Deu 4:1-2 “And now, O Israel, listen to the statutes and the rules that I am teaching you, and do them, that you may live, and go in and take possession of the land that the LORD, the God of your fathers, is giving you. (2) You shall not add to the word that I command you, nor take from it, that you may keep the commandments of the LORD your God that I command you.
Deu 12:32 “Everything that I command you, you shall be careful to do. You shall not add to it or take from it.
Pro 30:5-6 Every word of God proves true; he is a shield to those who take refuge in him. (6) Do not add to his words, lest he rebuke you and you be found a liar.
Rev 1:3 Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear, and who keep what is written in it, for the time is near.
Rev 22:18-19 I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: if anyone adds to them, God will add to him the plagues described in this book, (19) and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God will take away his share in the tree of life and in the holy city, which are described in this book.
I almost don’t even need to write anything else in this post – the Scriptures speak for themselves. Do not add to nor take away from the Words God has spoken to us in Scripture. We are to be very careful in handling His Word. It is life-giving but man is always at work twisting, distorting, dismissing…and claiming God has said, or that He has not said…only to make it into something else. God’s Word brings life – man’s brings death.
So many of you have suffered at the hands of people who added to or taken away from Scripture. They made it into something else, into some false gospel or a false doctrine and then claimed it was God’s Word which you must obey. Perhaps as happened in Galatia some preacher or theologian or professing Christian twisted that divine Word and made it into a law which must be added to the grace given us in Christ. Faith PLUS works, you know. Or someone else came along and said that God insists that marriage be for life no matter how much an evil spouse violates the marriage covenant. God loves everyone the same, everyone is a sinner just the same…if there is an opening for a lie, the devil and his minions will lay it on us.
The Bible ends with the sober warning quoted above – add to God’s Word and God will add to the liar His plagues (ie, hell). Take away from God’s Word and and spread the lie, and you can forget about the tree of life in the New Creation.
Each of us must take these warnings seriously. We must not blindly and carelessly listen to someone just because they claim to be speaking for the Lord. If we accept the lie, sooner or later we will start spreading it ourselves. The Lord has surely been merciful to me, that’s for sure, because I have not always in years past been careful to test the spirits to see if they are from God or not.