Thursday, January 27, 2011

Word of God vs word of God?


We know from the scriptures that Jesus Christ is the Word of God made flesh.  But we also know that God has given us his written word by inspiration: the holy scriptures.  In this 400th anniversary year of the Authorized Version, we can still behold wonderful and mighty things from it that will increase our faith.  One way of doing this is allowing the incarnate Word of God to be a similitude for the written word of God.  The Gospel of John gives us the best description and definition about the Word.  With this in mind, realize that there are 66 books in the Bible.  Now read John 1:1-5 below, then count the number of words in them.

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
The same was in the beginning with God.
All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.
In him was life; and the life was the light of men.
And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.

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Verse of the Day: Genesis 45:1-3

1 Then Joseph could not refrain himself before all them that stood by him; and he cried , Cause every man to go out from me. And there stood no man with him, while Joseph made himself known unto his brethren. 2 And he wept aloud : and the Egyptians and the house of Pharaoh heard. 3 And Joseph said unto his brethren, I am Joseph; doth my father yet live? And his brethren could not answer him; for they were troubled at his presence.

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Wednesday, January 26, 2011

Verse of the Day: Genesis 41:57

And all countries came into Egypt to Joseph for to buy corn; because that the famine was so sore in all lands.

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Tuesday, January 25, 2011

Verse of the Day: Genesis 39:3

And his master saw that the LORD was with him, and that the LORD made all that he did to prosper.

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Friday, January 21, 2011

Verse of the Day: Genesis 28:12

And he dreamed, and behold a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven: and behold the angels of God ascending and descending on it.

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Thursday, January 20, 2011

Verse of the Day: Genesis 26:5

Because that Abraham obeyed my voice, and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws.

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Wednesday, January 19, 2011

Tips For Proper Bible Study Part 2B: Bibles

I am a proponent of using multiple Bibles.  Personally, I have a Bible that I use for reading, a Bible I use for study topics and words, a Bible I use to study whole books, and a Bible I use for church.  While this may or may not appeal to you personally, it helps me keep everything straight.  Here are few tips on getting the right Bible.

Reading Time
Do not confuse reading time and study; they are not the same.  For reading it is best to have a text-only Bible or a Bible with minimal notes and cross references.  It may also help to have some margin space available so that when you come across words you do not know you can write the definition in the margin.  Not using a study Bible help as you should be reading for volume and repetition.  Often when a study Bible is used you can find yourself reading the study notes more than the actual scriptures.  One of the Bible's I use for reading is this one from Local Church Bible Publishers; you can't beat their quality and price.

Bible Study
The question here is should you use a study bible.  Whether or not you choose to will be up to you, but you must realize that no matter who's study bible you use you are reading the notes of a man.  Never confuse the commentary with the scripture and never assume the commentary is correct.  You should also do a bit of research on the person who's notes are in the study bible you choose.  This will help you steer clear of serious theological error and heresy such as Preterism, Monergism, amillenialism, post-millenialism, etc.

Whether you choose to use or not to use a study bible, you will still need to decide if you will take notes in your bible or in a notebook.  Here are two excellent choices to use if you want to take notes in your bible: 1) The Classic Note Bible and 2) The Note Takers Bible from Local Church Publishers.

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Verse of the Day: Genesis 22:8

And Abraham said, My son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering: so they went both of them together.

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Tuesday, January 18, 2011

Verse of the Day: Genesis 19:14

And Lot went out, and spake unto his sons in law, which married his daughters, and said, Up, get you out of this place; for the LORD will destroy this city. But he seemed as one that mocked unto his sons in law.

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Monday, January 17, 2011

Verse of the Day: Genesis 17:10

This is my covenant, which ye shall keep, between me and you and thy seed after thee; Every man child among you shall be circumcised.

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Sunday, January 16, 2011

Verse of the Day: Genesis 12:2-3

And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing: And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.

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Friday, January 14, 2011

David Horowitz at UCSD 5/10/2010. Hosted by Young Americans for Freedom...

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Verse of the Day: Job 39:9

Will the unicorn be willing to serve thee, or abide by thy crib?

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Thursday, January 13, 2011

Verse of the Day: Job 36:11-12

11 If they obey and serve him, they shall spend their days in prosperity, and their years in pleasures. 12 But if they obey not, they shall perish by the sword, and they shall die without knowledge.

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Wednesday, January 12, 2011

Commentary on Job 32:9

Elihu, a man of youth, waits his turn after the discourse of Job and his three friends and makes a statement in verse nine that we should all heed in this present day.  Elihu realized that great men are not always wise.  This can be a two-fold meaning for us: 1) Great men are not always wise and 2) Men that are great are not wise all the time.

Great Men Are Not Always Wise
This statement is somewhat obvious and needs no real explanation.  Just because a man is great does not automatically mean he is wise.  We can think of all kinds of men that are great: by substance, by popularity, by position, by education, etc.  And we know lots of these men are not wise at all.  We must not fall for for the simplicity that so many Christians fall for as was said by Gamaliel in Acts 5:38 ...for if this work be of men, it will come to nought...  We cannot be so naive that we believe just because a work is great it is of God.  If this were true, we should all become Roman Catholic today.

Men That Are Great Are Not Wise All the Time
This second one is where we need to be careful.  We have become so lazy in this Laodicean age of the church that we have fallen into the trap that Paul warned against in 1 Tim 6:5 ...supposing that gain is godliness...  We often look at certain men and ministries and hold their opinions up as the standard as which the rest of us should believe because they have a huge bus ministry, or their church has such large membership and a college.  But we must remember that man at his best is vanity (Ps 39:5, Eccl 3:19).  And while these great men are often right and are doing great things for God, they may not be wise in all areas of ministry or life.  For instance: John R. Rice is held up as great example in Fundamental circles; but did you know John R. Rice was a supporter of the ASV over the AV?  The ASV is a translation that even liberal scholars agree today was a terrible translation.  Does this mean that we should disregard everything he said?  Absolutely not: Mr. Rice has preached and taught many things of value that are truth that we can heed.  What about Schofield: how many times was he married, but how people have a Schofield Bible on their shelf and have been blessed by it?  And Spurgeon, a Calvinist (although I'm not sure you can really be a Calvinist and not believe all five points of the TULIP); how many times as he been quoted from the pulpit of Independent Baptist churches?  What about Dr. Ruckman: married three times, yet Dr. Ruckman has probably forgotten more Bible than most preachers alive right now even know.

At the end of the day, we are told in scripture to, "Prove all things; hold fast to that which is good." (1 Thess 5:21).  This is what we must do; let the scriptures truly be our final authority in all matters of faith and practice.  While we all say this, too often we hold to a position because, "we are fundamental Baptists, and that's what fundamental Baptists believe," or "the traditional position is..." or even "my Bible college professor said..."  While all three of these statements could actually lead to truth, we ought not to believe it because of that; otherwise we are no better than a Catholic that refers to "the Church" as the authority of what they believe.  We ought to always ask what saith the scriptures?  This is the only source of truth (John 17:17).

So regardless of how well we esteem a man or their works as righteous and sincere as they may be, we should always fall back on Romans 3:4 ...let God be true, but every man a liar...

Amen.

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Verse of the Day: Job 32:9

Great men are not always wise: neither do the aged understand judgment.

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Tuesday, January 11, 2011

Verse of the Day: Job 32:8

But there is a spirit in man: and the inspiration of the Almighty giveth them understanding.

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Monday, January 10, 2011

About That Archaic King James...

The nicolaitans that constantly knock the Authorized English Bible all have one thing in common; education.  On the surface, there is nothing wrong with education, but when education gets in the way of learning there is a serious problem; one that has caused serious error in the Body of Christ and overthrown the faith of of some (2 Tim 2:18).  Of course not all educated persons are incapable of learning, but the one's that do are no longer considered reputable.  You see this argument a lot in the evolution v. creation debate: if a scientist believes in creation then he is automatically not a reputable scientist.  So here is an "irreputable" scholar, Dr. Gerardus Bouw PhD, on the archaic English in King James:

"...we see the world's languages becoming less sophisticated in time, not more...  Anyone who would take the trouble to find out just why the Authorized Bible used 'odd' phraseology at times would soon be amazed at how much detail, explicitness, and fine structure the English language has lost in the last 400 years.  There is no language in the world which is naturally or evolutionarily improving...  the sentence structures and parts of speech are fast losing distinctiveness."

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Verse of the Day: 24:2

Some remove the landmarks; they violently take away flocks, and feed therof.

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Sunday, January 9, 2011

Verse of the Day: Job 23:12

Neither have I gone back from the commandment of his lips; I have esteemed the words of his mouth more than my necessary food.

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Saturday, January 8, 2011

The Laburum & The Antichrist

A few weeks ago we speculated if there was some correlation between this last days "Greekspeak" movement and the future ecumenical, one world religion of the antichrist.  While I do not believe any man can fully know today, there are some strange coincidences.  Here is a short video about a book written by a Catholic about the laburum.  Watch this short (less than 2 minutes) video, then look at this mock picture and notice the mark in Mr. Rosebrough's hand.  I am certainly not suggesting that Mr. Rosebrough is the antichrist as I don't even know who he is, but this mock GQ picture struck me as eerie with the mark and one eye.

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Verse of the Day: Job 19:14

My kinsfolk have failed, and my familiar friends have forgotten me.

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Friday, January 7, 2011

Verse of the Day: Job 14:1

Man that is born of woman is of few days, and full of trouble.

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Thursday, January 6, 2011

Verse of the Day: Job 12:16

With him is strength and wisdom: the deceived and the deceiver are his.

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Wednesday, January 5, 2011

Verse of the Day: Job 9:8

Which alone spreadeth out the heavens, and treadeth upon the waves of the sea.

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Tuesday, January 4, 2011

Tips For Bible Study Part 2: Proper Materials

2 Timothy 2:13 - The cloke that I left at Troas with Carpus, when thou comest, bring with thee, and the books, but especially the parchments.

In his second to last epistle, Paul implored Timothy to bring these materials to him, but especially the parchments.  Especially the parchments because Paul loved his kinsmen in the flesh so much that before he departed this world, he wanted to write them a letter: The Epistle to the Hebrews.

Like the apostle Paul, there are somethings we need to have a successful bible study, and there are some things we especially need.  Let's look at a list of things broken down in these two categories that will help in your study of the scriptures.

Especially Needed Items - Items you must have

  • Authorized Version Bible - While there is no question that we are King James Only, this is only part of the reason you will need the Authorized Version for good believing Bible study.  One of the important things to understand about scripture is that topics/doctrines are often mentioned in various books with only some of the information about that topic/doctrine given in each place.  The AV was translated properly and using consistent terminology as to aid with cross-referencing.  Because the modern versions change lots of words and phrases for the sake of securing a financial copyright, lots of these patterns are destroyed and therefore will impede in bible study.  We will show examples of this later when we look at cross referencing and a sample study.
  • Pen or Pencil - It is up to you which you prefer and are more comfortable with.  Whether or not you mark you Bible or not is also up to you.  This may also depend upon if you have a note taking or wide margin Bible.  If you plan on taking notes in your Bible then we highly recommend using multiple copies as this will keep your notes clearer.
  • Notepad/notebook - Even if you plan to put notes in your Bible, you still need a notebook or notepad to take notes: there is not enough room in any Bible to hold all the notes in the margin.  Later, we suggest typing in the notes to a word processor.  This way the next time you read/study that passage, topic, verse, book, or cross reference you can add new things to your already existing notes; almost like a personal commentary.


Optional Study Items - Not essential, but can be helpful
  • Webster's 1828 Dictionary - Later we will show how to discover the meaning of an unknown word by cross referencing the scripture.  But sometimes it is helpful to have a dictionary handy for reading if you just need to look up a quick definition.  I have yet to find a definition in the 1828 that contradicts the AV.
  • Way of Life Encyclopedia - David Cloud sticks it foot in his mouth on occasion, but this  work is pretty good; full of topical information and definitions of scripture words and doctrines as well as cults.
  • Concordance - Although I would trust definitions from concordances and lexicons given their authors and their "theology" (see Gail Riplinger's Hazardous Materials), but it is good for looking up lists of words for word studies.  For instance: if studying baptism, you can use a concordance to find every place the word baptism and all the variations of it - baptism, baptized, baptizest, etc.  It is also helpful when looking at names and their meanings as they often tell something about the person.  There are free online programs that you can use, pay programs, and the old hard copy.  Use what best fits your budget.
  • Treasury of Scripture Knowledge - Good for simple cross references.

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Verse of the Day: Job 2:10

But he said unto her, Thou speakest as one of the foolish women speaketh. What? shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil? In all this did not Job sin with his lips.

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Monday, January 3, 2011

Verse of the Day: Genesis 11:1

And the whole earth was of one language, and of one speech.

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Sunday, January 2, 2011

Verse of the Day: Genesis 5:24

And Enoch walked with God: and he was not; for God took him.

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Saturday, January 1, 2011

Verse of the Day: Genesis 1:1

In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.

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