It absolutely continues to befuzzle me (yes, that is a word) when I meet someone who claims to believe the Bible to be the Word of God and then states or does something that contradicts something that the Bible clearly says.

Just the other day in a conference I was present for Malachi 2 was the reading. I thought, “this is great, I love Malachi!” Then we read those challenging words from 2:8 to the priests, “But you have turned aside from the way. You have caused many to stumble by your instruction. You have corrupted the covenant of Levi, says the LORD of hosts.” These are challenging verses for pastors, who are not priests but do serve in a similar teaching role. All the conference leaders (and participants) were impressed by the reading, giving it a hearty “Amen” and delivering the façade that God’s Word was to be revered and obeyed. Then I could not believe my eyes as to what happened next, the speaker of the conference denied two critical areas of God’s Word, the one pertaining to a core doctrine and the other pertaining to a serious moral issue. The Bible said one thing, the conference and its speaker promoted something entirely different.

What is going on here? Well, probably too many things to summarize in one post, however, what we do find in this situation is people, professing Christians, falling for the oldest lie in the book. Where is that? Check out Genesis 3:1, which says, “Did God actually say…?”

Satan seeks to strike at the foundation by getting us to trust our own wisdom and cast doubt on God’s.

Jesus himself rebuked this way of thinking. When Jesus viewed Scripture He treated it like the very word of God.

In John Jesus often chastises the religious leaders for professing to know and follow the Law but not actually doing what it says. We find an instance of this in John 10:34-36. The Jews above all people should have recognized Jesus was the fulfilment of the prophets but they were too busy viewing the Law from their own perspective. Jesus rebuts them by saying, “Is it not written in your Law,” the Law you claim to adhere to. Should you, above all people, not recognize who I am! It was His Law too but he stresses “your” to imply that they profess to be people of the Word when the opposite is the case. Jesus rebukes them by saying, “Scripture cannot be set aside” (NIV). It still speaks the truth even if we ignore or deny it, speaking instead conviction and judgement.

Psalm 19:7 also tells us that “the law of the LORD is perfect,” that is complete, lacking in nothing or sufficient.

When He speaks we have only to trust and obey, to be hearers and then doers, and not hearers who do or believe what we like after hearing it. This only speaks to our folly and the hardness of our hearts.

If they Bible says something believe it. If it says to do or not do something then follow suit.

Let’s not be hypocrites. Let’s either say we believe the Bible and mean it or disagree, none of this “I believe the Bible” only to in reality lay it aside.

The Lord’s Sweetest Blessings,

Pastor Chris