The Stench of Rotten Doctrine

The Stench of Rotten Doctrine

Let’s talk about rotten food for a moment.  It has an odor than can roll your stomach.  Most of us will go through our refrigerators at least once a week, cleaning out food that has been there for several days.  Once something goes rotten, it is no easy task to get that nasty smell out of the fridge!  

Even though my daughter is nearly twenty-five years old, I can still remember that heightened sense of smell I had while pregnant.  Even with the door closed, I could tell when there were deviled eggs in the refrigerator.  

There are some wonderful spiritual applications we can learn from both of these scenarios.

Hebrews 5:14 says that solid food is for mature believers, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil.  When we constantly feed on the Word of God, it heightens our spiritual sense of smell so we notice rotten doctrine.

In our society, when we stand on biblical truth, there are those who will tell us we are just being judgmental. Others will tout the idea that “we just need to love everybody.”  Philippians 1:9 tells us that our love should overflow.  So yes, love is important. But the rest of the verse speaks volumes:  That love most grow in real knowledge and discernment, both of which we only gain by training with the constant use of the Word.  

In the above verse, “discernment” means critique or critical.  Over the years, I have heard the term “critical spirit,” and it is never in a good way.  However, based on the truths in Philippians 1:9, it is imperative for us to have a critical spirit when it comes to doctrine.  In these times when false teaching abounds, we would be foolish to accept any message as being “gospel truth” without first comparing it to the Word.  And we cannot do that unless we have trained ourselves with solid food from the Word.

Something else I have heard is that we shouldn’t name those who are teaching error.  Yet Romans 16:17-18 tells us to mark those who teach things that are contrary to scripture.  One way I have learned to “mark” them, is by reading books by some of the popular false teachers.  Whenever I find error, I highlight it, then write the bible verse in the margin that proves the error.  When done, I will often post what I have learned on my blog, then I usually donate the books to Goodwill.  Recently, I found an even better option.  I pass them on to someone I am mentoring so they can see the error, how slick false teachers are at passing it off as truth, and what the truth actually is.  It is a great lesson on learning to rightly divide the Word of truth! (2 Timothy 2:15)

Jesus told us in Matthew 10:16 that He is sending us out as sheep among many wolves.  If we aren’t careful to build up our spiritual armory, and sharpen our sword, we won’t be able to smell their rotten doctrine.  In contrast, those savage wolves can quickly discern when their prey is weak from not training on the solid food of the Word.  The tragic result is they will devour that prey with their rotten doctrine, exploiting them with their greed and false words. (2 Peter 2:1-3)

Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience.  (Ephesians 5:6 NKJV)

How is your spiritual sense of smell?

© 2021, Stacy R. Miller