How many doctrines do church leaders hold dear and count as given with special labels—that no one reading the Bible for themselves would ever come up with?

What is the real source of many church teachings—revered individuals and councils with authority to dictate, or the clear words of the Bible alone?

Two reasons no one speaks up about the use of trinity (as well as other teachings):

+Any questions raised about the use of trinity are generally listed as fringe or heretical, like not believing Jesus is God, and are readily dismissed.

+Most Christians cannot distinguish between words of man and Words of God, and so they accept both equally.

Both of the above are inadvertently, or intentionally, meant to intimidate any criticism of what the learned leaders have set in stone.

There is built-in, dangerous pressure to accept what the church says because church fathers said it millennia ago.

Frankly, I’m not impressed anymore.

Yes, there are impressive and comforting things said by Christians, and I add my own.

But for creating foundations for doctrine, we must direct everyone to search their own Bible first.

The Bible must be the source, not the backup, for statements written by people.

We fall in danger of communicating that the Bible is not sufficient and needs our help.

Most theological teaching starts with a doctrinal statement, FOLLOWED by Bible verses, or more commonly just Bible references.

What if all our doctrinal statements, our beliefs, our ‘distinctives,’ our creeds, simply quoted Bible verses?

When Luther said, “No, but I’m as sure as there’s a God in heaven, . . . My warrant is the Word of God . . .” he was responding to a question about feeling forgiven.*

How about including all man’s words in “. . . naught else is worth believing.”

There is plenty of room for discussion and teaching, if we start with the Bible, and if we continue going back to the Bible.

Following any teaching with loyalty to a person who said it leads to division that Paul spoke against, with names including himself (“. . . I am of Paul, I am of Apollos . . .”).

*Someone asked Luther, “Do you feel that you have been forgiven?”

Luther answered, “No, but I’m as sure as there’s a God in heaven, for feelings come and feelings go, and feelings are deceiving. My warrant is the Word of God, naught else is worth believing.”

Counterfeits do exist—always have, always will.

So can anything good come from them?

Counterfeits are bad, but are they worthless?

– – –

Counterfeits come in paper form

Counterfeits come in human form.

+Counterfeits can buy stuff, for awhile.

+Counterfeits can do miracles.

+Counterfeits can look good.

+Counterfeits can fool some.

+Counterfeits can fool many.

+Counterfeits can’t fool God.

– – –

Counterfeits also come in supernatural form—aka satan, in the Garden of Eden.

He lost the war with God, to take over heaven, so . . .

Ever since then, he has given all his resources to messing with God’s creation and tricking His people to believe his lies and act on them.

“Did God really say . . .?”—–satan’s first words, to Eve—effective, and effective ever since

When you realize that satan can only create counterfeits and legitimize lies, then you can better counter him.

“He is the father of lies.”—–His Book

“We are not ignorant of his devices.”—–His Book

“Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.”—–His Book

– – –

Jesus quoted the Word of God to cancel satan’s lies when he tried taking Him down when He was hungry.

The Word of God is our best weapon—“the Sword of the Spirit”—to detect satan’s counterfeits and to defeat them.

Spend time in your Bible, daily.

Focus on something from the Bible, first thing in the morning.

Focus on something from the Bible, last thing at night.

Leave your Bible open, where you will see it several times a day.

You will grow stronger spiritually, with more victories defeating the devil.

You will get more attacks from the devil, but you will learn how to deal with them, right away.

What do you say to Muslims that you know?

If you are a Christian, you will want to tell them about Jesus.

How?

Genuine conversation about anything is good.

When you have an opportunity, ask them to share about their religion.

Honestly learn about what they believe.

Try to find out how satisfied they are with what they believe—how do they feel, beyond just what they have been taught.

If they ask you about what you believe, tell them simply what Jesus did to pay for your sins.

If they don’t ask, you can introduce the topic of what they do when someone hurts or offends them, or when they do that to someone else.

I don’t know what they are likely to say, but is unlikely that they will talk about forgiving.

It is also unlikely that they will talk about their god forgiving them.

Somewhere in your conversation, in your relationship, in your friendship, you can share how wonderful it is to hear about forgiveness, and experience enormous weight lifted from your heart and soul.

Muslims need to hear that the difference between Islam and Christianity is forgiveness.

Muslims have to earn heaven, and never know if they will make it (Muhammad didn’t know).

Jesus earned heaven for us, and He offers us a mansion there with Him, for free.

Every Muslim, every person, needs to hear that—perhaps from you.