Spiritual Growth When I was younger, I used to play a game called “Gossip”. My friends and I would form a line, the person at the front of the line would tell the next person a story. The story would be passed down the line with each person having the opportunity to hear and relay the message. The point of the game was to see how the story had changed by the time it reached the end of the line. The interesting part was the final story was rarely similar to what was said in the beginning. Sadly, the Gospel can be distorted in the same manner. Before ascending into Heaven, Jesus commanded the disciples to spread His work throughout a lost and sinful world. His message was perfect and pure. They followed Jesus’ command, but as the Gospel spread, the opportunity for error arose. Wherever the apostles preached, false teachers would quickly follow, instructing the early church to obey things that God did not require. In order to defend our faith from false doctrine, we must first examine our beliefs. We shouldn’t react through the Bible only to pull out verses that confirm what we already hold true. Instead, we should take all of what we believe and examine it against the truth found in the Bible. Are your beliefs firmly set in the Word of God? If someone asked you to tell him or her about the Bible, could you do it? If they asked you why baptism was important, what would you say? If you were asked to explain the Godhead, how would you answer? We should be deeply rooted in God’s Word. If we know and understand the truth found in the Bible, we would better be able to recognize false teachings. Why should we want to defend our beliefs? The world tells us as long as we believe in something, and then we will be okay. This is not true. When we believe the truth, the Bible, we are: Prevented from being misled by false doctrine. Protected from those who attack our faith. Prepared to answer those who are honestly seeking the truth. Persuasive in our presentation of what we believes. Prosperous in our personal relationship with Christ. Out in the world we are surrounded by those who are eager to tell us that salvation is based on works and legalistic rules, that Christ was a great teacher but not the son of God, that Jesus is not coming again, and that baptism is not essential for salvation. Rarely will we find someone that believes exactly what we do, however, if their values are not rooted in the word of God, then they are adhering to false doctrine. They are attempting to sell us something that sounds good. When we are grounded in the word of God, we can wisely discern the difference between truth and error. In a world saturated with untruth, may we let God guide us to the answers we seek, that we might know what we believe. ------Wade Holton "And Ye shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free." John 8:32