Category: denominationalism

Understand and Enjoy the Bible! #2

Wednesday, January 6, 2016

“And account that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation; even as our beloved brother Paul also according to the wisdom given unto him hath written unto you; As also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things; in which are some things hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest, as they do also the other scriptures, unto their own destruction” (2 Peter 3:15,16 KJV).

Although there is so much confusion about it, can we really understand and enjoy the Bible?

Friends, the Bible is a big Book. The King James Bible contains 1,189 chapters; 31,101 verses; and 791,328 words. Unfortunately, a very small fraction of readers ever make it through them all. If they do finish reading the Bible through, even fewer understand what they read. Why?

It takes little to discourage people from putting down the Bible altogether—the various “Bible-believing” (ha!) groups that argue, the modern translations with their arduous Latinized words, the commentaries that all teach opposing ideas about the same verses, the symbolic and other “cryptic” passages, the scoffers and skeptics’ chuckles, and the stigma of believing “the Word of God” in this “day and age of education, empiricism, reason, and sophistication.” We can only wonder how any Bible readers in their understanding ever get past the opening verse: “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.”

Once, I read a Bible commentary in which the author lamented, “Preachers have done a great job in confusing people in the Scriptures.” Imagine—he wrote that almost 50 years ago! Yes, 99 percent of church leaders have utterly failed in educating their people in God’s Word. They taught them great stories, told them hilarious jokes, and led them in “epic” “worship” songs and dances, but what really mattered most—the eternal Word of God being deposited into the eternal souls of people—was at the bottom of the ecclesiastical agenda (if at all). What did JEHOVAH God say of Israel’s lackadaisical religious leaders misguiding God’s nation centuries before Christ? “Woe be unto the pastors that destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture!” (Jeremiah 23:1). There are many “destroyed” and “scattered” church members even today, but there is hope!

Our first Bible Q&A of 2016: “Should we pray for ‘safe trips’ and ‘traveling mercies?’”

Understand and Enjoy the Bible! #1

Tuesday, January 5, 2016

“And account that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation; even as our beloved brother Paul also according to the wisdom given unto him hath written unto you; As also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things; in which are some things hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest, as they do also the other scriptures, unto their own destruction” (2 Peter 3:15,16 KJV).

Although there is so much confusion about it, can we really understand and enjoy the Bible?

Friend, the Holy Bible, if you use it properly, can be the most edifying Book in your life. Conversely, if you use it wrongly, it will be the most destructive Book in your life. Simply glance at the professing “Christian church” today to see there is nothing but spiritual destruction. There is widespread fussing and fighting, and as Paul wrote in Galatians 5:15, church members are “biting and devouring one another” figuratively speaking.

The sad fact is that most of these people are not endeavoring to teach God’s truth. They are attempting to defend their denominational tenets and church traditions. Read their books. View their television programs or Internet videos. Listen to their podcasts or radio shows. They use the Bible text only when it says something they want to teach and do. Otherwise, they simply twist the Scriptures and force them to say something else, or they fabricate Scripture without so much as one blush. Is there any hope in ever resolving all of the doctrinal disputes? Can God’s Word really be a blessing in our lives instead of a burden?

Friends, during the next two weeks, we will examine today’s Scripture in great detail. These two verses—some of the clearest in all the Word of God on the subject—caution us concerning the great dangers of mishandling Scripture. Long before the 40,000 denominations of Christendom appeared, the Holy Spirit through the Apostle Peter had issued an express warning. Beloved, if we are to recover ourselves from this most miserable amalgamation of twisted Bible verses and pagan error masquerading as Bible truth, we had better come to God’s Word, God’s way… and ever so quickly!

A Life That Will Please

Monday, January 4, 2016

“I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me” (Galatians 2:20 KJV).

Today’s Scripture tells us who alone can live a life pleasing in God’s sight!

Everyone does “good” deeds. Yet, doing “good” is not necessarily good. For instance, people often do “good” just to receive praise/reward, make up for their wrongs, feel good, et cetera. Furthermore, despite our “good” deeds, we have plenty more bad ones! Pride, lying, evil thoughts, being a false witness, and being contentious are some of the things the LORD hates (Proverbs 6:16-19).

Mankind cannot even keep 10 simple rules from God. However, religion continues to urge us to keep seven sacraments, utter various prayers, give assorted offerings and “tithes,” attend numerous feasts and festivals, and perform sundry other tasks to “hopefully” please God and avoid hellfire. Whether we attempt to keep a church’s laws, our laws, or God’s laws, our flesh is far too weak to ever measure up. Just look at what God’s religion did to Israel—how much worse some man-made religion does to us!

As Saul of Tarsus, the Apostle Paul was a Pharisee, a religious leader of Israel. He was a nitpicker concerning Law-keeping, and yet, after his soul salvation, he admitted that all of his religion was “but dung” compared to Jesus Christ’s righteousness (Philippians 3:3-11). Even for the Christian, to live a perfect life is impossible (read of Paul’s miserable existence in Romans chapter 7). Paul had to forsake his vain religion and learn today’s Scripture: the Christian life is NOT the performance of the Christian, but the Lord Jesus Christ living and working in the Christian, as the Christian walks in an intelligent understanding of God’s Word to him or her!

If we trust a Saviour who will save—the Lord Jesus Christ—and trust a Book that will teach—the King James Bible—we can redeem the year for the great God and our Saviour, “who loved [us], and gave himself for [us]!” 🙂

A Book That Will Teach

Sunday, January 3, 2016

“Which things also we speak, not in the words which man’s wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual” (1 Corinthians 2:13 KJV).

Today’s Scripture tells us who alone we can trust to teach us God’s truth!

Once, I heard a minister give his self-proclaimed “prophetic” message about top headlines that would appear in the coming year. While he reassured his audience that he received this information directly from “the Lord” (?), he gave a disclaimer: “I do not know, but at the end of this year, we will see if what I say came to pass.” Unlike the inner impressions and hunches of this “Christian” preacher, the Holy Bible is infallible, and we can trust its information completely.

Long, long ago, God Almighty wrote a Book, and He preserved it through history through a multiplicity of manuscript copies, so that it could eventually be translated into English, so we could read it even today! (Of course, Satan, the master counterfeiter that he is, most certainly had his own manuscripts—they still circulate today as corrupt Bible translations.) God promised to preserve His words forever (Psalm 12:6,7; Isaiah 30:8; Matthew 24:35; 1 Peter 1:25). Consequently, every person will stand before Him one day to give account as to what he or she did with that Bible. Did we reject it in favor of counterfeits? Did we re-translate it to fit our denominational beliefs? Did we apply it to life by faith? Did we even read it at all?

As English-speaking people, we understand—or, at least, we should understand—that we can trust the 400-year-old King James Bible. Sadly, even in many church circles, we are often cautioned not to trust God’s preserved Word. Unfortunately, footnotes, study notes, and seminarians usually attempt to claim that authority by offering “better” readings or “better” manuscripts. Beloved, we can do without unbelieving textual critics and their “scholarship.” God does not need lost people to explain His Word to His children; He never did and He never will (1 Corinthians 2:14). Never forget that!

The Holy Spirit will teach us the King James Bible if we “read” (Ephesians 3:4), “study” (2 Timothy 2:15), and “consider” it (2 Timothy 2:7)!

Redeem the Year!

Friday, January 1, 2016

“See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil. Wherefore be ye not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is” (Ephesians 5:15-17 KJV).

What great advice for 2016!

Despite 2,000 years of Bible schools and seminaries, 2,000 years of a completed Bible canon, 2,000 years of Bible reading in churches, several decades of “Christian” television and radio, and just over a decade of widespread use of “Christian” websites, how sad that Bible ignorance is still quite extensive (it is as if God never gave His Word to start with!).

Frankly, the Church the Body of Christ needs to wake up! The verse previous to today’s Scripture says, “Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light” (verse 14). Paul, loosely quoting Isaiah 60:1, reminded us that the spiritual ignorance that gripped Israel in Isaiah’s day seized Christians in his day—and it still grips Christians 20 centuries later. Feel-good sermons, enjoyable “worship” services, and rites, rituals, and ceremonies will NOT solve this problem—they exacerbate it!

“[God] will have all men to be saved…” (1 Timothy 2:4a). Do you want this New Year to count for God’s glory? First, you need to get saved from sins and hell! You need to become a Christian by trusting in and relying on Jesus Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection as sufficient payment for your sins (1 Corinthians 15:3,4). That is only part of God’s will for you, for 1 Timothy 2:4b continues, “[God] will have all men… to come unto the knowledge of the truth.” Now, God’s will for your Christian life is daily, personal Bible study to renew your mind, so your faith in those verses can cause God to work in your life—it will be His life, thus making you “perfect [spiritually mature], throughly furnished unto all good works” (2 Timothy 3:16,17).

Today’s Scripture urges us to buy back the time Satan has robbed from God (time created for God’s glory). By faith, we need to make that time glorify the Lord Jesus Christ by applying His Word, particularly Paul’s epistles of Romans through Philemon, to our lives. Have a good year in Christ! 🙂

You can download our free “One-Year Bible Reading Schedule.”

See our archived Bible Q&A: “What Scriptural advice can you give me for the New Year?”

The Misunderstood Messiah #5

Wednesday, December 30, 2015

“Ye do the deeds of your father. Then said they to him, We be not born of fornication; we have one Father, even God” (John 8:41 KJV).

Did you ever notice the magnitude of the insult put forth toward Jesus Christ in today’s Scripture?

Once Christ replied with sound doctrine (verses 42-47), Israel’s religious leaders simply resorted to name-calling again (verse 48): “Say we not well that thou art a Samaritan, and hast a devil?” A Samaritan was half-Jew/half-Gentile, and “the Jews [had] no dealings with the Samaritans” (John 4:9). Notice Jesus was insulted twice more—they called Him a “Samaritan” and “devil possessed.” Throughout the rest of John chapter 8, Israel’s religious leaders continue arguing with Jesus and nearly stone Him to death (verse 59)!

Why did Jesus not simply “zap” these religionists and instantly throw them into hellfire? They belittled and blasphemed Him several times in this one account, and then attempted to murder Him, but rather than Jesus killing them with His spoken word (which would have been justified), He only conversed with them. Why?

Remember, when the Apostles James and John saw how the Samaritans refused to accommodate Jesus, they asked Him if He wanted them to call down fire from heaven and consume those sinners, He replied, “Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of. For the Son of man is not come to destroy men’s lives, but to save them” (Luke 9:55,56). This First Coming of Christ was His “meek and lowly” coming: He did not come to judge man’s sins, but to die for them!

Even today, God is still not pouring out His wrath on wicked mankind (2 Corinthians 5:19), creatures who still snicker at Jesus Christ, deceive others in His name, persecute His saints, ignore His Word, and “rub His nose” in their sins. Lost mankind is wasting God’s grace and mercy that He is offering so freely. When His grace is finally exhausted, the undiluted wrath that has accumulated will finally be poured out (His Second Coming). May we trust Jesus Christ as our personal Saviour now so we have our sins forgiven now, lest we face that angry, righteous God in judgment (2 Thessalonians 1:7-9)!

For more information, you may also see our archived Bible Q&A: “Did God ‘rape’ Mary?”

‘Twas the Sunday Night Before Christmas

Sunday, December 20, 2015

“But if I tarry long, that thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth” (1 Timothy 3:15 KJV).

Let us not be so sidetracked by religion and commercialization that we miss the reason for the Christmas Season….

During the Christmas Season, we wonder how many people are visiting church for the second time this year (the other being Easter Sunday). How many will be going to church today—the Sunday before Christmas—just to feel “religious” or “holy?” How many really know Jesus Christ? For many, visiting a church building is just an obligation; they do not have faith in God’s Word and have no interest in God’s Word.

We do not go to church to “feel closer to God,” for if we have trusted in Jesus Christ as our personal Saviour, we cannot be any closer to God than we already are in Christ! “[Before salvation, we were] without God in the world: but now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh [close to God] by the blood of Christ” (Ephesians 2:12,13).

Furthermore, we do not go to church in order to get God’s blessings, for God has already given us “all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ” (Ephesians 1:3). We go to church, not because we are keeping Israel’s Sabbath day, since we are not obligated to observe Israel’s religious days (Colossians 2:16). We go to church to fellowship with like-minded believers and hear sound doctrine… more than twice a year, by the way.

In today’s Scripture, the Apostle Paul encouraged Timothy that whenever he would assemble with fellow Christians, certain behavior was acceptable and other types of behavior were not (described throughout the epistle of 1 Timothy). Recall that when the Bible refers to “the church,” it refers to the body of believers, not the physical building in which they meet.

As we get opportunities, let us make an effort to reach these dear souls misled by all the vain religious tradition and Christmas commercialization, and may we tell them of the wonderful Christ Jesus whose name is found in Christmas!

*Based on the poem “‘Twas the Sunday Night Before Christmas.”

Preach Not Jesus Christ?

Sunday, November 8, 2015

“Then charged he his disciples that they should tell no man that he was Jesus the Christ” (Matthew 16:20 KJV).

Did Jesus discourage us from witnessing to lost people?

Years ago, a pastor friend was out preaching the Gospel on his city’s street corners. A man approached him and foolishly said, “Preacher, the Bible says you should not be doing that! Jesus told His disciples that they should tell no man that He was Christ!”

It is a real shame that so many have so misconstrued God’s precious Word. Whenever convenient to quote and prove a denominational point, Scripture is used. Whenever Bible rejecters do not want to hear Christians quote Scripture to challenge them, they hastily quote it and use it against Christians (“Jesus said not to judge!”). When the Bible does not prove a denomination, it is ignored. When the scoffers run out of “Bible contradictions” to throw at the Christians, the scoffers just throw out the Bible altogether. Thank God for His grace, that He tolerates such disrespect. He is not mocked, friends. There is coming a day in which such fools will give account to the Lord Jesus Christ, the righteous Judge, for treating His words so carelessly and irreverently. What a dreadful day that will be!

When we rip today’s Scripture out of its context and use it to discourage evangelism, it is a most dastardly act. What sloppiness! If Jesus did not want His disciples to declare His “Christhood”/“Messiahship,” then why did the Holy Spirit empower them to preach that very message in Acts 2:38, Acts 3:6, Acts 3:18, Acts 4:10, et cetera? The Lord Jesus was not against His followers preaching His name to lost people. But, there came a point in His earthly ministry when that message was not to be preached to all of Israel. By the time of today’s Scripture, Jesus had already been demonstrating who He was to Israel for two years or more. They had so rejected Him that He did not waste His time anymore. He did not want His disciples to waste their time either. In the early Acts, Israel was given one final chance to trust Him. Of course, they still rejected Him. But, they heard plenty of “Jesus is Christ!”

*For more information, see our study, “Why did Jesus forbid others from preaching that He was Christ?”

Our latest Bible Q&A: “How many daughters did Lot have?”

They Steal the LORD’S Words!

Friday, November 6, 2015

“Therefore, behold, I am against the prophets, saith the LORD, that steal my words every one from his neighbour” (Jeremiah 23:30 KJV).

Was the LORD speaking to 99.999 percent of the “priests,” “preachers,” and “prophets” in Christendom today?

Speaking with a lady browsing through Christian books in a store, I asked her, “What is the Gospel by which we are saved today?” She stared at me quietly. I told her the Bible says, “Christ died for our sins, He was buried, and He rose again the third day” (1 Corinthians 15:3,4). We trust that and that alone and we will have eternal life in heaven forever. I could tell that was brand-new to her. Then, she explained she attended services at a local megachurch!! She really enjoyed how they were studying a “Christian bestseller” book in Sunday School. See, at that church, they do not study the Bible; they study books about the Bible. At that church they hear Christian phrases and Bible terms, but they never hear a Gospel message. Awful!

When we think of people dying and going to hell, murderers, whoremongers, thieves, rapists, and gangsters come to mind. Beloved, plenty of people are dead in their sins and going to hell, sitting in churches worldwide! That is nothing new. Our “Old Testament” Scriptures abound with apostasy because Israel’s religious and political leaders had so corrupted God’s people with nonsensical, false teaching. God expressly declared in today’s Scripture, “They steal my words every one from his neighbour!” The reprimand continues throughout the chapter: “[31] Behold, I am against the prophets, saith the LORD, that use their tongues, and say, He saith. [32] Behold, I am against them that prophesy false dreams, saith the LORD, and do tell them, and cause my people to err by their lies, and by their lightness; yet I sent them not, nor commanded them: therefore they shall not profit this people at all, saith the LORD.”

One day, friends, God will manifest the charlatans for all the world to see. Before they are banished to eternal hellfire, their folly will be exposed. Until then, God Almighty has given us His Book, our Holy King James Bible, that we may identify them and their worthless teaching and avoid them!

Arrayed in Hypocrisy

Saturday, October 31, 2015

“Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men’s bones, and of all uncleanness. Even so ye also outwardly appear righteous unto men, but within ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity” (Matthew 23:27,28 KJV).

“Looks can be deceiving” is not only true during Halloweentime, but confirmed year-round within Christendom.

Today is Halloween, when children dress up and feign themselves to be creatures they are not. Likewise, many church leaders today wear “Christian” garbs, but their ministries do not bring the Lord Jesus Christ glory and honor. They promote their denomination, and seek to perpetuate it, rather than serve and exalt the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ. The Bible manifests these who appear to be good, as “wolves in sheep’s clothing.”

In today’s Scripture, Jesus Christ exposed Israel’s corrupt religious leaders who misled the nation in His day. In His Parable of the Tares, Matthew 13:24-30,37-43, Christ explained how just as He had sown good seed (wheat, believing Jews) in Israel, Satan had also sown tares/weeds (unbelieving Jews). Tares resemble wheat; unbelieving Jews resemble believing Jews. The unbelieving Pharisees and scribes, for instance, looked like God’s people (believing Israel). Judas Iscariot was another example of Satan’s tares—the apostles never realized who Judas really was until it was too late!

But Satan’s counterfeit believers are not confined to Israel’s program. Today, within local assemblies of the Body of Christ, there are people feigning themselves to be Christians: “For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ. And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works” (2 Corinthians 11:13-15).

Beloved, beware of the church leaders who are arrayed in hypocrisy, “and avoid them” (Romans 16:17b). If their teaching does not agree with the rightly divided King James Bible, you have no business as a child of God to be listening to them.

*This is excerpted from a larger Bible study with the same name. The Bible study can be read here or watched here.

Our latest Bible Q&A: “Are Galatians 1:18-19 and Acts 9:26-28 contradictions?”

You may also see our special study, “Should Christians celebrate Halloween?”