| People to be Educated to Search the Scriptures |
Today's Text:
Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me. John 5:39
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The Message:
The present is a time of great peril to the people of God. God is leading out a people, not an individual here and there...."Take heed, therefore, how ye hear" is an admonition of Christ. We are to hear for the sake of learning the truth, that we may walk in it. And again: "Take heed what ye hear." Examine closely, "prove all things," "believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world." [1 Thessalonians 5:21; 1 John 4:1.]". This is the counsel of God; shall we heed it?
A man may hear and acknowledge the whole truth, and yet know nothing of personal piety and true experimental religion. He or she may explain the way of salvation to others, and yet be a castaway. The truth is holy and powerful, and searches the intents and purposes of the heart. The importance and authority of the truth in the great plan of salvation originated in the divine Author, and are not rendered void or worthless because the instruments employed in their administration are unholy or unfaithful. "Why," asked a man who had been and still was practicing wickedness, "are souls converted to the truth through my influence?" I answered, "Christ is constantly drawing souls to Himself, and flashing His own light in their path. The seeker after salvation is not permitted to read the character of him who teaches him. If he himself is sincere, if he draws nigh to God, believing in Him, confessing his sins, he will be accepted."
The Word of God is sure and steadfast; it abideth forever. Christianity has ever been a cause of discord and strife, not because men believed the Scriptures, but because it strove against superstition and heresy and false interpretations of the Word, which, through the spurious devices of the enemy, held power over human minds. Satan's work began in a lie to our first parents, and he has continued in the same deceiving line ever since, striving to efface the truth, and bring in the false.
The pages of history are blackened with the register of crimes that have been perpetrated because of religious differences. Satan now works with two-fold power. He deceives souls, and then makes them zealous in the advocacy of error. They urge their erroneous views, seeking to sustain them by misplaced and misinterpreted texts of Scripture. God has given His church a charge, to discern that which comes from above, and to separate the precious from the spurious.
In the time of the Reformers, some were afraid of the influence on the church of those in error, and hence special pain was taken to make iron rules that the common people should not read and interpret the Scriptures for themselves. Thus the church came to exercise tyranny over dissenters....
We should never let the impression prevail that only a privileged few have a knowledge of the Scriptures and that others must refer to these-one or another of their favorite ministers-as authority for their doctrines. People should be educated to search the Scriptures for themselves, to dare to think for themselves, taking the Bible as their guidebook, their standard of faith. Although heresy may lift its head boldly, and insult the truth by perverted ideas and false interpretations and misapplication of Scripture, there should be no suppression of religious freedom by reformers.
The church should ever bear in mind that they are never to ascribe to fallible mortals the unerring wisdom of the one living God. We must keep our hearts full of love, full of the milk of human kindness, not only for a few in lofty positions, but for every soul for whom Christ has died. We want all souls to have a pure gospel and to feel the necessity of searching the Scriptures for themselves, to know what saith the voice of the Eternal, and bind themselves to the great heart of Infinite Love.-Letter 12, 1890.
*Note: I have added in the parts that were left out by the compilers for what ever reason, that the true sentiment of the author may be seen.
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Commentary:
My friend, it is of utmost importance that we study the Scriptures to know the truth and to teach others to do the same, that they may not be led away by every wind of doctrine that comes from the heart of man. The Word says "Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth." (2 Timothy 2:15). We must compare Scripture with Scripture that the truth may be revealed.
Too many times followers of Christ do not study the Word as they should, not comparing Scripture with Scripture and are led astray. They look to the pastors and elders of the church and rest their salvation upon the interpretations that they ascribe. Thus they are not grounded on the Word of God, but upon the word of men. Such is it today, the majority of Seventh-day Adventists have accepted the teaching of the trinity as from God, not studying themselves to see what is the truth.
There are many sincere people in the church today that have accepted the false doctrine of the trinity, and some even zealously defend it. But this does not make it true, for the Lord says "I change not" (Malachi 3:6). The truth that we as a church once believed is that there is One true God and He is revealed to us through His only begotten Son. "And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent." (John 17:3). Today the church teaches that God is a triune God made up of three individual god-beings who are co-equal and co-eternal. They are collectively God, and individually God, but are to be worshiped as one God. But while the church teaches this the Scriptures do not support this doctrine, for it says "For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus;" (1 Timothy 2:5).
My friend, the Scriptures will harmonize from Genesis to Revelation, but when men put their own interpretation upon the Scriptures that do not harmonize with the rest of the Scripture, we must turn away and follow that which God has revealed to us. That truth is that He is the only true God and He is revealed to us through His only begotten Son.
God bless,
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Video of the Week
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| The Law of Life - David Clayton |
A sermon from the 2018 Roan Mountain Camp Meeting
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