Truth and Lies

The pastor from the very liberal Christian church asked me a very pointed question. She said, "Do you really think we're outside of the faith?" It made me pause to think for a moment before answering.

Only God knows the heart and only He can judge someone's salvation. Scripture doesn't call for a perfect understanding of doctrine before we're saved (and that's a good thing).

I told her as much but then I also had to confess to her, that I believe any church that teaches the Bible is not truth or that there are any ways to salvation other than a personal relationship with Jesus Christ teaches lies. So while I would never presume to judge the salvation of a member of a liberal Christian church, I would counsel anyone who asked not to attend based on bad teaching.

Now not to single out liberals, I have encountered some extremely conservative Christian groups that are so focused on legalism that the teaching is full of lies as well.

How's a Christian to know good teaching from bad?

To start, we have to read our Bibles. That might sound overly simplistic, but despite the fact that more than 170,000 Bibles are sold a day in the US (the only country I have statistics for), more than 95% of all professing Christians have never read their Bible through even once. I've even encountered large numbers of pastors who have never read the Bible from cover to cover.

The only time most Christians ever spend in the Word is listening to a Sunday morning service. There are more than 31,000 verses in the Bible. That means if your pastor introduced a new verse from the Bible every Sunday of the year, and you never missed a Sunday, it would take over 590 years to hear the whole Bible. It's no wonder most Christians don't know what the Bible says. Only the oldest of Old Testament characters lived long enough to have enjoyed (or endured depending on the preacher) that many sermons.

If the pastor introduced an entire new chapter of the Bible every Sunday, it would still take almost 23 year to hear the entire Bible.

The most common estimate I've seen is that it takes the average reader 70 hours to read the Bible cover to cover. Studies have shown that the average North American watches 16-20 hours of television a month. That means if you shut the tube off for a month and read the Bible instead you can read it through in a month. In a year that's a dozen times, more than enough to begin to have a working familiarity with the Word.

The Word is the ultimate source of truth. All teaching must be weighed against the truth of the Bible. All our conduct must be measured against the standards of the Bible.

We're commanded to know the truth.

Do not let this Book of the Law depart from your mouth; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful Joshua 1:8 NIV

The very first step to discerning truth in Bible teaching is to learn first hand what the Bible says. How's your Bible reading coming?

Until next time may you make time in the Word a priority.

Be blessed

Hallelu Yah (Praise God)!

Kevin

YOU ARE

Once you have accepted Jesus as Saviour you are a delight to the Lord

The LORD your God is with you, he is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, he will quiet you with his love, he will rejoice over you with singing."
Zephaniah 3:17 NIV

Never let the enemy tell you that you are worthless or insignificant. You have value in the eyes of God so great that it was worth dying for. You are a blessing to the world. You are so precious to God that heaven will not be complete without you.

 

HELP FOR THE HURTING

You don't have to know all the Bible says to come to understand how much Jesus loves you. A few simple verses will explain His plan of salvation for YOUR life. Then it's up to you to open your heart to Him.

If you want to know how to do that simply email us and we'll send you some Bible verses that will explain it to you.

You can simply begin the relationship by honestly and completely opening your heart; admitting you need God's help; turning away from your sin and saying a prayer along the lines of:

Jesus:

I have made many mistakes in my life and done things I am not proud of. I have sinned. I need your love and forgiveness. I believe that you came into this world and gave your life on a cross to pay for my sins and that you defeated death and rose again. Please forgive me, and be the Lord of my life. I give my life to you Lord.
Amen

If you pray this prayer for the first time let me know so I can rejoice with you.


www.aDevotion.org
 

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