Walking through a small town recently, I saw a large banner on a local church that read, “God is Still Speaking.” The banner, which was advocating a change in teaching on a particular topic, implied that God has not finished telling us what He wants us to know. God is still speaking, but He is not changing what He has always said. God still speaks to us—through His Word, the Bible.
Our culture has abandoned the idea of objective truth and, unfortunately, many Christian leaders have fallen for the notion that God’s Word is changeable, that we can mold it to fit what we might like it to say. Sadly, the Christian Church has dealt with this problem since its beginning. The Apostle Paul, by inspiration, warned of this already in the book of Acts: I know that after my departure savage wolves, who will not spare the flock, will come in among you. Even from your own group men will rise up, twisting the truth in order to draw away disciples after them (Acts 20:29-30 EHV). And he again warned Timothy and us: There will come a time when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, because they have itching ears, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in line with their own desires (2 Timothy 4:3 EHV).
If you are struggling with whether or not you are being taught the truth, you are not alone. When the Apostle Paul and Silas preached in Berea, we are told: The Bereans were more noble-minded than the Thessalonians. They received the word very eagerly and examined the Scriptures every day to see if these things were so (Acts 17:11 EHV). The Bereans are commended for comparing Paul’s teachings with God’s Word. You can and should do the same. Preaching and teaching should never contradict and should never call into doubt what the Bible teaches.
In the end, the idea that God is still speaking and changing His own teachings is no different than Satan’s question to Eve: “Did God really say…?” God has spoken. He has spoken and continues to speak only through His Holy Word. Through that Word, the Bible, we learn of our own sin, of our rejection of God and His will. And we learn what our God has done for us: He sent His only Son, Jesus, to save us. Jesus was born and lived without sin in our place. He gave His life in payment for all our sins—all the times we refused to listen to God’s Word. And He physically rose from the dead, guaranteeing that God accepted Jesus’ sacrifice for all our sins. God has spoken and is still speaking through the Word alone.
