DOCTRINE
What is doctrine? In its basic sense, doctrine is any sort of teaching. The Bible, for example, talks about the teachings of men [Mk. 7:7–8], the teachings of devils [1 Tim. 4:1; Rev. 2:24], and the teachings of God [Deut. 32:1-3; Jn. 6:45; 1 Thess. 4:9; 1 Jn. 2:27].
We live in an age in which – as with the word “religion” – the word “doctrine” has become a negative term due to man adding to their original concepts. And yet it is simply impossible to live without doctrinal beliefs. While many do not want to use the term, all people – secular as well as religious – have become exposed to some type of doctrine that has shaped their beliefs, core values, and certain ways of living – including those that practice atheism.
I have encountered churches that claim, “We don’t teach religion or doctrine; we just preach the gospel,” or, “We just preach Jesus.”
But the moment you ask them, “Well, who is Jesus, and what did He do?” or “What exactly is the gospel?” the only way to answer is to begin to lay out doctrine.
Doctrine is one of the most powerful shaping forces in terms of how it affects your thought-life and eventually, how you do your life overall. Doctrine is not just a biblical term. We are all being indoctrinated by somebody whenever we are learning something that affects how we think and live.
Week after week many well-meaning pastors and Bible teachers exhort God’s people through their doctrinal teachings to live sanctified lives, to be filled with and led by the Holy Spirit, to crucify the flesh and abide in Christ – all without sufficiently teaching them how to acquire doctrine directly from the Spirit of God for every aspect of their lives.
HUMAN INDOCTRINATION VERSUS GODLY INDOCTRINATION
The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines indoctrination as “a process of teaching a person or group to accept a set of beliefs without considering whether it’s right or wrong.”
Here is the problem with doctrines taught solely from human sources or religious organizations’ perspectives, mainly when applied to millions of people spanning different generations and cultures: we don’t all believe the same thing.
The primary reason for this is because these doctrines are taught to us primarily from human sources and organizations rather than from the Spirit of God within us. Experiencing the Spirit of God within you as a teaching Spirit is necessary for you to receive “doctrine” for all facets of your life, just like Jesus experienced as a human being. Jesus got His beliefs, values, and life practices for every aspect of His life directly from the Spirit of God, through the kingdom of God that resided within His soul. (See Deut. 32:2; Prov. 4:2; Jn. 7:16)
Every human being needs to ultimately experience a personalized “doctrine” experience directly from the Spirit of God within themselves; otherwise true, spiritual maturation and the fulfillment of the perfect will and purposes of God for one’s life will never take place. The ultimate goal for this process is so that, as Ephesians 4:14 describes it, “… we no longer may be infants, tossed to and fro and carried about by every wind of doctrine …” that is caused by “the trickery of men, in cunning craftiness, to the wiles of deceit.”
A look into many of today’s churches reveals that what is being taught within them are doctrines that cause the people to remain spiritual infants due to them being “tossed to and fro through other winds of doctrines.” These doctrines primarily consist of sporadic teachings of different biblical topics or teachings that pertain to the leaders’ and/or the organization’s beliefs and practices.
A quote that I recently heard synchronized with what God was attempting to teach me about “doctrine” purposed to teach people how to listen and learn from Him directly. This quote stated, “There are over seven billion people on the earth today, yet there is only one mind; what we have are over seven billion on and off switches.”
The moment I heard this, a light went on within me. Though this person wasn’t explicitly talking about the mind of God, at that moment, God spoke to me and asked, “What are your thoughts about what that person just said?” Immediately, I knew where God was going with His question.
Initially, all humanity came out of God – beginning with Adam and Eve. When God formed Adam from the dust of the ground and then breathed His breath of life into him, He equipped Adam with the ability to receive doctrine directly from Him within Adam’s mind. Unfortunately, Adam and Eve chose to “switch off” the mind of God by welcoming the teaching of a doctrine that came from another mind – Satan, who appeared in the form of a serpent and tempted them to sin by twisting what God had originally said. It is important to note that they both chose to take on the actions of a mind that was not God’s. Satan introduced the first “off switch” to the doctrine that comes from the mind of God; Adam and Eve chose to use it, as does anyone else that decides to continually get their doctrine concerning God and the Bible solely from sources other than God Himself.
Sound doctrine originates with God; false doctrine originates with someone or something other than God. Paul went to great lengths to convince the church in Galatia that the gospel he taught was not his own, but God’s: “For I would have you know, brothers, that the gospel that was preached by me is not man’s gospel. For I did not receive it from any man, nor was I taught it, but I received it through a revelation of Jesus Christ” (Gal. 1:11-12). Even Jesus was clear that He only taught what God had instructed Him to teach: “My teaching is not mine, but His who sent me” (Jn. 7:16).
Just as true doctrine is marked by its divine origin, false doctrine is marked by its humanistic and diabolical origin. Paul warned the Colossian church to avoid doctrine that is “according to human precepts and teachings,” and he told Timothy that some would “depart from the faith by devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons” (Col. 2:22; 1 Tim. 4:1). Again, It is this simple: sound teaching originates with God, and false teaching originates with humanistic and demonic influences.
Unfortunately, when it comes to much of today’s traditional Christianity, many other minds throughout the ages have created and continue to teach different doctrines versus a “doctrine” that is solely purposed to teach the people how to hear and learn from the Spirit of God directly. Though many may disagree with what I’m about to say, I believe that Satan is still influencing what is being taught in many of these religious organizations by “turning off the mind of God” through the doctrines that they teach. Proof of this is found in the vastly different doctrines that are taught and practiced by various religions.
The current, traditional church structure, for the most part, is a contradictory organization. Most of these organizations teach about God and about His Written Word (the Bible) from their personal and organizational perspectives that they have learned from other human beings. Yet too few actually teach the person how to hear from God Himself so that He can tell them what He wants them to know about Himself and so that He can give them His interpretation about His written Word (the Bible) and how He wants them to apply its principles to their lives.
MISGUIDED TEACHERS AND MINISTRIES
Many Christians or those that follow other forms of spirituality would say that their spiritual leader in no way fits the description of “the trickery of men, in cunning craftiness, to the wiles of deceit,” which Ephesians 4:14 describes as the underlying reason why they are not teaching the people how to hear and learn from the Spirit of God within themselves. The reality is that if a guru, priest, minister, or ministry is not teaching the people how to hear and learn directly from the Spirit of God, though deceiving people is the furthest thing from the minister’s mind, spiritually speaking, Satan could be negatively affecting that minister or ministry through his ancient tactic of iniquity, which is the root cause of why people aren’t taught how to listen and learn from God in the most intimate way. Ultimately, iniquity is why people aren’t taught how to experience God like Jesus experienced the Spirit of God within His inner-kingdom. Any spiritual teacher or ministry that fails to teach the people how to hear and learn from God, just like Jesus experienced as a human being, is falling short of its true purpose.
A similar warning of deception concerning spiritual leaders and organizations who don’t teach the people how to hear and learn from the Spirit of God inwardly (an inward educational process described as “the anointing that teaches”), but instead they teach other things, is given by John.
“These things I have written to you concerning those who try to deceive you. But the anointing which you have received from Him abides in you, and you do not need that anyone teach you; but as the same anointing teaches you concerning all things, and is true, and is not a lie, and just as it has taught you, you will abide in Him” (1 Jn. 2:26-27).
This same type of condition of learning about God versus learning directly from the Spirit of God is put forth in Second Timothy 3:5-7, which describes people who “have a form of godliness” in that they teach things concerning godliness. The problem is, these teachers cause the believers “to always be learning but ultimately not being able to come to the knowledge of the truth” because they are not teaching the people how to experience knowledge directly from the ultimate Source of Truth: the Spirit of God within. This is the same type of warning that Jesus gave in the following Scripture:
“Then they understood that He did not say to beware of the leaven of bread, but of the doctrine of the Pharisees and Sadducees” (Matt. 16:12).
From a biblical perspective, leaven almost always represents evil or sin. According to Jesus, leaven in the above verse is likened to a corrupt doctrine. The religious leaders of Jesus’ day were teaching doctrines that kept the people from personally experiencing the kingdom of God that was within them.
Their “trickery” was exercised when they were diabolically influenced and spiritually fathered through Satan’s covert tactic of iniquity, which resulted in them stopping to use the scriptures as “the key of knowledge” type of teachings to teach the people how to experience the Kingdom of God/Heaven within their souls meditatively (Matt. 23:12; Lk. 11:52, 17:21; Jn. 8:44).
Ephesians 4: 14 describes this travesty as “cunning craftiness” that causes “wiles of deceit” Like many Bible teachers today, they used the Scriptures to teach doctrines that made the people continually reliant on them as middlemen between the people and God. As a result, they limited the people from experiencing God inwardly as their Spiritual Father, Redeemer, and as a teaching Spirit.
The Pharisees were a religious and political party known for insisting that the Law be observed as interpreted by the scribes. Jesus’s condemnation of the religious leaders of His day asserted three things:
1. That they were hypocrites.
2. That they did not understand the inner meaning and ultimate purpose of the Scriptures.
3. That they had set up a system to measure spiritual status and worthiness that emphasized external religious practices, thus neglecting “key of knowledge” (Lk. 11:52) teachings that were purposed to teach the people how to experience the kingdom of God within.
I do not believe that all of today’s church authorities are intentional hypocrites. However, church teachings often do not reflect the inner meaning and foundational purpose of the Scriptures. The spiritual emphasis of many of today’s church organizations seems to focus more on external status, image, worthiness, and religious practices such as supporting the pastor’s vision through involvement in church-related ministries, church attendance, and financial giving. As in the time of Jesus, teachings that solely focus on these external practices versus teachings that focus on how to experience the kingdom of God within hinders the saints from being spiritually matured by the Spirit of God.
Spiritual leaders are not immune to this type of deceptive practice. Though many of them may not know that they are being deceived, I submit to you that if a spiritual leader is not being consistently taught by the Spirit of God within their inner-kingdoms, then the “cunning craftiness” and “wile of deceit” that Ephesians 4:11 warns us about is at play. It is undoubtedly affecting that minister or ministry through the diabolical, covert spiritual condition of iniquity. This is what alienates people from experiencing the full essence of the “life of God” within their souls due to “ignorance” (lack of knowledge) as to how to experience it. And if they are not experiencing it for themselves, it is safe to assume they are not teaching those they have influence over, but are instead teaching other doctrines.
This deceptive spiritual condition is described in Ephesians:
“This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord, that you should no longer walk as the Gentiles walk, in the vanity of their mind, having their understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart” (Eph. 4:17-18 NKJV).
A Gentile is a biblical expression to describe a foreigner. To be a Gentile is a biblical metaphor that describes anyone who doesn’t know how to experience his or her Godly origin because they are not hearing from their ORIGINator within their souls: the Spirit of God Himself.
The Greek definition for the word “vanity” in this verse, according to Thayer’s Greek Definitions, is the word mataiotes, which is defined as “what is devoid of truth and appropriateness.” The Hebrew translation for mataiotes is the word riq, which describes “vanity” in this verse as “what is empty of original content and purpose.” The “original content and purpose” that they are evidently devoid of is full knowledge of the purposes of God for every aspect of their lives, which will include how to effectively teach and train people how to hear and learn from God within their inherent kingdoms.
This “vanity” of the mind, with “understanding darkened” and “being alienated from the life of God” due to “ignorance” and “blindness of their heart” describes the spiritual condition of someone who is once again affected by iniquity. They have no knowledge at all concerning the will of God for their lives. At best, they assume the will of God but do not know it for sure.
We see this same spiritual condition in one of the most insightful accounts of Jesus’ teachings concerning those who were deceived in assuming the will of God and the “the work of the ministry” for their lives by prophesying in the Name of the Lord, casting out demons, and doing many other miraculous works. They assumed these works would have pleased God since they were doing the same things Jesus Himself had done while on earth, but judging by Jesus’ response, they evidently weren’t doing the perfect will of God for their lives. Jesus told these imposters, “I never knew you: depart from me, you that work iniquity” (See Matt. 7:21-23 KJV).
Aren’t these the same activities that many Charismatic, Evangelical, Pentecostal, and other ministries teach under the umbrella of signs and wonders? I submit to you that not every Christian is purposed by God to perform such things. If this were so, why isn’t it happening across the world today? And isn’t this precisely the kind of spiritual immaturity that afflicts so many people today concerning traditional religious teachings? How tragic that people cling to flawed concepts of God.
The word iniquity that Jesus used in Matthew 7:23 from its ancient Hebrew perspective is the word
In other words, they were not experiencing the “wind of doctrine” from the Spirit of God to acquire accurate and detailed truth regarding His will and purposes for their preordained ministry and lives.
SOUND DOCTRINE VERSUS ITCHY EARS
In the following passage of Scripture, Paul informs us that there will come a time when people will not be able to endure “sound doctrine” due to the fact that “according to their own desires, [the people] will heap up for themselves teachers” that will cause them to “turn their ears away from truth,” which will result in the people being exposed to and believing in “fables.”
“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” (2 Tim. 4:3-4 NKJV).
Understanding the term “sound doctrine” is key to understanding the significance of these verses. The word“sound” from its New Testament Greek perspective is the word hugiaino, which is defined as “what is healthy, uncorrupt, and what is free of the mixture of any error.” The Hebrew equivalent hugiaino is the word shalam, which is described as “what is required to lead a person to be complete or in a state of wholeness.”
The word “doctrine” in the above passage from its Greek perspective is the word didaskalia, which is defined as “instruction, teaching, and learning.” Its equivalent from the ancient Hebrew perspective is the word lamad, which is described as “what is learned through the skillful instruction of an expert teacher.”
Interestingly, when combined with the word shalam,the term “sound doctrine” (shalam lamad) describes “a student who is instructed and guided by a skillful and expert teacher to be pointed in the right direction.” The “right direction” that a “skillful and expert” spiritual leader or Bible “teacher” should be guiding the student to experience is within the soul, which is where “doctrinal truth” for every aspect of the student’s life is acquired by none other than the Spirit of God.
In other words, “sound doctrine” is not just teaching; it is specific teachingabout how to experience the “sound” of the voice of God to get absolute truth through the kingdom of God that resides within our souls.
In the following passage, we see the sobering warning of accepting and believing other doctrines beyond one that teaches people how to go within their inner-kingdoms to get doctrine for all aspects for their life from Christ:
“Everyone transgressing and not abiding in the doctrine of Christ does not have God. He who abides in the doctrine of Christ, he 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 speak a greeting to him. For he who speaks a greeting to him is partaker of his evil deeds” (2 Jn. 1:9-11).
The doctrine of Christ is not a doctrine (teaching) taught from another person about Christ. It is an experience where you experience doctrine (teaching) that comesfrom Christ for every aspect of your life.
ITCHY EARS
To have “itching ears” is a biblical figure of speech that refers to people who would prefer teachers tell them what they want to hear without considering whether it’s right or wrong (2 Tim. 4:3). Evidence of people today having “itching ears,” includes the popularity of prosperity doctrines that teach that God wants all believers to have an abundance of financial and material possessions; doctrines that people are not required to change because God is too loving to judge anyone; and doctrines that teach that you need a person to hear from God for you, which takes believers off the hook regarding hearing from God for themselves.
There are significant flaws in this line of teaching. One week you may hear a doctrine about faith; another week one about tithes and offerings; another week about the importance of finding a ministry within your local church, etc. These and any other biblical topic that God desires for us to learn, we have an inherent ability and right to learn from God personally.
Teaching biblical doctrine is not just the act of teaching. More importantly, it’s the content of what is being taught. Though many doctrines could be taught through the content found in the Bible, the Bible should only be used to teach one doctrine; that doctrine is teaching the people how to experience the kingdom within.
When people have “itching ears,” other teachers decide for them what is right or wrong, or what is truth. Sadly, such people turn to and believe what the Bible refers to as “fables” or fictitious stories, regarding the biblical concepts because they fail to be taught how to turn their earsinward within their souls to hear the truth directly from God concerning them.
There is no one more qualified to teach you doctrine concerning biblical topics or the personal “doctrine” for your life at this level than the “sound” that comes through Voice of God, biblically known as the Holy Spirit of Truth!
Though God has given us gifts in the form of “the fivefold ministry” (and I thank God for the ones that are genuinely ordained by God), their ultimate purpose is not to teach doctrines according to their organization or denomination’s beliefs. It must be to teach you how to get your primary learning from the ultimate Indoctrinator Himself – the Holy Spirit of Truth.
The primary reasons that the kingdom of God as an inner-learning environment is still such a mystery to so many today is that many Christians seem to be continually stuck on getting their knowledge and understanding of God and the Bible from human perspectives versus from God Himself.
One of the primary reasons there are so many religious philosophies, practices, and doctrines today is because accurate, Bible-based, God-centered meditation that is purposed to still one’s self to hear and learn from God is not taught today in many religious or spiritual environments.
True, authentic, God-inspired “sound doctrine” coming from any spiritual teacher, will always and only, teach people how to go within themselves through the use of Scripture as “key of knowledge” teachings coupled with teachings on how to meditate for the purpose of being personally indoctrinated by the Spirit of God within their inherent kingdoms. Otherwise, you risk the danger of continually experiencing, as the Scripture describes, “tossed to and fro by every wind of doctrine” (Eph. 4:14) instead of being taught how to hear doctrine from God Himself.
God will only show you what you are looking for. If you’re not taught how to pursue this level of indoctrination (teaching and learning) from God through your personal prayer life, the traditional doctrines according to men will be the extent of your doctrinal and prayer experience.
Now that we have taken A Deeper Look into the biblical concept of doctrine, questions worth asking to consider seriously are: Who would you want to continually get your doctrine (religious education) from concerning God, the Scriptures and how to live your life according to the will of God? Would you rather get this type of knowledge from other people, self-study or the Spirit of God Himself?
This article contains content from The Mystery of the Kingdom of God Revealed chapter 15: Indoctrination.
Respectfully,
Julio Alvarado Jr.