Dickson Daniel-Ina

*BIBLE ILLITERATES AND LAZINESS*

Lately, the pentecostal church space in Nigeria 🇳🇬 is abuzz with what many term as the revelatory teachings of Dr Abel Damina. Eventhough I agree with some of his views especially concerning transactional gospel, which is what i have been teaching for years now -[see first link in comment box] however the movement is helping to reveal how large the number of Bible Illiterates who claim to be Christians are.

Those who have been following me for years know one thing about me, which is that I rarely sympathise with those who fall victim to false teachings, and the reason is simple.

Reason: The Bible is available for everyone to read 📚 and understand with the help of the Holy Spirit - which every person who claims to be a born-again Christian possess.

The reason anyone will stand on the pulpit and successfully make you a victim of false teaching is due to laziness on your part. Laziness to study the word for yourself and see what is written in it. So, this present noise going on in the social media space only goes to show the degree of laziness in Christendom in Nigeria.

The injuction to all believers is to STUDY the book/law (Bible)....

[and please don't be lazy to skip the Bible verses referenced. Be diligent to read through]
.he said to them, “Take to heart all the words by which I am warning you today, that you may command them to your children, that they may be careful to do all the words of this law. For it is no empty word for you, but your VERY LIFE, and by this word, you shall live long in the land that you are going over the Jordan to possess.”-Deut 32:46-47

Only be strong and very courageous, BEING CAREFUL to do according to all the law that Moses, my servant, commanded you. Do not TURN from it to the right hand or to the left, that you may have GOOD SUCCESS WHEREVER YOU GO. This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall MEDITATE on it day and night, so that you may be CAREFUL to do ACCORDING to all that is WRITTEN in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.-Joshua 1:7-8

Remind them of these things, and charge them before God not to quarrel about words, which does no good, but only ruins the hearers. Rather STUDY to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, RIGHTLY HANDLING the word of truth.-2 Timothy 2:14-15

The above are a few scriptures from the Bible both from the Old Testament and New Testament that commanded us believers to STUDY the law (Bible) and to what end? Answer: So that we may be CAREFUL to do ACCORDING to what was written.

Now, when you as a believer refuse to study your Bible, the result will be ignorance, hence an easy prey for false doctrine.

If you understand this, you will see that the problem lies not with the false teachers but with the believers who neglect their responsibility to study the scriptures.

The Bible tells us about the believers in Berea in Macedonia, who Paul and Silas preached to during their second missionary journey ....

The brothers immediately sent Paul and Silas away by night to Berea, and when they arrived, they went into the Jewish synagogue. Now these Jews were more noble than those in Thessalonica; they received the word with all eagerness, EXAMINING the Scriptures DAILY to see if THESE THINGS WERE SO.-Acts 17:11

Whenever Paul preaches to them, they were noble enough to go back and examine the scriptures to see if these things Apostle Paul said were so! Which is what every believer should be doing

E.g when Dr Abel Damina preached that Joshua didn't speak to the Sun but to the Earth, I went back to check the scriptures to see if it were so and found out what he was preaching is false.(Ref: Joshua 10:12-13)

When I heard him teach that Noah wasn't instructed by God to build an ark, I went back to check the scriptures and discovered it was false (Ref: Gen 6:11-22)

When he talked about Jesus being two, the incarnated Jesus and the resurrected Jesus, i did not have to check that, as the Bible clearly states "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever"....Heb 13:8

And this is what we ALL should be doing as believers, infact it is a command. If not, false teachers will come, present to us some truths and once we are open, they will start introducing false doctrines to us BUT if we are not lazy and always ready to do the work of STUDYING our Bibles by ourselves, we will escape many of these traps!

The crux of my message is this: There wouldn't need to be these large numbers of Bible Illiterates that fall victim to false teachings and doctrines IF we are not lazy and doing what we were commanded by God in the first place to do, which is to STUDY OUR BIBLE!

E.g Ever since I became born again, I have NEVER been a victim of false teachings before. Why? Because right from day one, I obey the command to STUDY my BIBLE.

Do not be part of the Bible illiterates, my friend. Obey the command to STUDY the Bible so that you can be careful to do ACCORDING to all that is written in it.

Selah

Don't know how to study the Bible? Watch this [the second link in the comment box]