A number of people have told me that
they were saved from reading the Bible, but this is an impossibility because the very scriptures that they claim have saved them inform us that this is not how people are saved.
Myself, I began reading the King James Bible
when I was twelve years old and was turned off from reading it. However, when I
was given a Living Bible, I found it easier to read and actually read from
Genesis through to Job, before realizing the Bible was not doing it for me and I really needed to know Lord Jesus Christ.
The testimony of my grandparents is what made me realize my
need to know Lord Jesus Christ. In fact, my grandmother was the one who gave me
the Living Bible to read.
Some have told me that the reason I was not saved by
reading the Living Bible is because it is not really a Bible but a paraphrase.
If I read a real Bible like the King James Version, then I would have gotten
saved. But as I have already stated, I tried reading the KJV and it
turned me away from wanting to read the Bible.
After I encountered the Lord Jesus Christ in person and received
the joy of salvation, what surprised me was to read one day the following words
in the Revised Standard Version:
You search the scriptures, because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness to me; yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life. (John 5:39-40)
What is amazing, though, is the number of people who reject
what this actually says. They read the verses, claim the Bible is the Living
Word of God, Infallible, Inerrant and reject what it actually states.
More to the point, people have shoved the King James
Version in my face and told me that John chapter five, verses thirty-nine to
forty actually says that unless we search the scriptures we cannot have eternal
life. These people have claimed to be Pentecostals, Evangelicals, Calvinists, and Seventh
Day Adventists. Yet, how deceived they are. This is what the King James Version
states Jesus said:
Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me.
And ye will not come to me, that ye might have life. (John 5:39-40)
One Calvinist claimed that there is no invitation to come
to Jesus in that text only an instruction to understand the doctrines of total
depravity, unconditional election , limited atonement, irresistible grace and
the perseverance of the saints.
How deceived can people be? But then if the god of this
world is really the god these people are following, even though they claim they
believe in Jesus, what are we to expect but a denial of the Lord Jesus Christ
and the very truth that bears witness to Him.
There is no difference in people saying that the Bible is
the Living Word of God and able to save of itself than:
- Mormons saying they are Christians but everything depends on you believing the Book of Mormon comes from God and Joseph Smith is his Prophet;
- or the Muslims saying that the Koran is superior to the Bible and Muhammad is his Prophet;
- or the Jehovah Witnesses denying the divinity of Lord Jesus Christ and rejecting that in Him dwells the fullness of the Godhead;
- or the Roman Catholics worshiping Mary and making her out to be the Mother of God.
The Bible bears witness to Lord Jesus Christ and is essential reading for those who desire to be saved. It informs us how to be saved through faith in Lord Jesus Christ. The Bible also contains God's purpose for humanity and tells of what is going to happen in the future. However, only the Son of God, Lord Jesus Christ can save us from the power of the Evil One.
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