Must a preacher teach from the Greek and Hebrew text?
Question:
I would like you to answer a question for me. There's a person here in our city teaching from his basement or another room he has rented. He teaches Greek and Hebrew lessons and he also appears on TV. This person teaches that if your pastor isn't teaching from the Greek or Hebrew Bible, then your pastor is a false prophet.
He also teaches predestination, that is you do not have a choice in this life about salvation. He calls it OSAS (once saved, always saved). He teaches that God has chosen some to go to heaven and others to go to hell, and you cannot change your destiny. Also, if someone comes down with an affliction, they must die with it unless God has already decided they will be healed. He does not believe we have a choice to be saved or lost. It is already decided. It's not up to us, but God.
He says that women aren't called to the ministry. It is a lie from the devil.
He teaches that baptism isn't necessary. He says it's not of God but from the devil.
He doesn't believe in speaking in tongues. He says it's from the devil.
Please, can you give me some answers?
Answer:
I have a question for you: If a person spoke and read Russian, does that mean he is smarter than you? In other words, just because someone is a skilled linguist, it doesn't necessarily follow that he knows more about the Bible than you or I.
Knowing Greek and Hebrew are useful tools for a preacher. Subtle nuances of phrases are sometimes lost when one language is translated into another. However, it doesn't mean a person cannot understand the Bible if he doesn't know Greek and Hebrew. The translations we have are done by highly skilled linguists. (I suspect these linguists are far better at the languages than this particular gentleman.) We can use the translations without qualms. Do they contain mistakes? I won't be surprised, most works of men have mistakes. However, we have multiple translations done by different people at different times. We can compare the various translations. Where there is a disagreement we can take the many reference books available and read up on the differences. There are lexicons to give us the original Greek, Hebrew, or Aramaic words, There are dictionaries to give us the definitions and insight into the contexts that vary a word's meaning. There are commentaries to read containing various scholar's research into a passage. Even though I might not be able to read Greek and Hebrew, I can, with tools written in my native language, find a deep understanding of most passages.
What I suspect is that this gentleman doesn't really want to defend his beliefs. Thus, he hides behind language walls to repel any who might question his teachings.
Looking through the list of teachings you have given, there looks like there are a few that might be correct and several that are not found in the Bible. Since I have written much on these topics in the past, instead of repeating them here, I'll give you links to material that you can read through at your leisure.
