The Holy Bible

I liked the insight I got from a preacher on the radio whose program I only caught part of. I liked the insight he gave into the Bible and so I would like to share it. I’m sorry I missed who it was, but the Word is still there for us to check. In Revelation, Yeshua (Jesus) is mentioned four times as having a sword proceed from His mouth.

In a literal sense, this seems odd, but for the clarification elsewhere in scripture regarding what the sword represents.

I wrote a page for this website focused on the idea that our thoughts are the voice of the spirit realm. Understanding how things of the spirit are things like the fruit of the spirit (love, joy, peace, patience, goodness, gentleness, faith, meekness and temperance), which have no mass or dimensions, we see that the Word of God is a physical book containing thoughts, God’s voice to us. All of the Bible testifies of Yeshua and He is the Word of God, His expression of who He is written by the prophets through the Holy Spirit. The Book defines Him and He is the Book and more.

The point this radio preacher was making was the answer to his question of what the two edges of the sword (Word of God) are. I’ll put it in my own words because I don’t remember all of his. Yeshua being the Word made flesh that walked among us, and full of Grace and Truth, these are the two edges of the sword against which the enemy cannot stand. The Truth is that which never changes and is set in stone. It can be relied upon as a sure foundation upon which to build understanding.

The thoughts and ideas put forth in the text relating God’s dealing with humanity through the nation of Israel and to redeem mankind, express God’s spirit of Love - for God is Love. He said in John 15, “greater love has no man than this, that he would give his life for a friend.” Truly this is the most self-less act one can perform and Yeshua died for all of us, we only need to love Him by obedience to His ways of Love toward others, self-less love. Taking the Bible for what it says, we either agree and align ourselves with the ways expressed by the Word fulfilled in Christ, or we disagree and walk another path.

In the end however, only those who align themselves with God’s ways of love by accepting Yeshua as the Messiah and obeying God’s Word will actually get to be with God in heaven for eternity, the choice is and always has been ours. God has prepared a place for the angels that fell away from Him where they will be kept completely separate from God for all eternity. That is the destination for all those who don’t accept His way of salvation. The problem for those who don’t want to obey Him is that God is Love, and the fruits of the spirit are His ways. That includes love, joy, peace and kindness among other things. To be removed from that for all eternity with no hope ever is a place of great torment, chosen by the will of each individual responsible for their own eternity based on how they accept or reject God’s design for our redemption to Him again. This is the reality whether we know and believe it or not and to learn the Truth, we must search.

God promised that if we search for Him, we will find Him...we only need ask. That is where the other edge of the sword comes into play. Because by the grace of God we are saved and of no works of our own. Ephesians 2 Grace is unmerited favor and that is what we gain by aligning ourselves with God’s Son, Yeshua the Christ, to came in the flesh to be nailed to a tree for your transgressions and mine. The price was paid for eternally to all those who obey His ways, so I encourage all to seek Him if you haven’t and to stand against the lies of the enemy with Truth regarding the Grace you have been given. The lies of the enemy are growing stronger in these end-times. I pray you seek God’s Word for the Truth and find the peace that comes with God’s Grace.

There are plenty of deceivers out there. That’s one of the signs of the end times! More on the study of the timing of the end here. That’s why it’s so important for us to know the Word of God ourselves. We need to immerse ourselves in His Word and soak it all in. As we implement His ways in our lives and search Him out, He will lead us and reveal Himself to us through His Spirit. Don’t wait to start reading!

Trusting the Source

Some may not know of the differences of the KJV and other versions based on the older Latin Vulgate. (NIV, RSV, and the rest of the alphabets) There’s a history there that not many realize.

I recommend everyone listen to Dr. Kent Hovind speak about his research into the origins of the Bible.

Why does this matter at all? Did you know there are over 200 verses removed in the NIV and other Latin Vulgate versions? Yet they leave the verse numbers there with references! If that wasn’t there originally, why keep the verse numbers?

In addition there are meanings that are completely reversed. Whenever I see verses meaning changed between two versions and one is 180° opposite of the other, changing the meaning, it gets my attention. As always, verses should be taken in context of the rest of the council of God. Here are some examples, also see Art K’s study on the ESV/NIV vs. KJV:

What I read on the part of the NIV version is some anti-Semitism (the Jews did call for Yeshua’s death, but He forgave them on the cross. They didn’t understand what they were doing. Luke 23:34), dislike of God becoming flesh, that living by every Word of God isn’t important, self-mutilation is a positive, addressing and confronting Satan isn’t important, and that doing the commandments is washing our robes. Not only that, but one of the 200 missing verses remove witness testimony of Christ’s deity!

Now let me be clear. It is entirely possible for Christians to read the NIV and come to Christ as it is still the Word of God in almost its entirety. The message is still the same, what isn’t left out, and teaches Christianity. God made it so His Word would still remain valid, even with minor changes to it.

Regardless of translation, English is vastly inferior to the original Hebrew and Greek. So even though I feel the KJV is the best English translation to go by, it should be supplemented with a Hebrew and Greek concordance or my perference the Blue Letter Bible. The following is a good example of how our generalizing words can miss some points as opposed to the more precise languages.

Jesus, Peter, and the Three “Love” Questions By Michael A. H. Back

There are several words in Greek for “love,” and English translations rarely distinguish between them. This is unfortunate, as the key to understanding the interplay in this discussion is in noticing that Jesus and Peter are not using the same word for love.

The Greek word “agape” means “love in action - love that serves.” The Greek word “philia” means “affection, tenderness, loving friendship, a feeling of love.” The first emphasizes actions. Feelings may or may not be present. Agape is only agape if it is EXPRESSED as an action. Simply put agape is when someone ministers to the physical, spiritual, or emotional needs of another. If it is not expressed as an action, it is not agape.

The second emphasizes the deep feeling of love. It is the emotion we feel that we call “love.” Whether or not we express that love is irrelevant. Philia is simply the feeling. So this is how the conversation is written in the scriptures (direct Greek translation):

“Then when they breakfasted, Jesus says to Simon Peter, “Simon, Son of Jonah, do you AGAPE me more than these?”
He says to Him, “Yes, Lord; You know that I PHILIA you.”
He says to him, “Feed my lambs.”
He says to him again, a second time, “Simon, Son of Jonah, do you AGAPE me?”
He says to Him, “Yes, Lord; You know that I PHILIA you.”
He says to him, “Shepherd my sheep.”
He says to him a third time, “Simon, Son of Jonah, do you PHILIA me?”
Peter was grieved that He said to him the third time, “Do you PHILIA me?”
And he says to Him, “Lord, you perceive all things; You know that I PHILIA you.”
He says to him, “Feed my little sheep.”
John 21:15-17

In order to understand what is going on here, you have to realize that Peter KNOWS he is NOT using the same word that Jesus is. It is not an accident. He switches to philia ON PURPOSE! Why? Peter is “one-upping” Jesus. Peter knows that Jesus is asking about love expressed as an action, but he also understands that agape does not necessarily include any FEELINGS of love.

What does Peter, a passionate man of strong emotions, probably think of agape? To him, agape is a cold, emotionless, INFERIOR expression of love. After all, you could do “agape” to someone while hating that person in your heart. What kind of wimpy love is that? To Peter, THAT is not REAL love at all! HIS love is much SUPERIOR to agape, because he FEELS it deep down in his very soul. To Peter, what is real is what you feel. To God, reality is what you do. Peter is saying, “I love you so much, I don’t have the words to express it!” And Jesus is trying to say, “You don’t express real love with words, you express it with actions!”

Even after denying Jesus three times just a few days before, Peter has not learned that REAL love, the kind that matters to God, is not what you feel, nor is it what you say or claim to believe, it’s what you DO! That is why Jesus switches to Philia the third time; he is trying to drive home the message that, “the ultimate measure of the reality of your love, even your feelings, is in what you DO!”

Jesus is saying that loving God is about doing to others, not about feeling something for God. The ultimate expression of our love for God is when we minister to others. This is, in fact, a common message from Jesus.

This means that the average guy who works 9 to 5, has a wife and three kids, and is involved in his church ministering to others, IN ANY WAY, loves God MORE than the monk who takes a vow of silence, and spends the last 40 years of his life locked away in a monastary praying and reading the Bible! While it is absolutely true that prayer and Bible study are vital ingredients in a mature Christian’s life, it is ministering to others that the Bible identifies with loving God. It is AGAPE (ministering to others) that the Bible says is the most important of all!

The Dead Sea Scrolls: Affirming Pre-Christ Scripture

One of the greatest archaeological discoveries of modern time has also become a great faith-builder for Christians that they can trust the Bible has not changed. Aside from translation differences discussed above, the Dead Sea Scrolls have provided an almost complete copy of the Old Testament.

The Dead Sea Scrolls are a collection of about 900 documents, including texts from the Hebrew Bible, discovered between 1947 and 1956 in eleven caves in and around the ruins of the ancient settlement of Khirbet Qumran on the northwest shore of the Dead Sea in the present day West Bank. They date to between 150 BC and 70 AD. - wikipedia

It has also resolved some issues such as the idea of two authors of Isaiah, as Chuck Missler wrote:

Fulfilled Prophecy

The book of Daniel was part of the Dead Sea Scroll find and in it Daniel foretells the coming of the Messiah within a timeframe that was fulfilled centuries after Daniel exactly. The 70 Weeks of Daniel is an amazing prophecy that we know for sure was not written after the fact because of the Dead Sea Scrolls, which were dated to over 100 years before Yeshua was born.

From the decree of Artaxerxes and Ezra's arrival in Jerusalem to teach the law once again after the Babylonian captivity in 457 BC to 27 AD, when Yeshua began His ministry, is 483 years. Furthermore, it was 2½ years later when Yeshua was crucified and killed for our transgressions. 40 years later in 70 AD the Roman armies seiged Jerusalem and destroyed it and the temple. The Jewish-Roman war continued until 74 AD when the final stronghold at Masada was taken after most of the Jews there committed suicide. All this was written just after the Babylonians were defeated and Cyrus captured Babylon in 539 BC.

What about errors or contradictions in the Bible?

Dr. Hovind has also put together some articles about supposed “contradictions” in the Bible as well. I highly recommend these faith-builders in God’s literal Word too! You can also see him debate evolutionists and discuss things like perceived errors free on YouTube here. (He nails them in the debates!) Here are some examples...

Order of Creation?

The claim is posed that there are two different versions of creation in Genesis 1 and Genesis 2. In chapter 1, man and woman are created at the same time after the creation of the animals.

Genesis 1:24-27
And God said, Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind, cattle, and creeping thing, and beast of the earth after his kind: and it was so. And God made the beast of the earth after his kind, and cattle after their kind, and every thing that creepeth upon the earth after his kind: and God saw that it was good. And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.

However in chapter 2, the animals are created after people.

Genesis 2:19
And out of the ground the LORD God formed^H3335 every beast of the field, and every fowl of the air; and brought them unto Adam to see what he would call them: and whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that was the name thereof.

The tense of the Hebrew yatsar, or formed, is past (It is used to describe a single (as opposed to a repeated) action in the past). Indeed translations other than the KJV bring this point to light better.

Genesis 2:19 (NIV)
Now the Lord God had formed out of the ground all the beasts of the field and all the birds of the air. He brought them to the man to see what he would name them.

So in chapter 2 there is no difference in sequence, it’s just the way the narrative reminds the reader the animals had been created when telling of Adam’s naming of them. more

Fish or Sea Creature?

People have pointed out that there must be an error in the Book of Jonah, because the whale that swallowed Jonah is referred to as a “fish.” These Bible error detectives continue, noting that the whale is a mammal and certainly not a “fish.” Thus, they contend, the Word contains a mistake. This, however, is an example in which the skeptics have applied the meaning of a specific English word to a translation, rather than checking the word’s meaning in its original language. The Hebrew word for “fish” is dag, and in fact, it refers to any creature that lives in the sea. Therefore, though the whale does not technically fit the meaning of the English word, “fish,” it certainly fits the Hebrew meaning of the term. And, of course, it is the Hebrew criteria that must be used, as the Book of Jonah was written in Hebrew. Source