prove all things!

(1 Thessalonians 5:21 says "Prove all things")

In 1 Kings 13, a prophet of God was sent to warn Jeroboam of things to come (a child would be born of his lineage that would burn the bones of men on the altar)

Jeroboam didn't like the sayings of this prophet, so he stretched out his hand to lay hold on him....and his hand "dried up" or disappeared. Jeroboam told the prophet to pray to God that his hand will be restored. His hand came back, and to thank the prophet, Jeroboam asked for him to come home with him for a reward. The man of God said he couldn't because God said not to. Skipping ahead a little, some men that witnessed this told their father (an old prophet from back home) and that prophet went to find the man of God. When he found him, he asked for him to come back and eat with him. The man refused an told him why. Then the old prophet said in verse 18 "I am a prophet also as thou art; and an angel spake unto me by the word of the Lord saying, 'Bring him back with thee into thine house, that he may eat bread and drink water'" ...this was a lie.

The old prophet had good intentions, I'm sure, of rewarding the prophet of Judah for what he had done.

The man of God believed the old prophet, went with him...and later was attacked and devoured by a lion because of his disobedience. (v.24)

So many problems in the religious world today are caused by good intentions. There are way more false teachers out there than ones that teach the truth.

Most false teachers don't even realize that they are! It's because they trusted that their parents, preachers, teachers, etc. were teaching them the truth...or trusted that beliefs they've grown up with can't possibly be wrong because it's what they've known their whole life. 

How do you know if someone is a false teacher? 

Read your bible. Test everything that they teach. If it contradicts the word of God, then it's wrong. Sure, most of them have a verse or two to back up what they're saying....but they use those verses out of context. When comparing those verses to the rest of the bible, one can see that the verses they use are not in the context that they try to put it in.

Your parents, preachers, bible teachers, etc. may not intentionally lie to you, (in fact, I'm confident most believe they are speaking the truth)...but there cannot be two or more contradicting "truths" and they both be true. The door cannot be opened and closed at the same time.

This brings me to another point, God would not give contradicting instructions to people. The bible is consistent. The bible even tells us that there is ONLY ONE TRUTH and ONLY ONE WAY. (John 14:6, Ephesians 4:5...one faith, one Lord, one baptism). This is just one reason that we know that prophets and apostles do not exist in our modern world.

God gave us ALL we needed to know in the bible ( 2 Peter 1:3, 2 Timothy 3:16-17). Once the bible was completed, God became silent. He now speaks to us only through His words in the bible. If you are not reading the bible, then God is in no way speaking to you.

We MUST read our bibles for OURSELVES to make sure we are on the path to Heaven. 

It hurts to find out that you've been taught wrong or that your friends and family believe false teaching....but are you going to sacrifice your soul to Hell for eternity just because you don't want to change? Look at what's at stake.

Weigh your options...trust that what my preacher/parents say is true and not study the bible for myself and LOSE MY SOUL FOREVER....or forsake the false teachings of my church, family, friends, etc. in order to spend eternity in Heaven with God....

There is a church that is consistent with God's word...and that's the church that Christ established himself in Acts 2. It is commonly known as the Lord's church, the church that belongs to Christ, Christ's church...or the name you've probably heard ...the "church of Christ" (Romans 16:16)

2 Timothy 2:15 "study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth."...from this verse we can see that not studying and knowing scripture should make us ASHAMED.

Hope my rambling makes sense and most importantly, is consistent with God's word.

Please study the bible.

I love you all!