3 Christian Wrongs done to The Bible.
Soul Snack 192/14 ... All that glitters is not gold, and all that is unseen is not dross.
Like moths to a flame, Christians seek the glare of Bible knowledge halls while the secret place continues ignored. Leonard Ravenhill# camped from sight in the spiritual closet.
Two decades after Ravenhill's death, his depth still stings:
- We have adopted the convenient theory that the Bible is a book to be explained, whereas first and foremost it is a book to be believed (and after that to be obeyed).Yes, many have a faith that saves, but many less hold a faith that lives. They spend more time learning about the Lord than living for the Lord.
- By the gale of the Spirit, the deceptive doctrines of divinity will be swept away "the house which they built upon the sand" of human interpretations of the Bible. Yes, devotion to doctrine has replaced the doctrine of devotion.
- Satan would have us increase even in Bible knowledge... as long as we keep from prayer, which is the exercised instruction we have received through the Word. What use is deeper knowledge if we have shallower hearts? Yes, we have created too many theologians in the head and insufficient disciples upon their knees. Countless Christians have been educated well beyond their ability to obey; they know a lot more than they do.
The evangelical church has placed the authority of theology over the authority of the Word. The place for theology is not the place it holds now – it is a servant and not a regent.
The Holy Book of the living God suffers more from its exponents today than its opponents. ~ Leonard Ravenhill
'Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know.’ (Jeremiah 33:3)
It was two unschooled and ordinary men (Peter and John) who stung the Sanhedrin with the Bible in Acts 4. High-voltage intellect is no divine prerequisite to mine the Bible for all it's worth.
It is the unknown cave-dweller living fervent in spirit who plumbs the Bible to a depth scholars may simply imagine.
Today's Soul Snippet:
"Those who bring the most important messages will look like they are the least important." ~ Michael Cartwright
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#Leonard Ravenhill, Why Revival Tarries (Michigan: Bethany House Publishers, 1959) 71, 81
ENJOY much more at MyParable and Making Sense of the Bible