The difficulty is also that we have an implacable enemy - Satan, who seeks to destroy us. He especially vehemently attacks the Word of God. Because it is the basis. If you take away the very essence - the truth of the Bible - only emotions and traditions remain from faith, and then to mislead the believer is a simple job. A person who does not know the Bible has no tool to measure and weigh spiritual things. He has no criteria for evaluating what is happening to him. The spiritual world is real and all kinds of things can happen. If they are very impressive - when half of the people in the hall are knocked off their feet by one word of the "man of God", or physically pleasant, for example all kinds of lovely sensations, ecstasy, uncontrollable laughter and the similar things, a person can decide that this is really from God. Remember Simon the Magus who is mentioned in Acts, chapter 8? People in Samaria respected him and said, "This man is the great power of God", because he knew how to amaze them. Similarly, there are many now, who have great power and amaze people. It is very dangerous to judge spiritual matters basing solely on your own experience and perception. Only basing on the Bible and under the guidance of the Holy Spirit you can have correct understanding.

I am sure that now, 2000 years since the death of Jesus Christ and the first apostles, when it is no longer possible to hear the correct teaching from the lips of first disciples, only the Bible should be the starting point for the Christian and the measure of everything, the main criterion. If the main criterion becomes a person's own opinion or another person's teaching, or rules set by an organization, then this is no longer true Christianity.

That is why the apostle Peter compares newly-believed people to newborns who need milk - the Word of God. We check every event, experience, perception according to the Word of God and look for justification and answers in the Bible. The Holy Spirit leads and directs us on that path. Just as a baby needs to be fed with milk to survive and grow, so a person newly born of the Spirit needs the right spiritual food in order not to die spiritually. The Word of God nourishes the reborn, helps to get rid of things that do not please God and to grow towards the Lord, to follow the path of sanctification.

1 Peter 2, 1-3:

1 Wherefore laying aside all malice, and all guile, and hypocrisies, and envies, and all evil speakings, 2 As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby: 3 If so be ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious.

Apostle Peter talks about pure milk, unfortunately the teachings of various organizations often give people not pure milk, but dirty milk - a distorted word. This can lead the believer astray and even kill him spiritually. Therefore, a great responsibility rests on those who undertake to explain the Word of God to other brothers and sisters, so that it is not distorted.

Why is the Word constantly being distorted? Certainly, the enemy, the father of lies, is at work here. In fact, it is not very important for Satan in which direction to mislead a person, it is important not to let him or her be in the truth, so there are many options for distorting the Word of God.

In Catholicism (and the majority of Lithuanian residents who say they believe in God, consider themselves Catholics but do not read the Word of God, because the Bible is not the basis of faith there), the teachers of that organization follow their own truths, set out in the catechism. They rely on the Holy Scriptures only to the extent that is convenient for them; I have already talked about it. Educated Catholics know the Bible stories, but they do not believe them actually; they do not want to be fools in the eyes of other people. Here is a very serious trouble when a man wants to be wise in his own eyes. Catholic teaching does not consider the Word of God as the basis of faith. The Bible is no more officially persecuted now; there are even translations of the Bible made by Catholic priests. I would not recommend reading those so-called "ecumenical" translations, because the translation distorts the Word here and there. For example, the words in Genesis chapter 1 „And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.“ is translated „and a mighty wind sweeping over the waters“. Do you feel the difference here? In such translations, whole verses are "lost" (relegated to footnotes), usually those that are inconvenient for the Catholic organization, about baptism, the Word of God, and the like. The Word of God is not taught in the Catholic organization, at best it is studied under the supervision of a priest in order to direct a person in the "right" (suitable for the organization) direction, therefore the believer's growth towards the Lord is stopped in the very beginning. You know, even among Catholics it happens that someone accepts and believes that Jesus Christ is the Lord, who has redeemed us. I believed while in the Catholic religion, but I can testify that both belief and freedom from the trap of that teaching came only through the Word of God and with the help of the Word and leading of Holy Spirit. It was not an easy journey.

If Satan does not succeed in dissuading you from reading the Bible, if you believe that the Bible contains all the truth, that is, you know, very fine, but Satan does is trying very hard to confuse everyone. When I believed and realized the importance of the Bible, I really wanted to find people who read the Bible, who, like me, accept that it is true, that God speaks to us through that book. I found such people, and I thought that now everything must be fine. I so naively believed then that one who reads the Bible could not be wrong. At that time, I did not know that even for those who read the Bible and accept it as the Word of God Satan is able to implement all kinds of distortions. He is very active among Christians. I am sorry to admit it, but that is how it is. This is happening on a massive scale. Satan encourages people to distort the Word of God to a version that is convenient for them. Here it becomes clear what the one who speaks and explains the Word of God desires most, as well as the one who listens. It is not without reason that Jesus said that a person is defiled by what comes out of his heart, and warns that the mouth speak the abundance of the heart.

Luke 6, 43-45:

43 For a good tree bringeth not forth corrupt fruit; neither doth a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. 44 For every tree is known by his own fruit. For of thorns men do not gather figs, nor of a bramble bush gather they grapes. 45 A good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is evil: for of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaketh.

A common problem in today's Christian communities is that people avoid talking about sin, repentance and holy living, which is the main message of the Gospel. Often only pleasant and convenient things are spoken from the Word in order to attract people. Jude says about self-benefit seeking teachers:

Jude 1, 16:

These are murmurers, complainers, walking after their own lusts; and their mouth speaketh great swelling words, having men's persons in admiration because of advantage.

All this is usually done for profit, to have constantly growing community that brings profit and gives honor in the eyes of others. There is often fierce competition between so-called Christian communities for listeners and tithing payers. Paul warns Timothy about such teachers of the word:

1 Timothy 6, 3-5:

3 If any man teach otherwise, and consent not to wholesome words, even the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, and to the doctrine which is according to godliness; 4 He is proud, knowing nothing, but doting about questions and strifes of words, whereof cometh envy, strife, railings, evil surmisings, 5 Perverse disputings of men of corrupt minds, and destitute of the truth, supposing that gain is godliness: from such withdraw thyself.

Various things are promised to attract people: earthly riches, the great power that Jesus had, sudden miraculous healings, here and now. Miracles are described in the Word of God, but the main message is not about miracles. From God's Word we learn many things. We learn what God, our Father, is like. We understand and accept His grace and Christ's sacrifice. We get to know Him better and better. We gradually realize what it really means that we no longer belong to this world. We begin to long for our true home. We learn to behave as it pleases Him, to walk towards Him, and to be more and more transformed. This is a rather painful process led by the Holy Spirit, which the apostle Paul compared to a tight competition and vividly described as daily death:

1 Corinthians 9, 25-27:

25 And every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown; but we an incorruptible. 26 I therefore so run, not as uncertainly; so fight I, not as one that beateth the air: 27 But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway.

1 Corinthians 15, 31:

I protest by your rejoicing which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die daily.

Instead of explaining to the new believers that when you believe you must give yourself fully to God and that this means daily death to your self, misleading teachers preach about material or spiritual prosperity and self-realization. They teach that a Christian must be a prosperous person in this world; must be perfectly healthy, because God must immediately heal him after proper prayer. They teach that a Christian must have great power to perform miracles, make all the people he or she meets on the way to believe in Christ, and even to "outpray" the whole cities and make everyone there to believe in God. There are no such teachings in Bible, but people like to hear such things. A man, proud in his heart, always wanted to be "like God", to stand out in the eyes of himself and others. It happen so, that people are being prepared for the battle with Satan, without explaining that the great battle should take place primarily in the heart of a person. Therefore, instead of calmly waiting for the Lord and living a pure life, showing all the world an example of what a disciple of Christ should be, receiving the wisdom of God's Word and strength from the Holy Spirit to stand in all kinds of trials and maintain firm faith, hope and love, people demand from God miracles and power, now and here.

People who have been exposed to misleading teachings imagine all kinds of strange things that Jesus never taught, such as that there is some special way to prepare the world for the second coming of Jesus Christ, even though nothing like that is written in the Bible. Listen to how many pastors and so-called ministers of the word keep prophesying, talking and talking about revival. How do they imagine it? A great spiritual uplift, an abundance of healings and miracles, all believers bathe in the glory of God and triumph over the world. Yes, from time to time God pours out His Spirit to believers, shows signs and miracles, but carnality and strife involve and everything go astray and die out or turn into religion very soon. Open your Bible and look what is written there about the last times. I do not see any revival mentioned there, but in contrary, perilous times, hard times for Christians, because of growing number of those who have only a form of godliness but love themselves more than God. I see it happening. Jesus Himself warns us about this, and it is written in the Bible, the Word of God:

Matthew 24, 3-14:

3 And as he sat upon the mount of Olives, the disciples came unto him privately, saying, Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world? 4 And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you. 5 For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many. 6 And ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. 7 For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places. 8 All these are the beginning of sorrows. 9 Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name's sake. 10 And then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another. 11 And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many. 12 And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold. 13 But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved. 14 And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come.

Matthew 24, 23-25:

23 Then if any man shall say unto you, Lo, here is Christ, or there; believe it not. 24 For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect. 25 Behold, I have told you before.

Jesus clearly expresses doubt that He will not find true faith at His second coming:

Luke 18, 7-8:

7 And shall not God avenge his own elect, which cry day and night unto him, though he bear long with them? 8 I tell you that he will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless when the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth?

Unfortunately, it is not popular to preach about it. Waiting patiently for the Lord is a prospect that does not tempt or fascinate anyone. It is much more fun to imagine that here we are going to tear the sky and bring down the glory of God. Just one little thing, it is not according to God's Word...

Another direction in which Satan works is to distort God's Word by giving it a meaning it never had. Wisdom is sought in the Bible. It would seem that this is good, where else to look for it, if not in the Bible. Though it is bad when a Christian desires not the wisdom given by the Holy Spirit, which teaches meekness and humility and leads to the Lord, when the heart is more and more transformed and one learns to love more and more. Some kind of special wisdom is sought instead, that gives you exceptional knowledge and power and elevates you above others, special revelations, hidden meanings, secret codes and encryptions. Apostle Paul says:

1 Corinthians 3, 18-20:

18 Let no man deceive himself. If any man among you seemeth to be wise in this world, let him become a fool, that he may be wise.19 For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For it is written, He taketh the wise in their own craftiness. 20 And again, The Lord knoweth the thoughts of the wise, that they are vain.

The desire for special wisdom is the old deception of the evil one, working through man's desire to know what he does not know and promising "you shall be as gods." In his epistle, James writes about those who seek such wisdom:

James 3, 13-17:

13 Who is a wise man and endued with knowledge among you? let him shew out of a good conversation his works with meekness of wisdom. 14 But if ye have bitter envying and strife in your hearts, glory not, and lie not against the truth. 15 This wisdom descendeth not from above, but is earthly, sensual, devilish. 16 For where envying and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work. 17 But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be intreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy.

Of course, it's a pity to see how people are misled, but most of the time, what happens is a response to people's own desires. Here is Paul warning Timothy, and all of us at the same time, that the sound teaching of God's Word will not be popular and that people themselves desire false teachings:

2 Timothy 4, 1-5:

1 I charge thee therefore before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom; 2 Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine. 3 For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; 4 And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables. 5 But watch thou in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, make full proof of thy ministry.

Distortion or false teaching of God's Word begins when man is exalted. When a man, instead of God, is put in the centre of life. Therefore, when I read 2 Thessalonians chapter 2, I understand that it is not about one antichrist as a separate person, but about a spirit from the evil one, and about many people infected with that spirit, who call themselves Christians, but really contradict the Word of God and exalt and glorify themselves or some other person, but not God:

2 Thessalonians 2, 3-12:

3 Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; 4 Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God. 5 Remember ye not, that, when I was yet with you, I told you these things? 6 And now ye know what withholdeth that he might be revealed in his time. 7 For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way. 8 And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming: 9 Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders, 10 And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. 11 And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: 12 That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.

Christianity is not a game or a joke. It is about eternity. Therefore, I urge all who consider themselves disciples of Christ to re-evaluate their approach to the Bible. What is this book for you and why do you need it? Is it the word of God? If so, what wisdom are you looking for there? Whose teachings do you follow? Open again the words of Jesus and the apostles in your Bible and honestly ask yourself "how do you read?" What does Jesus Christ, the Living Word, had promised his disciples - prosperity, special power and respect, or oppression, hostility, rejection and persecution? Jesus said:

John 16, 33;

These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.

Jesus is the winner. He overcame the world. It is popular to emphasize these facts, but how did He win? Did He win through miracles and manifestations of power? Did He call legions of angels to prove to everyone that He is the Son of God? No. He allowed himself to be despised, killed, humbled himself to the end so that God would exalt Him and through this He became a winner. Because His kingdom is not of this world. He did not prove His divinity to the world, either before or after His resurrection. He will come again and reveal his power and authority, but then it will be too late to decide. Now He speaks to those who desire to follow Him.

Do you accept such Christ, who humbled himself to the point of washing his disciples’feet? Do you accept such Christ, who humbled himself to the point of death and was thereby exalted? Do you want to follow Him? Ask yourself; what is more important to you - following Christ by listening to His word, or miracles, self-realization, great manifestations of power and your own "spiritual career"? The apostle Paul said:

Philippians 3, 8-11:

8 Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ, 9 And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith: 10 That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death; 11 If by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead.

I understand that people desire to have material things, power, respect, and status. This is so human. Yet, the real spiritual things cannot be measured by material things. Do you want to know the power of Christ's resurrection? And what about the fellowship in His sufferings? Do you really desire like Paul to be made conformable unto His death, to know Him perfectly? I dare not lie to God and to say a firm "yes" because I am afraid of suffering. Nevertheless, Jesus Christ is my Lord and I will seek to fulfill His word. If that means contempt, let it be contempt. To those who choose to follow Jesus Christ, I wish in the words of the apostle Paul:

Colossians 3, 16:

Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom

Amen.

2013-12-27