Why is it so hard for some people to believe the Bible? The Bible is the Word of God delivered to mankind through men set apart by God to deliver His message. The Spirit of God spoke through these writers, using their own personalities, to deliver the divine message to mankind. Yet, so many people from all walks of life simply cannot believe its words are from God, but instead consider it to be composed of the opinions of the writers, fables and fairy tales. Few today consider the Bible, in its entirety to be the absolute inerrant (incapable of being wrong) Word from Almighty God (in the original languages). God informs mankind through the apostle Paul:

“All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work.” (2 Timothy 3:16) [“Inspired” means literally “God-breathed.” Every word comes from God.]

“Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may know the things freely given to us by God, which things we also speak, not in words taught by human wisdom, but in those taught by the Spirit, combining spiritual thoughts with spiritual words. But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised. But he who is spiritual appraises all things, yet he himself is appraised by no one. For WHO HAS KNOWN THE MIND OF THE LORD, THAT HE WILL INSTRUCT HIM? But we have the mind of Christ.” (1 Corinthians 2:12-16)

How does the true Christian “have the mind of Christ?” The true Christian has “the mind of Christ” by the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit within us. He/she also “has the mind of Christ” in the Bible we hold in our hands. To the unbeliever it is just a book, but to the believer it is a book that contains the words of God.

God said through a man named Moses, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” (Genesis 1:1)  Do you believe it?

God said through the apostle John, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being. In Him was life, and the life was the Light of men. The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.” (John 1:1-5)  [“Comprehend” means “overcome.”] Jesus, the 2^nd person of the Godhead, not only created the world, He is the light of the world. Do you believe it?

I ask again, why is it so hard for some people to believe the Bible? Jesus gives us the answer through the apostle John.

“You are of your father the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him. Whenever he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies.” (John 8:44)

Any person who does not believe in Jesus Christ as their own personal Savior and Lord is under the thumb of Satan (the Devil). Their father is the Devil. The Devil (Satan) “is a liar and the father of lies.” “There is no truth in him.” Those under his thumb cannot believe the Truth, because they listen to their father instead of the Word of God. Their only escape from Satan is to accept the provision God made to save them, and that again is the Son of God who died and rose again.

God says through the apostle Paul, “May it never be! Rather, let God be found true, though every man be found a liar, as it is written, “THAT YOU MAY BE JUSTIFIED IN YOUR WORDS, AND PREVAIL WHEN YOU ARE JUDGED.”” (Romans 3:4)

God says through the apostle John, “Who is the liar but the one who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is the antichrist, the one who denies the Father and the Son.” (1 John 2:22)

“The one who believes in the Son of God has the testimony in himself; the one who does not believe God has made Him a liar, because he has not believed in the testimony that God has given concerning His Son.” (1 John 5:10)

So obviously, if we do “not believe God,” who speaks to us through His Word (the Bible) we are calling Him a liar.

“Jesus said to him, ““I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.”” (John 14:6)

Are any of these verses believable to you, or do you just brush them off as “not important?”

ALL Scripture is from God and ALL Scripture is relevant. Not a word in the Bible is written from the viewpoint of men unless their viewpoint agrees with God’s Word. They wrote what God, through His Spirit, had them write. Don’t think so?

God says to us through the apostle Peter, “So we have the prophetic word made more sure, to which you do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star arises in your hearts. But know this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture is a matter of one’s own interpretation, for no prophecy was ever made by an act of human will, but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God.” (2 Peter 1:19-21 emphasis mine)

Prophecy is (from Blue Letter Bible):

A discourse emanating from inspiration and declaring the purposes of God, whether by reproving and admonishing the wicked, or comforting the afflicted, or revealing things hidden; esp. by foretelling future events.

Used in the NT of the utterance of OT prophets of the prediction of events relating to Christ’s kingdom and its speedy triumph, together with the consolations and admonitions pertaining to it, the spirit of prophecy, the divine mind, to which the prophetic faculty is due of the endowment and speech of the Christian teachers called prophets.

The gifts and utterances of these prophets, esp. of the predictions of the works of which, set apart to teach the gospel, will accomplish for the kingdom of Christ.

1 Corinthians 2:12-16 (shown above) tells us that the natural man (the unbeliever) cannot understand the Bible because they do not have the Holy Spirit living within them. No wonder they think it is just a hodgepodge of historical, fanciful writings.

The last puzzling question in my mind related to this subject matter is, “What excuse does the person have who claims to be a Christian, but yet denies the Bible as the authoritative, inerrant Word of God? Why are you blind to the Truth? I humbly suggest, for your own spiritual welfare, maybe you need to consider the following Scripture.

“Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith; examine yourselves! Or do you not recognize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you—unless indeed you fail the test?” (2 Corinthians 13:5)

Is the Bible true or not? Maybe some of it is true and the remainder is not true? If that is the case (and it is not), who decides what is true and what is not true? Either the Bible is true in its entirety, or none of it is true.

I have said this in two previous articles, but I’ll repeat it once more. As an 18 year old Christian, I made a decision against the liberal viewpoint which stated that some of the Bible was true and some was not. I chose to believe it all to not only be true, but to be the very Words of Almighty God and totally inerrant in the original languages. I chose to believe this precious book we call the Bible is absolutely true from Genesis 1:1 through Revelation 22:21. The longer the Lord allows me to live upon this earth, the more certain I am that I made the correct decision.

The world (Satan and his pals) is going to come at you with all kinds of liberal nonsense, trying to tear down the authenticity of the Bible. You can allow it to deter you from the Truth and take your soul to hell or you can believe the Bible and act upon it and be victorious, spending eternity with your Savior and Lord Jesus Christ.

I will add that the world can be very convincing. It is very convincing because Satan is the father of lies, and he has had a lot of time to be the best at it. Don’t even try to answer all the liberal drivel. Leave them in God’s hands, and just believe HIM.

Think about this. If you suddenly got an interest in learning how to fish, would you go to the person who has fished all of his life and knows all about it, or would you go to someone who doesn’t even know which end of the fishing pole to hold? Now that may not be the best example, but I prefer to believe God (the Creator) over anything that comes from the mouth of man (the created).

Satan convinced Eve (and Adam) to not take God seriously. We all know how that panned out. If Satan can succeed in convincing us that the Bible doesn’t need to be taken seriously (as he did Eve), where does that leave mankind? It can only result in confusion, chaos, rebellion, apostasy, and judgment.

“The Word of God is alive and powerful …” (Hebrews 4:12). Don’t let Satan steal the joy in Jesus Christ you could have by taking His Word lightly. The entire Bible is the very Word of God.

If you don’t know Jesus as your Savior and Lord, His book, the Bible, will tell you what He has done for you. Read it and put your faith in Him. Trust Him.

Maybe you are a Christian, but weak in faith. Read the Bible. Believe it. Trust your Savior and Lord, not the trash talk that comes from a world bound for judgment.

Make your decision today to believe the Bible in its entirety, even if all the world says differently. Only God will always give us the Truth, and His Truth is found in His Word, the Bible.

Grant Phillips

Email: Phillip5769@twc.com

Pre-Rapture Commentary: http://grant-phillips.blogspot.com

Rapture Ready: https://www.raptureready.com/featured/phillips/phillips.html

ATTENTION! My email address has changed to Phillip5769@twc.com

Millions of Christians today worship God, but fail to obey Him. Which does God prefer?

I encourage you to read 1 Samuel 15 first before continuing. By doing so, it will provide a better overall picture.

1 Samuel

Verse 3

“Now go, attack the Amalekites and totally destroy all that belongs to them. Do not spare them; put to death men and women, children and infants, cattle and sheep, camels and donkeys.”

The time had come for the Amalekites to be judged. Therefore, God had given direct orders to Saul through Samuel to destroy ALL of the Amalekites, including men, women, children, infants, cattle and sheep.

A good soldier knows that you don’t question orders, you just obey them.

Children will question the orders of their parents (Why? Why? Why?), but most of the time, they don’t need to know.

It doesn’t matter why the order is given. What does matter is that we have been given our orders and we are to obey the order exactly as given. God wants our obedience.

Verses 12-15

“Early in the morning Samuel got up and went to meet Saul, but he was told, “Saul has gone to Carmel. There he has set up a monument in his own honor and has turned and gone on down to Gilgal.” When Samuel reached him, Saul said, “The LORD bless you! I have carried out the LORD’s instructions.” But Samuel said, “What then is this bleating of sheep in my ears? What is this lowing of cattle that I hear?” Saul answered, “The soldiers brought them from the Amalekites; they spared the best of the sheep and cattle to sacrifice to the LORD your God, but we totally destroyed the rest.”

Obviously, Saul did not do as he was told. He definitely disobeyed orders. Not only that, he “set up a monument for his own honor.”

What did God say to do? Look again at verse three (3). God said to destroy ALL of the Amalekites, including their four-legged property.

Saul had a better idea though. He would bring back the best from the Amalekites for a “chilling, singing, shouting, warm-all-over, fuzzy feeling worship service. Praise the Lord!”

That being the case, God must have told Saul, “Why Saul, that’s a much better idea than mine, and it’s more humane too. I like your idea. Please worship Me and have a good old heart-felt, singing and shouting, fellowship. Turn up the music!”

We will see that is not what God said.

Verse 19

“Why did you not obey the LORD? Why did you pounce on the plunder and do evil in the eyes of the LORD?”

Oops. What just happened? Samuel just told Saul he disobeyed the Lord, pounced on the plunder and did evil in the Lord’s eyes. All was going so well. What happened?

Saul was probably thinking, “I don’t get it. I stayed up all night thinking of a way I could provide great sacrifices to You in our worship service. Surely, you’re not upset over the monument to me. I AM the king you know.”

Verses 20-21

“But I did obey the LORD,” Saul said. “I went on the mission the LORD assigned me. I completely destroyed the Amalekites and brought back Agag their king. The soldiers took sheep and cattle from the plunder, the best of what was devoted to God, in order to sacrifice them to the LORD your God at Gilgal.”

Isn’t that what I just said that Saul was probably thinking? Guess what? God isn’t buying it.

How can he possibly say that he obeyed God?! He even brings back Agag, the Amalekite king. This Saul is an ego-centered, obstinate narcissist, just like many today.

Verses 22-23

“But Samuel replied: “Does the LORD delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obeying the LORD? To obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed is better than the fat of rams. For rebellion is like the sin of divination, and arrogance like the evil of idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the LORD, he has rejected you as king.”

“To obey is better than sacrifice.” “To heed is better than the fat of rams.” God wants no part of our worship if it excludes our obedience and heeding His Word.

How serious is God about obeying Him? Saul just lost his kingly crown because he refused to obey God. (So much for your monument Saul.) Also, recall that Moses was denied entrance to the Promised Land because he disobeyed God.

Verses 24-25

“Then Saul said to Samuel, “I have sinned. I violated the LORD’s command and your instructions. I was afraid of the men and so I gave in to them. Now I beg you, forgive my sin and come back with me, so that I may worship the LORD.”

At this point Saul reminds me of Aaron, “They made me do it.” Yeah right! Now he is lying through his teeth.

Saul says he sinned and violated the Lord’s command. Notice that he added “your instructions.” Sounds to me like he is trying to blame this whole incident on Samuel.

Get this. He still wants to go back and worship! He just doesn’t get it, that to obey God is better than sacrifice!

Verse 30

“Saul replied, “I have sinned. But please honor me before the elders of my people and before Israel; come back with me, so that I may worship the LORD your God.”

All the way down here in verse thirty (30), he is still whining to Samuel that he wants to worship. He STILL doesn’t get it.

Did you notice that Saul was previously saying, “so that I may worship the Lord?” Notice in this verse that Saul changes that to, “so that I may worship the Lord your God.” Did you get that? Now he is saying “YOUR God (emphasis mine).” Obviously, Saul has always worshiped Saul and not God. No wonder he “set up a monument for his own honor.”

Whether his god was Saul or God the fact remains he did not obey God.

Isn’t that like a lot of us today, if not most of us? How many go to church on Sunday thinking they’re appeasing God, and don’t give Him another thought until next Sunday? He doesn’t want appeasement. He wants us to heed Him every day and obey Him every day. If we can’t do that, then forget worship. Why? Because it means nothing without obedience.

That’s right. What good is any worship we may present to God, if we do not obey Him? Regardless of where, when or how we worship, it means absolutely nothing if we do not obey the one we direct our worship to; i.e. God. Please recall what God said through Samuel in verse 22.

“But Samuel replied: “Does the LORD delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obeying the LORD? To obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed is better than the fat of rams.”

Grant Phillips

Email: Phillip5769@twc.com

Pre-Rapture Commentary: http://grant-phillips.blogspot.com

Rapture Ready: https://www.raptureready.com/featured/phillips/phillips.html

ATTENTION! My email address has changed to Phillip5769@twc.com.