"Concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered to him, we ask you, brothers and sisters, not to become easily unsettled or alarmed by the teaching allegedly from us-- whether by a prophecy (spirit) or by word of mouth or by letter...." (2 Thessalonians 2:1, 2a, NIV)
Unsettledness, confusion, error in Christendom has always come from, "....the teaching allegedly from (the Bible)---prophecy or by word of mouth or by letter." How many people's lives have been ruined by, "prophecy or by word of mouth or by letter," fundamentally because the aforementioned were not based in Jesus Christ and His Words, nor were they, "in the mouth of two or three witnesses." Too many today would rather live by their own, or some great leader's, or Christian Television's, "prophecy or by word of mouth or by letter." The result is never good.
Unsettledness, confusion, error in Christendom has always come from, "....the teaching allegedly from (the Bible)---prophecy or by word of mouth or by letter." How many people's lives have been ruined by, "prophecy or by word of mouth or by letter," fundamentally because the aforementioned were not based in Jesus Christ and His Words, nor were they, "in the mouth of two or three witnesses." Too many today would rather live by their own, or some great leader's, or Christian Television's, "prophecy or by word of mouth or by letter." The result is never good.
Whatever, "prophecy or...word of mouth or...letter," we may hear or read must always be tested, "Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God...." We could put it this way, "Dear friends, do not believe every prophecy or...word of mouth...or letter, but test [them]." And this "testing" is not some gooey feeling one may have or some "I did (or did not) bear witness to that." The only way I know to, "test the spirits," is not by how I "feel" about something, but rather by the "God-Breathed" Words, the Bible.
Today you and I will face temptations of many kinds. The most powerful will always be in the form of, "Hath God said...?" Beware of what our ancestors succumbed to in the Garden, not only the doubt about His Words, but the tweaking of them. As you and I, "abide," in Jesus and His Words, no word which is only, "allegedly from me," i.e., Jesus, will deceive us.
Father, in Jesus' Name, I only trust You and Your Words, not me and mine. Word of God, rule in me. Amen.
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When Peter, an 18 year old Norwegian, "heard the call to evangelize China, on that day he not only emptied his wallet into the collection plate, but included a small note with the words, 'and my life.'"
"Looking unto Jesus"
Hebrews 12:2
"Looking unto Jesus"
Hebrews 12:2
