Imagine for a minute you or me teaching a group of kids the game of basketball. Imagine also that in the middle of our practice the great Michael Jordan shows up to volunteer his time to teach these kids. Jordan comes in and says, “Hey guys, don’t worry, I got it from here.” Nevertheless, imagine if we tell Jordan, “I appreciate you MJ, we can use your help; may be this afternoon we can use you to teach the kids; how to do free-throws or something. For now, make yourself comfortable, we will call you if we need you.” How stupid do you think this is?

 Without knowing how stupid we sound, many brothers and sisters in the Body of Christ adopt a similar approach when it comes down to God’s Word. John 1:1 tells us, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” (NASB) We can’t separate God from the Word. We are talking about God here! To place any man-made science at the same level of God or, as a substitution to God is absolutely ridiculous.

 First Corinthians 3:19 tells us, “For the wisdom of this world is foolishness before God…” (NASB) In First Corinthian 1:25 Paul also states, “Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.” (NASB) How dare we, as Christians, place any ideology, science, method, etc. at the same level with God? These disciplines could be useful; I don’t deny that, but they must bow down to God. God is not just a part of something, God MUST be at the center.

 Some of the excuses I hear for not teaching God’s Word is that a different approach should be followed for people who have been hurt in the church.  Can’t God not handle hurting people? Is His power that limited?People are hurt in the church for essentially three reasons: 1) Misrepresentation of God’s character and ways, 2) people’s own sin and pride and 3) the normal imperfection of humans. Humans hurt humans all the time. What is then the remedy for this, very simple, you give folks the truth. The Bible tells us, “…If you continue in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine; ³² and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.” (NASB)

 There is no freedom of anything without knowing the truth. This is a good lesson for any ministry to learn. If God is not at the center, then you don’t have a ministry, what you have adopted is a form of godliness; this form of godliness rejects God’s power. At the end of the day, when God’s power is denied, you will see very little progress taking place.

But realize this, that in the last days difficult times will come. ² For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, ³ unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good, ⁴ treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, ⁵ holding to a form of godliness, although they have denied its power; Avoid such men as these. ⁶ For among them are those who enter into households and captivate weak women weighed down with sins, led on by various impulses, ⁷ always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. ⁸ Just as Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses, so these men also oppose the truth, men of depraved mind, rejected in regard to the faith.⁹ But they will not make further progress; for their folly will be obvious to all, just as Jannes’s and Jambres’s folly was also. 2 Timothy 3:1-9 (NASB)

 Noticed in in verse 7 Paul states, “…always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.” These are people with degrees, highly educated, powerful folks and well respected. Nevertheless,with all of those degrees and information they are never able to come to the full truth. It is indeed expected that the world resists God’s Word; that’s what secularism is all about, to demonstrate that God is not needed. It becomes an issue when the church allows these lies to infiltrate.

 I hear things such as, “Well Angel, the truth does not come from God only, we can find the truth everywhere, even in the secular science.” My answer to that is that they are correct, truth can be found everywhere; nevertheless, all truth comes ONLY from God, no matter who the source is. The devil hijacks some of these truths to validate his lies. The Bible tells us that God is love.[1]In First Corinthians 13:6 the Bible points out that love delights in truth. All truth originates from God. On the other hand, the devil is described as the father of all lies.[2]All lies comes from the devil.

 I conclude this article with the claims that Jesus made about himself. Those claims are truth; let Christ himself plead his case when He said, “…I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.” 1 Corinthians 14:6 (NASB)

[1]1 John 4:7-21

[2]1 Corinthians 8:44