Eph. 5:17-18
... Before I begin, I have prayerfully considered this post since the other string on marijuana began. From reading that, very, left leaning string on paying for medical help to getting high, I have been praying for some of the posters there. As a Recovered Alcoholic/rail running, pill popping, needle pushing, dope smoking Junkie, I am qualified to say what God has put on my heart. I already know that some of you have already had your toes stepped on by the Spirit of God, about this, before I ever begin. I cannot apologize for obeying my LORD and allowing Him to deliver one more tweaking surge of irritation to force you to follow Him in all things.
... To begin with I have over sixty scars on my Spinal Column, Brain Stem and Brain and I know pain, we hang out a lot! As of this point, almost forty years into RRMS I am refusing Morphine and other narcotics. There is no reason for the drugs that, because of Cancer, my grandfather and my mother turned themselves off with beating the pain. 1Cor. 10 1-14 Just as Paul would not have you blindly follow the blind, neither would I. The scripture is the truth, I awake every morning with crushing pain through-out my limbs, torso, kneck and head. The doctors at the VA have, more than once, offered me some stronger medicine (translated Morphine, a.k.a. highly refined Heroine) and I have, and will, with the strength of my Savior, continue to refuse that drunken stupor.
... In the past I have had folks refuse the wisdom contained in the Eph. 5:17-18 reference and some have characterized their rebellion as rebuking me for being so foolish as to apply this passage to Whiskey and Drugs. I will not be surprised to see that unprayed for attempt here also. i would ask you in the forums and those on my e-mail list to pray before you light into me. There are a multitude of Scriptures that apply to this issue and a hard copy or a computer volume of the Nave's Topical Bible will yeild an arm full of them
... 1Cor. 8:13 Here we find that Paul, because of His Old Testament knowledge will even go Vegetarian to keep from offending a brother. And we LOL and boast of the benefits of selling a drug that will do nothing more than provide one more legal high and some here will object to my stating that you are calling down upon yourselves the same judgment that the LORD has chosen for the millions of teachers like myself. (James 3:1-6)
... I ask each of you, no matter n the left or on the right, prayerfully consider what you teach! Every time you speak ad every time you post here or elsewhere, you are teaching, whether it be right or wrong.
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
Friday, September 11, 2009
God Rules
God Rules
Psa 9:1 For the Chief Musician; set to Muth-labben. A Psalm of David. I will give thanks unto Jehovah with my whole heart; I will show forth all thy marvellous works.
To thank someone is to accomplish an action, the word is a verb. My whole heart tells me that we are to feel earnest about this action.
Psa 9:2 I will be glad and exult in thee; I will sing praise to thy name, O thou Most High.
Miriam Webster defines exult as leaping for joy! Not just on Sunday, but on everyday, all day long we can sing praises to God remembering that Most High means just that, there is no one and no thing that can stand on God's level. What great work have you seen God do with your own eyes?
Psa 9:3 When mine enemies turn back, They stumble and perish at thy presence.
We know that we are in the presence of God and we have seen in the scriptures, Jos. 5:13_15, and that He wil not abandon us. On the other hand, as soon as or enemy loses heart, eve before he does, he is defeated.
Psa 9:4 For thou hast maintained my right and my cause; Thou sittest in the throne judging righteously.
In the first half of this verse we see that it is God that guarded over David and maintained the appropriate justice for him. In the second part we find him affirming God to be the same type of judge that He commanded all judges to be, righteous!
Psa 9:5 Thou hast rebuked the nations, thou hast destroyed the wicked; Thou hast blotted out their name for ever and ever.
Here David appears to be speaking of not just the people of Canaan although they are a very good example to use. In my studies in the past I have noted that archeology has found the Canaanites to be a people riddled with STDs. Not only were they a diseased people but hey worshipped the gods of this world and did not seek after God.
Psa 9:6 The enemy are come to an end, they are desolate for ever; And the cities which thou hast overthrown, The very remembrance of them is perished.
If it were not for them being mentioned in the Bible the world might never have even searched out any information on them.
Psa 9:7 But Jehovah sitteth as king for ever: He hath prepared his throne for judgment;
Unlike the kingdoms of this world God's kingdom will never perish. In the Kingdom of God we find the Bema Seat of Judgment and the Great White Throne.
Psa 9:8 And he will judge the world in righteousness, He will minister judgment to the peoples in uprightness.
When God is seated at the thrones we will ever worry about someone “priming the pump” to see their desires come to the fore ground. The judgment of God is even and always fair.
God Remembers
Psa 9:9 Jehovah also will be a high tower for the oppressed, A high tower in times of trouble;
I prefer to teach, standing on the ground that I know from experience and in the case of the infantrymen that I had the privilege to serve, my helicopter, dropping from the sky to pull them to safety was their high tower and they often admired us so much that we had to be very careful of it. In a similar fashion my high tower was, I, then thought, was the nuts in those gunships and fighter planes that flew hundreds of miles per hour and dropped down inside those trees to get us safely home.
In the same manor God is there for His people. I look back at the time before I decided to serve God, even though I understood He had called me, and I break out in tears remembering the times I had already given up and God stepped in a preserved me and the men on my aircraft. Unlike the fighters from the Air Force and the Navy god is always on time because He is ever vigilant ad does not need to do a preflight and then launch, He's there before the trouble begins.
Psa 9:10 And they that know thy name will put their trust in thee; For thou, Jehovah, hast not forsaken them that seek thee.
John 15:15 Jesus, our LORD ad God has called us His friend. Just as the men that jumped on the grenades to save their friends lives, Jesus hung on that cross to purchase our pardon from the sin of our lives ad there is nobody as rust worthy as he that will die for you. The only price we must pay is to seek Him and His forgivness.
Psa 9:11 Sing praises to Jehovah, who dwelleth in Zion: Declare among the people his doings.
We should go to sleep at night humming the hymns like Amazing Grace, awaken to singing ad remembering them and then proclaim to the world why it is that we are so happy.
Psa 9:12 For he that maketh inquisition for blood remembereth them; He forgetteth not the cry of the poor.
We have such a promise from God! Even when the evil man thinks he has on, he has lost. Our God will never forget the injustice folks try to perform against us. Just as we will be rewarded at the Bema Seat the oppressors will be judged all the more harshly at the Great White Throne.
God Rescues
Psa 9:13 Have mercy upon me, O Jehovah; Behold my affliction which I suffer of them that hate me, Thou that liftest me up from the gates of death;
Here, it is very possible that David was facing death. We know from studying the book of Ruth that important decisions were settled at the gate of the city and we know that he was pursued by his enemies that sought to murder the king. Still, David calls out to God to preserve him, not for his sake but for the sake of God's memory. David always remembered God's name and what it meant.
Psa 9:14 That I may show forth all thy praise. In the gates of the daughter of Zion I will rejoice in thy salvation.
From the gates of death to the gates f the daughter of Zion is a remarkable contrast.
After walking with death nipping at my heels for 30 months on the field of combat the first place I went was not home. I purchased a room in the Rice Hotel, in downtown Houston, less than ten miles from my dad's house, my home. There was a journey that needed to be made. Not acknowledging that God had been protecting me I had, early on, admitted that I was a dead man walking. I suspect that David, like myself, had a journey to make back into life. The committed Christians I knew made that journey much easier than I and other lost men did because they knew God and had only to readjust to people nt trying to kill them every day. They already, like David, knew that God was for them. David, with his enemy in persuit of him already knew the joy of his salvation, no matter the outcome.
Psa 9:15 The nations are sunk down in the pit that they made: In the net which they hid is their own foot taken.
The lost man, the man of the world cannot prevail against God's chosen God snares them in their own traps.
Psa 9:16 Jehovah hath made himself known, he hath executed judgment: The wicked is snared in the work of his own hands. Higgaion. Selah.
Psa 9:1 For the Chief Musician; set to Muth-labben. A Psalm of David. I will give thanks unto Jehovah with my whole heart; I will show forth all thy marvellous works.
To thank someone is to accomplish an action, the word is a verb. My whole heart tells me that we are to feel earnest about this action.
Psa 9:2 I will be glad and exult in thee; I will sing praise to thy name, O thou Most High.
Miriam Webster defines exult as leaping for joy! Not just on Sunday, but on everyday, all day long we can sing praises to God remembering that Most High means just that, there is no one and no thing that can stand on God's level. What great work have you seen God do with your own eyes?
Psa 9:3 When mine enemies turn back, They stumble and perish at thy presence.
We know that we are in the presence of God and we have seen in the scriptures, Jos. 5:13_15, and that He wil not abandon us. On the other hand, as soon as or enemy loses heart, eve before he does, he is defeated.
Psa 9:4 For thou hast maintained my right and my cause; Thou sittest in the throne judging righteously.
In the first half of this verse we see that it is God that guarded over David and maintained the appropriate justice for him. In the second part we find him affirming God to be the same type of judge that He commanded all judges to be, righteous!
Psa 9:5 Thou hast rebuked the nations, thou hast destroyed the wicked; Thou hast blotted out their name for ever and ever.
Here David appears to be speaking of not just the people of Canaan although they are a very good example to use. In my studies in the past I have noted that archeology has found the Canaanites to be a people riddled with STDs. Not only were they a diseased people but hey worshipped the gods of this world and did not seek after God.
Psa 9:6 The enemy are come to an end, they are desolate for ever; And the cities which thou hast overthrown, The very remembrance of them is perished.
If it were not for them being mentioned in the Bible the world might never have even searched out any information on them.
Psa 9:7 But Jehovah sitteth as king for ever: He hath prepared his throne for judgment;
Unlike the kingdoms of this world God's kingdom will never perish. In the Kingdom of God we find the Bema Seat of Judgment and the Great White Throne.
Psa 9:8 And he will judge the world in righteousness, He will minister judgment to the peoples in uprightness.
When God is seated at the thrones we will ever worry about someone “priming the pump” to see their desires come to the fore ground. The judgment of God is even and always fair.
God Remembers
Psa 9:9 Jehovah also will be a high tower for the oppressed, A high tower in times of trouble;
I prefer to teach, standing on the ground that I know from experience and in the case of the infantrymen that I had the privilege to serve, my helicopter, dropping from the sky to pull them to safety was their high tower and they often admired us so much that we had to be very careful of it. In a similar fashion my high tower was, I, then thought, was the nuts in those gunships and fighter planes that flew hundreds of miles per hour and dropped down inside those trees to get us safely home.
In the same manor God is there for His people. I look back at the time before I decided to serve God, even though I understood He had called me, and I break out in tears remembering the times I had already given up and God stepped in a preserved me and the men on my aircraft. Unlike the fighters from the Air Force and the Navy god is always on time because He is ever vigilant ad does not need to do a preflight and then launch, He's there before the trouble begins.
Psa 9:10 And they that know thy name will put their trust in thee; For thou, Jehovah, hast not forsaken them that seek thee.
John 15:15 Jesus, our LORD ad God has called us His friend. Just as the men that jumped on the grenades to save their friends lives, Jesus hung on that cross to purchase our pardon from the sin of our lives ad there is nobody as rust worthy as he that will die for you. The only price we must pay is to seek Him and His forgivness.
Psa 9:11 Sing praises to Jehovah, who dwelleth in Zion: Declare among the people his doings.
We should go to sleep at night humming the hymns like Amazing Grace, awaken to singing ad remembering them and then proclaim to the world why it is that we are so happy.
Psa 9:12 For he that maketh inquisition for blood remembereth them; He forgetteth not the cry of the poor.
We have such a promise from God! Even when the evil man thinks he has on, he has lost. Our God will never forget the injustice folks try to perform against us. Just as we will be rewarded at the Bema Seat the oppressors will be judged all the more harshly at the Great White Throne.
God Rescues
Psa 9:13 Have mercy upon me, O Jehovah; Behold my affliction which I suffer of them that hate me, Thou that liftest me up from the gates of death;
Here, it is very possible that David was facing death. We know from studying the book of Ruth that important decisions were settled at the gate of the city and we know that he was pursued by his enemies that sought to murder the king. Still, David calls out to God to preserve him, not for his sake but for the sake of God's memory. David always remembered God's name and what it meant.
Psa 9:14 That I may show forth all thy praise. In the gates of the daughter of Zion I will rejoice in thy salvation.
From the gates of death to the gates f the daughter of Zion is a remarkable contrast.
After walking with death nipping at my heels for 30 months on the field of combat the first place I went was not home. I purchased a room in the Rice Hotel, in downtown Houston, less than ten miles from my dad's house, my home. There was a journey that needed to be made. Not acknowledging that God had been protecting me I had, early on, admitted that I was a dead man walking. I suspect that David, like myself, had a journey to make back into life. The committed Christians I knew made that journey much easier than I and other lost men did because they knew God and had only to readjust to people nt trying to kill them every day. They already, like David, knew that God was for them. David, with his enemy in persuit of him already knew the joy of his salvation, no matter the outcome.
Psa 9:15 The nations are sunk down in the pit that they made: In the net which they hid is their own foot taken.
The lost man, the man of the world cannot prevail against God's chosen God snares them in their own traps.
Psa 9:16 Jehovah hath made himself known, he hath executed judgment: The wicked is snared in the work of his own hands. Higgaion. Selah.
Thursday, September 10, 2009
Hush
... There is a movement afoot today to shut the mouths of the Bible believing Christian. It is not the first time I've been instructed to hush my mouth but recently I was instructed that comments like mine, warning of the dangers of Rodney Howard Brown and his charge at Lakeland Church, in Florida, to close your Bibles, God is not going to speak to you from there, were heresy, are the voice that have wrought great damage to the church universal.
... My answer to these charges has always been the Word of God. Here I went to Second Timothy, First Timothy 6:20 and First Corinthians 16:13 Be on your Guard, stand firm in the faith. The most notable truth about the attempts to silence the strong voice of God is that they almost never offer any scripture, as was this last case, and when they do it is scripture that is ripped from it's context and is severely misapplied.
... The very moment that the Godly Man does nothing, evil takes hold. If we know the truth and we allow people to intimidate us we end up watching the TV News and seeing incidents like the Waco Tragedy and the Jonestown Suicides. It is increasingly popular today to silence the man that has chosen the Narrow Path but I tell you that the moment you forget who you are and the Commands of Him that called you, you have become an unfaithful servant. We must always remember Rom. 8:31, in the crowd of a thousand lost men, God and I alone are the majority.
... My answer to these charges has always been the Word of God. Here I went to Second Timothy, First Timothy 6:20 and First Corinthians 16:13 Be on your Guard, stand firm in the faith. The most notable truth about the attempts to silence the strong voice of God is that they almost never offer any scripture, as was this last case, and when they do it is scripture that is ripped from it's context and is severely misapplied.
... The very moment that the Godly Man does nothing, evil takes hold. If we know the truth and we allow people to intimidate us we end up watching the TV News and seeing incidents like the Waco Tragedy and the Jonestown Suicides. It is increasingly popular today to silence the man that has chosen the Narrow Path but I tell you that the moment you forget who you are and the Commands of Him that called you, you have become an unfaithful servant. We must always remember Rom. 8:31, in the crowd of a thousand lost men, God and I alone are the majority.
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
Knowing God!
...I have noticed in the past 18+ years that folks tend to be very skeptical when it comes to matters concerning God and the scriptures and I see a great deal of confusion running rampant, even inside the walls of the church building. This is a sad commentary when King David has made it so clear in Psalm 19 that the revelation of God, His glory and even His power can be seen and experienced every day of our lives. I will confess to having seen the glory of God in a manor that is not available to most of the world. There is no more majestic and ever changing view of God's creative powers than from the Pilot's or the co-pilot's seat of a small aircraft. I can easily and I do feel sorry for everyone that has not flown some small craft over the world at the various times of the day because not only do you see the majesty He has wrought, He actually flies with you and the experience is one that cannot be duplicated.
...But that is not the only way to see the handiwork of God. Most of you can take a car trip to the Rockies, the Alps or another of the many mountain ranges of the world and from there view the world from a lofty perspective. Just after I began flying with the US Army I had the opportunity to cross Love Pass in Colorado while on my way to my new duty station in Georgia. The world is a majestic thing to observe from over twelve thousand feet above the sea. But you don't even need to go that far. My wife and my sister-in-law fell in love with God's ocean one day as we went deep sea fishing in the Gulf of Mexico. There was a hurricane in the Gulf that was not headed for us but the seas were fifteen foot that day. As the sixty-five foot boat pushed out a hundred miles the waves were cut in half by the deep “v” hull and the water rolled from the bow to the stern as we pushed deeper into the Gulf. My sister-in-law learned that day why her, just passed, husband loved the ocean and why it spoke of God to him more than most things did. But it is simpler than that. Just pour a glass or a cup of your favorite beverage, sit on the porch and watch and listen to the birds. God knows the position an the condition of every Sparrow and He cares much more about you.
... I have lived such a life that I have often been called a liar for the telling of it, God has truly blessed me. But a man or a woman need not live the way I did to enjoy God. God stands at the door knocking, He has a plan for everyone of us and the only reason we do not have is because we ask amiss or we never ask. We ask amiss because we do not study to know God and when we do not ask at all it is because we lack faith. Studying the scriptures, these past 18 years, has drawn me ever closer to God and the closer I move towards Him, the stronger my faith becomes.
... My “formula” for knowing God? There is none! With prayer and prayerful study you will find growth in your faith and you will feel God reach out and touch you. When that happens you will cry great tears of joy and you, a grown man, will not feel any shame, God will be right there with you!
Tuesday, August 4, 2009
Baptism of the Holy Spirit
Of the Holy Ghost
General references
Isa_44:3; Joe_2:28-29; Zec_12:10; Mat_3:11; Mar_1:8; Luk_3:16; Mat_3:16; Luk_3:22; Joh_1:32-33; Luk_24:49; Joh_3:5; Act_1:5; Act_2:1-4; Act_2:38; Act_2:41; Act_8:15-17; Act_10:38; Act_10:44-45; Act_10:47; Act_11:15-16; Act_19:2; 1Co_12:13; Tit_3:5-6; 1Pe_3:20-21
... (The Bible Study is from the Nave's Topical Bible.) With the populrization of televangelism the question of when does one receive the Baptism of the Holy Spirit has become a major question. To settle the issue is a very difficult proposition. The number one thing that I always caution folks about is to never allow any verse, removed from it's context, to become a standard they live by. Although there are a few that will disagree, the Bible is the Living Word of God and the author of the entire book is Jesus the Christ. (John 1:1-5) This being the case I submit that the entire Bible fron Genesis through the last Amen of Revelation is the context that any verseis found to be in. This, of course, means that we need to read the entire book, just as it is published, at least once in our lives. Twice is better and so on.
... This subject, being a hot spot, is much debated and seldom referenced to the entirety of scripture. If this post follows form there will be a few that, rather than agree to disagree, will want to hotly contest my findings from my studies since Jan. 1990. Since the timing of the receiving of the Spirit of God is not a salvation issue (there is another point of contention) there will be few disparaging comments that I will reply to, what the Word of God say, it says!
... The Bible backs up what I am about to relate from my life and hence the short Bible study at the beginning. From November of 1967 the Holy Spirit troubled my soul to be saved and I put it off until January 1, 1990. It's tough to get away from God when he is beside you, behind you and in front of you, every time you move. I tried for every day of every one of those years to get away, not realizing that I was marked by God for His purpose. Why is not important here, what is, is the events that occurred on stage that New Years morning, just after Midnight, bar time.
... In the middle of singing in the New Year for the drunks the Holy Spirit overwhelmed me and ended my performance and all my attempts at a career in Country Music. The Holy Spirit of God indwelt me from that moment forward. I was in church as so as I could find the door open and I was baptized just before my 45th birthday, the 25th of that month. From that moment on stage I have been being filled with the Holy Spirit and the most important things in my life changed completely because I sought to be obedient and thirsted after the continued in filling of the Holy Spirit.
... In short I was baptized with the Holy Spirit of God before I was obedient and was dunked in the ater as a public testimony of my decision. I did not come away speaking in tongues, all of the gifts are not for everyone. Hold firm to your faith and study your Bible, it holds all the answers.
Thursday, July 30, 2009
Be Thou Holy!
Be Thou Holy
Romans 2:
1 Wherefore thou art without excuse, O man, whosoever thou art that judgest: for wherein thou judges another, thou condemnest thyself; for thou that judgest dost practise the same things.
2 And we know that the judgment of God is according to truth against them that practise such things.
3 And reckonest thou this, O man, who judgest them that practise such things, and doest the same, that thou shalt escape the judgment of God?
4 Or despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance? (ASV)
2 And we know that the judgment of God is according to truth against them that practise such things.
3 And reckonest thou this, O man, who judgest them that practise such things, and doest the same, that thou shalt escape the judgment of God?
4 Or despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance? (ASV)
Today, it is very difficult to tell the Christian from the world, it should not be so. Just as it states in verse one of Romans 2, we, the Christians, are without excuse. We go into the church building on Sunday, carrying our 10 pound Study Bibles that although they are ten years old, they appear as brand new. If we look inside they are even more impressive, not so much as a pencil mark or a smudge on the pages. And then we run around and instead of making ourselves available to answer questions that the prostitute and the drug dealer might have, we push them aside and condemn them to Hell for eternal suffering.
Am I suggesting that they are not bound for Hell? Certainly not! Am I then suggesting that we not judge good from evil? Again, I say no! We are given the Great Commission and it is not a great suggestion. When we were without hope, before we made Jesus our Master we were slaves to sin and there was nothing we could have ever done to defeat it, sin was our master and the 613 laws of God taught us to identify why God would have no part with us. For that reason, the Son of God descended from His Throne and lived with us for about 33 years and sacrificed His sinless body. God, Himself, paid the deb we owed and the moment we accepted the receipt for that payment we were purchased and we are now the Bond Slaves of God.
“But,” you say, “I never even dealt with a hooker, let alone be one.” Remember the Ten Commandments? Not one single man has ever lived his or her life on this earth and has managed to not break one of the ten. Add to that the other six hundred and three and then realize that when you stole that candy-bar at the age of six, without knowing it, you broke God's Law and since all of the Law is one unit, you are guilty of breaking all of it. There is no sliding scale that renders one offense to be more serious than the others, sin is just that... sin! Our mission is Matthew 28:18 – 20. We are not to beat folks up with our heavy study Bibles, no, we are to look on them and our judgment is to discern the sinner form the saved man and the religious fanatic and to befriend them and to help them find the foot of the cross, just as someone, at some point in our lives did for us.
So, I ask you, is a run-away, disobedient slave any less a sinner than the wino or the hooker? They are still slaves to the Law that condemns them and we, God's Bond Servants have the freedom to refuse to sin any more. They, without our help, have no choice, the Law has already condemned them and except that we come along side of them and be willing to assist them they will spend eternity in Hell. I do not know who said it but someone once suggested that everyone of us should preach every day of our lives and if required, even use words to do so.
In Romans, chapt. 6, we learn that we have not only the choice to live a righteous life but we go on to verse one of chapter 12 and we find that it is our reasonable service to do so. If we live a ood life in the midst of a world filled with sin, people not only notice that we are different, they want to know why we are able to be that way, then you can speak and not offend anyone because they asked you to explain. So my advise comes right from the Word of God. Stop carrying that big leather bound Bible around for looks and begin to study and to do s with prayer for God to teach you to be more like Him, He'll do that, I know from experience. There once lived a man on the north side of Houston known as Cowboy Bill and he turned from his path of sins and God made him into Bill Taylor, Bond Servant of the Most Holy God.
Monday, July 27, 2009
Can the Bible be trusted?
I have oft been asked this question and just today answered it once more.
Petey,
... I'm known as something of a stickler on what I'm about to say and that would be because I really am. There are many religions and religious factions and I will always teach that any of them are good for getting one into Hell. I am a Baptist by religion just as you were raised a Lutheran. The catch here is that there will be no Baptists and there'll be no Lutherans in Heaven. What we'll find in Heaven are Christians and a Christian, today, is a very convoluted term. A Christian, the ones that go to Heaven, are the few that have established an on going relationship with God.
... Why is that important to your question? The Christian is not only in an on going conversation with God but is indwelt with the Holy Spirit of God. (Jon 7:37-39) So you see, from the natural man's point of view, I must say that I do not know but from the Spirit driven man it is obvious to us that the words of the scriptures are the Word of God because the Spirit testifies of the truth of the Word to us.
... For the natural man, that has not completely surrendered his life to God, it would seem to me that there would be only one path to ever understanding the truth of God's Word, the same path that I took to get here. I first had to come to the understanding that God is. From that point forward God built my faith and has remained with me through everything.
... I am often confronted with the idea that the Bible has been translated and retranslated, over and over and for this reason can not be accurate. Being a person that has traveled the world I know the problems with languages and understand where this complaint comes from. There is just one problem with this idea and it is a monster problem. The God that inspired this book and the translation of it is the Immutable, Omnipotent God that spoke and the Universe sprung into being... from nothing. To believe that God can not keep His word secure from the secretaries He used to write it and from the translators He inspired to translate it into the languages is to believe in an impotent god that is no more powerful than the stone and wooden gods along the path in the gardens of Japan.
... I pray that this helps you to grow closer to God and that God will pour out a blessing you cannot contain because of your faith in Him.
Petey,
... I'm known as something of a stickler on what I'm about to say and that would be because I really am. There are many religions and religious factions and I will always teach that any of them are good for getting one into Hell. I am a Baptist by religion just as you were raised a Lutheran. The catch here is that there will be no Baptists and there'll be no Lutherans in Heaven. What we'll find in Heaven are Christians and a Christian, today, is a very convoluted term. A Christian, the ones that go to Heaven, are the few that have established an on going relationship with God.
... Why is that important to your question? The Christian is not only in an on going conversation with God but is indwelt with the Holy Spirit of God. (Jon 7:37-39) So you see, from the natural man's point of view, I must say that I do not know but from the Spirit driven man it is obvious to us that the words of the scriptures are the Word of God because the Spirit testifies of the truth of the Word to us.
... For the natural man, that has not completely surrendered his life to God, it would seem to me that there would be only one path to ever understanding the truth of God's Word, the same path that I took to get here. I first had to come to the understanding that God is. From that point forward God built my faith and has remained with me through everything.
... I am often confronted with the idea that the Bible has been translated and retranslated, over and over and for this reason can not be accurate. Being a person that has traveled the world I know the problems with languages and understand where this complaint comes from. There is just one problem with this idea and it is a monster problem. The God that inspired this book and the translation of it is the Immutable, Omnipotent God that spoke and the Universe sprung into being... from nothing. To believe that God can not keep His word secure from the secretaries He used to write it and from the translators He inspired to translate it into the languages is to believe in an impotent god that is no more powerful than the stone and wooden gods along the path in the gardens of Japan.
... I pray that this helps you to grow closer to God and that God will pour out a blessing you cannot contain because of your faith in Him.
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