We live in a world of rampant religious deception. There are many false prophets, false Christs, false teachers, false brethren, etc. The result is sin and false doctrine of different degrees. On the basis of such religious deception, we must cautiously proceed and not just gullibly accept everything we hear or are taught. In other words, we need to test everyone (1 John 4:1) and everything (1 Thess 5:21) to guard against disaster. The only criterion of truth for such an important evaluation is the Bible (2 Tim 3:16,17), with special emphasis on the New Testament.
Hence, all Christians must spend time (the more the better) directly in the Bible for themselves or be open to lethal deception. There is no substitute for this. This is a very serious admonition and the stakes couldn’t be higher. We are all dealing with eternity and the priceless SOULS of men. This battle is for eternity, yet very few are really guarded and even fewer know the real message of salvation. Don’t follow the crowd. They will perish (Mat 7:13,14).
