Strange Doctrines

-

"As I urged you upon my departure to Macedonia, remain on at Ephesus so that you may instruct certain men not to teach strange doctrines."

- 1 Tim. 1:4 (NASB)


  I am a teacher. I have had the wonderful privilege of conducting kids crusades, serving in youth pastoral roles, associate pastoral roles, as a church planter, and a pastor. Currently I have the privilege of serving a great church in rural Texas. In addition, I am pursuing my Ph.D in theology, and I write Sunday School curriculum and teach in a school of ministry within the fellowship that I serve. In all these things, teaching the Word of God is my passion and what I do best. Why am I giving you my resumé? Years ago my wife and I planted a church in Texas. The same message that Paul was giving to Timothy was one that the Holy Spirit implanted upon my heart. Although I pastor another location now, the calling has not changed. I am called to teach sound biblical doctrine.

   The verse above is the one that the Holy Spirit used to confirm His plans for us planting a church. Paul's instruction to Timothy is relatively simple: instruct certain men not to teach strange doctrines. The Greek term that the NASB renders as "strange" means, quite literally, a perversion of truth that is to be rejected. The Gospel message was being perverted by those within the church community who were teaching a false doctrine. The Word of God is the basis for all truth in spiritual matters. However, all people do not see the same thing when they look at Scripture. I have said for years that, at least in biblical settings, a half-truth is worse than an outright lie. The reason is simple: An outright lie is much easier to recognize than a perversion that is coated in truth. A half-truth has just enough truth in it to be believable, but enough lie to condemn the soul who swallows it.

 We now live in a world of WebMD, Facebook, and Wikipedia. (No, I am not receiving any endorsements for this free "advertising") This technology gives us access to limitless information and the (relative) freedom to say anything we want. In my estimation this is a double-edged sword. Just because person X states some position does not mean that person Y is uninformed or ignorant, and yet this is precisely how social media and the internet work in general. Any person, myself included, can spout off any idea and it is taken as fact. Let's be honest friends, without naming names, there is plenty of strange doctrine that is taught as truth under the disguise of Christianity. Paul wrote,"But even if we, or an angel from heaven, should preach to you a gospel contrary to what we have preached to you, he is to be accursed!" (Gal 1:8, NASB) Those are tough words, but I did not write them. 

   I believe that we are going to see more and more "strange" doctrines come down the pipe. I realize that there are many who want "strange doctrines" for they feed their pride, sooth their evil spirits, or remove responsibility for their actions. For those of us who have a genuine heart for God, the only way we will be able to discern the truth from the lie is to be so familiar with he truth that the lie stands out like a sore thumb. In 2016, let's make it our collective determination to line up every teaching, sermon, seminar, model, and idea against the Word of God. 



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Don't Waste Your Pain

-
Image
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction... - 2 Corinthians 1:3-9    Affliction (pain and suffering) is an inevitable, unavoidable, and repeatable part of life. None of us are exempt. While  we would all like to avoid affliction, the truth is that pain and affliction  serve a greater purpose , whether it comes from our own choices, the ordinary course of life, an attack of spiritual forces, or from God Himself.  Richard Cecil is noted as saying, "God's way of answering the Christian's prayer for more patience, experience, hope, and love often is to put him into the furnace of affliction.” Even  though we cannot avoid affliction, we can use it for the glory of God. That’s right. Your pain can be used to glorify God. How do we do this?    First, we need to learn to receive God's comfort. Much like in life, some folks are better at letting others "in" th
Read more

Dependent Upon God

-
Image
Now the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, "Tell the sons of Israel to turn back and camp..." Exodus 14:1    Have you ever stopped and considered why God led the Israelites to freedom by taking them through the desert? Really, think about the process for a moment. He led them out of the slavery for a day or two, then told them to turn back towards the city of their captivity, next to the sea, and make camp. This lead to their being trapped. Then He led them to a place with with plenty of water, but it was undrinkable. Not too long after that, when all their food provisions were depleted, He led them to a place where there was no food or water for themselves or their livestock. Why would God be so cruel? Well, if you know the rest of the story, then you may already know the answer. They were never trapped, for God parted the waters, allowing them safe passage through the sea and drowning their enemies. The undrinkable water was made drinkable, and they were provided food
Read more

Biblical Apprenticeship

-
Image
"...Go therefore and make disciples... ” - (Matt. 28:18-20)   The Greek word mathetai is the term we usually translate as disciple, and it expresses the idea of "student" or "pupil". To me, the best understanding today of the biblical principle of disciples is apprentices. Think about it, in a typical apprenticeship a new generation of practitioners are prepared with on-the-job training and often some accompanying classroom work and reading.  Apprenticeships typically last 3 to 6 years, and generally involve four steps:     (1)  Commitment - At this level the apprentice makes the commitment to stay the course by receiving the education and training necessary to become the “journeyman”.       (2) Classroom - At this phase, the apprentice receives the information necessary to understand and work within the sphere of labor.      (3) Training - At this phase, the apprentice begins to put the information they have learned into practice. First by wat
Read more