This information has been borrowed from John C. Egerdahl’s book, The Bible Versus Dispensationalism, found on pages 254-256.
Seventh Day Adventism was enhanced by Ellen G. White. She was converted to Adventism in 1842 at the age of fifteen. Adventists today hold her as their prophet equal to those of the Bible. She had over two thousand visions, on which they base their beliefs. One of her doctrines was that Christ had a sinful fallen nature.
Jehovah’s Witnesses was started by Charles Russell (1852-1916). Russell was the founder of the International Bible Students Association. Russellites have now split off and formed the Jehovah’s Witnesses. They deny Christ’s deity.
Mormonism was started by Joseph Smith in 1830. Mormons claim Joseph Smith was a prophet equal to Christ. Under the leadership of Brigham Young, in 1847 the Mormons settled in Utah. They are now known as The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Mormons deny the deity of Christ.
Christian Science was started by Mary Baker Eddy in 1866. Eddy was the author of Christian Science. She went to Europe to study under George W. F. Hegel and came up with the view that sin was not a reality. She stated that the blood of Christ was no more efficacious to cleanse sin when it was shed on the cross then when it was flowing in His veins (but see Hebrews 9:22).
Darwinism was begun by Charles Darwin (1809-1882), an English naturalist. Darwin wrote the Origin of Species, published in 1859, which spawned the theory of evolution. In 1835, Darwin went to the Galapagos Islands and came up with the concept that all species of plants and animals developed from earlier forms of hereditary transmission of slight variations in successive generations. Out of this arose “the survival of the fittest” theory.
Marxism (or Communism) was started by Karl Marx (1818-1883). Communism, or religious atheism, arose as Dialectic Materialism. Marx wrote The Communist Manifesto in 1848 and Das Kapital in 1867. Marx, born of Jewish parents in Rhenish, Prussia, was a German philosopher of history. His coworker was Freidrich Engels. Marx was strongly influenced by George W. F. Hegel. Most early communist movements were in religion, based on a literal interpretation of Scripture (Encyclopedia Britannica). At age twenty-five, Marx said, “Religion is the opiate of the people.” Marx did not find the answer to his communist movement in religion but in a system of social organization based on common property. In 1824, his father, a lawyer, embraced Christianity, and all the members of his family were baptized Protestant.
Two proponents of Communism were Vladamir Lenin (1870-1924) and Joseph Stalin (1879-1953). Lenin was brought up in the Russian Orthodox Faith, but at the age of sixteen, he ceased to believe in God. Under his leadership, the Bolsheviks (originally a radical branch of the Socialist Democratic Party in Russia) came into power in 1917 and formed the Communist Party. Stalin was later premier and marshal of the Soviet Union.
Hegelian Philosophy was begun by George Hegel (1770-1831). Hegel was a prophet of Absolute Idealism, which affirmed that “only the rational is real.” In his view, the irrational, so called sin and evil, has no true reality. Mary Baker Eddy received this teaching.
Psychoanalysis was developed by Sigmund Freud (1856-1939). Freud, who was Jewish, fathered a modern-day psychology of psychoanalysis that left God out of the picture of man’s make-up.
The “God Is Dead” theory, introduced by Friedrick Nietszche (1844-1900), stated that man could perfect himself through forcible self-assertion.
The Modern Liturgical Revival (1850) was a movement that sought to take away individual liberty and experience before God.
Existentialism was developed by Fyodor Dostoevsky (1821-1881). There are many aspects to existentialism. In it, man’s ideas, experiences, and formulations become determinative.
Dispensationalism was officially introduced into Christianity in 1830. Authors of this theory dissect God’s Word into seven dispensations, and supposedly interpret the Bible literally. They advocate two and three comings of Christ instead of one.
In Modern Humanism, the emphasis is on the secular, centered on human interests rather than on natural interest and religion. Self-realization comes through reason. Proponents of Modern Humanism reject the supernatural.
Unitarianism was developed by William Channing (1819-?). Channing said Christ was a being distinct from the one God and thus did not have the same status as God.