Investigating the Bible: Who can be trusted?

By DAVID CARLSON PASTOR

A recent headline ran, “Religious leaders arrested on charges of running a forced labor camp and money laundering.” David E. Taylor, who calls himself an apostle, and Michelle Brannon were arrested on charges of money laundering and forced labor. They allegedly had their followers work day and night unpaid at call centers, raising millions for their church. They withheld food if callers underperformed and threatened God’s punishment. While they are currently presumed innocent, the fact that Taylor lives in a sprawling mansion, owns other luxury properties, a Rolls-Royce, a Mercedes, and much more, casts doubt. Who can be trusted?

Jesus had the same problem. He said, “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will recognize them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thornbushes or figs from thistles? So, every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the diseased tree bears bad fruit.” (Matthew 7:15-17, English Standard Version used throughout). The Bible gives several fruits as hallmarks of genuine faith.

Love. Love in the Bible is action, not words. “If anyone says, ‘I love God’ and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen.” (1 John 4:20).

In 2019, on Morey Belanger’s first day of kindergarten, she had a reason more than most to be apprehensive. She is deaf and was the first deaf student at the school. However, when she walked through the door, she was happily surprised: Sign language posters were everywhere. Every student in the school had learned the sign language alphabet and how to sign 20 words. Her teachers had begun to learn sign language, and they had a young woman dressed as Cinderella come with stories in words and sign language. Love in action.

Obedience to God’s written word. “This book of the Law shall not depart out of your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it. For then you make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.” (Joshua 1:8). In those days, the mouth was considered the place of reason. Another translation of the verse is, “Think about God all day and at night; then you will be better able to do what He wants and what is best for your success in life.”

Mary Taylor-Previte established a successful school for young men in trouble with the law. She was the daughter of Christian missionaries. In her book, Hungry Ghosts, she remembered the obedience of her father, John Taylor. As a young man, Taylor fell in love with a beautiful young woman, and she with him. Taylor asked her father for permission to marry, but the father declined. He felt that John Taylor was a “young lad quite without promise.” As Taylor told this story to his daughter, he asked her, “What does honor your father and mother mean? [He] didn’t want his daughter to marry me.” So John Taylor painfully ended their romance, and he eventually found love with another.

Humility. The harshest words from Jesus were for proud Pharisees, whom he chastised for their arrogance. Instead, he taught, “The greatest among you shall be your servant. Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.” (Matthew 23:11-12).

Franklin Graham, the son of evangelist Billy Graham, told the story of his father’s reaction to plans to build a large library in North Carolina to house archives of his ministry and exhibits. When they showed Billy Graham a video of the proposed structures, his response was, “Too much Billy Graham!” So they reconfigured the library with these main messages: “Glorify not the man Billy Graham, but the Man Jesus Christ and to spread not man’s message but God’s message.”

David Carlson Pastor (yes, that is his last name, not his profession) lives in Oregon and is a graduate of Bethel Theological Seminary in Minnesota (M.Div., M.Th.).