Every wind of doctrine

“Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of men in their deceitful scheming.” Ephesians 4:14
Have you noticed how many different ‘winds of doctrine’ are blowing through the church? There are books we are urged to read, programmes we are encouraged to join, and so on. We need to be careful to check everything out by Scripture, which is to be the final authority in the church and in our lives as Christians. For example, Rick Warren’s ‘Purpose driven xxx’ books and programmes contain many teachings that do not line up with the Scriptures. Sure, he quotes fragments of Scripture to support his arguments, but they are more often than not used completely out of context, or building doctrine on a single word in a single translation. Another example would be the book ‘The Shack’ – which was strongly pushed by many churches, but contains several erroneous views of God, the Trinity, the complete atoning work of Christ, and so forth.
Paul tells us here that those who are blown around by these winds of doctrine are spiritual infants. Often these things come with lots of hype behind them. Run this programme and see your church double in size! However, the important thing for a church is not how many people attend it, but that those who do attend are growing in the Lord. Read this book and find a new experience with God! We shouldn’t be chasing after spiritual goosebump experiences, we should be seeking God to form a deeper relationship with Him. We come to know Him through His Word.
But there is hope. While the spiritual infants may be caught up in these things, those who are mature in Christ are able to discern them. We must not criticise anyone for following after these things, if they don’t know any different. Instead, we need to disciple less mature believers so that they might gain the maturity and discernment that is needed.