Read the Holy Bible

We are living in times when it is crucial to know the Holy Bible. So many deceptions, heresies, false christs, and false gospels abound! Jesus said of the last days, "For false christs and false prophets will arise and perform great signs and wonders, so as to lead astray, if possible, even the elect."(Matthew 24:24). How are we to guard our hearts from the heresies and hoaxes? How do we test the spirits as the apostle John urges us to do? (1 John 4:1). The answer is the Holy Scriptures and The Gift of Discernment (1 Corinthians 12:1-8). Within the Holy Bible is contained all the warnings, and lessons and teaching to protect us from the coming Son of Perdition and the impurities that already are a poignant odor in the Church. The Apostle Paul tells us, "All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right/All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness," (2 Timothy 3:16, NLT and NIV). It is through the Scriptures, Old and New Testaments that we can be taught how to avoid apostasy, rebuke false teachers and prophets, correct our fellow Christians (), and train each other in righteousness.

The Puritans have bad reputation for having been austere and radical. But they did get one thing right, they encouraged, supported, and taught their children to read The Holy Bible for themselves. There was no intermediary or priest, or pastor who was solely responsible in the community for teaching the congregants what Christ and Apostles taught. Every man, woman, and child studied the Bible in their daily routine, raising questions and contesting anything that did not fall within its measure. In this way they were like the praised Bereans of Paul's days, "As soon as it was night, the believers sent Paul and Silas away to Berea. On arriving there, they went to the Jewish synagogue. Now the Berean Jews were of more noble character than those in Thessalonica, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true. As a result, many of them believed, as did also a number of prominent Greek women and many Greek men." (Acts 17:10-13). These Berean Jews became Berean Christians, they checked what Paul was teaching in the Scriptures and discovered what Paul said about Jesus as Savior was found in the Old Testament prophecies and scriptures. In fact, the old Christian chain of book stores called Berean got their name from this passage.

Jesus Christ Our Lord and The Apostles warns us a day is coming when people will not put up with the sound doctrine found in Scripture, "The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons. Such teachings come through hypocritical liars, whose consciences have been seared as with a hot iron. For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear," (1 Timothy 4:1-3), "But there were also false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the sovereign Lord who bought them--bringing swift destruction on themselves," (2 Peter 2:1), "Dear children, this is the last hour; and as you have heard that the antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come. This is how we know it is the last hour," (1 John 2:18), "Dear children, this is the last hour; and as you have heard that the antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come. This is how we know it is the last hour, 2 John 2:18), "Who is the liar? It is whoever denies that Jesus is the Christ. Such a person is the antichrist--denying the Father and the Son," (1 John 2:22), "Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world," (1 John 4:1), "This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God," (1 John 4:2), "but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming and even now is already in the world," (1 John 4:3), "I say this because many deceivers, who do not acknowledge Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh, have gone out into the world. Any such person is the deceiver and the antichrist," (2 John 1:7), "I know your deeds, your hard work and your perseverance. I know that you cannot tolerate wicked people, that you have tested those who claim to be apostles but are not, and have found them false," (Revelation 2:2), "For if someone comes and proclaims a Jesus other than the One we proclaimed, or if you receive a different spirit than the One you received, or a different gospel than the one you accepted, you put up with it way too easily," (2 Corinthians 11:4), "But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let them be under God's curse!" (Galatians 1:8), and "Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves," (Matthew 7:15), "I urge you, brothers and sisters, to watch out for those who cause divisions and put obstacles in your way that are contrary to the teaching you have learned. Keep away from them," (Romans 16:17), and "having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with such people." (1 Timothy 3:5). This plethora of Bible passages warns us to be aware and fight against apostasy and anything lofty thought or opinion, "We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ." (2 Corinthians 10:5), and "For indeed Jews ask for signs and Greeks search for wisdom; 23but we preach Christ crucified, to Jews a stumbling block and to Gentiles foolishness, but to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God." (1 Corinthians 1:22-24). We must know the Bible to not become bespelled and hoodwinked by false teachers and false prophets. Already many false prophets, teachers, and preachers are making believers codependent to their theology, philosophy, and ideas; telling them to seek other books, rather than going to the Bible itself! These religious men and women who make people go to other soruces than the Scriptures are like the Pharisees, "Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You shut the door of the kingdom of heaven in people's faces. You yourselves do not enter, nor will you let those enter who are trying to." (Matthew 23:13).

You must know the Holy Bible (NASB, KJV, ESV, Interlinear). We must become mature Christians, reading our Bible so we can as Paul said to the Ephesians, "Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming/Then we will no longer be immature like children. We won't be tossed and blown about by every wind of new teaching. We will not be influenced when people try to trick us with lies so clever they sound like the truth.." (Ephesians 4:14, NIV and NLT). If we know the Bible, we do not become bespelled by winds of doctrine by deceivers and false prophets, false teachers, and false christs. We must rightly divide the Scriptures, and use them for all that they are good for (2 Timothy 3:16). Amen.