One of the basic reasons the institutional church has embraced heathen doctrines and practices is her take-it-or-leave-it approach to the Bible instead of Jesus’ approach. His view is that the Bible is the Truth by which one is sanctified (Jn. 17:17).  God so values His Word/Truth that He calls Jesus “the Word of God” (Jn. 1:1-4,14/Rev. 19:13).  Jesus called Himself the Truth (Jn. 14:6).  Jesus, the Author of the Bible from Genesis to Revelation, noted that the Words He Himself spoke, as well as those He spoke and wrote through His prophets and apostles, did not come from Him, but rather from God the Father (Jn. 12:44-50;14:10), and that to reject His Words is to reject Him and His Father (Lk. 10:14).  In John 12:50 He equates His Words with eternal life.  In verse 48 He warns that we will be judged by His Words.  It behooves us therefore to approach the Scriptures with (1) total faith which comes from hearing (studying) His Word (Rom. 10:17) and (2) with a heart to obey His Word.  James tells us that faith without works (obedience to the Word) is dead faith (Jam. 2:10,14,17,18,20,24,26).  We live by our faith (Heb. 10:38).  If our faith is dead, then we are spiritually dead.

In 2 Timothy 2:15 we are commanded to study (not read) to show ourselves approved (accepted) by God, rightly dividing (Gr.-to “make a clean cut”) the Word of Truth.  Note that it is the Bible that we are to study, not someone’s belief about it, which characterizes the theology of professing Christendom, which God condemns as this website reveals.  In 1 Thessalonians 5:31 the Lord commands that we prove all things relative to His Word.  Proving what is of Him and what is not requires that we approach Bible study in the manner He prescribes in Isaiah 28:9,10,13.  In this passage the prophet asks, “Whom can God teach knowledge?  And whom will He make to understand the message?”  He then answers the question: “The one who studies His Word “… precept upon precept, precept upon precept, line upon line, line upon line, here a little, there a little.” Then He repeats the instructions.  He points out in verse 13 that though men heard His word, they refused to obey it and were therefore snared (judged) by it (Jn. 12:48). God tells us in Philippians 2:12 to work out our salvation with fear and trembling, meaning to assure ourselves that we will be saved upon the return of Jesus to earth because we have obeyed His Word.  There is no other way to be saved.  Faith, as James makes clear, will not save the soul.  Nor will God’s grace.  Nor will the combination of the two.  After all, the demons believe the Word and tremble because they know it is true.  The Counterfeit (Catholic/Protestant) Church does not know God’s Word, and believes little of what little she knows.  Not believing what she reads, she sees no need to tremble, which places her one notch below the demons who do tremble.  In Isaiah 66:2 the Almighty states: “… to this man will I look (with approval), to him that is of an humble and contrite spirit and who TREMBLES AT MY WORD.”

Why does the false church refuse to obey God’s Words?  Because she is ashamed of them, and therefore ashamed of Him.  Jesus speaks to this abomination, saying that whoever is ashamed of Him and His Words, He will be ashamed of that person when He returns to earth.  God proclaims that the Words the Counterfeit Church rejects are everlasting (Lk. 21:33).

Years ago when the Lord took me out of man’s church and brought me into His church He immediately sent me to Psalm 119.  I fell in love with that Psalm because it is filled with His Words about His Words.  If one does not know how much God values His Word/Law/Truth/Gospel, study the 119th Psalm.  Hopefully it will set your heart afire as it did mine.  I still get a thrill each time I see a Bible.  I live in it and live it.  The Bible is God in written form.  Jesus Christ was the Bible in human form–“the Word made flesh.”  In order to qualify for eternal life we must study the Word as He did in order to “walk as He walked” (1 Jn. 2:6) and “purify ourselves even as He is pure” (1 Jn. 3:3), and “Overcome even as I (Jesus) overcame (Rev. 3:21).  L.J.