he Holy Spirit of God indwells the heart of every true believer. However, before becoming a believer, every person is born into this world an unbeliever in the one true and eternal God. World religions abound with false teachers and false gods. For this reason, Jesus said,
“Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it. “For the gate is small, and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it.” (Matthew 7:13, 14)
The true believer upon exercising saving faith in the Lord Jesus Christ has a new heart with which to act out the confession of their faith. “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.” (2 Corinthians 5:17)
Confessing faith in Jesus Christ involves an increase in the knowledge of Jesus, which depends upon the reading and study of God’s word. Furthermore, and this is the main point of this blog, the growing new believer faces belief in the Bible and the mischief of the devil who seeks to distort and confuse God’s teachings.
My dear readers, the way Satan and his kingdom seek to accomplish their dastardly deceptions is through the unauthorized exaltation of godly teachers who inadvertently misinterpret the correct teachings of God’s Word. Unauthorized exaltation on the part of fellow believers involves accepting the error of godly teachers because they value their education over the Bible.
In John’s Gospel, chapter 5, Jesus refuted religious men who did not believe in HIm. People who believe in Jesus can fall prey to the same error of which unbelievers are guilty, and unfortunately, for the same reason.
“How can you believe, when you receive glory from one another, and you do not seek the glory that is from the one and only God? “Do not think that I will accuse you before the Father; the one who accuses you is Moses, in whom you have set your hope. “For if you believed Moses, you would believe Me, for he wrote about Me. “But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe My words?” (John 5:44-47)
Jesus was clearly teaching that men seek to please men or glorify men; their learning becomes corrupted. The lost refuse to give God any glory. Saved people desire to glorify only God. However, because believers are not perfect, they can choose earthly teaching over the heavenly.
At the judgment seat of Christ, when God’s Word becomes perfectly clear, all errors will be made know. God’s people will know when they chose teachers in error over the Bible, which Jesus referred to when He said, “…if you believed Moses, you would believe Me. But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe My words.”
Do you blindly trust what others say? Do you believe religious men because they know more than you? Do you trust the scriptures more than you trust men no matter how educated they may be? My dear readers, in so doing, you prove your love for God.