EXPERIENCE-BASED DOCTRINE

 “ 'Who are you, Lord?' Saul asked. 'I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,' he replied" (Acts 9:5 NIV).

The Bible is the highest authority for faith and doctrine in the body of Christ. However, the word of God plays out, that is, applies differently in the lives of Christians. 

Consider the calling of the Lord. All ministers are not called in the same way. The Lord appeared to Saul in a bright dazzling light and called him by name. In the case of John the Baptist, the word of God came to him in the wilderness. He did not see a bright dazzling light. In terms of experience, we encounter the word of God in different ways. 

Experience here refers to how the word of God plays out peculiarly to your life situation.

How did you come to faith in Jesus Christ? If you listen to another Christian's conversion story, you will know that there are different ways in which Christians experience the word of God.  

To hit the nail right on the head, it is not right to set your own experience of God's word as the yardstick for other Christians, or to establish your own experience of God's word as doctrine in the church.

Perhaps you became convinced that God has called you into the work of the ministry through prophecy by a credible Prophet of God. This does not mean that everyone else is called by God through prophecy. 

In your own situation, your father in the Lord spoke prophetically to you concerning the Lord's call on your life, and willingly and gladly released you to go out and establish your own ministry. You must not set this as the order for everyone else, that unless you clearly hear from the Lord concerning your son's or daughter's calling and separation, they are not truly called out. 

The reason is that whiles your father in the Lord was open and glad to respond to the Lord's message to let you go, you might not be that open and glad to respond to the Lord's message to allow your own son or daughter to go out and establish their own ministry.

Experience-based doctrine is common in these days and times. Many ministers of the Lord have established their own experiences as the order for the churches which they are called, chosen and privileged to shepherd. 

Notice that the Lord did not call Paul through Peter, even though the latter was the chief Apostle, no doubt. In fact, Peter and all the other apostles did not readily validate Paul's appointment until Barnabas stood up and spoke on his behalf to convince them to accept him. 

Must one minister of the Lord always validate another to prove the authenticity of one's calling? God's word has not said so. All such doctrines are man-made. If this were so, then Paul's calling must be considered invalid by the body of Christ. 

Paul wrote, "Even those most influential among the brothers were not able to add anything to my message. Who they are before men makes no difference to me, for God is not impressed by their reputations. So they recognized that I was entrusted with taking the gospel to the gentiles just as Peter was entrusted with taking it to the Jews" (Galatians 2:6‭-‬7 TPT). 

Even though Peter and his apostolic conference did not immediately validate Paul's calling, they recognised that he had been given grace to take the gospel to the gentiles just as Peter was entrusted with taking it to the Jews. 

Validation of men adds nothing to your message and credibility as a minister of the gospel, but the approval of the Lord. 

Similarly, you fasted and prayed for forty days and forty nights, then heaven opened for you to have your breakthrough. This does not mean that every member of the church must fast and pray for forty days and forty nights if they want to have breakthrough in whatsoever they seek after. 

Experience-based doctrine is taking over the simple message of the Bible. The Bible is the revelation of God, not the prophecy, exhortation or teaching by a man of God. Every minister seems to be establishing a new trend for their church members to show their uniqueness in the ministry of the gospel. 

You saw a vision of an angel who is not revealed in the Bible. In the vision that you saw, the name of the angel was made known to you as Travelling mercy, meaning he is the angel that is responsible for arriving safely on your journeys. This does not mean that you should command the whole congregation to ask Travelling mercy to go with them whenever they are travelling. It amounts to experience-based doctrine. And this is radically going on in the work of the ministry. 

Bible teaches that God's word is sufficient for faith and doctrine. You do not need any additional revelation of angels and of hidden mysteries to be successful in the ministry of the gospel.

"I am John, and I say this strongly. I am speaking to everyone who hears the words in this book. If anyone puts more words with the words in this book, God will punish them. The troubles that this book describes will happen to them" (Rev 22:18 Easy English). 

#Truth Haven