BOOKS ARE POWERFUL TOOLS OF INFORMATION, MISINFORMATION AND DISINFORMATION DEPENDING UPON WHAT A PERSON IS READING. Unfortunately, Too Many People Attribute Too Much Power To a Book, Because Two People Can Read The Same Book And One Is Empowered But The Other Is Not. The book itself does not empower people, rather the power comes from another source, but sometimes a book can act as a switch by providing instructions that reveal how to turn the power on.

If the Bible is the only source of divine revelation and power that can sustain us, what about the Holy Spirit, dreams, angels, creation, and miracles?

Happy Riches,  Answer requested by Diane Shatto

The position of the New Testament writers is that we are not to go beyond what is written. In particular, these statements are referring to the sacred writings of the Old Testament; the Tanakh.

• But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings which are able to instruct you for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. (2 Timothy 3:14-15)

• Now these things happened to them as a warning, but they were written down for our instruction, upon whom the end of the ages has come. (1 Corinthians 10:11)

• For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that by steadfastness and by the encouragement of the scriptures we might have hope. (Romans 15:4)

• I have applied all this to myself and Apollos for your benefit, brethren, that you may learn by us not to go beyond what is written, that none of you may be puffed up in favor of one against another. (1 Corinthians 4:6)

• And he gave to Moses, when he had made an end of speaking with him upon Mount Sinai, the two tables of the testimony, tables of stone, written with the finger of God. (Exodus 31:18)

• To the law and to the testimony! If they do not speak according to this word, there will be no dawn for them. (Isaiah 8:20)

The Bible has no intrinsic power. The Scriptures are impotent. But because they bear witness to Lord Jesus Christ, they are instructions that we ought to note, take to heart and act upon. The Apostle Paul states that the written code of the letter is dead; for the only power that brings life comes from the Spirit.

• You search the scriptures, because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness to me; yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life. (John 5:39-40)

• Not that we are competent of ourselves to claim anything as coming from us; our competence is from God, who has made us competent to be ministers of a new covenant, not in a written code but in the Spirit; for the written code kills, but the Spirit gives life. (2 Corinthians 3:5-6)

Essentially, the message of the Bible is it has been written for our instruction so that we will not be deceived by anything. The Bible itself cannot save anybody, for salvation only comes through faith in Lord Jesus Christ. If we are doing anything that brings dishonor to the Lord God, we will know that this will contravene what is written by the Finger of God.

The only source that sustains us is the Spirit of God. The Bible itself bears witness to this fact, without the Father and the Son, everybody is dead in their sins.

• Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of his own accord, but only what he sees the Father doing; for whatever he does, that the Son does likewise. For the Father loves the Son, and shows him all that he himself is doing; and greater works than these will he show him, that you may marvel. For as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so also the Son gives life to whom he will. The Father judges no one, but has given all judgment to the Son, that all may honor the Son, even as they honor the Father. He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent him. Truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears my word and believes him who sent me, has eternal life; he does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life.” (John 5:19-24)

Angels are very active and their work is to bring people to salvation and keep those who are being saved from falling into the snare of the Evil One.

• Are they not all ministering spirits sent forth to serve, for the sake of those who are to obtain salvation? (Hebrews 1:14)

Lord Jesus baptizes people in the Holy Spirit and every person who is a Christian demonstrates the love of God because of this.

• Therefore, since we are justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ….because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit which has been given to us. (Romans 5:1–5)

Really, you would have to admit that for people to love one another has to be a miracle. For whenever I hear the news media, the world has not changed since I was a child. People are still spewing hatred and murder out of their hearts. Hence, we know that people who are true Christians and possess the Holy Spirit understand the righteous love of God—righteous love conforms to the weightier matters of the Law (Matthew 23:23).

As for people having dreams, prophecies and directives given to them by supernatural means (angels, Holy Spirit) in respect to their persons, unless it conforms to the what is written in the Law and the testimony, then what they have received obviously has not come from God. The wise do not go beyond what is written.

The Written Code Exists So People Can Understand Truth From Error