A GOOD PLACE TO GET STARTED
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THREE NO OR LOW COST WAYS TO GET STARTED!
Cherith Home Bible Institute was organized in 1986 as a correspondence Bible study program. These are the same courses that are offered at Cherith Bible Institute Online in the printed format. The courses are mailed out to the student in a designated order. Courses are sent out in printed format (for students in the U.S.) or PDF files (for students outside the U.S.). All students outside the United States must take the PDF file format. Students in the U. S. can also choose the pdf format. The student goes through the course assignments and worksheets and returns the evaluation to the Cherith Office for grading. The next course is then sent.
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Free Bible Correspondence Courses
FamilyNet International provides Free Bible Correspondence Courses via the US Postal system at no cost to our students (students are responsible for the cost of mailing the courses back to FamilyNet International).
associate school for over thirty years.
We have had students in more than 65 countries around the world!
FamilyNet International Inc and this associate Bible School
are a ministry of Bob and Maureen Hoffman,
If you are interested, please fill out the enrollment form (Click the Enroll Button from the drop-down menu above). Multiple students are welcome, a separate form should be filled out for each student. Please make sure the request form is completely filled out including the age of the student.
(Note: There are separate forms for International students.)
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Comments - Suggestions
Articles Welcome
From You!
Email Me At:
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Hosea 4:6 "My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge..."
"(People will not trust Christ & accept God's truth because they have hardened their hearts. A combination of preconceived notions, sin, & misinformation leads them to reject God. The H.S. is the truth-teller who opens their heart. We don't have to convince; just share and let God work on people. I always want to give it a shot. Don't give up on people God doesn't)". by Dan Nelson -
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ADDITIONAL LEARNING/TEACHING RESOURCES
WILL BE ADDED AS WE MOVE FORWARD
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A recent conversation with a pastor friend. 07/16/21 updated 4/25/22, and it seems to be getting worse! 10/21/22 Still getting worse 11/14/22
Roger Fulk said, “The biggest problem I yet have is the fact that most of the time, I can’t find over one Baptist, especially pastors, in a room at the same time who has learned how to use proper Biblical interpretation, and agree with much of anything! I am trying to find out what appropriate Bible interpretation methods are, and no one seems to teach me! Sorry to go off on everyone… but I would like to learn! I even have a group named “Warnings about Unbiblical Interpretations USING MODERN VERSIONS!”. Very few people seem to realize that everyone can’t have a different opinion and all be right, but many of them want to continue to argue and fight about it.
Prophecy is the biggest joke with proper Bible interpretation, and I warn people about that too!
My pastor friend said, “Your observations are true- you have ten Baptists in a room and get 25 different opinions..... As for prophecy, wrong Eschatology is the common thread among all the false religion- it affects more than what most think.”
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ADDITIONAL LEARNING/TEACHING RESOURCES
WILL BE ADDED AS WE MOVE FORWARD
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MORE STUDY CATEGORIES LESSON PLANS
STUDY GUIDES
INDEX TO READ STUDY LEARN TO TEACH FROM SEARCH CATEGORIES TO HELP US DEVELOP A DUPLICATABLE LEARNING/TEACHING SYSTEM!
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BELOW ARE SOME SUGGESTED BLOGS AND WEBSITES
To AID YOU IN YOUR FURTHER STUDIES.
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CURRENTLY UNDER CONSTRUCTION:
COME BACK OFTEN!
Comments - Suggestions
Articles Welcome
From You!
Email Me At:
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BELOW>>> ARE SOME SUGGESTED BLOGS AND WEBSITES
I WOULD SUGGEST AIDING YOU IN YOUR FURTHER STUDIES...
Not necessarily in any particular order ... subject to change:
LEGAL DISCLAIMER: In listing these posts and websites, for educational purposes ONLY, we are not endorsing all they may contain. Below are some resources … realizing that not everyone agrees on everything and no one is perfect! Please study the information below before casting stones:
Updated 11/25/2022
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HERE ARE SOME SUGGESTED BLOGS AND WEBSITES
I WOULD SUGGEST AIDING YOU IN YOUR FURTHER STUDIES...
Not necessarily in any particular order ... subject to change:
Daily Devotions & Sunday School Lessons from the KJV!
Dr. Paul Fedena mentioned by Bill Brinkworth
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DEVELOPING EVEN MORE
Read Study Learn Teach Mentor Train for Christ
MORE STUDY CATEGORIES -
LESSON PLANS - STUDY GUIDES
Read Study Learn Teach Mentor Train for Christ
(1) “Most Christians do not read the Bible. Many Christians who read the Bible ignore what the Bible says. Some Christians who ignore the Bible don't see that as a problem.” "Baptist Bread" July 17th, 2017 devotional by author Dr. Guy Goodell, Pastor, Bible Baptist Church, Hudson Falls, NY. with permission from Tim Green The Baptist Bread
(2) “Ignorance of Baptist heritage, which is so infectious in our pulpits and pews
today, is dangerous and must be overcome with a renewed teaching of our
Baptist heritage and heroes of past generations.”
“The Collegiate Baptist History Workbook", by James R. Beller
"Three Big Needs
To read study learn everything else …."
Roger Fulk May 2, 2019,
(1) Need to read and study and believe and apply the King James Bible.
(2) Need to study true Baptist Church History.
(3) Need to learn the proper methods of Biblical Interpretation.
If we learn the truth, the lies will stick out like a sore thumb!
IF WE STUDY AND LEARN THE TRUTH … THEN THE LIES WILL STICK OUT LIKE A ‘SORE THUMB” … IF YOU ARE A BORN-AGAIN BELIEVER IN CHRIST INDWELLED BY THE HOLY SPIRIT AND HAVE DISCERNMENT! …
I Corinthians 2:14
CLICKABLE LINKS NOT FOUND IN THE BOOK ARE ADDED
FOR YOUR FURTHER STUDY OF EACH
OF THE SUBJECTS BELOW:
Accessed from www.AWarningMinistry.com
Page 444, “The Discipling Church: The Church That Will Stand until Jesus Comes”.
Solutions:
We teach the entire counsel of God, based on the Authorized King James Bible, PROPER Biblical Interpretation, including prophecy and True Baptist Church History, Distinctives and Doctrine.
The Ten C’s ….. there may be more ….. Now there are Ten!
(1) ... Greatest Commandments Matthew 22:36-40
(2) ... Great Commission Matthew 28:16-20
(3) ... Earnestly Contend for the faith Jude 3-4, 20-25
(4) ... All the Counsel of God Acts 20:26-27
(5) ... One Christ Ephesians 4:4-6
(6) ... Another Christ 2 Corinthians 11:4
(7) ... With Compassion, Christians are to have compassion (1 Pe. 3:8; 1 Jn. 3:17; Jude 22). [See Charity, Labor, Love, Mercy.]
(8) ... Pray without ceasing I Thessalonians 5:17
(9) ... Creation Genesis 1:1-2, John 1:1-5 The seven c’s of creation!
(10) ...His Commandments in Old & New Testaments Revelation 22:14C
How to stop all this confusion out there?
- Get saved so you “can” understand!
- Start reading the KJB and pray every day!
- Learn the proper methods of biblical interpretation!
- Learn “true” Baptist Church History!
- Learn and practice the entire counsel of God!
- Attend a good Bible Believing Independent Church regularly!
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ADDITIONAL LEARNING/TEACHING RESOURCES
WILL BE ADDED AS WE MOVE FORWARD
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THIS BOOK IS: ·
- A serious discussion about why we are not seeing new blood in our churches
- An alarm to all who sense that something is wrong
- A call to examine our ways
- An explanation of why churches cannot show tangible results from soul-winning
Japan, Italy and many other nations are experiencing a crisis in a declining birth rate. Slowly, other cultures other than their own are multiplying faster than their own populations and in doing so are threatening to forever change the character and structure of their respective nations. Our Fundamental Baptist Churches are in the same condition. Very, very few of our churches can point to new members gleaned from the world at large and who now profess the faith of Jesus while embracing the standards of our forefathers.
THIS BOOK WILL:
- Examine changes in our nation's culture and our inability to respond biblically
- Challenge pastors to come to grips with the crisis
- Demonstrate how far we have drifted
May the God of Abraham, Isaac and of Jacob awaken some of my brethren to the depth of the deception happening in our culture and in our churches.
FORWARD
So now you must be saying to yourself; "Oh, it's one of these books... This must be a legalistic viewpoint on how to be and live as a Christian." My friend, keep reading: you may be pleasantly surprised, or maybe even better, questioning whether you truly have been born again. Philippians 2:12, 'Wherefore, my beloved, as we have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling." Hebrews 11:6, "But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him."
WHO MOVED THE GOAL POSTS?
A CRITIQUE OF SOUL WINNING IN THE 21ST CENTURY
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This book is:
A serious discussion of why we are not seeing new blood in our churches. An Alarm to all who sense that something is wrong. An explanation of why churches cannot show tangible results from soul-winning. This book will examine changes in our nation's culture and our inability to respond biblically.
"If a person to whom I was witnessing were to make an instant profession, and that profession was to be followed up by evidence of conversion that included a changed life and a desire for the house of God, I would rejoice. Otherwise, I would solemnly warn them to examine themselves, )
see page 82)."
WHO MOVED THE GOAL POSTS? A CRITIQUE OF SOUL WINNING IN THE 21ST CENTURY
page 285 , John Asquith Th.D.
Who Moved the Goal Posts?
"This is a book about soul winning. Like most books on soul winning it will contain some practical advice on how to see a sinner get saved. Unlike most books, it will have a different measurement for determining just how successful a ministry's saul winning really is. This book will work on a twofold basis. There will be true-life accounts of actual sinners who found eternal life in Christ Jesus. Some of these will be well known historical figures such as D.L Moody or John Wesley. This book will also seek to explore the scriptures on salvation and compare them with modern practices. Right from the beginning, I will put forth my premise: we don't see results like these men saw, because we abort them at the altar." Page 21, WHO MOVED THE GOAL POSTS? A CRITIQUE OF SOUL WINNING IN THE 21ST CENTURY by John Asquith Th.D. Amazon.com : Who Moved the Goal Posts
A PREFACE
"When we think of the task of winning souls to Jesus Christ, we should think about it from God's perspective. Turnabout is fair play. Six thousand years ago, mankind was lost to God. God had made man. God had given him dominion over the entire earth, but man fell through the subtlety of the devil and through the deceitfulness of sin. No longer was it the natural state of man to be a son of God. Mankind became by nature depraved, and sons of the devil" Page 13, WHO MOVED THE GOAL POSTS? A CRITIQUE OF SOUL WINNING IN THE 21ST CENTURY by John Asquith Th.D.
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Churches Must Address
Fundamentals, Not Symptoms
Enlarged June 8, 2022 (first published June 15, 2020)
David Cloud, Way of Life Literature, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061
866-295- 4143,
Black Lives Matter is a lose-knit coalition with the agenda of tearing down traditional America and replacing it with a socialist state that is a haven for moral perversion. They are enemies of the “old” America, as reflected in the U.S. Constitution and Bill of Rights, the “old” America that is deeply influenced by the Bible. BLM’s platform calls for an end to capitalism, the redistribution of wealth, universal basic income, collective ownership of property, slashing military spending by 50%, and ending all aid to Israel. They are opposed to “the nuclear family” (the traditional biblical family of a father, mother, and children). They “foster a queer‐affirming network” and intend to “free themselves “from the tight grip of heteronormative thinking” (the biblical idea of morality). BLM is one of many organizations and movements with similar agendas. A large part of the Democratic party in America today shares this agenda. These people have proven that they will tell any lie, destroy anyone’s reputation, commit any violence, break any law, toward the fulfillment of their agenda. They only tear down; they never build up. They cannot point to a showcase nation or community built upon Marxist or Leftist principles that has superior justice, equality, economic opportunity, and liberty to America’s.
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ADDITIONAL LEARNING/TEACHING RESOURCES
WILL BE ADDED AS WE MOVE FORWARD
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This book is:
A serious discussion of why we are not seeing new blood in our churches. An Alarm to all who sense that something is wrong. An explanation of why churches cannot show tangible results from soul-winning. This book will examine changes in our nation's culture and our inability to respond biblically.
FORWARD
So now you must be saying to yourself; "Oh, it's one of these books... This must be a legalistic viewpoint on how to be and live as a Christian." My friend, keep reading: you may be pleasantly surprised, or maybe even better, questioning whether you truly have been born again. Philippians 2:12, 'Wherefore, my beloved, as we have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling." Hebrews 11:6, "But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him."
In his book, Dr. John Asquith specifically illustrates what true, Bible salvation is and how one can have full assurance. In 1 John 5:13, it says, " These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God." (underlined for emphasis) In this verse, it does not say that you might know (which, if that is what you believe, it will undoubtedly cast doubt in your salvation). 1 Timothy 2:8 says "I will therefore that men pray everywhere, lifting up holy hands, without wrath and doubting." Can you honestly say that you do not doubt your salvation and lift up your hands towards a Holy and Just God? page 10,11 Forward by Amy Morey
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Who Moved the Goal Posts?
"This is a book about soul winning. Like most books on soul winning it will contain some practical advice on how to see a sinner get saved. Unlike most books, it will have a different measurement for determining just how successful a ministry's saul winning really is. This book will work on a twofold basis. There will be true-life accounts of actual sinners who found eternal life in Christ Jesus. Some of these will be well known historical figures such as D.L Moody or John Wesley. This book will also seek to explore the scriptures on salvation and compare them with modern practices. Right from the beginning, I will put forth my premise: we don't see results like these men saw, because we abort them at the altar." Page 21, WHO MOVED THE GOAL POSTS? A CRITIQUE OF SOUL WINNING IN THE 21ST CENTURY by John Asquith Th.D. Amazon.com : Who Moved the Goal Posts
This book is:
A serious discussion of why we are not seeing new blood in our churches. An Alarm to all who sense that something is wrong. An explanation of why churches cannot show tangible results from soul-winning.
This book will examine changes in our nation's culture and our inability to respond biblically.
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A Preface
"When we think of the task of winning souls to Jesus Christ, we should think about it from God's perspective. Turnabout is fair play. Six thousand years ago, mankind was lost to God. God had made man. God had given him dominion over the entire earth, but man fell through the subtlety of the devil and through the deceitfulness of sin. No longer was it the natural state of man to be a son of God. Mankind became by nature depraved, and sons of the devil" Page 13, WHO MOVED THE GOAL POSTS? A CRITIQUE OF SOUL WINNING IN THE 21ST CENTURY by John Asquith Th.D.
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"If a person to whom I was witnessing were to make an instant profession, and that profession was to be followed up by evidence of conversion that included a changed life and a desire for the house of God, I would rejoice. Otherwise, I would solemnly warn them to examine themselves, )
see page 82)."
WHO MOVED THE GOAL POSTS? A CRITIQUE OF SOUL WINNING IN THE 21ST CENTURY
page 285 , John Asquith Th.D.
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Introduction to SOUL WINNING
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"Three Big Needs …
To learn everything else …."
Over 2 Years Ago by Roger Fulk May 2, 2019,
(1) Need to read and study and believe
and apply the King James Bible.
(2) Need to study true Baptist Church History.
(3) Need to learn the proper methods of Biblical Interpretation.
If we learn the truth, the lies will stick out like a sore thumb!
IF WE STUDY AND LEARN THE TRUTH … THEN THE LIES WILL STICK OUT LIKE A ‘SORE THUMB” … IF YOU ARE A BORN-AGAIN BELIEVER IN CHRIST, INDWELLED BY THE HOLY SPIRIT AND HAVE DISCERNMENT! … I Corinthians 2:14
roger@rogerfulk.com
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Introduction to 2 Peter
and Jude
MacArthur New Testament Commentary
by John MacArthur, Moody Publishers 2005
Pages 1 and 2
"Second Peter (along with Jude) is viewed by some as the "dark corner" of the New Testament. As a result, it is not often preached, studied, discussed, or quoted. The book is even neglected in scholarly circles, where critics dismiss it as a pseudonymous (forged) letter, unworthy of serious study.
But the church of Jesus Christ ignores this epistle at its peril. After all, Peter wrote it to help believers face a world filled with subtle spiritual deception. Knowing that his death was imminent (1:14), the apostle wanted to remind his readers of the truths he had already taught them, so that those truths would continue to safeguard them after he was gone (v. 15). Peter also knew that the deadly threat of false teachers loomed large on the horizon; he wanted to expose the apostates in order to expel their demon doctrines from the church
Never has Peter's warning been more timely than it is today. The rapid advancement of mass media, coupled with the church's lack of discernment, has allowed doctrinal error to spread like wildfire. False teachers propagate their heresies via television, radio, the Internet, books, magazines, and seminars-doing whatever they can for their own selfpromotion. In the process, their deceit lures multitudes to exchange the truth for utter lies (cf. 1 Tim. 1:19; 2 Tim. 2:16-18). To make matters worse, - 2 PETER some in today's church, motivated by cowardly fear of rejection or misguided notions of love, are reluctant to expose today's apostates. Instead of countering error, they either embrace it or ignore it in the name of tolerance.
The apostle Peter, however, had no qualms about denouncing the deceivers who threatened his beloved flock. He recognized them for what they were: wolves in sheep's clothing (Matt. 7:15; Acts 20:29), lurking to devour the ignorant with their beguiling lies. Peter understood that false teachers are the emissaries of hell and pawns of Satan, motivated by the love of money, power, prestige, and prominence. Because they are masters of deception, they successfully peddle the doctrines of demons to unsuspecting souls, marketing eternal ruin as if it were eternal life. .
The only sure defense against their tactics is found in the truth of God's Word. Peter knew this, of course, which is why he penned this epistle. As a true man of God, he was deeply concerned to protect those under his spiritual care." Continued in the book...!
MacArthur New Testament Commentary by John MacArthur,
Moody Publishers 2005 Pages 1 and 2
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"Three Big Needs …
To learn everything else …."
2 Years Ago Roger Fulk May 2, 2019,
(1) Need to read and study and believe
and apply the King James Bible.
(2) Need to study true Baptist Church History.
(3) Need to learn the proper methods of Biblical Interpretation.
If we learn the truth, the lies will stick out like a sore thumb!
IF WE STUDY AND LEARN THE TRUTH … THEN THE LIES WILL STICK OUT LIKE A ‘SORE THUMB” … IF YOU ARE A BORN-AGAIN BELIEVER IN CHRIST INDWELLED BY THE HOLY SPIRIT AND HAVE DISCERNMENT! … I Corinthians 2:14
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Understanding Born Again Part I
Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, 1st John 5:1.
If we went down to a redneck bar in just about any American city and we polled the drunks as they came out and asked them if Jesus is the Christ, they would almost all respond, "Of course he is". Does that mean they are they born of God? I think we all realize that what they are saying is not a revelation from the Holy Ghost, it something they learned from flannel graphs during a vacation bible school, at Sunday school, or from some catechism.
Wherefore I give you to understand, that no man speaking by the Spirit of God calleth Jesus accursed: and that no man can say that Jesus is the Lord, but by the Holy Ghost, 1st Corinthians 12:3. We could get a parrot to say "Jesus is the Lord" and he might say it over and over, but it would not be a sign that our parrot is speaking by the Holy Ghost, it is something the flesh taught him.
Jesus Christ himself expressed the difference when after Peter identified him as the Christ, the son of the living God, he told Peter; Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven, Matthew 16:17. The western world, the vast array of today's churches, and alas even our fundamental churches are full of people whose only revelation that Jesus is the Christ came from flesh and blood, not from an inner revelation wrought by the Holy Ghost.
The Apostle John told us that if we believe that Jesus is the Christ we are born of God. The Apostle Paul told us that no man can say that Jesus is the Christ but by the Holy Ghost. Jesus Christ told Peter that him knowing that Jesus was the Christ was a revelation from the Father, and yet we have people who can't connect the dots and realize that Paul and John are both speaking of the same thing.
Sometimes people ask me if I am a liberal or a conservative. I never answer that outright. I tell them what I believe. To many people that is a non-answer. They just look at me blankly and ask again whether I am a liberal or a conservative. They have no idea what those words really mean. When they have to judge for themselves whether I am a liberal or a conservative, they do not have the intellectual tools to do so based on the evidence that I have given them. I have had the same thing happen when people ask me if I am a Calvinist or an Arminian.
The Apostle Paul never uses the term, "born again" and those who lack the ability to identify what it means to be born again can't see it in his writing. Before we look at what the Apostle Paul has to say about the state of being born of God, we'll look at the statement I made in the last post when I said that no one could be born again until the incarnation of Jesus Christ. We'll look at an Old Testament saint make the transition from being secure in the promises of God to being born into the Kingdom of God. It happens right before our eyes. The Apostle Paul explained that to us if we have eyes to see and ears to hear.
Philip findeth Nathanael, and saith unto him, We have found him, of whom Moses in the law, and the prophets, did write, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph, John 1:45. Philip identifies Jesus Christ as the son of Joseph. That is something the Holy Ghost would never do. In fact when it becomes necessary to link Jesus Christ with Joseph, the scripture use the term "supposed". And Jesus himself began to be about thirty years of age, being (as was supposed) the son of Joseph, which was the son of Heli, Luke 3:23. The Holy Ghost would never call Jesus the son of Joseph. What Philip unwittingly did was to call Jesus Christ accursed. He put him under the sin of Adam and under the curse of Coniah (Jeremiah 22:28-30).
There is no evidence in Philip that he is born again or that he spoke by the Holy Ghost. What he did do, was to bring Nathaniel to see Jesus Christ. When Jesus Christ saw Nathaniel he identified him as a man of faith who was already saved by Old Testament precepts. Jesus saw Nathanael coming to him, and saith of him, Behold an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile!, John 1:47. Jesus Christ has flagged two points about Nathaniel, one point made by David in the Psalms and one identified by the Apostle Paul in Romans.
Jesus called him an Israelite indeed. Here is where we need the Apostle Paul to do his job, take us by the hand and explain to us Gentiles what that means. That is his job. Paul tells us; For they are not all Israel which are of Israel, Romans 9:6. He goes on to explain that a person isn't considered to be the true Israel if they are not of the promise and that God always keeps a remnant. Jesus Christ identified Nathaniel as being part of that remnant, an Israelite indeed.
David spoke of such people when he said; Blessed is the man unto whom the LORD imputeth not iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no guile, Psalm 32:2. Jesus Christ identified Nathaniel as being such a man in whom was no guile. This is not a man lost and on his way to hell. So many people view all of the crowds of people in the Gospels and in the synagogues of Acts as being lost sinners on their way to hell.
Nathaniel is no such person. What Nathaniel doesn't know is that the man standing in front of him is the one whose spirit dwells in his heart. What he does know is that the man standing in front of him just read him on the inward parts and identified his true spiritual condition. Nathanael saith unto him, Whence knowest thou me?, John 1:48. Jews require a sign so Jesus gave him one; Jesus answered and said unto him, Before that Philip called thee, when thou wast under the fig tree, I saw thee, John 1:48.
Nathaniel became part of the transition. He did not get saved in John 1, he got born again. By what evidence? Look at what he says next; Rabbi, thou art the Son of God; thou art the King of Israel, John 1:49. John explained in 1st John that believing that Jesus is the son of God is the proof that they are born again.
A person could not be born again prior to the incarnation because the proof of being born again is believing that Jesus is the son of God. That means believing that if you were to take a DNA sample of the man Christ Jesus and test every man who ever lived you would never find a father on this earth. God is his Father. I can explain that to you and you may be able to parrot those words, but until such time as the Holy Ghost births the new man inside of you, it will be just flesh and blood teaching you. When you are born again you will know that Jesus is the Christ and that he is born of God as surely as an arctic tern knows to fly from pole to pole, as sure as a new born baby knows to suckle and as sure as the Father knows his son. It is a miracle.
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Understanding Born Again Part II
Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God, 1st John 3:9.
There is no single stronger assurance of eternal security in the word of God than 1st John 3:9. The Arminian or the person who believes that the new nature of a believer can die is forced to change that verse to keep his theology. Oddly, fundamentalists have long had a dispute with that verse. They try to change it to "does not practice sin" instead of cannot sin. That is not what the verse says.
The new nature in a believer is born as pure as the birth of Jesus Christ himself. It is a spotless birth in which the new nature born inside of the newly converted believer is as holy and pure as the baby that lay in a manger in Bethlehem. The Apostle Paul spoke of this when he said; And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness, Ephesians 4:24.
What could be more righteous and truly holy than to be incapable of sin by birth? Some may object that Paul spoke of a created nature whereas John spoke of a birthed nature. I ask the reader, were you born or created? The answer is that you are both. Every baby in a hospital nursery is a creation from God birthed to its mother. As usual, the Apostle Paul is more detailed. Under what precept would the Lord bestow such a great blessing on those who heard John or Peter preach and then deny the greatest single blessing ever given to man to those who were converted under the Apostle Paul?
The Apostle Paul spoke of living with such a contradiction in natures, a body of flesh prone to sin and an inward man incapable of sin. I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin, Romans 7:25. If we look into Paul's statement a little deeper we find that the good apostle is describing the inward battle of a person born of God.
For that which I do I allow not: for what I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that do I, Romans 7:15. What is a person in reality? Is he what we see, or is he what is on the inward part? For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he, Proverbs 23:7. Or, as Samuel said; for the LORD seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the LORD looketh on the heart, 1st Samuel 16:7. In Romans 7:15-25 the Apostle Paul expresses his anguish and his solution to having two distinct different natures operating within him.
He is telling us that inside of him (the real him) is a will to God's will. That is the polar opposite of an unconverted person who struggles with religious affections or sense of duty, but in his inward part desires sin. Watch the following verse and see that Paul identifies his true inner self to have a will for God. As he thinketh in his heart, so is he. What keeps religious people lost is their unwillingness to see their true heart and admit they they are at heart, breakers of the laws of God.
Romans 7:15 For that which I do I allow not: for what I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that do I.
Romans 7:16 If then I do that which I would not, I consent unto the law that it is good.
Romans 7:17 Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.
Romans 7:18 For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not.
Romans 7:19 For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do.
Romans 7:20 Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.
Romans 7:21 I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me.
Romans 7:22 For I delight in the law of God after the inward man:
Romans 7:23 But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.
Romans 7:24 O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?
Romans 7:25 I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin.
That is the testimony of the new birth. It is the testimony of a man whose heart is pure and holy because it is born of God. Because Paul doesn't call it that, the person who lacks understanding can't see it.
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Doth he thank that servant because he did the things that were commanded him? I trow not, Luke 17:9.
In the word "trow" we have a word that is no longer commonly used. In fact, its usage in Luke 17:9 is probably the only time most of us will ever encounter the word. That of course is a horror story to the proponents of the new bibles. Imagine the horror of little Poopsie having to actually cipher out what a word means from the context! The proponents of the new bibles who so often decry the modern trends in dumbing down students in public education take front and center stage in dumbing down their students when it comes to the bible.
Before we look at the meaning of the word which almost jumps out in the context, let us consider teaching students to reason. It is a fact of history that most of the colonial ancestors of Canadians and Americans, and I presume other English Speaking nations had only two books in their humble homes. They had a King James Bible and they had Pilgrim's Progress. What education they received was often sporadic and limited. Somehow, men of this ilk were able to understand and to form great republics upon this earth; republics so great that the poor of this earth still strive to enter them.
I have read many books about the era of the founding of the United States, the history of England itself and am somewhat familiar with the histories of other English Speaking nations. What stands out as we look back on these people is how well they learned to reason. The ability to reason is clearly missing in the masses of people today.
For those who would inculcate a love of reason and an ability to think clearly in their students, there is no greater tool on this earth than a King James Bible. It is written in exact and clear English. As we have said so often before, no generation of men ever spoke King James English. It has always been an exact language constructed from English Lexicons, but grammatically formed to perfectly reflect the sense of the Greek and Hebrew manuscripts from which it came.
Though we may find snippets or streams of similar grammatical construction or word usage in other sources such as Shakespeare or Milton, none of those sources have the exact unerring and constant grammar of our King James Bible. To teach a student to read a King James Bible is to teach them to think in exact and complete thoughts. It is to teach them the ability to construct sentences in such a way that thought can be logically and unerringly expressed.
Over the years, I have learned that the most effective teaching tools in life often teach more than what is on the surface. A child joining a sports team learns more than the game itself. He learns teamwork, obedience, the pain of losing and the joy of winning. A good literature course will do more than to teach a student to read. It carries them to foreign lands, other times and to other cultures.
Until the new bibles came along with the the express purpose of seeing to it that our young would never have to reason out any word or phrase, bible reading taught logical thought and ingrained our young in an international expression of the English Language which is common with all of the other English speaking people of earth who retained our King James Bible.
I have commented before about the rapid improvement I hear in the speech patterns of our converts at the Black Creek Baptist Church. People who hitherto fore had resented reading anything not on an electronic device and whose conversation reflected the slang of their limited spheres, now speak in far more coherent sentences. They have expanded their reading to works other than the bible and find joy in learning.
What a strange goal our bible correcting friends have set for their young charges! They seek to teach them bible truth, but only when framed with a linguistic and logic structure with which they are already comfortable. At no other time in our history have bible educators ever sought to limit the educational value of the bible.
To hear these same people grouse about the dumbed down standards of today's public education, and to hear them boast about their own elevated standards in their Christian schools, we would think that they would use the same elevated bible from which their forefathers learned. Alas, we would think so in vain. They have bought into their own propaganda to the detriment of themselves and their students.
"Trow" and "true" come from common root words. It is obvious from the context of Luke 17:9, that to say, "I trow not" is to say that you disagree. I have never run across a person who did not get that from the context. Various words in the English Language have taken strange paths to get where they are today. For example, warden and guardian come from the same root word. Depending on whether the user of the common root word was a native Anglo-Saxon speaker or a speaker of Old Norse, the user framed the word differently in his mouth. Two distinctly different sounds came out and eventually similar but different meanings formed.
Shirt and skirt are another example of two words diverging based on the speech pattern of its speakers. We see that even within Israel, those who were native speakers of Hebrew pronounced some words differently. Then said they unto him, Say now Shibboleth: and he said Sibboleth: for he could not frame to pronounce it right. Then they took him, and slew him at the passages of Jordan: and there fell at that time of the Ephraimites forty and two thousand, Judges 12:6.
In the word "trow" we have a verb that means to acknowledge something as true. I don't know whether any of my fellow English Speaking brethren in the far flung corners of the earth still use such a delightful and useful word, but I am glad that my students learn it.
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God Gets it Right
And I will give the men that have transgressed my covenant, which have not performed the words of the covenant which they had made before me, when they cut the calf in twain, and passed between the parts thereof, Jeremiah 34:18.
When did the men of Jeremiah's day pass between the two parts of the calf? It wasn't done in their lifetimes but God held them to account. When Abraham laid out the sacrifice of Genesis 15, he undoubtedly passed between the halves of the young heifer that he killed before the smoking lamp passed between the two halves. The men of Jeremiah's day were all physically of the seed of Abraham, and as a result, God saw them as in his loins.
Genesis 15:7 And he said unto him, I am the LORD that brought thee out of Ur of the Chaldees, to give thee this land to inherit it.
Genesis 15:8 And he said, Lord GOD, whereby shall I know that I shall inherit it?
Genesis 15:9 And he said unto him, Take me an heifer of three years old, and a she goat of three years old, and a ram of three years old, and a turtledove, and a young pigeon.
Genesis 15:10 And he took unto him all these, and divided them in the midst, and laid each piece one against another: but the birds divided he not.
Genesis 15:11 And when the fowls came down upon the carcases, Abram drove them away.
Genesis 15:12 And when the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram; and, lo, an horror of great darkness fell upon him.
Genesis 15:13 And he said unto Abram, Know of a surety that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve them; and they shall afflict them four hundred years;
Genesis 15:14 And also that nation, whom they shall serve, will I judge: and afterward shall they come out with great substance.
Genesis 15:15 And thou shalt go to thy fathers in peace; thou shalt be buried in a good old age.
Genesis 15:16 But in the fourth generation they shall come hither again: for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full.
Genesis 15:17 And it came to pass, that, when the sun went down, and it was dark, behold a smoking furnace, and a burning lamp that passed between those pieces.
Genesis 15:18 In the same day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, Unto thy seed have I given this land, from the river of Egypt unto the great river, the river Euphrates:
It should not strike a student of the bible as strange that God should account the good works of a father to be part of a son's heritage. After all, when did Levi pay tithe?
Hebrews 7:9 And as I may so say, Levi also, who receiveth tithes, payed tithes in Abraham.
Hebrews 7:10 For he was yet in the loins of his father, when Melchisedec met him.
When God looks upon a man or woman, he not only sees that person, but he sees those who will emerge from their loins. When Abraham paid a tithe, God saw beyond Abraham and saw three generations further. He saw Levi and you can be sure he saw (and sees) each and every person to come from the loins of Abraham.
Therefore, when God looked upon The princes of Judah, and the princes of Jerusalem, the eunuchs, and the priests, and all the people of the land, which passed between the parts of the calf; Jeremiah 34:19, he was looking at people who had not been born when Abraham made his sacrifice and wouldn't be born for hundreds of years.
Does he view the descendants of women like he does the descendants of men? Yes, he does. As the Lord said to Eve, And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel, Genesis 3:15. You will note that when God looked upon Eve, he saw much more than Eve, he saw every generation that would come forth from her. We know that before a woman is ever born, she already has every egg that she will ever have. You can be sure that Eve did, and that God could see each and every child who would ever be born from her.
That brings us to an understanding for one of the greater quandaries in a King James Bible. How old was Ahaziah when he began to reign? 2nd Kings says that he was 22 years of age. Two and twenty years old was Ahaziah when he began to reign; and he reigned one year in Jerusalem. And his mother's name was Athaliah, the daughter of Omri king of Israel, 2nd Kings 8:26. 2nd Chronicles says that he was 42 years old. Forty and two years old was Ahaziah when he began to reign, and he reigned one year in Jerusalem. His mother's name also was Athaliah the daughter of Omri, 2nd Chronicles 22:2.
If Ahaziah was really 42 years of age when he began to reign then he was older than his father. Everything would be easier if we just followed the Septuagint which makes both passages give the same age of 22. We are told by the Apostle Paul not to do so when he said;
Romans 3:1 What advantage then hath the Jew? or what profit is there of circumcision?
Romans 3:2 Much every way: chiefly, because that unto them were committed the oracles of God.
If I have a choice between a version of scripture prepared for Gentile eyes such as the Septuagint, or the Hebrew Bible carried by the Jews with their great advantage of having that oracles of God committed unto them, I'm going to follow the lead of the King James translators who used the text carried by those well advantaged Jews for a few thousand years. What if the Septuagint which differs with the text behind the King James Bible makes more sense? Then I need to revamp my thinking.
For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts, Isaiah 55:9. One of the purposes of scripture is to snare the proud and scornful. But the word of the LORD was unto them precept upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little; that they might go, and fall backward, and be broken, and snared, and taken, Isaiah 28:13. The very next verse tells us who is snared; Wherefore hear the word of the LORD, ye scornful men, that rule this people which is in Jerusalem, vs.14.
Could it be that the modern church has chosen the corrupt scholars of the bible colleges to be their rulers in matters of faith? Have we really degenerated to the point that we cannot really know what God says until we check with these men. If you read the NIV or ESV you are in that boat. Each of those corrupt versions follows the Septuagint in 2nd Chronicles 22:2.
NIV: Ahaziah was twenty-two[a] years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem one year. His mother’s name was Athaliah, a granddaughter of Omri.
ESV: Ahaziah was twenty-two[a] years old when he began to reign, and he reigned one year in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Athaliah, the granddaughter of Omri.
What makes Ahaziah different than other kings of Judah? He is different because of the wicked lineage of his mother, and that when he dies, his mother rules in his stead. God separated the lineage of David and the Kingdom of Judah from the Northern Kingdom of Israel. As godly a man as King Jehoshaphat was, he broke down a barrier erected by God and made affinity with Ahab. As we saw in one of the last posts (Here), affinity is a relationship based on marriage.
That affinity was to be the destruction of Jehoshaphat's house after his death. His son Jehoram killed his brethren who were the other sons of Jehoshaphat, and was so wickedly intertwined with the house of Ahab that he was able to kill princes of that house. Now when Jehoram was risen up to the kingdom of his father, he strengthened himself, and slew all his brethren with the sword, and divers also of the princes of Israel, 2nd Chronicles 21:4.
The age given in 2nd Chronicles for the how old Ahaziah was when he began to reign is the age that Athaliah was when her son who as a seed had been in her womb for 42 years began to reign. Scripture is meant to instruct, but it will ensnare the proud. Every single date, number, name, and location in a King James Bible is an infallible data point that will either instruct the wise or ensnare the proud.
To study the reign of Jehoshaphat is to give us an understanding of how and why some of the old venerable ministries of our very recent past have been so corrupted when the man of God who passed away left it to his particular version of Ahab's kindred. As godly as Jehoshaphat was, he left an inheritance that was quickly corrupted and defiled because of his associations in life. That will explain much of the degeneration of our fundamental churches in these last two decades.
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The Bible plan is for preachers to train preacher boys themselves... |
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The Bible plan is for preachers to train preacher boys themselves...
“The Bible plan is for preachers to train preacher boys themselves. If you think they must have college, as least train them doctrinally yourself first, then allow them to go to college. I believe that preachers need to give birth to preachers. I’m not putting down Bible colleges and saying that there is not a place for them, but I’m saying that at least pastors better check the school out very carefully. Before they send young people off, they should have trained them enough that the school will not be able to remove what pastors and parents have put in them.” William R. Byers, The History of the King James Bible and the People Called Baptists, p.192
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Submission to the King James Bible
And it came to pass, when the king had heard the words of the book of the law, that he rent his clothes, II Kings 22:11.
We know from the story of King Josiah that he set about to restore and build the house of God. Commendable as that was, it was the discovery of the word of God lying amidst the discarded junk that transformed the kingdom. And the king stood by a pillar, and made a covenant before the LORD, to walk after the LORD, and to keep his commandments and his testimonies and his statutes with all their heart and all their soul, to perform the words of this covenant that were written in this book. And all the people stood to the covenant, II Kings 23:3.
I hear a lot about men seeking to build churches or seeking to build up old ones. What is too often lacking is a covenant to utterly submit to the word of God. Let's not fool ourselves. Any man who does not believe that the King James Bible is perfect and who is not willing to submit himself to what it says is not submitted to the word of God. The word of God is submitted to him.
He picks and chooses according to his own lights what is truly from God and what is not. His congregation trusts in his scholarship and resources to give them light as to what is scripture and what is not. In such a church, no matter what they claim in their doctrinal statements, and no matter what they profess, the word of God is under subjection to the preacher, not vice versa.
The entrance of thy words giveth light; it giveth understanding unto the simple, Psalms 119:130. Josiah did well to begin the repair to God's house, but it was the entrance of the word of God that brought light. A good building and willing congregation was not enough. It was when a willing congregation was given understanding by the light of God's word that God began his true work.
Over the next week, Mormons will fill their various houses of worship. They will sing. They will rejoice in fellowship one with another. They will live clean lives. Their hymns are often God honoring.
I have attended prayer gatherings of the local Muslim community in my area. They are a clean, well educated group who clearly love one another and find a comradeship of being strangers together in our country. Jehovah Witnesses will gather and discuss their outreach to the community. They are greatly affectioned one to another and they look forward to their gatherings. In each of these cases the people will tell you that their participation in their faith gives them meaning in life. Hey, if you and your family join a bowling group it will transform your family and give you purpose and draw you close to new people.
All too often, preachers mistake a willing congregation which is kindly affectioned one to another and following fundamental precepts for a congregation filled with the light of God. If that preacher stands in judgment on the word of God, his church is under a shadow of darkness. Let him not measure his work by attendance, zeal, the joy of the gatherings or any other such measurement. Let him measure his work by the entrance of the word of God and the work that it does.
Unless a preacher is 100% committed to the King James Bible as the word of God and he is 100% committed to its precepts as written, he labors to build a work of man and when the rain and the winds come, it will wash away, or worse, it will become a fossilized tradition bound relic. We are living in the 21st century. I bear witness to you that God has winked at the ignorance of men concerning his word in past generations but there is no longer any excuse for any preacher to not trust a King James Bible. The evidence is overwhelming and abundant.
I stood in awe in my church building this morning. In prayer I brought many of our current problems and distresses to the the throne of God. I also marveled before God at what God can do when a broken and hurt people come into a broken and hurt church with a broken and hurt preacher and submit themselves to a King James Bible.
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“When you study the Greek, you are not studying the Bible; you are studying one man’s opinion of the definition of Greek words. Most of the time those Greek theologians that you are studying don’t believe the King James Bible is right. They have come up with their own definitions of those Greek words. Many of the Greek definitions given in these lexicons (note lex-I-cons) line up with the corrupt NIV translation. It is unbelievable that we have been so brainwashed and so lied to and that we have been so gullible to believe that these men can help us understand our Bible better.” Dan Goodwin, Hath God Said?, pp.70-71
“When ‘scholarly men’ from the ‘recognized schools’ have finished the work of tampering with the pages of Holy Writ, when they have made their last joke or pun about its ‘archaic language’ and supposed ‘errors,’ when the pens of ‘higher criticism’ and the volumes on ‘textual criticism’ have all vanished from the pages of history, THE INFALLIBLE WORD OF GOD WILL STILL STAND!” Dr. Bruce D. Cummons, The Foundation and Authority of the Word of God, p.58
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GENERAL LAWS OF HERMENEUTICS … Interpreting The Bible
Prepared By Robert J. Sargent “A Comprehensive Study in HERMENEUTICS,
BIBLE STUDY METHODS & EXPOSITORY TEACHING” Page 91, 1994.
“Confusion reigns over the realm of Christendom today, and it is without doubt that Satan is using this to keep the “minds of them which believe not” blinded from the truth of the Gospel. Indeed, most Christians themselves are ignorant of “the whole counsel of God”, especially as it relates to Church truth. Much of this confusion stems from faulty interpretation of the Word of God. Many differences over doctrine are rooted in the method of Biblical interpretation employed; thus it is extremely important to be grounded in the basic principles of hermeneutics.
I. THE GOLDEN RULE OF BIBLE INTERPRETATION
Of all the principles of hermeneutics, this one rule stands supreme:
“Interpret Scripture with Scripture.”
This is the meaning of II Peter 1:20b — “…no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation.” In other words, a passage of the Bible is to be interpreted by comparing (I Corinthians 2:13d) it with other parts of the Bible. Scripture is its own interpreter!
A. Private Interpretation Of Scripture.
- A private interpretation is one whereby a Scripture passage is ‘isolated’ (kept private) from, and interpreted without, any reference to the rest of the Bible.
- e.g. Interpreting John 16:23 privately could easily lead to a “nameit, claim-it” teaching, whereby all a Christian need do to receive anything he wants is ask for it in Jesus’ Name. Comparing Scripture with Scripture, however, shows that prayer is conditional, and to ask in Jesus’ Name means to ask according to His will (I John 5:14,15), to ask by faith —that is, according to the Word of God — (James 1:6), and to ask as one who is abiding in Christ (John 15:7), etc.
- A private interpretation is one whereby the interpreter himself establishes the meaning of a Scripture according to his own definition. Such an interpretation is very likely to reflect the denominational, traditional, or philosophical bias of the interpreter. e.g. John 3:5 — “Except a man be born of water…”
- A common private interpretation of this passage is that baptism is essential for salvation. That is the position of Catholics, Campbellites, and many Protestants.” … continued in the book!
Prepared By Robert J. Sargent “A Comprehensive Study in HERMENEUTICS,
BIBLE STUDY METHODS & EXPOSITORY TEACHING” Page 91, 1994.
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God does not require a believer to be well educated before they can be used.
I have seen Holy Spirit filled uneducated people preach circles around those who went to Bible College.
It's not the education that makes someone a good preacher or well versed in God's Word. It's being given the gift of discernment, and being able to allow the Holy Spirit to preach through you. Or at least listen to what the Holy Spirit says.
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Here was my original question and my first answer: "In regards to Bible Study and asking questions in the local church ... Please give me clarity to the following sources for answering your questions. Please give me scriptures."
- Pastors that teach
- Elders not a novice
- Teachers
- Deacons
- Commentaries
- Bishops
Click on the Four Seperate Lines Right Below!
FULL TEXT ARTICLES ARE DIRECTLY BELOW:
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Pastors
And I will give you pastors according to mine heart, which shall feed you with knowledge and understanding, Jeremiah 3:15.
Among the many English words used by the Holy Ghost to interpret the words of God into English is the word "pastor". It never shows up in the bible until Jeremiah uses it 8 times. It is never used again except for one time when the Apostle Paul uses Jeremiah's word to explain one of the gifts that God gives to men. To understand that word we need to look at a couple of things that made Jeremiah unique.
Jeremiah began his ministrations to Israel after the first third of King Josiah's reign. It was a time of promise and seeming revival. I call it Josiah's revival and see it as distinguished by its thoroughness and its zeal. It was a revival given reluctantly by God and it was cut off when Josiah misunderstood his mandate. Nevertheless Josiah would not turn his face from him, but disguised himself, that he might fight with him, and hearkened not unto the words of Necho from the mouth of God, and came to fight in the valley of Megiddo, 2nd Chronicles 35:22. In King David's time or in Jehoshaphat's time, God would never have allowed a Gentile King to have so traversed Israel. The sins of Manasseh changed all that. God spoke through a Gentile to Josiah and he didn't discern it as being of God.
The prophecy given to Josiah was that he would die in peace. Behold, I will gather thee to thy fathers, and thou shalt be gathered to thy grave in peace, neither shall thine eyes see all the evil that I will bring upon this place, and upon the inhabitants of the same. So they brought the king word again, 2nd chronicles 34:28. Josiah died in peace in two senses. He was a peace with God which considering the history of the kings was quite a feat. Secondly, the chaos and war the engulfed Jerusalem started immediately after he died.
I think that Jeremiah had a hard time with that. Years later he was to say; O LORD, thou hast deceived me, and I was deceived: thou art stronger than I, and hast prevailed: I am in derision daily, every one mocketh me. For since I spake, I cried out, I cried violence and spoil; because the word of the LORD was made a reproach unto me, and a derision, daily. Then I said, I will not make mention of him, nor speak any more in his name. But his word was in mine heart as a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I was weary with forbearing, and I could not stay. For I heard the defaming of many, fear on every side. Report, say they, and we will report it. All my familiars watched for my halting, saying, Peradventure he will be enticed, and we shall prevail against him, and we shall take our revenge on him. But the LORD is with me as a mighty terrible one: therefore my persecutors shall stumble, and they shall not prevail: they shall be greatly ashamed; for they shall not prosper: their everlasting confusion shall never be forgotten, Jeremiah 20:7-11. Jeremiah lived in difficult times of transition.
Jeremiah wrote the Book of Lamentations after Josiah's death, not when Nebuchadnezzar sacked the city as is commonly supposed. And Jeremiah lamented for Josiah: and all the singing men and the singing women spake of Josiah in their lamentations to this day, and made them an ordinance in Israel: and, behold, they are written in the lamentations, 2nd Chronicles 35:25. The Lamentations are prophetic of the sacking of Jerusalem and later times, but they date from Necho's conquest.
The temple was stripped of its glory during Jeremiah's ministry which overlapped with Ezekiel's visions. Then the glory of the LORD departed from off the threshold of the house, and stood over the cherubims. And the cherubims lifted up their wings, and mounted up from the earth in my sight: when they went out, the wheels also were beside them, and every one stood at the door of the east gate of the LORD'S house; and the glory of the God of Israel was over them above, Ezekiel 10: 18,19. Jeremiah's ministry was similar to the Apostle Paul's ministry in that he ministered in a time when the Nation of Israel was stripped of its secular power, stripped of the power of the law (Her gates are sunk into the ground; he hath destroyed and broken her bars: her king and her princes are among the Gentiles: the law is no more; her prophets also find no vision from the LORD, Lamentations 2:9.) When the false Jews of Paul's day sought to bring the emptiness of the covenants that they themselves had defiled and rendered worthless, Paul quoted the Philistine leaders who were confronted by Israel seeking to hide behind the Arc which they themselves had dishonored. As the Philistine leaders had told their men; Be strong, and quit yourselves like men, O ye Philistines, that ye be not servants unto the Hebrews, as they have been to you: quit yourselves like men, and fight, 1st Samuel 4:9. Even so the Apostle Paul was to tell the Corinthians, Watch ye, stand fast in the faith, quit you like men, be strong, 1st Corinthians 16:13.
What word can we use to describe those leaders of the people who for either ill or good lead the people, but do not occupy the traditional roles of the established Kingdom of Judah because those roles were made void by the hand of God? Jeremiah called them pastors. Woe be unto the pastors that destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture! saith the LORD, Jeremiah 23:1. For some odd reason scholars try to discern the meaning of the word through translation analysis when in reality the context of the usage pretty well gives it away. They are scattering flocks of sheep from the pastures of God. Do I really need to spend years in a classroom studying Hebrew to understand that they are shepherds? Many pastors have destroyed my vineyard, they have trodden my portion under foot, they have made my pleasant portion a desolate wilderness, Jeremiah 12:10. Do I need to trudge through endless lexicons to see that they are husbandmen?
The priests said not, Where is the LORD? and they that handle the law knew me not: the pastors also transgressed against me, and the prophets prophesied by Baal, and walked after things that do not profit, Jeremiah 2:8. Do we need to go any farther than this verse to see that the pastors are something apart from priests and prophets? A pastor could be a dual role as in the case of Jeremiah. As for me, I have not hastened from being a pastor to follow thee: neither have I desired the woeful day; thou knowest: that which came out of my lips was right before thee, Jeremiah 17:16. When God wanted Jeremiah to prophesy, he did not cease being a pastor.
Almost all of my friends who are evangelists have heard me beseech them to take a church. They are good men. They are like the Americans who fought in Vietnam. Good men fighting a bad plan. They occupy a village for a weekend. Everyone swears loyalty and pays up their taxes. They count the bodies to report their success. They leave on Monday and the Viet Cong slip back in and run things until next year's visitation. It is the formula for defeat. God bless a man like Sammy Allen who has pastored a church since 1960 and yet preached 50 weeks out of every year since then as an evangelist. He is almost always back in his church every Sunday to lead his flock. Jeremiah filled two roles, he was a pastor, but he did not hasten from being so to follow God. My friends have done so, and it is hastening the destruction of this nation.
A good pastor is a gift from God. And I will give you pastors according to mine heart, which shall feed you with knowledge and understanding, Jeremiah 3:15. This is where the Apostle Paul borrows the term from Jeremiah. He lists the gifts that Jesus Christ gave unto men when he resurrected from the dead. And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers, Ephesians 4:11. So often that verse is misread. It is errantly read to mean that God gave some men the gift of being apostles, some men were given the gift of being prophets and so on. That is not what it says. By reading it that way they stumble over the pastor and teacher combination.
Paul is telling us that if you study the Book of Acts you will see that God sent apostles to some men. That was the gift for those men. Peter or James or John came to them. To some men he sent prophets such as Agabus. To some men he sent evangelists such as Phillip. To most men he sends pastors and teachers. This is really part of the formula for the Baptist Church. They are two distinct different gifts given to men. The word pastor is often interchanged with the word bishop, but that is an error.
When the Apostle Paul described the two great offices of the church, he used the terms Bishop and Deacon. Pastor is not a church office though a man should never be a bishop who cannot be a pastor. A bishop is to be a seasoned leader who is apt to teach and can rule the church having proven himself in his lifestyle, his years of service and his ability to teach. Our modern church constitutions and bylaws call this office a pastor, but God does not. God calls him a bishop, but every qualification that he is supposed to have compels him to be a pastor.
I am the bishop of the Black Creek Baptist Church. Under God, I execute executive authority for the good or ill of my church. I am a pastor to my people, but I am not the only pastor. We have two men who have been ordained bishops of Baptist churches, myself and Pastor Roger Hain who in perfect Holy Ghost harmony exercises his gifts as a gift to my people. He retired after pastoring a church for 39 ½ years. In God's good grace to us, he gave him as a gift to us to co-labor with me.
We have another man, Dale Morey who because he has three living women with whom he has shared holy matrimony, it is not the practice of this ministry to ordain him as a bishop or a deacon. He ministers to the prisoners of Western New York. He counsels in our church. He teaches classes and he fills pulpits. To those men and women who weep while he preaches to them of the grace of God given to such a sinner as himself, and who receive his letters and other visitations, he is the only pastor they know. If the Pharisees were to forbid those people from calling him such, the very rocks and stones would call it out. He does not exercise executive authority in the church under any bible office.
What then is the difference between a pastor and a teacher. A teacher teaches. So does a pastor. A pastor goes farther than just teaching. He guides a flock. He chooses teaching material. A teacher is responsible for what he teaches. A pastor organizes who teaches, what is taught, and watches the flock to see to it that they are properly fed. Such a combination of men is truly a gift from God to men. Both Jeremiah and Paul tell us that in Jeremiah 3:15 and Ephesians 4:11. For the sake of bible accuracy, do not confound the words pastor and bishop. Bishop is a bible office. A pastor is a gift to men. They may be one and the same man in many cases, and certainly every bishop should be a pastor, but every pastor need not be a bishop, yet he needs to be under the authority of a bishop. That's how God runs his church.
Bishoprick
Updated: Oct 14
For it is written in the book of Psalms, Let his habitation be desolate, and let no man dwell therein: and his bishoprick let another take, Acts 1:20. There are few words in a King James Bible as controversial as the word "bishoprick". It is one of 11 words that Miles Smith changed of his own accord in between receiving the translation committee's final draft of the King James Bible, and his own polishing of that work. It has been reported that many of the Presbyterian translators saw that change as a betrayal. Certainly, there are many today who see it as such. We will look at why they believe that, and then why the word is accurate.
When Peter says that, "it is written", he is quoting Psalms 109:8, Let his days be few; and let another take his office. Why doesn't the King James Bible use the word "office" when quoting that verse, and what is the difference? To understand that, we must understand the difference between the words "translation" and "interpretation". The word "translation" is only used in our bible three times and none of those times is discussing rendering something said in one language into another language. Instead, our bible uses the word "interpretation" when a word used in the Old Testament in Hebrew, is then rendered into Greek in the New Testament. The Holy Ghost does not give the gift of "translation of tongues", it gives the gift of "interpretation of tongues".
Translations are often stiff and awkward. Somehow, translating a series of words found in a sentence in one language, rarely sound the same when the same words are strung together as translated individual words. It often looks like gibberish. As an experiment, I would challenge my reader to pull up a Google translating program and write a sentence into it. Have the program translate it into a common European language. Then copy that translation which you may have no ability to understand and paste it back into a program that will translate it back into English. There are whole Youtube channels dedicated to the hilarity of such antics. It will not be what you originally wrote.
Whenever the word of God renders a word from on language to another, it always interprets the word. The King James Bible is best understood as the Holy Ghost's interpretation of the Word of God into the English Language. A word can be honestly translated many different ways. Only an interpreter can make sense of it. Imagine a movie in which two street thugs are leaning on an old brick wall in an alley. A big black limousine pulls into the alley and one thug says to the other, "Last week, I laid a rock through that cat's windshield".
We know what that thug said. We can picture him smashing that windshield with a rock. It implies a casual disrespectful violence. When it is rendered through a couple of languages, the casualness of the violence is missing. What is needed isn't an exact translation. What is needed is a living breathing spirit that can think about and understand what what was said, and then say the same thing in another language so that the reader has the same feel. That is a gift that the King James Translators clearly had. So many new translations of the bible read like a teletype account of a football game, all facts and no spirit.
Why then is "bishoprick" the correct word? Why didn't the translators render the Greek word exactly as they had rendered the Hebrew word and left it as "office"? Was Miles Smith justified in what he did? Well, the word "office" in Psalms 109:8 implies more than just a title and responsibility. Jesus tells us that territory went with it. And Jesus said unto them, Verily I say unto you, That ye which have followed me, in the regeneration when the Son of man shall sit in the throne of his glory, ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel, Matthew 19:28. The land grant the God gives to Israel in Ezekiel 48 will be ruled by the twelve apostles. The New Testament always expands and explains the Old Testament. What is a mystery in one, is explained in the other.
Of course, Episcopalians were delighted at the concept of physical territory being ascribed to an office. To this day, the Episcopalians (meaning rule by bishops) cannot discern the difference between a bishop over a local church and an apostle. In this respect they are like Roman Catholics. I am a Baptist. I am a bishop over a local church. My church is named for a territory, It is the Black Creek Baptist Church, all churches in the bible were named for the territories they were in. That does not give me temporal authority over my territory as is, and has been practiced by the persecuting churches of old. The apostles will have temporal authority over a physical territory in the regeneration.
As far as I know, the King James Bible of the English Language is the only primary tongue (meaning that it was translated directly from the original languages) that has used the term "bishoprick". That is from an old Anglo-Saxon word derived from the German word "reich" , meaning a territory. Its usage here is another illustration of why we have a perfect bible.
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An Interlude
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, 2nd Peter 3:16.
I have learned that when I preach or teach something that some find difficult, there is usually someone who will raise their hand and ask a question. In most of my services it is acceptable and encouraged to ask questions. (We squelched that in our Sunday Morning service, not because it is too hard for me, but because visitors found it too strange.) I have learned that when I answer that one person's question or objection, others are quietly nodding as they too had the same question.
I have had long correspondence with a pastor from Texas who usually compliments or commends my posts. After my last post which mentioned the spiritual death of Jesus Christ, he objected and reproved me. In that he was straight forward and respectful, I had no qualms with what he wrote and it only furthered my respect for him. He wrote this:
Your post concerning the spiritual death of Christ is a doctrine that
has been propagated by many of the prosperity preachers of the past
and present. It started with E W Kenyon and taken up by Kenneth E
Hagin, Kenneth Copeland and many others in the past years. I was
around that false narrative and heard it quite a lot in the 80's. I
believe our Lord Jesus died physically on the cross and his body was
laid in the tomb and he rose from the dead after three days, but his
Spirit was at all times alive. Please investigate this further
especially who and when this was taught and why. So much is wrong with
the prosperity teachings and their claims. Please stay with the pure
Word of the Bible, the King James Authorized Text. You do a tremendous
job teaching this. Leave the other alone.
May God bless you and your ministry.
How can I help but to respect such a man? I am fairly certain that if one man objected, others probably did also. Here is my reply:
I'll take some time to answer what you wrote for two reasons. One is that I have coveted the correspondence that you have sent to me. Secondly, what one man in kindness expresses as an objection is usually something that others think, but are not gentlemen enough to say so.
Think for a moment of the Apostle Paul is his first foray into Macedonia. A young woman possessed with a spirit of divination follows him and in doing so correctly identifies him for exactly what he is, a servant of the most high God. The same followed Paul and us, and cried, saying, These men are the servants of the most high God, which shew unto us the way of salvation, Acts 16:17. No truer words were ever spoken but they grieved the Apostle Paul. Why? Because a great truth from God was being broadcast by a devil possessed woman. Anyone who heard that truth later from someone else's mouth would instantly associate it with doctrines of devils. Paul cast out that spirit.
Whether or not what I wrote about the spiritual death of Jesus Christ is true cannot be judged solely on whether or not a person possessed of devils or strongly influenced by devils said it before I did.
It may well be that when I am done, you may still strongly disagree. before you do so, please consider this; is death separation as I said in the post? For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also, James 2:26. I know of no other definition in the bible for physical death other than James 2:26. The rich man in hell was conscious, but he was separated from his body. He had a bigger problem. He was separate from God.
Is the definition of spiritual death, separation from God?
When Adam sinned, God performed what he promised; Adam died the day wherein he ate of the tree; for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die, Genesis 2:17. He certainly and surely did not physically die that day. He lived 900 years. He became separate from God that day. By God's definition of what he did to Adam that day, Adam died spiritually.
His progeny have been born that way ever since with one exception. Jesus Christ was born without sin. He was not separated from the Father by his birth among men. He did not have a sin nature. He did no evil. Nevertheless, For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him, 2nd Corinthians 5:21. He became a worm and no man, Psalm 22:6. One of two things happened; either the Father forsook him, or he feigned that the Father forsook him, My God, My God, why hast thou forsaken me? Psalm 22:1.
I do not believe that Jesus feared the death of the cross when he prayed in the garden, Take away this cup from me, Mark 14:36. I have read the testimonies of too many brave men who faced terrible deaths to believe that when Jesus feared, he feared the cross. The bible says; he endured the cross, despising the shame, Hebrews 12:2. He endured it and despised it, but he did not fear it.
What then made him fear? Who in the days of his flesh, when he had offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto him that was able to save him from death, and was heard in that he feared, Hebrews 5:7. Certainly he is not disobeying his own commandment not to fear what men can do unto them, but to fear him who is able to destroy both soul and body into hell, Matthew 10:28.
He was afraid to be separate from the Father and indeed he was separated. He was not separated because of any sin that he had done. Instead he tasted the agony of yours and my spiritual death. But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honour; that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man, Hebrews 2:9.
If you judge me to be wrong in this, please do so based upon the sense of scripture in its context, not on whether or not devilish men previously said it. There are things that the Jehovah Witnesses have right. The same can be said for the Mormons and for the Muslims. I will not throw out the truth because some cult happened to embrace it. All too often, evil men wrestle some truth in the scripture for devilish reasons and in so doing bring dishonor upon the word of God.
Thank you for the manly way in which you confronted this
What we can learn about the Ordaining of Bishops from the Fall of the Anointed Cherub Part I
Not a novice, lest being lifted up with pride he fall into the condemnation of the devil, I Timothy 3:6.
Just what did Paul mean when he said, the condemnation of the devil? To understand that we need to look at Ezekiel 28 wherein the fall of the anointed Cherub is well documented. When we look, we find this gem; Thine heart was lifted up because of thy beauty, thou hast corrupted thy wisdom by reason of thy brightness: I will cast thee to the ground, I will lay thee before kings, that they may behold thee, Ezekiel 28:17. Just how did the devil's brightness corrupt his wisdom?
As the anointed Cherub that covereth, he carried God's light. His brightness was a direct reflection of his closeness to God. When I was a young preacher, a novice, I sometimes was given insights by the word of God that eclipsed even my teachers' insights on a narrow subject. God often grants this grace to young aspiring preachers and students of the word of God. It is always a joy to me when one of my students is given such an insight and can expound it to me in humility and wisdom.
Many times after such an insight, I would get in the pulpit and preach using that very insight which was holy and from God. I would watch experienced preachers and mature church members murmur with delight at the grace and wisdom I showed. The problem with that is that I didn't have a life that matched the insight. I wasn't living in fornication and I wasn't extorting money, but when I look back on those days, I see a young man who though outwardly had the appearance of a mature Christian, and in fact could easily have impressed an ordination board, I spent more of each day walking in my carnal nature then in walking in the Spirit.
I was often overthrown with pride and my wisdom would be corrupted when I was given overmuch applause. The cause of my fall was never some creepy sin, it was all too often the very brightness given to me by God. Part of the duty of the Bishop of a church is to insure that the man in front of him preparing to be ordained into an executive office within the church is seasoned enough in the grace of God that he could never be considered a novice. His very talents and brightness will be turned against him.
I cannot read 2nd Corinthians 4:2 without lowering my head in shame. But have renounced the hidden things of dishonesty, not walking in craftiness, nor handling the word of God deceitfully; but by manifestation of the truth commending ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God. It was easy and profitable for me to renounce the obvious open sins of life. How I prospered when the Lord took fornication, alcohol, evil communications and uncleanness away from me!
It was the hidden things of dishonesty that continually defiled me. To fudge on a tax form or a bill of sale was second nature to me. Little white lies seemed to keep me out of trouble. All of that time I was a grief to the Spirit of God. I have learned that the Lord will oft times give great insights and blessings to the newest and even weakest saints of God. He tenderly wraps those same blessings in his chastening. Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby, Hebrews 12:11.
A man is never ready to be a bishop who has not experienced seasons of blessings and chastisement that have effectively purged the rascal inside of him. My God has put me through things that I would not unleash on my worst enemy. I have watched foes mock me and friends turn their heads away at the severity of God's rebuke in my life. He has never forsaken me. He forsook Jesus Christ on the cross for a season (Psalms 22:1) and will never forsake him again. I am in Christ.
God did not make me the Bishop of the Black Creek Baptist Church until I was 53 years old. I have seen men successfully be bishops at an earlier age, but they will testify to you of cycles of blessings and chastisement that are not for the novice. Rehoboam was 41 years old when he became the King of Israel and yet King Abijah under the anointing and inspiration of God described him in rebuke to Jeroboam; And there are gathered unto him vain men, the children of Belial, and have strengthened themselves against Rehoboam the son of Solomon, when Rehoboam was young and tenderhearted, and could not withstand them, 2nd Chronicles 13:7. (Thank you for that insight Brother McVey.)
Part of the destruction of our Western churches has been the reluctance of young men to grow up. The men who stood in row after row at Gettysburg and Antietam were often 16 and 17 year old men who after the war were able to settle down and earn a living, marry a wife and raise a family. Our government now considers 26 year olds to be juveniles and sadly that can be seen reflected in our churches.
Too many churches are occupied by men demoralized over their calling and utterly ineffectual in advancing the Kingdom of God through the Church of our Lord Jesus Christ. These men often shrink in fear for their livelihood. They are capable of great preaching on occasion. What they do not have is the ability to be consistent. They cling to their position through church politics. They fear the rebuke of their peers. They view every new thought and concept through the lens of how they will be received in their standing with the brethren. Such men should be under a bishop. They should not be a bishop.
What we can learn about the Ordaining of Bishops from the Fall of the Anointed Cherub Part II Dr. John M. Asquith Feb 14, 2019 5 min read
Not greedy of filthy lucre, I Timothy 3:3.
Some years ago, I was approached by a preacher who believed that the King James Bible had been translated errantly when the Apostle Paul said; For the love of money is the root of all evil which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows, 1st Timothy 6:10. He reasoned that when a man was tempted to fornication, gluttony, drunkenness and pride that money had no part in those things. According to his wisdom, money was not the root of all evil and the King James Bible should have said it differently. It was misleading people.
What he missed while trying to reason in languages that he could barely read and certainly not think in, was that the Apostle Paul was making a comment on the fall of the anointed cherub. By thy great wisdom and by thy traffick hast thou increased thy riches, and thine heart is lifted up because of thy riches, Ezekiel 28:5. The Apostle Paul pinpointed the exact time and place wherein evil took root.
The anointed cherub took his eyes off of the God that he had been anointed to glorify and began to look at the riches that his God had so graciously granted to him. In the fall of Adam, that was transferred to man's nature. Part of my sorrow in pastoring among poor rural people in a very fallen America is that without having any of the trappings of wealth, they have the sorrows of wealth.
Without having two cents to rub together, they covet money. They often live in shabby rusted trailers at the end of muddy driveways and dream of taking their next welfare payment and buying a winning lottery ticket. They can be seen at convenience store counters huddled over a string of lottery tickets slowly scratching away hoping to end their poverty. Their schemes and shading of laws by lying to social services and ex-spouses keep them in perpetual misery and sorrow.
In the early 1970s I left rural Western New York and began to meet city people my age from New York City and Long Island. I remember being shocked at how many of them came from broken homes, hated their own siblings and needed antidepressants. They were sustained by rich parents who sent them all of the latest toys and gadgets and saw to it that they had sufficient party money. I had seen sorrow and broken homes in Cattaraugus County, New York but never had I seen such a level of hopelessness. Those homes were by far the minority and those who came from them coped on a higher level.
Thirty years later, I returned to Western New York. Due to the blessings of socialism, the general despair that I had seen on the faces of the rich spoiled kids was now on the faces of the poor. Now the poor came from broken homes. They hated their siblings. They all have smartphones and party money. They are on antidepressants. They are pierced through with the sorrows of coveted wealth without even getting a sniff at the money itself.
God seeks for men in such circumstances. He seeks for men who can handle wealth or handle poverty. He looks for men who will not be blinded by lack, or blinded by plenty. The Apostle Paul was to say; Not that I speak in respect of want: for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content, Phillipians 4:11. Paul found contentment in saying; Even unto this present hour we both hunger, and thirst, and are naked, and are buffeted, and have no certain dwellingplace, 1st Corinthians 4:11. But he also found contentment in a hired house with servants. And Paul dwelt two whole years in his own hired house, and received all that came in unto him, Acts 28:30.
Paul's last days in Rome are often depicted as a man chained to a dungeon wall eeking out epistles. Nothing could be further from the truth. He was a Roman citizen under house arrest wherein his only chain was his legal obligation to report to Cesar. He had just saved the life of one of the richest citizens of the Isle of Melita (Malta) and earned the gratitude of the Roman governor. You can be sure that the post of being governor on such a lucrative trade route was not held by any poor man.
Paul came to Rome with unexpected riches to write those last epistles and to wait to make his case to Cesar. We know from 2nd Timothy that the wealth did not turn Paul's head. He knew that the answer that he was about to give Nero would cost him his head. For those who find the plain truth of Acts 28:30 to be strange and contrary to what they have always heard, read the book, Roman Society and Law in the New Testament (Sarum Lectures 1960-1961) by Sherwin-White AN. You will see that Paul's chain was a legal chain.
When a man is ordained as a bishop, he cannot be greedy of filthy lucre. We often think of that as gambling money or bank robbery proceeds, but the sad reality is that filthy lucre is any money held by a man through covetousness. I have heard more than one missionary or evangelist tell me that he was promised all of the money from a particular meeting only to receive far less than that as a pastor secretly shifted funds.
I am reminded of the old joke about the preacher who told his wife that he had received an offer to pastor from another church. He told her that he would need to pray about it. She asked him if the new job had a larger salary. When he said that it did, she told him that while he was praying she would be upstairs packing.
One thing that I see in the blighted landscape of broken and fallen American churches is the sorry results of pastors who have continually moved on in discontent. As a pastor makes a few good moves, and as his people seem unthankful over them, he gets the feeling that he should have a larger church. I heartily agree. I tell them to make the church they have larger. Since they don't really have a clue how to do that, they get into the musical chairs game.
I have the honor to serve with a man who started an Independent Baptist Church in a small impoverished Pennsylvania town. They built their sanctuary in a corn field miles from anywhere. After 39 1/2 years of laboring in one spot, they had a regular attendance of over 150 people and a mission budget measured in 6 figures. They launched men and women to foreign fields and domestic pastorates. There is no limit to what God can do with a man who ignores the lure of filthy lucre but channels everything back into the work of God.
He spends his retirement as a janitor in a local library. I often wonder at the people who see him sweeping floors or cleaning bathrooms if they know about the eternal mansion that Jesus Christ has built for that man. It has been to our honor at the Black Creek Baptist Church to call him Pastor Emeritus and to learn from his experience. The love of money is where evil took root. A man must be measured long and hard to see that he does not covet after filthy lucre before he is ever ordained as a Bishop.
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Adoption
To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons, Galatians 4:5.
In order to understand adoption, we need to back up a little and look at another doctrine that runs hand in hand with adoption, imputation. One of the things that imputed righteousness and adoption have in common is that they are both future events absolutely guaranteed to the saint of God. It is popular to say that we have imputed righteousness just as Abraham did, but we do not. The Apostle Paul puts our imputed righteousness in the future.
Romans 4:23 Now it was not written for his sake alone, that it was imputed to him;
Romans 4:24 But for us also, to whom it shall be imputed, if we believe on him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead;
For a moment, try to forget your indoctrination and try to focus on what Paul is saying. Start by getting the context. Abraham had a body, a soul and a spirit. Romans Chapter 4 is not about the complete man. It speaks of his flesh. What shall we say then that Abraham our father, as pertaining to the flesh, hath found?, Romans 4:1. The Apostle Paul went to great lengths to teach us. Part of that teaching is to explain how God handles the problem of sinful flesh.
We know that God can change a heart, and we know that he can give a man another spirit. What he does not do here on this earth is give a man a new body. What God did for Abraham was to impute God's righteousness to Abraham's flesh. When Abraham walked on this earth, God treated his flesh as if it was God's own flesh. He poured wealth and honor upon it. He made promises to its offspring.
This is not the status of the Christian. A Christian will have imputed righteousness to his flesh, but he does not have it now. A Christian does not need imputed righteousness to get into heaven, His inward man is the righteousness of God. For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him, 2nd Corinthians 5:21. The inward man of a Christian is perfectly righteous. In fact, it is as righteous as God himself. It is the righteousness of God. It is no wonder that we are called new creatures in Christ.
It is in the process of adoption that God imputes righteousness to the flesh of a Christian. My inward man is born of God. We are told that it cannot sin, and he cannot sin, because he is born of God, 1st John 3:9. My flesh has a problem. It cannot stop sinning. It cannot be born of God as my inward man is. My flesh was born on April 2, 1954 in Salamanca, New York. Its father is a man who was a sinner just as I am. In order for my flesh to be allowed into heaven it needs two things. It needs the righteousness of God imputed to it, and it needs God the Father to adopt it as his own. That is exactly what the good apostle promised it when he said, to whom it shall be imputed, and it is the gist of Romans chapter 8.
Read Romans 8:23. In plain English it tells you that we are waiting for the adoption and it tells us that the adoption is the redemption of our body. And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body, Romans 8:23. If you have salvation you are not adopted. You shall be adopted. God has given you the Spirit of adoption. That Spirit is the earnest of your inheritance. It is God's proof inside of the believer that God will redeem our bodies.
Ephesians 1:13 In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise,
Ephesians 1:14 Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory.
The redemption of the purchased possession is the rapture. It is the adoption of our bodies by God the Father after he imputes righteousness to our flesh. If you have salvation that is a sure thing.
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Dr. John M. Asquith Nov. 22, 2021
Regeneration
Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness, 2nd Peter 3:3.
If there is any one place wherein all major Christian doctrines merge into one vision of the future, it is the kingdom to come wherein Jesus Christ rules the earth while living here on it. Peter called that time the times of refreshing. He also called it or the restitution of all things which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began, Acts 3:19-21.
That time is a time in which, The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them, Isaiah 11:6. This is an idyllic time in which the pain of Adam's sin is removed from the earth by the sacrifice of Jesus Christ.
When Adam sinned, part of the curse that came upon the earth was thorns and thistles, Genesis 3:18. Jesus Christ, our Adam from above wore thorns upon his brow. He bore the curse of the earth upon himself and paved the way for a regenerated earth whereon the environment and ways of Eden will prevail upon the entire earth. And the sucking child shall play on the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the cockatrice' den, Isaiah 11:8.
Man and nature will live in such harmony that there will be four harvests a year in which; Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that the plowman shall overtake the reaper, and the treader of grapes him that soweth seed; and the mountains shall drop sweet wine, and all the hills shall melt, Amos 9:13. Imagine an impatient plowman waiting for the reaper to finish reaping the last crop so that he can plow again.
Jesus Christ promised his disciples that they would help rule in those days. And Jesus said unto them, Verily I say unto you, That ye which have followed me, in the regeneration when the Son of man shall sit in the throne of his glory, ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel, Matthew 19:28. What is important is that he called that time the regeneration. We know of some species that regenerate limbs if they are severed. It is called regeneration because something that was lost is generated again. It is restored to what it was. God will restore this earth to what it was when he gave it to Adam.
The saint of God has a place in that future in which the Spirit of God remakes the earth into that blessed kingdom. And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body, Romans 8:23. We will one day have bodies meet for that world, but right now we have the firstfruits of the Spirit of God for that world. We each have our new nature on the inward parts; which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness, Ephesians 4:24.
When we receive our new bodies, God will not change anything in our new natures. They are exactly what God wants in that new heaven and earth. They are the firstfruits of the Spirit. To know Jesus Christ and to know the deliverance of Jesus Christ is to partake in the sweetness of regeneration in the inward parts. There will come a day in which God regenerates this entire earth. We have been partially prepared for that day. Romans 8:23 says that we groan waiting to be made complete.
Herein is the key to Titus 3:5; Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost. Renewing of the Holy Ghost?, when did man ever have the Holy Ghost? Man had the Holy Ghost in the Garden of Eden before he fell. God plans on regenerating this entire world and in that plan is his marvelous plan for the saints of God who live in these last times. He gave us the washing of regeneration on the inward parts. He renewed the Holy Ghost in man in the special relationship he has given us in Christ Jesus. In receiving such, we have received the firstfruits of the Spirit, and like the firstfruits of old, we are offered to our high priest Jesus Christ. To God be the glory.
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GENERAL LAWS OF HERMENEUTICS … Interpreting The Bible
Prepared By Robert J. Sargent “A Comprehensive Study in HERMENEUTICS,
BIBLE STUDY METHODS & EXPOSITORY TEACHING” Page 91, 1994.
“Confusion reigns over the realm of Christendom today, and it is without doubt that Satan is using this to keep the “minds of them which believe not” blinded from the truth of the Gospel. Indeed, most Christians themselves are ignorant of “the whole counsel of God”, especially as it relates to Church truth. Much of this confusion stems from faulty interpretation of the Word of God. Many differences over doctrine are rooted in the method of Biblical interpretation employed; thus it is extremely important to be grounded in the basic principles of hermeneutics.
I. THE GOLDEN RULE OF BIBLE INTERPRETATION
Of all the principles of hermeneutics, this one rule stands supreme:
“Interpret Scripture with Scripture.”
This is the meaning of II Peter 1:20b — “…no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation.” In other words, a passage of the Bible is to be interpreted by comparing (I Corinthians 2:13d) it with other parts of the Bible. Scripture is its own interpreter!
A. Private Interpretation Of Scripture.
- A private interpretation is one whereby a Scripture passage is ‘isolated’ (kept private) from, and interpreted without, any reference to the rest of the Bible.
- e.g. Interpreting John 16:23 privately could easily lead to a “nameit, claim-it” teaching, whereby all a Christian need do to receive anything he wants is ask for it in Jesus’ Name. Comparing Scripture with Scripture, however, shows that prayer is conditional, and to ask in Jesus’ Name means to ask according to His will (I John 5:14,15), to ask by faith —that is, according to the Word of God — (James 1:6), and to ask as one who is abiding in Christ (John 15:7), etc.
- A private interpretation is one whereby the interpreter himself establishes the meaning of a Scripture according to his own definition. Such an interpretation is very likely to reflect the denominational, traditional, or philosophical bias of the interpreter. e.g. John 3:5 — “Except a man be born of water…”
- A common private interpretation of this passage is that baptism is essential for salvation. That is the position of Catholics, Campbellites, and many Protestants.” … continued in the book!
Prepared By Robert J. Sargent “A Comprehensive Study in HERMENEUTICS,
BIBLE STUDY METHODS & EXPOSITORY TEACHING” Page 91, 1994.
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BIBLE STUDY, INTERPRETATION and DOCTRINE: Introducing "English for Bible Readers"" and more GOOD RESOURCES:
Focusing Education on the King James Bible -
Christians have to study the Scriptures for themselves, TOO!
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Dr. John M. Asquith 11/20/21 2 min read
But of these who seemed to be somewhat, (whatsoever they were, it maketh no matter to me: God accepteth no man's person:) for they who seemed to be somewhat in conference added nothing to me, Galatians 2:6.
This blog was started in February of 2017 and will be five years old in just a couple of short months. It's primary purpose was to distinguish the Cambridge Text of the King James Bible as it was edited in the early 20th century from other editions or texts of the King James Bible. We have published posts on its history, its editing process and problems with alternative texts.
We have also examined words as used in our King James Bible to highlight the excellence of its text and to educate our readers as to the excellence of the fine word smithing evident in our bible. As many of my readers know, I also write about doctrine. When I write about doctrine, I am not wedded to any theology. I am wedded to the words of God as represented by the King James Bible. I know no other authority for faith or practice.
For a doctrine to be true it most be exactly what a King James Bible says in its proper context and applied to the people and time for whom it is intended. I occasionally receive communications or writings from good men who when they argue a point, refer to Greek or Hebrew to help make their point. They might as well make reference to wind speeds on the Martian plains as recorded by our latest probes. Discourses on Greek or Hebrew renderings add absolutely nothing to me.
If a writer feels a need to resort to Greek or Hebrew, that writer needs to offer no greater proof that he has strayed from what a King James Bible says. I am always certain that the writer's ability in the ancient languages has no comparison to the excellency of the King James Translation. An earlier post Exploding the Myth of the Greek explains the futility of their Greekifying. It has never been answered and is unanswerable. The King James Bible is the word of God. That is final. It needs no other explanation than for me to clearly state that what a King James Bible says is what God says.
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This is a reprint from an Article that I wrote for Pastor Frank Townsend's excellent Old Paths Publication. It is also Chapter 2 in my Book Further Thoughts on the Word of God.
Preachers believing in the King James Bible can be roughly divided into two groups. The first is those who have seen through the absurdity of the new versions and the texts behind them. They don't necessarily see the King James Bible as infallible. They merely find it fundamentally safe to carry and preach it as a bulwark against the folly of the new versions.
The second group sees the King James Bible as the Word of God. They have varying ideas about the veracity of the actual English words. Some, like me, believe the actual English words to be given by inspiration of God. Others find it intellectually safer to believe that God was somehow involved in the translation, but they shrink from concept of the absolute, utter infallibility of a King James Bible.
The common sticking point against believing the English words of a King James Bible is a mythical concept of the Greek Bible. The purpose of this first article is to explode the myth of the Greek.
If you are reading this article the odds are very high that you do not know anyone who speaks Greek. Yet you have probably heard countless preachers allude to knowing Greek. For the most part these would be Greek scholars are like young boys on a play ground who square off with each other and claim to know karate. They parlay, get into their stances, hoot and holler, but you have to be very ignorant of karate to think they know what they are doing.
Whenever I preach to a crowd loaded with preachers I like to ask if there is anyone who speaks Spanish. There is almost always a fluent speaker of the Spanish language in attendance. I ask him from the floor if he could translate a few sentences for me. I then give a sentence similar to this "Take this twenty dollar bill upstairs and give it to grandma so that she can buy some ham downtown.
He can readily rattle that off in Spanish. He speaks Spanish. He can think in Spanish. He really knows the language. I then ask if there is any preacher in the house who knows Greek. They are strangely silent. Many of them are doubtlessly guilty of making people believe they know Greek, but in the context of the last test, they keep their mouths shut. They don't know the Greek language.
I then ask the Spanish speaker if he would consider me to know Spanish if all I could do was read the alphabet, conjugate a few hundred verbs and read a few texts with the help of a lexicon. The Spanish speaker will usually grin and say no. Others in the audience begin to see the point. The self-purported Greek experts begin to shift uncomfortably.
I lived in the nation of Greece for three years. It is an incredibly superstitious nation whose idolatry is medieval. Every one of the priests of this superstitious system can read ancient Greek fluently. In fact, anyone who has graduated from high school can read ancient Greek, because in one year they study in the Modern Greek and write their lessons in ancient Greek, while in the next year they study in the ancient Greek but write in the Modern Greek.
What confounds the Western student is the pronunciation. Western schools pronounce Greek differently. John Lacsaris reintroduced Greek to the Western Church after the fall of Constantinople in 1490. John Lacsaris would have spoken Greek with the Byzantine accent. Western scholars quickly gave it a Latin pronunciation. Accordingly, a word such as eulogia with the Latin pronunciation would be pronounced as evlowgeea (the g is hard) in Greece. The word eucharisto is pronounced efcahrdistow.
Every few years I hear another story of some Western student getting off of a plane in Athens and trying to say something in Greek. What he says is absolutely incomprehensible to the Greek. The Western student will shake his head sadly and remark that they don't even know their own heritage. What the student doesn't realize is that if he had written his remark, the lowliest janitor in the airport could have read it and responded in kind.
When I first returned to the states I began to hear preachers make remarks about how knowing the Greek would clear up mysteries in the Word of God. I found that puzzling. I had lived for three years in a land where everyone could read it and think in ancient Greek, and yet they crawled up hot dusty roads to light incense for idols. The people I knew who professed salvation by grace and walked in the light of God's Word were reading an English Bible.
Even Greek professors in a typical bible college don't really speak Greek. For example, they can't interpret a preaching service for foreign visitors by doing the translation in Greek. That was a common technique with the Latin language a hundred years ago. When a professional group encountered difficulty in a given tongue a colleague would begin interpreting in Latin. Everyone was able to participate.
I doubt that any reader of this article will find anyone in any bible college able to render that service in Greek. Someone might object that it is primarily used as a written language and not spoken. Tell them to write it in Greek, or at least take notes in Greek. The King James translators could have done either. The little boys in their karate poses will not be able.
Today the brightest of students are most apt to go into the sciences or engineering. Occasionally we hear of a student who scores a perfect 1600 on his SAT test or some other remarkable achievement. Universities line up to court students of this caliber. When they graduate, the doors of industry are flung open to them.
Today those same students do not study the classics. In the 1600's young men of that caliber went to Oxford or Cambridge and studied the classical languages. The same zeal used today to reach outer space, strengthen computers, study the atom or other such research was channeled into the classical languages.
They didn't go to college to learn Greek. They had been reading, writing and speaking Greek since their earliest education. In C. S. Lewis's autobiographical work, Surprised By Joy, he gives glimpses into the typical classical education he received via private tutor. He recounts afternoons when he and his tutor would just sit around and chat in Greek. Even his light moments of relaxation were immersed in the Greek language.
Imagine their mirth if they were to encounter the average preacher today claiming to know Greek. The sad reality is that the average so-called Greek professor could not have been hired as a tutor to a high school student one hundred years ago. The average janitor at the Helenikon International Airport in Athens is more fluent in the ancient Greek tongue than most supposed experts in the Greek language practicing karate poses for their unsuspecting and adoring students.
Dr. Bill Bradley, author of Purified Seven Times: The Miracle of the English Bible, states in his lecture series that there is only one, maybe two scholars living today who would have been qualified to have sat on the King James translating committee. In 1611 two universities produced fifty-four such men.
In my twenty-two years of salvation I have yet to hear anyone who changed the wording of the King James Bible because he felt compelled by the Greek. Every single change I have ever heard attempted, and I have heard many, was made because the text the preacher was reading did not as fully support the preacher's current point or doctrine. The preacher then reached into the Greek and found a justification to exalt his point of view.
I am reminded of a statement made by my eleventh grade health teacher about rationalization. Coach Chadick wanted every boy present to know the first rule of rationalization: Anything can be rationalized if you want to do it badly enough. Being able to rationalize an action does not make it right or wrong. Not being fluent in the Greek language, but only having access to lexicons, makes a preacher able to rationalize any correction he wants to make.
If I were to give a statement to a gathering of foreign students, imagine the confusion if I were to allow them to use a dictionary and render my statement any way they saw fit as long as they could find some justification in the dictionary.
A statement such as, " Everyone move to the back and find a seat, should make sense to anyone. If that statement were to be interpreted like the average preacher interprets Greek it could have many meanings.
One student might get up and say that when 21st century Americans talked about moving they were referring to a change of address. Another enterprising linguist might suggest that the word "back" was a reference to moving back in social order. Another might say it most generally referred to the spinal area. One who really had access to more sources than the others might call attention to the American habit of calling a move from the Western United States to the Eastern portion, going back.
Take note. The students who made such a mockery out of the simple statement were not stupid. In fact, the more resources to which they had access, the more capable they were of confusing their audience. The more resources they had, the more able they were to render their interpretation to whatever best suited their needs. Imagine when they reached the word "seat".
Today's Greekifiers work similarly. When they find a clear-cut passage in the King James Bible that doesn't say what they want it to say they run to the Greek. Keep this in mind. They do not speak the language. They just look at the various words and try to find some historical or linguistic justification for making it say what they want it to say.
If Greek were such a panacea for understanding the Word of God, we could expect the top Greek faculties to agree on key issues. Once a man learned Greek he should be firm with all scholars on such issues as election, the charismatic movement, the deity of Christ, a pretribulation rapture, etc. One would think that all true Greek scholars would be in one denomination.
Every denomination has supposed experts in the Greek language. The Jehovah Witnesses do. The Mormons do. The Catholics do and so do the Baptists, Methodists, Pentecostals, Congregationalists, Presbyterians and every other denomination. The layman in his pew has a false sense of security that somewhere in the upper echelons or possibly in the pulpit is a man who can back up everything with the Greek. He is sadly mistaken.
There is no excuse for Baptists to use such hocus-pocus. The King James Bible as it is written is a Baptist book. It is the proof for Baptist doctrine. The great miracle behind that statement is that the men who translated the King James Bible despised Baptists. They were divided between Arminians and Calvinists as well as Episcopalians and Presbyterians. They all believed in a state church. In their intellectual honesty they forged a book that destroyed the bedrock tenets of their various denominations. The Presbyterians, Episcopalians and all their offshoot denominations have had to abandon the King James Bible in order to uphold their respective theologies.
Taken as it is written, keeping each context straight, the King James Bible refutes current Protestant and Catholic theology. A person cannot teach a state church without changing the last preposition in Luke 17:21. Neither shall they say, Lo here! Or, lo there! For, behold, the kingdom of God is within you. The Arminian position falls apart if 1John 3:9 is left exactly as it appears in the AV 1611. Whosoever is born of God (the inward man of I Pet 3: 4) doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God. Calvinists rage against Hebrews 2:9b as it appeared in 1611. That he by the grace of God should taste death for every man.
A King James Bible will always teach the Baptist position. Yet, the Baptists did not create the King James Bible, the King James Bible created the Baptists. The other denominations have been forced to constantly re-edit and rework their bibles every few years. They refuse to change their doctrine. They must, therefore change their bible. They all grope through a morass of faulty manuscripts in a language that is foreign to them. They will stay in that state until the antichrist appears to give them a common faith.
Not surprisingly, there is as much ambiguity and confusion among Greek scholars as among those who know nothing of the language. Men do not learn their doctrine from reading Greek. They learn their doctrine in English and then spend a lifetime trying to justify it with the limited Greek they know.
A true Bible believer is one who believes the words as they are written. A simple rule of thumb for determining if a preacher is in error is to see if what he says contradicts the King James Bible in any point in its proper context. Changing a passage to make it fit a theological point, even if that point is a true one in a different context, is like a person who carves a piece of a jigsaw puzzle to make it fit the picture. He may make it fit where he is, but somewhere else something will not go together right.
A King James Bible will never contradict itself in any point. Any change using the Greek will make it do so. After its holiness and power, the greatest single proof that the King James Bible is the Word of God is that by keeping each verse in context, and quoting it just as it stands, it is impossible to teach a heresy. Why would anyone tamper with such a Bible?
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BIBLE STUDY, INTERPRETATION and DOCTRINE: Introducing "English for Bible Readers"" and more GOOD RESOURCES: Focusing Education on the King James Bible - Christians have to study the Scriptures for themselves, TOO! |
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APPLYING STUDY TO PREACHING
Dr. John M. Asquith 4 days ago (10/21/21)
1 min read
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APPLYING STUDY TO PREACHING
Dr. John M. Asquith 4 days ago (10/21/21) 1 min read
Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine, 2nd Timothy 4:2.
The Apostle Paul admonished men to preach with two things, longsuffering anttd doctrine. I refer to myself as a doctrinal preacher. By that, I mean that I explain a doctrine from the pulpit, I expect the Holy Ghost to begin stirring in peoples’ hearts, and then I go wheresoever the Spirit of God leads me. I resolve to remain longsuffering because I have people who have sat in a blind stupor for many years only to awaken at some point to their peril or to their blindness.
I am putting a link to a message I preached at least 10 years ago, but which seems to illustrate the power of doctrine in preaching. At www.onesoulatatime.net you can hear many messages that may help you or someone that you love. The message is titled, The Law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus. I attempt to use the law of Moses, the Gospels, and the Pauline Epistles to define that law and to make the hearer understand it.
This may help some of you who may wonder why I am stressing the study of Old Testament sacrifice.
May I highly recommend the tab on onesoulatatime.net that is labeled Leviticus. It is a series taught by Dale Morey of Liberty Behind Bars who was saved and trained here at Black Creek.
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An Introduction to:
Paul Scott
Paul Scott Dec 7, 2020 1 min read
KJV in Vietnam
I'm not much of a facebook person, but recently a young Vietnamese man sent a note via fb. This is his note:
"Hi teacher Paul, I has lived and taught in Hanoi for 1 year. And one study now are reading the KJV. Does anyone have your book in Hanoi."
He refers to English for Bible Readers, and we are trying to get him a copy. Well, this is a great blessing! Imagine, in Hanoi, the capitol of Vietnamese Communism, not only is there a Bible study, they are conducting a King James Bible study! (Many of the younger Vietnamese speak some level of English.)
"Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord" (1 Cor. 15:58).
Amen.
Pastor John Asquith, New York, USA: We live in a time when it seems everyone is trying their hand at writing about the King James Bible. Very few of these books and articles have anything new to offer. My surprise was great when I was given a copy of Paul Scott's excellent work, English For Bible Readers.
Here was a book that filled a great void in explaining the vocabulary and the rules (grammar) for the English of the King James Bible. I have long rued the absence of such a book and have seen much mischief done by those ignorant of the rules for the King's English. This book was intended for Vietnamese Christians reading the King James Bible, but in providing for their need, Brother Scott has provided for his own nation's need. To God be the glory.
I can only hope that the reader will find the same satisfaction in reading this work. I have spent thirty years studying the King James Bible, but I felt like a boy in short pants as I turned the pages of this book: I learned something from almost every page. Every Christian English program in every King James-believing school should have this book for a textbook.
Pastor John Asquith, New York, USA
"I consumed English for Bible Readers in short order and am determined to get it into the hands of other men. - Pastor Stephen Charette, Massachusetts, USA
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Before approaching English for Bible Readers, I had no idea about the deep and wonderful vocabulary as well as the style of the King James Bible. I have seen many people using the other versions, which seem easier to read and understand. However, through this book, I realized that English for Bible Readers is indeed an accurate and wonderful aid in exploring the Bible. I am amazed at the way the King James Bible expresses God's Word, and thanks to Teacher Paul Scott's work, I have explored many interesting revelations that may only exist in the King James Bible.
As you read through English for Bible Readers, you will find this book a very helpful tool to understand more clearly about the powerful Word of God. Also, you can approach a larger knowledge of history, grammar etc, and above all, you can find many answers to your very own needs in this book.
It was a great pleasure for me to be the translator of English for Bible Readers-Vietnamese version. As a translator, and also as a young Vietnamese reader, I have found my inspiration from this source. My prayer is that all readers, especially the readers in Vietnam, will enjoy this book. An amazing point of view is waiting for you to explore and meditate.
Teacher Bao Chau, Vietnam
English for Bible Readers
by Paul W. Scott
English for Bible Readers
Copyright @ 2008 Paul Scott
Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the King James Bible.
ISBN: 978-0-692-00076-2
Cover design by Grant Miller
For more information or additional copies, please contact: Paul Scott 746 Norton Street Rochester, NY 14621 pwscott61@gmail.com
Printed in the United States by Morris Publishing" 3212 East Highway 30 Kearney, NE 68847 1-800-650-788
Table of Contents
Acknowledgments ...... a
Prologue .... .c
Introduction ...... l
History ..... .7
Fidelity & Focus ......... 17
Original Debate ......... 25
Vocabulary ...... 41
Personal Pronouns ....... 51
Reflexive Pronouns .... 63
Relative Pronouns ...... 71
Verbs ..... 79
Auxiliary Verbs ......... 91
Verbs: Past Tense ....... 97
Verbs: Present Tense ..... .101
Verbs: Future Tense ... .. 109
Punctuation ... .113
Conclusion .121
Common Questions ... .125
Final Exam ........... 135
Testimony ................. 139
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MORE STUDY MATERIALS FROM
AUTHOR JOHN ASQUITH:
CLICK HERE FOR MORE STUDY INFORMATION
John Asquith, Pastor
Black Creek Baptist Church
PO Box 110
Black Creek, NY 14714
FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION: GO TO
asquithjm@gmail.com
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Further Thoughts on the Word of God: Revised and Expanded Edition
Kindle Edition
This book will: Defend the Integrity of the 400 year editing process that gave us our modern King James Bible.
This book will dispel rumors that the King James Bible was re-translated in the mid 1700s, and also contains history that has not yet been published.
It will strengthen a preacher's confidence in the Bible that he holds in his hand.
John Asquith, Pastor
Black Creek Baptist Church
PO Box 110
Black Creek, NY 14714
FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION: GO TO
www.onesoulatatime.net
www.purecambridgetext.com
asquithjm@gmail.com
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Who Moved the Goal Posts: A Critique of Soul Winning
in the 21st Century
Kindle Edition
This book is: A serious discussion of why we are not seeing new blood in our churches. An Alarm to all who sense that something is wrong. An explanation of why churches cannot show tangible results from soul-winning.
This book will examine changes in our nation's culture and our inability to respond biblically.
John Asquith, Pastor
Black Creek Baptist Church
PO Box 110
Black Creek, NY 14714
FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION: GO TO
www.onesoulatatime.net
www.purecambridgetext.com
asquithjm@gmail.com
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Reconciling Contradictory Passages
Hebrews 9:3 And after the second veil, the tabernacle which is called the Holiest of all;
Hebrews 9:4 Which had the golden censer, and the ark of the covenant overlaid round about with gold, wherein was the golden pot that had manna, and Aaron's rod that budded, and the tables of the covenant;
When the Apostle Paul wrote of the inner chamber of the Tabernacle and listed those things contained therein, he included the golden censer. There is a revelation here and there is a clue here. The revelation is that the High Priest's censer was made of gold. The clue tells you that the Apostle Paul is zeroing in on a particular day when he describes for us what is in the Most Holy Place.
First, let's get one thing straight. There is no "Holy of Holies" in your King James Bible. "Holy of Holies" would be a literal translation of the Hebrew into English if "Holy" was a noun in English like it is in Hebrew. It is not. When you hear a preacher say Holy of Holies, his speech bewrayeth him. You know that he learned his doctrine from the particular point on which he is speaking from commentaries not from reading a King James Bible. Our bible correctly interprets the Hebrew phrase as "the Most Holy Place".
(There are older preachers much more spiritually sound than I will ever be who consistently use unbiblical terms such as Holy of Holies. Our awareness of the majesty of the King James Bible and the profusion of excellent resources to prove its inspiration and excellence were missing in their younger days. Leave them alone. If you want to provoke my ire, run up and rebuke one of these godly men in my presence. What we need to do is train today's younger preachers ( 60 and under) to speak biblically. If the older ones feel a need after years of pleasing God to sharpen their preaching so be it.)
Why did the Apostle Paul place the golden censer in the Most Holy Place when Moses only lists the Mercy Seat for furniture in there? In Hebrews 9:4, the NIV in its never ending bid to make scripture unintelligible clearly contradicts Moses by placing the Golden Altar of Incense in the Most Holy Place; which had the golden altar of incense and the gold-covered ark of the covenant. This ark contained the gold jar of manna, Aaron’s staff that had budded, and the stone tablets of the covenant. The ESV does the same thing.
Fortunately the King James translators were not that ignorant. The truth is that the golden censer was in the Most Holy Place one day every year. Moses describes the High Priest's duty on the Day of Atonement; And he shall take a censer full of burning coals of fire from off the altar before the LORD, and his hands full of sweet incense beaten small, and bring it within the vail, Leviticus 16:12. The clue that we get when reading Hebrews 9:4, is that the Apostle Paul is describing the Most Holy Place as it was on the Day of Atonement while the High Priest was present.
The golden censer is in the Most Holy Place because the High Priest was commanded to take it in with him once a year. You can be sure he also brought it back out. The Apostle Paul has given a snapshot of that day.
If you read the rest of Hebrews Chapter 9, that becomes obvious. To whom is it not obvious? It is not obvious to those who have been taught that the bible is too hard to perfectly translate and that they must always seek outside sources to understand difficult passages. The truth is not obvious to those who search through all of the other versions to get a consensus for the truth.
For those of us who by the grace of our God know that he has fulfilled his promise of a perfect bible by giving us the King James Bible, we wait when we are confused by a seeming contradiction. We approach the contradiction with a humility that says that we are but flesh and our bible is eternally holy. We bow our heads and ask the God of all comfort to comfort us with the understanding that we so clearly lack. We then trust the written words of a King James Bible to show us and we trust the Holy Ghost to enlighten us by using those words.
The King James Bible is the words of the Holy Ghost. He will not speak outside of it. There are passages in my bible in which God has revealed their sense to me in in mere minutes and there are some in which he has taken 5, 10, 15, and even 40 years to ground me in the precepts that I need to understand that given passage. What I will never do is grope in the burning garbage heaps of the new translations or search the draught pits of the lexicons to gain insight. "Trusting your King James Bible" and "trusting God" are synonymous phrases.
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Builded or Built
Paul Scott
Sep 12, 2021 4 min read
Both builded and built are past participles of build. Dictionaries, even my beloved Oxford, dismiss the difference. They declare, Builded = Built; it’s simply a poetic, and now archaic, version of built. I have never believed this, but for years wondered without understanding why the Bible translators used both, sometimes within the same sentence:
“For every house is builded by some man; but he that built all things is God.”
- Hebrews 3:4
Surely they knew what they were doing, and didn’t just randomly throw in an archaic or poetic participle. Why would they use one, and then, in a seemingly identical case, use the other?
“…and there builded an altar unto the Lord….and there he builded an altar unto the LORD….” Genesis 12:7, 8
Poetic? Hmmmm, later, the same man, doing exactly the same activity:
“…and Abraham built an altar there….” - Genesis 22:9
We’ve looked into transitive / intransitive verbs, object and subject, and other such grammatical escape hatches – but nothing was conclusive. Until, in daily reading in Nehemiah, something caught my attention. This is early in the eureka!! reaction and so with both excitement and trepidation I present my findings to the blog readers and humbly ask you to judge the value of the nugget: is it real or fool’s gold?
Wall Building
In Nehemiah, chapter 3, the Jews were repairing the wall. In 3:1, they builded. In 3:2, next to him builded. Then, and not randomly, in 3:3, “But the fish gate did the sons of Hassenaah build…” Ah, with the helping verb did, the base verb is used. Why? Why not builded? Keep reading: “…who also laid the beams thereof, and set up the doors thereof, and locks thereof, and the bars thereof.” Something included here that the sentences of builded (3:1,2) did not have: Beams, doors, locks, and bars. Everything necessary to complete this section of wall.
Moving ahead to Nehemiah chapter 3:14,15.
“He built it, and set up the doors thereof, the locks thereof, and the bars thereof.”
He gathered together a complete set of materials and hardware: built is used. This pattern is repeated in 3:15.
Now, the opponents mocked the Jews as they began to repair the wall (4:1-3), word came to Sanballat that “we builded the wall.” (Far from complete or secure: even a fox, if he jumped on the wall, would knock it down!)
But, after the prayers and hard work of the Jews, this declaration,
“So built we the wall, and all the wall was joined together…” (4:6)
Notice the words used in context: all and together. Again, built, not builded, is used. Curious.
It’s my conclusion that Built is associated with the descriptors of the subject: all and together.
So, according to this thesis, in the opposite corner sits builded – and the descriptors associated with this supposed archaic participle are the opposites of all and together: incomplete and separated.
Let’s read on and see if this pans out. Being physically threatened, the Jews had to divide the repairmen into groups, one to affect repairs (while bearing arms) and the other stood guard. While they all were involved, not all were involved with the action of TO BUILD.
“They which builded on the wall….and so builded…” (Neh. 4:17,18)
Here, in describing the actual builders, the poetic past participle is used: builded.
To prove my case, that the KJV translators weren’t just randomly throwing in poetic words (such as builded), but were in fact revealing great details. So, we read on regarding the condition of these builded repairmen:
“The work is great and large, and we are separated upon the wall, one far from another.” - Nehemiah 4:19
Builded = separated (not together). Interesting
Is it tedious to continue with these proofs? I hope not! One more from Nehemiah: in chapter 6: 1, Nehemiah states that the enemies “…heard that I builded the wall…” Here builded is used; but, the wall had no breach left therein. It would seem the wall was completed, and therefore built, instead of builded, should be used. I wonder if the translators, led by the Holy Spirit, recognized the apparent contradiction – for the sentence continues with a parenthetical clause:
“…(though at the time I had not set up the doors upon the gates;) …”
(Neh. 6:1)
Not quite finished; the doors were not set up. Builded is used. Then, after additional intrigue and prayers, he makes a point to tell us he did get the doors set up, and he reports in this context “…the wall was built…” (7:1)
"Now it came to pass, when the wall was built, and I had set up the door…."(7:1)
Now it’s finished, including the doors. Built isused.
Altar Building
Back to Genesis 12:7, 8; 22:9. Is there anything incomplete that would require the use of builded, rather than built? Check out the text of Gen. 22:9: Abraham built an altar there; why use built here? The answer is in 22:8: “ … so they went both of them together.”
Back in the accounts of chapter 12: Isaac, the sacrifice, wasn’t with his father. Builded is used. Later, as recorded in chapter 22, Isaac is present, they are together. Built is used.
House Building
One more case:
“For every house is builded by some man; but he that built all things is God.”
Hebrews 3:4
Following our logic, we would expect to find words such as together and all connected with built; and a sense of incompleteness with builded. And, yes, this holds true here: all things follows built. Also note the actors (the builders): some man = builded; God = built. One is obviously secure, one isn’t.
And yet again, this is consistent with the theme of Hebrews. The First (O.T. system), represented by Moses and the Law, and revealed as some man, was incomplete; unable to complete the job of our salvation. Builded.
The Second (N.T. faith), presented by Christ, revealed as God, is better than the First in every way. It’s complete, it’s all. Built.
And, again, from Nehemiah:
“Now the city was large and great: but the people were few therein, and the houses were not builded” (Neh. 7:4).
Clearly the focus has been on building the wall, not their houses. Their houses were not completed; this is confirmed by the participle builded.
Dictionaries and “experts” have their place, but they often take the east route to explain differences between words like built and builded. Give the translators and the Holy Spirit the benefit of the doubt and thereby find real nuggets along the way. What an excellent communication tool we have in the Early Modern English of the Authorized Version (KJV).
Nugget or fool’s gold?
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5 min read
A Simple Bible Study
But the anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him, 1st John 2:27.
Perhaps one of the greatest stumbling blocks to really understanding the bible is the lie that you need some man to teach you. This statement may seem hypocritical coming from a man who teaches the bible. I think that everyone can agree that the simple basics of the bible should be taught to everyone in their youth or sometime after they first become acquainted with the bible. Such teaching is for beginners or for those who have strayed through carnality. For when for the time ye ought to be teachers, ye have need that one teach you again which be the first principles of the oracles of God; and are become such as have need of milk, and not of strong meat, Hebrews 5:12.
At the Black Creek Baptist Church as I am sure many churches do, we use Sunday School to augment the bible instruction for young people who do not get it at home. There we hope to give the students the general body of Christian knowledge concerning the bible itself and important bible stories and principles. We are blessed to have teachers who truly love their students and truly care that they learn the precepts of God.
Where we differ from many churches is our encouragement to the people to study their bibles for themselves. Evangelist Timothy McVey has pointed out that in most revival meetings the emphasis of altar calls is to call the people to greater service. An evangelist gets up and preaches one of his 20 or so stock messages. When he is done, he gets the piano player to play some hymn while he softly asks all of the people who have heads bowed and eyes closed if they are doing enough for God. He then invites them up to the altar to get that right with God.
The result in most of our Fundamental Baptist Churches is a body of members who are worn out as the church shrinks year by year. We have not had to emphasize service here in Black Creek. God has blessed us with a few who are happy to serve. What we emphasize is for them to know God better. They won't do that by hours of prayer. If you think that hours of prayer will help you know God better, go join a cloistered monastery or convent. Prayer is when you talk to God. I'm all for that, but you don't learn about a person by talking to them. You learn about a person by listening to them.
The King James Bible is how to listen to God. The better you know your bible, the more you will know about God. I am not denying that there are times when the Holy Ghost impresses certain thoughts or ideas onto someone's consciousness. I just know that all cults, false teachers, mystics, bible correcters and just about everyone else claims to get special prodding or insight from God. The only way to discern whether or not that prodding is holy and from God is to be in harmony with a King James Bible. To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them, Isaiah 8:20. The way false teachers get around that is to search through various versions until they find one that agrees with their inner thoughts. A King James Bible is security against that.
One study that I give my people is the study of the Tabernacle. Once it finally occurs to you that there is no revelation on this earth about the Tabernacle that is not contained in the words of a King James Bible, you can research the Tabernacle for yourself without teaching aides. Get a piece of paper and draw a simple outline of the Tabernacle walls. Make an inch to be a cubit or use some other ratio, but draw an outline of the walls by just using the text of your bible.
Once you have that basic outline, begin to make simple drawings of each piece of the Tabernacle. Keep in mind that everything that God told Moses is written for us in English. We may not know what a horn looked like, or how Bezaleel formed the crown of certain objects, but we can know the exact dimensions of each object. Draw them with what ever skill level you have. I have almost no skill in drawing but with a ruler for a straight edge and with a King James Bible, I was able to draw each piece.
The next step is to locate the place of each piece in the simple drawing you have of the Tabernacle itself. Even these simple things that I have instructed you to do can be vexing. If you wrestle them out and not cheat by looking up other drawings of the Tabernacle, you can eventually get it. There are few greater satisfactions in bible study than to be stymied by something that you just can't seem to see, pray to God to help you find it, and then eventually find the key to that puzzle written in some other place in the bible than where you had been looking.
It is this kind of study that will turn you into a doctrinal bible believer. The King James Bible movement is a big tent. There are many in its ranks who can expound the historical accuracy of our King James Bible and then ignore what it says doctrinally. I teach my people that there are historical bible believers and there are doctrinal bible believers.
It is the King James Bible and the King James Bible alone which will make you into a doctrinal bible believer. I see my role as a pastor and a teacher not as a quarterback calling the plays, but as a blocker in a running play. I give my people the ball and try to use my preaching to block all of the pitfalls that will slow them down or tackle them. It is my joy to see my people run with the word of God and slowly be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God, Ephesians 3:18,19. Learning the breadth, and length, an depth, and height is joy to a bible believer. Start with the Tabernacle.
Trust your King James Bible.
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Dr. John M. Asquith 10/17/21
4 min read
Reconciling Contradictory Passages
Hebrews 9:3 And after the second veil, the tabernacle which is called the Holiest of all;
Hebrews 9:4 Which had the golden censer, and the ark of the covenant overlaid round about with gold, wherein was the golden pot that had manna, and Aaron's rod that budded, and the tables of the covenant;
When the Apostle Paul wrote of the inner chamber of the Tabernacle and listed those things contained therein, he included the golden censer. There is a revelation here and there is a clue here. The revelation is that the High Priest's censer was made of gold. The clue tells you that the Apostle Paul is zeroing in on a particular day when he describes for us what is in the Most Holy Place.
First, let's get one thing straight. There is no "Holy of Holies" in your King James Bible. "Holy of Holies" would be a literal translation of the Hebrew into English if "Holy" was a noun in English like it is in Hebrew. It is not. When you hear a preacher say Holy of Holies, his speech bewrayeth him. You know that he learned his doctrine from the particular point on which he is speaking from commentaries not from reading a King James Bible. Our bible correctly interprets the Hebrew phrase as "the Most Holy Place".
(There are older preachers much more spiritually sound than I will ever be who consistently use unbiblical terms such as Holy of Holies. Our awareness of the majesty of the King James Bible and the profusion of excellent resources to prove its inspiration and excellence were missing in their younger days. Leave them alone. If you want to provoke my ire, run up and rebuke one of these godly men in my presence. What we need to do is train today's younger preachers ( 60 and under) to speak biblically. If the older ones feel a need after years of pleasing God to sharpen their preaching so be it.)
Why did the Apostle Paul place the golden censer in the Most Holy Place when Moses only lists the Mercy Seat for furniture in there? In Hebrews 9:4, the NIV in its never ending bid to make scripture unintelligible clearly contradicts Moses by placing the Golden Altar of Incense in the Most Holy Place; which had the golden altar of incense and the gold-covered ark of the covenant. This ark contained the gold jar of manna, Aaron’s staff that had budded, and the stone tablets of the covenant. The ESV does the same thing.
Fortunately the King James translators were not that ignorant. The truth is that the golden censer was in the Most Holy Place one day every year. Moses describes the High Priest's duty on the Day of Atonement; And he shall take a censer full of burning coals of fire from off the altar before the LORD, and his hands full of sweet incense beaten small, and bring it within the vail, Leviticus 16:12. The clue that we get when reading Hebrews 9:4, is that the Apostle Paul is describing the Most Holy Place as it was on the Day of Atonement while the High Priest was present.
The golden censer is in the Most Holy Place because the High Priest was commanded to take it in with him once a year. You can be sure he also brought it back out. The Apostle Paul has given a snapshot of that day.
If you read the rest of Hebrews Chapter 9, that becomes obvious. To whom is it not obvious? It is not obvious to those who have been taught that the bible is too hard to perfectly translate and that they must always seek outside sources to understand difficult passages. The truth is not obvious to those who search through all of the other versions to get a consensus for the truth.
For those of us who by the grace of our God know that he has fulfilled his promise of a perfect bible by giving us the King James Bible, we wait when we are confused by a seeming contradiction. We approach the contradiction with a humility that says that we are but flesh and our bible is eternally holy. We bow our heads and ask the God of all comfort to comfort us with the understanding that we so clearly lack. We then trust the written words of a King James Bible to show us and we trust the Holy Ghost to enlighten us by using those words.
The King James Bible is the words of the Holy Ghost. He will not speak outside of it. There are passages in my bible in which God has revealed their sense to me in in mere minutes and there are some in which he has taken 5, 10, 15, and even 40 years to ground me in the precepts that I need to understand that given passage. What I will never do is grope in the burning garbage heaps of the new translations or search the draught pits of the lexicons to gain insight. "Trusting your King James Bible" and "trusting God" are synonymous phrases.
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Understanding
Dr. John M. Asquith
Oct 7, 2021 3 min read
Understandest thou what thou readest?, Acts 8:30.
There are still places in a King James Bible that I have no idea why they say what they say. For over 40 years, when I have read such a passages I have wondered. The last things that I ever intend to do about those passages is to consult a commentary or to consult a lexicon in an attempt to decipher the meaning by borrowing some alternative meaning for a Greek or Hebrew word.
In that period of time, I have had many passages come alive for me. Passages that for 25 to 30 years had seemed incomprehensible to me suddenly made sense as I read them. Over the many years when those passages had seemed dark to me, I slowly built my knowledge and understanding in other passages. Like tumblers in a combination lock, as I slowly learned and understood more about supporting passages to a particular place, the passage that had so vexed me unlocked its meanings for me.
There is simply no substitute for understanding the word of God other than to allow precept to be added to precept and line to be added to line.
Isaiah 28:10 For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little:
Isaiah 28:11 For with stammering lips and another tongue will he speak to this people.
We have the word of God in this other tongue and through it God speaks to us. What is all too often lacking is understanding. The devil has wrought havoc in the churches by this lack of understanding. Through thy precepts I get understanding: therefore I hate every false way, Psalm 119:104.
There is a three pronged approach to understanding the bible.
1. There must be a perfect bible that the reader can trust. Recently, Brother Paul Scott published a post titled Builded or Built. Some time ago, he had contacted me and noted that the King James Bible used both forms of the word "build". When he saw that both words were in use and even were used in the same verse (Hebrews 3:4) he realized that each word had a slightly different meaning. How did he know that? He knew that they had different meaning because he believed the text in front of him. He knew that it was never arbitrary or haphazard for any particular word to be used. There is always a reason and it is to God's pleasure to reveal that reason. Trusting that the bible in front of us is always the first step.
By believing what he saw written, Brother Scott was able to resist the dictionaries that said that the words were synonymous. Clearly they were not synonymous in a King James Bible. He then was able to look at each word as it was used in context and God showed him the difference.
2. God must give a person understanding. Apart from receiving the Holy Ghost in John 20:22, and utterly separated from the Day of Pentecost, Jesus Christ opened the understanding of his disciples. Then opened he their understanding, that they might understand the scriptures, Luke 24:45. Understanding does not come naturally to men. The Apostle Paul spoke of the natural state of man when he said; There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God, Romans 3:11.
No man ever sought God until God enabled him to seek. Just as a palsied man could not stretch forth his hand until he heard Jesus Christ command him to do so, a sinner is unable to seek God until he hears the command to seek God through the preaching of the word of God. So is the man who would seek to understand the things of God. Let him ask the Lord to open his understanding. That was some of the best advice that I ever got as a young man.
3. A man or woman who seeks to understand must pay a price. Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth, 1st Timothy 2:15. Solomon said; much study is a weariness of the flesh, Ecclesiastes 12:12. There is a occasional joy to bible study, but there is more often than not a weariness to the flesh. Reading the bible and studying the bible are two distinctly different things. a person who seeks to understand and know God must do both.
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Does Gender Matter?
Dr. John M. Asquith
Sep 22, 2021 3 min read
That every man should let his manservant, and every man his maidservant, being an Hebrew or an Hebrewess, go free; that none should serve himself of them, to wit, of a Jew his brother, Jeremiah 34:9.
The Prophet Jeremiah was very specific when he recorded the liberty that King Zedekiah proclaimed for the people. Every man was to release his manservants, and every man was to release his maidservants. Whether the person was an Hebrew (male) or a Hebrewess (female) mattered to God. Our King James Bible preserves that gender specific language. The new bibles gloss over such old fashioned gender specific terms as Hebrewess by just saying, "whether they be male or female". Does that matter?
It matters if you want a perfect bible without error. A Moabite was not allowed into the Congregation of Israel even unto the 10th generation. An Ammonite or Moabite shall not enter into the congregation of the LORD; even to their tenth generation shall they not enter into the congregation of the LORD for ever, Deuteronomy 23:3. If a Moabite could not enter into the Congregation of the Lord forever, how did Ruth enter in? Why was David made King if a Moabite could not enter in even to the tenth generation?
The answer is simple. Ruth was not a Moabite. The NIV calls her a Moabite as in Ruth 1:22: So Naomi returned from Moab accompanied by Ruth the Moabite. The ESV calls her a Moabite in the same place as well as every other place that it can: So Naomi returned, and Ruth the Moabite her daughter-in-law with her. The word of God does not call her a Moabite; So Naomi returned, and Ruth the Moabitess, her daughter in law, with her, which returned out of the country of Moab: and they came to Bethlehem in the beginning of barley harvest, Ruth 1:22.
We have an exact bible. Even though there are distinct different words for a male and a female Moabite or Moabitess, God did not ban a Moabitess from entering the congregation. He banned the Moabite. God made provision for bringing enemy females into the congregation.
Deuteronomy 21:10: When thou goest forth to war against thine enemies, and the LORD thy God hath delivered them into thine hands, and thou hast taken them captive,
Deuteronomy 21:11: And seest among the captives a beautiful woman, and hast a desire unto her, that thou wouldest have her to thy wife;
Deuteronomy 21:12: Then thou shalt bring her home to thine house; and she shall shave her head, and pare her nails;
Deuteronomy 21:13: And she shall put the raiment of her captivity from off her, and shall remain in thine house, and bewail her father and her mother a full month: and after that thou shalt go in unto her, and be her husband, and she shall be thy wife.
The problem with the new versions is that no one expects minute accuracy. God intended that we have a bible that is correct in every jot and tittle. It is impossible for a King James Bible to contradict itself in any passage as long as the reader keeps in mind the context with which he is dealing. No other version can say that. Surprise, surprise, gender matters in the word of God! You probably have friends who are angry over the modern gender confusion going on in our culture and then proudly carry a new version which coyly goes along with the confusion. Stick to your King James Bible. There are no errors in it.
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Dr. John M. Asquith Sep 9, 2021 5 min read
Principles of Interpretation II
But they could not shew the interpretation of the thing, Daniel 5:15.
Why couldn't the wise men of Babylon show the interpretation?, because they did not have the word of God. The first and foremost principle of interpretation is that without the word of God there can be no certainty. I am not saying that all King James Bible believers have identical interpretations of all major passages of the bible. What we have in harmony is that we know that the truth is contained within the pages of our King James Bible. The truth is in the actual text itself, and that any person with average intelligence who can read English, and has a relationship with the Holy Ghost can be given an understanding as good as any person who ever read the original manuscripts.
In fact, we have an advantage over any person with the original manuscripts. The people at Thessalonica who received Paul's two letters had those and copies of some other letters as well as access to the Old Testament. In our King James Bible we have the complete infallible scriptures in a readable and accessible format, all in one language. What follows will be three principles of interpretation that can guide the bible believer.
How do we know when a psalm is messianic? In other words, just as the Ethiopian Eunuch asked Phillip, of whom speaketh the prophet this? of himself, or of some other man?, Acts 8:34. How do we know when we read a psalm whether the writer is speaking of himself or he is speaking of the coming Messiah? We follow Peter's lead in Acts 2.
When Peter addressed the crowd who gathered on the Day of Pentecost, he had their attention, but the crowd came out of curiosity not out of a sense that he had apostolic insight. When he quoted Psalm 16 he stated that David was speaking of Jesus Christ. Today we accept that because we know that he spoke as given understanding from God. The crowd before him needed to be convinced.
Acts 2:25: For David speaketh concerning him, I foresaw the Lord always before my face, for he is on my right hand, that I should not be moved:
Acts 2:26: Therefore did my heart rejoice, and my tongue was glad; moreover also my flesh shall rest in hope:
Acts 2:27: Because thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption.
Acts 2:28: Thou hast made known to me the ways of life; thou shalt make me full of joy with thy countenance.
What Peter did was to reason with them.
Acts 2:29: Men and brethren, let me freely speak unto you of the patriarch David, that he is both dead and buried, and his sepulchre is with us unto this day.
Acts 2:30: Therefore being a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him, that of the fruit of his loins, according to the flesh, he would raise up Christ to sit on his throne;
Act 2:31 He seeing this before spake of the resurrection of Christ, that his soul was not left in hell, neither his flesh did see corruption.
What he reasoned was that Psalm 16 could not possibly apply to David the author of the psalm because the psalm stated, neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption. It was obvious to all who listened to Peter that day that King David did see corruption. He was in a tomb in Jerusalem. Peter left them no choice. If a psalm says something in the first person such as saying "I" or "me", and it was not possible for that psalm to be speaking of the author himself, the psalm is a messianic psalm. It speaks of Jesus Christ.
Using that reasoning, look at Psalm 22: 16, they pierced my hands and my feet. Ask yourself the question, in all of the passages describing the life of David, is there a time when his hands and feet were pierced? No, there was not. Therefore the Messiah will have his hands and his feet pierced. It really is that simple. As you go through the psalms, there will be places where the psalms disrupt certain theologies when that rule is applied, but either Peter's reasoning was right or it was wrong. If a psalm states something as if it is happening to the author, and yet it cannot be the author, then the psalm is messianic.
Having an exact bible means that you can trust whether a word is plural or singular. That may seem like a very small matter but the Apostle Paul found meaning in passages such as Genesis 22:17 wherein Moses wrote, and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies. Earlier, when Moses wrote of Abraham's seed he made it plural. Know of a surety that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs, Genesis 15:13.
Even though the Book of Genesis was written 1400 years earlier, the apostle trusted whether a word was plural or singular. He didn't say, " By revelation I know that Christ is the seed of Abraham". He merely trusted that those who read his letter would trust a 1400 year old text. He didn't need any divine revelation beyond the word of God itself as it sat in front of him after 1400 years.
The next thing that the Bible believer can use to properly interpret a passage is to look at the tense of a verb. When the Sadducees tempted Jesus Christ about the doctrine of the resurrection from the dead, they made up a scenario in which after a man had died without his wife ever giving birth, the man's brother married him. In turn, that brother died only to be replaced by another brother. Then the Sadducees played their trump card; Therefore in the resurrection whose wife shall she be of the seven? for they all had her, Matthew 22:28.
Jesus Christ quoted Moses to answer them and in doing so he trusted the tense of the verb in a verse that on the surface had nothing to do with the resurrection.
Mat 22:31: But as touching the resurrection of the dead, have ye not read that which was spoken unto you by God, saying,
Mat 22:32: I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob? God is not the God of the dead, but of the living.
God did not say "I was the God of Abraham", he said, I am the God of Abraham. As the Lord spoke to Moses, it was understood that Abraham was with God at that moment. Their relationship was not ended by his death. The absolute only thing that God used to prove that was the tense of the verb from a 1400 year old text.
When you are reading the words of a King James Bible, there is no need to run to commentaries, lexicons or other devices to understand what a passage is saying. Trust it as it is. One of the truly great things that I learned from Dr. Peter Ruckman was that if a man changes any word in a text, it is because what he is teaching is not what the text actually says. Look at what the text says. If you can not understand it, bow your head and pray.
I have had passages allude me for decades only to come to life at a far distant time when I was better prepared to understand. I am so glad that I did not run to some man's writings to get the understanding. By trusting the verse just as they were written, and by patiently waiting, the Lord was eventually able to give me an understanding such as I never would have had if I had had a man teach me.
The first rule of bible interpretation is to trust the word of God as it is written. That is a King James Bible.
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Dr. John M. Asquith Sep 1, 2021 4 min read
Principles of Interpretation: Part I
Do not interpretations belong to God? Genesis 40:8.
Most people do not get their bible interpretations from the bible itself. They subscribe to a particular theology or understanding of certain bible doctrines based on their denomination, peer group, or commentaries. The idea that the average person of average intelligence and average education can pick up a bible and understand it to the point of settling major theological questions is simply absurd to the world at large.
One barrier in the world's thinking is that they don't believe that they have the complete and accurate word of God. To them, reading a bible is a religious exercise, not a means of gaining infallible truth. When they see a King James Bible believer exposit a doctrine or defend a position based on the words of the King James Bible and only on the words of a King James Bible, they assume the King James Bible believer is trapped in some legalistic web wherein he is afraid to peek at other versions.
The best mathematicians in the world could not solve an algebraic inscription on an ancient wall if some of the numbers were missing or their veracity was in doubt. Different mathematicians would get differing answers if the scholars who fed them data gave them differing numbers based on their hunches as to what the original equation said. Likewise, any puzzle involving logic can not be solved with any accuracy if any of the facts are in doubt or missing.
The bible works no differently. Granted, we have an advantage over the mathematician seeking to solve an ancient inscription or the logician who seeks to solve an ancient logistical puzzle. We have the spirit of the author of the bible living within us. 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, 1st Corinthians 2:12. Nevertheless, God communicates to us in words. His spirit is there to give us an understanding of those words, but without those words the spirit does not communicate anything above the level of feelings. God promised us something better.
As for me, this is my covenant with them, saith the LORD; My spirit that is upon thee, and my words which I have put in thy mouth, shall not depart out of thy mouth, nor out of the mouth of thy seed, nor out of the mouth of thy seed's seed, saith the LORD, from henceforth and for ever, Isaiah 59:21. Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away, Mark 13:31. Could anything be more clear than those two verses? The first principle that needs to be understood in being able to interpret the bible is that the words of God have been miraculously preserved on this earth and that they are accessible to the common man.
Where could a person find such words? Hint! Hint! The Apostle Paul told you where to look:
Romans 3:1: What advantage then hath the Jew? or what profit is there of circumcision?
Romans 3:2: Much every way: chiefly, because that unto them were committed the oracles of God.
When the Apostle Paul spoke of the Jews in the Book of Romans, he was not talking about converted Jews who had embraced the cross of Jesus Christ. He went so far as to tell us that; As concerning the gospel, they are enemies for your sakes: but as touching the election, they are beloved for the fathers' sakes, Romans 11:28. God has not stopped his love for the Jews, but they have rejected the gospel of Jesus Christ. It is to these same people that God committed the oracles of God. It was to them that the promise of Isaiah 59:21 was made. They are the people carrying about a perfect Old Testament in Hebrew.
It is telling that the modern versions uniformly reject the text carried by those same Jews. The translators and compilers of the new bibles do not believe that there is a book anywhere on this earth that is 100% the words of God. The Old Testament in the King James Bible is the interpretation of those Hebrew words carried by those Jews and commended by the Apostle Paul into a classical form of English writing that preserves the nuances and accuracy of the Hebrew Language.
The new versions are a hodge-podge of guesses by various scholars as to what they think the text should be based on many sources other than the text the Apostle Paul endorsed. The very premisses of those versions are that you, the average person on the street are not smart enough to think in the carefully crafted words of the King James Bible even though all of your forefathers who did not speak King James English could. And, they believe that the promises of Isaiah 59:21 and Mark 13:31 misfired.
If your King James Bible is practically the only English version that believes the Hebrew Text as the good apostle told us to trust it, you can have great confidence that it has the New Testament straight also. The history of how that text came to us is long and meanders through many people and places, but is available in books written by many different authors. A person does not have to tie up part of his or her intellect to believe that they have a perfect scripture. There is a perfectly accessible road map from the present day back to the apostles' time which documents the accuracy of the King James Bible for those who care to look.
To interpret the bible properly, you must have the proper words.
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INTRODUCTION TO THE NEW SERIES ...
LONG OVER DUE! (9/28/21)
GOOD INTRODUCTION
INCLUDING MOST RECENT POSTS!
One of the most important responsibilities
Christians have is to study the
Scriptures for themselves.
IF WE STUDY AND LEARN THE TRUTH … THEN THE LIES WILL STICK OUT LIKE A ‘SORE THUMB” … IF YOU ARE A BORN-AGAIN BELIEVER IN CHRIST INDWELLED BY THE HOLY SPIRIT AND HAVE DISCERNMENT! … I Corinthians 2:14
This is true of any subject in life! Any subject! The Bible is a benchmark for the TRUTH! Any TRUTH! If you study and learn the truth about the Historical Baptist Distinctives you will readily see the falsehoods that (most) of all the (other) ‘religions and cults’ that are not based on Baptistic Theology and Distinctives have. If you use modern versions and not the King James Bible and listen to false teachers (Jude 3) you will become very confused!
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ANNOUNCING THE NEW SERIES ...
LONG OVER DUE! September 24, 2021
Behold, the days come, saith the Lord GOD, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the LORD: Amos 8:11.
There has been a 50 year push in most Evangelical or Fundamental churches to tell as many people as possible about Jesus Christ. At the end of that 50 year push, far fewer people know or understand Jesus Christ than ever before. Regardless of anyone else's theology, I have found that explaining to people that God's word is here on this earth, that it is perfect and that they can know it has done more to awaken people to righteousness than anything else.
Booker T. Washington once said that he wearied of young ex-slaves who had been sent off to Europe for a fancy education by wealthy do-gooders. He said they could dress fancy and discourse for hours on the various interest rates of European bonds and stocks but couldn't understand why their fathers lost a dollar on every bale of cotton they sold. Our bible colleges and local church institutes have spewed forth their modern equivalent in the ministry.
We have young men who dress right, preach well, and have very fundamental theologies. They cannot get a neighborhood to change. They can't get a family to change and they can't get an individual to change. They are utterly impotent. Their idea of soul winning is the Baptist Sacrament wherein they get people to pray their little prayer and pretend that these people truly believed.
What do tadpoles become? If you said, "frogs" you are about .001% right. Most tadpoles become fish food. Very few ever become frogs. What do these hapless victims of the Baptist Sacrament become? If you said, "saints of God" you are less accurate than your first answer. Our towns and cities all over America are filled with people who have been run through the mill of easy believism only to blend back into the sin laden lifestyles wherein the preacher found them.
The Black Creek Baptist Church is in Allegany County New York which lost 5% of its population in the last census and is down to 46,456 people. Most industry has moved out. Our township which is quite large has 700 people. A good portion of them are Amish who would never come to one of our services. In 14 years we have gone from an average attendance of 15 to 25 to an average of 60 to 80. We have drawn many people from broken drug sotted homes who had fallen through every safety net. Many of their lives are irrevocably changed. Doctors have noticed, social workers have noticed and the men who stock beer in the convenience stores have noticed.
My emphasis to the broken victims of New York State's overworked welfare system and the broken families and discouraged population is that there is a bible. It is the King James Bible. God speaks to us. We have the absolute, 100% true words of the living God. I teach them to read it. I teach them to apply it to their lives. As their lives improve, they begin to realize that the bible they are reading is indeed true. At some point they begin to tremble over the sin in their lives and become soundly converted by Jesus Christ.
I am no longer interested in debating the "theologically pure" who are quite sure that my ways are wrong. I just intend to teach a lost a dying world that the King James Bible is the word of God and that it is infallible and that they themselves can know what it says. The people who have received that teaching can't get enough church. They come for Sunday School, two services on Sunday, Wednesday Night, and they come to Thursday Night Bible Study. I hear complaints that we don't have enough meetings. My church is filled with actual converts as well as some who have drifted from other churches.
With all of that said, I am developing a bible institute degree to teach the King James Bible itself. I want them to know its vocabulary, its history, the history of England and of the English Language. I want them to be familiar with the various arguments for and against it. I want them to be sound in presenting the word of God, defending the word of God and then, and only then, preaching the word of God. If a man does that, Jesus Christ will be glorified and lives will change.
Here is a representative course that we are offering. If you want to take the course on your own, please feel free to do so. For this course we are using Will Kinney's website which he has graciously made available to the world at large. He is not associated with us, but we are indebted to him.
Brand Plucked Web: The Essential Will Kinney
Course Description:
This course will familiarize the student with the writings and research of Will Kinney. His website, Brandplucked.webs.com is probably the largest and most comprehensive compilation of defenses and explanations for the integrity of the King James Bible. As long as the internet continues in its current form, most challenges to the King James Bible whether they be historical, doctrinal, or linguistic can be successfully researched on Mr. Kinney’s site. The goal of this course is to make the student able use this site when researching difficult questions concerning our King James Bible.
Requirements:
1. Watch the first video under the heading; KJB Videos titled, Did God preserve His Inerrant words and are they found in the. King James Bible.
A. What are the four positions outlined by Will Kinney as the only four possible positions concerning the preservation of the word of God? List them and give a brief explanation of each position.
B. Considering position #4, explain in detail how Mr. Kinney helped you understand the position of an inerrant King James Bible.
C. Take one of the other 3 positions and refute it in more detail using your own words as if you were defending the King James Bible from a person who held that position.
2. Read the Article, Reasons why the King James Bible is the absolute Standard- God’s Historic Witness to the Truth.
A. Write a 500 words or more essay summarizing Mr. Kinney’s reasoning.
3. Read the Article, The Old Fashioned language of the King James Bible, subtitled, The “Old Fashioned Language” of the King James Bible “Archaic and Inerrant” beats “Modernized and Wrong Any Day of the Week.
A. Read the link on the 40 concrete examples of falsehoods taught by these fake bible versions. Choose 5 of them and explain why they are so dangerous.
4. Under the Heading KJB Videos, select 25 of the videos. Watch each of the 25 and summarize each video.
5. Using Google, type in a verse from scripture and then write Brandplucked after it. Briefly write what you found.
6. Write a final paper on how Will Kinney has helped you to appreciate the King James Bible. In that paper explain how his refutation of false versions helped as well as his explanations about the truth of the King James Bible. Minimum 1000 words.
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THE FOLLOWING ARE PREVIOUSLY
PUBLISHED POSTS FOR YOUR EDIFICATION
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Matthew 7:13-14 KJV By Bill Brinkworth
Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: 14 Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.” Matthew 7:13-14 KJV
There are many that claim to be Christian, but are not! They are heathen. Heathen are the unsaved, and those bound for Hell. Calling themselves Christians will not make them saved. Examine what the Bible says about heathen cloaked under the name “Christian”:
- Heathens are sometimes called Christians or God’s people.
- “… That they may possess the remnant of Edom, and of all the heathen, which are called by my name, saith the LORD that doeth this.” Amos 9:11-12
- This verse is speaking of a time not yet come, but the principle applies to these latter days. Not all that claim to be children of God are children of God
- Heathens pray.
- “… But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking.” Matthew 6:6-7
- It is ironic that the outline for prayer (Matthew 6:9-13) that follows these verses is what many so-called “Christian” faiths vainly (without thought or meaning, empty of feeling) pray over and over.
- Heathens have religion also!
- “… This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips; but their heart is far from me. But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.” Matthew 15:7-9
- There have always been those that believe themselves to be children of God, but were not. It was the religious that had killed Jesus and persecuted His followers.
- Heathens can think God is using them. (However, many times Satan, the deceiver, is blinding them, and deceiving them with false miracles from “God”.)
- “Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them. Not every one that saith unto me , Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.” Matthew 7:20-23
- Heathens can go through religious routines and rituals.
- “Then shall ye begin to say, We have eaten and drunk in thy presence, and thou hast taught in our streets. But he shall say, I tell you, I know you not whence ye are; depart from me, all ye workers of iniquity. There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth … and you thrust out.” Luke 13:26-28
- They went to the house of God, but that didn’t make them His.
Many are religious, but lost. People may think they are Christians, but may not be. There is only one way to be a child of God — God’s way.
“… Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” John 3:3.
Are you “born again”? Are you going to Heaven by God’s narrow way of trusting Christ’s payment for your sins with His blood? Or are you a heathen bound for Hell?
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“Walk in wisdom toward them that are without, redeeming the time. ” Colossians 4:5 KJV
God said we are to walk in wisdom concerning the lost. Did you ever stop to think about it? That man, unsaved out there, is related to us about using our time. That is what God said, “…toward them that are without, … ” in order to reach them. Did you ever stop to think that a man out there puts a higher value on Christian living than he does about Christian doctrine? He never thinks much or wonders, “What do those people do over there at that Baptist church? But he thinks an awful lot about, “I wonder how those people at that Baptist church live?” This is uncanny about how unsaved people think of saved people.
The salvation of a man’s soul depends greatly upon what he thinks of you. You mark it down, not so much what he thinks of the Bible, or what he thinks of Jesus, or what he thinks of preaching. But the salvation of many a lost person depends on what he thinks of you and I as a Christian.
Our own estimation of your spiritual self, will determine what you do in the matter of time and witnessing to somebody else. I believe with all my heart, that a lot of people never witness or use their time to get someone saved, because of a poor estimation of their own spiritual life. God says, “Walk in wisdom toward them that are without, redeeming the time. ”
God has made us managers of time. — T.M.
Prepared by Roger Fulk, from the “Baptist Bread” August, 25, 2021 devotional by author Dr. Tom Malone (Deceased), Pontiac, MI. With permission from Tim Green, editor Baptist Bread.
One of the most important responsibilities Christians have is to study the Scriptures for themselves. Church is important, and one can learn quite a lot from the man of God in the pulpit, but it is up to us to study and understand what the Word of God says.
“Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.” II Tim. 2:15
II Timothy 2:15 teaches us five things about studying the Word of God:
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The purpose of this Blog is to teach about Jude 3
It has been said there is a big lack of 'WARNING MINISTRIES" in churches. This is a teaching resource to help people and churches understand more about Jude 3 and other related scriptures.
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awarningministry.com
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This Blog will teach about MANY SUBJECTS!
Here is an example! Another interesting question! And ... there are many more ... Just Stay 'Tuned'.
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About The Author Roger Fulk |
This is another Blog Post and I hope you enjoy this! It's about a WOLF WATCH MINISTRY FALSE TEACHING EXPOSED!. Please stay tuned. We have plenty of excellent content! |
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This subject may not be of interest to everyone, however we have found there is much confusion about it! We aim to help people learn about this subject for teaching and learning purposes! Keep coming back often and enjoy learning about many different subjects like this for your edification!
Thank you,
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