What is the Shepherd's Chapel?

So, what is the Shepherd's Chapel? The Shepherd's Chapel is an independent church in Gravatt, Arkansas which is the product of a man by the name of Arnold Murray. Arnold Murray is an avid Bible teacher and he has a radio and television ministry that is found in over 200 TV stations.

The Denial of the Trinity and Modalism

However, what Arnold Murray teaches in many areas of theology is his own brand of biblical interpretation. In fact, it is not Christian at all in at least one very important essential doctrine. That is, he denies the doctrine of the Trinity.

Now, this is very, very serious. Instead, Arnold Murray teaches the heresy known as modalism, that God is one person who takes three forms, where the Father became the Son or took the office of the Son and the office of the Holy Spirit.

And this, of course, depends on the biblical situation. Also, 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 who were the Lost Ten Tribes.

Christian Identity, Racism, and Interracial Marriage

This later doctrine is often used by various white supremacy militia groups to support their racist ideologies. It doesn't mean he does, but I'm just saying this is one of the things that they use and he does teach it.

Now, it is no surprise, therefore, to find out that Shepherd's Chapel is against interracial marriages because of that teaching of the Christian Identity Movement. Now, Mr. Murray goes through the Bible, verse by verse, adding his own interpretations using the Strong's Concordance, which is a dictionary kind of a thing that you look at Greek and Hebrew words, and he will use this to try and read into the text his ideas and his doctrines of what the text is actually saying.

Now, if you don't understand God's Word, and if you don't have very much understanding or training in biblical words, then you can be easily swayed by this pseudo-logic and false ideas that he would be teaching.

Why Matt Slick Recommends Avoiding Shepherd's Chapel

So, we just say, you know, stay away from this guy. He's not good stuff. Now, he may sound knowledgeable, and people, therefore, think he is, but he really isn't. Arnold Murray is often very condescending on his television show as well.

He generally berates people who disagree with him and exposes his errors. He sometimes displays annoyance and condemnation with critics who disagree with his particular doctrines such as the Serpent Seed teaching, which says that Eve had sexual relations with Satan and produced Cain, and Cain's descendants, which are the offspring of Satan, are called the Kenites, and they're in the world today working against God.

I mean, this is what he teaches, but it's not biblical. One of the things I have noticed, though, when dealing with people who follow Murray, I call them Murrayites, one of the things I've noticed is that they're very often rude, just as rude and condescending as he is.

When I get an email here at CARM sometimes, within a sentence or two, I'll say to myself, that person's from the Murrays, he's a Murrayite, or she's a Murrayite, or they listen to Shepherd's Chapel, and then soon enough, I'll find out they'll defend Arnold Murray.

Well, why? How do I know so quickly? Because they're so rude and condescending right away. They are like the one they follow. They like him. They are like him. They do what he does. He often says on the TV that people are deceivers and idiots and losers, and these are the kind of words that are applied to me and other people as well.

So, anyway, I've received lots of emails from his followers who are like this. I guess, apparently, his style is rubbing off on them. Now, I'd also like to add that obtaining specific information from Shepherd's Chapel is really kind of difficult.

Shepherd's Chapel's Doctrinal Vagueness and Final Warning

See, I've gleaned as much as I could from their website, from reading other websites about Shepherd's Chapel, and from going over the newsletters that Arnold Murray has put out. Now, the statement of faith at Shepherd'sChapel .com is woefully lacking in any definitive doctrinal descriptions of the Godhead, of Jesus, His physical resurrection, baptism, and many other areas of theological importance.

I believe it is this way on his website for the purpose of hiding what he really does teach. I do not believe he wants to be too specific because his aberrant teachings will be made known. Now, we do have lists of Shepherd's Chapel's teachings, another video, and on the Karm .org website, you know, what does Shepherd's Chapel teach, and I would just urge you to check them out and see what he really says.

And finally, I want to say this, I strongly recommend that Christians and non-Christians alike stay away from this false teacher. Thank you.