Search these Scriptures daily,

Discover what is true.

Masses follow blindly:

Does that apply to you?

Scrutinize this product

Much like the goods I sell,

Verify its value:

Prove it for yourself!

Pastor Joel Hilliker began the final pyc 2014 Bible study with the above lyrics, recently performed in the song “Prove It for Yourself” from the musical Morning Star. “Most people believe what they hear and assume things to be true without question,” Mr. Hilliker said. Does this apply to you?

This is a question we all need to ask—especially second-generation Christians. 1 Thessalonians 5:21 says: “Prove all things.” You have probably heard it a thousand times—but are you proving the truth? You probably haven’t really proved that this is the one true Church, Mr. Hilliker told the campers, “but in this study, I want to encourage you to prove it for yourself.”

Matthew 7:15 says: “Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.” How willing are we to stand up for our beliefs, to stand strong against those who would try to spread a false message? The answer directly relates to how well we have proven it for ourselves. Peter intended to stay with Christ right to the death (Matthew 26:33-35), but when push came to shove, he vehemently denied Christ three times! We can have the best intentions in the world, but if we haven’t really proven what we believe, how can we stand up for it?

1 Thessalonians 5:21 not only says to “[p]rove all things,” but also to “hold fast to that which is good.” We cannot expect to hold fast to the truth if we have not proven it!

We will not grow if we do not have roots. Mr. Hilliker mentioned the parable of the sower, who sowed seeds that fell on the wayside, some on stony ground, some among thorns, and some on good ground. Only those that fell on good ground were able to take root! We will not survive unless we are strongly rooted and grounded in truth that we have thoroughly proven. Emotion, Mr. Hilliker said, is not the basis of a lasting relationship, and it is definitely not the basis of a religion.

Mr. Hilliker outlined two major truths that we all need to prove. Firstly, we must prove the authority of the Bible as God’s Word.

Have you proven it? Can you stake your life on the fact that the Bible is the divinely inspired Word of God? 2 Timothy 3:16 says, “All scripture is given by inspiration of God ….” That’s an impressive claim for a book to make. Self-help books will claim to help you, but only one book says every word was put there by God. Have you proven it to be true? Proving the Bible is the Word of God is an exhilarating study, Mr. Hilliker said. The more you look into it, the more incredible it becomes!

The Bible is like no other book. It was written over the course of 1,600 years, by 40 different authors, in three different languages, on three different continents! Yet there is no contradiction in its pages! All of it agrees! This is because the 40 different authors received their inspiration from one Master Author, God Himself (Revelation 21:5). God made sure this book would be put together just this way. The God who created the universe wrote a book, and you have a copy of it.

This written Word of God is a tremendous gift, Mr. Hilliker said. It is worth proving! It is worth holding fast to! He admonished all of the campers to collect a copy of Herbert W. Armstrong’s booklet Proof of the Bible after the study.

He then went on to explain one of the primary proofs of the Bible: fulfilled prophecy. Isaiah 46:9-10 show God as one who declares “the end from the beginning.” Could any human make that claim? People try to explain away fulfilled prophecies, arguing that they were written after the fact. But the truth is, even the very people God used to write these prophecies sometimes didn’t understand what they meant (Daniel 12:4, 8-9).

Mr. Hilliker then described some recent fulfilled prophecy—particularly regarding the prophesied rise of Germany. He referenced last week’s Newsweek cover, headlined, “Welcome to the German Century” and BloombergView ’s article by Leonid Bershidsky, “Germans, New Masters of the World.” Mr. Armstrong warned about this resurgence right up until the day he died—and at that time, Germany was still divided into two countries! As Mr. Hilliker said, you can be jumping out of your chair because of this fulfilled prophecy—just as Mr. Armstrong would be!

Once you have proven the authority of the Bible, you have a foundation from which to prove everything else. So what comes next? You will believe what Jesus Christ says in Matthew 16:18, where He states that the Church He founded would never die.

Can you attend just any church? Is that what the Bible teaches? Many people think so, but many do not read their Bibles.

Ephesians 4:16, 1 Corinthians 1:10 and 1 Corinthians 12:25 are just some of many scriptures that prove there is only one true Church, all agreeing on the same doctrines, having no divisions. In fact, Romans 16:17 commands that those who bring different doctrines be marked and avoided! So if you believe the Bible, you therefore believe that there is only one true Church, which has survived since its founding to this day. Where is that Church? Can you prove it?

Some people say that surely all of these religions can’t be wrong. That is what Mr. Armstrong first believed. But the Bible states that is not the case. It says that the whole world has been deceived (Revelation 12:9). That is a lot of people!

Mr. Hilliker recounted a somewhat humorous mass-sheep suicide in Turkey. In 2005, Turkish shepherds could only watch in horror as one sheep stepped off the edge of a 49-foot cliff, only to be followed by hundreds of others. After seeing the first one walk off the edge, the other sheep must have thought, “This must be great!” Mr. Hilliker joked. Four hundred fifty sheep ended up dead. The example poignantly describes the same characteristics in human beings—to just go along with the crowd. And the direction this world is going is straight to the edge of the cliff!

If you are merely a follower, eventually you will follow somebody right off a cliff. 2 Thessalonians 2 describes the falling away of the Laodiceans. Spiritually, they simply followed the man of sin right off the cliff! They were not leaders. 2 Thessalonians 2 shows what was prophesied to happen to the true Church in this end time. This has been fulfilled—just one of the many proofs of where the true Church of God is. The Laodiceans did not love the truth enough (verse 10). They did not prove it, so they simply followed the man of sin right off the edge of a cliff. You have to be a leader. If you prove the truth for yourself, you can be.

Prove what you believe. So that if somebody tries to pull you off track, you will not back down. Prove the doctrines: that God’s government is not a democracy, that God is recreating Himself in man, the true gospel (Galatians 1:8-9). We all have to prove what and why the Church—and to identify what makes the pcg different from the Laodicean churches. We say that we are the only Church that receives revelation from God. That is a bold claim! Do you believe it? Have you proven it?

Acts 17:11 says of the Bereans: “These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so.”

Don’t be a follower. Don’t be careless. Dig into your studies—search the scriptures daily. Learn to love the truth! And prove it for yourself.