“For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine….” “Preach the word….with great patience and instruction” (2 Timothy 4:2,3).
For a pastor, the way to deal with bad theology in his church is always to preach the Word.
Just hang in there, year after year, teaching and preaching God’s unchanging truth. The changes in your people will come as you remain faithful.
The word “orthodox” means “right thinking.” Straight shooting. Sound doctrine. Solid reasoning.
We think of heresy as something the bad guys do, the “spiritual gift” of cults, and the aberration of the rebellious. After all, aren’t all heretics nuts? (We interrupt to recommend a book. A half century ago, Walter Nigg wrote “The Heretics” to establish that the great heresies in church history were the result of some pretty smart people with real grievances, and not ‘nuts.’ Reading it was life-changing for me. I checked alibris.com and amazon.com just now. A used copy or two is available, and new reprints are expensive. However, this is a great investment and the book will be a keeper.)
As Walt Kelly’s comic strip ‘possum Pogo once noted, “We have met the enemy and he is us.”
There is enough heresy inside the walls of your church to start twelve new cults by breakfast.
In a half-century and more of churchmanship–pastoring, assistant pastoring,and denominational involvement–I have seen these heresies, beggars riding in king’s chariots, as the saying goes…. Keep reading
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