“Christian Verses” Thanksgiving Podcast: Ephesians 5:20

Posted on November 28, 2019 by russellmckinney

In this week’s podcast Malcolm and I kick around a few loose thoughts about Thanksgiving. We share what our Thanksgiving day experiences were like as kids, and we say a few things about how those type of experiences seem less common these days. Also, we answer the question, “How can a person be thankful for all things (as the Bible instructs us to be) when all things surely aren’t good?” The focal verse for the podcast is Ephesians 5:20, and you can listen to the 13-minute conversation by clicking on the link below. Have a blessed Thanksgiving!

https://soundcloud.com/user-185243867/thanksgviingcv2019013

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How Can You Give Thanks for Bad Things?

Posted on November 27, 2019 by russellmckinney

…giving thanks always for all things to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. (Ephesians 5:20, N.K.J.V.)

In everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. (1 Thessalonians 5:18, N.K.J.V.)

These two verses make it clear that God wants us to give thanks always and for all things. But that’s a mighty tall order, isn’t it? I mean, those words “always,” “all,” and “everything” leave absolutely no room for exceptions, even if those exceptions seem perfectly valid in terms of our human logic. Give thanks for the loss of a loved one? Give thanks for sickness? Give thanks for trying circumstances? Surely God needs to be more realistic regarding what He expects of us.

The truth is, though, we actually can chose to give thanks for all things. This includes even the bad things. The secret to doing this is found in the framework we apply to doing the thanking. Let me show you what I mean.

Let’s say that you experience the death of a loved one. Perhaps it’s the death of a father, a mother, a brother, a sister, a child, or a friend. How in the world can you possibly give thanks for a death that has left your heart broken? Well, for one thing, you can thank God for all the time you had with the person. For another, you can thank God for all the loved ones who are still with you. For another, if the loved one was a Christian, you can thank God that the person is now out of this world of pain and suffering and is enjoying the eternal bliss of being with Jesus. For another, you can thank God that you losing a loved one better equips you to minister to others who lose loved ones.

And what about you giving God thanks for you being sick? First, you can thank Him for all the days you’ve had free from sickness. Second, you can thank Him that your sickness has created a situation that burdens you to spend more time in prayer. Third, if you are a Christian, you can thank Him for the fact that in eternity you will never know sickness again. Fourth, you can thank Him that your sickness better equips you to minister to others who are experiencing sickness.

As for giving God thanks for trying circumstances, the Bible actually provides us with a blueprint for how to do it. That blueprint is found in James 1:2-3, a passage which says:

Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. (N.I.V.)

Did you spot that checklist of reasons why you can give God thanks during trying circumstances? #1: You can thank Him that the circumstances allow your faith to be not only tested but also strengthened. #2: You can thank Him that the circumstances and the testing of your faith cause perseverance to be built up inside you. #3: You can thank Him that the building up of your perseverance causes you to become a more mature and complete person.

Of course, these examples that I’ve given (the death of a loved one, sickness, and trying circumstances) are just three of life’s full tapestry of things for which we find giving thanks exceedingly difficult. Obviously, there are many, many others. But what I’m trying to get you to understand is that this framework for giving thanks can be applied to all of them. I’m not saying that everything is good. Much to the contrary, I’ll freely admit that a lot of things aren’t! What I’m saying is that God can bring good out of anything, even bad stuff, and you can honestly give Him thanks for that good if you take the time to figure out just exactly what that good is.

Posted in Adversity, Attitude, Complaining, Death, Disappointment, Faith, Perseverance, Problems, Sickness, Suffering, Thankfulness, Thanksgiving, Trials | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Why Daniel’s Answer Got Delayed

Posted on November 26, 2019 by russellmckinney

Daniel chapter 10 provides us with a particularly fascinating incident from the life of the prophet Daniel. The incident has to do with answers to prayer and why those answers sometimes get delayed. In Daniel’s case, his answer was delayed for three full weeks

The chapter opens with Daniel receiving some type of troubling message (Daniel 10:1). We aren’t given the specifics of the message, but we can do a little deductive reasoning and come up with a reasonable guess as to what those specifics were. First, this was the third year of Cyrus the Great of Persia reigning over the Babylonian empire his armies had conquered (Daniel 10:1). Second, in Cyrus’ first year ruling over Babylon he had issued a decree allowing the deported Jews in Babylon to return to Jerusalem, rebuild their temple, and in so doing reclaim their homeland (Ezra 1:1-4). Third, less than 50,000 Jews had opted to leave their lives in foreign Babylon and make the trip to accomplish the work in Jerusalem. Fourth, the reports coming back to Babylon from those who had undertaken the task in Jerusalem were discouraging ones that told of the great difficulties and opposition that had brought the work of building the new temple to a standstill.

Putting all this together, it is highly likely that the message Daniel received that troubled him so was one of those disheartening reports concerning the work in Jerusalem. How troubling did Daniel find the message? The message caused him to actually enter into a period of mourning and fasting for three full weeks (Daniel 10:2-3).

At the end of the three weeks, Daniel happened to be standing beside the Tigris river one day as part of a group (Daniel 10:4) when suddenly there appeared to him a man wearing a linen garment cinched by a belt of pure gold around the waist (Daniel 10:5). The man’s face looked like flashing lightning. His eyes were like flames of fire. His arms and feet shone like polished bronze, and he spoke with a voice that sounded as loud as the voice of a multitude (Daniel 10:6).

Daniel was the only one who could see the man. The others in Daniel’s group simply experienced a great feeling of terror falling upon them and as a result each one fled to hide (Daniel 10:7). The startling event was enough to even cause Daniel to fall to the ground and fade into a deep sleep (Daniel 10:8-9).

There is honest debate among commentators as to whether this “man” who appeared to Daniel was Jesus Christ Himself or an an angel. Those who believe he was Jesus point out that the man’s description bears much resemblance to the one of Jesus from Revelation 1:12-16. Certainly the reactions from Daniel (Daniel 10:8-9) and John were virtually the same (Revelation 1:17) during each appearance. On the other hand, if the “man” was an angel, perhaps his somewhat Christlike appearance was due to the fact that he regularly stood in such close proximity to Jesus in heaven. If this was the case, the angel could have been Gabriel, the angel who had previously appeared to Daniel (Daniel 8:15-27; 9:20-27).

The next part of the story provides even more ground for debate as Daniel is awakened from his deep sleep by the touch of a hand that sends enough of a shock through him to cause him to tremble (Daniel 10:10). Was it Jesus who touched Daniel and began conversing with him? Or was it an angel, maybe Gabriel? Again, it’s hard to give a definitive answer. The entire passage allows for three possible interpretations:

  • Jesus was the one whom Daniel first saw and then later talked with after the awakening touch.
  • An angel was the one whom Daniel first saw and then later talked with after the awakening touch.
  • Jesus was the one whom Daniel first saw, but then Jesus returned to heaven and an angel awakened Daniel and talked with him.

Whoever the heavenly messenger was, he said to Daniel, “Do not fear, Daniel, for from the first day that you set your heart to understand, and to humble yourself before your God, your words were heard, and I have come because of your words (Daniel 10:12). It’s here that we learn that Daniel hadn’t just been mourning and fasting for those three weeks. He’d also been praying and asking God for answers about the troubling report he’d received!

But wait a minute. Notice that the heavenly visitor makes a point of saying that God had heard Daniel’s prayers from the first day Daniel had entered into his three weeks of mourning, fasting, and praying. Okay, then why was Daniel just now receiving the heavenly answer for which he had prayed? Well, would you believe the three-week delay in the answer had been caused by nothing less than spiritual warfare between the realms of heaven and earth?

According to the heavenly messenger, for twenty-one days a powerful, fallen angel known as “the prince of the kingdom of Persia” had blocked him from reaching Daniel. (By the way, the fact that the fallen angel could block the messenger for three full weeks virtually completely rules out the interpretation that it was Jesus who was conversing with Daniel.) This fallen angel/demon was actually part of a larger group of fallen angels/demons known as “the kings of Persia” (Daniel 10:13). It wasn’t until Michael, whom the heavenly messenger called “one of the chief princes” and whom scripture also calls “the archangel” (Jude, verse 9), interjected himself into the battle that the heavenly messenger was able to make his way down to the earth to Daniel.

Later on in the conversation, after the messenger had delivered his message to Daniel, he told Daniel, “Now I must return to fight with the prince of Persia” (Daniel 10:20). He also told Daniel, “When I have gone forth, the prince of Greece will come” (Daniel 10:20). Here again the title “prince” obviously doesn’t refer to a human, earthly ruler but rather to a fallen angel/demon operating in the spiritual realm. The implication is that “the prince of the kingdom of  Greece” held sway in the spiritual realm to corrupt the world affairs of the empire of Greece just as “the prince of Persia,” as well as the other “kings of Persia,” held sway in the spiritual realm to corrupt the world affairs of the empire of Persia.

Of course by now you might be asking, “What does any of this have to do with me?” Just this: You need to understand that fallen angels/demons are real and that spiritual warfare is real, and that anytime you pray you move into an unseen battleground wherein God wants to answer your prayers but Satan wants to stop those answers. No, your prayers probably aren’t being hindered by “the prince of Persia” or “the prince of Greece,” but that doesn’t mean that Satan doesn’t have plenty of other fallen angels/demons at his disposal to try to prevent God from answering your prayers.

The takeaway is that if you have been praying about something for a long time but haven’t received an answer yet from God, you should keep on praying. As a matter of fact, you might even ask God to send whatever angelic help is needed in the spiritual realm to get His answer through to you. Remember that 2 Timothy 3:16 tells us that all scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for instruction in righteousness, and that being the case the instruction we can glean from Daniel chapter 10 is that there is a supernatural warfare that can hinder our prayer requests. This is a lesson that Daniel learned, and it’s one that we should learn as well.

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The Separation Over Wrong Doctrine

Posted on November 23, 2019 by russellmckinney

“Right Doctrine For Right Living” series: (post #6)

Let’s say that your pastor goes to the pulpit one Sunday morning and announces that he no longer believes that Jesus died on the cross. Or let’s say that he preaches a sermon in which he denies Christ’s virgin birth or bodily resurrection. What should you do about that? Your answer can be found in the following word: separation.

As I discussed in the previous post, it is only the most serious doctrinal issues that qualify as potential grounds for separation. As for what specific doctrinal issues rise to that level of seriousness, if I wade into all that debate I might never finish this series. So, I’ll just use this post to point you to the relevant scriptures that deal with separation over wrong doctrine.

I’ll begin by listing the passages that instruct the Christian to separate himself or herself from a fellow brother or sister in Christ who is promoting wrong doctrine. As I cite each passage, I’ll put in boldface the part that commands separation. Those passages are (all references from the N.K.J.V.):

  1. Romans 16:17: Now I urge you, note those who cause divisions and offenses, contrary to the doctrine which you learned, and avoid them.
  2. 1 Timothy 6:3-5: If anyone teaches otherwise and does not consent to wholesome words, even the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, and to the doctrine which accords with godliness, he is proud, knowing nothing, but is obsessed with disputes and arguments over words, from which come envy, strife, reviling, evil suspicions, useless wranglings of men of corrupt minds and destitute of the truth, who suppose that godliness is a means of gain. From such withdraw yourself.
  3. Titus 3:10: Reject a divisive man after the first and second admonition.
  4. 2 Thessalonians 3:6: But we command you, brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you withdraw from every brother who walks disorderly and not according to the tradition which he received from us.
  5. 2 Thessalonians 3:14-15: And if anyone does not obey our word in this epistle, note that person and do not keep company with him, that he may be ashamed. Yet do not count him as an enemy, but admonish him as a brother.

I should point out that the Titus 3:10 passage calls the Christian who is promoting wrong doctrine a divisive person. This shows us that divisions among professing Christians are not caused by professing Christians who hold to right doctrine. Instead, those divisions are caused by professing Christians who hold to wrong doctrine. This needs to understood because oftentimes the doctrinal “whistle blower” is the one who gets wrongly called “divisive.”

But now let me move on and list the passages that instruct the Christian to separate himself or herself from a lost person who is promoting wrong doctrine. I’ll again use boldface type to emphasize the relevant part of each passage. Here are the passages (again, all from the N.K.J.V.):

  1. 2 Corinthians 6:14-15: Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. For what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? And what communion has light with darkness? And what accord has Christ with Belial? Or what part has a believer with an unbeliever?
  2. Galatians 1:8-9: But even if we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to you than what we have preached to you, let him be accursed. As we have said before, so now I say again, if anyone preaches any other gospel to you than what you have received, let him be accursed.
  3. Ephesians 5:11: And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather expose them.
  4. 2 Timothy 3:1-5: But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come. For men will be lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despiers of good, traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having a form of godliness but denying its power. And from such people turn away!
  5. 2 John verses 9-11: Whoever transgresses and does not abide in the doctrine of Christ does not have God. He who abides in the doctrine of Christ has both the Father and the Son. If anyone comes to you and does not bring this doctrine, do not receive him into your house nor greet him; for he who greets him shares in his evil deeds.

In closing, let me draw your attention to a particular phrase from that last reference (2 John verses 9-11). The apostle John describes a person who does not abide in “the doctrine of Christ.” Okay, so what exactly is “the doctrine of Christ”? Well, I would say that it includes each of the following:

  1. right doctrine in regards to Christ’s deity (divinity)
  2. right doctrine in regards to Christ’s eternal existence even before He came to earth
  3. right doctrine in regards to Christ’s virgin birth
  4. right doctrine in regards to Christ’s sinless life
  5. right doctrine in regards to Christ’s miracles
  6. right doctrine in regards to Christ’s substitutionary death for the sins of the world
  7. right doctrine in regards to the fact that Christ’s shed blood is the only basis upon which God can forgive sin
  8. right doctrine in regards to Christ’s resurrection
  9. right doctrine in regards to the salvation offered to anyone who will believe/place faith in Christ as Savior
  10. right doctrine in regards to Christ’s formal ascension back to heaven forty days after His resurrection
  11. right doctrine in regards to Christ’s role as the Christian’s heavenly Mediator/High Priest
  12. right doctrine in regards to Christ’s eventual return to this earth

This list, I think, is a good starting point for any discussion concerning right doctrine. We might debate lesser doctrinal issues, but there really shouldn’t be much debate as to these foundational basics of “the doctrine of Christ.” Therefore, if you as a Christian are wondering what doctrines are “separation worthy,” this list will at least get your mind headed in the right direction. Obviously, separation should never be undertaken lightly, but the truth is that if there weren’t times when it is necessary, there wouldn’t be so many passages in the Bible that call for it.

Posted in Christ's Second Coming, Christ's Birth, Christ's Death, Christ's Miracles, Christ's Resurrection, Christ's Return, Church, Church Discipline, Doctrine, Separation, Series: "Right Doctrine For Right Living", Uncategorized | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

“Christian Verses” Podcast: Proverbs 11:1

Posted on November 21, 2019 by russellmckinney

A recent headline from the world of baseball involves the Houston Astros, who won the World Series in 2017, cheating on their way to that title. In this week’s podcast, Malcolm and I use that as just one of multiple illustrations that deal with real-life issues that call for integrity. Does integrity (honesty) matter to God? Did Jesus have anything to say on the subject? These are the kinds of questions we answer in an easy-going conversation that centers around Proverbs 11:1. To listen to the discussion, just click on the link below:

https://soundcloud.com/user-185243867/integritycv2019012

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The Sensibility Required Regarding Doctrine

Posted on November 20, 2019 by russellmckinney

“Right Doctrine For Right Living” series: (post #5)

There are certain doctrinal teachings that are absolutely fundamental to authentic Christianity. Stating the matter bluntly, if you don’t believe these doctrines you can’t be a Christian. The hard part, however, is deciding upon an exact list of what those doctrines are. If you don’t think coming up with such a list is hard, try doing it yourself.

In the late 1800s and early 1900s, the so-called “higher criticism” that was most closely associated with Germany and had already discredited and demoted the Bible enough to decimate Christianity over much of Europe began to make its way into America’s colleges, universities, seminaries, and pulpits. The supposed goal of this “higher criticism” was to apply a cold, strictly scholarly, historical approach to studying the Bible in order to get at the original context and meaning of each passage. While on the surface this goal seemed commendable, the problem with “higher criticism” was that the men who were driving the movement were for the most part atheists who did not believe in anything supernatural, including the supernatural revelation of scripture. To them, the Bible was little more than a dead literary corpse whose history merely needed to be clinically dissected, antiseptically analyzed, and neatly categorized. They certainly saw nothing of God about it.

In response to the looming threat of “higher criticism,” various groups of Christians in America set themselves to the task of stopping the movement in its tracks. The group that made the most impact in doing this was a group of 64 Christian authors, a veritable “who’s who” of leading theologians and ministers, who wrote a set of ninety essays that attempted to set forth a list of doctrines that were fundamental to the Christian faith. Between 1910 and 1915, these essays were published quarterly in twelve volumes by a publishing company in Chicago, Illinois, and hundreds of thousands of copies were mailed free of charge to ministers, missionaries, seminary professors, and many other Christian workers. The project was funded by Lyman Stewart, the founder of Union Oil, who was a devout Presbyterian. A couple of years after all the volumes were published, The Bible Institute of Los Angeles (Biola), which was founded by Stewart, republished the essays into a popular four-volume set entitled The Fundamentals: A Testimony to the Truth.

The end result of the whole project was that certain “fundamental” doctrines were presented as being indisputable for the Christian faith. Unfortunately, because the essays weren’t originally written or published in a systematic order, compiling a numbered list of these doctrines proves problematic. This explains why various lists of these “fundamentals” don’t always match up perfectly. Basically, however, the essays proclaimed the importance of the following doctrines:

  • the virgin birth of Christ
  • the deity (divinity) of Christ
  • the reality of the miracles of Christ
  • the substitutionary death, literal burial, and bodily resurrection of Christ
  • the atonement of sins through the shed blood of Christ
  • the visible, bodily return of Christ
  • the inerrancy of the whole Bible, both the Old Testament and the New Testament, by means of the verbal, plenary (full), divine inspiration of scripture

You’ll notice that there is nothing on this list about the color of the carpet in a church. There is also nothing there about how often The Lord’s Supper (Communion) should be observed. Neither is there anything about:

  • whether or not a church should hold Sunday evening services
  • whether or not a church should buy a new church bus/van
  • how often a church’s business meetings should be held
  • what Bible translation the pastor should use
  • how much salary the pastor should make
  • what youth programs the church should offer
  • how much money the church should give to missions
  • how many deacons the church should have
  • what type of Christian songs (traditional or contemporary) the church should sing
  • whether the church should have a choir leader or a praise-and-worship band

What I’m trying to get you to understand is that everything that goes on in our churches doesn’t fall under the heading of “doctrine.” Admittedly, “doctrine” can be a subjective type of thing, but we at least have a basic framework for it set down in scripture. You see, whatever role The Fundamentals: A Testimony to the Truth played in keeping “higher criticism” from undercutting the support beams of Christianity in America, those essays didn’t actually create or formulate Christian doctrine. All they did was lift that doctrine from the pages of the Bible and expound upon it.

I want you to keep this in mind as we head for the next post, which will be the last one in this series. That post will be entitled “The Separation Over Wrong Doctrine.” Yes, if a Christian’s church situation or denominational situation becomes egregious enough in terms of doctrine, God would have that Christian to separate himself or herself from that situation. The Bible makes no bones about that. With that said, though, we must do our best to keep clear lines of distinction between what is doctrinal grounds for separation and what isn’t. After all, the denial of Christ’s virgin birth is one thing but the order of service as printed in the church bulletin is another. And while I’m sure that most of us understand this, I did want to offer a word on the subject before I move us into a post about separating over wrong doctrine. This post, I trust, has accomplished that task.

Posted in Christ's Second Coming, Christ's Birth, Christ's Death, Christ's Miracles, Christ's Resurrection, Christ's Return, Church, Discernment, Doctrine, Separation, Series: "Right Doctrine For Right Living", Truth | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

The Scope of Wrong Doctrine

Posted on November 18, 2019 by russellmckinney

“Right Doctrine for Right Living” series: (post #4)

How wide is the scope of wrong doctrine? Phrasing the question another way, just how prevalent is wrong doctrine? The answer is that scripture indicates that wrong doctrine is everywhere. The Bible doesn’t only offer numerous passages that speak of the importance of right doctrine, it also provides a multitude of passages that warn about all the wrong doctrines that are out there. Here’s a list of seven of those passages (all using the N.K.J.V.):

  1. In Matthew 7:17, Jesus says, “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves.”
  2. In Matthew 15:9, Jesus says of the scribes and Pharisees, “And in vain they worship Me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.”
  3. In Matthew 24:11, Jesus says, “Then many false prophets will rise up and deceive many.
  4. In 1 Timothy 4:1, Paul says, “Now the Spirit expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons…”
  5. In 2 Timothy 4:3-4, Paul says, “For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables.”
  6. In 2 Peter 2:1, Peter says, “But there were also false prophets among the people, even as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Lord who bought them, and bring on themselves swift destruction.”
  7. In 1 John 4:1, John says, “Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world.”

As we can see from these passages, the danger presented by wrong doctrine is real, constant, and very much present in our world. False teachers who promote wrong doctrine dot the map. Some lurk in the shadows, but others are on the internet, television, or the radio. Some are blatantly offensive, but others are smooth, slick, and sweet. Some preach in blue jeans, but others wear expensive suits, robes, or even dresses. Some are backward, but others are refined and polished. Some preach in heavily guarded compounds, but others fill denominational pulpits. Some are extreme right, but others are extreme left. Still, the end result of these false teachers is always the same: wrong doctrine.

By the way, did you notice in my list of passages that two distinct categories of false doctrine are named? One category is mentioned in 1 Timothy 4:1, that verse that serves as #4 on my list. In that verse, Paul warns that in latter times some will depart from the faith by giving heed to what he calls “doctrines of demons.” These are doctrines that come from the minds of demons (fallen angels). A parallel passage concerning the preaching of the “doctrines of demons” is 2 Corinthians 11:13-15, where Paul says:

For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into apostles of Christ. And no wonder! For Satan himself transforms himself into an angel of light. Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also transform themselves into ministers of righteousness, whose end will be according to their works. (N.K.J.V.)

Be sure to catch what Paul throws there. He says quite plainly that Satan has human ministers who masquerade as apostles of Christ in order to work deceit. These men and women present themselves as ministers of righteousness but they are in reality ministers of unrighteousness. Obviously, many of the doctrines these false ministers of “light” promote can be classified under the heading the “doctrines of demons.”

As for the second category of wrong doctrine the Bible names, Jesus mentions it in Matthew 15:9, passage #2 on my list. In that verse, He references a prophecy from Isaiah 29:13 to say of the Jewish scribes and Pharisees:

And in vain they worship Me, Teaching as doctrines the commandments of men. (N.K.J.V.)

It is noteworthy that Jesus didn’t even bring Satan and his demons into the mess of this category of doctrine. Instead, He called these wrong doctrines “the commandments of men.” The false commandments He had in mind were all those the Jewish religious leaders had added to God’s Old Testament law as supposed ways of interpreting and applying that law. The fact is, though, that men (and women) today are still cooking up new “commandments of men” and passing them off as right doctrine. 

Actually, there is undoubtedly a lot of overlap between the doctrines of demons and the commandments of men. I say that because anyone who devises wrong doctrine is certainly not being led by God to do so. To the contrary, that person is being led by Satan. And anyone who is led by Satan is easy pickings to be used by Satan’s demons as a vessel to devise and teach wrong doctrine.       

At any rate, whichever category any version of wrong doctrine fits, the point is that such doctrines are pervasive in our world. This has been the case since virtually the dawn of the church age, and the status quo will continue as long as demons still roam the earth and people still create their own ideas about God and religion. Surely even now we are living in the time of which Paul warned Timothy, that time when people will not endure sound doctrine but will turn their ears away from the truth and be turned aside to fables. Obviously, in a world like that it’s hard to keep yourself from falling under the sway of wrong doctrine. There is, however, something you can do to help yourself in that regard. I’ll identify that something in my next post, and so until then I’ll ask you to please stay tuned….

Posted in Church, Doctrine, Series: "Right Doctrine For Right Living", Truth | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

The Significance of Right Doctrine

Posted on November 15, 2019 by russellmckinney

“Right Doctrine for Right Living” series (post #3)

The Christian realm today is dominated by an attitude known as ecumenicalism. Since I realize that’s a big, scary word, let me define it for you. Ecumenicalism is the attitude that says that professing Christians should lay aside all their doctrinal differences and work together for the greater good. It focuses upon love rather than doctrine, fellowship rather than separation, and unity rather than division.

The typical area-wide crusade is a classic example of ecumenicalism. Such a crusade might bring together professing Christians who are: Methodists, Presbyterians, Southern Baptists, Pentecostals, Catholics, Independent Baptists, Lutherans,  Charismatics, Episcopalians, and non-denominationals. The idea is, “Let’s get all of the area’s professing Christians together and focus upon our commonalities instead of our differences.”

Now, let me say that I don’t have a theological ax to grind against anybody. I’m for love. I’m for unity. I’m for Christian fellowship. But I also understand that we can’t just treat right doctrine as an insignificant, meaningless, disposable thing. As one preacher has said, “People will forgive even poor theology (wrong doctrine) as long as they get out of church before noon.” Sadly, he seems to be right.

To showcase the high significance that God Himself places upon right doctrine, let’s see what His written word says. Here are ten selected passages (all from the N.K.J.V.) from a sizable list of them:

  1. In John 7:16-17, Jesus says, “My doctrine is not Mine, but His who sent Me. If anyone wills to do His will, he shall know concerning the doctrine, whether it is from God or whether I speak on My own authority.” Here we see that Jesus taught that knowing right doctrine and doing God’s will are inextricably linked. Basically, you’ll have a hard time doing God’s will if your doctrine is wrong.
  2. Acts 2:42 says the early Christians “…continued steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine…” Notice that those Christians didn’t continue in just any doctrine. It had to be the doctrine preached by Christ’s apostles.
  3. In Ephesians 4:14, Paul encourages Christians to stop being children (spiritual babes) who are “…tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine…” That means that Christians should anchor themselves to right doctrine so that they will not be blown about by the winds of wrong doctrine.
  4. In 1 Timothy 1:3, Paul urges Timothy to remain in Ephesus and make sure that others “…teach no other doctrine…” It’s noteworthy that Paul didn’t stop at telling Timothy to teach right doctrine himself. Even more than doing that, he took the subject even further by telling him to make sure that others didn’t teach wrong doctrine.
  5. In 1 Timothy 4:13, Paul says to Timothy, “Till I come, give attention to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine.” Telling Timothy to give attention to reading, exhortation, and doctrine is not the same thing as telling him to give attention to unity, love, and ecumenicalism.
  6. In 1 Timothy 4:16, Paul says to Timothy, “Take heed to yourself and to the doctrine.” The doctrine that Paul has in mind is obviously the apostles’ doctrine, right doctrine.
  7. In Titus 1:9, Paul talks to Titus about the importance of an elder (pastor), “…holding fast the faithful word as he has been taught, that he may be able, by sound doctrine, both to exhort and convict those who contradict.” Notice that if a pastor wants to preach a message that either exhorts, convicts, or both, he should do it by making it a message built around sound doctrine.
  8. In Titus 2:1, Paul tells Titus to, “…speak the things which are proper for sound doctrine.” You see, that’s different than telling Titus to speak the things that will unite all the people and not offend any of them.
  9. Hebrews 13:9 says that Christians should not be “…carried about with various and strange doctrines…” Even in the days of the early church, there were a multitude of wrong doctrines to tempt Christians to unanchor themselves from right doctrine and be blown away from God’s truth.
  10. In Jude verse 3, Jude says that his purpose in writing his short letter (epistle) is to exhort his readers to, “…earnestly contend for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints.” It is important to note that we are to contend for the faith. And what is the faith? It is that body of doctrinal teaching that was delivered to the church once and for all.

The common thread in each of these passages, and several others we could cite, is the importance of not only clinging to right doctrine but also defending it against those who teach wrong doctrine. Yes, right doctrine really is a big deal with God, and anytime we minimize or downplay its significance we venture out onto potentially dangerous ice. If the likes of Paul, Jude, and even Jesus Himself made a point of singing the praises of right doctrine, it’s not our job to come along in this modern era and change the tune to say, “Surely now we’ve reached a place where we’ve gotten past all those divisive issues.” All I can say to such an opinion is that if we have reached such a place, we’ve no doubt gone too far in the wrong direction. Right doctrine has always mattered to God and continues to matter to Him, and so how can our lives be pleasing to Him if it doesn’t matter to us?

Posted in Doctrine, God's Will, Series: "Right Doctrine For Right Living", Service, Teaching, Truth | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

The Source of Right Doctrine

Posted on November 13, 2019 by russellmckinney

“Right Doctrine for Right Living” series: (post #2)

When you are looking for a church, what should be at the top of your list of criteria? The size of the church? Nope. The location of the church? Nope. The church’s decor? Nope. A pastor who preaches the way you like? Nope. Your type of singing? Nope. A vibrant youth ministry? Nope. The first question to ask is always, “Does this church teach right doctrine?”

Admittedly, the answer to this question can get confusing because all churches claim to teach right doctrine. Think about it, have you ever heard a church advertise itself by saying, “Hey, if you’re looking for seriously messed-up doctrine, we’re the place for you”? No, you haven’t. Even cults purport to teach the truth.

So, if you can’t trust what any church says about the correctness of its doctrine, where can you go to find right doctrine? Oh, the answer to that question is easy. If you are looking for right doctrine, the river’s head source of it is the Bible.

Someone might ask, “But what about a church’s or a denomination’s statement of beliefs? What about Christian colleges and seminaries? What about commentaries and study Bibles? What about Christian websites and publications? What about big-time preachers on t.v.?” Well, it’s certainly possible that all of these avenues might present doctrinal truth, but it’s equally as possible (and seemingly increasingly more so) that they might not. A correct understanding of the Bible, on the other hand, will never lead you astray.

In 2 Timothy 3:16, the Bible says:

All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work. (N.K.J.V.)

You might want to take a moment and reread that verse, this time making sure to notice the first item on the list for which God-inspired scripture is good. That would be doctrine. Surely that is God’s way of telling us, “Of all the Bible’s uses, the gleaning of right doctrine is its most important.”

Of course, the problem that we have is that even those who teach wrong doctrine usually supposedly back up their false teachings by using Bible passages. What allows them to do this is the fact that the Bible is so incredibly diverse and rich that you can use it to “prove” just about anything. For example, did you know that the early Christians owned a Honda automobile? Sure they did. Acts 2:1 plainly says: “When the Day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all with one accord in one place.”

Okay, okay, maybe that wasn’t a serious example. So now let me offer a legitimate one. Let’s say that I want to take the Bible and “prove” that bigamy/polygamy is doctrinally sound? Is there a way for me to do that? You bet. All I have to do is use two passages. Watch this:

And God gave Solomon wisdom and exceedingly great understanding, and largeness of heart like the sand of the seashore. Thus Solomon’s wisdom exceeded the wisdom of all the men of the East and all the wisdom of Egypt. (1 Kings 4:30-31, N.K.J.V.)

And he had seven hundred wives, princesses, and three hundred concubines; and his wives turned away his heart. (1 Kings 11:3, N.K.J.V.)

You see, all I have to do is go to the pulpit, read those two passages, and say, “Solomon was the wisest man who ever lived, and he understood the wisdom in having hundreds of wives. His only mistake was in that he married the wrong women, women who turned his heart away from God.” For that matter, I could even add in that other great men of God such as Jacob and David also had multiple wives.

But now let’s say that I want to go to the other extreme and preach that it is never God’s will for anyone to marry. Can I find any Bible passages to support this doctrine? Yes, I can. My “proof” text can be the words of Paul, who was unmarried, as found in 1 Corinthians 7:7-8:

For I wish that all men were even as I myself. But each one has his own gift from God, one in this manner and another in that. But I say to the unmarried and to the widows: Is is good for them if they remain even as I am. (N.K.J.V.)

For good measure, I might also throw in Proverbs 21:9:

Better to dwell in a corner of a housetop, Than in a house shared with a contentious woman. (N.K.J.V.)

If I really want to drive home this point, I can also add in that the words of Proverbs 21:9 are actually repeated in Proverbs 25:24 for double emphasis. Oh, and I might mention too that since the book of Proverbs is primarily attributed to Solomon, and since he had the experience of living with all those hundreds of wives, he was the perfect candidate to write Proverbs 21:9 and 25:24! Do you see how it all fits together?

So, I guess I need to start preaching that it is never God’s will for anyone to marry, right? Wait a minute, if I do that then I’ll have to start cherry-picking some passages for a follow-up sermon that “proves” that sex outside the bounds of marriage isn’t a sin after all. After all, if I don’t preach that follow-up sermon, it will be impossible for the human race to propagate without sinning.

Can you see how easy it is for wrong doctrine to get started? This is why we must study the Bible as a whole, in its totality, to really get at what it teaches. In 2 Timothy 2:15, Paul calls this “rightly dividing the word of truth.” Obviously, if there is a way to rightly divide the word of truth, there must a way (actually many of them) to wrongly divide it. Such faulty dividing is all that is required for wrong doctrine.

As evidence that merely reading the Bible and even knowing it isn’t enough, allow me to present Exhibit A: the Sadducees. In Jesus’ day, this wealthy, educated, highly influential religious group of Jewish rabbis controlled the priesthood at the Jewish temple. Because they believed that only the first five books of the Old Testament were fully authoritative, they knew those books forward and backward. And yet when these men asked Jesus a question about marriage in the afterlife, He rebuked them by saying, “You are mistaken, not knowing the scriptures, nor the power of God” (Matthew 22:29, N.K.J.V.). This shows that it is possible to read the scriptures without being able to rightly divide them.

The group we need to be like were the Bereans. When Paul and Silas came to their city preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ, not only did the Bereans give them a fair hearing, they devoted the next several days to searching the Scriptures in an effort to discern whether or not Paul and Silas had preached right doctrine. As Acts 17:11 says of those Bereans:

These were more fair-minded than those of Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness, and searched the Scriptures daily to find out whether these things were so. (N.K.J.V.)

Ah, there’s what each of us needs: an open mind that is kept in check by an open Bible. Unfortunately, if we just have the open mind we’ll fall victim to wrong doctrine for sure. Therefore, I encourage you to multiply whatever amount of Bible study you are currently doing. False teaching definitely abounds, and it takes a ton of Bible study to gain the discernment that is needed to identify it. The good news, though, is that once you’ve put in that study and gained that discernment, not only will you keep yourself doctrinally straight, God will be able to use you to help others get there.

Posted in Bible Study, Discernment, God's Word, Scripture, Series: "Right Doctrine For Right Living", The Bible, Truth | Tagged , , , | 4 Comments

The Singularity of Right Doctrine

Posted on November 11, 2019 by russellmckinney

“Right Doctrine for Right Living” series (post #1)

Denominational differences have long been the norm in the ranks of Christianity. Even among sincere Christians the same passage of scripture can produce starkly different interpretations and applications. Typically, we file such disputes under the “let’s just agree to disagree” category and don’t bring them up in polite conversation.

It should be understood, however, that truth isn’t relative. It is, to the contrary, downright narrow. 1 plus 1 always equals 2, not 3 or 4 depending upon the situation. Water freezes at 32 degrees Fahrenheit, not 35 degrees if the conditions are right. George Washington died on December 14, 1799, not any other date.

Biblical truth is narrow as well. The Bible either teaches that Christians are eternally secure or that salvation can potentially be lost, but it doesn’t teach both. It either teaches that the Rapture and Christ’s millennial reign upon the earth are literal events or it teaches that they are symbolic, but it doesn’t teach both. It either teaches that Jesus died for the sins of the entire human race or it teaches that He only died for the sins of the “elect,” but it doesn’t teach both. In other words, there is a singularity to right doctrine.

Far too many Christians exhibit a blase attitude toward doctrinal disputes. Basically, we have replaced the pursuit of correct doctrine with the pursuit of superficial unity. But a fair question to ask is, what good does it do to be unified around wrong doctrine? Furthermore, how can we possibly make any headway in the cultural wars that swirl around hot-button topics such as abortion, homosexuality, capital punishment, and the role of women when we ourselves can’t even reach a consensus agreement on what the Bible teaches regarding those topics?

It is with all this in mind that I offer this post as the first in a new series I’m calling “Right Doctrine for Right Living.” My purpose with this series is not to attempt to name each form of wrong doctrine that is pervasive these days and offer my opinion about it. Instead, I just want to use this series to point out some important things the Bible has to say about doctrine. Truthfully (no pun intended), I think you’ll be surprised at not only how much the Bible says about doctrine but also what it says. That’s why I hope you’ll get on board with this series as the train is pulling out of station, and I trust that God will use the series to remind us all that He really does place a great importance on right doctrine and that there really is a singularity to such doctrine.

Posted in Doctrine, Series: "Right Doctrine For Right Living", Uncategorized | Leave a comment