Why what we believe matters

What we believe matters because it affects our actions.

• If we believe in a pre-tribulation rapture, we will not prepare ourselves for the tribulation.
• If we believe that Roman Catholicism is a Christian religion we will not evangelise Roman Catholics.
• If we believe that, as Christians, we cannot fall away, we will be complacent about deception and sin.
• If we believe in the power of positive thinking we will end up trying to pray a 2 deg rise in temperature from below freezing to above freezing. (I am not kidding - I have seen this being tried! It didn't work.)
• If we believe that the Bible is not absolute but has to be interpreted in the light of modern day thinking, we will accept homosexual marriage and female ministers.
• If we believe that we have to conquer the world as Christians before Christ returns then we will become militant and will try to impose Christianity on others rather than winning them to Christ.
• If we believe that we need to overcome the principalities and powers over a geographical area before we can evangelise, we will spend more time in so-called strategic spiritual warfare than we do in witnessing to the unsaved.

There are so many subtle deceptions coming into the church in these last days. The only way to avoid them is to know the Word. When tempted, Jesus answered Satan with 'it is written' - we should do the same. We need to be so familiar with the Bible - old and new testaments - that we can recognise a false teaching when we hear or see one. We need to check that what we believe is actually the truth because it is not only a matter of life and death - it is a matter of eternal salvation or eternal damnation.

'Take heed that ye be not deceived' Luke 21:8 KJV