“YOUR LIFE DEPENDS ON your knowledge of the gospel. Not just your life now, though that is certainly true, but your eternal life depends on your knowledge of the gospel. Are you ready? Do you know the gospel so well that you will stake your life on it?
“If someone claimed to be a representative of Christianity but taught that you should do exactly what the Bible says not to do, would you be prepared to dispute his claim to speak for God? I’m not envisioning Muslim extremists speaking for God—I’m talking about people who claim to be Christians. If they not only called you to do what the Bible says not to do, but made demands and threatened to kill you if you didn’t do them, would you be ready to put your life on the line? Would you be ready to die because you were certain that the gospel such a person was preaching was not in fact the gospel the Bible teaches? Do you know your Bible well enough to know when someone is telling you to do exactly what the Bible says not to do? And if you do, has the Bible so shaped your convictions that you don’t just disregard the Bible but are prepared to be faithful to God even unto death?”
“Let me be clear: there are people writing books sold by “Christian” publishers that help Satan’s cause against the gospel. There are people preaching sermons on “Christian” radio and television, claiming to speak for God, claiming to represent Christianity, but they are not preaching the gospel, they are not helping people love God and love others. In fact they are in many cases telling people to do exactly what the Bible says not to do. And too many Christians don’t even notice the discrepancy!”
~James M. Hamilton Jr.; R. Kent Hughes, gen. ed.. Revelation (Kindle Locations 5252-5269). Crossway. Kindle Edition.
