In the following 23 minute mp3, the late Dr. Duane Spencer clearly explains the difference between the doctrines of God and men. His definitions are sufficiently broad to reveal all the errors of the “evangelical” church of our day.
The following verses describe true born-again believers:
Joh 1:12 But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God,
Joh 1:13 who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.
The following words refer to God’s word / doctrine:
Joh 15:3 Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you.
Joh 17:17 Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth.
Psa 12:6 The words of the LORD are pure words, like silver refined in a furnace on the ground, purified seven times.
The following words refer to the doctrines of men:
Isa 50:11 But watch out, you who live in your own light and warm yourselves by your own fires. This is the reward you will receive from Me: You will soon fall down in great torment.
[The above verse refers to those who stir themselves up via man-made doctrines and all the while believe it is the Holy Spirit in them–that is, they have erred by following the doctrine of men.]
Mat 15:7 You hypocrites! Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you, for he wrote,
Mat 15:8 ‘These people honor Me with their lips, but their hearts are far from Me.
Mat 15:9 Their worship is a farce, for they teach man-made ideas as commands from God.'”
Rom 10:3 For they don’t understand God’s way of making people right with Himself. Refusing to accept God’s way, they cling to their own way of getting right with God by trying to keep the law.
The following is what happens to men who worship God based on their own reason instead of following God’s prescription for worship from His word:
Rom 1:21 Yes, they knew God, but they wouldn’t worship Him as God or even give Him thanks. And they began to think up foolish ideas of what God was like. As a result, their minds became dark and confused.
Rom 1:22 Claiming to be wise, they instead became utter fools.
SUMMARY:
All of the false teachers mentioned in this blog are blending man-made religion with the worship God prescribed in His word.
The terms that describe that are: syncretism (blending); apostasy (turning from God’s truth to something else); heresy (devising your own way, another religion, like the Church of the Latter Day Saints, the Mormons; or Jehovah’s Witnesses).
Dr. Spencer’s word studies:
The mp3 in this post was copied from a Family Radio broadcast a couple of years ago. They air Dr. Spencer’s word studies every Sunday at 8:00 p. m. EST. They also air a small portion of each study daily. And on Sundays, it is aired in its entirety more than once; check online for listings in your area at FamilyRadio.org.
Some of Dr. Spencer’s word studies are posted on YouTube.
Dr. Spencer’s son recently began selling downloadable mp3s and pdfs at Word Of Grace.