Doctrines of Demons

Has the church swallowed a camel?

"Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices—mint, dill and cummin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law—justice, mercy and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former.You blind guides! You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel (Mat 23:23-24). 

     What Jesus found, while on earth, was a perverted "Law of Moses" which had been reduced to ritualistic demands and distorted teachings about the things of God. How did things get so twisted and confused in the minds of men? God is not the author of confusion, but unfortunately Satan is. But how did he accomplish this? He did it through whispering demons persuading men to accentuate the ridiculous and to devalue that which God truly desired.

Now the Spirit expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons (1 Tim. 4:1) ...

     These doctrines of demons have also taken it's toll on Christianity -- there's a lot of camel's meat being served in the Body of Christ. Satan's definitely in the kitchen cookin' it up, and the waiters who are serving it are the traditional and contemporary pastors of our time. These doctrines of demons are the doctrines that have divided and compartmentalized the body of Christ into a gazillion denominations and sects. Let me begin by stating that:

Sound Doctrine Unites --Unsound Doctrine Divides

     Our approach to arriving at sound doctrine (which unites) versus unsound (which divides) will be a simple one. We will list doctrines which unite the Body of Christ and also those that divide the Body of Christ. Our job will then be to abandon those doctrines which have divided the church and embrace those which would unite it. Pretty simple, huh? Somehow I don’t think it’s going to be quite that easy.

Let's define sound and unsound doctrine:

       The definition I’m going to apply to sound doctrine is: that doctrine which is either clearly stated in its totality within a single verse or context, or one that is unfolded progressively throughout the scriptures and is clearly supported (not contradicted) by other scriptures and the overall tenor of scripture.
     The definition I’m going to apply to unsound doctrine is -- that which is not clearly stated in its totality within a single verse or context, but is rather a combining of fragments of scripture tied together using unbiblical reason, logic and or sentimentality. Unsound doctrine is usually found to be contradicted by other, equally persuasive opposing scriptures and therefore leads to various interpretations and ultimately to division.

What's a contrived doctrine?   

     Have you ever contrived a doctrine in your thinking and then gone to the Bible seeking to substantiate and validate it as true. This is never a good approach and is quite analogous to putting the cart before the horse. Nevertheless, many Bible students, as well as scholars, take this approach to developing doctrine.

I give you my mind ...

     Our seminaries and bible colleges go about the process of systematically preconditioning the minds of multitudes of young men and women in spite of verses like 1 John 2:26-27. These hallowed halls of learning stamp out cookie cutter Christians in all the various denominationally biased flavors imaginable. Well meaning students, with a desire to serve God, emerge as denominational-minded Frankensteins (made up of everyone else's doctrinal pieces) --  well schooled in how to keep the body of Christ divided. All one has to do to validate all of this is to look upon the landscape of Christianity and see the obvious divisions this has caused in the Body of Christ and how it contrasts with John 17:21. You can easily tell a tree by it's fruit.

Let’s begin by listing some sound doctrines first

At the head of the list is this first scripture (Eph. 4:1-6) which, in and of itself, is capable of establishing true unity across the entire Body of Christ.

Eph. 4:1-6 (KJV)

I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called, With all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love; Endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling; One Lord, one faith, one baptism, One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all (italics mine).

Let’s break this down a bit:

• One Body (the universal global Body of Christ) Col. 1:18
• One Spirit (the Holy Spirit that abides in us and makes us one) John 14:17
• One hope of your calling (eternal life) Mark 10:30
• One Lord (Jesus Christ) Acts 15:11
• One faith (that leads to salvation in Jesus Christ) Eph. 2:8
• One Baptism (into the Body of Christ) 1 Cor. 12:13
• One God and Father (the triune God) Deut. 6:4

Let’s add to this list the following:

Heb. 6:1-2 (KJV)

Therefore leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection; not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works, and of faith toward God, Of the doctrine of baptisms, and of laying on of hands, and of resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment.

Let’s also break this verse down:

• Repentance from dead works (Acts 26:20; Heb. 9:14; Gal.5:19-21)
• Faith toward God (Heb. 11:6; Mark 11:22; Heb. 11:1-3)
• Doctrines of Baptisms (Acts 2:38; Gal. 3:27-28)
• The laying on of hands (Mark 16:18; Acts 8:17; 1 Tim. 5:22)
• The resurrection of the dead (John 11:25; 1 Cor. 15:51-57; 1Thess. 4:16-17)
• Eternal Judgment (Matt. 12:36; 2 Cor. 5:10; Rev. 20:12-14)

Other sound doctrines:

• The virgin birth (Is. 7:14; Matt. 1:18; Matt. 1:23; Lk 1:34-35)
• The authority of the Bible as the written word of God (2 Tim. 3:16; 2 Pet. 1:21)

     Notice that these sound doctrines easily unite us. We can all agree on them. They are clear, concise and can be substantiated in many places throughout the Bible. They are like glue that binds us together into one inseparable body of born again believers. With pure doctrines such as these we can change the face of Christianity such that the world will see our love and unity in Christ and believe!

Oh, Oh! Here comes the bad ones!

     On the other hand, the following doctrines have divided the church time and time again because they have two or more opposing, and very convincing arguments and therefore cannot be fully substantiated. They are unstable at best and make up this category of Unsound Doctrines:
      The first and most damaging unsound doctrine of all time has got to be Calvanism verses Arminianism (election verses free will). For those of you who don't know, Calvanism states that God chooses us, we don't choose Him. We have no choice in the matter, and we cannot lose our salvation. Arminianism states that we choose salvation and most believe that it can be lost due to sinful neglect.
     These two opposing doctrines are the sacred cows of Protestantism and are where battle lines are quickly drawn. Many a church has been split over this doctrinal argument. The church that you now attend is most probably one or the other.  Click here for a chart showing the differences between these two opposing camps within Christianity.

Is there any value in these two opposing doctrines?

     These useless doctrines (yes, useless) have divided Christians for centuries. Whether or not we agree with one or the other really doesn’t matter. It doesn’t change anything? If we live for Christ there is no value added by defensively proclaiming these divisive doctrines. Our time would be much better spent developing godly unity.
     I know this is a tough pill to swallow and I’m sure that I’ve upset a lot of folks with the above statement (that these are useless doctrines) but to be painfully blunt, I really don’t care because it’s the truth. These are the primary doctrines that have caused tremendous division in the church, and this is clearly not God’s intended purpose. This is not to say that one of these viewpoints might or might not be true, but this will only be revealed in eternity. For now they are useless in terms of unity, and we need to trash them!

Let's get real!

     It’s about time we stop pretending that we absolutely know something for sure when we absolutely do not.
It is truly amazing that these two doctrines, more than any others, have divided so many churches. These, beloved, are truly the "filet mignon" of camel’s meat because they cause us to strain at the gnats, and we end up swallowing the camel of division.
     These and other unsound doctrines are contrived and are nothing more than Doctrines of Demons designed to fracture the Church--it’s time we stop holding fire to our bosom. How many times do we have to be burnt before we learn this crucial lesson?
     It was always clear to me that demons had doctrines, because the Bible said so, but what were these doctrines? And how do they affect us? I have come to understand that they are the biblical counterfeits--deceptions made up of fragments of scripture in an attempt to confuse, divide and kill the life of the church and to ultimately undermine the work of the Holy Spirit.

Ephes. 4:14-15 (KJV)

That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive; But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ

     Some other major unsound doctrines which have caused so much division are (to name just a few):

• Eschatology (the chronology of prophetic end time events)
• The Rapture (the time of Christ’s coming for His Church)
• Millennium (the thousand-year period mentioned in Rev 20)

     You can find a breakdown of these three doctrines plus so much more on this vital topic of doctrines of demons in chapter four of the book "The Father's Heart." There's a link in the right column of this Blog which will bring you to a storefront where you can obtain a copy if you so desire.
     For now we would do well to remember that you can always tell a doctrinal tree by it's fruit as follows:

Sound Doctrine Unites --Unsound Doctrine Divides
It really is that simple!