Illuminated by the Word

2 Timothy 3:16, 17 – All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work. (NIV 1978)

My Musings – Much of the deceptive philosophy can clearly be discerned as false or not to be trusted, and we easily dismiss or discard it. Some contradicts what we have grown up believing. Yet many

believe in and swear by it with such great passion and credibility, that we can hardly see how it could be wrong. Some are appealing because they have a “form of Godliness” and yet we wonder if it can be trusted. How then do we decide what is truth?

Mark Twain is credited with saying that “in religion and politics people’s beliefs and convictions are in almost every case gotten at second-hand, and without examination, from authorities who have not themselves examined the questions at issue but have taken them at second-hand from other non-examiners, whose opinions about them were not worth a farthing.” We must never be too lazy (or too naïve) to blindly accept every “wind of doctrine” that comes along. In the final analysis, even when the source of information seems trustworthy, like the Bereans, we must lay what is being said alongside the Word of God to see if it is true. However, in order to do this effectively we must be sufficiently familiar with the Bible to know how to use it. Possessing a tool is not much good if we do not know how to use (“rightly divide”) it properly.

My Advice – Knowing His voice is so very important because the imposter is very crafty. We see his craftiness in how he deceived Adam and Eve in the Garden. When confronting them doing (listening and following) what God had told them, he did not start with outright contradiction. First, he caused them to begin doubting the Word of God (“did God really say?”) by distorting the Word of God (“you must not eat from any tree?”). That made God’s Word seem unreasonable. Eventually, this allowed him to take things where he wanted them all along – disputing God’s Word altogether (“you will not”). This ultimately led them into disobeying God’s Word and with God calling out – “Adam, where are you?” They had hid themselves because they were no longer following Him.