Once upon a time, we went forth from our pews to have discussions about God. These were discussions centred around Biblical doctrines, and their goal was to clearly understand what God wanted from all people.
Those that remembered that the devil was always present at every discussion “did not shrink from declaring to you the whole purpose of God” (Acts 20:27). But those who forgot gave in to false teaching and compromise.
By the end of the twentieth century “Doctrine” had become a byword. Amazingly, when someone insisted that we stick to the doctrines of Christ, the person was considered “legalistic” and “unloving.” I have often mentioned the preacher who once said of Jesus’ teachings on divorce, “I do not believe them to be consistent with the love of God.”
What you teach matters!
Either you are a teacher of truth leading others to heaven, or you are a blind guide leading others into the pits of hell—you can’t be both.
Timothy was told: “Pay close attention to yourself and to your teaching; persevere in these things, for as you do this you will ensure salvation both for yourself and for those who hear you” (1 Timothy 4:16).
Our churches must be places where all Christians are “constantly nourished on the words of the faith and of the sound doctrine” (1 Timothy 4:6). When church services are treated like a drive-thru, no one should be surprised when spiritual malnutrition sets in.
When will we learn that the “doctrines of demons” do not come with horns and tails attached? They are the teachings of those who help you to salve your conscience while living in willful sin.
“For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires, and will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths” (2 Timothy 4:3-4).
John Staiger
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