdoms (loyal demons and people). I now know where they came from, what they did, the war they started, and the battlefield arrayed between God and the gods (principalities, authorities, powers, rulers of darkness, et al).
Having this arrayed before my inward eyes and understanding has led me to a place where the King can ask me personally, "Larry—who are you loyal to? This is a loyalty test. I will know by your thoughts, words, and actions who you are loyal to. Follow me and live. Follow them and die forever like them!" Yes—it really is just that simple!
The profound result in my life has been the massive straighten-up-and-fly-right response in me, empowered by the Spirit of Christ living in me. I personally want God to know that to the best of my human ability (empowered by Him in me) that I am laboring in His power to demonstrate my loyalty to Him in all things. Where I fail from time-to-time, there is grace to be had, but I don't use sloppy-grace as an excuse to hide in the dark as a rebel, disloyal to my King and expect Him to just look the other way when it comes down to the rubber meeting the road on judgment day.
Therefore, if you think you are pulling one over on God and that somehow you're going to whip out your "Free Grace" card when the Monopoly Game of the Universe is over—wow—you'd better wake up and hear what the Spirit of God is speaking to the churches! The King and Kingdom is the primary topic that is driving the movement started by Jesus Christ and carried on by the disciples, and now by us. Join the Kingdom. Swear fealty and allegiance to Him. Act like you have a King and that you are a loyal prince of His court and council. Do it not and suffer the consequences of being disloyal. It's your choice. Make it!