Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed; And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. (John 8:31-32)
Many times I encounter people who are openly hostile to Christianity. Sometimes it is an email that opens without a greeting and immediately starts accusing me of ruining people’s lives with religion. Other times it is someone who calls themselves a Christian and says I am a legalistic false prophet because I dare to suggest that there is practical application in Scripture to help us live our lives. Or, many times it is someone who does not have a clue about what the Bible says, but insists on educating me on how the Bible teaches things that are wicked.
In the case of the latter, I was once at the Miami International Book Fair in Miami, Florida presenting my book, Silenced in the Schoolhouse, when a woman came up and started discussing the premise of my book. My book, which was based on my doctoral dissertation, was based on the fact that Biblical illiteracy has a direct impact upon the lives of people and our culture. The woman proceeded to tell me a litany of things that the Bible taught that was the reason why the Bible never should be taught in to children in schools. With each claim, I explained that the Bible does not teach what she was claiming and I quoted Scriptures that demonstrated that what she was saying was false.
After a few minutes, the woman started getting agitated and I could see that a crowd was starting to form as this woman was making a spectacle of herself as she was tried unsuccessfully to make her point. Finally, at one point after quoting Scriptures that disproved every claim, in exasperation she loudly said, “Will you stop quoting Scripture?” I replied while holding up my Bible, “No, because the problem that you have is not with me, it is with what God says in this book.” I added, “Maybe you should try reading the Bible to see what it actually says then you would know something about it. Until then, my only response to your false statements about the Bible can only be to quote what is says.”
With that the women left, obviously upset because she could not get me to argue with her without using Scripture. After she left and the crowd dispersed, a man from a Buddhist organization that had a booth nearby came over to talk. After acknowledging that some people do not want to hear the truth, they just want to argue, he said, “Don’t worry about it, she does that every year.” As the man left, I had to praise God because of all the presenters around us representing different religions, we were the only ones who were Bible believing Christians and everyone there heard it.
In today’s Scripture verses, Jesus explained to those who believed that “if ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed.” To continue in His Word means that we must constantly be in the Bible with daily reading and studying so that we always have an answer when we are challenged about what we believe and why we have hope in Jesus Christ (See 1 Peter 3:14-15). Then, when we need it most like at the book fair, the Holy Spirit will bring the verses to mind that address the situation. Likewise, if someone does not agree with with you say, they are not disagreeing with your own opinion, they are disagreeing with God and one day they will have the opportunity to talk to Him about it. Hopefully, when they do it is the day they hear Him say, “Well done, thou good and faithful servant” because they know the truth and have been set free and not, “Depart from me, ye cursed, into the everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels” (Matthew 25:14-46). May God create in us a heart that hungers for His Word.
