As the Christianity vs Churchianity Series comes to an end, my hope is that you have benefited from the articles and audio messages on the various subjects that have been presented. At best, the goal of the series was to get all of us who are Christians to think long and hard about the things we do and the traditions that we carry out as believers in Jesus Christ.

For God is not a God of confusion but of peace.
(1 Corinthians 14:33 - ESV)

There is a lot of confusion and unnecessary division among believers today because there are so many interpretations that people have as to what the Bible says. This is not of God but is of our flesh and Satan being successful in distracting us from the truth. As I have said in other articles and audio messages, we must stop trying to read our preferences, our biases and our desires into the Bible and let it teach us. For if we really have a respect for the written word of God in this way, there will be clarity, not confusion.

All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work.
(2 Timothy 3:16-17 - ESV)

How important is that Bible that many times we don’t take the time to read? It is vital to the Christian life. Second Timothy says that it trains us in righteousness, meaning if we don’t read it, how will we know to do the right thing by God? It also says that it brings competency to believers in Christ. How can a professing Christian be competent without adhering to the Bible? And furthermore, the Bible is how we teach one another in the faith, it’s how we sometimes correct one another and it is how we encourage one another in our walk with Christ.

Churchianity wants to have the Bible and something else. Or even more, it wants to diminish the Bible and focus more on mere traditions and principles that have nothing to do with the Bible. Let’s not get caught up in this. Let’s fight against this and hold to the true faith that we find in the pages of the Holy Bible and that the Holy Spirit confirms.

Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm. Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and, as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace. In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one; and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God,
(Ephesians 6:11-17 - ESV)

Did you know that the Bible is your spiritual weapon against the attacks of Satan and even your flesh? It is part of the whole armor of God discussed in Ephesians 6. Now, can you imagine a soldier of ancient time going out to battle with all of his armor accept his sword? How will he strike or how will he be able to defend in a sword battle? That person wouldn’t and eventually all of that armor would be meaningless because he would be defeated.

When Jesus was tempted by Satan in the wilderness, the Lord responded with Scripture in his battle against the devil (Matthew 4:1-11). And because He resisted Satan with Scripture and walked in Scripture, Satan had to eventually go away. When we know the Bible and we stand on the Bible (according to what the Bible actually says and not faulty interpretations), then we will resist our enemy successfully. So what is the opposite to this?

Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?” And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.’” But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”
(Genesis 3:1-5 - ESV)

This is a wonderful example of what we must avoid brothers and sisters. After reading the passages from Genesis 3, read Genesis 2:16. We’ll notice that there is a bit of a difference:

And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”
(Genesis 2:16 - ESV)

So what’s the point we need to see here? Well, Eve did not hold to the word of God and as a result, could not resist the serpent. Comparing Genesis 2:16 to Eve’s response to the serpent in Genesis 3, did God say that if Adam and Eve touched the tree in the midst of the garden that they would die? No. It was only if they ate of the tree.

When the devil comes to us and tries to sow doubt in our hearts and minds about God’s word, we must stand up like Jesus and be solid and grounded in the Scriptures. Otherwise, we will be like Eve, who could not resist the serpent because she didn’t even remember clearly what God had said. It is true that a little leaven destroys the whole lump and just that one error on Eve’s part led to the serpent being able to deceive her in an even greater way, which led to the fall of mankind. This is how serious it is in order to know the Bible and to carry out what it says.

For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.
(Hebrews 4:12 - ESV)

Satan wants us to think that we can grasp what is right and wrong simply out of our own human morality. And where has that gotten us? It has professing Christians believing that practicing homosexuals are not sinners in need of repentance, that adding rules to Christianity that do not exist in the Bible is okay, that being worldly instead of holy is the way to attract people to Christ because we don’t want to step in anybody’s toes with the true gospel.

But Hebrews 4:12 says that the Bible is vital in showing us how God really perceives us and if we never know how God really perceives us, then we will never see fit to repent and believe in Jesus Christ because we won’t understand just how terrible our condition is in relation to God’s standards. The Bible shows us who we really are and so if we aren’t reading the Bible or aren’t familiar with the Bible, then how will we know to repent and believe in Jesus?

The Bible contains all of our doctrine and is our full instruction manual on how to become a Christian and how to stay a Christian. The accounts we read of in the Old Testament not only serve as a historical account but also contain lessons and principles that we’d be wise to consider today. We are in a day in which we in America have an abundance of Bibles and yet, too many professing Christians have no idea what it says. We need to fix that and one of the ways to start is by preachers actually preaching from the Bible instead of giving ear-tickling sermons in order to draw people to their “church” business. Another way is for EVERY single Christian to have the same attitude the Bereans did in Acts 17:

The brothers immediately sent Paul and Silas away by night to Berea, and when they arrived they went into the Jewish synagogue. Now these Jews were more noble than those in Thessalonica; they received the word with all eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so. Many of them therefore believed, with not a few Greek women of high standing as well as men.
(Acts 17:10-12 - ESV)

The Bereans did not care about Paul’s reputation or how learned he was in the Scriptures, they needed to verify for themselves if what he said was true or not. We need to verify for ourselves the Scriptures in our own lives. Remember that we are in a spiritual battle and the one weapon we have is the word of God. Keep it sharp and take good care of it so that it will be useful when you need it.