No Matter How You Slice It
Dearly beloved of God, no matter how you slice it, doctrine is a difference maker.
Doctrine can make the difference between being saved or facing judgment, between being free from bondage or being enslaved, between being delivered or being oppressed, between having good health or being sick, between being prosperous or living in poverty.
Doctrine makes the difference between whether people can know the One True God and what He is like, or they are led away from Him by misrepresentations and lies.
II Timothy 3:16
All Scripture is given by inspiration of God [theopneustos: God-breathed], and it is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness.
Doctrine reveals the standard for what God would have us to believe. The source of right, correct doctrine does not come from men, it comes from God. God determined the information that we are to believe. He gave His Word to holy men of God, and they spoke and wrote at His direction.
Religious traditions do not always agree with the Word and Will of God; in fact, most of them lead people away from the One True God, and contradict what He says.
Matthew 15: 1-3
1 Then came to Jesus scribes and Pharisees, which were of Jerusalem, saying
2 “Why do thy disciples transgress the tradition of the elders? For they wash not their hands when they eat bread.”
3 But He answered and said unto them, “Why do ye also transgress the commandment of God by your tradition?”
In Mark 7, Jesus said, "... in vain do they worship Me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men."
He told the Pharisees and scribes, “Full well you reject the commandment of God, that ye may keep your own tradition.”
They made the Word of God of none effect through their tradition [Read Mark 7:5-15].
In Luke 11:52, Jesus said, "Woe unto you, lawyers! for ye have taken away the key of knowledge: ye entered not in yourselves, and them that were entering in ye hindered."
They removed the entrance to and the acquisition of the knowledge of God from the people by their devilish teachings. It is the same today.
We ought to be vitally concerned about what God says instead of being concerned with the traditions and doctrines of religion that do not come from Him.
I Thessalonians 2:13
For this cause also thank we God without ceasing, because when ye received the word of God which ye heard of us, ye received it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which effectually worketh also in you that believe.
God is the Prime Mover, not us. He originated the information revealed in His Word. He expects us to believe what He says. As we take Him at His Word, He will then bring His Word to pass by His supernatural power: He is both able and willing to perform His Word.
Believing God at His Word puts us in a very advantageous position. The Word of God reveals the Will of God, and He is the Guarantor of His Word. He is both able and willing to perform His Word by His almighty power.
How do we get right doctrine today in the midst of all the different religious opinions espoused today about what we are to believe? God instructs us to study to show ourselves approved unto God by rightly dividing the Word of Truth.
If we are to have the word of truth, every Scripture concerning the identical subject must agree without any contradiction. If there are fifty verses concerning the identical subject then all fifty must agree if we are to have the truth. Truth cannot contradict itself.
The Word of God is God speaking, the same as when He first revealed His Word to holy men of God, and they recorded it at His direction. It is as true today as it was the day it was first given.
II Peter 1:2-4
Grace and peace be multiplied unto you [How?] through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord,
According as His divine power hath given us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, [How?] through the knowledge of Him That hath called us by His glory and virtue;
Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises; that by these [By what?] ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.
Dearly beloved of God, no matter how you slice it, doctrine is a difference maker.
Doctrine can make the difference between being saved or facing judgment, between being free from bondage or being enslaved, between being delivered or being oppressed, between having good health or being sick, between being prosperous or living in poverty.
Doctrine makes the difference between whether people can know the One True God and what He is like, or they are led away from Him by misrepresentations and lies.
The Word of God concerns all things that pertain to life and godliness. He would have all men to be saved and come unto the knowledge of the truth. If you desire the One True God to speak to you then open His Word and believe what He says.
The Word of God came from the mouth of God. He does speak to us. It is not a question of Him speaking to us; it is a question of believing what He says. Believing comes from hearing, from hearing the Word of God. The truth will make you free, dearly beloved of God.