Beware of the Doctrine of Man

Over half of all the six billion people on our planet believe in Him, the One True God of Abraham, yet the majority of them feel extreme hatred toward others of His followers. Why? Because each of the many different religions and Denominations HAVE MADE THEIR OWN INDIVIDUAL ASSUMPTIONS REGARDING EXACTLY WHAT HE MEANT TO TEACH US, and therefore each chooses to teach selective, and sometimes distorted information about all other belief systems. Can the Lord be Pleased with this sort of behavior?

It is said that there are 485 denominations in the United States not including the “non-denomination” denominations who have their own doctrine but don’t or won’t realize it. How can we have so many doctrines when it is very clear how Jesus intended for His church (body of Christ) to be conducted in Acts? How did we get to the point of having so many views on how God wanted us to run His church? Answer: We fail to follow what He said in His word that has been around from the beginning. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. John 1:1-2. Man has taken it upon himself to add to God’s word to fit his thinking when it clearly says in the Bible not to add to His word. For I testify to everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: If anyone adds to these things, God will add to him the plagues that are written in this book; and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part from the Book of Life, from the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book. Revelation 22:18-19.

The church is preaching a surface message when they should be preaching warnings to the flock as the Old Testament prophets did. The doctrine of men has allowed the gods of this world to dominate our lives and the church should teach against the gods (an image of a deity; an idol) of this world.

Examples:

Carved images – So many of us think that crosses, Jesus bracelets, statutes, etc bring us closer to God when in fact He says To whom then will you liken God? Or what likeness will you compare to Him? The workman molds an image, the goldsmith overspreads it with gold, and the silversmith casts silver chains. Whoever is too impoverished for such a contribution chooses a tree that will not rot; He seeks for himself a skillful workman to prepare a carved image that will not totter (to shake or tremble). Isaiah 40:27. Isaiah mocks the fact that man thinks God’s greatness can be captured in a carved image. This is the essence of the Second Commandment (Exodus 20:4-6). Carved images are the doctrine of man and not of God. Yet we ignore God’s instructions.

Idols: 1.An image or other material object representing a deity to which religious worship is addressed. 2. An image of a deity other than god. 3. Any person or thing regarded with blind admiration, adoration, or devotion

This is an interesting subject and we don’t fully comprehend the scope of this sin in our lives. This is God’s first commandment. You shall have no other God’s before Me. Exodus 20:3. These false gods take away from your relationship with God. There is only one God and He wants us to worship Him only.

Let’s list some of the gods we are in bondage to.

Consumer gods.

Money gods

Power and position gods

Media gods – TV, magazine, movies.

Video gods – Games, cell and PDF phones. How many hours are your children wasting on video games?

Sports gods – Not that sports are bad. But do you give at least equal time to God as you do with sports?

Celebrity gods – Do you know how many Christian women follow Oprah? Oprah believes in self help that is rooted in the New Age movement. She looks to herself rather than God the creator.

Entertainment gods – We even want to be entertained in church.

Conclusion: When we rely on man’s thinking rather than God’s instruction, we become prideful like Satan who as a result was thrown out of heaven. We cannot compromise the Word of God with man’s doctrine.

1 Timothy 4:16 Take heed to yourself and to the doctrine. Continue in them, for in doing this you will save both yourself and those who hear you.

2 Timothy 4:3 For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear.

Titus 1:9 He must hold firmly to the trustworthy message as it has been taught, so that he can encourage others by sound doctrine and refute those who oppose it.

Titus 2:1 You, however, must teach what is appropriate to sound doctrine.

The Measure of Success

Jeremiah 9:23-24 (NIV)
23 This is what the LORD says:
“Let not the wise boast of their wisdom
or the strong boast of their strength
or the rich boast of their riches,
24 but let the one who boasts boast about this:
that they have the understanding to know me,
that I am the LORD, who exercises kindness,
justice and righteousness on earth,
for in these I delight,” declares the LORD.

By the world’s standards, success is usually measured by three criteria: wisdom, power, and wealth. The “successful” communicate insights that influence others (wisdom), gain strategic advantage over others (power), or accumulate and control resources (wealth). Yet God asserts here that these attainments hold no weight with Him and that true success is measured by our knowledge of Him (v. 24).

Both “understand” and “know” contain the idea of ascertaining something through the process of seeing (Job 42:5 See below). To know God is to encounter Him (2 Cor 3:16-18 See below); to receive “revelation” from Him as, through the Scriptures, He implants His thoughts into our minds (1 Cor 2:9-12 See below). Pursue this “knowing.” Cultivate in communion with him as His character engulfs us with the holy wonder of a God who passionately desires intimate friendship with those whom He has created.

Show me Your ways, O LORD;Teach me Your paths. Lead me in Your truth and teach me, For You are the God of my salvation; On You I wait all the day. Psalm 25:4-5

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Job 42:5 I have heard of You by the hearing of the ear, But now my eye sees You

2 Cor 3:16-18 Nevertheless when one turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. Now the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.

1 Corinthians 2:9-12 But as it is written: “ Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, Nor have entered into the heart of man, The things which God has prepared for those who love Him.” But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God. For what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God. Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God.