“Our Daily Bread”    http://odb.org/

The Daily Devotions of Greg Laurie     http://www.harvest.org/devotional/daily-devotions/home.ht

Acts 2:42… And they continued steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in prayers.  (NKJV)

The word doctrine was derived from Latin…  Here is a definition, per Wikipedia.org-  Doctrine (from Latin: doctrina) is a codification of beliefs or a body of teachings or instructions, taught principles or positions, as the body of teachings in a branch of knowledge or belief system. The Greek analogue is the etymology of catechism.

Most churches (if they are Christian churches), have a doctrinal statement giving people who want to come to that church an idea of what the church believes in regards to God and His plan for us…

But not all the doctrines of Christian churches are based on the Bible…  The Bible is the inspired word of God; penned by 40 or so writers that were inspired by God Himself, or the Holy Spirit… There are two pieces of scripture from the Bible that reveal this fact…2 Timothy 3:16-17… All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, ¹⁷ that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.  (NKJV)

Here is the second piece of scripture…2 Peter 1:20-21… knowing this first, that no prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation, ²¹ for prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit.  (NKJV)

Here is a link for a study called…”Did the Holy Spirit inspire the Bible authors?”; which I found to be filled with relevant information about this topic for those who don’t believe every word in the Bible is 100% truth…

http://www.religioustolerance.org/chr_insp.htm

With literally thousands of churches in the world…there are many that believe in doctrines that are contrary to what God tells us in His Word, the Bible… God warns us throughout the Bible to beware of false prophets… Here is a link referencing many pieces of scripture…    http://www.keyway.ca/htm2000/20000604.htm

Jesus Himself, warned us about false prophets, in…Matthew 7:15… “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves.”  (NKJV)

Here is an excellent link to false Gospels taught by these false prophets, who taught a different gospel than the gospel of Jesus Christ…     http://www.truegospel.org/index.cfm/fuseaction/basics.tour/ID/10/False-Gospels.htm      …The apostle Paul, who wrote almost half of the New Testament, was constantly fighting the teaching of these false prophets…

For someone to become a Christian in the eyes of God…they must be absolutely sure they understand the doctrine given to us by God Himself… As Paul reveals in the scripture above, the Bible must be read to be sure God’s doctrine is understood; as well as to correct, and instruct the Christian on how to live a life that will be pleasing to God… Becoming a Christian can only be accomplished by obeying the gospel of Christ… (Open and learn more about the gospel of Christ posted on 6/29)

Heavenly Father, I pray people reading these scriptures from Your Word, who You do not now know as Your child, would be urged by You to open and read their Bibles…  I pray Lord, that Your doctrine would be understood; and that understanding and obeying the gospel of Jesus Christ would become a burning desire for all of those in need…  I pray for this in Jesus’ most precious name and for His sake…Amen…

written by bruce r mills