Faulty Doctrine in the Church Enables Evil

I am writing these things to you, hoping to come to you before long; but in case I am delayed, I write so that you will know how one ought to conduct himself in the household of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and support of the truth. (1Ti 3:14-15)

The Church is commissioned by Christ to uphold His truth without any dilution or compromise. A local Christian church is to be THE household of God wherein people can find, see, and hear God’s truth. Truth about God Himself. Truth about man and sin. Truth about Christ and salvation through faith alone in Him alone. In other words, a place where God’s Word is faithfully and accurately preached, taught, obeyed, and lived.

Very, very few local churches are the pillar and support of the truth.

As a result, evil is able to flourish. Church discipline is not practiced so that the wicked are exposed and expelled. False shepherds stand in the pulpit. People who are not saved are assured that they are. And the innocent are oppressed by the wicked who creep in among the sheep.

This is why so many of you have been victimized by evil people who were in a church that you attended. Where the lie is taught, evil is able to flourish comfortably. People who bear bad fruit, who wear a saintly mask but in fact are the devil’s emissaries find themselves very comfortable and accepted and justified in such a place.

When we use the word “doctrine,” what we mean is the content of what we believe, and when we speak of “bible doctrine,” we mean that body of truth which God’s Word teaches us. Many professing Christians say that they don’t want to be bothered with “doctrine” because it is boring and something just for academia and theologians. But every one of us embraces a doctrine about God and about ourselves and about salvation. If that doctrine we hold to is not what the Bible teaches, then we are embracing lies. It is Christ’s truth that sets us free, that shows us the Narrow Way that leads to life, that frees us from Satan’s bondage and makes us children of God. All of that is doctrine.

Now, the primary reason that you who have been oppressed by a RASN (reviler, abuser, sociopath, narcissist) is because of lies, false doctrine. Specifically, false doctrine about who a Christian is, what regeneration is and what a born again person will necessarily look like. You have been taught false doctrine about forgiveness, about sin, about the church, and more. And because of this, evil has been able to be pronounced “not so bad” or even “good.” You have been told that you are required to forgive and reconcile with evil. That God does not permit divorce. And all of these lies and more are what keep people enslaved to wolves.

All of this is why I preach through God’s Word. We recently completed some 130 video lessons on Ephesians and we are halfway through Romans now 127 lessons and going. (You can find these on our Light for Dark Times Jeff Crippen Youtube channel). Without this kind of preaching and teaching (and I back up what I teach with the works of respected men like Martyn Lloyd-Jones and Robert Haldane)…without this kind of preaching AND obedience to it, a church is never going to be the pillar and support of truth. Instead, it will be the pillar and support of a den of wolves.

You are all invited to join our church online – even become real members of it. Others have done so and we know them. They email and text me, the join in on Sundays with us, they follow the mid-week Bible studies, and they can be assured that there will be no wolves lurking by them. I know that all of us want an “in-person” church, but let me tell you – being in-person with a place where evil is enabled and God’s Word is distorted is NOT preferable to joining in with a real church online. Don’t let anyone pull the “but that would be forsaking the assembling together with the saints” (see Hebrews on that) twist of Scripture. You are not gathering together with the saints if you gather in a false church. Think of Paul’s epistles. Some of the churches had never laid eyes on Paul. He wrote to them and I guarantee you that if he had livestreaming tech in his day he would have used it!