I will start by saying that most churches today are under attack from some sort of “movement” other than following God’s word and most are unaware of it, either because there is still Godly leadership holding it at bay, or they are in various stages of the change which is a slow methodical process. Matt 16:6 states; “Be careful”, Jesus said to them. “Be on your guard against the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees”. W. A. Criswell in a book of collective works of his sermons, wrote a sermon entitled “What shall I do with Jesus”? In it he gives an experience about an individual in a church he pastored. He stated: ” In the little country church where I once pastored, there was a man who was a chain smoker. He developed a little sore on his lower lip from which a cigarette always dangled. The sore did not go away, so he went to the county seat and asked the physician about it.

The physician looked at it and said: “you have a cancer on your mouth that is very serious. Go to the city, to the hospital, to a specific surgeon. You must have the sore removed because it is dangerous”. The man returned home, and his neighbors learned of the cancer on his lip. One of his dear friends came to him and said; “It is expensive to go to the city, to that hospital, and to that surgeon. I have a little vial of medicine at home. I will bring it to you. You put the medicine on the sore, and it will heal the sore forever”! He took the medicine and placed it on the sore. The days and weeks passed, and the man went back to the physician. By that time the sore had worsened. The physician looked at him and said, “sir, are you not the man to whom I said, “you have a cancer, go to the hospital”? The man said “yes”. The physician said, “why did you not go”? The man replied, “doctor, a neighbor said that if I would use this little vial of medicine, it would heal the cancer and save me the time and expense”. The day came when that cancer ate away the entire lower part of his face and neck, and his tongue lay on his chest. This is exactly what Satan does to us when the Holy Spirit points to the Son of God. We are afflicted people. We are dying people. We are sinful people. Sin is not only a wrestling in this life, but it has to do with the judgment that is to come”.

We spend our time listening to the advice of others in the guise of “spiritual leaders” rather than coming to Christ Himself for the answers, on our knees and in His word. Like this example that Criswell makes, when we look to any source other than God, other than the Healer, we are led astray through sin, and by the wiles of Satan. God’s word is and always will be the consummate answer to all our problems if we will just take the time to read it on a regular basis, and hide the words in our hearts.

John 14:15-18 states “If you love me, you will obey what I command. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever- the Spirit of Truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you. I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.” If you read God’s word and hide it in your heart no one can sway you from the truth. The church was not meant to be a forum for the opinions of man through spiritual books, but a place for the equipping of the saints through the word of Christ and Christ alone!

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