Don't Tell Anyone!

There are hundreds and probably thousands of Bible verses that you can attend church for dozens of years and never hear read one time. On the opposite end of the spectrum there are a few dozen verses you hear quoted hundreds of times a year. Now, I’m not entirely against quoting important verses fairly often, but I am entirely against the common practice of avoiding scripture that does not support your position. It’s downright frustrating to deal with people that will not even consider the verses they don’t like. Sticking your head in the sand on hundreds and hundreds of verses that don’t support your doctrinal position is pure cowardice. When we run into these verses, we need to believe them also. If this hurts your doctrinal position, then CHANGE YOUR DOCTRINE. Yes, change your doctrine. If your doctrine does not match every verse in scripture, then change what you believe. This is what God expects. I fully understand Christians WILL NOT do this. I fully understand Christians read hundreds of verses that seam to say something different than their preacher and they believe their preacher. What a shame. I say forget your preacher and trust the Bible. Here is the dilemma. Christians do not trust their ability to understand the Bible enough to take a different course than their preacher. They think Seminary made their preacher an expert. What a shame. Seminary, in most cases, made your preacher unable to understand the Bible correctly. Bible college created a person wedded to a specific denominational position and not a person willing to change their doctrine as they learn scripture. I don say this flippantly. I say this as someone that has talked to people with schooling and seen firsthand many times the pride this education can create in some. Let’s look at an example:

Matt 16:20 Then charged he his disciples that they should tell no man that he was Jesus the Christ.

How many sermons have you heard preached on this verse? How many Sunday school lessons have you heard a teacher tackle this verse? How many people claiming to follow the great commission understand that it tells them to teach “ALL THINGS” Jesus taught? At a point in Jesus’ ministry Jesus tells his disciples to STOP telling anyone he is the Christ. Can you explain this? Shouldn’t you be able to? Every verse matters. Every word matters. But every verse should fit into your view and understanding of the Bible as a whole. If there are hundreds of verses that don’t fit into your understanding of scripture, then change your doctrine till it matches scripture, not some man-made statement of faith. Prophecy shows that information was going to be hidden from Israel. Jesus himself said he was hiding information form Israel. Yet you sit in churches where the gospels are taught every Sunday? Only a right divider can believe every verse in the gospels exactly as they are written. Churches today pick and choose their way around the verses they don’t want to teach. Matt 16:20 is part of Jesus’ instructions to teach ALL THINGS he taught. Does Paul teach that you get to choose who gets the gospel and who does not? Paul teaches a gospel that includes ALL and excludes no one. Jesus gives this gospel to Paul after Israel has sealed their fate and AFTER the stoning of Stephen. How about this; start reading in Matt 1:1 and start highlighting every verse you don’t understand and feel like it does not fit into your doctrinal position, then ask your pastor about every one of them. If his answers are labored and hard to understand, then move on to asking every other Christian you know using the same approach. Then ask someone that rightly divides the Bible. Right division clears up the problems. You are expected to know much doctrinal information BEFORE getting to heaven. God is not going to just download the Bible into your head when you get to heaven.  You will be given a responsibility equal to your proper Bible knowledge. Thrones, Dominions, Principalities, and Powers are different positions in heavenly places. How will your current Bible knowledge of Paul’s curriculum position you for a position in heavenly places? You should know this. There is nothing more important for a Christian to know than this. This life is a miniscule part of the big picture. This life is a blink in the unending space of eternity. Are you prepared?