Please Do Not Miss the True Authorship of The Bible.

“All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:” 2 Timothy 3:16

We live in a time when people believe they have the authority to believe, and act as they please, and however this is not true. They also believe that “if they do not like something, they can just change it to their liking”. And this is also not true, but people can be as heathenistic as they choose, they can change laws and rules to fit their lifestyle and their hearts desires. However, the one single document that cannot be changed is the bible, IT IS GODS HOLY SCRIPT and it cannot be altered. While it is true that many versions of the bible exist today, all are not God’s Holy Script. People must be careful when comparing their version of the bible to the to God’s words. Chances are if your version was produced after 1700ad it is not an authentic version of God’s word and has been altered. My personal reference is the King James Version because I believe it is the most accurate version. It was translated into the English language for King James I of England and this translation took 7 years from 1604 – 1611 by 47 translators who carefully used every effort to translate and many of the translators were skilled in both Hebrew and Greek.  The King James Version translation effort was based primarily on the Bishops Bible, but the translators also used the Tyndale, Coverdale, and Geneva Bibles, and if you study very carefully you can trace their accuracy back to the original text as far as history can tell, using the “Textus Receptus” making it the most accurate English version of God’s Holy Script. When we are dealing with the bible, we must be careful and not to allow other translations to alter the original text. God said “All scripture is given by inspiration of God…” meaning it is unchangeable in any form. God gave these people who originally wrote these words the exact words to write and they wrote exactly as the Holy Spirit inspired them. Paul wrote to the church at Corinth these words, “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…Which things also we speak, not in the words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual.”  1 Corinthians 2:12 - 13 Christians must separate the words of men’s wisdom from the wisdom of the Holy Spirit if they are going to study the things of God. The original text was completed before 100ad and it is the original word of God. There is no evidence that God ever altered His original text after John completed the book of Revelations around 90ad. The bible does not nor can be changed or altered in any fashion, and if it is it is no longer God’s Holy Script but mans unholy script. Therefore, I rely on the King James Version as the closest to the original text in the English language, no matter what. When Gods word is altered it is not God altering it, because God cannot or ever will change, in thought or fact. “For I am the LORD, I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed.”  Malachi 3:6 If the bible has changed then it is man who changed it and not God, and changing God’s word is always “error”, “Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever.” Amen.  Romans 1:25 Whatever God said before 100ad it is still Gods laws and facts, whatever any person thinks or says. Just because the bible does not please you, does not mean it is wrong, just because the bible condemns you does not mean it is wrong, nor are you allowed to alter it for your happiness. Changing truth is making it a lie because truth does not change, ever! The bible was written as a book of instruction in life and it should be followed not changed. God said it “… is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:” not to please the world but a guide for the saved sinner. People who change Gods word will pay account for their sins. I would never trust any person to alter God’s word in any form, LEAVE IT AS IS God does not make mistakes and He is never wrong.  

Oh, How Blessed I am!

“Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin.” Romans 4:8

A sinner that has been born again will never realize the blessing until they realize how they were born again. Please give a little thought to the words “born again” as we find it in John 3:3 “Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” People make a lot of these words but if properly defined they have a very deep and gracious meaning. Why did Jesus use these two words, why didn’t He just say “saved”, or maybe “redeemed”, because of the exact Greek wording here. The word “born” means – to be generated – which means – to cause to arise or come about – and the word “again” means - from above – so the two word together in the Greek means – to be generated from above or born of God. If you do a word study on the Greek word “gennaō” or “born” as we see it in John 3:3 you will find it is used innumerable time when talking about someone begetting someone else like “Abraham begat Isaac…” Matthew 1:2 meaning Isaac was born because of his father. It is like The Father begetting Jesus by putting His seed in Mary. God the Father begat all that are saved. You (if saved) were born from above or from God the Father, therefore He is “our Father”, while we were not born of His seed as Jesus was, He caused us to be born anew by His power. This is why John wrote these words, “Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.” John 1:13 because flesh had no part in our second birth, it is of God in its entirety. Secondly, God elected to send His believed Son in the likeness of sinful flesh in order to provide God the ability to forgive our sins. God forgives our sins, because Jesus Christ (as our scapegoat) died for them. They were not just forgiven, or not just pardoned, this was possible because Jesus Christ died on the cross and shed His blood. Jesus being the foreordained slain Lamb of God was born for the sole purpose to redeem us. His death was our death penalty, and His blood was our sin cleaning solution. To God, sin must be paid for and Jesus Christ was sent from God to do that, “Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted…But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.” Isaiah 53:4 – 5 Of God, because it was God that elected Him to suffer for our “death penalty” due to our sin, and to shed His blood to cover our sins. This is all summed-up by Paul in Ephesians 2:8-9 “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast.”

I elected to take this route to better explain why the Lord God will not impute our sins toward us. That is “take an inventory” of our sins as our debt, God never said our sins did not have to be accounted for, He said we would not have to account for them. This is why God elected this route, it is because we can never atone for our own sins, it is impossible. This is why all unredeemed souls will be punished in the fires of eternal hell, Jesus did not redeem them from their sins. This is the blessing that Paul wrote about in our text, Peter wrote it this way, “Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed.” 1 Peter 2:24 Sin is often spoken of as a disease, and redemption from it as a blessing to us who are redeemed. The blessing is Jesus suffered your hell penalty on the cross in His death, and washed your sins in His blood, all a blessing from The Sovereign God Who loved you before the world ever began. Yes indeed, we are blessed if our Heavenly Father does not impute our sins to us. Let’s conclude with this from Paul’s writing’s, “That as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord.” Romans 5:21 Are you blessed?

As a Christian, put on love.

“Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering; Forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any: even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye. And above all these things put on charity, which is the bond of perfectness.” Colossians 3:12-14

Being a Christian is a beautiful thing, because salvation is the gift of God. We did not have to work or struggle to be saved, we did not have to figure salvation out, God saved us, Jesus sought us out, found us and brought us back to the fold. “For the Son of man is come to save that which was lost. How think ye? if a man have an hundred sheep, and one of them be gone astray, doth he not leave the ninety and nine, and goeth into the mountains, and seeketh that which is gone astray? And if so be that he find it, verily I say unto you, he rejoiceth more of that sheep, than of the ninety and nine which went not astray.” Matthew 18:11-13 Therefore, becoming a Christian is the gift of God and without effort on our part. “For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.” Romans 8:14 However, being a Christian is the hard part, it requires work on our part and a very hard work. The reason being a Christian is hard is because we must work against our old nature (now that we have two natures) and serve our “new nature” which is godly. Here we see one of those times our work is required, “putting on love” as God called it. Just as God told us in Ephesians 6:10 – 11 “Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might…Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.” Ephesians 6:11 The only way to defeat Satan and his evil demons is by having on all the armor that God has provided for us. Love is the same because just as salvation is a gift of God so is love, “But the fruit of the Spirit is love…” Galatians 5:23. As with all the fruits Paul wrote about we ought to use them in our Christian life in striving to live godly lives. This love is not natural love it is the love of God that the Holy Spirit gave to us at salvation. “And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.” Romans 5:5 However, “putting it on” is a labor on our part, just as making sure we have the “whole armor of God on” is. Do you remember when God said you can tell a tree by its fruit? “For every tree is known by his own fruit…” Luke 6:44 Putting on the love of God is wearing it daily, not just a couple of days a week but every day of the week. While it is a fight with our old nature, it is a fight worth fighting. We all should want to be recognized as fruitful trees of God in Christ Jesus, walking examples of “Christ likeness”. Now please do not miss this last point in verse 14 in our text, “charity, which is the bond of perfectness.” Love is the bond of perfectness or completeness. We cannot be complete Christians, fruitful trees, nor even Christians without the love of God in our hearts. However, the bond (that is - joint tie or uniting principle) that makes us complete Christians is “love” because love is the glue that holds us together with the Lord and with each other as Christians. God said, “Keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life.” Jude 1:21 You keep yourself in God’s love as though it is a work on your part. Paul recognized love as such an important tool in his spiritual life that he said “and have not charity, I am nothing.” 1 Corinthians 13:2 and Paul assured us in verse 8 “Charity never faileth…” and now listen very closely to Paul’s ending this thought in verse 13 “And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity.” Love is greater than your faith and hope, one writer said, “love is the outward manifestation of what we feel within.” love is the bond that holds together all your godliness because it shows what is inside of your heart. Beloved, as Christians we need to put on love every morning just as we put on our cloths. We ought to be loving toward every human being whether saved or lost that we encounter during our day, but more so with our fellow Christians. We ought to look for common ground and use that common ground as loving Christians and never look for ways to be angry with each other. Let God’s gift of love be the bond of the faith and hope that is in your heart, and you will be a very fruitful tree.