Day 292 Bible Readings – 1 Timothy 4: 1-4 (ESV)

Jeremiah 40: 7-16, Jeremiah 41-42, 1 Timothy 4, Proverbs 7: 1-5

1 Timothy 4: 1-4 (ESV)

“Now the Spirit expressly says that in later times some will depart from the faith by devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons, through the insincerity of liars whose consciences are seared, who forbid marriage and require abstinence from foods that God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth.”

Verses 1 through 4 from 1 Timothy 4 shows Paul telling Timothy what to careful of in the end times. I find this advice from Paul very prophetic for what seems to be going on today in some churches. Many churches seem to have strayed away from what is written in the Bible and are adapting their churches to fit in with modern culture. Paul warned back in his time that this strategy was wrong. As followers of Jesus Christ, the Bible needs to be the guidance for how we live our lives. We cannot take what was written in the Bible out of context, and use it justify things that are expressly forbidden in the Bible.

I believe that is why as a believer in Jesus Christ, you must always read the Bible on your own. Your pastor should never be the final and last word on what is written in the Bible. Each believer must have a relationship with Jesus Christ and his word first, and then a relationship with a church and its pastor. The pastors at my church harp on this point constantly. They say they are hear to guide us in their interpretation of the words of Bible, and we can either agree or disagree with what they are saying. But they always emphasize that each member of the church needs to have their own relationship with God, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit and the Bible first, with everything else being second. It can be hard to leave a church and the community you formed there, but if your church is straying away from the teachings of God, then you need to find a church that resonates more with what you believe. A good church will reinforce your belief in God, not take away from it.