Answer: The Lord Jesus has explained this question very clearly. John 5:39–40: “Search the scriptures; for in them you think you have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me. And you will not come to me, that you might have life.” The Lord Jesus explained the relationship between the Bible and God very clearly. The Bible is a testimony of God. The Bible itself does not have eternal life and cannot bestow life on man. Only Christ is the truth, the way, and the life. Therefore, only by accepting and following Christ and obeying the words and work of God of the last days, can we gain the truth and eternal life. Let’s take another look at how there are still many people in religious circles who still maintain that “Believing in the Lord is believing in the Bible, departing from the Bible means not believing in the Lord.” They even think that as long as they stick to the Bible they can be brought up into the kingdom of heaven. Isn’t this viewpoint too absurd? Actually, the Bible is just a history book, a record documenting God’s work. If people don’t understand this and keep holding on to the Bible, then let me ask: Can the Bible replace God’s work of the last days? Can the Bible replace Christ in expressing the truth? Can one really gain the truth and life by studying and sticking to the Bible? If people stubbornly hold on to the Scriptures like the Pharisees, does it prove that they follow and obey God? If people only hold on to the Bible but don’t accept or obey the work of Christ in the last days, then how can they gain the truth and life, achieve salvation, be perfected, and enter God’s kingdom? Let’s read a few more passages of Almighty God’s words and we’ll understand this aspect of the truth even more clearly!

Almighty God says, “From the time when there was the Bible, people’s belief in the Lord has been the belief in the Bible. Instead of saying people believe in the Lord, it is better to say they believe in the Bible; rather than saying they have begun reading the Bible, it is better to say they have begun believing in the Bible; and rather than saying they have returned before the Lord, it would be better to say they have returned before the Bible. In this way, people worship the Bible as if it were God, as if it were their lifeblood, and losing it would be the same as losing their life. People see the Bible as being as high as God, and there are even those who see it as higher than God. If people are without the work of the Holy Spirit, if they cannot feel God, they can carry on living—but as soon as they lose the Bible, or lose the famous chapters and sayings from the Bible, then it is as if they have lost their life” (The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. Concerning the Bible (1)).

“They believe in My existence only within the scope of the Bible, and they equate Me with the Bible; without the Bible there is no Me, and without Me there is no Bible. They pay no heed to My existence or actions, but instead devote extreme and special attention to each and every word of Scripture. Many more even believe that I should not do anything I wish to do unless it is foretold by Scripture. They attach too much importance to Scripture. It can be said that they see words and expressions as too important, to the extent that they use verses from the Bible to measure every word I say and to condemn Me. What they seek is not the way of compatibility with Me or the way of compatibility with the truth, but the way of compatibility with the words of the Bible, and they believe that anything that does not conform to the Bible is, without exception, not My work. Are such people not the dutiful descendants of the Pharisees? The Jewish Pharisees used the law of Moses to condemn Jesus. They did not seek compatibility with the Jesus of that time, but diligently followed the law to the letter, to the extent that—after having charged Him with not following the law of the Old Testament and not being the Messiah—they ultimately nailed the innocent Jesus to the cross. What was their substance? Was it not that they didn’t seek the way of compatibility with the truth? They obsessed over each and every word of Scripture while paying heed neither to My will nor to the steps and methods of My work. They were not people who sought the truth, but people who rigidly clung to words; they were not people who believed in God, but people who believed in the Bible. Essentially, they were watchdogs of the Bible. In order to safeguard the interests of the Bible, to uphold the dignity of the Bible, and to protect the reputation of the Bible, they went so far as to nail the merciful Jesus to the cross. This they did merely for the sake of defending the Bible, and for the sake of maintaining the status of each and every word of the Bible in people’s hearts. So they preferred to forsake their future and the sin offering to condemn Jesus, who did not conform to the doctrine of Scripture, to death. Were they not all lackeys to each and every word of Scripture?

And what of people today? Christ has come to release the truth, yet they would rather expel Him from this world so that they may gain entry into heaven and receive grace. They would rather completely deny the coming of the truth in order to safeguard the interests of the Bible, and they would rather nail the Christ returned to flesh to the cross again in order to ensure the everlasting existence of the Bible. How can man receive My salvation when his heart is so malicious and his nature so antagonistic toward Me?” (The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. You Should Seek the Way of Compatibility With Christ).

Almighty God’s words have clearly exposed the religious leaders who simply exalt the Bible and bear witness to the Bible but never exalt or bear witness to God, and also exposed the truth and essence of their using the Bible to replace God and impersonate God and their using the words of the Bible to resist and condemn God’s work, completely exposing their truth-hating and God-opposing satanic nature. Think back to the time when the Pharisees stubbornly held on to the Scriptures and delimited God within the Scriptures. They never sought the truth or God’s footsteps. Even though the Lord Jesus, when preaching and doing His work, expressed many truths and performed many signs and wonders, already demonstrating God’s authority and power, what did the Pharisees do? They didn’t care how profound the Lord Jesus’ preaching was or how great His authority was. As long as it did not conform with the words of the Scriptures, they would furiously condemn and resist the Lord Jesus. And because the Lord Jesus expressed the word of God, they condemned and blasphemed the words of the Lord Jesus as blasphemy, and in the end nailed the merciful Lord Jesus to the cross alive, completely exposing their truth-hating and God-opposing satanic nature. Today, religious pastors and elders are just like the Pharisees of old. They do all they can to exalt and bear witness to the Bible, but never exalt or bear witness to the Lord, and moreover don’t proclaim and bear witness to the words of the Lord and all the truths expressed by the Lord. They specialize in talking about Bible knowledge and theology, spreading various paradoxical, empty spiritual theories to deceive, control, and bind people, saying, “All of God’s utterances and work are recorded in the Bible, there are no utterances and work of God outside of the Bible, Belief in God is belief in the Bible, departing from the Bible means not believing in God, One only needs to hold firm to the Bible to be taken up into the kingdom of heaven,” making everyone mistakenly believe that the eternal life is contained in the Bible, and that people only need to stick to the Bible to be able to enter the kingdom of heaven and receive eternal life. Before they knew it, the Bible replaced God’s position in people’s hearts. Everyone blindly believes in and worships the Bible, and treats the Bible as God. Imperceptibly, the Bible has become a binding spell for believers, and the Lord’s position in the hearts of people is completely gone. What would be the consequence of this? People’s faith in and knowledge of the Lord are reduced to nothing! This is the consequence of letting religious pastors and elders explain the Bible.

—The movie script of Break the Spell