Part 1
My brothers and sisters in Christ, I would like to expose a snake in the grass, a worker of darkness, an agent of Satan who is doing a great deal of damage to the body of Christ.
Just like Paul, who named those that were causing great havoc to the body of Christ, so I as well will call out this individual who is inflicting the same harm.
Paul calling out those who opposed God’s Word:
2 Timothy 2:17
- Hymenaeus
- Philetus
2 Timothy 3:6-9
- Jannes
- Jambres
2 Timothy 4:14-15
- Alexander the coppersmith
His name is Jeffery Curtis Poor from “Rethinknow.org”. Many of you might have visited his site or even agreed with some of his posts. I tell you now and in the presence of the Holy Spirit who dwells within me that this man is NOT a Christian but a deceiver. I say this very strongly because he is attacking God’s Word and is trying to pull Christians away from the Bible as being all-sufficient in a subtle way.
The title of his post is “The Bible is NOT the Center of Christianity”. Right off the bat, you should have your warning bells ringing. I will give you a few quotes from his post to expose his teachings which are demonic doctrines.
Jeffery says,
The Bible is not the center of Christianity, but rather it is written about the center of Christianity: Jesus.
Now, wrap your brain around that statement. It makes absolutely no sense. If it is written about the center of Christianity, meaning Jesus Christ and His Apostles, then the Bible becomes the center of Christianity since therein contains everything ABOUT the center of Christianity. That statement is bizarre and indicative of no biblical understanding.
He quotes a man, Andy Stanley, who has departed from Biblical Christianity in the sense that, he has disregarded the Bible as something very important but classified it as something secondary.
Jeffery quoting Pastor Andy-Jesus is the center of Christianity. I think Andy Stanley sums it up well: Christianity does not exist because of the Bible any more than you exist because of your birth certificate. Your birth certificate documents something that happened. If you lose it you do not go out of existence. Andy Stanley
Folks, what Andy Stanley said brought shame not only to the title “Christian” but to his father who by the way is a man who teaches and preaches God’s Word truthfully and with authority.
Let us see how God’s Word responds to Andy Stanley and Jeffery since he agrees with Andy.
John 17:20–I pray not only for these, but also for those who believe in Me through their message.
John 14:26–But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit—the Father will send Him in My name—will teach you all things and remind you of everything I have told you.
Romans 10:14-17–14 But how can they call on Him they have not believed in? And how can they believe without hearing about Him? And how can they hear without a preacher? 15 And how can they preach unless they are sent? As it is written: How beautiful are the feet of those who announce the gospel of good things! 16 But all did not obey the gospel. For Isaiah says, Lord, who has believed our message? 17 So faith comes from what is heard, and what is heard comes through the message about Christ.
God’s Word is the center of Christianity because without it (the message contained in its pages) NO ONE can be saved. Where else will you find the truth about Jesus Christ? The Bible is God’s Word to men so that we may have the light and know how to get to Jesus. Yes, Jesus is our salvation but without the Bible, one can pick and choose a Jesus that fits their image. That is a false Jesus, case in point- The Mormons have made up in their book a Jesus that cannot save, a false Christ. Likewise, the Jehovah Witnesses and Islam have also made up a Jesus that has nothing to do with the Jesus of Holy Scripture. It is like one saying you don’t need a compass when you are about to head out into the wilderness that you have never been before. That’s what is being said.
In Romans 10, it clearly states that without God’s Word no one can get saved. In verse 17, it says that saving faith comes by hearing the Holy Scripture about Jesus Christ. Without the Bible, you have no message, without a message no saving faith, without saving faith, NO CHRISTIANITY.
Jeffery says,
The reason that millions of the people claim the title “Christian” today is because of Jesus. The reason so many churches exist today is because 2,000 years ago Jesus entered into the world, made a bunch of crazy claims about being God, was killed, and then backed up all the crazy things he said by rising from the dead. Thus proving all those claims to be true. The foundation for Christianity is based firmly on Jesus.
Yes, it is because of Jesus that a person is saved, and is called a Christian, I have no problem with that but how do you hear in today’s time about Jesus Christ for salvation to receive the title, Christian? The Bible. How do you know that Jesus died on the cross and rose from the grave? The Bible. How do you know that Jesus claimed to be God and proved it? The Bible. How does a person know the right, Jesus? The Bible.
If the Bible is not the center of Christianity then the question becomes, “what is Christianity?” What would end up happening is, everyone will make up their own Christianity which would be based on what? On their imagination. That is what false teachers are doing, making up their own Christianity and trying to make you believe their version so that you would disregard the real one.
Jeffery continues with his rant against Holy Scripture,
Jesus makes it clear that he is the center of our faith. The Bible makes it clear that it centers around him. It’s the church that sometimes loses sight of that. We like to place the Bible as the center. Hear me on this, the Bible is important. I’m not trying to say we should just throw the Bible out, more on that later.
We need to recognize that the Christian faith centers around Jesus and the work he did. The Bible tells us about what he did, and it tells us how we should live in light of what he did. But the Bible is not the center of Christianity.
Jeffery states, “Jesus makes it clear that he is the center of our faith” If you notice what he is doing is that he is trying to dissect and cut away Jesus from the Bible and make Jesus as the only source to look after. It might sound good at first glance but when one looks at it closely, one sees what the devil is doing behind Jeffery, that he is trying to take you away from God’s Word to lose sight of the Jesus revealed in Scripture so that you would end up accepting doctrines that are not sound and a Jesus that is foreign to the Bible so that you would live your life on those doctrines and pray to a Jesus who’s not real. The devil does not want you to follow Jesus and that can only get accomplished by removing the Bible from your heart.
Now, you ask, “but if you are telling me that the devil is using Jeffery in trying to take people away from Jesus, why is he saying to follow Jesus?” The devil through Jeffery is trying to point you towards a different Jesus, one that deviates from the Bible and can be shaped to your liking. Look, Jesus said it plainly in Matthew 4:4 which says, 4 But He answered, “It is written: Man must not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.”
Jesus said that we base our spiritual life on the Bible and our Christian walk is according to His Word.
The way that a believer will grow, mature and look more like Christ is through God’s Word (1 Peter 2:2), that is what Jesus said. Food for the body is vital, we all agree to that right? In the same way, food for the spirit is vital, without it, you will starve your inner man and that is the purpose of Jeffery and the devil, to make the Christian’s inner man starve to death so that Satan can cause havoc on his life.
This will end Part 1…
Spiritual Minefield 