Search The Scriptures

John 5:39
You diligently study the Scriptures because you think that by them you possess eternal life. These are the Scriptures that testify about me,


I visited my wife's church on Sunday. The preacher spent much of his time on a passage from the Old Testament regarding, God speaking the Word.
From this he built his sermon against, those who don't believe in hell, those that don't believe in the devil, those that don't believe Jesus is coming again in a so called "Rapture" a word not even found in scripture. He continued to say he couldnt see how if God could hold the stars and the universe together for all this time, why he couldn't keep every dot, tittle and all of the written Bible in perfect order as it was inspired and written. He just doesn't believe that men could have tampered with the Word of God, or mistranslated. or made any mistakes of it's writing as it is written in his Bible. Of course, I don't know which version he chooses to read.
His entire sermon though using Jesus as the directive was based on what I call book worship rather than person worship, particularly the worship of God, or the salvation that is in Christ. Christ didn't come for us to worship the book, but the spoken word of God, as the Spirit of God speaks to each man, woman or child. I am not saying the Bible isn't the means whereby God speaks to us, but the Pastor even made the statement he wanted them to use it like a horoscope to see what God individually has in store for each one of them on a day to day basis. I don't think that is the reason we have the Bible today to turn it into our own personal messages of personal wishes, and desires.
I believe he is missing the point, it isn't about doctrines, man's traditions, creeds, or even Bible worship. If the Bible is what provides salvation then the Jews should have never rebelled time after time. To be matter of fact he took part of a passage in the Old and developed his whole sermon on the idea that God has written the Bible and it is with us - every dot and tittle as when it was first written.
It would pay that Pastor to look at his own introduction to the Bible he has, and note the words in italic, which the authors admit these words are not in the original scripture but added by them to make it more readable in the English language.
It would pay him to study the original languages to which they were written in, to find the words as they were put down.
It would pay him to realize that it is not the "letter of the word" that we need to be concerned with, it is the "spirit" of the word we must be concerned with.
It would pay him to realize there was an Old Covenant and now there is a New Covenant.
It would pay him to read these letters and passages not as if they were personally written to him, like some try to make the newspaper horoscope. These words are and all have audience relevance to the time, the culture, the people, and the body of Israel in the Old, and the body of Christ in the new, that lived then and there.
Now, am I saying the scriptures aren't for us, absolutely not, but they weren't written to us. These were real people that wrote God inspired words to the people of the times in which they lived, in their culture, in their understanding of things. He forgot or doesn't know that the scribes desperately kept to the dot and tittle of the words of Moses and the Prophets, but that didn't matter, because they too, like himself gave them a subjective meaning rather than the objective intention they were written in. They took the word of God and wrote into it, in their teaching, their own interpretations of the Old Testament and created what Jesus himself referred to as the "tradition of the elders" or as some translations read, "the traditions of men".
He forgets that they had a people who were very concerned with writing down the words just as they originally were, but yet transgressed everyone of them, then justified themselves by interpreting those words to fit their interpretation of things, rather, than a knowledge of God, they came to a knowledge they preferred to fit into their own theology.
Now the Hebrews didnt change the words of the Torah, but instead not unlike the Catholic church and the Protestant pagans, they managed to reinterpret the meaning of words and even more yet, they added a whole tradition of what it meant, eventually which became known as the Mishnah or the Talmud, they re-translated and even worse yet, taught the people to read them a certain way by their leaders, who hungered to hold power over the people. How did they get around the written word, by convincing the people these interpretations of the Law, were the secret oral tradition passed down to Moses and the Elders only- by word of mouth. Not unlike the church is convinced they are orthodox in all they teach, one only has to study early church history to find out how all this "correct teaching" came about. Through power mongering, murder, hatred and more. The facts are the facts, the powers that are and were always determined what the church was to believe. Most if very little really found in the written word. The call it orthodoxy! A misnomer for false church, false prophets and leaders who sought the sheep to follow them for the sake of gain!
They were wise enough to do such things, and managed to do so in many places, but that is the beautiful part of God's true Word, Jesus Christ, the one to whom gives us the Spirit, to know and understand scripture, it is not the words, being perfectly written that gives life, it is not the doctrines or creeds, or sacrodotal exercises of men, that give us life, but it is the story, of God's love to send one man, by speaking life into the womb of a woman named Mary and the bringing forth of Him who lived a life as a human but who listened to the DIVINE Spirit of God within Him, to direct His every thought and action.
It wasn't Jesus argument that the Old Testament had been re-interpreted by the Jews, but that they in thinking by worship of the books would give them life, as if every specific word written in them had some magic to change their hearts, no matter how they wanted to read it, no matter how they studied it, no matter how much they worshipped the Torah, they couldn't find life on those words. The law was a school master to show them there need for
Christ.
Christians cannot find life in the words alone, even if they had never been tampered with, or italicised, or added to, or taken away from or re-interpreted by man's traditions of the hierarchy and the institutional church. A man could read the Bible from beginning to end, over and over again, and yet never find the life of God, that was intended for Him. It is the Living Word that must be spoken into a man's heart, and by the Holy Spirit.
It is Jesus by His Spirit that gives life, It is the overall story of the redemption of men, that give's one life, not that every single word in the book, hasn't or has been tampered with.
It is not the creed of teaching on hell or heaven, or rapture or no rapture, or devil or no devil, that gives life-
it is God through His Son Jesus Christ from which TRUE life comes.
It would pay todays evangelicals to keep the book worship out of their sermons, the building worship as if God needs a house built by men, and the worship as something you do once a week at church out of their sermons and instead focus on the life of Christ within the believer, and that true worship is not what one does on Sunday but how one lives their life in every aspect Monday through Sunday, 24 and 7, for this is worship- to love the Lord thy God with all your heart and mind and soul and to love your neighbor as yourself. This is true worship to live that out in every aspect of life, day in and day out.
Paul made it clear time after time, if the preacher wants to put emphasis on what the Bible says and doesnt say, Paul rebuked and Stephen rebuked and even God rebuked those back in Isaiah who thought that a building held God's presence.
It would pay the Pastor to not only to stand as he says on what he thinks it says, but to stand on those things which are true and not just acceptable by the religious community.
It is like in the New Testament where it says, that there were many that believed but they wouldnt follow Jesus, for fear they would be kicked out of the Temple-- then the Bible says in very clear words for they loved the respect of men more then they did God, so they didnt' follow Jesus.
I challenge any evangelical preacher to seek Christ and not his suppositions, his taught traditions, and his religion, but to seek God with all his heart up and above all his preconceived ideas based largely on man's traditions and teachings, and He will discover the " spirit of the word which gives life".
It is very clear that the "letter of the word brings death".
It is very clear that people's trust is not to be in a book but in the living Jesus Christ. Jesus made this very clear to the Pharisees.
There He was the LIVING WORD, not the ink on tablets, not on stone, but the LIVING WORD that is written on the hearts of men.
This is the story, that God came to restore men to a place with Him, as son's and daughters, and He took the first begotten to bring about many begotten children by the spiritual life of Christ to live within them. Unless a man is spiritual he can't understand spiritual things, only carnal things. The carnal mind is at enmity with God. The fleshly mind comes up with myths, traditions, and philosphies of men, and pagans, and then re-interprets the written word to read to himself, just what they want it to read.
It pays to not just read the words in a book, but to examine, their meaning, their context, the culture and time for which it was written.
It pays to reason, God didnt give us minds to put on a shelf and be left there to just believe the word of preachers, denominations, or so called orthodoxy, God calls us to test all things- for many anti-christ have gone out into the world.
He tells us come let us reason together, He tells us to study and show ourselves worthy, rightly dividing the word of truth.
Study involves an open mind in which we let the Spirit of God give meaning without going in and reading with preconceived and taught meanings.
We need to be open to God to speak to us. The biggest problem for the Christians today is everyone has a different doctrine , a different interpretation and thus people ask like Pilate, did, "what is truth".
I can tell you the Holy Spirit is to be your only true teacher, and when the Spirit is, the doctrines and letter of the word along with the the thousands of interpretations of that will go away and it will result in only one thing- The Truth- which is Jesus Christ, not the letter of the Word, but the LIVING WORD..
Now in saying that, are you to doubt that every word written in it, is there just as God intended it to be grammatically, liguistically, culturally, theologically, the answer is YES!
You are to doubt that it is actually translated correctly, that nothing has been added, or taken away, that no interpretation is preconceived in reading it. so you will investigate, search, study, and find out what is actually there, and be taught of the Holy Spirit, as I John makes it very clear we are to do. The Pastors, priest and other hierarchy of the church world don't want you to do that, that would take away your reliance upon them versus the Holy Spirit teaching you, and to be quite honest, when you find the Truth, they will be mostly out of the jobs in the sense in the way they practice now.
They will be unable to have you worship them, seek them for spiritual guidance rather than God's Spirit within you, His gracious gift that replaces the priest of Old and you will worship in Spirit and in Truth, not in a building or under a steeple, instead you will become His people.
I put the challenge before you. I won't argue with such ignorant worship of a book, I will argue for the worship which is true toward Christ, and yes it is this book that tells of Him, not how to live, but who is alive and Who can come inside and live their life for you, through you and as you. It's about restoration from death to life, and His resurrection that brings us life here and now, and how that life will continue into eternity because of the work He did, and not we ourselves.
It is time for preachers to quit telling their congregation to worship written words but to worship the living Word, and that will change a man, to love. To love God, and His fellow men, and it will not divide, like the preachers have divided the body of Christ into a thousand different book worshippers, and if there was or is a DEVIL he must laugh in glee when he looks at the church as it is , divided in doctrines, creeds, man's traditions, and surely not fulfilling, the oneness and unity of the body of Christ as the true Ekklesia- the called out one's of God.
I close with this from Jesus words, and I beleive the Bible, by the Spirit, and by the Spirit and my studies of the Greek and Hebrew these words didnt get changed.
39"[a](A)You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; it is these that testify about Me;