THE BIBLE LESSON 5 SEPTEMBER 30, 2000

These lessons are from the Seventh Day Baptist Church of Toronto

STATEMENT:

Study Scripture:  2 Peter 3:1-2; Psalm 119:
Memory Selection:  Psalm 119:105  “  

INTRODUCTION

A study of the Bible is in reality part of a study of God's special revelation.  God specially revealed himself to specific persons, at specific times, and in specific places so that man would learn the things about God that he had lost because of the Fall into sin.  

The special revelation brought man the specific kind of knowledge that was necessary to reduce or eliminate man's relative ignorance of God, an ignorance which was most serious, now that man had no direct contact with God after his expulsion from the Garden of Eden.

The natural revelation by which man would know some facts about God was not sufficient for man to know of God in a deeper and fuller way.

When we speak about Natural Revelation we are referring to the revelation of the Creator as seen in material substances.  It shows that this is a world of order and purposes.  Now, revelation shows that man is intelligent, that man has a religious nature in him, and that there exists a very powerful God.  Natural revelation is strong, but it is the basis of a greater and more supernatural revelation.  Working on the basis of Natural revelation the Holy Spirit can show man that he should turn away from his sins, and turn to a righteous God.

General or Natural revelation is therefore known to all men by their observation of created things.  Every sincere and truthful man who looks at the creation would immediately know in his heart that there must be an omnipotent, wise, caring, powerful awesome God. Psalm 19: 1-4; Psalm 8: 3-4; Romans 1: 20; Acts 14: 15-17; 17: 27-28 all point to the fact that men would come to this conclusion.  Psalm 14: 11 can therefore say quite rightly that it is only the fool that would say in his heart that there is no God.

Natural revelation affirms that man has the tendency or inclination to irrationally suppress the truth above the Creator, his will, his power, and the nature of the divine order the Creator has established.

In addition to providing natural revelation, God had given man a conscience, for when he created man in his own image and likeness, man had a moral and a spiritual sense implanted it his heart..  Man therefore knows he should be worshipping God, but sin made man stray and suppress his conscience.  Romans 2: 13-16 discusses this.

Man therefore has enough to glimpse the power, the Providence, and eternal nature of God.  Man can therefore understand how small he is, how marvelous and grand the creation is, and then be led to worship this invisible Creator.  His conscience would then stop him from doing certain things, and he would recognize his responsibility, repent, and he would tremble and worship before God.

 But there are several other things that natural revelation does not teach. Men could not through natural revelation know the deep extent to which God cared for him, how God longed to forgive his sins, how God did not want anyone to perish. Man could not know the deep thing about the kind of God he worshipped, the future Kingdom of God on earth, the future of his soul, the eternity and the life beyond that God would give to true worshipers.

Because of these deficiences in natural revelation, now man had to learn about matters relating to sin, guilt, his unworthiness, the plan of Atonement, redemption, and the aim of God to reconcile men to God.  

God therefore had to reveal himself personally, and enter into covenants with certain persons and with the nation of Israel and other nations.  Certain facts were placed before these persons with whom God established covenants, and certain truths were emphasized.

God spoke directly to these men on some occasions  (Genesis 17: 1, 22; 18: 1)

God also sent angels to speak to them (Judges 6: 12, 14-18; Genesis 26: 2)

God gave them dreams and visions (Numbers 12: 6; 1 Kings 3: 5-15)

God had special direct contacts with some (without specifically defining for us the nature of these contacts. See Numbers 22: 9; 23: 4; Exodus 33: 11)

God did miracles and great signs (Genesis 9; Genesis 19) to

God sent prophets to the people 

-         God revealed himself in Jesus Christ

-         God inspired men to write the Scriptures and preserve them for future generations.

The record of this written revelation, which is considered to be authoritative, consisted of 1. The Law or Hebrew Torah: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy (otherwise called the Pentateuch),

2. The Former Prophets: Joshua, Judges, Samuel, Kings

3. The Latter prophets: Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel

4. The Twelve Minor prophets

5.The Writings: Psalms, Job, Proverbs, Ruth, Songs of Solomon, Ecclesiastes, Lamentations, Esther, Daniel, Ezra-Nehemiah, and Chronicles.  

This Bible was written mainly in Hebrew, with a few passages in Aramaic.  These writings were regarded as inspired Scriptures, and was the root and source for all the New Testament writings.

It was firmly held by Christians that Jesus Christ was the one of which the Scriptures spoke and that he was the promised Seed of the Woman that would remove the Curse from the earth, and redeem Man and the entire creation.

Paul and other writers of the New Testament used the Old Testament, otherwise called the Scriptures, and this revelation was all that they had.  These same Books were the material used for Christian preaching. See Matthew 21: 42; Mark 12: 10; 2 Timothy 3: 15.  Note that there are 295 quotations or direct references to the Old Testament in the new, a total of one verse out of every 22. In addition, it has been calculated that there are 613 evident allusions, so that about 10% of the New Testament goes back to the Old Testament.

The preaching and teachings (writings) of the Apostles form what we call the New Testament, and as indicated in 1 Peter 3:16 are included in the sacred writings.

WHAT DOES THE WORD BIBLE MEAN? WHAT DOES IT CONSIST OF?

The term “Bible” is the term used synonymous with “The Writings” or “The Scriptures”.  The term Bible really comes from the Latin word meaning “Books”, and has been used to designate the Jewish and Christian religious books.

Note that in the “Christian” community, there is no complete agreement on the content of the “Bible”.  Some of the Syriac churches do not include 2 Peter, 2 and 3 John, Jude, and Revelation in their New Testament. 

The Roman Catholic and Greek Orthodox Churches include Book selections which were called the Apocrypha.  These churches hold that these Apocrypha books are inspired, though some of their writers believed that the books should only be used as an example of life, and instruction in manners.

As a matter of interest these books of the Apocrypha were written between the second century B.C. and the second century A.D. and were never included in the Hebrew Canon.  The Jews felt that the prophetic voice died with Malachi, and that no inspired writings appeared after that prophet.

These books, some of which were accepted by Rome, and some of which were later introduced into later editions of the Septuagint (the Greek translation of the Old Testament), contain some good historical information (1 Maccabees), and some good moral thoughts (in Wisdom of Solomon).

But they also abound in many foolish legends and foolish but impressive sounding sayings, even advising the committing of immoral acts (Judith 9:10,13), have openly heretical teachings, and many historical and geographical errors. 

Here is a list of the Apocryphal books accepted by Rome.

1 Esdras                                                 The Songs of the Three Holy Children

11 Esdras                                               Susanna

Tobit                                                      Bel and the Dragon

Judith                                                    Prayer of Manasses

The Rest of Esther                               1 Maccabees

The Wisdom of Solomon                    11 Maccabees

Ecclesiasticus

Baruch

These books were rejected by the Rabbis and excluded from the approved Hebrew Scriptures. Protestant reformers denied that the books of the Apocrypha (the term means ‘hidden’  or ‘outside’) were canonical, and rejected them.

MODERN ATTACKS ON THE BIBLE

It is interesting to note that scholarly opinion in the late 19th and 20th centuries holds firmly to the view that the Old Testament Scriptures is a product of the work of an Editor or Editors who wanted to push certain ideas. These editors therefore combined material from different sources, then attributed the books thus developed to specific authors.

This of course, is a challenge to the truth of the Bible, and makes it appear that the Bible is somewhat of a ‘technical fraud’.  These scholars hold that there was no divine inspiration as such, and that the Bible cannot be trusted in the way that people have traditionally trusted it.

They argue that the Pentateuch is a result of material from four ‘interweaving’ sources that they call J, E, D, P.

J is supposedly the earliest source, dating from the time of the early monarchy.

J is the Yahwist source, so-called as it uses the name Yahweh mainly for the divine name.

E is the Elohist source, so-called because it uses Elohim as the divine name.

D is the Deuteronomic source, mainly found in Deuteronomy which they claim was written in the period of the late monarchy in the seventh century B.C.

P is the Priestly source, which dates from the Babylonian exile, and which emphasizes the Sabbath, circumcision, the role of the Aaron priesthood, and other matters of interest to the priesthood and religious aspect of life.

This rebellion against the entire Bible teaches that the Bible does not consist of completely authentic and true books, but is made up of doubtful material which were compiled by people who were advocating particular political and religious ideas and who wanted to propagandize them.  It was theorized that much of the Torah and the Prophets were not completed until after the exile in the late 6 century B.C. The “Writings” were not completed, they argue, until the second century B.C.

With respect to the New Testament, many of the scholars attribute much of Paul's writings to other people writing in other times.

They believe that Mark was the first gospel, and the people who compiled Matthew and Luke used Mark and a unknown source called Q which was a yet undiscovered collection of Jesus’ teachings.  It was felt that the Synoptic Gospels were written between A.D. 70 and A.D.100. The book of John was written in the late first or early second century, a date which would rule out the Apostle John as the author.

It should therefore be clear to you why many will not accept the Sabbath as a institution established at creation, for most do not really believe in a literal interpretation of Genesis, and that Moses really wrote the book of Genesis. Because of that feeling, they call the Sabbath the Jewish Sabbath, because they refuse to believe it was set up at the Creation, and not several thousand years after creation when the nation of Israel was formed. We are really dealing with deep seated unbelief, which people do not want to come to grips with.

Most theologians have concluded that the Bible is not the Word of God, but is a collection of myths and legends and faulty texts.  It is no wonder then that most of the graduates of the theology schools and seminaries do not really believe in the Scriptures as completely true and inspired.  Most disbelieve, while some partially believe.  Yet others are prepared to compromise. 

Others, in order to be accepted as true academic scholars, and to get a good rating and  opinion from their intellectual peers, are prepared to rewrite Scripture to make it acceptable to the world.  The ‘so-called’ better quality educational religious institutions, have already totally compromised with the world, and those who seek this academic status and are working to achieve it, are well on the way to be compromised.  There are really only a few institutions of religious learning that make a consistent effort to teach the Bible as the true Word of God.

It behoves us then to study the Bible for ourselves, and be thoroughly acquainted with it, for much of what passes for learned expositions are really compromises with error. 

The sad part is, that on the other side, we find people were not academics, try to study the Scriptures, misunderstand it, emphasize some parts in ways that will suit their interests, often deliberately misinterpreting it, and wresting with it to their own destruction, and to the destruction of those that they are misleading.

It should be stated here that Scriptures by and large is not complicated, and its messages are easy to understand.  At the same time it should be pointed out that there are difficult parts in the Scriptures, and these parts require study, meditation and continued dialogue between Christians. 

To assist our study we should now note that the early Church generally followed the example of Jesus and the Apostles, and accepted the Jewish Bible without difficulty.  They believed that the Bible was true completely, and that the writers that the books recorded as its authors were really its authors.

They believed, as Paul stated in Romans 3: 2 that the Jews had been given the “Oracles of God”. Following Jesus, the Apostles accepted the authorship and absolute truthfulness of the Books as listed in the Canon.

The New Testament Books were all believed by the Church to have been written before the end of the first century.

The Church considered carefully the Books of the New Testament before they accepted them.  They had to make certain that these Books were of apostolic origin and inspiration.  To be accepted, the Books either had to be written by the Apostles, or to have been authorized by them.  For example, the book of Mark was considered to be really authored by Peter. Luke was the faithful companion of Paul and had access to all the Apostles, and could therefore write his gospel as well as the book of Acts.

The two important Books over which there was an authorship controversy were the books of Revelation and Hebrews.  By the end of fourth century, all doubts as to the inspiration of these Books had evaporated.

The process leading to the acceptance of the Canon was thus an intensive one.   The writings were very carefully examined, and many supposed letters from the Apostles were thrown out as heresy.  No Church Councils met to choose the Books, but the various churches examined them and chose our present list.

Clearly, some of the books condemned the tendencies and views in some Churches, but the churches accepted the Books anyway. 

They were 18 recorded Councils in the third century, 86 in the fourth, and 80 in the fifth, all arguing over every subject and heresy.  But no church councils was ever called to review the books of the New Testament.  There was agreement about the Scriptures, except for the Roman Catholic Church’s acceptance of the books of the Apocrypha.

THE METHOD GOD USED TO REVEAL HIMSELF

God revealed himself by

1.      Divine speech

2.      In historical events

3.      In the Incarnation

Divine Speech

The Bible often stated that God spoke. We find this plain statement in many passages. 

Jeremiah 18:1

Ezekiel 12:1,8,17,21,26

Hosea 1:1

Joel 1:1

Amos 3:1

Hebrews 1:1-2 stated that God had spoken in times past by the prophets but now had spoken by his Son.  God therefore was not a God like the gods of the pagans who remained silent.  He spoke when he was ready to create and the universe came into existence out of nothing.  Note that this makes God different from the pagan gods, for he is not indifferent and remote from men.

An encounter with this God was a powerful experience. Many has this encounter, and were forever changed. The encounter changed Moses’ life forever.  See Exodus 4: 11-16.  Isaiah saw the Lord, and heard the voice of the Lord and was changed.  See Isaiah 6: 1-9.  Jeremiah heard the voice of the Lord and he was changed.  See Jeremiah 1: 4-9; 15: 15-16, 19.  John the Apostle also heard.  Paul heard the voice, instructing him. Both dedicated their lives to the service of God.

We know however that God is Spirit, but we are also told that despite having no physical organs he speaks.

God uses the language of the person to whom he speaks.  Divine speech may be

1.      Audible speaking, or

2.      Hearing something inside one’s head, or

3.      God putting in the writer's mind as he wrote, the ideas that God wanted them to write.

The prophets did not therefore speak what or when they wished.  The Hebrews put Moses in a special class, for they felt, on the evidence before them, that it was only to Moses that God spoke directly, that is, “mouth to mouth” (Numbers 12: 6-8). 

They believed however that God sometimes revealed himself, speaking in a dream (Daniel 7:1), in a vision (8:1), or by sending an angel (9: 21-22; 10: 5-11).

Note that when God spoke, the one to whom he spoke had a perfectly clear mind, could speak to God, ask questions, and react to God’s presence.  Sometimes the writer did not fully understand what God was saying. 

Sometimes a message came in a way that the prophet did not like.  Jeremiah said in Jeremiah 20:7-9 that God imposed his message on him and he tried in vain to resist.  We also have the case of Balaam in 2 Samuel 23: 2, and the unwitting prophecy of Caiaphas the high priest in John 11: 51.

All the prophets fully believed that they were writing and saying the exact words of God.  Moses often said that was the case with him, David said it in 2 Samuel 23: 2, and all the prophets confirmed this.

HISTORICAL EVENTS

God also acted and revealed himself in historical events.  Many of these mighty deeds are recorded throughtout the Scriptures.  The acts of God to Israel, and to the world before Israel was established as a nation, teach us what God is like, and how his mind operates.

Psalms 78 lists many of these acts of God, so that the people could learn about God and see God in his actions.  God has therefore told us what he is like, by what he has done.

THE INCARNATION

Jesus’ life, and his speech, is the most superior kind of Revelation.  Hebrews 1: 1-2 and succeeding verses emphasize this.  Jesus’ words were the words of God.  His miracles, his death, and his resurrection were great acts of God, and they all revealed God.

Jesus’ perfect life revealed true godliness, showing man the attributes of God.  He demonstrated who God is, in the fullest possible way.  This is the most personal Revelation of God, showing clearly all the eternal truths of God.  John 5: 39 indicate that the Scriptures are really all about Christ.

Christ came to reveal the Father.  He came from the bosom of the Father, sharing his intimate secrets.  In pointing men to the Father, and to confirm the nature of the Father as previously revealed in Scripture, Jesus constantly quoted Scripture, emphasized the importance of it, and constantly upheld its authority. 

He confirmed the accounts of creation in Matthew 19: 4-5; the murder of Abel in Luke 11: 51; the story of Noah, the Ark, and the Flood, in Matthew 24: 37; Abraham and his faith in John 8: 56; the destruction of Sodom, and many other accounts in the Scriptures, thus confirming that they were true and authentic.  We therefore have no fear that the Bible is accurate, and was sufficient for salvation.  See Luke 16: 29; Mark 12: 24-27; and Luke 24: 25.     

THE MATTER OF INSPIRATION

The information that God had revealed about himself, the acts that he had done, and specific commandments that he had given, has been written down.  It has been preserved, and each succeeding piece of information has given us more and more of insight into who God is.

Note however that the Holy Spirit was very selective in what the Bible writers recorded.  Sometimes the revelation of God has gone unrecorded, as indicated in John 21: 25.

Once God had made himself known to man, it was necessary for God to so influence the writers that they would truly and exactly record the message received from God.  God so guided them that they would use the appropriate words, keep out all error, and ensure that nothing was omitted.

2 Peter 1: 20-21 emphasized that the prophecies came from God.  The Spirit of God gave man the drive and desire to write, and carried them along as they wrote. 2 Timothy 3: 16 reiterated that the Scriptures were divinely produced, or divine inspired.  This means that the inspiration is entire, complete and without restriction.

Moses, Balaam, David, the prophets, the Apostles, all knew this and said it.  Inspiration determined all the words and the language used.  Nothing was left to the whim of the Bible writers, for these where the very thoughts of God.

JESUS AND THE APOSTLES DEFINED SCRIPTURE

As stated before, Jesus fully believed in the Scriptures.  He spent much time correcting the Pharisees on their misinterpretations of Scripture, condemning their man-made additions. Jesus held that Scripture could not be broken.  See John 10: 35.  He also held that not even the slightest thing could be omitted.  See Matthew 5:18. 

The early church preached that message.  Peter, in describing Judas and his actions, in Acts 1:16, pointed out that the words of the Holy Spirit spoken through David in Psalm 69: 25 and 109: 8 would of necessity be fulfilled.

This belief was the same as that of the prophets, who vigorously prefaced their pronouncements with “Thus saith the Lord”.  See Micah 4:4, Jeremiah 30: 4, Isaiah 8: 11, and Amos 3:1, among other many examples.

Timothy 3:16 had stated that all the sacred writing were inspired.  Note that it was the text of Scripture that was inspired, and it was not said that all the writers, for example, Peter and Balaam, were perfect or infallible.

The inspired Scriptures were therefore all profitable to make each believer a complete and mature child of God.

Luke 24: 25-27 refers to the writings of Moses and the prophets as the Scriptures. In vs. 44-45 the Psalms is included and referred to as Scripture.

Jesus regarded the Psalms as Scripture, quoting from Psalms 82:6 in John 10: 34; Psalm 35: 19 in John 15: 25; and from Psalm 78: 2 in Matthew  13: 35.

Paul quoted from Isaiah 28: 11-12 in 1 Corinthians 14: 21; Psalms and Isaiah in Romans 3: 19; and Genesis 16:15 and 21:9 in Galatians 4:21-22.

Peter himself was quite emphatic that the whole of Scripture was prophecy.  He also viewed Paul's writings as Scripture in 2 Peter 3: 16.

John regarded the book of Revelation as the word of God, and in Revelation 22:18-19, warned readers not to tamper with it. He regarded his teachings as the Word of God, and in 1 John 4:6 clearly stated that his teachings were the measuring rod of the truth.

Paul reminded the Thessalonians in 1 Thess. 1:5 and 2:13, that the teachings they had received was by the Holy Spirit.  Clearly then, the Apostles regarded the New Testament writings for which they were responsible as Scripture, and fully inspired, as were the Old Testament writings.

THE DEPENDABILITY OF THE SCRIPTURES

The doctrine of inerrancy teaches us that the Scriptures are fully dependable in all its facts, and in the assertions it makes, whether historical, scientific, or spiritual.  There are no errors, and everything can be showed to be true by archeology or other disciplines.

The original manuscripts were fully precise, and data given could be tested.  Of course, some facts might seem to be inaccurate, give our limited state of knowledge in science and other disciplines, but it is firmly believed that as research is done and knowledge increases, the Bible will be vindicated.

Others modify this position, holding that the Bible described some things as they appeared to the human eye, and that these things called “phenomena” cannot be treated as exact descriptions, but as popular descriptions or approximations.  The Bible was correct, but the phenomena must be properly looked at and understood.

Our view is that the Scriptures are correct, and are authoritative.  God is omniscient, wise, and all powerful, and would never mislead man.  The truthfulness of God is at stake in this matter.  There are many facts to support the truth of Scripture, and Scripture is based on very many manuscripts and their copies.

 Most of the so-called contradictions have been eliminated by archeology and the increase in knowledge.  Most serious attacks on the Bible therefore now comes from the philosophical approach of the critics, and not from objective facts. 

If all the documents and histories of the ancient world were examined with the same tools used to examine the Bible, practically none of the documents so readily accepted by academics and intellectuals, could be taken seriously.  These documents are however accepted by people who reject the Bible, even though the Bible has been tested and showed to be superior in quality and content.

THE AUTHORITY OF THE SCRIPTURES

Since the Scriptures are true and authoritative, they command our belief and our actions.  God alone has this authority, since he is the author of Scripture, and there is no evidence that he has delegated it.  He has spoken finally by his Son, and has given the Holy Spirit to indwell all true believers. 

All believers are priests of God, and must therefore study the Scriptures and learn to listen to the voice of the Holy Spirit, who illumines the understanding of the hearers and readers of the Bible.

The Holy Spirit teaches the meaning of the Scriptures, shows the believer that the Scriptures and the meaning the Spirit reveals, are true and coming from God.  Human beings are too sinful and limited, and so the Holy Spirit has to continually guide, witness to, rebuke, bring about conviction, and glorify Jesus in our hearts.  He had still to bring belief, persuading enlighten, strengthen us, and intercede for us.

As the Holy Spirit works in us to bring us to proper understanding of his revelation in the Scriptures, we must constantly refer to the Scriptures, and test all ideas against its truths.  The Holy Spirit inspired the Scriptures, and Scriptures are absolutely true.  We must learn to be guided by the Spirit in understanding the Scriptures, and not to be lead away by our own imagination, and desires of the flesh for power and control over other believers. 

HOW COMPLETE WAS THIS INSPIRATION?

Every word, syllable, and punctuation mark, was regarded as inspired, and hence significant.

In John 10: 35 Jesus pointed to the use of the ‘ plural’ number in Psalm 82: 6 to prove his argument.

In Matthew 22: 32 Jesus quoted from Exodus 3: 6, using the ‘tense’ of the verb to prove his argument.

In Matthew 22: 44 Jesus used the ‘possessive suffix’ to prove his point.  He stressed that David said “The Lord said unto my Lord”. 

Jesus revealed how intensive this inspiration of Scripture was, by showing that some of the statements in Scripture that were not specifically attributed to God, were in fact spoken by HIM.  This of course means that we should be most careful how we deal with Scripture, and whether it is ever safe to say we disagree with something in the Bible.

In Matthew 19: 4-5 Jesus quoted from Genesis 2:24, attributing the statement made there to God, and not to a comment by the writer.

In a similar vein, Acts 4:25 quotes Psalm 2:1-2, Acts 13:34 quotes Psalm 16:10, and Hebrews 1:6-7 quotes Deuteronomy 32:43 and Psalm 104:4. These were the words of God, even though the Scriptures might have initially spelled it out as such.

Paul also, in Galatians 3:16 made his case on the use of the ‘singular’ used in Genesis 12:7.  Clearly then, Jesus and the New Testament writers regarded the choice of individual words, as well as the form and tense of the word, as being chosen by the Holy Spirit. 

Jesus thus emphasized the importance of these minute details, and other details in the Scriptures. Not one ‘jot’ or one ‘tittle’ would pass away.  

THE UNITY QUESTION

At the present time there is much discussion on the matter of the unity of believers.  Believers who confess the same Lord and Spirit are in one Body and should be of  one accord and of one mind.  The Church is described as the Bride of Christ, a Holy nation and a peculiar people.  The church should have a common witness, work together for greater efficiency, not waste resources by duplicating efforts, and present a good image to the world.

The activities to bring about unity however have raised several issues including that of belief. The wide variety of beliefs, and lack of agreement on certain basic truth such as the supreme authority of the Bible, as the source of faith and practice, the Deity of Jesus Christ, the importance of his atoning death and bodily resurrection, salvation as coming from God through his grace alone, the importance of keeping his Commandments and being under the total control of the Holy Spirit, the second coming of Christ, make it very difficult for unity.

The Church must guard against any union with unbelievers, or with anyone that would adopt doctrines which take away the spiritual vitality of the Church. 

Believers must avoid unnecessary fights and disagreements but must make sure that they concentrate on spreading the word of Christ to unbelievers, making them aware that salvation comes through Jesus Christ alone, and warning them that there is no other way to God.

There can be no real union with those who disagree with basic teachings of the Scriptures, or with those who blaspheme the name of Christ, and the person of the Holy Spirit.

Scripture is preeminent, and the history of the Church has taught us that men will quickly forget this if it suits them.  Jesus Christ was submissive to the Scriptures, and his servants can do no less.  Even the Apostle Peter had to be rightly reproached for his hypocrisy and dissimulation in Galatians 2:11-14. Paul himself separated from Barnabas and Mark after extremely sharp disagreements. Acts 15:37-39. It is only Scripture that if trustworthy and unchanging.

False prophets and false teachers have very often in Church history, usurped authority in the Church and led away many.  Man is rebellious, and hates the authority of the Bible, preferring to set up Reason, the Church, Science, Tradition, and themselves as the true authority.

What it is certain is that God is the source of all power. He is sovereign and in complete control.  He has given us his Revelation, has sent his Servants to speak to us, and challenge and encourage us. His Son came and paid the price to redeem us, and the Holy Spirit has sealed us.

We must always hold on to the Scriptures and obey them, remaining always under the guidance of the Holy Spirit.  God’s patience will come to an end soon, and a terrible judgment is in store for those who disobey the Word of God.

Jesus said

“He that rejecteth me, and receiveth not my sayings, hath one that judgeth him: the word that I spake, the same shall judge him in the last day”.  (John 12:48)

The Scriptures also stated in Psalm 1

 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 due season; his leaf also shall not wither, and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.”