(Amos 3:3)
“Can two walk together, except they be agreed?”
To agree is to be united by the same thought, and for any two people to walk, work and live together, they must be of one mind. Stability is always the child of solidarity which is unanimity of thought. In the absence of this agreement of though, you have people attempting to do the impossible, that is to reconcile irreconcilable ideas. Educational systems will have contradictory aims, citizens will be divided by class consciousness and ordinary differences of opinion will multiply, deepen and widen and the unavoidable results are disorder, chaos, violence, cruelty, brutality, revolutions and wars. The gun is always at the service of ideas, as it has been said, the pan is mightier than the sword, this is so because the sword always serves ideas.
(Genesis 11: 6)
“And the LORD said, Behold, the people is one, and they have all one language; and this they begin to do: and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do.”
It is only in unanimity of thought can families and nations progress and achieve their aims and goals. Any two people are bound together by the agreement they made. Armies are moved by ideas, it is ideas that inaugurates governments and pulls down the same. Societies are organised by ideas.
(Proverbs 23:7)
” For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he…”
A man is what he thinks, you are your thoughts. The ideas you posses compose you.
If we as individuals are the ideas we have, and armies are moved by ideas, if solidarity is the sole ingredient of stability, progress and prosperity, then it would be a grave mistake to ignore where ideas originate and what influences them.
(Matthew 16:6, 11 and 12)
“Then Jesus said unto them, Take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees…How is it that ye do not understand that I spake it not to you concerning bread, that ye should beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees? Then understood they how that he bade them not beware of the leaven of bread, but of the doctrine of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees.”
Unanimity of thought is produced and influenced by doctrine. Knowledge is the product of doctrine and ideas or thoughts come from knowledge, therefore ideas originate from doctrine. The definition of the word “doctrine” is that it is a system of thoughts and beliefs accepted as authoritative and taught by a group or school. True doctrine comes from, and is given by revelation. Christ Jesus warned His disciples that they should be on guard and alert against false doctrine.
(Hebrews 13:9)
” Be not carried about with divers and strange doctrines…”
(Ephesians 4:14)
” That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive;
(Ephesians 5:6)
“Let no man deceive you with vain words: for because of these things cometh the wrath of God upon the children of disobedience.”
Doctrine is the wind in the sail that pulls or pushes the ship through the treacherous stormy seas of life, it is the system of beliefs you have, that propels your life in a certain direction and with a specific speed. The sail is your faith and the wind is the doctrines you follow. We are warned to refrain from false teachings and doctrines, this we achieve by marking and avoiding false teachers. There are only two doctrines in the world, false doctrines meaning all other doctrines except one, the true doctrine and that is the doctrine taught by the scriptures defined as the Sixty Six (66) books of the Old and the New Testament of the Bible.
Martin Luther once Said “As Christians we must intend to glory in nothing but the Holy Scriptures which are God’s written revelation, we should only hold the Holy Scriptures inerrant. It is the Scriptures that prove all other human writings, it is the Scriptures who is their final judge. People may at times contradict themselves, but never the written revelation of God. Scriptures are to be given the first place, therefore nothing but God’s divine words are to be the first principles for Christians; all human words are to be conclusions drawn from them and must be approved by them. Scripture itself alone is the fountain of all wisdom”. Scripture alone must remain the judge and master of all thoughts and ideas.
Other philosophies and doctrine may have scattered truths here and there, but they are only recognised as truths, because they were first found or revealed in the Scriptures. Without the Scriptures man is utterly in darkness and without hope.
Only in the Scriptures can a unanimity of thought be found. The doctrine taught by the Scriptures should not be believed and other doctrines taught by other philosophies disbelieved because they work and others don’t. The doctrine of Scripture Should be believed because it is true and others are not.
What doctrine informs your ideas and thoughts? The answer to that will expose the God you really worship. It is through what the scriptures teach, that I know God and His will and His purpose. If you don’t know the Scriptures, then you worship a God you don’t know. And an unknown God is not the God of the Scriptures and an unscriptural god is not a true God. He is nothing. If error is the doctrine you believe and follow, then you are lost indeed. May the Lord have mercy and pity upon your soul and shine the light of the gospel of Christ on you. Amen.
Author: Pastor Tshepo Laka