The BIBLE-Word of God

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-Versus Errors of-

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  "New Apostolic Church"

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GOD     CHRIST    HOLY SPIRIT   SIN     REDEMPTION    SALVATION     RETRIBUTION

They received the WORD with all readiness of mind,

 and searched the SCRIPTURES daily, whether those things were so.  Acts 17:11

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G O D

 

The Bible

PERSONALITY OF THE GODHEAD ... in the beginning God created the heaven and the earth
(Genesis 1: 1).

He is God; there is none else beside him (Deuteronomy 4:35). God is a Spirit; and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth (John 4:24). For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man, Christ Jesus (I Timothy 2:5).

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Go . . and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the
Holy Spirit (Matthew 28:19).Jesus was baptized; the Spirit descended; the Father spoke
(Matthew 3:16-17). Come, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may
not understand one another's speech (Genesis 11:7). From the time that it was, there am I; and
now the Lord God, and his Spirit, has sent me (Isaiah 48:16).

New Apostolic Church

Article of faith #1:
  I believe in God the Father, the Almighty, maker of heaven and earth.

The New Apostolic Church takes the historical Christian belief when speaking about God in their creed of Faith.

 

J E S U S  C H R I S T

 

The Bible

o    In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was God (John 1:1). When, as His mother, Mary, was espoused to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Spirit (Matthew 1: 18).

o    Behold, the virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel (Isaiah 7:14).

o    God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the nations, believed on in the world, received up into glory (I Timothy 3:16).

o    And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father), full of grace and truth (John 1: 14).

o    No man has seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, he has declared him (John 1:18).

o    And declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the spirit of' holiness, by the resurrection from the dead (Romans 1:4).

o    And if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain (I Corinthians 15:17). Wherefore, he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever lives to make intercession for them (Hebrews 7:25).

o    This same Jesus . . . shall so come in like manner as you have seen him go into Heaven (Acts 1: 11; cf. John 14:3; 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18).

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New Apostolic Church

Article of faith #2:
  I believe in Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of God, our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Ghost, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead and buried, entered the realm of the departed, rose again from the dead, ascended into heaven, and sit that the right hand of God, the Father Almighty, from whence he shall return.

Article of faith #4:
  I believe that the Lord Jesus rules his church through living apostles until his return, and that he has sent them into the world and still sends them with the commission to teach, to forgive sins in his name and to baptize with water and the Holy Spirit.

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H O L Y  S P I R I T

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The Bible

§  When the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, he shall testify of me (John 15:26).

§  When he is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment (John 16:8).

§  When he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth (John 16:13).

§  The Comforter, who is the Holy Spirit, he shall teach you all things (John 14:26).

§  His spirit that dwells in you (Romans 8:11).

§  Be filled with the Spirit (Ephesians 5:18; see also I Corinthians 3:16; Ephesians 3:16).

§  But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his (Romans 8:9; see also vv. 14, 16).

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New Apostolic Church

Article of faith #4:
  I believe that the Lord Jesus rules his church through living apostles until his return, and that he has sent them into the world and still sends them with the commission to teach, to forgive sins in his name and to baptize with water and the Holy Spirit.

Article of faith #5:
  I believe that all ministers in the Church of Christ are chosen and ordained into their ministries only by apostles and that all gifts and powers must come forth out of the apostle ministry; equipped with these, the community becomes a legible letter of Christ.

Article of faith #8:
  I believe that those baptized with water must receive the Holy Spirit through an apostle, to obtain the childhood in God, whereby they become incorporated as members in the body of Christ.

    When one looks at the articles of the New Apostolic Creed, we find an exclusive teaching on the Holy Spirit whereby only Apostles can dispense the Holy Spirit by the laying on of hands of a true Apostle, this is called being “sealed”. The mark of a true Apostle is that he recognizes God’s chief Apostle and God’s true Apostles, which are only the Apostles of the New Apostolic Church. The Apostles are chosen by God and are active only in the New Apostolic Church. In regards to other Christians being indwelt with the Holy Spirit, this is a comment by the Media Secretary for the New Apostolic Church, Peter Johanning:

  “Our understanding of the Holy Scriptures is that God gave a “regular” or “safe way of dispensing the Holy Spirit, e.g. through the apostle’s ministry. But God is almighty, there might be exceptions, He might give His Spirit to someone who has not come in contact with His apostles. To our understanding the sealing with the Holy Spirit is a prerequisite to receive grace on Christ’s return – “normally”/ ”regularly” it is spent by an apostle, but there might be exceptions.”

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    The teaching in the New Apostolic church is one of exclusivity in regards to how one receives the Holy Spirit. The New Apostolic Church waffles a bit on the issue of some of the things that have been done in Church history outside of the NAC and whether the people involved were indwelt with the Holy Spirit. An example would be Martin Luther where they would admit he was inspired or prompted by the Holy Spirit but as for being indwelt their doctrine and creeds would say no.
 

S I N

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The Bible

§  There is none righteous, no, not one (Romans 3: 1 0).

§  For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23).

§  If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us ( I John 1: 10).

§  If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us ( I John 1:8).

§  Whosoever commits sin transgresses also the law; for sin is the transgression of the law (I John 3:4).

§  All unrighteousness is sin, and there is a sin not unto death ( I John 5:1 7)

§  Whatever is not of faith is sin (Romans 14:23).

§  Therefore, to him that knows to do good, and does it not, to him it is sin (James 4:17).

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New Apostolic Church

    The New Apostolic Church does believe that all are sinners in need of God’s forgiveness and that He does so through the apostles. The following is part of their teaching that. forgiveness of sin is done through a New Apostolic apostle as stated in Article of faith #4:

                                               “and still sends them (the apostles) with the commission to teach,
                                           to forgive sins in His name and to baptize with water and the Holy Spirit”.

    This forgiveness is usually done at communion at the “Apostle’ saltar” (Now the altar of Grace or of Christ). Church members generally readily admit that they and their apostles fail and constantly are striving to become over comers.

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R E D E M P T I O N

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The Bible

§  We have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins (Ephesians 1:7).

§  You were not redeemed with corruptible things . . . but with the precious blood of Christ (I Peter 1: 1 8-19).

§  Unto him that loves us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood, and has made us a kingdom of priests unto God and his Father (Revelation 1:5-6).

§  Without shedding of blood is no remission (Hebrews 9:22).

§  Made peace through the blood of his cross (Colossians 1:20).

§  This man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down on the right hand of God. . . . For by one offering he has perfected forever them that are sanctified (Hebrews 10: 12, 14).

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New Apostolic Church

    Though Jesus Christ died on the cross for forgiveness of sins, New Apostolics are taught that by believing in this alone, salvation cannot be secured. To become a Christian one must first be baptized (as an infant or in their church). Only those who are baptized in such a manner qualify to be “sealed” whereby a living New Apostolic apostle will perform this duty in which the Holy Spirit is then dispensed to the person. This however does not guarantee salvation and one must strive through good works (for the church)to be part of the 144,000 that Jesus will return for (the “firstlings”). The goal is to be part of this first resurrection. The New Apostolic is left never quite knowing their spiritual status.

  Upon death, the New Apostolic church teaches that the soul does not go to Heaven but to the realm of the departed with different holding areas. The New Apostolic church teaches human works and ceremonies plus the works of Jesus for redemption.
 

S A L V A T I O N

The Bible

§  Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you shall be saved, and your house (Acts 16:31).

§  But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the children of God, even to them that believe on his name (John 1:12).

§  He that believes on him is not condemned; but he that believes not is condemned already, because he has not believed in the . . . only begotten Son of God (John 3:18).

§  He that believes on the Son has everlasting life; and he that believes not the Son shall not see life (John 3:36).

§  Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Spirit (Titus 3:5).

§  For by grace are you saved through faith; and that not ofyourselves, it is the gift of God-not of works, lest any man should boast(Ephesians 2:8-9).

§  Justified freely . . . through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus (Romans 3:24).

§  Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone that believes (Romans 10:4).

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New Apostolic Church

    Though Jesus Christ died on the cross for forgiveness of sins, New Apostolics are taught that by believing in this alone, salvation cannot be secured. To become a Christian one must first be baptized (as an infant or in their church). Only those who are baptized in such a manner qualify to be “sealed” whereby a living New Apostolic apostle will perform this duty in which the Holy Spirit is then dispensed to the person. This also does not guarantee salvation and one must strive through good works (for the church) to be part of the 144,000 that Jesus will return for (the “firstlings”). The goal is to be part of this first resurrection.  The New Apostolic is left never quite knowing their spiritual status.

  Upon death, the New Apostolic church teaches that the soul does not go to Heaven but to the realm of the departed with different holding areas.  The New Apostolic church teaches human works and ceremonies plus the works of Jesus.

Regarding teachings on salvation and redemption

  Within the New Apostolic Church, there must be two more points made in regards to salvation:

1- The Gap
2- Service For the Departed

   The Gap in the New Apostolic church is the teaching that after the death of the last of the original apostles, salvation was not possible because God had given this commission to baptize, make disciples, dispense the Holy Spirit and forgive sins to the apostles. The “Gap” signifies the time period from then until the re-institution of this special apostolic ministry in 1830 where the New Apostolic Church traces its beginnings in Germany.  It was actually a break from the Catholic Apostolic church.

   The Service for the Departed in the New Apostolic Church is a teaching that first offers a second chance for salvation for the souls of those who have departed. They offer as a start and reason for this service the passages in 1 Peter 3:19-20 that they claim show Jesus preaching the gospel to departed souls.

  The New Apostolic publication Our Family Vol.. 42 No. 1 states that the practice happened as early as 1870 for the dispensing of the Holy Spirit to people who were dead. Holy Communion was performed for the dead in 1886 and finally the Chief Apostle Bischoff officially instituted the services in the early 1950’s. During these services, now held three times a year, they believe that God gives the Chief Apostle the “keys” to open the” realms” where the departed are and to offer salvation and communion to these souls.  This is what the New Apostolic Church of North America says in regards to the scriptural basis for the Service for the Departed:

  The doctrine of Service for the Departed is based on the teaching of Jesus Christ and His Apostles.  The most powerful proof that souls in eternity can be helped is that Jesus Christ entered eternity, immediately after His victory on the cross, to preach the gospel to those who were in captivity there.  “For this reason the gospel was preached also to those that are dead, that they might be judged according to men in the flesh, but live according to God in the spirit.”  (See 1 Peter 3:19,20 and 4: 6)  That Jesus Christ would preach the gospel to these souls is demonstration of His longing to minister to them and proof that they can be helped.  This was the first time that service was rendered to the departed.

  Scripture tells us that Jesus Christ is “Lord of both the dead and the living.” (See Romans 14:9)  He would that all would be saved (See 1 Timothy 2:4).  The souls in eternity are part of that “all”.  He told His disciples, “Most assuredly I say to you, the houris coming and now is, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God; and those who hear will live.” (John 5:25)  Ministering to these souls in spiritual misery and captivity is perfectly consistent with the nature and intention of Jesus Christ.  He wants to minister to all souls. He has proven that He can.

  The Apostles of Jesus Christ continue this ministry today. It was the commission of Christ that His Apostles continue in all of the works which He began.  In the Service for the Departed, the sacraments of the church are dispensed to living proxies for the blessing and benefit of the departed.  The faithful in the world wide congregations pray and intercede for these departed souls that they are able to find grace. There is a great outpouring of compassion and invitation from the living in favor of the departed.  Again, this is perfectly within the mind and spirit of Jesus Christ.

  We understand that there are many indiscernible mysteries regarding eternity. But there are certain truths to which we hold. We believe that eternity is not simply divided between heaven and hell; that good people go to heaven and bad people go to hell.  Can mankind really be divided that simplistically?  Rather, eternity is comprised of many realms.  Souls enter those realms, upon their physical death, depending on the condition / development of their soul.  Jesus Christ gives us an insight into eternity with His explanation of the state of Lazarus and the rich man in eternity.  They find themselves in very different realms. The rich man is in torment.  Lazarus is in fellowship with Abraham. Lazarus is not in heaven.  We consider heaven to be that place, prepared by Jesus Christ, where we can be forever together with Him (See John 14:1-3).This text from John provides further illumination of eternity in that, besides this place that Jesus is preparing, there are many other mansions (realms)in the Father’s house.  Revelation also affords us glimpses into eternity where we see different realms and various spiritual conditions revealed (See Revelation 6:9-11).  Even the Old Testament gives us a hint of the diversity of eternity’s realms. Commenting on the death of Moses and Aaron, we read that Moses was gathered to his people and Aaron to his people (See Deut. 32:50).  On first consideration we would say that each was gathered to their own family members in eternity until we consider that Moses and Aaron were of the same family, they were brothers.  Could it mean that both were gathered to their own spiritual kind?

  Our celebration of Service for the Departed is in no way contradictory to Old Testament prohibitions against spiritualism and calling up the dead (See Deuteronomy 18:10,11).  There is a tremendous difference between necromancy and ministering to souls in eternity.  Jesus did not defy biblical prohibition when He went into eternity to minister to souls or when He called Lazarus out of the tomb.  These were not acts of darkness or superstition but rather acts of love and compassion.  It is love and compassion that motivates us in the Service for the Departed.  Souls in eternity need to receive the treasures of Jesus Christ.  Their condition is not hopeless.  They are not beyond the loving reach of the Lord. He began this ministering in eternity.  The Apostles of Christ and believing souls continue it. “Holy Baptism with water is part of the spiritual rebirth and a prerequisite for receiving the Holy Spirit”.

Conclusion:

  The New Apostolic Church teaches that salvation is granted to those who follow Christ’s teachings through His ordained apostles. These teachings are of infant baptism and later, Holy Sealing by a New Apostolic Apostle. Then one must strive to be worthy and that would include following and belief in the New Apostolic Church creed. Only through the New Apostolic Church can these requirements be met because they alone have the true apostles and thus the true church. the New Apostolic church teaches that they are God’s mouthpiece on earth today. The Bible is not considered infallible and inerrant and the Bible they use includes the Apocrypha and the books of Ezra III and Ezra IV. The Bible is correctly interpreted only through the living apostles that make this otherwise dead historical book alive. God may make changes or ordinations that differ with the Bible through His apostles. It is common within this group to have generations of followers and one is often “born” into the church in a sense.

    The following is a recent quote from New Apostolic District Apostle Latorcai who assisted the Chief Apostle Richard Fehr in a service recently held in New York on December 15, 2002.

  District Apostle Latorcai: “Here the absolute truth, Godly truth, is spoken at the altar of our heavenly Father. There’s NOWHERE else in this world or heaven or anywhere else where this altar is established and this absolute Godly truth is spoken to us, and when we accept this Godly truth, it will make us free.”

  Further District Apostle Latorcai says:

  “I have thought, maybe I shouldn’t say it, but I’m going to say it. If the truth cannot be spoken anymore, brothers and sisters, from this altar, and not accepted by us as God’s children in this wonderful family…maybe I shouldn’t make this statement but I’m going to make it anyway… then it is no longer God’s word. It might as well be anywhere else. That is Godly truth. Yes, sometimes it hurts, but, when we accept it, then it shall make us free.”

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R E T R I B U T I O N

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The Bible

§  The wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23).

§  Those who sleep in the dust . . . shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame, and everlasting contempt (Daniel 12:2).

§  And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment (Hebrews 9:27).

§  And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God. . . . And the dead were judged out of those things . . .written in the books, according to their works (Revelation 20:12).

§  The Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven . . . in flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel. . . ; who shall be punished with everlasting destruction (2 Thessalonians 1:7-10).

§  If your foot offend you, cut it off; it is better for you to enter lame into life than, having two feet, to be cast into hell, into the fire that never shall be quenched (Mark 9:45).

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New Apostolic Church

    The New Apostolic Church’s teaching on retribution is not very clear though they believe all are sinners and in need of continual forgiveness and that even those that die in their sins without accepting Christ will be given another opportunity. Retribution oftentimes within the New Apostolic church is spoken of in terms of retribution for not being faithful to the New Apostolic church and its Apostles.  In fact in the booklet Questions and Answers Concerning the New Apostolic Faith(1995) question number 225 regarding leaving the New Apostolic Church is “the falling away from the living faith”.  This being the greatest of all sins and some have taught in the past that this sin cannot be forgiven in this world or the one to come. Though not as common today, some New Apostolic youth are warned about the retribution that occurs from God, to those that skip the “Divine Services’.  Stories of car accidents or tragedy have been said to surely await those that missed the services without good reason.

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     These are words of retribution and New Apostolic church control by NAC District Apostle Krausin a letter to every New Apostolic family in the United States and Canadian 3-22-1989.  An excerpt:

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“ Why do we in the New Apostolic Church have forgiveness of sin,“ the celebration of the Holy Communion, and the participation in the coming of Christ? - In order that we be cleansed, forgiven, reconciled and that the inherited characteristics from our ancestors will be tamed and disengaged. Our heavenly Father certified this fact with the beautiful words… And their sins shall be remembered no more… If our heavenly Father is willing to act nobly toward us, then He expects the same of each and every one of us, His children, who are called for this Royal Highness and for this nobility.  He, who does not do this and goes to Holy Communion, participates in his own judgment, which is a very, very serious matter. If this is taken lightly and not followed, the Lord Jesus said… It would be better if they have never been born… What led the betrayer to a self-accusing end to the point that the committed suicide? He judged the man of God, Jesus, and had no right to do so.

A new Apostolic member, a so-called scholar for the Royal Highness that waits for him, has only one thing to fulfill and that is: TO DO WHAT HE IS TOLD. HE HAS ABSOLUTELY NOTHING TO SAY.

If God would permit His children, for whom the highest price is paid, to intervene with their own ideas, then the first step would be mass confusion, as we have it in this world today. We pray: Thy Will be done on earth as it is in Heaven. So all those in heaven have nothing to say: Only the Spirit of God decides what is to be done. The opposite of Democracy, which brought a mass confusion in our time it, is Autocracy. We looked it up in the dictionary and there the word Autocracy is described as the divine will This divine will reigns in the godly undertaking in our Church, and is protected by our Chief Apostle to the highest degree, which we support with all our life. The will of man is poison toward the will of God, and we have no room for poison in our Church.

To those who do not agree with the above, I can only say that the Lord Jesus congregated them into a group by themselves and he gave them a special name: He called them FOOLS.”

The Apostle Kraus had much more to say but the entire letter was a warning and a call to remain faithful to Jesus through the only way possible, through complete unquestioning obedience to the New Apostolic Church and its     leadership.

A brief statement of Faith from the New Apostolic Church

 in Sydney states the following

 The New Apostolic Church believes:

        - in the omnipotent God, who created the world and rules in eternity
      - that the soul is immortal that mankind possesses a free will, permitting them to decide for or
         against God
      - that God has made the means of salvation available to all mankind in the divine plan of redemption, which aims at saving fallen mankind
      - in God's incarnation in Jesus Christ, His Son
      - in the sacrificial death of the Son of God upon the cross, which enabled man to be reconciled with God
      - in Christ's resurrection and ascension and the mission on which He sent His Apostles, to preach the Gospel to all nations
      - that it is necessary to be endowed with the Holy Spirit by an Apostle in order to have fellowship with God, the Father and His Son
      - in the Second Coming of Christ at the First Resurrection, when He will take unto Himself & (John 14: 3) all those who have accepted His teaching that Jesus Christ will set up the Millennium, during which period the evil one will have no power over mankind, that all human beings on earth and in the beyond will be offered grace and redemption in the Last Judgment, at which those who did not have part in the First Resurrection will be judged according to their works and that the redeemed will enjoy everlasting fellowship with God.  

 

Quotations are from standard writings and leading teachers of the sects. Initials in parentheses are

abbreviations of aforementioned book and magazine titles. Scripture quotations are from the New Scofield Reference Bible(New York: Oxford University Press, 1967). Outline and statement summaries are a compilation from various reference works and authors.

Please see suggested readings.

FIRST and FOREMOST :

The Bible

ALSO:

• Ahmanson, John.  - Secret History.  Trans. Gleason     Archer.  Chicago:Moody, 1984

• Fraser, Gordon H. - Is Mormonism Christian? Rev. ed.

        Chicago: Moody, 1957, 1964, 1965, 1977.

• Geer, Thelma.  - Mormonism, Mama, and Me.  Chicago:   Moody, 1986.

• Hoekema, Anthony A  - The Four Major Cults.  Grand Rapids: Erdmann, 1963.

• Lewis, Gordon R. - Confronting the Cults.  Grand Rapids: Baker, 1966.

• Martin, Walter R. - Jehovah of' the Watchtower. Rev. ed. Chicago: Moody, 1953, 1974.

• Martin, Walter R.  - Kingdom of the Cults. Rev. ed.  Minneapolis: Bethany Fellowship, 1968.

• Petersen, William J. - Those Curious New Cults.  New Canaan, Conn.: Keats, 1973.

• Robertson, Irvine.  -What the Cults Believe.  Rev. ed.   Chicago: Moody, 1966, 1979.

• Tanner, Jerald and Sandra.  - The Changing World of Mormonism.

                    Chicago: Moody, 1980.

• Williams, J. L.  - Victor Paul Wierwille and The Way International.

                    Chicago: Moody, 1979.

• Zuck, Roy B.   - Open Letter to a Jehovah's Witness.  Chicago: Moody, 1986.  

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