{"id":60902,"date":"2005-05-27T15:05:00","date_gmt":"2005-05-27T20:05:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/?p=60902"},"modified":"2023-05-27T15:06:21","modified_gmt":"2023-05-27T20:06:21","slug":"what-makes-the-difference","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-makes-the-difference\/","title":{"rendered":"What Makes the Difference?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\tby Bill Crews<br \/>\n[edited]\n<ul>\n<li>If a man has money and is not willing to have it examined, people think it is counterfeit.<\/li>\n<li>If a man is afraid to take a lie detector test, people think he is guilty of a crime.<\/li>\n<li>If a man conducts a business and is unwilling to let anyone investigate it, folks think he is running a crooked business.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>But, many preachers teach doctrines that under no circumstances will they test or allow to be tested by the Bible. Yet millions of people will accept them as upright, honest teachers of the truth, and will risk their salvation upon them. What makes the difference? The Bible instructs us to try the teachers (I John 4:1). The truth never fears investigation!<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>by Bill Crews [edited] If a man has money and is not willing to have it examined, people think it is counterfeit. If a man is afraid to take a lie detector test, people think he is guilty of a crime. If a man conducts a business and is unwilling to let anyone investigate it,&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[441],"class_list":["post-60902","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-truth"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":16360,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-can-so-many-studious-people-end-up-teaching-different-doctrines\/","url_meta":{"origin":60902,"position":0},"title":"How can so many studious people end up teaching different doctrines?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 13, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: If you have the time and the resources, I think it would be profitable to your visitors if you'll add a workbook on the Christian doctrine. I surely need one. One that discusses the Christian system. A bit of indoctrination as to what you believe to be the truth\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Answer&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":90782,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-it-still-a-mystery\/","url_meta":{"origin":60902,"position":1},"title":"Is It Still a Mystery?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 26, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"by J. F. Dancer, Jr. Some people read the Bible every day. Others read it occasionally, and some never open it. All have different views on what it teaches. Do you think God had it written so that we would \"understand\" it differently, allowing each of us to believe what\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Article&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":39750,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/i-dont-know-what-to-believe-anymore\/","url_meta":{"origin":60902,"position":2},"title":"I don&#8217;t know what to believe anymore","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 18, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I do not know what to believe anymore. I have been a Christian all my life. My prayers have never been answered. The Westboro Church calls themselves true Christians and you say that you are a true follower, but your beliefs go against theirs, so who's right? My mind\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Answer&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":9644,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/spirits-surround-us-at-all-times\/","url_meta":{"origin":60902,"position":3},"title":"Spirits surround us at all times","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"May 2, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I like your website, I'm sure it took a lot of work. There is one part that queries if there are ghosts among us, which effectively answers no. I find this interpretation to be incorrect based on the evidence - spirits surround us at all times. I do not\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Answer&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":40037,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/will-i-go-wrong-following-benny-hinn-joel-olsteen-j-d-jakes-or-joyce-meyer\/","url_meta":{"origin":60902,"position":4},"title":"Will I go wrong following Benny Hinn, Joel Olsteen, J.D. Jakes, or Joyce Meyer?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 31, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hi there, Three days ago I was browsing around YouTube and found Benny Hinn exposed, as well as Joel Osteen. This really scared me since many people follow them. Also, from time to time, some Christians watch them on TV. Do all these people who listen to them and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Answer&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":35801,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-can-i-figure-out-the-truth-when-so-many-people-disagree\/","url_meta":{"origin":60902,"position":5},"title":"How can I figure out the truth when so many people disagree?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 12, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: This is part of the problem I've been having: If something is part of the Old Law then why don't Jews today try to make homosexuality a death penalty in places like Florida, Israel, or anywhere there's a large Jewish population? It is this inconsistency between people and what's\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Answer&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60902","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=60902"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60902\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=60902"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=60902"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=60902"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}