Some Stuff They May Not Have Covered in Christianity 101: Part III

 

What the Bible says about itself, the claims it makes, the scope of the Bible, and the fact it was written over a period of 1200 to 1500 years, by over 40 inspired writers, “in sundry times and diverse manners” (Heb. 1:1) is amazing enough to validate it’s claim of it’s own Divine origin, but consider the fact that all of those parts, coming together from all those sources, flows as one cohesive narrative!  Each part supporting and affirming the others.

Beware!

The Bible is The Revelation of God, to man.  It is not to be added to, it is not to be taken away from.  It is perfect, and complete.   God’s Word was given to certain Holy Men directly by the Holy Spirit.  Anyone who makes claims about what the Bible says, should be very careful to know whereof they speak.  Careless handling of the Word will not go unnoted or unaddressed by God.  The Word is to be “studied, and rightly divided” (to rightly divide, is to know the difference between things.  Things that are different cannot be the same.  So we have to compare very carefully in study of the Word.) We are to “compare scripture to scripture”.  Speaking falsely in God’s name is a very serious violation.  Here is what He says in Deuteronomy 18: ²⁰ But the prophet, which shall presume to speak a word in my name, which I have not commanded him to speak, or that shall speak in the name of other gods,  even that prophet shall die. ²¹ And if thou say in thine heart, How shall we know the word which the LORD hath not spoken? ²² When a prophet speaketh in the name of the LORD, if the thing follow not, nor come to pass, that is the thing which the LORD hath not spoken, but the prophet hath spoken it presumptuously: thou shalt not be afraid of him.

There is an alarming number of people today who are referring to themselves as “prophet” and as “apostle”.  They often claim to have been given a dream, a vision, or a “word of knowledge” from the Lord.  In other words: they presume to speak a word in God’s name.  If what they say does not line up with scripture, then they are wrong, period!  The sum of all that God chose to reveal to man is contained in the Holy Bible.

I Timothy 6: 20 O Timothy, keep that which is committed to thy trust, avoiding profane and vain babblings, and oppositions of science falsely so called: 

The word science means knowledge.  This is an admonition to stick with what God has given, (The Holy Bible) because clearly there is some (falsely so-called) “knowledge” that people are claiming has equal authority to that of scripture.  This is happening today!

Vain imaginations, people imagine they are hearing from God, or an angel, or the Holy Spirit, when they are not, and they don’t know the Bible well enough to even know that what they claim has been spoken to them by the Lord, actually contradicts His written Word!   There is a grave penalty for this.  You can read it in Jeremiah 23!   There are not modern-day Apostles or Prophets.  Every old Testament prophet was of the nation of Israel, every writer of every book of the Old Testament was  of the nation of Israel, and every New Testament Apostle was a Jew!   This is not coincidental.  This was part and parcel of the purpose for which the nation of Israel was set apart by God.  Remember:  God founded the Nation of Israel for the purpose of creating a lineage out of which He would bring the Messiah.   Humanity, for the most part, had wandered from their Creator, and idol worship was rampant.  God wanted the world to know that He is God.  Behind ever idol, is Satan.  Satan seeks to steal, kill, destroy and devour.

Vain imaginations come about in those that refuse to give God rightful place.   Romans 1: 21 because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened.  It is a vain imagining, to bow before an idol carved by human hands, but the god of this world  blinds their minds.  Our minds are blinded as soon as we begin to look to, or look for another source of spiritual wisdom other than the Bible. The lust for “secret knowledge” is what led to the first sin in the garden!  Satan tempted Eve to partake of the fruit of the tree of Knowledge of good and evil.  He dangled the “secret things” before them, and they did not resist.  (More on that in a minute).

It’s okay to learn from others, but always with the Bible for comparison and verification.  God tends to allow someone whom He has given over to their gross sin, to go to the deepest extent of that sin.  Ezekiel 14:9 And if the prophet be deceived when he hath spoken a thing, I the LORD have deceived that prophet, and I will stretch out my hand upon him, and will destroy him from the midst of my people Israel.

It is a dangerous trend that people don’t even bring their Bibles to church anymore, because the penalty for anyone who consults a false prophet, to inquire of him, is the same as it is for the false prophet himself. Ezekiel 14:10 And they shall bear the punishment of their iniquity: the punishment of the prophet shall be even as the punishment of him that seeketh unto him;

There is always a progression when someone moves away from God and His truth:  Refusal to glorify God  leads to vain imagination.  Where there is no discernment, deceit will take root.  People begin to imagine all sorts of things, getting ideas that are not scripture, like the idea of emptying your mind and meditating by “listening into the silence”.  No where in the Bible does God tell us to meditate into the silence.  We are to meditate on the Word, and fill our mind with the Word. Satan, disguised as an angel of light, whispers all sorts of things into this “silence” and the next thing you know, you have people barking like dogs, and “drunk in the spirit” and claiming to have “new revelation” or secret knowledge”  This is not of God.  This is blasphemy in the name of the Holy Spirit.  But  even more subtle manifestations must be suspect. Always test the spirits, to see if they be of God.  How do you do that?  Do you ask them?  Do you base it on whether you get “glory bumps” or not?  Emotion!   Blaspheming the Holy Spirit is a very serious offense, as it is the unpardonable sin.  Beware of “hidden knowledge”, private interpretations, and people claiming to have received a message from an angel or God, that they can’t verify by scripture.  Don’t let anyone tell you that the Lord has revealed to them something that has formerly been kept secret.  God Himself has said……

The Secret things belong to the Lord!

The secret things belong unto the LORD our God: but those things which are revealed belong unto us and to our children for ever, that we may do all the words of this law. Deuteronomy 29:29

The Lord said through the Prophet Isaiah (The Messianic Prophet) in chapter 46:

Remember the former things of old, for I am God and there is none else.  I am God, and there is none like me, declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times, the things that are not yet done saying My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure: Calling a ravenous bird from the east, the man that executeth my counsel from a far country: yea, I have spoken it, I will also bring it to pass; I have purposed it, I will also do it.  Hearken unto me, ye stouthearted, that are far from righteousness:  I bring near my righteousness; it shall not be far off, and my salvation shall not tarry: and I will place salvation in Zion for Israel my glory.

Israel is not just some small piece of God’s Master Plan to Redeem the World that whose role has expired.  NO! They are the entire vehicle of  that plan!

There are people, pastors, seminary professors, Sunday School Teachers going around these days claiming that God’s Covenant with Israel is null and void, and that the church has replaced Israel.  This teaching is in error!  It will lead to all manner of distortion and confusion about the scriptures, and particularly in the area of prophecy, as well as division in the body.  It already has! 

The authority of the New Testament Apostles

The authority of the New Testament Apostles, (Jews, all) is built upon that of the prophets before them and anchored for the New Testament in  Hebrews 1:1-2.  We mentioned verse one, previously, but here is the whole passage: 1God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, ² Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds;

In the words of the Apostle Peter, in 2 Peter 1:

For we have not followed cunningly devised fables, when we made known unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of his majesty. ¹⁷ For he received from God the Father honour and glory, when there came such a voice to him from the excellent glory, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. ¹⁸ And this voice which came from heaven we heard, when we were with him in the holy mount. ¹⁹ We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts: ²⁰ Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation. ²¹ For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.

No private interpretation!  My History professor in College wrote his own textbooks and taught from them.  I can safely say I have never understood a textbook better, than when it was taught by the same man who wrote it.  He is the authority on his own work.  Anyone else who might teach from the book, may have done their very best to remain true to the content, but facts are facts, and my professor had gone to great lengths to insure the accuracy of all he had written.  Another professor might not be as committed to accuracy.   Scripture is not to be “interpreted”.  God meant something precise in every part that He wrote, and it is our job to ascertain and remain true to His meaning. Sometimes that takes a great deal of comparison, scripture to scripture. The key to one book, may be tucked away in an entirely other book.  Often an Old Testament passage explains or clarifies a New Testament one, and even vice versa.   Keeo ub ind that a paraphrase is not the same thing as a translation.  Translations must be word by word, not idea for idea.  We are living in the time God spoke of when God said by way of the Prophet Amos: Behold, the days come, saith the Lord GOD, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the LORD:

Oh, there is no shortage of preachers and teachers, and they are serving up lots of what they claim are words of the Lord, evil folks, waxing worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived.  Can you spot the difference?  It is really a matter of eternal life and death!  Can you afford to be wrong?

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