THE SOURCE MAKES ALL THE DIFFERENCE

In 1918, Clarence Larkin's Dispensational Truth or God's Plan and Purpose in the Ages was published.  In 1920, a revised and enlarged version was published.  I point this out because most of us tend to read a book written by some great theologian, and think we know what he or she believed the remainder of their lives.  Calvinists are certain that Calvin believed what he wrote midway through his life, even until his death.  I believe that a born again believer in Jesus Christ is a student of God's Word until his last breath, and that the very fact he is still learning, proves he cannot be "labeled" by some earlier tome. 

A good example of this is Hal Lindsey's Late, Great Planet Earth published in 1969.  Today, Lindsey will admit that his theory concerning the time of the Rapture, Tribulation, and Millennium, was wrong.  Lindsey is still teaching Bible Prophecy and has quite a following, even though it is clear that his Eschatology has changed considerably since 1969.

There are examples of this found in the Scriptures.  Perhaps the greatest example is that of the Apostle Peter.  If you do a Bible study on his life, you will find that the crude, impetuous, self-proclaimed leader of the disciples, becomes a humble, or more accurately, a humbled servant of the Lord.  The man who, when told by Jesus to go to Jerusalem and wait for the Spirit, decided to hold a "business meeting" to replace Judas (Acts 1:4-8; 1:15-26).  The man, Matthias, chosen by lots of all things, is never heard of again in the Scriptures, while Saul of Tarsus, chosen by Jesus, ended up writing half of the New Testament, as witnessed by Peter himself (2 Pet. 3:15-18).  Based upon the fact that it is James who makes the final decision at the Jerusalem Council (Acts 15:15-21), and the fact that Peter was a travelling missionary to the Jews, most scholars believe that James was the leader of the early Church.

What can you and I learn from this?  First, I believe God's children are just that, children.  We begin by hungering for the "milk of the Word" (1 Pet. 2:2), and hopefully will grow into maturity, desiring the "meat of God's Word" (Heb. 5:12-13)!  Unfortunately, I have found that the vast majority of God's children either stay "babes," or they feed on "meat" other than that found in the Word of God.  It seems most of God's children, at least those who want to understand God's Word, tend to "feed at the table of great theologians."  We read the "experts" instead of the Word itself.  We have become followers of theologians instead of following Christ.  Instead of using Scripture to declare God's truths, we quote Walvoord, Calvin, Wesley, Graham, Lindsey, Hagee, Schuler, Rogers, etc.!

If you want to reach the lost for Christ, quote the book He authored!