In a world filled to the brim with fake news, it's certainly a privilege to have access to the world's most perfect fact checker. The infallible word of the Living God sits on our shelves, in our pockets, even at the touch of a button. When Satan asks "did God really say?", we can open a simple book and see what God really says. Even when Satan gets cheeky and starts pointing out "it is written", we may turn the page and say "it is written also" (Matthew 4:1-11). The devil cannot lie to us if we do not let him.
But we need not imagine he will give up just because we resist. If we are hard targets, he will only amp up his efforts. Satan will do anything to drag you away from the One who has the words of eternal life. He doesn't care where else you go.
Of course, there are many other places you can go. If eternal life isn't your thing, and you'd rather spend eternity facing the penalty for your crimes against the Holy One, you are quite welcome to go to Islam, Evolution, Buddhism, or any other number of other false religions which draw one away from Christ - our only hope of salvation.
But suppose you want Jesus after all. This son of the carpenter, who by all rights should be a nobody, conquered the world. 2,000 years later, His name, in many variations, has spread across the world. Jesus, Jesu, Yeshua, Isa, whatever you call Him, this man has cornered the religious market. More than 2 billion people call Him Lord. But Scripture warns us many times over that not all of these followers are truly Christian. Christ Himself warns that some will show up claiming to actually be Him (e.g. Matthew 24:5), and Paul, one of Christ's Apostles, warns of the possibility of following "another Jesus" (2 Corinthians 11:4).
Furthermore, "...Satan himself transforms himself into an angel of light", and "...his ministers also transform themselves into ministers of righteousness, whose end will be according to their works." (2 Corinthians 11:14-15). If the devil cannot persuade you to abandon Christianity entirely, he will seek to draw you to a false version of the Christian faith.
But if you listen long enough to those so-called "ministers of righteousness", you will soon be able to identify their scheme. Remember, as we have seen, Christ Himself wields Scripture like a sword (which, coincidentally, Hebrews 4:12 says it is). The devil's biggest fears are that you will pick up that sword, and know how to use it.
Of course, as in a physical battle, both of these are important. Even the greatest of swords is no good in the hands of a sloppy fighter, and even an expert fighter will struggle to wield a dodgy sword. This gives the devil some options. If he's going to beat you, he can convince you to doubt the sword, or to doubt your own skill.
These tricks are as old as the faith itself. As Irenaeus writes in "Against Heresies", "When, however, they are confuted from the Scriptures, they turn round and accuse these same Scriptures, as if they were not correct, nor of authority, and [assert] that they are ambiguous, and that the truth cannot be extracted from them by those who are ignorant of tradition. For [they allege] that the truth was not delivered by means of written documents, but vivâ voce:"
Note how he addresses both strategies. The Scriptures, these heretics claim, are "not correct, nor of authority", and are "ambiguous". This is the "rusty sword" claim. And truth, the heretics claim, cannot be extracted from Scripture by those who are ignorant of tradition. This is the "unskilled fighter" claim.
Whenever you use Scripture against a false belief, you will inevitably hear some variation of these same claims. You may, for example, be asked where you get your authority from? The answer is ultimately from the Word itself. When we come to Scripture, we are looking at the same thing, so what really matters isn't who has the most authority, but whose interpretation is closer to what is actually there.
To illustrate this, consider Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson. Ketanji Brown Jackson (a.k.a. KBJ) was a controversial nominee from the outset, with one major criticism being that she is horrendously light on child pornographers (1). Of particular concern is the likelihood of her engaging in activism from the bench. KBJ is a notorious Leftist, nominated by equally radical Leftist Joe Biden. Neither have any particular regard for the Constitution, and it seems KBJ was specifically nominated in the hope that she will make unconstitutional decisions. Recently, she even went viral for her concern that the First Amendment is "hamstringing the federal government" (2).
The full text of the First Amendment is "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."
So, on the one hand, you have a legitimate Supreme Court Justice who, unfortunately, believes there are times when the government should act to prevent the spread of "misinformation". In the context of this particular case, Murthy v. Missouri, that actually includes true information (3), such as the Hunter Biden laptop story, which could possibly have altered the outcome of the 2020 presidential election (4). In other words, we have an activist judge supporting the kind of practices which interfere with elections in her own country.
On the other hand, you have normal people, like you and I. Unfortunately, at this time, I am not an American. Maybe you're not either. The best thing is, we don't have to be! You just read the First Amendment, and so you can see that it is KBJ who is in the wrong, even though she has more authority in this regard than we do.
In much the same way, when you read the Bible, you are reading the Bible. No matter how much authority someone has, or claims to have, ultimately, because the Bible itself has more authority (being the Word of the Living God and all...), the lesser can overrule the greater. You're a Rabbi? Great, let's go through Isaiah 53 and see how well your interpretation holds up. You're a pastor? That's cool and all, but you seem to have missed Malachi 1:2-5 in your interpretation of Romans 9:13. You're a priest? I'm not sure 1 Timothy 2:5 fits with your idea that Mary is co-mediatrix.
As things stand, I don't claim to have any authority of my own. In fact, the unique selling point of Bible Brain is that I'm just an idiot with a keyboard. But as Psalm 119:130 says, "The entrance of Your words gives light; It gives understanding to the simple."
Now, notice what I just did. Literally all I did was say "the Bible says", then I quoted the verse with no clarification. I'm not expecting you to take my interpretation just because it is my interpretation. In fact, I'm not even giving you my interpretation. I quoted the verse, and I expect you to know what it means. If you go back and check the context (please do, this is what I am trying to teach you to do), I am confident it will only strengthen what I am sure will be our shared interpretation.
But suppose you come back to me and say "Brian, I'm not sure that verse means what you think it means". How do I respond? I'm going to point to the words. I'm going to bring up more Scriptures. I might point to others who agreed with me (like I did with Irenaeus earlier in this article). One thing you will never see me do is claim I have any special authority to interpret Scripture. Another thing I'm not going to do is act as if Scripture is anything less than the infallible word of the Living God. At worst, I'm going to point to a flaw in a particular translation.
Those who do such things are ultimately admitting something. Their interpretation is, in one way or another, unnatural. If they claim they have special authority to interpret Scripture, they are ultimately saying they need it. You're not coming to their conclusion, and objectively, there's a reason for that. If their interpretation was correct, they could show you. Because they can't, they instead try to overrule you.
What if they claim the Scriptures themselves are the problem? "That's just Paul, it's not Jesus". "Moses wrote it that way because they were too primitive to understand back then." "That was then, this is now". These statements, and more, are tacit admissions hat yes, the Bible says one thing, but we must change our interpretation, or even entirely discard it entirely, because the Bible itself is wrong. One might even summarise this particular view as "the Bible is man's unreliable word, so rely on this man's word instead".
The devil could not be more obvious. If you listen to his followers for long enough, you will soon get them to confess, in admittedly veiled ways, "I don't care what God says". Because ultimately, what God says is what we find in Scripture. As we find written, "All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work." (2 Timothy 3:16-17). Thus, whenever a heretic attempts to prevent you from using Scripture, they are confessing that they are of the devil himself.
References
1. Gunderson, Joseph - DISGUSTING: KETANJI BROWN JACKSON EVEN SUPPORTED LENIENCY IN CHILD PORN CASE INVOLVING INFANTS AND TODDLERS, Louder With Crowder, April 3rd 2022 (link).
2. Brown, John - Ketanji Brown Jackson criticized for saying First Amendment is 'hamstringing the government', The Christian Post, March 20th 2024 (link)
3. Gryboski, Michael - NRB asks Supreme Court to stop Biden admin. from censoring views on social media, The Christian Post, February 13th 2024 (link)
4. Golding, Bruce - 79% say ‘truthful’ coverage of Hunter Biden’s laptop would have changed 2020 election, New York Post, August 26th 2022 (link)