The Skinny Pole

I believe that one of the most frustrating experiences is communicating with spiritually deceived people.  A person that is under a spiritual deception does not know that they are thus afflicted.  So they behave as if they are not deceived.  Therefore, they believe everyone that disagrees with them is under a deception.  You can inform them that they are under a deception, and they will reply, “No, you’re the one that is deceived.”   Tell them that they are not being reasonable, and they will accuse you of being unreasonable.  Explain the truth to them, and they will counter that you are the one who believes a lie, and that they are actually the ones possessing truth.  Back and forth it goes until a predictable impasse is reached.

In their world everything is okay.  They view everyone outside of their world as the weird and misled ones.  They believe that all evidence exposing their deception is somehow rigged.  Everyone that attempts to expose their deception is either ignorant or is somehow being used by Satan.  There is no reasoning with them because they believe the lie is truth and truth is a lie.  In fact, they believe exactly the same things about the non-deceived people that are believed about themselves.

So then, how do we reach them?  It is usually an impossible task.  You cannot reach a deceived person unless they are humble enough to consider that they might be deceived.  Deceived individuals demand that non-deceived people agree to those same conditions for discourse.  Okay, then what determines who is deceived who is not?  There is only one standard and that is the Word of God.  Many of them claim their beliefs are based on the word of God.  However, a close inspection of their belief system reveals that it is like a gigantic house perched on top of a very skinny pole.  

The truth is that no false doctrines are based on context of the Scriptures.  All deceived individuals will twist scriptures, take them out of context, apply extra-biblical information, and add either their own opinion or someone else’s.  They refuse to agree that one sentence or a few words collected from various verses do not a context make.  They all claim, borrow, and opine, until the skinny pole is set.  Then they begin to build their great house of doctrine.  When the work is finished, they seldom point to the skinny pole as their proof of validity, but to the elaborate house built on top of it.  In fact, they sell books, videos, and speak at conferences about their elaborate house.  They have little to say about the skinny pole until they are challenged.           

Of course, deceived individuals declare exactly the scenario applies to non-deceived people.  But when they are chased into a corner of flawed logic, they will lash out with ad hominem.  Thus, all discourse ends in a cloud of contention and they go on their way satisfied that they have once again defended their belief system. 

I have tried to reason with deceived people that insist the Word of God says what it does not say.  I want to say, “Not so fast.  Let’s put some real estate under that thought before you take the leap to that next mountaintop.”  The fact is that one can stuff non-essential doctrine with a clip of scripture and some expository filling.  However, a solid context of scripture is necessary for every doctrine of worth.  That is because every step of logic must be upon the solid foundation of the text in context.  Solid footing does not exist on the clouds between two mountains of an attempted logical path. 

Having said all of that, I rest my case on a bit of simple common sense.  If it is sound doctrine, then it was discovered years ago by better Christians than we are in this age of so-called post-modernity.   We are not more intelligent or more connected with God than they were.  What makes us think that God has reserved some great truth for this anemic, pasty, and knock-kneed generation of professing Christians that must be pampered, pandered to, and bottle-fed with sweet pabulum, before they will even attend a church meeting?  I’m with Solomon here; there is nothing new under the sun.  But if we desire a beautiful house of strange doctrine, Satan is more than willing to supply the skinny pole.

My advice, for all its worth, is to reject everything new until we have finished receiving and obeying all that God has revealed over the last 2000 years.  Otherwise, one is consigned to sway in the wind on a skinny pole while lashing out at the weird doctrine of deceived people “below” him or her.  You know…doctrines such as Jesus Christ is the only Way, Truth, and Life, the Bible, Prayer, and the Holy Spirit are sufficient, and true Christians ought to bear fruit accordingly.  Those and other biblical time-honored doctrines are the beliefs of those bizarre folks who dare to build on solid rock.