Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people with his own blood, suffered outside the gate. Therefore, let us go forth to him outside the camp, bearing his reproach. For we have no continuing city here, but we seek one to come.
Select a thought to read by choosing a collection, the month, and then the day:
Preaching in an assembly of saints in Louisville, Brother Frank said, "Where there is a bad doctrine, there is a bad spirit." This is true. Every wrong idea about God comes from an unclean spirit, Lucifer being the first of them all, and when we receive a wrong idea about God, we receive as well the influence of that spirit from which the wrong idea came.
Every heartache that has ever been experienced was the result of someone taking in a wrong idea about God. Every war, every betrayal, every accident, every fear, and every other discomfort suffered by anyone in heaven, on earth, or under the earth, has been the direct result of someone believing something wrong about God. On the other hand, every moment of peace, every faithful deed, every escape from danger, and every blessing ever enjoyed has been the result of someone believing something right about God, the result of someone listening to the good Spirit of God and moving when He whispered, "Move!"
None of us can escape this fact of life: What we receive into our hearts as true about God will determine how we behave. And how we behave in this life will determine where we spend eternity. Do not take lightly any idea that comes to your mind about the Creator, whether that idea comes from a person or just seems to come "out of the blue". Take this seriously: The thoughts about God upon which your mind feeds will shape you forever, and you cannot escape it.
This is why Jesus said, "The truth shall make you free." Good and right thoughts about God come only from the good and right Spirit of God because "no man knows the things of God, but the Spirit God" (1Cor. 2:11). Didn't Jesus tell his disciples that the Spirit was coming to them and that it would "guide them into all truth"?
"Where there is a bad doctrine, there is a bad spirit." No truer words have ever been spoken. We could safely add to Brother Frank's message this equally true statement: "Where there is good doctrine, there is a good spirit" because only God's good Spirit can teach man God's good doctrine.
We trust in Jesus to rescue us from the influences of unclean spirits by giving us true doctrine. He is our only hope, and he is enough. When he shines in our hearts with right ideas about his Father, we are freed from influences that cause us to make wrong choices. It is of God's mercy that Jesus offers the right idea, the true doctrine, to every one of us every day. If we receive his right ideas about God, we receive with it God's powerful influence to live a clean life, and then, in the end, we will be judged by him to be worthy to live forever.