Discerning the Intrinsic Factor and Purpose of the Winds of Teaching in the Church

Praise the Lord for the church life as the corporate expression and manifestation of the Christ we enjoy, experience, and realize!

For us to practice the church life as a living in the Body of Christ, the one new man, we need to experience the divine dispensing of the Divine Trinity and remain under the divine dispensing every day.

Also, we need to arrive at the oneness of the faith and of the full knowledge of the Son of God by growing in life, knowing Christ subjectively, and holding only to the faith and not emphasizing other teachings or practices in the church life. This is all on the positive side.

On the negative side, we need to preserve the church life as a living in the Body of Christ by discerning the intrinsic factor of the winds of teaching for their purpose (see Eph. 4:14).

Just as we as human beings need to eat properly, exercise, and grow in life, and the same time be aware of the germs, viruses, and diseases out there so that we may stay away from them, so spiritually we need to be aware of the winds of teachings.

Paul doesn’t call them, “winds of heresy” – such winds or teachings are easily discerned; rather, he calls them “winds of teaching” in the sleight of men with a view of a system of error.

Satan is the one who has a system of error, and he blows some winds of teachings; these teachings may not be bad but rather scriptural, but the result is division in the Body, the overthrowing of the faith of many, and the devastation of the church.

May we be those who stay close to and teach only the New Testament economy of God concerning Christ and the church so that we may build up the Body of Christ and keep the oneness in the Body.

May we beware of any teaching – no matter how scriptural and good it is – that distracts the believers from Christ and the church.

May we no longer repeat the sad history of Christianity which is filled with men bringing in winds of teaching, crafty men cheating unsuspecting innocent believers and leading them astray into a deception and not in God’s economy.

Beware the Winds of Teaching Bringing in Storms into the Church

The winds of teaching (Eph. 4:14) are the devilish blowings of the evil one that bring storms into the church (Matt. 13:19).

We need to see the intrinsic factor of the winds of teaching, which is the hidden factor, the factor that is not that apparent. Apparently, the winds of teaching are good and scripture-based, but intrinsically, they are not that good.

These winds of teaching are in the sleight of men, in craftiness with a view to a system of error. On man’s side, the winds of teaching are in the craftiness and sleight of man; on Satan’s side, they are part of his system of error.

For us to practice the church life as a living in the Body of Christ we need to beware of all the spiritual diseases and germs that are around, that is, beware of the winds of teachings.

It is very interesting that Paul didn’t call them winds of heresy but winds of teaching. If someone would come to you saying, “Christ is not God, and I can prove this with the Bible!” you would reject his teaching, since it is a heresy.

But if someone comes to you saying, Yes, Christ is God, but He is not the life-giving Spirit; the life-giving Spirit is the Spirit of God, but we should not mix up Christ and the life-giving Spirit! – such a teaching may sound good, scriptural, and logical, but it is a wind of teaching.

There are some teachings that appear to be OK, they are based on the Bible, but they blow the saints away from the faith, cause them to stumble, and brings them to fall and to be disheartened.

We need to realize that any teaching – even a scriptural one – that distracts believers from Christ and the church is a wind that carries believers away from God’s central purpose (see 1 Tim. 1:3-4).

The only thing we should emphasize and teach is God’s New Testament economy concerning Christ and the church (Eph. 3:9-11, 17, 21; 5:32), and we should stay away from those who teach anything different other than God’s economy which is in faith.

The safest way is for us to remain in the healthy teaching of the apostles, the teaching of the New Testament economy of God concerning Christ and the church. Any other teaching, no matter how scriptural it may be, can lead you astray.

Someone may teach the fact that we need to live in the presence of God – there’s nothing wrong with that, but unless we realize that in the New Testament we’re clearly told that we are one spirit with the Lord (1 Cor. 6:17), we may be led astray to “live in God’s presence”.

Some may want to have a family-like church life where all ages function and speak, but if the vision of Christ and the church is not emphasized in this, even such a good practice can lead us astray.

The history of Christianity is filled with well-meaning good-hearted believers who were enlightened by God concerning a certain aspect of the truth, and then they pursued this truth to the uttermost until, whether during their lifetime or after their death, a new division was created in the Body according to their teaching.

Lord Jesus, keep us in the New Testament economy of God, emphasizing nothing else but Christ and the church. Lord, we want to discern the winds of teaching and stay in the divine dispensing of the Divine Trinity focusing only on Christ and the church. Save us from being led astray from the truth in the sleight of men in a system of error from Satan. Keep us in the central vision of Christ and the church, staying in God’s economy in the church life as a living in the Body of Christ!

The Intrinsic Factor and the Purpose of the Winds of Teaching

What is the intrinsic factor of the winds of teaching? In Eph. 4:14 we can see a sharp piercing light that exposes the entire sad history of Christianity in this matter: the intrinsic factor of the winds of teaching is the sleight of men, man’s subtle ways of cheating, the craftiness of men with a view to a system of error.

Satan has designed a system of error in a subtle and skilful way, and some men plot deception to induce people into the satanic system of error.

Satan doesn’t come to the saints as what he really is and he doesn’t say what he really wants; he comes disguised as an angel of light in a deceitful way using the words in the Scripture to lead us astray and divide the Body of Christ. Satan’s plot, his system of error, is designed to cause the saints to be misled and go astray.

Whenever we hear someone preaching or giving a sermon/message that doesn’t focus on Christ and the church, we need to beware; we need to discern any teaching or supposed ministry that teaches something different than God’s economy which is God’s dispensation for the building up of the churches as His corporate expression.

The purpose of the winds of teaching is to overthrow the faith of some believers (see 2 Tim. 2:18), to devastate the church (Acts 8:3), to frustrate and tear down the building up of the organic Body of Christ, and to divide the members of the Body (1 Cor. 1:10-11) instead of keeping the unique oneness of the Body in love and kindness.

What Satan plans in his evil purpose is to lead astray many from the faith and to divide the Body of Christ. Even good teachings such as baptism by immersion in water, healing and deliverance, the gifts of the Spirit, living by faith, the church meeting in small groups, and being free from any political involvement into the church have led millions of genuine believers into a system of error.

The result of the winds of teaching is that the believers are disheartened, many put away their faith, the church is devastated, the building up of the church is frustrated and torn down, and the members of the Body are divided.

Any teaching apart from Christ and the church as God’s economy that make us special and different from others is a wind of teaching. As much as we don’t like this, throughout history and even today the Body of Christ is divided based on winds of teaching.

As we are pursuing toward the oneness of the faith and grow in life being daily under the divine dispensing we need to be aware of the winds of teaching.

On the positive side we need to grow in life until we all arrive at the oneness of the faith and of the full knowledge of the Son of God (Eph. 4:13). On the negative side we need to be aware that Satan is doing his work to carry out his system of error and lead the saints away (Eph. 4:14).

A sign that the teaching you’re under is a wind of teaching is that your spirit drops, your heart becomes cold, and there are walls between you and other believers.

No matter how good and sound the winds of teachings may be, they are designed to destroy the church and take away the saints’ faith. Oh, Lord Jesus!

Lord Jesus, keep us growing in the divine life until we all arrive at the oneness of the faith and of the full knowledge of the Son of God. Lord, save us from repeating the sad history of Christianity in bringing in or being taken away by winds of teaching. Expose any winds of teaching in the church life. Expose Satan and his system of error, and expose the sleight and craftiness of men. Lord, strengthen our faith, build up Your church, and make us all one! We want to keep the unique oneness of the Body in love and kindness for the church life as a living in the Body of Christ!

References and Hymns on this Topic

• Inspiration: the Word of God, my Christian experience, bro. James Lee’s sharing in the message for this week, and portions from, The Organic Building Up of the Church as the Body of Christ to Be the Organism of the Processed and Dispensing Triune God, ch. 5, as quoted in, the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, The Vision, Practice, and Building up of the Church as the Body of Christ, week 5 / msg 5, Crucial Experiences in the Practice of the Church Life (2) – Aspects of the Church Life as a Living in the Body of Christ, the One New Man.
• Hymns on this topic:
  # All the other teachings used improperly / Are the “winds of doctrine,” spoiling unity: / Blowing saints away from Christ who is the Head, / Building not the Body, tearing down instead. / Thus we must relinquish doctrines of all kinds, / Only keep the faith that oneness we may find. / In the Lord the Spirit we are one indeed; / Just to keep this oneness is our only need. (Hymns #832)
  # We have found the Christ who’s all in all; / He is everything to us; / O how blest upon His name to call, / How divine, how glorious! / We have found the local church, our home; / We are home and home indeed! / Nevermore in Babylon we roam; / In the church is all we need. (Hymns #1153)
  # In the Holy Bible / Is a central line, / Truths and revelation / Span the bridge of time. / ’Midst the supplemental / And the “branch” or “leaf” / Is the Christ anointed / For eternity…Living in the Body, / Body life is known, / Living by the Spirit / Christ is fully grown; / By organic union / Members cultivate / Body-conscious living, / Age to consummate. (Song on the Central Line in the Bible)