The full-grown men in Ephesians 4:13 do not listen to winds of teaching, because they are aware of this deception. When they hear messages concerning the seventy weeks and the number six hundred sixty-six, they know that the Bible is being used as a front to deceive people. Because of their knowledge of the Son of God, they are full-grown men and have the measure of the stature of Christ. They are not affected by winds of teaching, and they are not tossed or carried about by them. The winds of teaching are in the sleight of men, in craftiness with a view to a system of error (v. 14); hence, it is a system of error. All those who know spiritual warfare admit that this refers to Satan’s craftiness in the church. These winds of teaching come from the satanic system. The messages that often appeal to and inspire men are actually part of Satan’s plot.
If someone among us teaches us not to honor our parents, we surely would not listen to him because we are convinced that that is from Satan. However, if we deviate from Christ after hearing an appealing message concerning honoring our parents, this is still the craftiness of Satan. If someone teaches us not to read the Bible, we surely would not listen to him. However, if someone says that the Bible is truly wonderful because it contains such matters as the number six hundred sixty-six and the seventy weeks, and if, by listening to him, we are carried away from Christ, then this kind of teaching is a scheme of the evil one. The scheme of Satan is a system of error deliberately arranged by him. Satan causes some to speak attractive messages in the church, and he uses these messages to carry believers away from Christ so that they will not know Christ as life, even though they have been saved for years.
I am afraid that there are many such ones among us; they may have been saved for more than ten years, and they listen to messages and attend meetings week after week, but they still do not know Christ as life in them. This is because the teachings they hear cause them to be carried away from Christ. A message may be scriptural, may be derived from the Bible, and may be said to be from God, but if this message does not stir us to love Christ, incline toward Christ, be filled with Christ, live in Christ, and live out Christ, then it is a wind of teaching that carries us away from Christ. This kind of message is a part of Satan’s scheme to annul the work of the Holy Spirit. Today many seemingly proper teachings distract believers from Christ. These teachings apparently come from men as a result of their study, but they actually are the scheme of the evil one and belong to the system of the evil one. Through the winds of teaching, Satan carries believers away and leads them into his system of error. He is like a magician who causes people to be deceived by his sleight of hand without them even knowing it.
Practically, we must consider whether our preaching of the word carries people away from Christ. Many brothers may not want to carry people away and are not purposely doing this, but in the end they still do it. If we do not have a thorough understanding of Satan’s craftiness and are not wary of it, we may turn to our mind instead of our spirit when we are about to preach the word. Spontaneously, we will fall into Satan’s system of error and yield to his maneuver and plot. For example, we may realize that we do not have the eloquence to preach Christ and the cross. Consequently, another topic, such as the number six hundred sixty-six and the seventy weeks, may suddenly come up in our mind, and so we think that we should speak about it in order to prove that the Bible is marvelous. When we preach according to the topic conceived in our mind, it may be very interesting, and the brothers and sisters may be touched and determined to study the Bible. However, unconsciously they will lose their focus on Christ, and their mind will be full of numbers.
Moreover, because one brother spoke concerning the number six hundred sixty-six and the seventy weeks, when another brother is about to speak, he also will consider what to speak in order to attract people. Should he speak concerning service in coordination? What if the saints do not respond? Should he speak concerning Christ as life? What if no one is touched? Should he speak concerning the termination of the old man by the cross of Christ? What if he is short of utterance? He does not know what he should speak. After considering for many days and after much prayer, he feels that he should avoid the subject of Christ being our life. Instead, he chooses to tell a wonderful story regarding the experience of a certain spiritual giant. He presents it in a marvelous way so that many brothers and sisters are moved, but no one has touched Christ. A week later, another brother may be in the same situation. He considers a topic but rejects it as not being attractive, and he considers another topic, but rejects it as uninspiring. Instead, he gives a message on being good, which does not cause people to touch Christ. Thus, message after message are only winds of teaching that blow the brothers and sisters in one direction and then in another direction. After being blown for many years, they still do not know Christ or know how to live in Christ, and Christ’s life in them has not increased.
Therefore, we must see through the craftiness of the devil. The enemy tries to use these schemes to systematically annul the work of the Holy Spirit to enable people to know the Son of God. We may have been Christians for many years, but do we realize that we must know Christ inwardly, be filled with Christ, and allow Christ to live in us? If the messages we hear do not help us in these points, they are but winds of teaching. This month we will be blown in the direction of being good, and next month we will be blown in the direction of studying the Bible. Although these messages may touch us and may be good, after ten or twenty years we still will not be any closer to Christ and to the knowledge of Christ as life, and Christ’s life will not be increased in us. We will only have been tossed about by waves caused by the wind.
Concerning the administration of the church, all of the co-workers, elders, deacons, and everyone who learns to serve God must look to the Lord for His mercy so that we may see how we should serve, with what we should serve, and the purpose of our service. We need to see the negative side as well as the positive side. Many elders and deacons speak message after message to the saints when they administrate and serve the church. However, the more they speak, the more the winds of teaching toss the saints. Since they do not have adequate inward knowledge, some brothers lead others away from Christ by their speaking, even when they are trying to help others. Hence, we must be careful not only in listening to messages but also in fellowshipping with others. If we are not careful, we will be unconsciously deceived by the evil one and carry people away by the messages we speak.
For this reason, we do not agree with putting out any publication that is written by those outside of us. This is because many so-called “good” books convey winds of teaching which carry the saints away from Christ. I hope that we all can pay more attention to the “wind of teaching” spoken of in Ephesians 4:14 so that when we go to a certain place and listen to the preaching, we will be able to tell whether it is a wind of teaching. When we speak with people, we should be cautious concerning whether we are blowing a wind of teaching. We can determine this by Ephesians 4:13, which says, “Until we all arrive at the oneness of the faith and of the full knowledge of the Son of God, at a full-grown man, at the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.”
Our service in the church is to cause people to know the Son of God and to reach the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; hence, we should never use any substitute for Christ. We should take only the Son of God—Christ—as the material; then we will be able to generate and produce Christ. May God be merciful to us so that our eyes will be opened to see the administration of the church. All of the administration in the church should be Christ. Since the purpose of the administration of the church is for people to gain Christ, we should use only Christ as the material when we administrate the church. Therefore, we must know Christ, experience Christ, and gain Christ. When we have the experience of Christ in all things, we will be able to dispense Him and bring Him to others in our daily living.