I just talked with a woman who, having a lot of free time on her hands, stated that she was looking for a hobby. This highly religious lady obviously does not consider learning more about the God she supposedly worships and serves more important than a hobby. She could see no reason to fill her mind with Godly information when she could learn how to knit or paint or something of equal importance. This in spite of the fact that her God commands that she “redeem the time” she has in this life in order to learn more about His ways (Col. 4:5). I was not shocked by her remark because most church people consider Bible STUDY what they do in Sunday School by having someone explain what God really meant by what He Said. One person proudly announced that she read A CHAPTER of the Bible each day. Why waste time studying that boring Book when she could watch the televised soap operas she had recorded during the day. This woman had once attended a seminary in order to become a missionary. She dropped out when the Bible “scholars” there proclaimed that the virgin birth was a myth. I thank God she never made it to the mission field. Unfortunately, thousands of seminary graduates do. Thousands more occupy leadership positions in thousands of churches world-wide. Knowing that is all the encouragement I need to keep doing what I do. I thank God for the opportunity to do battle with Satan.

Returning to Second Timothy 3:16 and the theme of this series, to fully understand the Bible we must STUDY IT DILIGENTLY AND CONTINUALLY TO LEARN WHAT WE MUST DO AND REFRAIN FROM DOING IN ORDER TO PLEASE THE LORD WHO SAID OF JESUS: “THIS IS MY SON, IN WHOM I AM WELL PLEASED” (Mk. 1:11). Why was God well pleased with Jesus? BECAUSE HE LEARED GOD’S COMMANDS AND OBEYED THEM. Jesus was a man like all other men. Like any other human being He had to learn God’s ways in order to please Him. Few, if any, in the Institutional Church believes this. However, we are told in Isaiah 7:14-17 that Jesus had to LEARN the difference between good and evil and to CHOOSE the good, which He obviously did at an early age. So did I. Sadly, I choose the evil and spent much of my life serving the devil. I thank God for His incredible grace and patience. I will spend the rest of my life making amends for the years I wasted.

The law of sowing and reaping applies to both the churched and the noncurched. Because I suffered so many curses from God during my rebellious decades, I know the hearts of the billions of salvation seekers who are doing the same thing and suffering the same curses. Like me, they ignore the voice of the Lord because they are supposedly saved. Because Satan has control of their thought processes, they reject God’s Word on the sin-curse relationship and suffer the consequences. Read The “Voices” of God. Key word–Voices.

As the Holy Scriptures make clear, we must study the Bible for the purpose of learning God’s doctrines and the CORRECTION He applies for disobeying them. For example, in Psalm 119:67 the author declares: “Before I was afflicted I went astray; but now I have kept (obeyed) Your Word.” The psalmist had sinned against God. He needed to be straightened out. Knowing against Whom he had sinned, he LOOKED TO HIS WORD IN ORDER TO GET BACK ON HIS TRACK. HOWEVER, FEW PEOPLE CARE ENOUGH ABOUT GOD TO RECEIVE REPROOF AND CORRECTION FROM HIS WORD. FOR THIS REASON THEY ARE AFFLICTED WITH ALL MANNER OF SICKNESS, TRAVESTY, FINANCIAL LOSS, ETC. AND PRAY FOR GOD TO HELP THEM, NOT KNOWING THAT IT IS GOD WHO IS CURSING THEM. IN THE EYES OF GOD, SINNING BELIEVERS ARE NO DIFFERENT FROM SINNING NON-BELIEVERS.

The problem is that very few church people understand the connection between sin and such things as sickness, accidents, so-called “natural disasters,” etc. Read Second Chronicles 7:13-16, Leviticus 26 and Deuteronomy 28. NOTE THAT IT IS GOD WHO SENDS THE CURSES–AND WHY. NOTE ALSO THAT HE SENDS BLESSINGS–AND WHY. For those who disregard the Old Testament, remember that ALL SCRIPTURES WERE SPOKEN BY GOD TO THE PROPHETS WHO RECORDED THEM. THE GOD OF THE OLD TESTAMENT LATER CAME TO EARTH AS JESUS OF NAZARETH WHO DICTATED THE NEW TESTAMENT. Read The God Of The Old Testament. Key word–Old. Remember also that what was written by the prophets was preserved to be used to teach God’s people at the end of the age–today (1 Corinthians 10:11). Remember also that the Gospel that was preached to Old Testament people is preached to us. (Hebrews 4:2).

The Bible must be STUDIED–not read. It is to be viewed as God in written form as Jesus was God in human form. The problem is that preachers malign God’s Word by taking them out of context and giving them the meaning that is in line with their church’s doctrines. The Bible must not be interpreted (2 Pet. 1:20). The Bible interprets itself if we will study it in order “to show ourselves approved by God” (2 Tim. 2:15), then believing and obeying it. L.J.