Category: human viewpoint / human wisdom / philosophy

Silent Building #3

Wednesday, December 3, 2014

“And the house, when it was in building, was built of stone made ready before it was brought thither: so that there was neither hammer nor axe nor any tool of iron heard in the house, while it was in building” (1 Kings 6:7 KJV).

God is doing something similar today, very quietly too….

The Apostle Paul, writing one final time to young Timothy, penning his farewell letter to the Church the Body of Christ, provided the key to guarding ourselves against the ravening wolves now attacking the completed Bible (and thus us): “Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth” (2 Timothy 2:15).

Not only were we to “study” that Bible—to read it, carefully consider it, and compare verses with verses—we were also to “rightly divide” it. Note that the Christian is called a “workman.” We are already saved unto eternal life, forgiven, justified, and redeemed, but God saved us, forgave us, justified us, and redeemed us for a purpose. “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them” (Ephesians 2:10). There are some mighty works God wants to perform in us, and He accomplishes them when we walk by faith in His Word to us (the Bible rightly divided) (1 Thessalonians 2:13).

We read in 2 Corinthians chapter 5: “[8] We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord. [9] Wherefore we labour, that, whether present or absent, we may be accepted of him. [10] For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad.”

The quality of the doctrine we store in our inner man is either “good” or “bad,” to be evaluated when we get to heaven. We can be faithful workmen, Christians “skilled in the word of righteousness,” experienced workers as those of today’s Scripture; or we can serve denominations, traditions of men, philosophy, ourselves, the world, et cetera, and sabotage our Christian work….

Ephesians, Parallelism, Edification, Perfection

Saturday, November 29, 2014

“And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ:” (Ephesians 4:11,12 KJV).

Can you spot a literary device known as “parallelism” in today’s Scripture?

As a Bible teacher, I gladly receive various Bible questions by phone, in person, or by email. I certainly encourage them. If today’s average church member had asked those questions long ago, he or she probably would not be attending that “church.” Bible questions drive us to study for Bible answers; we have no desire to search religions and denominations for Bible answers, for they can provide only religious and denominational answers.

Today’s Scripture says that, after His ascension into heaven, the Lord Jesus Christ “gave”—notice past tense—five spiritual gifts to cause the Church the Body of Christ to progress in spiritual maturity, that we be “no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive” (verse 14).

God gave those gifts, “Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ:” (verse 13). Once the completed Bible canon came in the first century A.D., before the Apostle Paul died, the Body of Christ had every revelation it needed from God. Alas, today’s “church” is the epitome of perplexity. Look around at professing “Christianity,” and you see nothing but immature people, ever so confused, deceived, and laden with sins. What happened? Between the apostles’ time and our time, organized religion slowly infiltrated the Body of Christ, and gradually transferred the authority of the Scriptures to fallible men, denominations, and manmade books.

God’s work, not religion’s, will lead to “the perfecting [maturing] of the saints,” which leads to “the work of the ministry” (mature saints laboring in the local church, teaching God’s Word rightly divided), which causes “the edifying of the body of Christ” (all members of the Body growing together). Any other way to do “ministry” is foolish!

Preaching to Perfect

Monday, November 24, 2014

“[Christ] Whom we preach, warning every man, and teaching every man in all wisdom; that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus: Whereunto I also labour, striving according to his working, which worketh in me mightily” (Colossians 1:28,29 KJV).

And so, our grace Bible conference has concluded.

Our ministry goal as Pauline dispensationalists is to “have all men saved, and come unto the knowledge of the truth” (1 Timothy 2:4)—to see that they hear the right Gospel (Paul’s Gospel, Christ’s finished crosswork [1 Corinthians 15:3,4]) so as to believe it, and to see that they hear the right Bible doctrine so as to receive it (Paul’s epistles, Romans through Philemon). That is Father God’s will for them; if we delight in His will, it will become our will; and we will then do His will.

We are not here to prove ourselves right, or to force people to agree with us; we are here to declare that God is right and everyone else is wrong, and to be helpers of others’ joy. We know the heartaches and perplexities of religious tradition, we have found the key to recovering ourselves out of the snare of the devil, and now we hold forth “the word of life”—not in arrogance, but in compassion, for we too were once foolish and deceived. We care about their souls, that they not be defiled with either sins of the flesh (“secular” human evil) or sins of the spirit (“pious” human good).

Rather than trying to take away something worthless that they have, we offer them God’s priceless wisdom that they need; if they embrace the latter, they will discard the former! If they prefer spiritual ignorance, that is their prerogative, and we should say no more; if they want spiritual maturity, that is our privilege of teaching them God’s Word rightly divided (today’s Scripture).

As our apostle Paul knew, it was really God’s Holy Spirit working in him mightily; it was not Paul struggling in himself to do the work of the ministry. When it is God working, there is no pride, failure, or misery; only charity, love in action, to see that lost souls are saved (justified) and those Christian souls are edified (strengthened). Yes, we “preach to perfect!” 🙂

NOTE: The 2014 Slidell Grace Bible Conference concluded yesterday. Videos of the messages to be uploaded to YouTube in due time, so stay tuned for updates. If you are interested in purchasing CDs or DVDs, please email me for more information at arcministries@gmail.com.

Attendance to Apprehending

Saturday, November 22, 2014

“Till I come, give attendance to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine” (1 Timothy 4:13 KJV).

Grace Bible conferences are always a joyful and edifying time!

We meet new people and old friends, most of who are believers in the Lord Jesus Christ. They are really seeking God’s truth rather than those who would come to be merely religious or simply entertained. We desire Jesus Christ to live His life in and through us, and it will only come about by God’s Word renewing our minds on a daily basis. Conferences are not simply about Bible study, but Bible understanding so that it can become Bible application to life. While plenty of people read the Bible, very few study it; and of the few who study it, even fewer understand it; and of the few who understand it, even fewer apply it to life by faith. Our goal is to be in that last class listed, that very small remnant.

Father God is doing something wonderful today in creation and He wants us to participate. A grace Bible conference is to grasp the Bible on a large-scale, to the intent that we may see a fuller picture of the Bible rather than just a glimpse of it (as in a regular sermon or teaching session), that we may find where we are in Scripture (Paul’s epistles, Romans through Philemon), that we may then discover how Jesus Christ can give us His life and how He can fill us with it (grace living)!

It is an extremely high plane of living that very few Christians grasp, since organized religion opposes it and hides it from the masses (2 Corinthians 4:1-4), but oh, how we have cast off religious works and our vain performance (Philippians 3:1-21), how we have begun to search the Scriptures for ourselves (Acts 17:10,11), how we have a better understanding of such a wonderful Saviour who not only died that we might live but that we died with Him so that He might live in us! We assemble locally to study the Scriptures rightly divided to learn how Christ Jesus is living His life in each of ours, and we rejoice that it is not us, but Him (Galatians 2:20; Philippians 1:21; Colossians 3:4)!

NOTE: The 2014 Slidell Grace Bible Conference is currently underway! Videos of the messages to be uploaded to YouTube in due time, so stay tuned for updates.

Time Travel and the Mystery #8

Wednesday, November 19, 2014

“But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the world unto our glory: Which none of the princes of this world knew: for had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory” (1 Corinthians 2:7,8 KJV).

Will it ever be possible to manipulate natural laws, to travel back in time and manipulate events, that things (hopefully) turn out differently? Let us consider today’s Scripture.

Verse 6, which immediately precedes today’s Scripture, says: “Howbeit we speak wisdom among them that are perfect: yet not the wisdom of this world, nor of the princes of this world, that come to nought.”

First Corinthians chapters 1-3 comprise a loving rebuke of the Corinthian Christians who delighted in human viewpoint and applied it to their lives. Only 45 miles (72 kilometers) from Athens (the ancient world’s intellectual capital), Corinth was engulfed by pagan philosophy. Thus, Paul claimed he did not preach man’s wisdom, heathen philosophy; he affirmed that he preached true wisdom, God’s wisdom in a “mystery.”

However, Paul could only speak these dispensational Bible truths to spiritually mature (“perfect”) Christians. The carnal Corinthian Christians could only handle Bible basics such as the Gospel of Grace; they struggled with elementary grace living (1 Corinthians 1:10-13; 1 Corinthians 3:1-4; 1 Corinthians 5:1-13; 1 Corinthians 6:1-20; et al.). Hence, Paul’s two epistles to Corinth lack great detail about dispensational Bible truths (as opposed to Ephesians 3:1-11 to Ephesus, or Romans chapters 9-11 to Rome, or Colossians to Colosse, et cetera). Instead of meat-doctrine, these precious saints could only handle milk-doctrine (cf. Hebrews 5:11-14).

After numerous discussions with others, the Pauline dispensational Bible student has learned that, to the shame of most preachers and Bible teachers, the average church member or Christian knows very, very, very, very little to literally nothing about how God has designed His Word to be studied. When we read verses and explain the dispensational truths they convey, the common Christian understands little to nothing. We could say 1 Corinthians 2:6 with Paul. Dearly beloved, if we are to rejoice in God’s wisdom, we must see His wisdom demonstrated in His rightly divided Word….

Our latest Bible Q&A: “Should I recite “‘The Lord’s Prayer?’”

Time Travel and the Mystery #7

Tuesday, November 18, 2014

“But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the world unto our glory: Which none of the princes of this world knew: for had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory” (1 Corinthians 2:7,8 KJV).

Will it ever be possible to manipulate natural laws, to travel back in time and manipulate events, that things (hopefully) turn out differently? Let us consider today’s Scripture.

Rather than using appealing sermonettes abounding with dazzling theological terms to persuade people to advance a church program (“man’s wisdom”), the Apostle Paul’s goal was to have these Corinthian believers to trust in God’s power: “And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man’s wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power: That your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God” (verses 4,5).

Despite all the “wisdom” of His Adversary, God evidenced His wisdom by inventing a “mystery” plan to counter Satan’s rebellion; although there was much opposition, God proved His power in accomplishing that plan. Ephesians 3:1-11 explains the goal of God’s mystery plan. Verses 10 and 11 summarize: “To the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known by the church the manifold wisdom of God, According to the eternal purpose which he purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Through the living testimony of the Church the Body of Christ—that is, via the visible interaction of Jews and Gentiles who have relied exclusively on the Lord Jesus Christ’s shed blood as sufficient payment for their sins, and their reliance on the grace doctrines of Christ living His life in and through them—Satan’s fallen angels in outer space see “the manifold wisdom of God,” Jesus Christ’s life in human flesh, our flesh. Satan constantly witnesses how God’s grace demonstrated at Calvary can save even the worst sinners (“the power of God;” 1 Corinthians 1:18; cf. 1 Corinthians 2:4,5), how God can use His Son’s cruel death (and resurrection) to rescue people from Satan’s dominion and use them for His glory instead.

Sadly, the Corinthians could not grasp such wisdom….

Natural-Man Wisdom and Divine Wisdom

Wednesday, November 5, 2014

“There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death” (Proverbs 14:12 KJV).

Beware of natural-man wisdom, for it naturally leads to death!

The following quote personifies human viewpoint: “In my belief one only needs to be a moral person and have faith [to be saved]. With the multitude of different religious groups that all revolve around Christianity and Judaism are you really that certain that the word that you read is to be taken word for word as written and all others are wrong? This would seem to me rather arrogant and to be a sin as well. It is not our position to judge. Have faith whatever it may be, be a moral person and in my belief you will be saved.”

Is it not fascinating that this individual posited that we Bible-believers should not “judge” those who disagree with us, but then he freely “judges” the “immoral” by saying only the “moral” can be saved? Furthermore, for him to claim “morality” means he believes there is absolute right and absolute wrong (but all religions disagree regarding what is “right” and “wrong,” so arguing “morality equals heaven” is far-fetched).

Why do I believe the Bible “word-for-word?” Firstly, it says, “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). Every person in the world testifies to the truth of this verse—sin exists (we cannot avoid it)! Secondly, it says, “The wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23a). Every cemetery in the world testifies to the truth of this verse—sin kills (we cannot live here forever)! Thirdly, it says, “Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in [God’s] sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin” (Romans 3:20). Every religion in the world testifies to the truth of this verse—sin damns (we cannot perform perfectly)! Lastly, it says, “The gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Romans 6:23b). Every Christian in the world testifies to the truth of this verse—Christ saves (we can trust Him alone for salvation)!

Ultimately, it is not arrogance. It is confidence! 🙂

How to Open God’s Safe

Saturday, October 25, 2014

“Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth” (2 Timothy 2:15 KJV).

Spread the word that today’s Scripture is the key to unlocking the Word!

Many centuries ago, God used holy men to write His Word in human language, He used holy men to copy it thousands of times over to preserve it for us, and He used holy men to translate it into our language, English. The King James Bible did not “just drop down from heaven in 1611;” it was the result of laborious collation, meticulous comparison, and diligent translation of various ancient Hebrew and Greek Bible manuscripts, and prudent consultation of previous translations (particularly, early English).

Our precious King James Bible is a safe—it contains the wealth of the Lord Jesus Christ’s wisdom. How do we extract the profit contained therein? We could spend the rest of our lives searching for the combination in religious tradition, scientific analyses, prayer closets, introspection of intuition, et cetera, but what a waste of time! While most theologians, ministers, and church members still grope and fumble searching for the obvious (sixth-grade English!), banging in frustration on the door, we rejoice evermore in Christ that we have discovered the Bible’s combination—“2 Timothy 2:15!”

Friend, dispensational Bible study is the key to accessing the priceless spiritual knowledge and wisdom God offers us in His Word. We can use the Bible as a nice decorative item to exhibit on a bookshelf or tote under the arm, but that is not what God intended. Only one verse in all the Bible tells us to study the Bible; that one verse tells us how to study the Bible.

“Rightly dividing the word of truth” liberated me from spiritual confusion and religious tradition. It will do the same for you if you let it. Do not let traditionalists mix God’s Word and mix you up. Flee from those who muddle dispensational boundaries—distinctions God has made in His Word—and who force you to consume such nauseous doctrine. For your own spiritual health’s sake, flee to God’s safe and open it quick! Then, share its combination and contents with others. There is plenty to go around! 🙂

People of the Book

Wednesday, October 15, 2014

“The prophet that hath a dream, let him tell a dream; and he that hath my word, let him speak my word faithfully. What is the chaff to the wheat? saith the LORD” (Jeremiah 23:28 KJV).

If we are to be “People of the Book,” we must first be able to identify “the Book.”

According to The Oxford Dictionary of English, Muslims know Jews and Christians as, “People of the Book.” Muslims understand that the Holy Bible plays an integral role in the lives of Jews (Old Testament only) and Christians (both Testaments). I am not a Jew and thus cannot comment from their standpoint, but I, a Christian, can remark that I depend on the Holy Bible in all matters of faith and practice. No, I do not appeal to scientific consensus, denominational tradition or approval, and humanistic opinions, to form my worldview and conduct my life. My conviction is to compare what I hear and see to the Holy Scriptures, before I believe what I hear and see.

The Holy King James Bible proves itself to be trustworthy and inerrant. Thus, I rely on it. Whenever someone offers me another book and says, “Many scholarly translators used older and better manuscripts to produce this version,” I gladly take it and evaluate it with an open mind. In the last seven years of doing just that with numerous modern versions, I have discovered that Bible scholarship has not waxed better, but worse. Apostasy has not waned, but proliferated exponentially. May the Lord help us if we are so naïve and irrational as to believe that He is using today’s religious leadership to produce better Bibles!

In the context of today’s Scripture, some 600 years before Christ, false prophets had infiltrated Israel. Israel could not distinguish God’s pure Word from counterfeit “bibles,” and vice versa. The Church the Body of Christ finds itself in the same predicament today… confused, weakened, defeated! Even today, people are still “perverting the words of the living God” (Jeremiah 23:36).

As today’s Scripture says, if we have God’s Word, let us speak it faithfully. If we do not know what is God’s Word, may we be silent until we locate it!!

Glorious Freedom #2

Monday, October 6, 2014

“But now being made free from sin, and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life” (Romans 6:22 KJV).

The second verse of Haldor Lillenas’ classic 1917 hymn “Glorious Freedom” highlights today’s Scripture.

“Freedom from all the carnal affections;
Freedom from envy, hatred and strife;
Freedom from vain and worldly ambitions;
Freedom from all that saddened my life!”

Lost people view Christianity as bondage (due to strict denominational oppression) and their own lives as freedom (due to the deceitfulness of their own sinful hearts). Lost people assume they freely think for themselves and freely run their own lives—they succinctly declare that they are “not fettered to ancient texts of superstition and fiction” as we are!

Still, they fail to realize that they are captive, not free; they are slaves to sin, powerless to overcome it. Our Lord plainly declared that in John 8:34-36. Actually, the Pharisees resented Jesus for those words, even going so far as to say they “were never in bondage to any man” (verse 33)—they overlooked the hundreds of passers-by, soldiers who belonged to Israel’s overbearing Roman government! Even today, lost people claim to be free as they walk around wearing chains of sin.

In Christ, we are liberated from fleshly attitudes and likings; envy; hatred; strife (fighting); worthless secular goals; and all the other miserable actions that accompany our Adamic sin nature. After illustrating a horrible (sinful) lifestyle in verses 17-19 of Ephesians chapter 4, the Apostle Paul wrote: “[20] But ye have not so learned Christ; [21] If so be that ye have heard him, and have been taught by him, as the truth is in Jesus: [22] That ye put off concerning the former conversation [behavior and lifestyle] the old man [old, Adamic, sin nature], which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts; [23] And be renewed in the spirit of your mind; [24] And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.” He then delineates grace living in verses 25-32, the eternal life God has for us in Christ. We are free from sin, and, as God’s Word rightly divided renews our minds, we see that everlasting life become evident in ours!