A Doctrine of Devils: Christian Discernment, #4

By Richard Smith and Raymond Creed

This article challenge the false teaching that Christians should not use their minds in matters of faith and spirituality. It argues any kind of teaching that discourages Christians from using their minds is not only wrong but devilish in that it provides the soil in which other errors can take root. In particular, it offers the danger of opening people up to devilish seduction through encouraging a lazy mental passivity, which depends upon the say-so of Church leaders to decide whether a particular occurrence originates from the Holy Spirit. This leads to a superficial attitude which says, 'if it's spectacular it or makes a loud noise it must be a work of God.'

• Language: English
• Publisher: Raymond Creed
• Release date: Dec 14, 2020
• ISBN: 9781393102588

Book preview

Introduction

Many believers in Jesus are made to feel unnecessarily guilty because they have been misled by a certain ‘strange teaching’ (Hebrews 13:9a) which condemns the use of the mind as a means of evaluating whether a particular spiritual occurrence is from God. Even the mildest questioning is met with such hackneyed clichés as: -

Don’t think about it, just let it happen.

God speaks to the heart not to the mind

Just relax and go with the flow

You should never criticise

You’re being judgmental

Come out of your minds.

You’re only relying upon your intellect to work things out

You’re not in faith if you use the mind.

Don’t analyse it, just receive.

Present in these clichés is the assumption that it’s wrong to use the mind to assess spiritual occurrences no matter how bizarre or disturbing they may be. Given the delusion and devastation this stance can cause in people’s lives it would not be too much of an exaggeration to claim that it represents ‘a doctrine of devils’ (1 Timothy 4:1c).Wreathed in the smoke of hell, it places many Christians into a most cruel bondage by making them feel that it’s wrong to think for themselves. Ignored is the rather obvious point that God’s Word gives Christians a tremendous charter of freedom – allowing them to think for themselves so long as there’s a willingness to submit every thought to Christ, (2 Corinthians 10:5b).

The central argument put forward here is that the kind of anti-mind teaching (AMT) represented in these clichés is not only wrong but that it provides the soil in which other errors can take root as well. In particular, it offers the danger of opening people up to devilish seduction through encouraging a lazy mental passivity, which depends upon the say-so of Church leaders to decide whether a particular occurrence originates from the Holy Spirit. This leads to a superficial attitude which says, ‘if it’s spectacular it or makes a loud noise it must be a work of God.’ The Devil’s strategy appears to be to first persuade individuals to stop using their minds and then allow his demons to manifest their own hideous personalities through these people. Here it’s worth emphasising that an empty mind is a vulnerable mind.  This point is highlighted by Christ’s words in Luke 11:24-26. "When the unclean spirit is gone out of a man, he walks through dry places, seeking rest; and finding none, he says, ‘I will return to my house from where I came out.’ And when he comes, he finds it swept and garnished. Then goes he and takes to him seven other spirits more wicked than himself; and they enter in, and dwell there: and the last state of that man is worse than