Is Reading the Bible Sufficient?
This post is from the chapter “Misconceptions and Myths”, where I answer the most common objections people have about hearing God’s voice.
“God speaks to us through the Bible. We don’t need anything more.”
God does without question speak to us through the Bible. The scriptures have been given to us for correction, for doctrine, for instruction in righteousness, and for encouragement. The Bible is indispensable as a guide that points us to God. But a person who reads the Bible can fall into error if their study is not guided by the voice of God.
I once listened to a group of pastors who were part of a popular non-denominational assembly of churches. They were solid Bible teachers, but they had allowed what I would consider a few false doctrines into their theology, one of them was the idea that healing and miracles had ceased thousands of years ago. I once believed what they taught. Being good Bible teachers, they had their handful of Bible verses to back up their teaching. Although they meant no harm, they had nonetheless embraced some false teachings along the way and they were teaching them to their congregations.
The truth of the matter came to me one day, not as I studied the Bible, but in a dream where God Himself told me He wanted me to pray for my patients to be healed. I didn’t believe in healing at the time but flatly rejected it. I didn’t accept healing mostly because these Bible teachers had persuaded me not to. They believed healing was not happening today, and I believed what they taught. I had to change my thinking and begin reading the Bible with a new set of eyes. When I did, I saw the many accounts of healing and the clear instructions Jesus gave to His disciples to heal the sick. I realized that supernatural healing is one of the most irrefutable doctrines of the New Testament, despite the fact that many good Bible teachers refuse to see it as such. Here’s a case where personal revelation from God was needed to straighten out a lie I had learned from some of the best Bible teachers in the world.
There is no guarantee that a strict diet of scripture reading will lead us along the complete path of truth. If you read without having the Holy Spirit teach your spirit and interpret the scriptures for you, the exercise may very well lead you to a warped understanding of God. All the major pseudo-Christian cults teach from the Bible. Their error is in not having the Spirit of God interpret and apply what they read.
This is an excerpt from my book Hearing God’s Voice Made Simple.
Makes me wonder why Daddy God doesnt reveal the same to these pastors…..
Thank you for posting.
The doctrines of men have made the Word of God to no effect. No doubt the Lord has TRIED to talk to them, but every time He shows them a verse they “think” that they know what it means because of the tradition of man associated with that verse, and they are blinded to the truth.
We were given grace to receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit, that He might lead us into all truth. We need a good guide. I remember Jesus saying if you have a blind guide (a misguided teacher) you could all wind up in the ditch!
Reminds me of a situation many years ago while I was attending a very self proclaimed fundamental church, They said that anyone who speaks in tongues is of the devil.
My quandary came when my wife came home from a Women’s Aglow meeting and said she had been “Baptized in the Holy Spirit”.
I knew I was had and could not go back to that church.
Not knowing what to do, I went to a Bible book store and walked just a few steps past the door not even knowing what I was looking for.
As if someone was moving my eyeballs, my eyes fell on a book that was titled “So Your Wife Came Home Speaking in Tongues” and sub titled, “So did Mine”
I did not even go and pick the book up as I knew in my heart that it was ok and now I just needed to find a new church. I started attending a GREAT church right in the middle of Denver.
One day as I was already established there, I came across a scripture that jumped off the page at me. (know what I mean?) “Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling” Philippians 2:12 KJV Not your pastor, not your mama, not your best friend…….just YOU. The “Comforter” will teach you ALL things that you need to know.
It has given me great peace to have that in my heart as I cross check everything that is troubling and depend on His instruction.
I have just started following you but I do not own a Bible and now there are so many which one do I choose? Or is it one I am drawn to?
I like both the New King James and the New Living Translation.