How Can You Know If Religious Charlatans Are True Or False?

Common Sense Commentary:  "For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart." Heb.4:12.  The "word" in this verse is not capitalized and therefore not a proper name of a person, place or thing and is therefore not a reference to the person of Jesus Christ who is the Living Word of God, as is the "Word" in John 1:1, "In the beginning was the Word...."  No, the "word" in Heb.4:12 is in reference to God's written word, the Bible ... Holy Scripture.
The volume of the Holy Scriptures cover every major truth and the important issues of life. Whatever religious claims are made by someone, the Scriptures speak to those claims, and are there, visible, chapter and verse, to refute or confirm the claim.

THE CLAIM CERTAIN:  One can claim a verse of Scripture, read it, quote it and point it out to all. Everybody can see the words in black and white. The primary difference between the certainty quotient of the Holy Scriptures, manifested, versus the Holy Spirit's actions manifested, only to the individual touched by Him, is this: The Holy Scriptures are visible, recorded in a billion Bibles, read by hundreds of millions of people, memorized and quoted exactly by millions of Christians and is publicly available for all to see.   One can easily compare Scripture with Scripture or Scripture with what someone says it says, and see clearly the harmony or discord in whatever is claimed.  It is what it is.  Nobody can change, misquote or mistranslate it without being discovered and identified as a liar or a careless handler of God's written word.

THE CLAIM UNCERTAIN: Spiritual 0r religious claims, personal testimony, by whomever,
 are not visible to the hearer or absolutely confirmable or "CLAIM CERTAIN" to anyone but the claimant and God. Only he and God know whether his spiritual claim truly happened  ... even if the experience does not contradict any Scripture verse, it still may not have happened, though it be claimed. Many an apparently religious person has claimed, "The Holy Spirit told me, spoke to me, showed me or gave me...." But whether true or false, not one such claim can be proven with absolute certainty as can Holy Scripture.  Spiritual "claims" are surely as often false as true. God knows. But even true claims, unless it is a visible miracle, cannot be proven with certainty no matter how many people believe the person making the claim.  Unless it is visible, one must take the person's word for what happened ... which is an open door to endless, false religious claims. Satan, "a liar and the father of it", pours a polluted river of "religious" heresy and lies through claims, which cannot be proved or disproved, except by the clear, visible, "quick and powerful", written word of God.

God, in His wisdom, gave us the written word so we flesh and bone, physical beings could SEE and HEAR with our human eyes and ears what He wants us to know, and not have to depend on the multitudinous, invisible, or faked claims of charlatans, heretics, apostates, false Apostles, false Prophets and other religious fakes. If we had no definite, visible standard (The Holy Bible) to measure them with, we could not know if they were real or false.  Yes, the Holy Spirit can "guide you", personally, internally in understanding truth and error but He does that primarily through His written word, and never in conflict with it. Besides, your friends and family or neighbors cannot SEE your heart to know if you are real or not, telling the truth or not, just because YOU said it. Almost all religious claims, not confirmed in the Bible, cannot, must not be relied upon when eternal souls are at stake. "Say so" is always subject to question. God's word is not. The Bible is the only absolute and visible confirmation or refutation of Spiritual or religious claims. Personal testimony is not enough, and if it does not conform to God's written word, it is a lie.


One Cult, who "claims" that the Bible is not the "word" of God because Jesus is the "Word" of God, has the written word of God and the Living Word of God entangled. Why did God capitalize the one and not the other? Because they are intrinsically different.  One is a person; The other is a thing. Christ is the person; the Bible is the thing, reflecting, like a mirror, the person. The Living Word spoke words which were written down. The written word, whether spoken by Jesus or written by an Apostle or other chosen disciple,  directs us to the Living Word. The cults leave us dependent on their "claims" which carry no more authority than any one of a billion library books or newspapers, as to what is true or false...with God. They are more reliant on their "dreams", which they claim are visions, than they are of the Bible. Their fuzzy gurus have produced an avalanche of claims, including name changes for themselves such as "Justice", "Beautiful", and "Honorable".  God help those who would follow a man who names himself "Justice" or a woman who names herself "Beautiful".  If it were anywhere near the realm of possibility, that they were right in what they "claim", then all the Apostles were  wrong,  Charles Spurgeon, D.L. Moody, Jonathan Edwards, Torrey, Tozier, Billy Graham and all the Christian pastors, fathers, mothers and grandparents of the past were liars or dupes and going to hell because they believed that "All scripture was given by inspiration of God".  Before the arrival of these cults, in recent years, they must believe that all Bible believing Christians for 2000 years went to hell. A little late isn't it?  It's almost time for the Living Word to return, as predicted by the written word. RB

"For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes..... And then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another. And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many." Matt. 24:7&11.  That day has arrived. RB