Recently I was asked a pointed and important question. “I have Christian friends who say they don't know - or don't believe - that the Bible is God's Word. What do I tell them?”

I was tempted to ask where these friends of his went to church. How did they end up in a church whose major priority was NOT teaching them they could trust the Bible as God's Word?

Instead, I said, “We all have occasional doubts. But if someone says they are a Christian and they don't believe the Bible is God's Word, I have doubts whether they are really saved. Maybe they were like so many people, born in church, so they think they are a Christian. But just because you were born in a donut shop doesn't make you a cop.”

Still, this is a critical issue: Is the Bible God's Word? How can we know? Aren't there other major religious books just as valid? The Book of Mormon, the Koran, the Bhagvad Gita? Aren't they equally God's Word?

Absolutely NOT! The Koran represents God as a vengeful, distant, vindictive God who pours boiling oil into the ripped open stomachs of the infidels.

And the Book of Mormon, sorry, but it is just a poorly plagiarized and mutated version of the real scriptures from a man who was given “special glasses” to interpret magical tablets of writing.

I know there are those who are more learned, more scholarly and more able to PROVE that God's Word - what we call the Bible - is real, true, and the only legitimate book to claim to be God-breathed.

But, though I know it to be true, I am not one of these scholars. They can ably put down any contender and outline the overwhelmingly singular TRUTH of the Old and New Covenants we call the Bible.

But for me, the life-changing power of God may not be effectively demonstrated in intellectual, theological or critical debate about the Word of God.

I don't mean “work”, like some mechanics: but is there LIFE in it? Does it have the power of God in it? Does it change lives? Can speaking the Word of God heal the sick? Raise the dead? Cast out devils? No question.

There are those who will show parallels between the Scriptures and the Koran, the Vedas, the Book of Mormon and other “holy books”. If anything is there it is because some truth IS universal. (And don't forget satan is an expert at showing you a few truths in order for you to swallow a huge lie.)

But I have NEVER heard of the Power of God falling at the preaching of the Koran, the Vedas, or any other “holy book.” You can read those books publicly till the cows come home, and there is no life. There are no real miracles (although Hindus manage to produce a few lying signs and wonders) and no spiritual transformation into God's real life occurs.

Only the Scriptures, spoken in the power of the Spirit can do those things. And no other religion has EVER raised anyone from the dead.

If this is so, why are the scriptures read and even “preached” every Sunday around the country without changed lives resulting?

First, let's look at the scribes and the Pharisees. They knew the law. They studied and taught the Torah, the Scriptures of God. But it had become an intellectual exercise, and a means of exercising rule over those who were not “learned” like they.

Then came Jesus. He spoke the scriptures, and they were ASTONISHED at His teaching, because He spoke with authority and not like the scribes and Pharisees. When HE spoke the Word, things happened. Authority is one major element of producing Critical Mass. Jesus knew who He was; He knew His Father intimately. That produced His authority.

Today, the scriptures are often taught and preached like the Scribes and Pharisees. They are preached as an intellectual exercise, preached as a means of maintaining rule over those “not so learned.” And it's a way to provide some structure and organization to this thing we call “church.” Not all of that is bad. But rarely do I hear the Word spoken with authority birthed out of intimate communion with the Father. So, lives are sometimes directed, better organized: But rarely are they staggeringly changed.

Still, any reading of God's Word at all is good, for His Word never returns to Him void, but accomplishes that which it is sent to do. (Isaiah 55:11) That is the nature of His Word.

And there is some value in apologetics and intellectual theology. They have their place. But still, I have never seen an entire congregation leveled by the Power of God because someone made a good intellectual statement.

The heart is missing. The Word of God is the first element of critical mass: the authority with which it is brought is the next. But if the heart is missing, there is no critical mass.

There was an old classic song called, “You gotta have heart.” You really do! In the gang world, if someone said, “He got heart”, it meant someone was tough, passionate, gutsy, committed, fierce.

Finding tough, passionate, committed, fierce truth-speakers is rare in the Kingdom. And you can tell. Can't you? One of the curious mysteries I've seen is a preacher with a carefully prepared sermon that seems to be moving along nicely, then, click! - A change - perceptible. Suddenly the atmosphere changes. His voice is stronger. You can feel a tangible SHIFT. He suddenly departs from his prepared message, and you feel the mantle of authority come on his shoulders, and he preaches, and your heart beats fast, and you are stirred, challenged, changed, and sometimes the fire falls across the congregation in waves. It's awesome to watch!

The late great Kathryn Kuhlman spoke of it. She said she would humbly come to her massive crusades, begin with a verse, start sharing her simple message and heart, and wait - wait for that definitive, tangible moment when the Holy Spirit came and stepped into her place. Suddenly, not her words but HIS, not her talking but HIM speaking through her, and she would recede as He took charge. Hundreds of thousands of lives changed because of that yielding to the MOMENT when His Word, His Authority and her passionate heart for Jesus collided, became one and exploded in supernatural, life-changing Power.

She said she knew it when she spoke and she realized she was LISTENING to the words she spoke and KNEW she did not have that kind of wisdom, or knowledge. She learned from His lips, as His words poured from HER lips.

I've known that experience while teaching and preaching. I know it most when I write and the words pour out like a flood, and His thoughts cram into my mind faster than I can write them down, and when He's done, I read it over and say, “Where did THAT come from?” It sure wasn't from ME!

The third critical element - having “heart” - a passionate, committed, fiery authority birthed from divine confidence that God is real, present and true - and that His spoken Word is a sword to be wielded boldly - produces the spiritually devastating explosion that changes lives forever.

I've been exposed to a fair amount of “intellectual Christianity” - not SCHOLARLY study - for there is a big difference. I'm talking about intellectual Christianity that loves dissection, debate and argument. It produces pride, and a cold, brittle faith. Because when you don't have “heart”, you resort to smugness, sarcastic arguments and cynical responses that make you feel superior. It is obnoxious and produces death. (That is why Paul said that knowledge puffs up but love builds up.)

I am not against study, far from it. I encourage kids to study the scriptures, dig, examine, explore, prove. But learning just to be able to get an arsenal to attack and devastate those who disagree, or to swell your own head, is useless and harmful. I encourage passionate learning to equip for war and to enlarge the heart for Him to rule.

As a young believer, I was discouraged away from “experiential Christianity.” It would lead to error, they said. Now I realize I was led wrongly. I came to Jesus, not because I was argued into the Kingdom of God, but because I EXPERIENCED Jesus face to face (literally) and my life was changed forever. And every single milestone in my journey has been a personal, experiential encounter with the Living God, with the catalyst of God's Word meeting a critical mass point with my heart! I've NEVER been radically changed by an intellectual discovery - NEVER!

The fear people instilled in me was, “You will be deceived by experiences.” Sure, if that is all you have. Hindu Gurus can manifest the supernatural. So can Mormons and Moslems and Buddhists and Witches.

Just an experience CAN deceive you. That is why every true God-encounter is always completely rooted, grounded and validated in the truth of God's Word. The truth of God's Word is the absolute CATALYST for transformation. It is the ONLY straight-edge that confirms that our experience is truly from God.

But truth without a personal revelation and experience and encounter of the Holy Spirit is just words. “The letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. (2 Corinthians 3:6)

Frankly, I prefer a new believer who understands one Bible truth because they have experienced its life-changing power than a person who knows all the mechanics, history and context but remains unchanged by that Word. A wild card who trusts God is better than a game of Old Maid - safe and lifeless. I know that goes against popular thought. But the Kingdom of God is not advanced by cautious, safety-conscious Christians anyway.

The training and equipping of a young believer can have ALL of the right stuff - a solid knowledge of God's Word, a true understanding of their authority in Jesus, and a heart on fire in love with God.

Passion without the Word is destructive. But knowledge without passion is simply dead religion. But a heart on fire, equipped with the powerful Word of God and walking in Jesus' true authority is what leads to an explosive Critical Mass, in an individual, in the church, and in reaching the world.

Shouldn't we seek to have ALL of that? More, should we settle for giving less to the young lives we will be sending out to the Battle of the Ages?