What Is a Sect?

We have a handout that accompanies this sermon. Handouts help, guide in a sermon of this extent.

And this sermon comes from a question that the brethren in Argentina that we visited asked me to talk about. They have mentioned this time and time again. The pastor also from Chile that visits them mentioned that this is what the brethren there want us to speak about more than anything else. And it is about a spiritual timeline and history of God's true church, which has never been a sect. Now, with this outline, we're going to cover from the time of righteous Abel, who was the first member of God's church, all the way to the present and then to the time of Christ's coming.

In the world, we are regarded as a small denomination, not really taking much into account. But we should ask the question, who are part of the true church and who are sects of this world? A sect is a branch that separates from a main group. And the apostle Paul was accused of belonging to a sect. In other words, he separated and now it's a group called Christians. Notice what it says here in Acts chapter 24. And I've been working on this graph for quite a long time. I've mentioned it before, but I've updated it, added the scriptures that were needed. So this is a very upgraded and much more complete graph than I've ever done before. In Acts chapter 24 and verse 5, notice that the term sect is mentioned here. Acts 24 verse 5, Paul says he was in front here and he was being accused. The high priest and an orator named Tertullius, who was backing Judaism, spoke and said this about Paul. He says So people can call whatever group they want a sect. That doesn't mean it is true. As a matter of fact, at that time, it was Tertullius, the high priest, and others who had separated from the true church by denying Jesus Christ, their Savior, who came to his own and his own largely rejected him. And so actually, Paul was continuing in God's true way of life. And here was a group that had split from the true church who were now the Jews, the Judaism, those that rejected Christ. Notice in verse 14, Paul deals with being called part of a sect. It says here in verse 14, This is a key scripture because we're talking about God's original and true way of life. There is only one among all the religions of the world. And Paul is saying here, according to the way which they call a sect, so I worship the God of my fathers, believing all things which are written in the law and in the prophets. So Paul was not a member of a sect. He was a member of the true church called the way of God. Also, in chapter 28 of Acts, verse 22, Paul again uses this term. He says, But we desire to hear from you what you think for concerning this sect, what Paul's Christian church was called. We know that it is spoken against everywhere. So just because the world attacks it, just because the world thinks it's just a small group, that doesn't make it so. As we can see, by this example, it was Paul who was following the true way of life that God had revealed. The church is, quote, the pillar and ground of the truth. First Timothy 3.15. So a church is an assembly of people, and what defines whether you're part of the true church or whether you are a branch that has separated a sect? Well, it says here, it is the pillar and ground or support of the truth. There's only one truth, and that truth is in the Bible. And if you're following God's truths, you are part of God's church, and you are not a sect. You have not separated from the true way of life. In Luke 12, verse 32, Christ mentions here, I'll read this to you, Luke 12, verse 32.

When he addresses the church, he says, do not fear little flock, for it is your father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom. So it's not never going to be the majority on earth at all. It's going to be a tiny minority that would follow God's true way of life.

Also, it keeps the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus. What is the church described in Revelation? What are the two main characteristics of the true church? In Revelation 14, 12, it says, here is the patience of the saints. Here are those who keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus. So you can have the commandments of God and not be part of the true church.

Because you can keep the commandments of God, as the Jews do, but they reject Jesus Christ as a whole. So you need both keeping the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus. What he taught you have to follow. You have to believe in what Jesus taught. Now, there are people that teach about the faith of Jesus, but who do not keep the commandments of God. And they're on the opposite extreme. They are not part of the true church because they have left out the commandments of God. So you have to have the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus. Following, people have to have God's spirit to be guided by Jesus and keeping the commandments of God. So these are biblical definitions. I don't care what encyclopedias say about us or the internet or whatever else. These are God's standards. He defines what are the real terms of his church.

And so, as we glimpse the Old Testament history, we need to find the roots of God's true way of life and follow it. So the people in Missiones, Argentina, that's the big province, they were asking, please tell us about our roots. We keep the commandments of God. We have the faith of Jesus, but we don't know all the different facets in the past. People need to know where their roots come from. And so it tells us in Jeremiah 6, verse 16. Jeremiah 6, verse 16.

God tells Israel at that time what they should do. He says, stand in the ways and see and ask for the old paths where the good way is and walk in it. Then you will find rest for your souls, just as Christ said about His yoke is light, His way of life is light. But they said, we will not walk in it. So the ancient ways, that's what we're going to talk about today. The way of life that has continued through time and will continue until Christ's return. Now, so far we have God's definition of what His true way of life is, but we can deviate from it at any time. Nothing is guaranteed. Notice in Isaiah 8, verse 20. Another definition of what is being in God's true way of life. Isaiah 8, verse 20. It says, to the law and to the testimony, talking about God's laws and all of the scriptures that give the testimony of it. If they do not speak according to this word, if they don't speak about God's laws and the rest of scripture, it is because there is no light in them. That's not where the truth is. Truth illuminates the path. So you can have false light. You can have something that is counterfeit that people follow. They think it's the truth, but it isn't because they're not following these definitions of what God's way of life is all about. So we have two timelines in this graph. The first is the Old Testament timeline.

The groups above the timeline are not a sect and are the true church, who keep the commandments of God and keeping the commandments of God include the Sabbaths, the Holy Days, as Leviticus 23 points out about those laws of God, the food laws. Those have never been abolished. You can't show me one man or woman of God in the Bible who ate pork. That's all I need to know. Just one example of someone in the Bible that follows God and who eats pork. You can't find any example of that. And also tithing. That's part of what the commandment, thou shall not steal, includes not stealing what is God's. And so tithing is a biblical law, never been abolished. We don't see anybody in the New Testament who doesn't tithe. Now we have a lot about offerings taken up to help the saints and all of that. That was extra. That was what Paul was bringing up. But people paid their tithes. We don't have any place in the Bible where tithing is abolished. So keeping the commandments of God are going to have those four distinctives, those four characteristics, which are the primary signposts of where God's two churches today. So let's begin all the way in Genesis, where it talks about Abel in Matthew 23 verse 35. We have the account in Genesis, but here Abel's life is summed up in Matthew 23 verse 35.

It says, that on you may come all the righteous blood shed on the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah. And so this is the first person in the Bible called righteous. Adam and Eve were never called righteous. They never were converted. They died in their sins. They need to be resurrected along with everyone else there in the second resurrection that never received God's Spirit. They had the opportunity to take of the tree of life, but they didn't do it.

And so righteous Abel is the first. He is the first of God's way of life. He wasn't part of a sect. He, in that sense, inaugurated God's way of life on the earth. Then we have a righteous Enoch in Hebrews 11. We have all of these personages mentioned along with Abel. Let's go to Hebrews chapter 11. And brethren, this is an important subject because some people think, well, what are we? Does this little group among this ocean of religions and people?

No, we're not. I don't accept that one bit that we are a sect. According to the Bible, we are still following God's original way of life. Hebrews 11 and verse 5, it says, by faith Enoch was taken away so that he did not see death and was not found because God had taken him.

For before he was taken, he had this testimony that he pleased God. His life was an example of a person that was obedient, that had faith in God. He didn't rely on his own works. He knew there had to be a Savior that one day would come and die for his sins. And he had that faith that God was going to work things out. But he submitted to God and followed God faithfully. Notice the next one, Noah and his family.

In verse 7, by faith Noah, being divinely warned of things not yet seen, moved with godly fear, prepared the ark for the saving of his household by which he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness, which is according to faith. You see, righteousness and faith do not exclude each other, do not conflict. Following a way of God that you have faith, that God is going to be merciful to you, that he is our Savior.

But we have things that we should do. Just like Noah, he could say, well, that's kind of a tough shore to build an ark. Lord, let me just praise you all day and thank you. And let me just talk about you, but oh, please don't ask me to do something in your name. No, that was what Noah's shore and duty were, and he carried it out. We have our shore and duty. That's why we're here on the Sabbath. We're not here because we just had a choice and, well, I guess I could go and place boards or do something else, but oh, I'll just decide to come.

No, that's not the choice. If we are obedient, if we're a church that keeps God's commandments, we know not having a holy convocation when we can, not because of illness or something else, is breaking God's law.

It is a holy convocation. God expects us to be here unless there are mitigating circumstances that you can't control. You can be sick, you can be ill, you can have something happen that you can't, but the point is that God expects us to be faithful, just like Noah. He didn't say to Noah, well, just build it. If you get halfway done, that's good enough for us. Maybe your children will build the rest of it, or maybe it'll take 500 years to build this thing. No! Noah really put his heart. He says he moved with godly fear. I mean, he actually felt that, boy, I'd better do this and dedicate myself, because I'm serving God.

God deserves the best effort. Notice the next one was Abraham. Verse 8, Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to the place which he would receive as an inheritance, and he went out not knowing where he was going. So you see, all of these men showed. They walked by faith. They trusted in God. They obeyed God. They fully believed God was there, and he would help them through life, just as he does with us.

This past trip, we took a lot of planes. There was all kinds of climate differences. We went into the tropics, where there were all kinds of diseases. Yellow fever was getting to ravage that province in Argentina, and we just go by faith.

Well, this is what God expects us to do. We're going to do our best. We're going to take the precautions necessary, but we believe we have to do our part. God will do his part. We take a step. God takes a step. We don't take a step. God's not going to take a step for us. That's the way it is. Notice then we have Isaac talking about Isaac in verse 20. By faith, Isaac blessed Jacob, and Esau concerning things to come. Again, these people lived by faith.

They trusted in God. They were submissive to him. God could trust them to carry things out. That's part of faith. They were reliable. By faith, Jacob, when he was dying, blessed each of the sons of Joseph and worshiped, leaning on the top of his staff.

God said, Joseph, this is what I want you to do. And he did it. By faith, Joseph, that was Jacob, verse 22, by faith, Joseph, when he was dying, made mention of the departure of the children of Israel and gave instructions concerning his bones.

He was so filled with faith that he knew God was going to fulfill the promise to Abraham that Israel would one day come out and inherit that promised land. And he said, and I want you to bury my bones there because they trusted and believed in God.

Then after Joseph, we have Moses, verse 23, by faith, Moses, when he was born, was hidden three months by his parents because they saw he was a beautiful child. They risked their lives. And they were not afraid of the king's command. They just felt God is going to provide. He has a purpose here. We're being tested. And they were faithful.

Then you have Joshua. After Moses, the judges, we have a whole book in the Bible about those faithful people. David and a few other kings of Israel that were faithful. Then the prophets. And finally, closing the Old Testament with Ezra and Nehemiah, being able to raise up Jerusalem, preparing the way for the Messiah to later come. So, as you can see, this is God's original way of life. This was the church in the wilderness, as it mentions in Acts 7. This was God's people, always a minority, but who had those characteristics of obedience and faith in God. Now, below the timeline, we also have another group. These are sects from the Greek heresis, which is where we get the word heresy. These are the heretics. These are the ones that separate. They branch out from the true church. And apostasy means leaving or falling away from the truth. They left the commandments of God. So, who were the first ones? Adam and Eve. They did not follow God's way of life. We don't see anywhere that Adam and Eve repented and truly followed God's way. It was Abel, their son, who did so. Notice Romans 5.14, where all the trouble started. Romans 5, verse 14, it says, Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those who had not sinned according to the likeness of the transgression of Adam, people who died in ignorance. Adam, who is a type of him, who was to come. And so, Adam and Eve were the ones who transgressed. And basically, God left them out in the world. You begin your religions and your societies until Christ comes back. This is the origin of false teaching. They took of the tree of the science of good and evil. And there would be a mixture in religion and knowledge from that time hence.

And so, afterwards we have Cain and his way of life. People don't know it, but when you're born, you don't start in God's church unless your parents are in the church. And we do have some here that are second generation, even third generation. They were born into God's true way of life. But the great majority are born in the way of Cain, as it says here in Jude, verse 11.

Jude, verse 11, there's only one chapter in Jude. It says, Woe to them, for they have gone in the way of Cain. Just like there's a way of Abel, of righteousness, there is a way of Cain, of breaking God's commandments. I know it shocked me at the age of 17 that I had been breaking all of God's commandments. And I was a Christian, traditional church keeper as a Catholic. And I didn't become aware that I had broken God's commandments until I came across the truth. I was breaking the Sabbath in my ignorance. I was breaking God's holy days. I was celebrating Christmas. I was following the way of Cain and false religion. I had been baptized as an infant. That baptism was invalid. No one in the Bible is baptized as an infant. You have to count the cost. And it says in Luke 14, 26, and on, you have to know what sin is and repent of it with a mature mind. I had broken all the commandments, and I was supposedly a Christian. That shocked me so much. It drove me to never again compromise with God's truths and laws. And so Cain and his way of life is the way 99 percent of humanity has followed in their ignorance. Satan as he who deceives the whole world. Revelation 12, 9. The majority of the pre-flood world, there were many religions at that time. Human beings are religious creatures, even way out there in the jungle in Africa. They still have people that believe in some type of religion. Did you know that they have never found a tribe that were atheists? That's some modern contraption of human beings intellectualizing away God. But in all of these religions of the world, the primitive people have always followed. And so they did before the flood. And guess what? They all were corrupted and God had to pull the plug on society. It was all rotten except for Noah and his family. And then Nimrod resurrects after the flood. Cain's way with the Tower of Babel and spreading of the false religions around the earth. They all come from a knowledge of the original way of life, but perverted and changed through culture and language. Then you have the pagan religions of this world that spread throughout the world. The majority of the first generation of Israelites, they did not have faith. And they apostatized. Solomon and the majority of the kings of Israel were not faithful. They followed the false gods around Israel, around the nations there. The house of Israel led into captivity because they had apostatized, they had left the commandments of God. And the house of Judah also is taken in captivity. Many Jews apostatized at that time. Let's read 2 Kings 17 to see. Same definition of the Bible. You have to have the commandments of God and the faith in God. 2 Kings 17 verse 11.

It says about the Israelites, there they burned incense on all the high places. These were their steeples and churches of that time built on high hills like the nations whom the Lord had carried away before them. And they did wicked things to provoke the Lord to anger. For they served idols of which the Lord has said to them, you shall not do this thing. Yet the Lord testified against Israel and against Judah by all his prophets who've taught the true way of life. Every seer saying, turn from your evil ways and what? And keep my commandments and my statutes according to all the law which I commanded your fathers and which I sent to you by my servants the prophets. Nevertheless, they would not hear but stiffen their necks like the necks of their fathers who did not believe in the Lord their God. And people can go their own ways. How many people I've seen? Even the children becoming stiff-necked and just say, I'm gonna follow my way. And it's sad, but that happened in Israel. Continuing on, it says, verse 15, and they rejected his statutes and his covenant that he had made with their fathers and his testimonies which he had testified against them. They followed idols, became idolaters. That's basically worshipping society and its way of life and its false gods. And went after the nations who were all around them concerning whom the Lord had charged them that they should not do like them. Don't copy the world and society. I tell you, after you've been gone on a trip and basically haven't been able to keep up with the news or anything, and then you come back and you see what's going on and the way people are dressed and the way the craziness of culture and society and just getting weaker and weaker as far as just watering down things, it's just becoming like this period of time. Verse 16, so they left all the commandments of the Lord their God, made for themselves a molded image, and two calves made a wooden image and worshipped all the host of heaven and served Baal. And they caused their sons and daughters to pass through the fire, practiced witchcraft and soothed, saying, and sold themselves to do evil in the sight of the Lord, to provoke him to anger. Therefore the Lord was very angry with Israel and removed them from his sight. There was none left but the tribe of Judah alone. And also Judah did not keep the commandments of the Lord their God, but walked in the statutes of Israel, which they made, and the Lord rejected all the descendants of Israel, afflicted them, and delivered them into the hand of plunderers, till yet cast them from his sight. And so that has been the history, how these sects are formed. Even Israel at that time actually formed sects, branches. Well, do you want to follow Moloch? Or do you want to follow Asherah? Or all of these false gods, Baal? Those are sects of society. That's why Christmas and all of these other things are based on teachings of sex, of these false branches. Continuing on, we see now the New Testament history.

God's people who keep the commandments and have the testimony of Jesus, second definition in Revelation about the church, Revelation 1217, who keeps the commandments of God and have the testimony. Jesus Christ is testifying. These truly are following my teachings and my Father's teachings. So who are the ones above this timeline who are part of God's church? First, John the Baptist, and then Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ taught that the narrow way of life is the one that few would follow. This wasn't a popular church people would face and encounter. Matthew 7, verse 14.

It says, Because narrow is the gate, and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it. Christ knew the narrow way. God's only truth would be the one that would be correct. Then you have the apostles and the church. They kept the commandments of God. They had the faith of Jesus. So they are part of the true church and God's way of life. Then in the second century, we know there were faithful men of God like Polycarp, Papayas, and Polycrates. These men followed God's way of life. They kept the Sabbath. They kept the Passover, the feasts. They kept the commandments of God. Most of their writings were destroyed. You only have small remnants of what they wrote because it was going to go against what the big popular church was teaching at the time. Now, they couldn't completely cover up these men because they were prominent, but they destroyed most of their writings. So I'd say 90% of all the writings in the first three centuries that we have are false teachings, and only about 10% are true teachings which have not been covered over. Then in the third, fourth, second, third, fourth century, you have the church called the Nazarenes. These kept the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus. They were hounded almost to extinction during those centuries. We have a Constantine of Mananali in the 650s, a leader of the Polysians, as they would be called by their enemies. These were also Sabbath keepers, and they were persecuted mercilessly. Some Polysians and Bogomils keep the Sabbath. We see that through history.

The book, The Key of Truth, is about the only surviving literature of the Polysians back in the ninth century. And by the way, that's online. If you ever, you can download the PDF of the book, The Key of Truth, and that's about the Polysians back in the ninth century. And there, you just see constantly the teaching of keeping the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus. They did not follow all the idolatrous teachings, the worship of images, the infant baptism. These were part of God's true church during that Middle Ages. Then it goes on. Peter the Breeze, Peter Waldo, this is in the 1100s, and some Anabaptists, they keep the Sabbath from also the literature at that time. Peter Waldo insisted on keeping all of the commandments of God.

Then around 1664, Stephen Mumford brings the Sabbath to the New World. He was based in England. It was called the Baptist Church of God Seventh Day. And he brings the Sabbath to the New World. Then in the 19th century, you have the Church of God Seventh Day, keeping the Sabbath and the commandments of God. Then in the 20th century, we have the Worldwide Church of God until 1995. And others as well, we're not just going to say it was only the Worldwide Church of God that kept the commandments and the faith of Jesus, but they became the principal one. The Church of God Seventh Day still exists up to this time. So the Worldwide Church of God was not the only one, and we have certainly seen brethren like the ones in Argentina and Misiones that did not come through the Worldwide Church of God. They did receive the Plain Truth in Spanish, and that influenced them. They kept the Sabbath. They weren't a worldly church. They did not keep the feast days. And it was through receiving the Plain Truth back in the 1970s. We had one of the patriarchs at that place, and he brought this whole stack of the old Spanish Plain Truth magazines. And there they realized they should keep the Holy Days, and they did. And that's why now they're close to becoming part of the United Church of God as well. And then afterwards you have the United Church of God and other COGs, Church of God groups. They're maintaining the true faith. And through this all, we see in Revelation where God pauses before he talks about the return of Christ, and he traces this description through seven churches about how they would get closer and closer to the end time. In one of the Bible studies I gave here on Revelation, you can look it up, Revelation 2 and 3, where you have five different evidences that this is an era that each one of them did progress to the time of Laodicea, where Christ says, I am at the door. In other words, I'm ready to come in at this time. And of course these were small local congregations. They didn't have the importance. That was just a mail route of those churches at that time and around Ephesus that John pastored. But there were dozens and dozens of other churches at that time, and much bigger, which Christ never addresses. But he wanted to describe the history of the church in a way that a revelation would not be destroyed because the enemies of the church would not be able to decipher many of these truths. And so we go through the Ephesian era, the Smyrna, Pergamos, Thyatira era, Sardis era, Philadelphia era, and we don't know when that Laodicean era begins before Christ comes back.

Is it three and a half years before that, when the church flees, that that's when the group is going to be raised? Or is it before? Certainly the world is getting more liberal, more loose on its morality, and that affects the church. It affects the youth of the church. And so Christ said, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth? People that really still are keeping that original faith. So before we end, let's go here below the timeline, sects that were formed during the New Testament period and up to this day.

So in the New Testament, the majority of the Jews during Christ's time rejected Christ and left the truth. So you're not going to find God's true way of life in Judaism. At one time, they did have it, but they chose to reject Jesus Christ, the teachings of the New Testament. And if you go into a synagogue and you say, I want to follow this church, but I want to believe in Christ, they won't allow it. You have to reject Christ as the Messiah in order to become a practicing Jew. Then at the end of the first century, much of the church apostatizes at that time with the death of the apostles. False teachers come in. We see just about all of the last epistles warning people about these false teachers and turning the grace of God into la sensa-ness. It was a big problem, the mixture of false with truth. Then the formation of the Roman church and other sects, especially in the second century, they basically became a majority, imposed their will, and especially at the Nicene Council at 325 AD, consolidates the Catholic Church as the church of the Roman Empire. In the sign of Laodicea, the Rule 29 prohibits Sabbath keeping. That was around 364 AD. You can read it just to counsel and how the Canon 29 says people that are Christians should not keep the Sabbath day. It says you will be anathema, which means you are going to be branded a heretic, and you will die within the Roman Empire.

So the Dark Ages begins for the true church, persecuted by the Catholic Church, especially from 325 to 1585. That whole period of the Dark Ages, the Middle Ages, the false church rides a European beast, Pope and Emperor join up, form an alliance, and persecute any other Christian religion all the way to burning at the stake.

Many apostatized due to the fierce persecution. There it wasn't an option. If you were keeping the Sabbath, your life was in jeopardy.

The Protestant movement back in the 1500s with Martin Luther divides the Catholic Church into two groups, Catholics on one side, Protestants in another, and many of the Waldensians who kept the Sabbath accepted Protestantism and left the Sabbath for Sunday. So they became a sect.

Many of the Anabaptists adopt Sunday at that time as well. So those that rebaptize, which is a true teaching that if you've been baptized when you were an infant, you need to be rebaptized when you're an adult. But they also adopt Sunday, follow Protestantism. So for the Church, it wasn't just the Catholic Church that was the danger, it was Protestantism. And so even up to this day, Protestantism is a magnet to draw people out of the Church. Then many Baptists ever adopt the Trinity. So they start going off from the truth. And from 1995 on, the majority of the worldwide Church of God reject biblical truths taught by Herbert W. Armstrong, and they become a sect according to their biblical definitions. In 1 John chapter 2, here we have another biblical definition of what is the true Church. 1 John chapter 2 verses 3 through 5. It says, now by this we know that we know Him. Here it's identifying who are the true followers of Jesus Christ that truly know Him. If we keep His commandments, He who says, I know Him and does not keep His commandments is a liar and the truth is not in Him. Now why in the world would the Apostle John mention here that a Christian is threatened to not keep the commandments if that didn't really exist? It did exist. So he's saying, brethren, don't be fooled.

Verse 4, he who says, I know Him, I accept Jesus as my Savior, yes, I follow Him, and does not keep His commandments is a liar and the truth is not in Him. That's not where God's true Church is and His original way of life. But whoever keeps His word, talking here, God's word, the Bible, truly the love of God is perfected in Him. By this we know that we are in Him, that we are following Him, that the faith of Jesus lives in us. And in verse 21, John goes on to say, I have not written to you because you do not know the truth, but because you know it and that no lie is of the truth. So anything that is taught that is outside of the Bible about religious subjects is a lie. Might be a pretty lie, might be eloquent, it might be nice, it might be sugary, it might be sentimental, it might have a lot of appeal, but it's still a lie. That's why we don't follow it in the Church. And finally, after 1995, more apostatized through the false teachings of successors in W.C.G. So people are led and unfortunately they themselves have been deceived. Again, God's Holy Spirit is our guide. And so to answer the question, who is a sect? It is not the powerful and popular and rich churches of this world that are the truth. No, God's way of life is always the same, keeping the commandments of God, having the faith of Jesus, the small flock, the small remnant. As we met there in northern Argentina, a group that is keeping all of these basic commandments. They keep the Sabbath, they keep the Holy Days, they keep the food laws, and they keep tithing, and they've come to more understanding about this. And it's so exciting to see that first love that they have. So again, let's not be judgmental. We know God is the one that has the last word, and let's pray for those that God illuminates them, gives them light to know the truth from error. So brethren, according to the biblical definition, we are certainly not a sect. This is a good graph to reduce in a photocopy and put it in the back of your Bible.