Double-mindedness

I recently heard my former pastor preaching via the internet. He is currently the leader of a small, disconnected church organization. As I listened to him preach, I was troubled by the fact that everything he said seemed to be in complete contradiction to the things that I had previously heard him preach from the pulpit and proclaim in private conversations. It seems that the spiritual direction that he had encouraged young men to pursue is no longer the path that he is following. He was, once, a strong voice for breaking down the walls of traditionalism and legalism and ritualism, but now he seems to be espousing the legalistic traditions he once criticized. My old coal mining grandfather would have called him "A WAFFLER!"
Now I know that all of us change from time to time. In fact, I believe that the Scriptures support the notion that if we grow in Christ we will be changed. Paul wrote: "But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord" (2 Corinthians 3:18). However, what I heard in the message of my former pastor was not the voice of someone who had changed his viewpoint in a effort to be transformed from glory to glory in the image of Christ. What I heard was someone who had diverted the course of his theological belief back to an unstable and unforgiving stance steeped in legalism. In fact, the message that was preached was completely void of the anointing and inspiration of the Holy Spirit. This may sound harsh and extremely critical but the Bible plainly states that "a double-minded man is unstable in all his ways" (James 1:8b). Those who follow such double-mindedness need to be careful. The Proverbs declare: "Confidence in an unfaithful man in time of trouble is like a bad tooth and a foot out of joint" (25:19.