The Weaning Process

Whom shall he teach knowledge? and whom shall he make to understand doctrine? them that are weaned from the milk, and drawn from the breasts.

For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little: For with stammering lips and another tongue will he speak to this people.

To whom he said, This is the rest wherewith ye may cause the weary to rest; and this is the refreshing: Isaiah 28:9-12

For the Son of man is come to save that which was lost.

How think ye? if a man have an hundred sheep, and one of them be gone astray, doth he not leave the ninety and nine, and goeth into the mountains, and seeketh that which is gone astray?

And if so be that he find it, verily I say unto you, he rejoiceth more of that sheep, than of the ninety and nine which went not astray.

Even so it is not the will of your Father which is in heaven, that one of these little ones should perish. Matthew 18:11-14

Those of us who are parents know what it is to wean a child off of milk and unto solid food. If you have never had children or been around little babies, from the time they are born until they are about 6 months old, a baby can only drink milk. Around 6 months of age,(maybe 4 months if the baby is really big and always hungry) you can start to introduce them to solid food. Usually cereal first. Then baby food which can be fruits, vegetables or even meat, although it is completely pureed because little babies do not have any teeth. Babies usually get their first tooth around 6 months and by two years old should have their full set of baby teeth. But it has happened that a baby won't get their first tooth until they are 15 months old and have a full set by three years old - so it really varies from baby to baby. No two babies are alike.

The Scriptures talk about milk and meat in terms of what a baby Christian can handle as far as what the truth of God's Word is. But when it is time to start going past the milk doctrines and start chewing some of the meat doctrines you don't just stop drinking the milk. No matter how old you get in the Word, you always have to remember the milk - but now you have the meat as well.

I used to think the Word was like an onion. You would get deeper and deeper as you take off the certain layers. Then I began to see it as a diamond, if you turned it this way in the light it looked this way and if you turned it that way in the light it would look that way. Now I understand that it is a classroom, where you are the student and our Heavenly Father is the teacher. Sometimes there are field trips and sometimes there is homework. But the Holy Spirit is not a mean teacher who is wearing polyester pants and has tape on his glasses and a laser pointer. He is our merciful and graceful Heavenly Father who is home-schooling us. Like I told someone in an email recently, "Our Father feeds us like a little baby. He gives us a bite and then He waits for us to chew on it. He does not shove a steak sandwich down our throats!"

I want to clarify that I'm not taking the place of the teacher in this next couple of posts. The Holy Spirit is your only teacher and He will lead you to hear what I have to say or lead you away if that is His Will. I, frankly, know nothing.

I do want to share what I have learned with you, but not by shoving a steak sandwich down your throats! I want to show you the way my Father showed me - precept upon precept, line upon line, here a little, there a little. Someone on a comment somewhere on the internet that I cannot remember where I read it said, "we are all at different levels." That is absolutely the truth. I can assume that my readers are more mature Christians, but that is not necessarily the case. So I certainly don't want any of the younger Christians to start choking on this, if I can introduce it in a way that can be pure and peaceable.

My wise friend Richard has brought up a very good point in the comments. He said, "a wise man has said “that the most dangerous doctrine is God’s truth held carnally to exalt self”. A very sobering truth - and one I do not take lightly. I don't want to turn into some kind of blowfish - puffed up on my new found knowledge. I certainly don't want you to think that I think everyone who doesn't know this is a child and I'm a grown up. NO! Absolutely not. I pray the Lord will keep me humble with this knowledge. And here is the rub. This information should be COMMON KNOWLEDGE to Christians! This should be taught in the churches and not the watered down prosperity gospel we have there now. All the people in the 1st century church KNEW this stuff! But the adversary has done a pretty thorough job of hiding this truth with a lot of lies. Lies that me and most of my fellow Christians have believed for the most part.

I have another reason for talking about this subject the slow way rather than just posting a bunch of links. I have already had someone very close to me accuse me of not sticking to the words of Jesus and they would not accept this subject. While on the phone with this person - I had a very clear idea of what the coming persecution would be like. This person has been a Christian for years and could not accept the truth of what I was saying. Maybe you won't be able to either. The Lord has to open peoples eye's when HE believes they are ready. I used to believe whole-heartedly in the pre-trib rapture doctrine. I was so set on it, that anyone who did NOT believe in the pre-trib rapture, I would not take them seriously or read their website. Of course, I was a backslidden carnal Christian at the time. So that just proves the validity of the 'we are all at different levels' case.

I would like to ask that you pray for me as I write these posts, that they will be what the Father wants me say, the way He wants me to say it. I also ask that you pray for yourselves, that the Lord show you the truths in His Word. I also ask that you look up the stuff I will say for yourselves and not just blindly believe it because I am saying it. Press in to the Father and establish a relationship with Him. It is His desire that we trust Him to teach us and to take care of us in every aspect of our lives. Pray for the lost, because we were once, just as lost as them. Till next time! blessings in Christ!
Linda