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  • The BIBLE is HOLY

    The BIBLE is HOLY

    HOLY Scripture

    “ALL scripture is inspired by God.. !

    All scripture is given by inspiration of God..

    All Scripture is breathed out by God..

    All Scripture is God-breathed..

    2 Timothy 3:16a

    How does God communicate with man?

    The Doctrine of Scripture or the Doctrine of the Bible stakes claim to all that is HOLY in the writings of God.

    • Does Scripture have an ‘other’ holiness?
    • Is the Word of God in writing true?

    What is Holy?

    We began this series on Doctrine appropriately with God’s Holiness.

    Doctrine – GOD IS HOLY
    “God is not a man, that He would lie,
    Nor a son of man, that He would change His mind..

    Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God! Other! Separate of man and above all His creation.

    God is God and we are not.

    Is the Bible Holy?

    Christians call it, “THE HOLY BIBLE,” but what does that mean?

    Now I ask you, my fellow believer and follower of Christ Jesus,

    What authority should the Bible have in the lives of disciples of the true doctrines of God?

    We have already defined holiness as separate, apart, and therefore sacred and as God speaks, an awful thing! Now I must define our commonly used terms addressing the holiness of God’s written word, the Bible or Scripture.

    What is Scripture?

    “It is written..” – כָּתַב

    The word means “writing.”

    In the Old Testament it occurs in the King James Version only once, “the scripture of truth,” in Da 10:21, where it is more correctly rendered in the Revised Version (British and American), “the writing of truth.” The reference is not to Holy Scripture, but to the book in which are inscribed God’s purposes.

    In the New Testament, “scripture” and “scriptures” stand regularly for the Old Testament sacred books regarded as “inspired” (2Ti 3:16), “the oracles of God” (Ro 3:2).

    International Standard Bible Encyclopaedia

    And in each and every book of the Bible we must hold sacred that:

    • IF ‘it is written’ as God’s spoken word,
    • THEN we must regard it as truth – God’s truth revealed in the written word.
    כְּתָב

    אֲבָל֙ אַגִּ֣יד לְךָ֔ אֶת־הָרָשׁ֥וּם בִּכְתָ֖ב אֱמֶ֑ת וְאֵ֨ין אֶחָ֜ד מִתְחַזֵּ֤ק עִמִּי֙ עַל־אֵ֔לֶּה כִּ֥י אִם־מִיכָאֵ֖ל שַׂרְכֶֽם׃ פ

    Daniel 10:21 WLC
    You’ve often read scripture such as:
    • .. as it is written in the Book of the Law of Moses..
    • .. it is written in the Book of Jashar..
    • “Celebrate the Passover to the LORD your God as it is written in this Book of the Covenant.”
    • “It is written in the Prophets..
    • “For it is written in the book of Psalms..

    OR of specific scriptures.

    .. as it is written:
    “THERE IS NO RIGHTEOUS PERSON, NOT EVEN ONE..

    Romans 3:10 NASB20 referring to verses in the Psalms
    • Scripture is the written truth of God revealed to man.
    Moses holding up ten Commandments

    The Jews chosen by the LORD God lived by Scripture (or at least they were called to live by the word of God through the Law and the Prophets).

    “It is written..” – γράφω

    The first mention of Scripture in the Gospels of the New Testament is by the Person of Christ Jesus!

    After the Lord had been in the wilderness for forty days, the Messiah Jesus answers Satan’s temptation by applying Scripture written from the wilderness testing of Moses and Israel.

    Matthew 4:

    Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. And after He had fasted for forty days and forty nights, He then became hungry. And the tempter came and said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread.”

    4 But He answered and said, “It is written:

    γράφω – graphō

    ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes out of the mouth of God.’”

    Gospel of Matthew 4:4 NASB

    (Do you think Christians might want to take heed to how Jesus replies to the temptation of Satan in the wilderness?) ‘MAN SHALL LIVE ON EVERY WORD THAT COMES OUT OF THE MOUTH OF GOD..’

    JESUS REITERATES THE AUTHORITY OF SCRIPTURE!
    So He humbled you, allowed you to hunger, and fed you with manna which you did not know nor did your fathers know, that He might make you know that man shall not live by bread alone; but man lives by every word that proceeds from the mouth of the Lord.
- Deuteronomy 8:3
    photo of Jude 1 pen and talkofJesus.com business card

    The New Testament on Scripture

    γραφή – graphē
    1. a writing, thing written
    2. the Scripture, used to denote either the book itself, or its contents
    3. a certain portion or section of the Holy Scripture

    The KJV translates Strong’s G1124 in the following manner: scripture (51x). from G1125; a document, γράφω – graphō [as we have defined above ‘it is written’ ] which occurs 192 times in 181 verses in the mgnt Greek.

    A few examples of holy scripture
    • Then He opened their minds to understand the Scriptures. – Luke 24:45
    • You examine the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is those very Scriptures that testify about Me; and yet you are unwilling to come to Me so that you may have life.– John 5:39-40
    • For whatever was written in earlier times was written for our instruction, so that through perseverance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope. –Romans 15:4

    All Scripture is inspired by God and beneficial for teaching, for rebuke, for correction, for training in righteousness so that the man or woman of God may be fully capable, equipped for every good work.

    2 Timothy 3:16-17 NASB20

    INSPIRED BY GOD! ALL Scripture (not just a verse or two to our liking). Scripture is HOLY, writings other than the ordinary books not spoken by God — books not written by the LORD speaking to a man.

    The BIBLE is HOLY!

    What is the Bible?

    Do you really believe that? doctrine - a line in the sand [picture of Jesus kneeling down to draw a line with his finger
    DOCTRINE – What do you believe?

    Again, the necessity of defining what ANYONE means where referring to “THE BIBLE.”

    NOT ALL BIBLE’s are alike.

    First, What is NOT the Bible

    (AND therefore, NOT the HOLY Word of GOD.)

    • The Quran is not the Bible.
    • The Book of Mormon is not the Bible. [See: Cult Resources]
    • The Complete Tanakh (*with its 24 Hebrew books) is an incomplete Bible.
      • *The 24 Hebrew books are the same as the 39 Books of the Old Testament; the difference is in the way they are divided.
    • Some *Additional Books in Roman Catholic and other Bibles include writings which are helpful, but NOT the inspired Word of God.
      • The word Apocrypha means “hidden.”
    • Gnostic Books (& gospels) which some *claim as part of the Bible oppose the Holy Scriptures and Word of God.
      • *The term apocryphal is also applied to other books that are New Testament forgeries. An example of this would be the Gospel of Thomas, which claims to have been written by Jesus’ disciple Thomas. The book, however is a forgery.
    • Some contemporary ‘translations’ of the Bible are *biased against true Scripture and do NOT actually translate Scripture from the original Hebrew and Greek.
      • *Examples of Anti-Trinitarian bias of the NWT (New World Translation) of the Jehovah Witnesses cult non-secure links to authoritative research by Bruce M. Metzger from Christianity Today available.

    The BIBLE

    I will not go into detail here concerning the Canon of Scripture and historical affirmations of the Authority of God’s word.

    {You may find it helpful to remember the competing authority of definition 1 from the Oxford English Dictionary

    • – i.e. Canon So-and-so, Bishop of Rome, London, etc.}

    Technically, the HISTORY of the Bible is NOT itself, DOCTRINE, however one cannot fully appreciate the Bible now in print for most anyone without a brief look at how the Canon of Scripture came about.

    Since many respected theologians have provided proofs of the authenticity of the Books of the Bible [66 total] included in the teachings of the church, I will highlight just a few dates for your further research if you desire.

    Although I use and refer to several sources, if I could suggest one indexed authoritative source for your person answer to questions about the Bible I recommend:

 https://www.blueletterbible.org/faq/index.cfm

    Creeds & the Canon of Scripture

    The Biblical Canon

    is the collection of scriptural books that God has given his corporate people, which are distinguished by their divine qualities, reception by the collective body, and their apostolic connection, either by authorship or association.

    Source: The Gospel Coalition

    Authoritative Authors

    A final attribute of canonical books is that they are written by God’s chosen agents, his inspired prophets and apostles. Put simply, not just anyone can speak for God; .. prophets and other inspired spokesmen .. it included the apostles, Christ’s authoritative witnesses …

    ‘We have good historical evidence…‘

    A few of the historical events of note which have constantly and consistently affirmed the Authority of God through the Holy Bible.

    lines of division of Christianity chart
    The Great Schism of 1054

    ‘So on July 16, 1054, the “one, holy, catholic, and apostolic church,” as the Nicene Creed puts it, split. And then there were two.’

    Stephen Nichols

    The Protest and Reformation

    Because of the confused political and religious situation of the time, Luther was called before the political authorities rather than before the pope or a council of the Roman Catholic Church.

    “I will answer without horns and without teeth. Unless I am convicted by Scripture and plain reason—I do not accept the authority of popes and councils, for they have contradicted each other—my conscience is captive to the Word of God, I cannot and I will not recant anything, for to go against conscience is neither right nor safe. God help me. Amen.” – Martin Luther at Worms
    • A.D. 1545 The Council of Trent began sitting in 1545, introducing rigidity in dogma and austerity in morals. The Protestant views of justification by faith alone, the Lord’s Supper, and the propriety of clerical marriage were sharply rejected. All deviation within the Catholic fold was rigidly suppressed.
    • London, A.D. 1611 – King James Bible printed in English, after Protestantism had been restored to England.

    MORE.. Church Divided / Empire Fallen 2

    Do you really believe that? doctrine - a line in the sand [picture of Jesus kneeling down to draw a line with his finger
    DOCTRINE – What do you believe?
    To be continued...
    NEXT: More on Doctrine of the Bible

  • Time Beyond Years – Omega

    Revelation 1:8 KJV

    I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty.

    ἄλφα - Alpha first letter of Greek alphabet - Christ is the Alpha to indicate that he is the beginning and the end
    Alpha

    Briefly, we considered creation (day 1 before measurable time). 

    Look at the timeline of man’s history as if the mark on the left is creation. Suppose man (adam) is a second mark and Noah a third. Then Abraham and Moses followed by David, with generations and centuries unmarked.

    In the middle of the line a notable mark of the division of time follows which we note as B.C. (or BCE) and A.D. (from the Latin: Anno Domini – ‘In the year of our Lord’).

    Before this dividing mark of time between BC and AD, David has reigned and the Prophets have spoken.

    THEN..

    Jesus Christ is born, teaches, crucified and resurrected (a challenge to mortal time). 

    His life as God With Us (Immanuel) delineates a beginning to these last days.

    Our timeline of these last days endures through persecution of the faithful while the Lord wins repentant sinners.

    But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. – 2 Peter 3:9

    Following the fall of Rome and rise of false prophets the church witnesses the way of Christ Jesus.

    History records the printing of the Bible, reformation of the faith and enlightenment of mindful godlessness.

    The nations learn of Christ, empires rise and fall toward an inevitable end, the omega of time. Christ IS near in the omega of these last days, the end of time measured by the created of the Lord God Almighty.

     Ω Ō, o’-meg-ah; the last letter of the Greek alphabet, i.e. (figuratively) the finality:—Omega.

    Observe any line, even a timeline of history.  

    It has a beginning (Α, ἄλφα) and it has an end (Ω, Omega). 

    Yet look beyond the visible beginning and visible end of the line and in your mind’s eye observe the infinite extension of that which is visible. 

    Look above (heavenward) and below: consider the expanse of so much which the line does not touch.

    apokalypsis the Gospel of Jesus Christ unsealed
    — Omega revealing the end

    Our created living souls can barely grasp it!

    The refracted light of our postmodern enlightenment clouds the clarity of the One true Light.

    Time and creation have cause. The Lord will surely accomplish His purpose and the saving of His own at the end.

    Before the Α, After the Ω

    And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.

    Genesis 1:31

    One commandment from God to man, a simple life in paradise:

    “.. of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.” – Genesis 2:17b

    Yet man chooses trespass to just one simple command from God. A just and righteous LORD must punish sin.

    The Lord God said.. to Adam he said: “.. for you are dust,
    and to dust you shall return.” – Genesis 3 excerpt

    Living toward life’s end

    LATER in Scripture - from a conversation of a righteous man.
    Although Job appears later in the Bible his place in the timeline of history is closer to Abraham than to David.
    Job 7:

    “Has not man a hard service on earth…? 

    … so I am allotted months of emptiness,
    and nights of misery are apportioned to me.

    When I lie down I say, ‘When shall I arise?’

    But the night is long,
    and I am full of tossing till the dawn.

    5 My flesh is clothed with worms and dirt;
    my skin hardens, then breaks out afresh.
    6 My days are swifter.. and come to their end without hope.

    7 “Remember that my life is a breath;
    my eye will never again see good.
    8 The eye of him who sees me will behold me no more;
    while your eyes are on me, I shall be gone.

    17 What is man, that you make so much of him,
        and that you set your heart on him,
    18 visit him every morning
        and test him every moment?

    Why do you not pardon my transgression
    and take away my iniquity?
    For now I shall lie in the earth;
    you will seek me, but I shall not be.” – Job 7:21 

    The time and place of punishment

    Luke 16:

    … and in Hades, being in torment… And he called out, ‘… have mercy on me.., for I am in anguish in this flame.’

    ᾅδης – hadēs

    • What do you expect of inevitable death and deserved hell? 
    • (Or do you yet claim blemished goodness with eyes that will not see death?)

    Hell [Hades] holds captive many living souls by the certainty of our own sins.

    Roman, Hellenist and Hebrew understanding of Jesus’ mention of Hades fits the definition:

    1. name Hades or Pluto, the god of the lower regions
    2. Orcus, the nether world, the realm of the dead
    3. later use of this word: the grave, death, hell

    Yet note a subtlety of the root word of Hades: 

    From the negative participle of Alpha and εἴδω – eidō, a word meaning ‘to see’ or ‘to know.’

    And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. – Revelation 20:1

    Do you yet see our vulnerability to the punishment for sin after our end without Christ?

    “Son of man, you dwell in the midst of a rebellious house, who have eyes to see, but see not, who have ears to hear, but hear not, for they are a rebellious house. – Ezekiel 12:2

    After the Omega, saved in Christ

    The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.. – 1 Timothy 1:15

    The gospel εὐαγγέλιον of John:

    In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God…

    But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God…

    “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!

    .. and he looked at Jesus as he walked by and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God!”

    “We have found the Messiah” (which means Christ)...

    Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.”

    If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you heavenly things?

    For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.

    Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.

    And this is the judgment:

    the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil.

    Omega – for those with eyes to see

    apokalypsis the Gospel of Jesus Christ unsealed
    Omega revealing the end
    Revelation 22:

    Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb…

    “And behold, I am coming soon. 

    12 “Behold, I am coming soon, bringing my recompense with me, to repay each one for what he has done. 13 I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.”

    “Come.”

    And let the one who hears say, “Come.”

    And let the one who is thirsty come;

    let the one who desires take the water of life without price.

    20 He who testifies to these things says, “Surely I am coming soon.”

    Amen. Come, Lord Jesus!

    21 The grace of the Lord Jesus be with all.

    Amen.

  • Times of Difficulty – 5

    Times of Difficulty – 5

    Godlessness in the Last Days

    2 Timothy 3:

    But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty.

    2 For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, 3 heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, 4 treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, 5 having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power. Avoid such people.

    File- This Sept. 6, 2012, file photo shows Jeff Bezos, CEO and founder of Amazon, (AP Photo/Reed Saxon, File)
    Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos richest man in the world with a net worth of $90.6 billion

    Many lovers of money worldwide, with the richest residing in the US, France, Spain, Mexico, China and Hong Kong.

    Proud and arrogant men and women rule companies and financial interests more powerful than countries.

    We sense the extreme poverty of so many without knowing the truth of many billionaires like Carlos Slim Helú who dominates more than a country just devastated by yet another earthquake.

    Borderless prisons of poverty abuse the starving and obliterate opposition.

    Difficulty in these last days

    How many rulers of this temporary darkness are without self-control, brutal, not loving good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit and more?

    Evil rulers of countries and military forces threaten apocalypse, condone persecution and order elimination of those who oppose them. Is the Lord God their God?

    Hardly a mention of evil in these trying times. Yet one word describes all – godlessness. 

    Meanwhile international headline news conglomerates skew our focus toward consumption, power and fleeting fame. 

    Signs of the End of the Age

    Enlightened ones speculate with futily about global warming and disasters of ‘mother nature.’ 

    Earth did not create us, aliens did not plant us and apes did not conceive our ancestors. Yet idolatry abounds in these times of difficulty.

    When hurricane approaches or disaster strikes do any dare mention ‘acts of God?’

    Matthew 24:

    Jesus left the temple and was going away, when his disciples came to point out to him the buildings of the temple. 2 But he answered them, “You see all these, do you not? Truly, I say to you, there will not be left here one stone upon another that will not be thrown down.”

    3 As he sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately, saying, “Tell us, when will these things be, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?”

    4 And Jesus answered them, “See that no one leads you astray. 5 For many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and they will lead many astray.

    6 And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not alarmed, for this must take place, but the end is not yet.

    7 For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be famines and earthquakes in various places. 8 All these are but the beginning of the birth pains.

    9 “Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and put you to death, and you will be hated by all nations for my name’s sake. 10 And then many will fall away and betray one another and hate one another.

    11 And many false prophets will arise and lead many astray.

    12 And because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold. 13 But the one who endures to the end will be saved.

    14 And this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.

    No One Knows That Day and Hour

    In two millennia since the beginning of these last days, in recent centuries of these last hours, in passing minutes of threatening signs:

    Has your love grown cold? Will you endure to the end?

    Is your gospel of the kingdom of Christ Jesus a testimony of truth, an anchor of belief and hope of love?

    37 For as were the days of Noah, so will be the coming of the Son of Man…

    Hurricane Irma makes landfall in Florida, wreaking destruction

    44 Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.

    2 Peter 3:

    … scoffers will come in the last days with scoffing, following their own sinful desires. 4 They will say,

    “Where is the promise of his coming? …”

    5 For they deliberately overlook this fact, that the heavens existed long ago, and the earth was formed out of water and through water by the word of God, 6 and that by means of these the world that then existed was deluged with water and perished.

    7 But by the same word the heavens and earth that now exist are stored up for fire, being kept until the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly.

    Remember 9/11
    2,996 deaths

    10 But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed.

    For as were the days of Noah, so will be the coming of the Son of Man…