Of Morsels and Platefulls

All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works. (2Timothy 3:16, 17)

Several people have been asking me about the doctoring of the Bible lately. They have a real concern. Which Bible is the best to read? Which one should we avoid?

I will state at the forefront that I believe this is a strategy of the devil to discourage God’s people from reading the Bible. And I will explain.

Once we start debating on the best, or worst, we will of course divert our attention from the Bible to the discussions. All this time the Bibles are not being read as I am afraid of reading the wrong translation. Then we will become experts in defending the one we think is best instead of reading it, looking for the mistakes in the others to defend our position. We become prosecutor against ‘corrupted’ versions and defendant of our preferred version. The only time we will be reading the Bible is when gathering the evidence we require to win our case. All this time the devil is laughing his head off as none of us is reading the Bible to hear from God.

Yet what is the Bible to us? To me it is the word of God.

And that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. (2Timothy 3:15)

We can never be made wise by arguments and counter arguments about the Bible. Only a proper and complete intake of the Bible can do that.

In other words, it is vain to argue about a Bible we are not sufficiently reading. A corrupted Bible that is read is more useful than the best and most accurately translated Bible that is not being read. I would rather that you read the most corrupt Bible than be in possession of the best that you are not reading.

Compare this to a balanced diet nutritionists talk about. A hungry person is in greater need of dealing with his hunger than with the nutritional value of the food. A caplet of food with the best nutritional value can’t be compared to a full plate of junk food to the starving.

It is vain to discuss nutrition with a hungry person. Only the well fed has the capacity to discuss and understand nutrition.

It is more foolish and evil to discuss Bible corruption with people who do not read the Bible than it is to discuss nutrition with the starving. Yet that is what we are doing. We should leave those arguments with the well fed (consistent readers).

Another thing we do in our arguments is deprive the Bible of its power, or the power of God to use it. We are limiting God to the perfect, yet He alone is perfect. We assume that God must have the perfect version to be able to function. We forget that God is able, and does, use anything to perform His purpose. Remember this

And he answered and said unto them, I tell you that, if these should hold their peace, the stones would immediately cry out. (Luke 19:40)

And

Bring forth therefore fruits worthy of repentance, and begin not to say within yourselves, We have Abraham to our father: for I say unto you, That God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham. (Luke 3:8)

Remember Him using a donkey to deliver a message to a rebellious prophet?

God does not need perfection to deliver. Also note

The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handywork. Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night sheweth knowledge. There is no speech nor language, where their voice is not heard. (Psalm 19: 1 – 3)

God can and does use anything. Our problem is that we are limiting Him to a perfect translation, a translation we have no capacity to access or even know with surety. Then we can hide under we don’t know the perfect translation and therefore will not read whichever Bible. Forgetting that

This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success. (Joshua 1:8)

We can never be able to meditate on a word we have not read. We have no capacity of discussing the accuracy or absence of it in any version if we are not diligent readers of the Bible. Just like the one able to detect fake currency is one who has handled the legal one long enough, it is the one who has read the Bible consistently for a long time is able to notice such corruption.

Interestingly, even reading a ‘corrupt’ version consistently will enable one to notice the corruption without the guidance of any expert as happened to a friend. But one must read the Bible with a commitment to hear from God for that to happen. It is not the casual reader of the scriptures who will be given such revelation. Let me explain

Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled. (Matthew 5:6)

Is it possible to search for God and not find Him?  Is there a possibility of searching for God or His message and find someone or something else? Would He be God if that is barely possible?

Why do I ask that? It is because there are many Muslims who have come to faith in Christ without any Christian witness or Bible. They simply read the Quran and pursued their rites with sincerity. And God will never allow someone seeking Him or His knowledge get into something else.

If He can use the Quran, which was written to refute every Christian and Biblical doctrine, and especially the person and work of Jesus Christ, how much easier is it for Him to use a corrupted translation of His word to guide a believer?

For if thou wert cut out of the olive tree which is wild by nature, and wert graffed contrary to nature into a good olive tree: how much more shall these, which be the natural branches, be graffed into their own olive tree? (Romans 11:24)

I would repeat that someone who reads a corrupted Bible is better than the one who has the perfect translation and barely reads it.

Let me explain. I did Chemistry up to the A levels but never really caught it. The reason I took it for A levels was because the subject was combined with Physics in the O level exams. It reached a point I decided to accept failure and stopped attending classes because I saw no hope of ever passing it.

But the problem started much earlier, in Form 1. Coming from a rural area, the English I was exposed was the absolutely necessary. And of course it had the same accent and intonations. My challenge was that my chemistry teacher was a young girl fresh from India. For the most part I could not get head or tail of what she was saying; meaning my introduction to Chemistry was a complete failure.

That was the reason I could not understand Chemistry. I lost out because I lost it at the introductory stage. I therefore understood things much later, and we know exams do not afford one that luxury.

That is what I am saying in connection with the Bible. Discussing a Bible without reading it is akin to seeking to understand something but choosing to forego the introduction. You will make a fool of yourself because it will demonstrate how shallow your grasp of the topic is.

By the way it is the same with Bible Study. Though I prepare them, I am under no illusions that knowing the topics, even memorizing all the verses is as transformational as one’s grasp of the whole Bible. We deceive ourselves when our spiritual trophies consist of the number of Bible Study books we have successfully completed. And it is not much different with some Theological instruction. People become experts of bits and pieces (many times doctrinal positions of the sponsoring denomination) as opposed to complete Biblical doctrine.

Let us read the Bible before we think of ascertaining which is best. A connoisseur must be exposed to whatever they are testing widely enough to be given that responsibility. Let us treat the Bible with more seriousness than them as we know that it deals with the issues of life as opposed to temporal, worldly issues.

What is my final take on this? I would like the discussions to start like this. Where is this verse I hear being quoted every time as I have never seen it as I have read through the Bible? It is from that point that we will get into the Vaticanus and Sinaiticus and Recepticus. We can even discuss Eusebius and Constantine and the Ecumenical Bible to find out where that verse disappeared to.

Let me give an example. As I grew up there was a verse often quoted to encourage people to give testimonies in fellowships. I assumed that it must have been in the Bible. It was, ‘he who has the Son has a testimony’.

One time I attended a fellowship where the verse was almost an anthem during testimony time that I decided I must know where it was as by then I had read through the Bible four times and had never seen the verse. I gathered courage and asked the chairman to show me where that verse was. When he showed me I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. Why?

The only thing they have in common are the words Son and testimony as 1 John 5: 10 will demonstrate. In other words I could not find that verse because not only is it quoted outside its context; it is also wrongly quoted. And that will be the same with very many verses. Some verses we love are completely out of their Biblical context and it is only by reading the whole Bible consistently that we can be able to get the actual Biblical context.

Yes, there are versions that have been corrupted. But read them anyway as there is enough of God’s message in them to lead one to salvation and victorious Christian living. If God can use a fragment of a torn page of the Bible to read atheists in the iron curtain to Christ, are we not worse than unbelievers to even imagine that He is unable to use a Bible with a few verses (even even if they are thousands) removed to lead people to Himself? Do you not remember that the discovery of a portion of the scriptures led to a great revival in the time of Josiah the king?

In fact the Bible I have issues with is one whose commentary and other study aids overshadow the Bible text. There is one I recently trashed because they had merged the commentary with the text so that it was impossible to read the Bible text on its own. Incidentally, the commentary was at times up to five times larger than the Bible text. That for me is the Bible I will call irredeemably corrupt, however good the commentator or translation was.

You see what is inspired is the Bible text as it is the one God watches over to fulfill (Jeremiah 1: 12)

I will worship toward thy holy temple, and praise thy name for thy lovingkindness and for thy truth: for thou hast magnified thy word above all thy name. (Psalm 138:2)

The LORD is well pleased for his righteousness' sake; he will magnify the law, and make it honourable. (Isaiah 42:21)

I use commentaries and Study Bibles. But I need to emphasize that only the Biblical text is inspired. Again remember this

…  It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. (Matthew 4:4)

Let us leave the arguments to the scholars as we read the Bible to hear from God. And do not think I do not know that there are corrupted Bibles. But I know God enough to realize that no amount of corruption can stop God from using even corrupted scriptures to reach His people. Let me remind you that there are enough testimonies of Muslims who connected with Christ by reading the Quran with hearts searching for God.

But this does not mean I agree with the corruption. I just don’t want us to use it to deprive ourselves the revelation that can come from God’s word faithfully read.

God is also not a disinterested party in this just because He can break through the corruption to minister to His people. Remember  

For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book: And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book. (Revelation 22: 18, 19)

And it is important to realize that the corruption did not start with our generation.

How is it that you say, We are wise and the law of the Lord is with us? But see, the false pen of the scribes has made it false. (Jeremiah 8:8, BBE)

But let us leave that to God, who says that vengeance belongs to Him. Let us faithfully do our part, faithfully.

Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein: for the time is at hand. (Revelation 1:3)

Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. But his delight is in the law of the LORD; and in his law doth he meditate day and night. And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper. (Psalm 1: 1 – 3)

Let us do our part and read the Bible faithfully.

Contact me or the Bible Club House if you need a Bible Reading plan. I have even posted one on my blog.

God bless you.

Value Adding Ministers

Giving no offence in any thing, that the ministry be not blamed: But in all things approving ourselves as the ministers of God, in much patience, in afflictions, in necessities, in distresses, In stripes, in imprisonments, in tumults, in labours, in watchings, in fastings; By pureness, by knowledge, by longsuffering, by kindness, by the Holy Ghost, by love unfeigned, By the word of truth, by the power of God, by the armour of righteousness on the right hand and on the left, By honour and dishonour, by evil report and good report: as deceivers, and yet true; As unknown, and yet well known; as dying, and, behold, we live; as chastened, and not killed; As sorrowful, yet alway rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, and yet possessing all things. (2Corinthians 6: 3 – 10)

My brother has released a book ‘When we walk with the Lord’ where he challenges the church to look at her practices and beliefs in the light of the scriptures. In one chapter, he remembers a conversation we had concerning ministry (Pioneers and Opportunists) as we were discussing how genuine ministers are shunted from ministry by people they invited or nurtured into it.

But I mention this because of an example he has given there that is so spot on concerning this message. The land movers and other equipment that are used to make (or grade) roads will never be allowed to use the road once it gets complete. They will have to be ferried by other ‘roadworthy vehicles’. Their usefulness ends when the road is completed.

I want us to look at some of us God has called to such ministry by looking at scriptural examples to understand why or even how God does it. This because with this consumerism and self interest that floods our pulpits it is very easy to think that this ministry is an abomination or even worse, that God has no part in it.

I am writing this for that one person who may be getting frustrated to the point of getting angry with God concerning the ministry God has placed in their hands. And that because it is so foundational no other ministry may flourish without or outside it. And we start with the scriptures because that is where we will get the pure doctrine from heaven.

Moses was gifted and well educated and trained. He was also very close to God to the point that numerous times God fought for Him. He also had a great attitude. Imagine God Himself saying that he was the meekest man who ever lived! You would expect that he would be the ideal one to divide Canaan to Israel. Yet why didn’t he?

He was also the one given the commandments, even the minutest details concerning worship and the sanctuary and priesthood. Wasn’t he the ideal one then to take the priesthood?  Why then was his brother, who had made the golden calf, picked? Why did God not pick their father’s family so that at least Moses’ posterity would be included?

And we are sure God and the people had no issues with his performance. He is the one who instituted and anointed the priesthood. He was the one who comes closest to Christ as a bridge to God and intercessor for both sides, always pleading for the people and fighting for God. You even remember God asking him to be allowed to clear the whole race and make him (Moses) a great nation. But he pleaded for mercy. The fact that God had to conceal his grave shows that people revered him. Yet why was he left out of the priesthood?

His assignment was to prepare Israel to transition from slavery to self determination. Nothing else was required of him after completing that. Putting his posterity into the priesthood might have complicated things because it is possible that the community might have allowed them too much slack on account of their father.

Remember Hezekiah? His assignment ended and he pleaded that it be extended, at least so that he can put his seed on the throne. This clearly explains what I mean. Instead of raising a worshipper like he had been he raised the most wicked king, the one who made God send Judah to captivity. I believe God had wanted to protect Hezekiah after his assignment was complete but the king insisted. God certainly had another king on the wings, some theologians say Isaiah the prophet, but he flooded God’s design with his tears.

Do you realize that David owed the excellence of his reign to Jonathan than to any other person? Do you realize that Jonathan literally surrendered his kingdom to David?

As crown prince he was the one, more than even Saul, who was threatened by David’s ascendance. Saul was more concerned for him than his own self when he sought to clear the threat that was David. We see how good he was when we see the advice he gives to his father and his response to his reign. Yet what do we see?

And Jonathan stripped himself of the robe that was upon him, and gave it to David, and his garments, even to his sword, and to his bow, and to his girdle. (1Samuel 18:4)

He literally surrenders his position to David. What did that mean? How does a king willingly surrender his throne to another?

I believe he was very sensitive spiritually and had realized that God had put to an end his father’s reign. This meant that God had instituted another kingdom. He therefore surrendered his ambitions and position when he saw the king in question before him because he knew that God does not change His declarations. His surrender of position to David was therefore an act of worship to God who had deposed his father in the spiritual realm.

And he said unto him, Fear not: for the hand of Saul my father shall not find thee; and thou shalt be king over Israel, and I shall be next unto thee; and that also Saul my father knoweth. (1Samuel 23:17)

I do not think I can find a higher demonstration of worship in mortals higher that this that Jonathan is doing.

And he was no weakling. He not only commanded half of the army but we see him facing an enemy singlehandedly (1 Samuel 14). He does not surrender the throne because he has found a stronger man. He does it because he sees the chosen one and simply chooses to surrender that throne to him.

Why then did not God allow him to sit next to David as he had wanted?

I believe he had completed his assignment and therefore was taken home to rest.

I believe Jonathan was the reason David could turn the most hopeless characters into the best army. I believe he was the reason David was known to be fighting the Lord’s battles. He had seen firsthand a total surrender of self to God and His agenda.

In the New Testament we have Andrew and Barnabas.

Do you realize that Andrew was always bringing people to Jesus? From his brother Simon to the boy who fed the multitude to the Greeks he was bringing them. Yet he is content to slide back to the background once his assignment is completed without expecting more. The fact that the brother he brought outshines him does not stop him from bringing others. He was content just pointing people to Christ.

He must increase, but I must decrease. (John 3:30)

John the Baptist was not much different. The fact that the first proclamation he made Christ made him lose two disciples immediately did not stop him from pointing others to Him.

Barnabas, like Jonathan, typifies the self-emptying of himself to lift another up. He picks Paul who had been rejected by the church in Jerusalem, at one time going all the way to Tarsus to take him and walks with him to the point that Paul decides that he has no need of his ministry when Barnabas picks another reject, Mark, to walk with them. Incidentally Mark is the writer of the Gospel of Mark.

Was Barnabas a writer? It is probable as his projects took to writing. But we are not in possession of any of his writings. That is unless as I suspect he wrote the book of Hebrews. Again we see him ready to disappear into the woodwork once his assignment was complete.

But it was not because he was just another Jew. As a Levite he knew the scriptures more than most. It is possible that he is the one who took Paul from the corridors of academia to the down to earth apostle we read. And as a wealthy Levite (remember he sold his land) from the Diaspora (Cyprus) he was not only learned but knowledgeable and exposed to the world. Again I suspect that the Paul we read about was more a product of his interaction with Barnabas than his education and Pharisaic upbringing.

Yet he disappears and his disciples shine. And that is the kind of ministry I am talking about.

That is the ministry whereby one is called to raise other ministers only for the sake of his calling authority, God. He will do it as long as God’s call is on him. He will surrender everything, from appreciation to reward to remain focused on that assignment.

Let me give some examples. In the process of empowering Christian writers I have had very different experiences. Many consist of extreme gratitude, yet not all of them.

I remember a person I was brought who was way down there in the real sense of the word. They had no money to have the book I wanted them with. I therefore ended up giving my computer several times to enable them type before I could edit. I was of course doing other ministry as their situation was a great spiritual challenge.

After walking with them for months in the process of making their book publishable and their spiritual situation improve sufficiently as to enable them to stand on their own, I said that I felt that my ministry was coming to an end, explaining the basis God had given me for it.

The backlash I received was hard, and brutal. You would be excused if you thought that I was the cause of their problems. To say that I was hurt would be an understatement. But then God opened me to the reality that that was a pointer that my ministry was effective because someone who was lost could make a decision to dismiss me from their life.

Or this other one I raised from being able to hold a spoon spiritually to a senior pastor. This actually came to teach me to pray since he opined that I could not be able to lift him to such spiritual heights yet remain in the same material status as he had found me unless my prayer life was the problem. Interesting enough God brought him to the level where he was able to recognize the uniqueness of the ministry God has called me to.

Many people I have been involved in were rejects, some that I was warned against for one reason or the other. Yet once the growth occurs and the potential starts showing the same people who were warning me start scrambling for them to the point that they start shielding them from me.

I can’t count the empty promises I have received from people I have been involved with as I am working on them. Yet very few ever remember whether I was a part of their life when they were down there. Many actually shift their allegiance to the people who would have never given them any audience before I got involved. They will remember me when they are in a crisis when they realize that the people they joined have no real help or will for the same. There were those I introduced to my supporters and in a short while they had diverted all the support to themselves.

I will not dwell on me and my ministry because I am just writing the message God has given me. I know there are a few others who are in this kind of ministry, and it is very hard especially at the start to see sense in all the donkey work for nothing, especially in these self glorying moments where even people who claim to speak for God are not only making fun of the ministry but even worse, merchandising it for their own purposes.

Be encouraged that you are doing God’s work the way He has called you. Do not look at your neighbor in envy as what you are doing may not be getting rewards or appreciation here on earth. But the reward for faithful continuance will be great in heaven.

I will leave you with a verse and a passage that are the guiding principle to this ministry (though they should all ministry).

So likewise ye, when ye shall have done all those things which are commanded you, say, We are unprofitable servants: we have done that which was our duty to do. (Lu 17:10)

Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others.  Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: (Philippians 2: 4 – 7)

The Folly of Doctrinal Positions

It is very sad that we treat the Bible as a pharmacy where we pick pills as per our need instead of a food store where we must always take food to live.

We even read it with the same mindset, picking what agrees with what we choose to believe as opposed to using it to guide our belief.

And nothing shows our selective application of the scriptures as our doctrinal positions. One wonders how two churches can have diametrically opposing doctrinal positions yet confess that they picked them from the Bible. How many Bibles do we have? Is the Bible the problem or are we the ones who are selective readers of the same?

For our discussion I will choose only one such position knowing that it will attract enough vitriol to last a very long time.

For over a hundred years the Pentecostal movement has grown, even thrived. Yet do you know the pivotal doctrinal position in everything from constitutions to faith statements to testimonies?

I believe in the baptism (filling, receiving) of the Holy Spirit with the evidence of speaking in tongues according to Acts 2: 4.

Is that the only evidence on the presence of the Holy Spirit in the Bible? What about Exodus 31? What about 1 Samuel 10: 10 and 16: 13? That was the Old Testament. I know someone is protesting.

What about Ephesians 5: 18 – 21 and John 20: 22? That is not in Acts. Someone else may say.

What about Acts 4: 31 and 5: 3 – 5 and 7: 55 and 11: 24? Are those also not evidences of the presence and filling of the Holy Spirit? Do those who receive the Holy Spirit and manifest Him in these other ways also qualify as recipients in your churches? Can they even be accepted as members in your congregations?

Do we choose the evidence we want for God to manifest to us? If we do that is He really God and Lord of our lives. How submitted (worshipful) are we to God if He must do things the way we choose?

Are the Pentecostal/ charismatic tongues the same as the Acts 2:4 ones? A simple study of the gift of tongues will demonstrate that they clearly are not.

Why do I say that? The tongues in Acts were clearly understood by the bystanders from all over the world. The Pentecostal ones are the 1 Corinthians 14 ones because I have never seen or even heard of an instance where any bystander understood them. They are unknown to anybody, even the speaker, and must have an interpreter if we are to follow scriptural rules, rules I have never seen being practiced in Pentecostal gatherings where tongues are encouraged and practiced. I have however heard of instances on the mission field where the Acts 2: 4 tongues were manifested to facilitate the Gospel reaching the target group especially where the interpreter was playing games with the message.

Is that doctrinal position consistent with the totality of the scriptures?

How do we pick a verse out of its context and own it to justify the sectarian interpretation of our doctrinal position?  Why do we behave as if we are the ones who wrote the Bible like the Corinthians were asked (1 Corinthians 14: 36)?

I know there are enough people out there ready to stone me. And I am not afraid of that. What I ask is that the stones you throw are scriptures. Then we can have a holy fight.

To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them. (Isaiah 8: 20)

Some of that fighting will start because some have had the experience firsthand as happened at Asuza Street in 1906. And that is not what I have problems with. The problem is interpreting the Bible using that experience to an extent that you disqualify any other experience as unbiblical or unspiritual.

What between the Bible and the experience holds more authority? And that is the main problem with the doctrinal position. They elevate the experience above the scriptures to an extent of forcing people to have their experience before being admitted into their fellowship. And they are not alone.

I once had an experience that was so vivid during those searching times in the Pentecostal movement that lent credence to the side of my argument. I am glad that some friends confronted me with the scriptures so that I was able to look at that experience in the light of the scriptures. Then I had to trash it, however vivid it had been or strong it supported my argument.

We must give the Bible the sole authority status even as we look at our doctrinal statements. Then we can sift between preferences, opinions and experiences and the Word of God.  

What is the real test of the presence of the Holy Spirit? Some few verses I have mentioned talk about other aspects of that filling. But this is the clearest evidence of the filling that Christ gave.

Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them. Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity. (Matthew 7: 20 - 23)

The evidence is in the fruit of that filling and not the filling itself. And this is seen in Galatians 5: 22, 23.

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.

And that is why it is followed by my most quoted verses, not everyone who calls Me, Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven. This because the gift and workings of the gift are not of yourself but proceed from God. Only the fruit proceeds from us. And it is also amplified by 1 Corinthians 13 when gifts and their manifestation are examined in the context of heaven.

This is but one such doctrinal position. And they are rife wherever a church is. From predestination to assurance of salvation to choice to rapture to tribulation you will always find differing positions, some extreme opposites.

I have picked this because the pursuit of that evidence has wrecked the faith of many sincere searchers because God chooses to offer other evidence, evidence that is rejected outright by the Pentecostal movement as either unworthy or unscriptural. It has opened others to counterfeit spirits as their desperation grows when the evidence is not forthcoming.

I write this with intense sadness as I have witnessed some of that spiritual damage first hand. I was raised by Pentecostals and am not therefore speaking as a spectator. What helped me was that I discovered and agreed that the Bible has all the answers I need and therefore resorted to it when any confusion or desperation threatened. Sadly many do not head to that direction. And very few churches and spiritual superiors are not in the least interested in what the Bible says unless it is to fortify their position.

And this is the reason I encourage and assist believers to read the Bible for themselves from Genesis to Revelation. Then they will be able to get the complete Biblical position on most of the issues confusing believers. And it is made worse by pastors who enjoy keeping their flock in their ignorance for their own purpose. Then they will be able to fleece them without anyone being aware of the fact. And this explains why I am always treated with hostility by many church leaders, even called controversial and a critic of structures. Simply because I want everything we do and say examined in the light of the complete scriptures instead of the whims and interests of the leaders.

Will we look at our doctrinal position in the light of the scriptures?