Chapter 5 - WHOSE WORSHIP DOES GOD ACCEPT?

ACCURATE KNOWLEDGE - A PROTECTION

Doing God's will requires an accurate knowledge of both Jehovah God and Jesus Christ.  Such knowledge leads to everlasting life.  Surely, then, all of us will want to take seriously the matter of gaining accurate knowledge from God's Word,the Bible.  Some say that there is no need for concern as long as we are sincere and zealous in our worship.  Others  claim, 'The less you know, the less is expected of you.'  Yet, the Bible encourages us to increase in the knowledge of God and his purposes. -Ephesians 4:13; Philippians 1:9; Colossians 1:9.

Such knowledge is a protection against contamination of our worship.  The apostle Paul spoke of a certain spirit creature who pretends to be "an angel of light."  (2 Corinthians  11:14)  Thus disguised, this spirit creature - Satan - tries to mislead us into doing things contrary to God's will.  Other spirit creatures associated with Satan have also been polluting people's worship, for Paul said:  "The things which the nations sacrifice they sacrifice to demons, and not to God." (1 Corinthians 10:20) Likely, many have thought they were worshiping in the right way, although they were  not doing what God wanted.  They were being mislead into unclean false worship.  We will learn more about Satan and the demons later, but these enemies of God have definitely been polluting mankind's worship

If you knew that someone had deliberately poisoned your water supply, would you go on drinking from it?   Surely, you would take immediate action to find a source of safe, pure water.  Well, an accurate knowledge of God's Word equips us to identify  true religion and to reject impurities that make worship unacceptable to God.

Next time: COMMANDS OF MEN AS DOCTRINES

The Book - KNOWLEDGE That Leads To Everlasting life, 1995