The Holy Spirit INFORMATION IS NOT ENOUGH
I am the way, the truth, and the life. John 14:6.
Many Seventh-day Adventists feel quite secure from some of the counterfeits that are being publicized today. We know better than to believe that people come back to life again and claim to have been taken right to heaven when they died. We know better than to believe the stories told by beings on UFO's that they used to live on this earth hundreds of years ago. We know all about these kinds of things, and we think we will never be deceived.
But there is something more--and the something more has to do with the fact that God's Word has at least two purposes. It is true that God's Word is for teaching truth. Jesus said it: "Thy word is truth" (John 17:17). But the other purpose of Scripture is that we come to Him so that we might have life. The two purposes could be summed up by (1) the Bible for information, and (2) the Bible for communication. It's possible to be acutely aware of the teachings of the Bible and have texts memorized concerning information, and still be deceived because we haven't discovered personal communication with Jesus through the Bible. The primary purpose of the Bible is for fellowship and communion with the Lord Jesus Christ, and to experience a relationship with Him that is based upon information.
One of the greatest concepts of how we can be sure that we are not among those that are deceived was stated by Ellen G. White in the Review and Herald, December 24, 1889: "There is a work for this time to be done in fitting a people to stand in the day of trouble, and all must act their part in this work. They must be [1] clothed with the righteousness of Christ [notice the sequence of importance], and [2] be so fortified by the truth, that the delusions of Satan shall not be accepted by them as genuine manifestations of the power of God."
Every topic you begin with should end at the same point--do you know a relationship with Jesus for yourself today? Do you know how to spend quiet time with Him day by day with His Word and in prayer? There will come a time when people who know all the facts of the Bible will be deceived nonetheless, because they don't know Jesus. It's going to take more than information. To stand in these last days, we must have a vital relationship with the Lord Jesus that is solidly based on the truth of the Bible.
I am the way, the truth, and the life. John 14:6.
Many Seventh-day Adventists feel quite secure from some of the counterfeits that are being publicized today. We know better than to believe that people come back to life again and claim to have been taken right to heaven when they died. We know better than to believe the stories told by beings on UFO's that they used to live on this earth hundreds of years ago. We know all about these kinds of things, and we think we will never be deceived.
But there is something more--and the something more has to do with the fact that God's Word has at least two purposes. It is true that God's Word is for teaching truth. Jesus said it: "Thy word is truth" (John 17:17). But the other purpose of Scripture is that we come to Him so that we might have life. The two purposes could be summed up by (1) the Bible for information, and (2) the Bible for communication. It's possible to be acutely aware of the teachings of the Bible and have texts memorized concerning information, and still be deceived because we haven't discovered personal communication with Jesus through the Bible. The primary purpose of the Bible is for fellowship and communion with the Lord Jesus Christ, and to experience a relationship with Him that is based upon information.
One of the greatest concepts of how we can be sure that we are not among those that are deceived was stated by Ellen G. White in the Review and Herald, December 24, 1889: "There is a work for this time to be done in fitting a people to stand in the day of trouble, and all must act their part in this work. They must be [1] clothed with the righteousness of Christ [notice the sequence of importance], and [2] be so fortified by the truth, that the delusions of Satan shall not be accepted by them as genuine manifestations of the power of God."
Every topic you begin with should end at the same point--do you know a relationship with Jesus for yourself today? Do you know how to spend quiet time with Him day by day with His Word and in prayer? There will come a time when people who know all the facts of the Bible will be deceived nonetheless, because they don't know Jesus. It's going to take more than information. To stand in these last days, we must have a vital relationship with the Lord Jesus that is solidly based on the truth of the Bible.
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