Over the years we have all heard the statement "accept no substitutes" made about various products, businesses, and services.  But in modern religion people give in to the popular sentiment that it makes no difference what one believes just as long as he is sincere. Thus, people are willing to allow substitutes in religion as long as the people who espouse those substitutes are sincere.

 One might as well say that it makes no difference what one eats or drinks as long as he is sincere as to say it makes no difference what one believes in religion as long as he is sincere. Would it be safe to eat rat poison if one sincerely believed it was salad dressing?  Would it be safe to drink strychnine if one sincerely believed it was soda pop? It is not the eating that sustains life, but what one eats. So it is with believing: it is not the believing that saves the soul, it is what one believes. It was Jesus who said, "And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free” (John 8:32).  Only the truth can make one free from sin.  Only by believing the truth of the New Testament and applying that truth to our lives, can we find the happiness, spiritual health and eternal salvation that we all so desperately want and need. Accept no substitutes!

Has it ever occurred to you that your religion may not be what you find in the New Testament?  Is the religious organization that you are a member of mentioned in the New Testament? Does its worship services conform to the pattern that we find for the church in the New Testament?  Is it organized like the church you read about in the New Testament?    Does it teach the doctrines and commandments of men? Does it depend on books other than the Bible (creed books, disciplines or manuals) for it's teaching and practice? If you don't know the answers to these questions, let me encourage you to study your Bible with these questions in mind.  Remember, when it comes to Bible truth, accept no substitutes!