A little leaven, leavens the whole lump!

One of the subject matters dearest to my heart regarding the Word of God and His church is that of sound doctrine.  Sound doctrine is; Christians whose teachings, instructions and precepts are free from mixture and error. I have personally been affected and afflicted because of false doctrines and am eye witness to their destruction and delusion of countless believers. False doctrines are any teachings, instructions and precepts that are mixed with philosophies and commandments of men, doctrines of demons, lies and errors.

Unfortunately most believers readily accept any teachings or preaching spoken under the category or label of “Christian” from almost any vehicle. And I would not have you ignorant my brethren. Doctrines/teachings seem to be simple and harmless to the unlearned but upon examination by the Word of God we must comprehend that the teachings we are exposed to and embrace not only have an effect on our behaviors they influence and even determine our understanding of God Himself. Therefore doctrines can enhance our walk with God by establishing our sure footing in Him or hinder us so greatly we never come to know Him.

Our Lord warned us to take heed and beware of the leaven/yeast (teachings/doctrines) of the Pharisees and Sadducees. Most of us don’t know or have never met either a Pharisee or Sadducee yet we fail to understand that the same spirit within them is within many of our leaders today. And Jesus warned us of them and said a little of their leaven will make the whole lump rise. Meaning a little of these false teachings will make us entirely affected. I remember so clearly that I was so inundated with the teachings of my pastor that when I read the Word of God I heard his preaching as I read. For a very long time I didn’t realize or even understand the danger of what I had allowed to happen to me. And it took me years to rid myself of man’s teachings and precepts to hear what the Word of God was truly saying. And I found Him in truth, purity and beauty. Beloved, it is our responsibility to know God and to search for Him as hidden treasure. The Word of God tells us “do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world. We test all spirits through the examination of His Word, to determine if they are of God.

I wish that all our trust could be in our leaders. And that we could rely on them to not allow any false teachings amongst us. But the Word of God tells us this is not so. His Word tells us that it is better to trust the Lord than to put confidence in man. Our goal as Christians is know God through His Son whom we must believe in order to be saved. We can not allow any to pervert or divert that objective. And we must know Him for ourselves.

The Word of God speaks to our hearts about how to have life in Him and life abundantly. The Word of God is spirit and it is life. Too many teachings are about natural living. If we were to follow the Words of God the natural things of living would take care of themselves. Why do we need counseling about the issues that we do, because we fail to obey that which God has said? Yet expect our leaders to give us wisdom! There is no wisdom greater than the Word of God. His Word is pure and easy to understand with an open heart and ears earnest to hear Him. Yet He said, 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 will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables. Note: based upon the teachings I had accepted whenever I read verses like this, in my hearing, this was talking about ALL the other people that didn’t fellowship at “our church”. Yet in NO way is this speaking of someone else. In fact it is speaking directly to us!

God’s Word says “these people draw near to Me with their mouth, and honor Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me. And in vain they worship Me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.”  Therefore I encourage you to not let this heart be in you. Give all diligence to the Word of God and His teachings. His Holy Spirit will lead you and guide you in all truth. Cleanse your hands and purify your hearts. Examine all that you hear through the light of God’s Word and never settle for any teachings that does not produce the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus.  

Remember Beloved, that “a little” leaven, leavens the whole lump!