STRANGE WINDS

STRANGE WINDS
When I was a boy on the farm I used to get a thrill as I would watch the wind blow across a ripening wheat field. The currents of air could be seen vividly as they crossed the field. A few times I wanted to "ride the wind" as I watched how the wheat responded to it.
But now I am saddened by the way the Christian community, especially the Charismatics, respond to the various "winds" of teaching and practice which sweep across the horizon. These winds travel, almost at breath taking speed, from Florida to Alaska, with almost universal acceptance.
Often, no one takes the time to check them against the Bible. This is sad, for some of them are bad, and destructive in the end. The fact that some "big name" man has preached it does not make it valid. The men "on the cutting edge" are fully as capable of being wrong as you are, or I am.
We have seen some very strange "winds" of doctrine blow through the camp. Some of them were "severe gusts" that cost us a lot of fellowship to withstand.
I mean things like "Apostolic Authority", "Chain of Life", "Discipling", "Plural Ministries", "Eldership", "Joy of the Lord", "Resurrection Life", "Tabernacle of David", and a lot of others.
We could tell you things which would almost "curdle your blood", as the saying goes. Things we could not tolerate, in the light of Scripture as we knew it.
We felt it was our God-given duty to completely renounce some of the teachings and practices which came our way. Others, we felt content to merely point out particular errors in them.
It was not that we believed ourselves to have been infallible, but we were responsible to a group of believers, over whom the Holy Ghost had placed us. We would protect them at any cost to ourselves. Sometimes the costs were very high.
And we did, also, have a responsibility to the brethren.
Some of the brethren who failed to heed when we warned them of their error, later came back, asking forgiveness, and saying they wished they had listened to our warning.
Others went deeper into error, finally bashing their hulls against the rocks.
History seems to want to repeat itself.
Lately, some of those old fallacies are returning, dressed up with a new name and different garb. People are "falling for them", just like their forebears did before.
And some tired old warriors are again calling out a warning to unsuspecting believers who are in danger of getting hurt by them. Maybe we should do what they wish we would do.
Shut up.