This is a special edition of Hackberry House.

Don’t want to major in minors, as they say. But on the other hand I don’t want to minimize any portion of God’s Word, especially if it seems it is being mistreated in the church. I’m thinking now of the whole rapture question, but the issue at stake here goes far beyond eschatology or the last things.

Let me ask you, Do you believe what you believe because your favorite teacher believes it? He’s so fun to listen to, and he usually is right on…

Not good. Your favorite teacher is flawed and could have made a mistake. “Usually” is not good enough for serious students of the Bible.

Well then, do you believe what you believe because the “scholars” have written it in a book? Sorry about that, but scholars are wrong in every generation.

If Martin Luther had not come against the scholars of his day, where would the church be? If later “scholars” had not challenged Luther and Calvin and the others, how perfect would the church be in its understandings?

And the great men of our day. Sproul. Macarthur. Cymbala. Brown. I’ve found much to bless me in every one of these men. But I’ve also found reason to differ with them. They are usually fine. But not always.

And others have found reason to differ with me. Surprise, surprise! We’re all growing, learning, trying.

Where does that leave us? It leaves us flawed. Imperfect. Weak-minded. Mistaken at times.

What’s left to agree on? Only what Scripture explicitly spells out without doubt.

We can’t depend on what “rings true” in our minds if our minds have not been filled with Scripture. Your favorite scholar or teacher may “ring true” in his pronouncements because you have heard only his interpretation of the Scripture since you were a child.

Be free. Read the Bible and pray yourself. Don’t be afraid or intimidated. Close all the teachers out who have said anything that the Book does not specifically say. Then read the words of Scripture alone with God and ask for help. Teachers can take us so far. Thank God for them. Theirs is a Spirit-anointed ministry. But they sometimes go off. You be there to catch them going off by reading and studying and knowing the Bible yourself!