Shepherd's Chapel is an independent Church in Gravette, Ark, which is the product of the gentleman by the name of Arnold Murray. Arnold Murray is an avid Bible teacher with a radio and television ministry found on over 200 TV stations. However, what Arnold Murray teaches in many areas of theology is his own brand of Christianity. In fact, it is not Christian at all in at least one very important essential: he denies the doctrine of the Trinity. This is a serious error for him as it is a denial of the true and living God. Murray teaches the heresy known as modalism, that God is one person who takes three forms: the Father who became the Son who became the Holy Spirit. Also, the Shepherd's Chapel teaches what is called the Christian Identity movement. This is the belief that the British and, therefore, the Americans and Canadians, are the true descendants of the ancient Israelites, the 10 lost tribes. This later doctrine is very often used by militia groups to support racist ideologies. It is no surprise, therefore, to find that the Shepherd's Chapel s against interracial marriages. I am not here saying that the Shepherd's Chapel teaches racism, but their denial of interracial marriage is unbiblical.
Mr. Murray goes through the Bible verse by verse adding his own interpretations and using the Strong's concordance to support his position. Those who do not understand God's word, and those who have very little biblical training are easily swayed by the pseudo logic and Greek word explanations Murray uses to support his positions.
One comment that is very revealing is that the people who follow Murray are very often just as rude and condescending as he is. They, like their teacher, regularly call others liars, deceivers, idiots, losers, etc. Murray is full of quick, condescending remarks about anyone who disagrees with him. Unfortunately, it is rubbing off on his followers and this is particularly troublesome since there is a recording of him pulling a gun on someone who disagreed with him in a teaching setting.
I would like to add that obtaining specific information from Shepard's Chapel is very difficult. I have gleaned as much as I could from their website, from reading other web sites about Shepherd's Chapel, and from going over the newsletters from Arnold Murray. The statement of faith on their web site is not very descriptive and I think it is this way on purpose.
A list of the Shepherds Chapel teachings is most revealing. I strongly recommend that Christians and non-Christians alike stay away from this pseudo-Christian group.
