Drinking From Different Wells
The primal and only teacher in this Christian life is none other than the Spirit of Christ Himself. This is what Apostle John describes as “the Anointing that we all have from the Holy One that teaches us all things.” And the first avenue that He uses to teach is His own written Word; the Bible. “Sanctify them by the Word, your Word is truth”, were the words of our Lord to His disciples. It means when we open the pages of Scripture, the Spirit of Christ is there to illuminate our minds so we can understand deep things about our Saviour and how He applies to our lives. The second means by which we are taught by the Anointing is through fellow believers, most Bible particularly those who are gifted to be Apostles, evangelists, teachers, Pastors, etc. These are the “wells” that are meant by the title above. Before I get on that, let me first address two pitfalls that God’s people always default into.
We have the first group that does not believe that we already have the Anointing to teach us all things, but their faith is always dependent on the so-called “anointed men of God”. Hence these pitiful souls need their “spiritual fathers” for everything in their faith walk in the form of regular prayers, “alters”, “spiritual coverings”, anointing oils, anointed clothes and even the picture of the “papa” is believed to carry some power for protection. How sad that these people cannot rejoice in the fact that in Christ, a believer is already complete, without any outside medium. Because our Lord is now our great High Priest who passed into the heavens for our sake so that we can approach the throne of grace with confidence to find help in time of need.
The second extreme on the opposite side of our ditch is those guys who claim to receive direct insight from the Holy Spirit, hence they have no need of either Scripture or human teachers that have been given to the Church according to Ephesians 4:11. These folks forget that as much as believers have the resident Spirit, He nevertheless, instructs, guides, illuminates through His written Word. Hence our quoted text, “sanctify them by your Word, your word is truth.” The term “sanctity” means to purify or to make them holy, (which is a work of the Holy Spirit) by your Word (which means the Word and the Spirit work together to make God’s people holy). For this reason, it’s the Spirit Himself who has blessed the Church with gifted men, who are able to teach and preach the written Word for the salvation and sanctification of God’s people. Therefore, those who reject the ministry of the Holy Spirit through Scripture and human teachers have no idea of who the Holy Spirit is and how He works among His people.
Now, enough chasing that rabbit trail, the main message I have for you is that God has not just given you the Holy Spirit, nor has He gifted all people the same way. But he has lavished His gifts on different individuals throughout history. All of them have been called to be witnesses of the same Gospel message, yet I am amazed by the fact that each man has been graced with different personalities and styles to present that message. Why? Answer: So that we can learn from each other; generation after generation. Therefore, be a student of this Christian doctrine and learn from other men who have gone before you in this harvest of heaven. Do not make the mistake of drinking from the same well. I mean do not follow the teaching of only one mentor. That is dangerous because each man has his own strengths plus weaknesses. And you do not want to be a duplicate version of that man, including his flaws and blindspots. Hence it is vital that you drink from a variety of wells, so that you do not copy the style and character of no one, instead, you only draw particular strengths from each man of God so as to fortify your own spirituality whilst developing your own style and character for presenting the same Gospel that others have been preaching.
If you were to ask me about the people who have influenced my Christian life, I would not tell you about one man, because I have not followed anyone, and even my mentors know that I am not 100% dependent on their insights, but I have only used what’s beneficial from them while rejecting and disagreeing with some things I have learned from other men. For example, I have been influenced a lot by Paul Washer, yet I have not been a copycat of him because I have also been greatly influenced by Charles Lawson, whom I also disagree with on his KJV-only doctrine because I have also listened to a lot of James White, who can also fiercely debate me on Eschatology. I can mention more men that have shaped my Christian life such as Ray Comfort, Steve Lawson, John MacArthur, Conrad Mbewe, Ken Mbugua, Joel Beeke, David Platt, John Piper and many more. That, on top of my personal mentors such as Pastor Ridgewel, and Pastor Tashaya. The Holy Spirit has used all these men to shape my own doctrine and style which is uniquely mine, without being a copy of anyone. That is what it means to drink from different wells.
Therefore, take my warm advice and do not depend on one man. Learn from a multiple of sources; read ancient books, watch the latest Youtube content, radio talkshows and even listen to those you disagree with including false prophets, atheists, and Muslims. That is how we grow in wisdom and knowledge of our Saviour, so that we can teach others and effectively defend the Faith – having considered all viewpoints. That of course, is on top of your daily Bible study and prayer. I think I have written enough words for this day. I will leave you to chew on what we discussed today, Grace and Peace.
Sinothi Ncube
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