Where does Good Doctrine come from?

During the last several months there seems to have been an increase of people that are asking what constitutes good doctrine. I think this has been brought about mainly because of certain individuals here and abroad who have tried to predict something that it is clear from God’s Word we are not able to predict. Read Matthew 24:36. I am sure you have all seen the extensive media coverage that these false prophets have achieved by their highly publicised and doomed to failure predictions that the world would end on the 31st of March this year.

What is even more incredible is that when their prognostication failed they amended their date until the 31st of October and have once again set themselves up for failure.

I wouldn’t mind so much if this wasn’t such a reproach to the cause of Christ. This sort of thing just adds fuel to what the Bible refers to as “scoffers”. 2Peter 3:3+4 says: “...there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts, And saying, Where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation.”

When the Word of God, the Bible, is not central as the supreme authority in our Christian lives, then failure is inevitable. This happens a lot, when people who should know better begin replacing their own ideas for the truths of the Bible. This is not always done intentionally (yet often is), but it will always happen when a thorough study of Scripture is neglected. A Bible that is not studied carefully can’t be followed carefully. When the truth of Scripture is not the supreme authority, people's many and varied opinions become the authority.

So how do we go about getting good doctrine back into our every day lives? Well the answer lies in 2Timothy 2:15: “Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.” Or to put it in plain English, if you know God’s Word (by studying it inside and out) then you will not bring shame on yourself by your unscriptural actions and words, and you will also “rightly divide the word of truth” by knowing when someone has made an unscriptural prediction or statement and then, of course, you will not be fooled into following after them.

For many shall come in my name, saying, I am [anointed]*; and shall deceive many.
Matthew 24:5
*[direct alternate translation from the original Greek that I think more fully explains this verse and the people who mislead others from the truth of God’s Word in our modern day]