Prayer Blog 3/5: Exposing Lies About Scripture
Recent discussions among presidential candidates reveal a lot about one of Satan’s big lies today. “If Jesus didn’t say it, we don’t have to abide by it.” First of all, most candidates don’t have much knowledge about what Jesus said and taught. Secondly, they only cherry-pick the parts they like. But this idea is playing on a profound ignorance of the Bible and the inspiration of Scripture. We would expect the world to be ignorant, but it’s a shame if Christians are.
Jesus said his words would never pass away. We will look at that in a moment. But his first recorded words in Matthew (after meeting John the Baptist) were to Satan in a time of temptation. Quoting from the Old Testament he said, “Man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.” So Jesus put God’s word first, specifically everything in the Law of Moses. He was an observant Jew. He believed in God’s plan for sex and marriage from the very beginning as recorded in Genesis through Deuteronomy. Secondly, Jesus said he did not come to abolish the Law or the Prophets, but to fulfill them. He said that not the smallest letter will disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished. He went on to affirm the commandments.
On the other hand, Satan is always trying to cause us to doubt or distort God’s word. When asked about divorce in Matthew 19, Jesus referred back to Genesis; “that at the very beginning the Creator made them male and female and said ‘for this cause a man shall leave his father and mother and be united with his wife, and the two will become one flesh.’” No, he didn’t go into every detail of sexuality or the “variations” that we see today, but he did appeal to God’s word, which he said would never pass away.
But God’s word did not stop with Jesus. We have a New Testament, not only the Law or just Jesus and the Gospels. We believe (as the church has believed for nineteen hundred years) that 27 books proceeded from the mouth of God through his authorized apostles and into the New Testament. They are inspired by the same Holy Spirit as Moses and Christ. The church clearly affirmed God’s centuries-old morality for men and women. It has not changed. Sexual deviations are still wrong.
The writer of Hebrews affirmed marriage and that the marriage bed is holy. Paul listed various immoral behaviors as outside the kingdom. But he also clearly said that some had lived those lifestyles before their salvation but were now cleansed and forgiven (I Cor. 6:9).
In the closing book of the New Testament, John affirmed that the unrepentant sexually immoral people are outside the kingdom (Rev. 21:8). Do you want to get your definition of “immoral” from the media and political correctness, or the entirety of God’s word? So the next time you hear, “Jesus never mentioned ____________”, don’t be fooled. Jesus never contradicted the Law or Scripture. No true revelation ever will. By the way, according to Rev. 1:18, it was Jesus who told John what to write.
No serious student of the Bible questioned these teachings until just a few years ago. Now, many are trying to change and distort the 3500 year old teachings of Scripture by word games and tricks.
Lord, help us to be committed to all of your Word, not just what is convenient to us. Let us be like Jesus and resist the temptation of the devil by answering with “every word that is proceeding from the mouth of God”.
Let the tricks of the enemy be exposed in these days, as Scripture is often misquoted and taken out of context. Let us understand more fully who Jesus was in order to understand what he said. Let us believe that God’s word is good for us, that it provides the guardrails for a blessed life.
Thank you that your word is filled with many promises. Thank you that Jesus said that we “will know the truth and the truth will set us free”. Lord, what we see today is your word being twisted to justify sin and bondage. We see politicians using it conveniently to sound credible. But we ask that you expose their true motives and lack of real Scriptural knowledge.
We see a media that uses only “experts” that say what they want to hear. We seldom hear true believing Christian leaders given the opportunity to explain what the Bible teaches and why. But we pray for increasing opportunities for Scriptural truth to penetrate the hearts and minds of people.
In Jesus’ Name, Amen.