Medicines and drugs can be beneficial, but they may be dangerous if handled improperly. Physicians and druggists are vital for applying powerful medicines.
In religion, as in medicine, there must be no tampering with the Doctor’s orders by unskilled hands. Three things must be avoided: Any addition to the Word of God; any subtraction from the Word of God; and any substitution for any specification of the Word of God.
With unbounded confidence in Christ as the good Physician, we are sure of three facts: His diagnosis is correct; His blood is the remedy; and His Word is absolutely safe. We simply want the Word as He gave it.
When a preacher dispenses spiritual medicine by quoting Acts 8:23 as saying, “I see that you are still poisoned by bitterness and bound by iniquity,” he is guilty of adding to the divine directions. He added “still” to indicate that Simon had not become a Christian. The Bible does not say that Simon was “still” lost. It says he had believed and been baptized (Acts 8:13), and Jesus said all who do that are saved (Mark 16:16). Then Simon sinned, and Peter told him he was on the road to perdition. Inserting “still” to preserve the unfounded doctrine that a child of God cannot sin and be lost is unscrupulous.
A preacher slips a little narcotic into his preaching-prescription by quoting John 3:16 as “Whoever only believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” “Only” is a narcotic. It lulls the believer into false security, causing him to think that salvation is attained at faith without any further acts of obedience. The Bible teaches that faith is essential to salvation, but it does not teach that “faith only” will save (Ephesians 2:8; James 2:24).
What about love? Is a man saved without loving God? No (1 John 4:8). Then a man is not saved by faith only (1 Corinthians 13:13). What about repentance? What about baptism? Both are essential (Acts 2:38; John 3:5).
No pharmacist has a right to put part of some other prescription into your medicine. No preacher has the right to misuse part of a Bible verse either. Take tithing, for instance. It was God’s prescription to Jews under the old law. The new covenant, the law which came into effect after Jesus’ death (Hebrews 9:16–17), does not include tithing.
Instrumental music is foreign to the divine directions for Christians. The Jews used it in the Old Testament, and you can read in history where it was introduced into “Christian” worship in the middle of the seventh century by Pope Vitalian I, but you cannot read it in the Lord’s law to Christians.
The Sabbath day was in place under the law of Moses. It is out of place in the gospel dispensation. God said our rest is heaven (Hebrews 4:9).
We should be careful with the divine directions.
