Since become a born again Christian in the mid-1980s I have yet to see someone admit they have made a mistake in how they taught the Bible. I remember the PTL club. I remember Jimmy Swaggart. I have seen the false teachers of prosperity churches. I have read and heard those that say they know the Bible yet get it totally wrong. I must add that I have grown in how I see the Bible thanks to the blessing of God’s enlightenment He has blessed me with. Have I been wrong? To some degree I must say yes, for I am human. However I must point out that I have not been too way off the mark, especially when I delved deep into the Word of God by studying it in the Greek, Hebrew and Aramaic. So we can say I have been wrong, but I must add I have strived to correct anything I found to be out of the will of God. I must also interject here that when I did have doubts about where my standing was with the Bible I kept it to myself and did more study and research into the Bible. This was especially true for the Book of Revelation.
This makes me the exception to the rule, which is extremely sad. Many, especially those in the clergy, develop an attitude that they are perfect and beyond error. Just because they are “Christian,” does not make them God. So errors will occur. A prime example happened earlier this week and was included in yesterday’s blog post. For those that did not read it I will give a quick overview.
A clergyman stated that it was blasphemy for someone divorced to remarry. I pointed this out to the person and there has been silence ever since.
This shows the importance of when we are taught to verify it ourselves.
1 John 4:1 – Dear friends, do not believe everyone who claims to speak by the Spirit. You must test them to see if the spirit they have comes from God. For there are many false prophets in the world. 2 This is how we know if they have the Spirit of God: If a person claiming to be a prophet acknowledges that Jesus Christ came in a real body, that person has the Spirit of God. 3 But if someone claims to be a prophet and does not acknowledge the truth about Jesus, that person is not from God. Such a person has the spirit of the Antichrist, which you heard is coming into the world and indeed is already here. 4 But you belong to God, my dear children. You have already won a victory over those people, because the Spirit who lives in you is greater than the spirit who lives in the world. 5 Those people belong to this world, so they speak from the world’s viewpoint, and the world listens to them. 6 But we belong to God, and those who know God listen to us. If they do not belong to God, they do not listen to us. That is how we know if someone has the Spirit of truth or the spirit of deception.