Shall We Listen to Jesus or Man?

Is it not written of Jesus telling us he would send the Holy Spirit to guide us in all things? Is it also not written of Jesus claiming some put their trust in the scripture than the one revealed in scripture? In my heritage, I grew up being taught the Bible is the authority over our lives and if we wished to have the promise of eternal life given to us at judgment, all we needed was to be found in the Bible. Failure to follow the Bible accurately enough would result in the eternal torture of hell. Read, study, and memorize so that we would miss nothing and not be trapped into the deceit of Satan.

Actually, I now believe Satan has used and continues to use our Bible to place our trust, even today in scripture rather than the one revealed in scripture. I still hear religious leaders encouraging us to spend time daily with the Word of God (meaning the Bible) and while the Bible is a great place to begin, I would suggest the actual Word of God is much more than the Bible and actually the very embodiment of Jesus! Did John not say, “In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God?” Where is our trust or should we say, “Satan get behind me?”

I would encourage my readers not to read much “into” my statements as I claim now to place much more of an equal importance of the Bible and the writings of writers like my current favorite, All Maxey, who offers weekly reflections to thousands of readers. I don’t mind saying I believe he and others (I’ve told him as much) are inspired writers for God in every sense of the word as we use it when referring to the writers in the Bible like Paul and the apostles. As I’ve written before, I’m surprised my fellowship ever accepted the Bible as we have it today because it was compiled hundreds of years following the time when my fellowship claimed direct interaction by God ceased.

I’ve often been accused of having to be right and my present answer is yes, but different than you might think. I believe our elevation of the Bible to “supreme” authority comes from our human desire/nature to have control over our own salvation in a legal “right” sense. We can’t accept two people being right before God if they believe differently on any number of subjects. Human nature, the one controlled by Satan would have us believe salvation is only available to those accurately knowing, understanding, and following the Bible and it is always “my” understanding because the tow of us can’t possibly be right.

Looking outside of the text to the one revealed in the text, I now believe our “rightness” before God demands the identical application of forgiveness from Jesus rather than the identical identity of the one being forgiven. Yes, I believe the only way to the Father is through Jesus. What I refuse to believe (at least right now) is that I or any other man or woman has the power to do any more in the process than point others to the one revealed. They don’t need the accuracy of our message, but rather the accuracy of Jesus forgiveness through the cross and the decision of God to forgive with the blood of His son.

In conclusion and to focus back on the title of these thoughts, I believe the Bible is the work of inspired men to have written down the things revealed to them by the Holy Spirit. I believe other men and women throughout history have taken the time to reveal things via the Holy Spirit and if not for the “official” compiling of the Bible, we would look at all of them with the same weight of belief. We would allow the Holy Spirit to work through us and verify whether what we read is of God or the evil one. I am fully convinced the majority of us have kicked the presence of the Holy Spirit living right inside of us to a “back burner” with no real purpose in our lives and yet we can only find true enjoyment in our Christian lives by allowing the Holy Spirit complete control of our lives and putting the Bible secondary in our lives with the rest of religious writings.

Jesus used the phrase, “it is written,” and I now wonder if there was a greater reasoning for this than we give credit. We have been taught to ask, “Where exactly did you get that from?” We want to know the exact book, chapter and verse for your enlightenment or it is not valid. I happen to know it is written that King Ramses could not have died from Tuberculosis because it was not discovered until 1832. To make my point, what is written does not have to be accurate and the discernment me have through the spirit will easily make the wiles of Satan as ridiculous as this statement. The Holy Spirit is not going to let us be led away to the loss of salvation!

Why do we have the Bible and other religious writings? Answer: To reveal what the Holy Spirit is speaking to the inspired writer and hopefully open the eyes and hearts of someone needing Jesus revealed? Why do we have the Holy Spirit? Answer: We have the Holy Spirit to teach us all things and confirm the righteousness of God and our place in His eternal plan.

One short after word is that yes, I understand how my fellowship accepted the Bible compiled after so many years as the final word from God and the last interaction of God with man. It is all wrapped up in one scripture I was taught as a little boy. 1 Corinthians 13:10 “When that which is perfect is come, that which is in part…” Yes, I was taught the Bible was perfect with no errors. Of course, when we place our trust in something so perfect, there can’t possibly be anyone who will see even one statement different from the rest of “us who are now perfect in God’s eyes!” We must be identical to trust the Bible for our salvation.  Better yet, let’s all place our trust in the ONE REVEALED!