Category: reproof

No Red-Marker Bible for Us!

Saturday, June 14, 2014

“But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned” (1 Corinthians 2:14 KJV).

Let us reject the red-marker “Bible,” just as its promoters castoff the Bible!

Years ago, a friend expressed his discouragement for receiving a “C” grade on a school paper he had diligently wrote. He said how he had spent so much time on it, and yet it was still not good enough. To cheer him up, I shared with him a brief history of the English Bible, how God spent so much time on faithfully transmitting His pure, preserved Word to us, and educated man gave Him an “F!” (My friend did not feel so bad after that!) 🙂

Through the centuries, textual critics have assaulted Bible manuscripts and other copies of the preserved, inspired Word of God. Like Satan encouraged Eve to do in Genesis 3:1-5, they questioned it, added to it, subtracted from it, watered it down, and finally, denied it. What do we expect? God’s Word is “foolishness” to people who are not God’s children anyway (today’s Scripture).

Textual critics have especially taken their “scholarly scalpels” to the Divine Words since 1881, when the greatest change in Bible “scholarship” ever occurred. In Great Britain, the Protestant Bible text (the King James Bible, its previous English versions, and the Greek Textus Receptus upon which their New Testament rested) was questioned by “educated,” lost men, and replaced with a so-called “older, better” Greek manuscript tradition that the Church the Body of Christ avoided—and had endured the death penalty for rejecting! Even today, the average church member of every denomination has no idea of the switch! Protestants have no idea they carry under their arms Roman Catholic manuscripts in the form of their modern Bible versions—manuscripts their Protestant forefathers died for avoiding!

Dear friends, when anyone encourages you to “red line” words, verses, or even passages from your King James Bible, you would do well to “write them off,” giving them an “A” when it has come to them encouraging your doubt in God’s Word, and an “F” regarding encouraging your faith!

A Prophet in the Wilderness #5

Friday, June 13, 2014

“In those days came John the Baptist, preaching in the wilderness of Judaea, And saying, Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Matthew 3:1,2 KJV).

Why is John the Baptist “preaching in the wilderness?”

John the Baptist’s message to Israel was simple, “Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” (today’s Scripture). Israel was to “repent”—change her mind about JEHOVAH, to remember God’s covenant with her, to acknowledge her failure to keep that covenant, to quit thinking like the Gentiles and to stop serving Satan and his evil world system. Israel’s confession of sins in the following verses was to acknowledge her breaking the Old Covenant, Law (see Leviticus 26:40-46). John’s water baptism was the means whereby Israel was cleansed of her idolatry, equipping her to become JEHOVAH’S kingdom of priests (Ezekiel 36:25; cf. Exodus 19:5,6).

Israel’s conversion was urgent: “The kingdom of heaven is at hand [near]” (today’s Scripture). In the near future, Jesus Christ would be baptized of John, thus manifesting Himself as Israel’s Messiah-King (John 1:31). Israel’s long-promised kingdom (foretold through the Old Testament prophets) was soon to be established.

Most of Israel’s priests were entangled in spiritual error, so John’s ministry was out in the wilderness, far from the Temple, far-removed from Satan’s religious system. This arrangement ensured John’s converts would be pure, untainted by the evil world system that had deceived Israel previously. God’s people would hear God the Father’s message about His coming Son and Israel’s Messiah, Jesus, from John the Baptist (see John 1:6-34)—it was a message unadulterated by Israel’s satanically-inspired priesthood.

The lesson we can take from this is simple: the same pagan religious system that gripped Israel still pervades Christendom, so we do not appeal to clergymen, denominational teaching-bodies, preachers, catechisms, creeds, seminarians, bulls, et cetera. We should go to the Apostle Paul (Romans through Philemon) to learn what God has to say to us Gentiles, just as the nation Israel was to go to John the Baptist to learn what God had to say to them. Thus, we will be a pure agency for the Lord Jesus Christ (2 Corinthians 11:1-33).

A Prophet in the Wilderness #2

Tuesday, June 10, 2014

“In those days came John the Baptist, preaching in the wilderness of Judaea, And saying, Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Matthew 3:1,2 KJV).

Why is John the Baptist “preaching in the wilderness?”

God only gave one religion in all of human history. Given at Mount Sinai through Moses for him to teach it to Israel, Judaism was a system of 613 laws (listed throughout Exodus through Deuteronomy). The Mosaic Law was a very severe system, and God gave it to thoroughly demonstrate that Israel, in her own strength and through her own efforts, could never become His people. He would have to make them His people.

Alas, Israel never got the message that she was a sinful nation that needed God’s salvation: she still believed she could do everything God commanded. Eventually, her religious leaders added more and more laws, so that when we come to Jesus’s earthly ministry, Judaism was no longer pure. Paul even called it the “Jews’ religion” (Galatians 1:14)—it was not God’s religion anymore because sinful Israel had corrupted it.

The Lord Jesus remarked about Israel’s spiritual condition in His day: “Well hath Esaias prophesied of you hypocrites, as it is written, This people honoureth me with their lips, but their heart is far from me. Howbeit in vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men. For laying aside the commandment of God, ye hold the tradition of men, as the washing of pots and cups: and many other such like things ye do. And he said unto them, Full well ye reject the commandment of God, that ye may keep your own tradition” (Mark 7:6-9).

Does this sound familiar? Sure it does! “Tradition” is still readily accepted instead of Scripture; patristic (church fathers) writings, denominational creeds, papal encyclicals, church council decrees, and myriads of other volumes mean everything in Christendom, but the Holy Scriptures mean almost nothing (unless a verse can bolster the denomination, and then it is ripped out of context and quoted!).

We begin to see that John the Baptist’s ministry in the “wilderness” (today’s Scripture) was God’s method to ensure doctrinal purity….

A Prophet in the Wilderness #1

Monday, June 9, 2014

“In those days came John the Baptist, preaching in the wilderness of Judaea, And saying, Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Matthew 3:1,2 KJV).

Why is John the Baptist “preaching in the wilderness?”

Dearly beloved, throughout church history, there has been much Bible reading, but very little thoughtful Bible reading. The primary results of this mishandling of Scripture are the tens of thousands of opposing denominations. There is still extensive Bible-skimming throughout Christendom: just enough verses to maintain “old” groups and form “new” ones (cf. Romans 16:17), just enough verses to have a “form of godliness” (cf. 2 Timothy 3:5), more than enough verses to constitute “wresting” (perversion) (cf. 2 Peter 3:16), and more than enough verses to make God sick (cf. Isaiah 1:11-15).

Anyone can read, write about, and speak about the Bible (people have done it for thousands of years). However, it takes a special someone to understand the Bible—it takes someone who has God’s indwelling Holy Spirit, for He alone understands the Bible. Let us thoughtfully read 1 Corinthians 2:11-14:

“[11] For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God. [12] Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God. [13] 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. [14] But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.”

Most assuredly, the above passage is extremely insulting to people who have attended Bible college or seminary for many years, and learned everything but how to study God’s Word properly. Dear friends, secular education is not the key to Bible understanding; divine education is the key to understanding the Bible!

With the above information as background, let us proceed to carefully consult the Scriptures to understand John’s wilderness ministry….

A Common Voice

Friday, June 6, 2014

“For God is not the author of confusion, but of peace, as in all churches of the saints” (1 Corinthians 14:33 KJV).

If we want Christian unity, we had better join unto God’s truth rather than unite unto Satan’s error.

The God of the Bible is the cause of peace, not confusion (today’s Scripture). Where one finds confusion, Satan and sinful man are working diligently nearby! One of the most critical areas of confusion is the Bible versions issue (due to copyright laws, every modern Bible version must read differently from every other!).

Reading an alleged “guide to the Bible” book, I was recently stunned by the following misinformation: “We honor God’s Word the most when we obey it, not when we defend a particular version of it.” (We reply, “And just what are we to “obey” when every version leads us to believe its own unique conclusion?”)

At a recent public event, I heard the crowd uttering the ever-popular, so-called “Lord’s Prayer.” As they were closing, I listened most intently to hear an interesting occurrence (I knew that many would never finish the prayer). Most voices stopped after saying, “But deliver us from evil.” A few, however, concluded, “For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.” (The Protestant Bible text, the King James Bible and its underlying manuscripts contain that clause; the Roman Catholic text and its modern English representatives omit it!)

Some time ago, I attended another public event where a verse was displayed on an overhead screen. An individual stood up, and reading from another modern English Bible, recited the same verse. I could not read the text and listen to the voice—they each conveyed different information! You can better appreciate this by having 200 people simultaneously read the same verse each using a different modern English Bible—yes, there are enough for each person to have one!

When every English-speaking Christian uses and reads the King James Bible, there is such unity, such peace, such clarity, such harmony! God’s people united unto God’s truth, a common voice, an authoritative voice—God’s voice… “as in all churches of the saints!” 🙂

Quit You Like Men!

Saturday, May 31, 2014

“Watch ye, stand fast in the faith, quit you like men, be strong. Let all your things be done with charity” (1 Corinthians 16:13,14 KJV).

What does our King James Bible mean when it admonishes, “Quit you like men?”

“Quit you like men” appears twice in our King James Bible—1 Samuel 4:9 and today’s Scripture. We need not complain of “old-fashioned” verbiage; we need not run to lexicons or modern versions for clarification. What we need to do is let God’s Word define its vocabulary for us. When exhorting “quit you like men,” today’s Scripture simultaneously defines the term for us. “Stand fast,” “men,” and “strong” convey the idea of maturity: only mature people stand fast, men are adults, only mature people (adults) are strong. The larger context of today’s Scripture—the epistle of 1 Corinthians—explains why the Apostle Paul concluded that book with such an exhortation.

Corinth, a seaport near Athens, Greece, had a grace Christian church Paul personally founded in Acts chapter 18. Unfortunately, these believers ignored most of the doctrine Paul delivered them. Their spiritual immaturity was so severe that they could not resolve simple conflicts amongst themselves, they ignored God’s Word to them and embraced pagan philosophy instead, they fell into devil worship, they abandoned the doctrine of bodily resurrection that Paul had personally taught them, and they abused spiritual gifts—among many other errors that still plague Christendom today!

“And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ. I have fed you with milk, and not with meat: for hitherto ye were not able to bear it, neither yet now are ye able” (1 Corinthians 3:1,2). Paul wrote these Christians a lengthy doctrinal letter, 1 Corinthians, encouraging them to grow up! He concluded by telling them that they needed to act like spiritual adults (today’s Scripture); they needed to place their faith in that epistle, and stand fast in that doctrine, to gain the charity (love in action) they lacked (1 Corinthians 13:1-13). They were to “fight the good fight of faith” as mature soldiers of Jesus Christ (1 Timothy 6:12; cf. 1 Samuel 4:9).

Saints, may we by faith obey today’s Scripture delivered us.

A Mind Worth Guarding

Friday, May 30, 2014

“I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvellous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well” (Psalm 139:14 KJV).

Verily, verily, the human mind is “fearfully and wonderfully made!”

A neurosurgeon recently described the miraculous, mindboggling human brain (surely not the result of random, mindless evolutionary processes!). We could learn one new fact every second, and our brain would take three million years before it would overload! Even in its fallen state, our mind can process two million bits of information per second! Our most powerful supercomputers cannot compare to the “computer” the Lord Jesus Christ made inside our craniums.

Every image we have ever seen and every book we have ever read, we do not remember them immediately, but these thoughts are deep inside our minds. In fact, the neurosurgeon said a certain medical procedure could stimulate our brains and cause us to access any and every memory we have acquired throughout our lifetimes. What was most amazing of all, he said that, if stimulated by such a procedure, we could even quote verbatim a book that we read several decades ago!

Due to the curse of sin, we actually use a very small percentage of our brain’s capabilities. We can only imagine the intelligence that Adam and Eve had just prior to their fall into sin. Recall what Adam did when he was just hours old: “And out of the ground the LORD God formed every beast of the field, and every fowl of the air; and brought them unto Adam to see what he would call them: and whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that was the name thereof. And Adam gave names to all cattle, and to the fowl of the air, and to every beast of the field…” (Genesis 2:19,20).

Saints, our minds are powerful, so we need to be careful what we let into them, for what we let in will literally remain there for the rest of our earthly lives. “Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things” (Philippians 4:8).

Holding Fast the Faithful Word

Tuesday, May 27, 2014

“Holding fast the faithful word as he hath been taught, that he may be able by sound doctrine both to exhort and to convince the gainsayers” (Titus 1:9 KJV).

What does “holding fast” mean in the Scriptures?

Let us briefly survey other Bible passages that shed light on the concept:

  • The Lord Jesus said, “No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon” (Matthew 6:24; cf. Luke 16:13).
  • Paul instructed us to “support the weak” (1 Thessalonians 5:14).
  • God speaks to Satan of Job’s “holding fast his integrity” (Job 2:3), and Job said, “My righteousness I hold fast, and will not let it go” (Job 27:6a).
  • Before Jerusalem’s destruction, the LORD asked through the Prophet Jeremiah, “Why then is this people of Jerusalem slidden back by a perpetual backsliding? they hold fast deceit, they refuse to return” (Jeremiah 8:5).

As we see, God’s definitions for “holding fast” are “refuse to return,” “hold to,” “support,” “not let it go.”

Satan, as his Hebrew name suggests, is “adversary,” and he has an arsenal of weapons he uses against God and His people. God the Holy Ghost wrote the Holy Bible with the intention of educating us at to what He is doing in the heaven and the earth, and what Satan is doing to frustrate His purpose and plans.

Therefore, in today’s Scripture, one of the characteristics of the bishop (frequently called “pastor”) is that he should not relinquish the rightly divided Word of God that he was first taught in his earlier years as a Christian. He should hold firm God’s Word, dispensationally studied, understood, and believed, that he may save others from Satan’s policy of evil and its deception (1 Timothy 4:16). The bishop will face intense opposition and criticism (today’s Scripture), but he must not surrender his rightly-divided Holy King James Bible for “easy-to-read” perversions and denominational systems.

Saints, let us always be mindful of the faithfulness of our King James Bible rightly divided, that it is worthy of our trust. May we “not let it go!” 🙂

Having the Zeal of the LORD

Sunday, May 25, 2014

“And the disciples remembered that it was written, The zeal of thine house hath eaten me up” (John 2:17 KJV).

May we rely on our Lord Jesus Christ, that His zeal may always consume us as it does Him!

A Christian emailed me, replying to our March/April devotionals arc, “A Heart Transplant for Israel:”

“Excellent study! Can’t help but think about today’s Christian. Those that have trusted Christ have indeed had ‘heart surgery’. But there are some who could use a stint or bypass to get the blood flow healthy again. Sadly many have lost their zeal for The Lord & have forfeited Godly joy, peace, & contentment for the lies of this world.”

Indeed, today’s lukewarm Christianity is in trouble (especially younger generations such as mine). Unfortunately, many Christians have surrendered: they are tired of the opposition and criticism, and have failed to pass on God’s Word to younger Christians (cf. 2 Timothy 2:1-4). While this world is most certainly hopeless—it is headed for the seven-year Tribulation!—we Christians need not cower in fear. Beloved, the mighty Holy Spirit of God worked in and through the Lord Jesus Christ, and He will unquestionably work in and through us just as mightily if we take the time to study and believe our King James Bibles rightly divided (1 Thessalonians 2:13)!

Jesus Christ had become so consumed with, so passionate about, God the Father’s will, that He was delighted beyond words. The verse previous to today’s Scripture says, “And [Jesus] said unto them that sold doves, Take these things hence; make not my Father’s house an house of merchandise” (verse 16). The apostles remembered Psalm 69:9, a Messianic Psalm that Jesus had just fulfilled (“For the zeal of thine house hath eaten me up”). God purposed His Temple to be His dwelling-place, not some marketplace where people overcharged and swindled others in His name. So, Jesus cleansed the Temple, literally running out these thieves using a whip (John 2:15)!

Beloved, may we rely on Jesus Christ’s faithfulness, to have His zeal to proclaim His message of grace to this lost and dying world, and to be “zealous of good works” (Titus 2:14)! 🙂

Mother: A Virtuous Woman

Sunday, May 11, 2014

“Who can find a virtuous woman? for her price is far above rubies” (Proverbs 31:10 KJV).

Today is Mother’s Day, so we dedicate this devotional to godly women (specifically mothers). I especially dedicate this to the virtuous woman who has been in my life for almost 26 years… my mom!

Today’s Scripture is the first verse of the Bible’s “Virtuous Woman” passage (Proverbs 31:10-31). King Solomon explained that the virtuous woman:

  • has a husband who safely trusts in her (verses 11,12).
  • is not lazy, but is strong because she works to feed and clothe her family and herself (verses 13-19,21,22,24,25,27).
  • pities the poor and needy (verse 20).
  • has a husband who is well-known because of her godly lifestyle (verse 23).
  • opens her mouth with wisdom, and speaks kindly and lovingly (verse 26).
  • has children and a husband who praise her (verse 28).
  • excels in what she does (verse 29).
  • has works that praise her (verse 31).

Verse 30 explains the virtuous woman is “a woman that feareth the LORD.”

The Apostle Paul wrote that godly women should: not slander/gossip, not be controlled by alcohol and emotions (sober minded), be teachers of good things, love their husbands and children, be cautious and modest, maintain the home, be “good,” and should obey (respect) their husbands… “that the word of God be not blasphemed” (Titus 2:3-5). A Christian woman, especially a mother, should be a virtuous woman in beliefs as well as in deed. She needs to set an example for her children (especially her daughters).

A Christian woman and/or Christian mother places her faith in this sound Bible doctrine, the indwelling Holy Spirit will then take that doctrine and transform her for God’s glory (1 Thessalonians 2:13). Her mind will be renewed by sound Bible doctrine, and that will transform her outward activity (Romans 12:1,2).

Are you a Christian woman or Christian mother who desires to be the woman God intends you to be in Christ Jesus? Place your faith in this sound Bible doctrine, and God will take care of the rest!

 HAPPY MOTHER’S DAY TO OUR READERS WHO ARE MOTHERS!

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