Don't Be Tossed To and Fro

DON'T BE TOSSED TO AND FRO

"BE NOT CARRIED ABOUT WITH DIVERS AND STRANGE DOCTRINES. For it is a good thing that the heart be established with grace; not with meats, which have not profited them that have been occupied therein."(Hebrews 13:9; Capital Emphasis Added)

"TO THE LAW AND TO THE TESTIMONY: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them." (Isaiah 8:20; Capital Emphasis Added)

My dear Brother or Sister in Christ, you and I live in an age when men hate doctrines and creeds, and are filled with hatred towards controversial religious subjects. If you dare say of one doctrine that "IT IS TRUE," and of another that "IT IS FALSE," you are called narrow-minded and unkind, and you lose the praise of men. Nevertheless, the Bible was not written in vain. Examine the mighty lessons that are contained in Paul’s words to the Hebrews. They were lessons for them as well as for us.

There comes the broad warning that "Be not carried about with divers and strange doctrines." The meaning of these words is not a hard thing which you cannot understand. "DON'T BE TOSSED TO AND FRO," the Apostle says, "by every blast of false teaching at this end of the world. False doctrines will arise as long as our world lasts, in number, many, in minor details, varying, in one point alone, always the same, strange, new, and departing from the Gospel of Christ. They exist now. They are found within the Church. Remember this, and do not be carried away. Such is Paul’s warning to you at this end of the world.

Paul's warning does not stand alone. Even in the midst of the Sermon on the Mount there fell from the lips of our Saviour a solemn word of warning that "Beware of false prophets, which come unto you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves" (Matthew 7:15). Even in Paul’s last address to the Ephesian elders, though he found no time to speak about the observance of religious ceremonies, he did find time to warn his friends against false doctrine that "Of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things to draw away disciples after them" (Acts 20:30).

What says the book of Second Corinthians? It says that "I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtlety, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ" (2 Corinthians 11:3). What says the book of Galatians? It says that "I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another Gospel" (Galatians 1:6). "Who hath bewitched you that ye should not obey the truth?" (Galatians 3:1). "Having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh" (Galatians 3:3). "How turn ye again to weak and beggarly elements?" (Galatians 4:9). "Ye observe days, and months, and times, and years. I am afraid of you" (Galatians 4:10, 11). "Stand fast in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again in the yoke of bondage" (Galatians 5:1).

What says the book of Ephesians? It says that "Be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine" (Ephesians 5:14). What says the book of Colossians? It says that "Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men" (Colossians 2:8). What says the book of First Timothy? It says that "The Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith" (1 Timothy 4:1). What says the book of Second Peter? It says that "There shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies." (2 Peter 2:1). What says the book of First John? It says that "Believe not every spirit. Many false prophets are gone out into the world" (1 John 4:1). What says the book of Jude? It says that "Contend earnestly for the faith once delivered to the saints. For there are certain men crept in unawares" (Jude 1:3, 4). Mark these texts well. They were written for your learning at this end of the world (1 Corinthians 10:11).

What do you say about these texts? How they may strike you, I do not know. I only know how they strike me. To tell me, as some do at this end of the world, in the face of all these texts, that the early Church was a model of perfection and purity, is absurd. Even in the days of the apostles, there were abundant errors both in theory and in practice. To tell me, as others do at this end of the world, that we ought never to discuss controversial religious subjects, and never to warn members of the Church against erroneous views, is senseless and unreasonable. It is not for nothing that Paul says that, "If thou PUT THE BRETHREN IN REMEMBRANCE of these things, thou shalt be a good minister of Jesus Christ" (1 Timothy 4:6).

A plain warning against false doctrine is needed especially at this end of the world. The school of the Pharisees, and the school of the Sadducees (Mark 12:18-23; Acts 23:8), those ancient mothers of all mischief, were never more active than they are now. Between men adding to the truth on one side, and men taking away from it on the other, between men burying the truth under additions, and men mutilating it by subtractions, between superstition and false doctrine, between these, the Gospel is under attack continually at this end of the world.

Strange views are presented continually by men about subjects that are of the deepest importance to the salvation of your soul at this end of the world. About the atonement (Matthew 1:21), about the divinity of Christ (John 10:30), about the inspiration of the Bible (2 Timothy 3:16), about the reality of miracles (Matthew 4:24), about the certainty of eternal death and eternal life (John 5:28, 29), about the Seventh-day Sabbath (Exodus 20:1-17), about all these things there is nothing too deadly being taught by men at this end of the world. By the pen and by the tongue, by the press and by the pulpit, our world is flooded continually with a flood of erroneous opinions. To ignore this fact is deadly. The danger is real, great, and unmistakable. Never was it so needful to warn you that, "DON'T BE TOSSED TO AND FRO" at this end of the world!

Paul Fonsi