 |
| Many Christians aren't reading God's Word for themselves. |
Despite the millions of Bibles in print, it being digitally
accessible, and no lack of preachers, teachers, and pastors, many Christians are biblically illiterate. It is not because they do
not have a bible, or the time to read it, it is they choose to let others read
and interpret the Bible for them. Regular bible study and prayer is vital to
remaining grounded in biblical truth. Many ministries stand on the authority of
the bible and nothing else; praise God for these faithful brothers and sisters.
However, there are those who by ignorance or blatant deceit twist the
scriptures to say things that are simply untrue at best and deadly error at
worst.
Proverbs 23:23 tells us to “Buy truth, and do not sell it;
buy wisdom, instruction, and understanding.” Obviously we cannot literally buy these things, but the pastor or teacher we support with our tithes and offering should be a person God has called to preach or teach. If we sit week after week under a pastor and drop our tithes in the collection plate, we are essentially "buying" whatever wisdom and truth he or she is putting forth, even if that wisdom is not of God. John and Paul, apostles and great
champions of godly truth, admonished and exhorted us to test the spirits, (1 John
4:1), and hold fast to the truth we have been given (2 Thess. 2:15, Titus 1:9,
1Tim. 1:19). If we fail to spend time in God’s Word on a regular basis, we put
ourselves at a great disadvantage spiritually. We must have God’s Word at the
ready in our hearts and minds to battle the flesh, emotions, temptation and condemnation
from the world, Satan, and damnable heresies. If we are to be doers and not
only hearers of the Word, we must have all of God's truth undiluted at our disposal.
The Holy Spirit has graciously bestowed the gift of discernment
upon some believers in the Body of Christ. Those of us who do not possess this
gift; have to lean on knowing and applying God’s Word to our lives. We must
constantly pray for Him to reveal what's in the Bible, a person, ministry, teaching or whatever else it is we
need clarified.
When a pastor or teacher presents a new teaching or delves
into a section of the bible we are not familiar with, we need to look up, read
and study those verses or chapters in their proper context. Keep in mind that
the context for those verses or chapters is sometimes located several verses or
even chapters back. One good rule of thumb is that the Bible interprets the Bible. Where the bible is silent, we do not need someone to offer up a shiny
new penny of revelation. Nor do we need someone to reinterpret a solid biblical
doctrine, explanation perhaps, but no new information. If the bible says,
something about it once, it usually has more to say and if it does not, it is
best to pray on it and not go further than the text allows.
Unfortunately, some preachers and teachers always want to
dazzle their audience with a new revelation or something that the Body of
Christ on earth today and our brothers and sisters from the past have somehow missed. I am
sure some of them are relying on the biblical illiteracy of their congregants. While
the ravenous wolves posing as God’s shepherds are certainly responsible for
their lies and pretense, some churchgoers have to shoulder majority of the
blame. They have a bad case of itching ears, want to hear new things, and heap
for themselves false teachers and prophets. They get tired of hearing sound
doctrine. “Jesus died for us, was buried, and rose on the third day by the
power of God” is not good enough for them anymore; in fact, it is downright
boring and uninspiring. They would rather pay a false prophet hundreds of
thousands of dollars to man the pulpit, get his or her books on the New York
Times bestseller list, and fund their usually extravagant lifestyles. There always seems to be a new book lining the shelves of
bookstores that wants to reveal something “new, secret, or real” about Christianity,
that no one else seems to know but the false teacher in question. If their “new” knowledge was such a secret,
how did they ever stumble upon it? By divine providence perhaps, I think not.
Humans are fickle; their affections wane back and forth like
the waves of the sea, especially those who find God’s truth inconvenient. 1 Tim.
4: 1 reads, “The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the
faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons.” With that
said, we should rightly divide the word of truth and sit at the feet of the
Lord for instruction. If we have any trouble accepting or understanding
something in the Word or teaching from a pastor, we should pray and wait for the wisdom
God has promised in His Word ( James 1: 5). Every person who writes a book or has a
ministry is not worthy of our time or money.
The bible says there is going to be a great apostasy (2
Thess. 2:3). How is this possible? Too many Christians let others predigest the
bible for them through books, devotionals, and other Christian media. Some
Christians do not pick up the Bible at all. If the pastor’s sermon is the only time
they hear scripture, and they do not read the Bible for themselves, how will
they know if what he is saying is the truth or a lie? The answer is simple,
they won’t. Books and other such things have their rightful place, but nothing
compares to personal time spent in the Word of God.
As the Church, the Body of the living Lord, we should not
put our pastors, gospel singers, teachers, preachers, or anyone who claims they
are a beacon of God’s truth and light on a pedestal. We should respect them and
render to them what God says is their due, but their doctrine needs to be
closely examined and measured against Scripture. Those who do twist the
scriptures to purposely deceive, do so to their own destruction (2 Pet. 3:16).
They mix a little bit of truth with the many lies or a whole lot of truth with a
small lie that gets bigger and bigger as they go along.
Let us not be like Eve who lived in God’s presence, but was
still deceived because she did not stand on the Word. All the enemy got her to
do was doubt God, not His existence, but His goodness and she fell for it. Her
actions along with Adam’s propelled the human race into the chaotic and tragic
realm of sin and death. We owe it to ourselves, our brothers and sisters in Christ, unbelievers, and future generations to stand
firmly on God’s truth.
I would like to offer a personal anecdote to demonstrate why it is so important to be a student of The Word. I did not grow up
in church. When God first saved me, I was going to a church pastored by a woman
I knew by association with my grandfather. My sisters and I briefly attended
her church as teens at the urging of our grandfather. A few months later, this church dissolved and everyone went about his or her business. However, the pastor and my
grandfather remained in contact. I did
not join another church; I went on with my life as if church never happened.
Years later, after I came to Christ, she decided to pastor another church. As a new Christian, I was eager to attend
church and agreed to join hers after a brief conversation over the phone. One
day while we were chatting over lunch, I mentioned that Jesus is the
Father in the flesh, (in what context I was speaking, I cannot recall). She
tells me that Jesus is not the Father, and in fact, He is not God. She said
that He was with the Father for billions of years; however, He is a created
being. My new Christian mind and sensibilities
were confused. Her words pricked me, and not with conviction. I had no true concept of the Trinity and there was not a
theological bone in my little body, but I recognized a lie when I heard one. I was
not well versed in the Bible, but I knew the Bible had said Jesus was God and
that is all I needed to know. I tore into the Scriptures with a voracity I have
never known. I spent hours and hours examining the Scriptures and
scholarly articles. I learned that her belief was nothing more than an ancient
heresy called Arianism, which is alive and well in the religious doctrine of the
Jehovah Witnesses.
 |
| I was a woman on a mission.This Bible is missing more than half of Genesis, 2 Peter, John's Epistles, Jude and Revelation. |
While some may say that Jesus not being God does not have
any bearing on one’s faith, I disagree, more importantly the Bible disagrees. The
Word of God never portrays Jesus as a created thing. He is the Creator of all
things. John 1:1-3 reads, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with
God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God; all things were
made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made. Also
read, John 8:24, John 8:58, Colossians 2:9, and Hebrews 1:8. If I would have accepted what she said at face
value, my walk with Christ could have turned out much differently. I would have
been a perfect candidate to be ensnared by every wind of doctrine that Satan
could muster. If you are wondering, I did confront her about her beliefs, but it
did not go over well. She just disregarded what I said. I am very thankful to God that He helped me see the truth
and to be loosed from a false teacher.
