Was the Sabbath switched from Saturday to Sunday? Part 2

Posted on July 24, 2011 by Jerry

The email I just received from Worldnet Daily opens with the statment:

Have you ever wondered why one of the Ten Commandments seems null and void – notably the one calling on believers to observe the Sabbath?

In Part One of my answers I furnished sufficient proof from Scripture in Romans 7:1-7 that the Ten Commandments are indeed “null and void” for believers under Grace, for Scripture teaches pointedly that true believers are “dead to the law.”

Therefore, it is not correct to assert that the Fourth Commandment is the commandment “calling on believers to observe the Sabbath.”

There is not one example in the New Testament of a passage that calls on Christian believers now under Grace to observe the Sabbath, absolutely not one.

There is Scripture which directs believers under Grace not to observe the Sabbath (Colossians 2:13-17).

Paul grants permission under Grace to those weaker in their faith to worship on the Sabbath, but those who do so are strictly commanded not to either urge others to do so, nor to criticize those who choose some other day for worship (Romans 14:1-6).

Therefore, to suggest that there is one Commandment that calls on believers to observe the Sabbath is false doctrine, not in accordance with what the Bible teaches.

Ask your pastor or priest and you will probably hear it’s because Jesus rose from the dead on Sunday – which is not even a certainty if you read the Bible carefully.

Who ever from Worldnet Daily wrote that paragraph has demonstrated considerable lack of understanding of the Bible.

First of all, the Sabbath has never been changed by anyone. The Sabbath has always been on the Seventh Day.

Second, despite all the uninformed claims to the contrary, Christians never met on the Sabbath Day for specifically Christian worship. Clearly, the first Christians in the book of Acts were Jews. They for a time continued to worship in the synagogue or the temple as Jews. Clearly they did not meet in the synagogue or temple to observe the Lord’s Supper, spoken of in the book of Acts as “breaking bread.”

All specifically Christian worship in the New Testament record took place on the First Day of the week, our Sunday, very clearly and obviously because our Lord Jesus Christ arose from the dead on the First Day of the week,

Joh 20:1 The first day of the week cometh Mary Magdalene early, when it was yet dark, unto the sepulchre, and seeth the stone taken away from the sepulchre.

In fact, all of the most important events recorded in the New Testament, including the resurrection of Christ, the instruction out of the Scriptures to the two disciples on the road to Emmaus, the repeated instruction out of the Scriptures to the entire group of the apostles, the first-hand eye-witness testimony of Thomas who exclaimed in awe, “my Lord and my God,” the reception of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost, Peter’s first recorded sermon, therefore the start of the New Testament Church, the regular weekly meeting for “breaking of bread” and Christian worship, the day upon which gifts were submitted for the collection to support poor Christians in need as requested by Paul–all took place on the first day of the week. No other day, not even the Sabbath, is given such post-resurrection prominence in the New Testament record.

The record is plain from the New Testament itself that there is no question about the fact that Christ arose on the First Day of the week, what we call Sunday; it is those who claim otherwise, that this “is not even a certainty if you read the Bible carefully,” who are not reading their Bible carefully.

Here is the third paragraph from the Worldnet Daily email:

And then there’s the little problem of this switch of worship days not being mentioned in the Bible – and the historical fact that most Christians continued observing the Sabbath for hundreds of years after Jesus rose from the dead.

This statement fails to be true because it commits the logical fallacy of equivocation when it makes reference to “this switch of worship days.” Equivocation takes place when the same word is used in two different ways but stated as though the meaning is the same for both. The words so used in this instance are “worship days” as equivalent to Sabbath days, a Jewish Sabbath and a Christian Sabbath, which if true, would indeed imply a change. But no change has been made or authorized. The Sabbath was and is and so remains under Law a requirement for the Jews on the Seventh Day, not the First Day. Christians do not have a required Sabbath to observe, since for them the Law has been abolished, having been “nailed to the cross” (Colossians 2:14).

The Jews continued to worship on the Seventh-day Sabbath.

Jewish Christians met for specifically Christian worship on the First Day of the week in honor and memory of the day of the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Sunday is not the Christian Sabbath, for there is no such thing authorized or commanded in the New Testament. The Sabbath, therefore, has never been switched. By properly taught Bible believing Christians aware of their position in Christ under Grace not Law, Christians meet for fellowship and worship, including the “breaking of bread,” or the Lord’s Supper, on the First Day of the week, the practice since the days of the apostles, according to the New Testament record. This was not done by a new command to change the Sabbath, but by apostolic example, which we are in the New Testament encouraged to follow. Christians are not commanded to keep a Sabbath anywhere in the New Testament under Grace. The Sabbath was a Jewish institution under the Law; the New Testament declares believers are not under Law.

The statement that it is “historical fact that most Christians continued observing the Sabbath for hundreds of years after Jesus rose from the dead” is outright falsehood. It may be true that some or a few Christians continued observing the Sabbath, but if so, they were clearly mistaken in their practice, and therefore not well taught in the doctrines of Grace presented in the New Testament since the Cross.

After mentioning a number of published resources supporting Seventh-day Sabbath worship, resources available from the Worldnet Daily bookstore, the email concludes with the observation:

That’s quite a library on a largely misunderstood spiritual issue. It’s a great subject for an in-depth Bible study you probably won’t get in your adult Sunday school class or midweek service in a Sunday-worshipping church.

Unknown to the writer of the email message, it is the very resources promoted that have misunderstood this spiritual issue.

It is a great subject, indeed, for an in-depth Bible study. And it may well be true that you won’t get this kind of in-depth Bible study at your “adult Sunday school class or midweek service in a Sunday-worshipping church.”

That is unfortunate. But the remedy is right here on this www.realbiblestudy.com website, for I have, in my comments in answer to questions and comments of others who post here, posted about as much genuine Real Bible Study on this subject as you are likely to find anywhere in answer to the sincere but mistaken claims of those who believe in observing the Seventh-day Sabbath.

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Was the Sabbath switched from Saturday to Sunday? Part 1

Posted on July 24, 2011 by Jerry

That is the title of an email I just received from WND, or Worldnet Daily.

Too many people, churches, and even conservative news organizations are falling into this blatant error and outright apostasy of laying stress upon the Fourth Commandment and Sabbath keeping.

It is apparently time for me to most publically denounce this error once and for all.

I shall post statements from the email, and my answer or comment about them, backed by Scripture.

Have you ever wondered why one of the Ten Commandments seems null and void – notably the one calling on believers to observe the Sabbath?

This is a very clever question. If everyone would read the New Testament with their eyes open, they would learn that the Ten Commandments have been “nailed to the cross” (see Colossians 2:14).

Col 2:14 Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross;

For the true believer, the New Testament declares that the Law is dead. This is made clear in Romans 7:1-7,

Rom 7:1 Know ye not, brethren, (for I speak to them that know the law,) how that the law hath dominion over a man as long as he liveth?
Rom 7:2 For the woman which hath an husband is bound by the law to her husband so long as he liveth; but if the husband be dead, she is loosed from the law of her husband.
Rom 7:3 So then if, while her husband liveth, she be married to another man, she shall be called an adulteress: but if her husband be dead, she is free from that law; so that she is no adulteress, though she be married to another man.
Rom 7:4 Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ; that ye should be married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God.
Rom 7:5 For when we were in the flesh, the motions of sins, which were by the law, did work in our members to bring forth fruit unto death.
Rom 7:6 But now we are delivered from the law, that being dead wherein we were held; that we should serve in newness of spirit, and not in the oldness of the letter.
Rom 7:7 What shall we say then? Is the law sin? God forbid. Nay, I had not known sin, but by the law: for I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet.

For those who know how to read, Romans 7:1-7 totally resolves the issue. Unfortunately, most people do not know how to read. The full solution to the general reading problem and the achievement gap problem in our schools and colleges can be solved directly by learning what I have presented in full at my other website at www.readingsteps.com,

In Romans 7:1-7, Paul says that just like a wife is no longer bound by the law to her husband once the husband has died (so if she marries another man she does not violate that law), in the same manner since our Lord Jesus Christ has died on the Cross and has been raised from the dead, we, being now married not to the Law, but to another, namely, our Lord Jesus Christ, we are now dead to the law, the Ten Commandment Law, for it no longer has any claim upon us.

Paul asserts that as surely as the Law binding the wife to her living husband has no claim upon her once her husband has died, so the death of our Lord Jesus Christ has removed any claim that the Law of Ten Commandments or any other Law once may have had upon us. We have become dead to the Law (Romans 7:4).

We are delivered from the Ten Commandment Law and Mosaic Law in general by the death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ (Romans 7:6).

For true believers, we are delivered from the Law so that we should serve in newness of spirit (Romans 7:6). This is the very heart of the issue: being made new in spirit by means of regenerative change, the work under grace performed by the Holy Spirit in our lives when we believe, we are now indwelt by the Holy Spirit, Who produces the fruit of the Spirit in our lives (2 Corinthians 5:17. Ephesians 2:8-10. Titus 3:5. Galatians 5:22-24).

2Co 5:17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. (ESV, English Standard Version)

Eph 2:8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:
Eph 2:9 Not of works, lest any man should boast.
Eph 2:10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.

Tit 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;

Gal 5:22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,
Gal 5:23 Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.
Gal 5:24 And they that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts.

Paul clearly asserts that we as true believers serve “in newness of spirit,” and “not in the oldness of the letter.” The “oldness of the letter” is a direct reference to the Ten Commandment Law.

Paul makes it very clear that it is the Ten Commandment Law to which he refers, because he cites the Tenth Commandment at Romans 7:7 when he writes “…except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet.”

Paul explains elsewhere in his writings, at Galatians 5:18, that those who are true believers in Christ are not under the Law,

Gal 5:18 But if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law.

Clearly, anyone who places himself or herself “under the law” is not led of the Spirit. This problem is far more serious than one might at first suppose. Anyone who places himself under the law is preaching “another gospel,” and Paul offers severe reproof, stating of such a person, “let him be accursed” (Galatians 1:8, 9).

Gal 1:8 But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed.
Gal 1:9 As we said before, so say I now again, If any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed.

Clearly, therefore, any emphasis upon the Ten Commandment Law, including an emphasis upon the Fourth Commandment or Law of the Sabbath, is a misguided and misplaced emphasis that is contrary to the Gospel of Christ, the Gospel of the Grace of God. It is heresy and apostasy of the most sinister kind, because false teachers can make it sound so Biblical to those who have not properly studied their Bible. Such false teaching, such false teachers, and those who follow or promote this false teaching, are accursed, anathema. That is the direct teaching of Scripture itself.

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National Debt and the Bible

Posted on July 13, 2011 by Jerry

Time goes by fast! It is now several decades since I helped Mr. Dave Balsiger find good Scripture references for an Election Guide he was preparing to publish. He had a number of critical issues listed, and I helped him select appropriate Scripture for each.

One of the topics was the NATIONAL DEBT.

Shortly after the Guide was published, I heard it reviewed by Forest Boyd, news commentator on the SRN News, then aired over the Moody Broadcasting Network.

Mr. Boyd had just one comment. He said, “I don’t think the Bible has anything to say about the National Debt.”

Goes to show what is oftentimes the case–he did not read the evidence I gave from the Bible before he formed his opinion. Or, he retained his mistaken opinion even after being shown the evidence.

Here is the evidence:

Deuteronomy 28:12 The LORD shall open unto thee his good treasure, the heaven to give the rain unto thy land in his season, and to bless all the work of thine hand: and thou shalt lend unto many nations, and thou shalt not borrow.
Deu 28:13 And the LORD shall make thee the head, and not the tail; and thou shalt be above only, and thou shalt not be beneath; if that thou hearken unto the commandments of the LORD thy God, which I command thee this day, to observe and to do them:

If the nation will follow the principles stated in God’s Word, the Bible, it will prosper and have no problem related to debt.

Otherwise:

Deu 28:43 The stranger that is within thee shall get up above thee very high; and thou shalt come down very low.
Deu 28:44 He shall lend to thee, and thou shalt not lend to him: he shall be the head, and thou shalt be the tail.

Now try to tell me that the Bible does not address the issue of the national debt!

Clearly it does.

And what has now happened to us exactly fits what the Bible says would happen if we persist in not following the principles in the Bible, God’s Word.

Some might wish to argue that those threats and promises were made to the nation of Israel under the Law, so they do not apply to us.

But consider this verse from Psalm 9:17,

Psa 9:17 The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God.

Psalm 9:17 does NOT say “and all the tribes of Israel that forget God.” It says nations, and that includes us.

If we as individuals and as a nation learn what is God’s will as it is taught in the Bible, and do all that we can to abide by that will, we too will be blessed. If we do the contrary, we will be cursed.

Clearly, in the Bible, national debt is a curse.

We have gotten ourselves into this mess because of a failure on all parties’ part to tell the truth. We have been living a lie.

Right now, this very day, President Obama and administration officials are using lies as scare tactics to force Congress to give in and authorize raising the debt ceiling.

Administration officials and media reporters all are telling us that not to raise the debt ceiling will result in our defaulting on our debt obligations and the consequent lowering of the country’s credit rating.

That is a flat-out lie.

The Constitution and its Amendments and existing federal law stipulate that before anything else is paid, interest on our debt gets paid first. There is enough continuing tax revenue even in this down economy to keep those payments up even if we do not raise the debt ceiling.

What this nation most needs, besides getting back to God and His Word, is a real shake-up and shake-out of the financial system.

The banking establishment, justly called the “banksters,” have been robbing us blind to line their own pockets. The very large banks knowingly made loans to people during the housing bubble, people they did not verify as to whether they could pay back the debt. Banksters thought it did not matter. Houses were going up on an ever rising spiral in value. They knew it was a “bubble,” but there were profits to be made. Then when the bubble was about to burst, the “banksters” howled that they were “too big to fail.”

Anyone who has read The Secret of Jekyl Island knows that the “banksters” have used this ploy before, the exact words.

Currently, if banking institutions kept honest books using honest accounting methods, the large banks in this country would certainly be shown to be insolvent.

We will never solve our economic problem by delaying tactics. We can’t keep “kicking the can down the road.” The problem needs to be addressed carefully now. The lies must stop. We might yet have just a ghost of a chance to at least control the deflation of the current debt bubble. If we keep delaying, it is likely that we will have an uncontrollable outright collapse of the entire financial system and economy.

If you violate the “law of gravity” you will likely suffer some painful damage. If you violate the laws of mathematics, you will be in serious trouble. I trust the Federal Reserve Chairman and the Treasury Secretary are losing much sleep these nights. Of all people, they must know mathematics is against them, and the longer they delay adopting painful and stringent measures to halt the process now underway, the more painful will be the damage when the final tipping point is reached. Their current strategies are clearly a failure. Papering over the problem does nothing to solve it, but exacerbate it.

We need to re-instate the Glass–Steagall Act immediately. Banks have no business engaging in risky investments backed on our dime. That caused the first Great Depression. It is now at the heart of this one.

We need to provide American manufacturers and companies in general a “level playing field.” No company should be allowed to export labor to other countries to exploit the wage differential between our country and countries whose wages amount to slave labor.

How to do it? Insist on true reciprocity. If a nation like China wishes to sell products made there to us, they can only do so under the same privileges and conditions that they allow us to sell products to them.

We need to reverse the flight of jobs via so-called “outsourcing” from this country. How to do that? Simple. Grant companies who bring those jobs back, and those companies that have kept jobs here, a very major tax break–like freedom from any corporate taxes for companies that restore jobs to or keep jobs in America.

What is called “Free Trade” is not Free Trade at all. It does not currently require reciprocity. It must. It allows wage arbitrage and environmental regulation arbitrage. If a company finds it saves lots of money to take advantage of slave labor, require them to pay a hefty import tariff to equalize the effect. If a company wants to pollute foreign countries, make them pay more than the equivalent saved in tariff. Simply don’t let wrong-doing be profitable.

If we brought back fairness and equality (or maybe, established it for the first time), and by granting tax advantages for those who do what is right, perhaps then companies could afford to pay a genuine living wage and reverse the downward spiral we’ve seen in employment.

The Bible clearly tells us that “the way of transgressors is hard” (Proverbs 13:15) and “be sure your sin will find you out” (Numbers 32:23).

It also says:

2Ch 7:14 If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.

This promise, of course, applies directly to Israel. But its principles apply to us. Until very recently it was my understanding that this verse really did not apply to us. But after repeated queries and challenges from my dear wife, I decided I had better study this out again and settle the issue once and for all. I think I spent the whole day studying the cross references to this verse, starting with those given in The New Treasury of Scripture Knowledge and Nelson’s Cross Reference Guide to the Bible. That day I greatly expanded the number of cross references given for this passage in those two Bible study reference sources. I am now fully convinced by Scripture itself that this promise in God’s Word is for us too.

Here are those newly-expanded cross references for 2 Chronicles 7:14,

14. If. Ge +4:7. On this text, Thomas Scott, in Scott’s Commentary, remarks: In the best state of nations favored with revelation, there has hitherto been a succession of prosperity, ingratitude, corrections, repentance, forgiveness, renewed mercies and prosperity, and renewed ingratitude and forgetfulness of God. Yet the Lord delights in those places where his ordinances are maintained and attended on, in some measure of purity and consistency. But in cases of apostasy, or general profaneness, or hypocrisy, he will glorify his justice by tremendous judgments upon those, who have thus abused his mercies, and forfeited their privileges, making them a warning to others, if not an infamy among the heathen. Let us then stand in awe of him; watch against all sin; and copy the examples of the most approved of his saints, in the brightest parts of their characters (vol. ii. p. 472, American edition, 1864). Surely the principles behind the blessings (Dt 28:1-14) and cursings (Dt 28:15-68) given to the nation of Israel are in force among not only Israel but the nations of the world, extending to the curse of mounting national debt and economic decline (Dt 28:44). This passage provides God’s recipe for genuine revival. That revival must start with serious attention to continuing systematic, personal, real Bible study (See the Notes at 2 K 12:13 and He 6:9). my people. Some questions have been raised about the applicability of this verse: are these promises only for natural, that is, national Israel, or are they valid for us today? The following Cross References should settle the issue once and for all. Is 63:19. 65:1. Ac 15:17. Ro +*15:4. Ep 2:12. 1 P **2:9, 10. Re 1:5, 6. which are called by my name. Heb. upon whom my name is called. 2 Ch 6:33mg. Nu +*6:27. Dt 28:10. Is 63:19mg. Je *15:16mg. humble. T#1366. 2 Ch *6:37-39. 12:6, 7, 12. *33:12, 13, 18, 19, %23. *34:27. Le *26:40, 41. Dt *4:29, 30. *30:1-6. Jg 20:26n. 1 K 21:27-29. 2 K 22:18, 19. 1 Ch 17:16. 29:14. Jb 7:7, 18. 40:3-5. 42:5, 6. Ps 9:12. 22:6. *25:9. 34:18. +35:13. 42:5. 51:17. Ec 5:2. Is 57:15. 66:2. Je 1:6. 45:3. La 3:20. Ezk *33:11. Da %5:22. +**10:12. Jl 2:13. Mi +*6:8. Zc *12:10. Mt 8:8. Lk *18:13. 22:41, 42. 2 C *7:10. Ja *4:9, 10. 1 P 5:6. and pray. T#1388. 2 Ch 20:9. Dt 4:29-31. 2 K 20:1-5. Ps 17:1. *145:18, 19. Is **26:8, 9. 58:9. Je **29:13. Ho 7:14. Mt 23:14. Mk *11:23, 24. Lk 22:44. Jn 11:33. Ac 9:11. 1 T **2:1-4. He *10:22. seek my face. FS22A4, Ge +19:13. T#1386. 1 Ch 16:11. **28:9. Jb 8:5, 6. Ps +**9:10. 27:4, 8. Pr 2:4-6. 8:17. Is *26:9. 45:19. **55:6, 7. *56:6, 7. Je *29:13. 50:4, 5. La 3:40, 41. Ho 5:6, 7, *15. Am 5:4-6. Mt 7:7, 8. Lk *11:9, 10. He *11:6. turn from. The mercies of God to sinners are communicated in a manner suited to impress all who receive them, with the most profound reverence of his majesty, justice, and holiness (Ge +**18:25n); thus leading them to unite humble confidence with fear of offending so holy a God. Especially, whoever beholds, with true faith, the divine Savior agonizing and dying for man’s sin, will, by that view, find his godly sorrow enlarged (2 C 7:10), his hatred of sin increased (Ps 119:104), his soul made more watchful, and his life more holy: and they are speculating hypocrites, who profess to expect salvation by the cross of Christ, while the world has their hearts, and sin is allowed in their habitual conduct (Scott, references added). T#607. 2 K 17:13. Ps 34:18. 51:17. 147:3. Pr *28:13. Is *55:6, 7. 59:20. *66:2. Je +35:15. Ezk 18:27-30. Ho *6:1-3. Jl *2:12, 13. Zc 1:3. Mt 5:3, 4. Lk +13:3. *15:21-23. Ho 5:15. Ac 3:19-21. Ja +4:10 (T#357). then will I hear. The Lord’s ready answers to our prayers should animate us to repeat, with deeper reverence and more lively gratitude, our praises of his mercy (Scott). 2 Ch 6:27, 30, 39. Ps 91:15. Is *30:18. +*65:24. Je *33:3. Zc *13:9. Jn 15:7. Re *3:20. forgive their sin. The most endearing displays of the love of God, rightly understood, speak terror to hypocrites and presumptuous offenders (2 C 5:11); but the most tremendous discoveries of his righteous vengeance need not discourage the upright, humble believer. Every token of his favor should enlarge our hearts in his service: and those who are inspired with zeal for his glory, and who taste the joy of his salvation, will never think too much time or expense can be bestowed in communion with him and his saints, provided other duties be not neglected (Scott). Ex 34:7. Ps +**103:3. Is *1:18. 43:25. 44:22. 59:1, 2. Je +*31:34. Ho **5:15. *6:1. Zp 3:15. Mt 9:2. Lk 24:47. Ac +**3:19-21. +*10:36, 43. Ja 5:15. 1 J **1:7, 9. heal their land. T#1640. 2 Ch 6:28-31. *30:20. Ex +*15:26. Nu 14:11-13, 19. 2 S 24:15-17. Ps 60:2. Is 11:6. 27:6. 30:26. *35:1. 53:5. Je 8:22. *33:6. 51:9. Am +*9:13-15. Ml 4:2. Mt +*19:28. Ac +**3:19. Ro +*8:19, 21. Re +*22:3.

You will not likely find this number of cross references given for this passage anywhere else. You will surely be blessed in your study of God’s Word if you take the time to look up these passages carefully in your own Bible.

I have found it helps to have one Bible open to this verse (2 Chronicles 7:14), while I use a smaller Bible to turn to each of the references. If you have access to a Bible program such as the e-Sword program, freely available for download at www.e-sword.net, it may be easier to type the references in one at a time to read the corresponding verse. Feel free to make full use of these references in your personal Bible study or ministry, but remember that they are under copyright, so they must not be used in commercial publications without written permission from the copyright holder.

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Do Atheists know anything about the Bible?

Posted on June 27, 2011 by Jerry

World Net Daily (WND) posted an article by Chuck Norris, “Founders vs. NBC, New York atheists, Part 1” on June 27, 2011 at
http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=315777

Below the article are some reader comments:

Darrell Reeves • Top Commenter

How far we have slid in such a short time. A hundred years ago we wouldn’t be having this conversation. The Bible was taught in school, the Ten Commandments were in all courtrooms and in most classrooms. I’m 57 and remember praying in the name of Jesus at SHS. The demonic progressive left along with their demonic aclu did away with that. Someone please tell me how after 200+ years of praying in the name of Jesus at school, its becomes illegal. The Founder’s would never have imagined a mosque or a buddist temple being erected in America. I’m just sad, this wonder country that has given so much to all Americans is being dismantled by a demonic radical mob.

John Richard Cunliffe • Top Commenter

The Bible is a book of fiction written by men on a power trip as a manual to control the superstitious sheep. Most of the texts are plagiarized from ancient pagan texts and stories existing long before “”biblical “” times.

Dawn Stone

We shouldn’t be having this conversation. Every science proves the bible false. It’s pure ignorance. It tells tales of dragons, unicorns and witches. It promotes gamg raping women, sacrificing children, genocide and slavery. Anyone who profits from teaching ignorance and false fears should be jailed.

The second and third comments which I have cited above appear to be written by individuals who consider themselves atheists.

Do Atheists know anything about the Bible?

Surely these two individuals, judging by their remarks about the Bible, indicate a serious deficiency when it comes to Bible knowledge.

Their ignorance is so glaring, I need hardly comment further.

But I do invite, even dare, any atheist to join this conversation here and redeem their flawed image.

So far, despite my several invitations, atheists have been mighty silent here. As I said before, their silence is both telling and deafening, indeed.

The Bible, understood literally, declares that atheists are fools:

Psalm 14:1 The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God. They are corrupt, they have done abominable works, there is none that doeth good.

Posted in Apologetics Issues--Atheism | Tagged , , , , , , , | 11 Comments

Luke 24:27 Christ taught from the Bible

Posted on June 24, 2011 by Jerry

1015. Christ taught out of the Scriptures, Luke 24:27

Luke 24:27 And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself.

This verse is found in the account of that most fascinating encounter of two weary and discouraged disciples who were headed home on the road to Emmaus. An apparent stranger joined with them as they were walking, and joined in the conversation.

This is one conversation I wish we had the details in full. There are those who claim to have “the rest of the story,” and assert we must accept the tradition preserved by their church, because the Bible does not give the full record of all Jesus said and did.

I have publically challenged those who make this claim to give full proof of it by sharing with the rest of us poor benighted souls that information their church possesses which they claim we do not. Furnish a link to that recorded Tradition, so I and I’m sure many others who are most interested can read “the rest of the story.” Since this message of our Lord Jesus Christ was given twice on that day, surely the “One True Church” has not lost the full account so briefly given by Luke.

No one has ever yet furnished me that all-important link. To me that is proof enough that this church does not have what it claims to have, “The Rest of the Story.”

But Luke does furnish an amazing key to what the rest of the story must have been on that Road to Emmaus in Luke 24:26,

Luke 24:26 Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into his glory?

The lesson our Lord Jesus Christ taught out of the Scriptures that day can be given under a two-point outline: (1) First the suffering, (2) then the glory.

This is the divinely provided key that unlocks Messianic Prophecy.

Peter makes reference to this crucial key in his first letter,

1Pe 1:11 Searching what, or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify, when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow.

A careful study of the Messianic Prophecies alluded to by Christ and Peter fully substantiates the validity of this key. The key comes straight out of the Bible itself in what we call the Old Testament. I have given those references most fully in Nelson’s Cross Reference Guide to the Bible at this very passage. A number of the prophecies specify exactly this order–first the suffering, then the glory–in the context of a single literary unit, such as Psalm 22, where verses 1-21 speak of the Suffering Messiah, but verses 22-31 speak of the Glory of the Messiah. Again, in Psalm 69, verses 1-21 speak of the Suffering Messiah, while verses 30-36 speak of His future Glory. You can learn much more by consulting the cross references given at 1 Peter 1:11 in either The New Treasury of Scripture Knowledge or Nelson’s Cross Reference Guide to the Bible.

Very clearly, the Bible is a self-explanatory Book. It is understandable. By comparing Scripture with Scripture, we can learn just what it is that our Lord Jesus Christ must have taught the two disciples on the Road to Emmaus from the Bible itself.

Have you ever noticed that Christ appeals to the Bible, the Scriptures, as the basis for His teaching? He never appeals to Tradition. We need to be sure that we follow His example.

Make sure you are deriving your spiritual food from the right source! Any other source outside the Bible itself is spiritual poison, and most definitely will lead only to spiritual death.

I have used strong words because this is a most crucial issue. It is a matter of spiritual life or spiritual death. You must choose spiritual life if ever you are to have it. If you disagree with me, please leave a comment and I will be most pleased to discuss this further. If you agree, you are also encouraged to leave a comment if you wish.

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2 Peter 1:21 Bible writers divinely inspired

Posted on June 20, 2011 by Jerry

1014. Scriptures given by inspiration of the Holy Spirit, 2 Peter 1:21.

2Pe 1:21 For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.

This passage teaches that the Bible was not written by men to convey their own personal or private opinions. The ideas about which they wrote were not their own, but were given them by the Holy Spirit.

While Bible writers used their own words to convey God’s truth revealed to them by the Holy Spirit, we know that God inspired not just the thoughts, but the very words used to express them.

The Holy Spirit is a Person. He is the Second Person of the Holy Trinity. The Holy Spirit is not merely “God’s active force,” as is taught by the Jehovah’s Witnesses and others who deny the doctrine of the Trinity. The doctrine of the Trinity is revealed in the Hebrew Scriptures as early as Genesis chapter 1.

We know from carefully studying what the Bible says about itself that the men of God who wrote the Bible were not always themselves granted full understanding about what they wrote. They searched into these matters to learn what God meant by what He had revealed to them.

We now have the privilege of possessing the whole Bible. We can read and study it in many good translations. We can compare scripture with scripture by means of cross references to better understand its message.

Having these privileges today, we will surely be held accountable by God Himself if we fail to take full advantage of the opportunities to fully learn the truth God has communicated in His love letter to us, the Bible.

In context, Peter tells us we have “a more sure word of prophecy.” That prophecy is recorded in the Bible. It could not have been penned by human wisdom alone, because no man has the ability to accurately predict the future. But the Bible does just that. That is proof enough that the Bible writers were divinely inspired by God himself as they wrote the very words of God now found in your Bible.

Make time to read and study God’s word in the Bible itself every day. You eat physical food every day, don’t you? Then make it an equal priority in your life to feed yourself spiritually on a daily basis. You can make tremendous spiritual progress starting by reading the Bible for just twenty minutes a day from a plain text Bible.

Now, just do it!

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How to properly approach the Bible

Posted on June 16, 2011 by Jerry

The Bible makes very definite claims for itself.

No Bible reader has a right to reject what the Bible says about itself.

If we are to ever understand the Bible, we must approach it sympathetically. Otherwise, the Bible, even if we read and study it, will be a closed book for us.

Here is a striking claim the Bible makes for itself:

1Co 2:13 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. (King James Version)

1Co 2:13 And we impart this in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual. (English Standard Version)

1Co 2:13 Every word we speak was taught to us by God’s Spirit, not by human wisdom. And this same Spirit helps us teach spiritual things to spiritual people. (Contemporary English Version)

1Co 2:13 When we tell you these things, we do not use words that come from human wisdom. Instead, we speak words given to us by the Spirit, using the Spirit’s words to explain spiritual truths. (New Living Translation, Second Edition, 2004)

This is a specific claim to verbal inspiration.

Divine inspiration of Scripture is asserted also at 2 Timothy 3:16,

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

The divine inspiration of Scripture writers is asserted by Peter in his second letter,

2Pe 1:20 Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation.
2Pe 1:21 For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.

Failure to accept the Bible’s own testimony to itself has closed this Book to so-called “modern scholarship” (a misnomer if ever there was one!). Much modern scholarship is dishonest, for instead of explaining the Bible, it attempts to explain away the Bible, refusing to honestly come to grips with its claims and message.

In an effort to escape the Bible’s obvious message, dishonest scholarship has tried to deny its authenticity and authorship, ascribing, for example, the books of Moses to multiple late authorship; denying the unity of Isaiah; asserting that the gospels, particularly the Gospel of John, are of late origin, and do not reflect the so-called “historical Jesus,” but views and traditions of the early Church of the third or fourth century.

Fatal to such incorrect views of the Gospels is the fact that the Gospels are quoted many times in early Christian literature. Critics cannot logically explain how books can be quoted or translated before they were written, or how such stupenduous claims could be foisted upon a gullible public long after the possibility of disproof by eyewitnesses has passed.

The only way to get at the message of the Bible is to be completely open to its message.

To approach Scripture with humanistic and naturalistic (that is, anti-theistic) presuppositions is to try to twist Scripture to fit a worldview which it most emphatically will not support. The only valid approach to Scripture is to be honest to its claims and message and grant its right to set forth a theistic, supernaturalistic worldview.

To deny the possibility of miracle (as Hume and his modern counterparts) is to deny the possibility of history, for both are based upon the record of eye-witness testimony, and such denial is absurd.

There are more pathways to truth and knowledge than an arbitrarily narrowly defined so-called “scientific method.”

Like missing the right exit on a freeway, continued advance in the wrong direction is not progress. Genuine progress will require a return to where we went wrong, and a fresh start in the right direction. Much “scholarship” needs to recognize it has pursued a wrong path, and recognize that it needs to return to sound principles of former generations of reverent, truthful, believing scholarship.

It is neither truthful nor fair scholarship to approach a work of literature from a consistently unsympathetic and hostile worldview in the attempt to legitimately understand its message. Rather, in our attempt to understand a work of literature, we must let it speak for itself.

The task of scholarship is to place the reader as close as possible in sympathetic relationship to the viewpoint of the writer and recipients of the literary work, and not to attempt to explain it away in an effort to force it to agree with popular contemporary philosophical presuppositions or fads in “modern scholarship.”

Approach the Bible by believing, not denying, what it says.

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How to motivate Bible study

Posted on June 16, 2011 by Jerry

To encourage yourself and others, including family members, to develop a hunger for God’s Word, I would suggest making a full study, over a period of time, of what the Bible says about itself.

This would be a perfect Bible study theme to pursue in home school Bible study.

I must confess that I am not sure that I have been successful myself in motivating others to get into the Word for themselves, though I have certainly tried.

When I was still in high school, I believe it was, I took a summer vacation Bible school class on the subject of “worship” offered at the Highland Park Baptist Church, taught by Professor Schoof (I probably spelled that wrong!) from the Detroit Bible College, later called Tyndale College. [I noted recently that Dr. Norman Geisler mentions Professor Schoof as a major influence in his life in the preface to a book by Geisler I recently purchased].

I had mentioned to Professor Schoof after class was over one evening that I did my own Bible study and kept notes as I did so. He asked to see my notes. He exclaimed, upon seeing them, “Jerry, you are one in a million.”

That statement has always haunted me.

If what I do (or did at that time), which seems so ordinary to me, is so rare among other Bible believing Christians, have I set my sights too high in my expectations for others?

I really don’t think so myself, but apparently for many others such interest in Bible study is rare, or unusual. It should not be.

Now, I don’t expect others to gather the Bible study library I’ve managed to collect over a number of years.

I don’t even expect others to commit their Bible studies to writing. It would help them if they did, though.

But everyone should own The New Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, where on page 1597 under the heading THE SCRIPTURES you will find Topic Numbers 1014 to 1109, which cover the subject “What the Bible Teaches About Itself” in considerable detail.

Unfortunately, the publishers left that index out of the software version of The New Treasury, an omission which is a major loss to the usefulness of the software, compared to the book. Unfortunately, the publishers have stopped publishing The New Treasury of Scripture Knowledge in book form.

I took that list directly from The New Topical Textbook, which may still be in print. That is a most useful modest volume for Bible study. I consider it to be one of the very best resources available for topical Bible studies. It possesses a remarkably spiritually uplifting “tone” throughout that I have not found elsewhere in similar resources: it is never perfunctory or “dry as dust.” I assume John MacArthur may have used the same resource to develop similar material at the back of The MacArthur Study Bible (the first entry in the “Index to Key Bible Doctrines” on page 2039), another Bible study resource which I highly recommend.

At least that valuable information about what the Bible says about itself is still available somewhere in print today.

It is my present plan to carry out an extensive study of this topic, What the Bible says about itself, or what Scripture says about Scripture, in a number of posts under the category here for “What the Bible says about itself.”

I am personally convinced that this is perhaps the most important and the most neglected topic of Bible study today.

If every Bible reader carefully studied this Bible study theme, we would see revival, spiritual growth, greater love for the Scriptures, greater love and commitment to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, and the blessing of God.

“No revival is more to be desired than that of systematic, personal Bibe study!”

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“The Rapture: You KNOW It’s Nonsense”

Posted on May 20, 2011 by Jerry

Or, so say the atheists at www.americanatheists.org, “Sensible since 1963.”

Their new billboard reads, as it is posted on their website (www.atheists.org):

“The Rapture: You KNOW It’s Nonsense
2000 Years of “Any Day Now”
Learn the truth at our Rapture Party May 21-22

Any group that touts it is “atheist” surely is full of nonsense.

They believe that something came spontaneously from nothing.

They certainly believe in Evolution.

Go figure.

Now just who is it that believes in fairy tales?

The theory of Macro-Evolution is surely the primary fairy tale of this culture.

You can believe in evolution if you want to.

I believe the Bible, because the Bible has irrefutable evidence to support its truthfulness and Divine Inspiration.

Once again, I challenge atheists or anybody else to argue here to the contrary.

So far, the atheists have been mighty silent. In fact, their silence is as deafening as it is telling.

But this time the atheists are right about one thing: the Rapture will not happen on May 21, 2011.

I agree. You can count on that.

Though atheists claim to have been sensible since 1963, I’ve been studying the Bible seriously since 1953. I think atheists could learn something new and important if they dared to join the conversation here.

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The Rapture–I Still Believe It!

Posted on May 19, 2011 by Jerry

Following a link just now that I found on the Drudge Report, I encountered this statement:

The Rapture — the belief that Christ will bring the faithful into paradise prior to a period of tribulation on earth that precedes the end of time — is a relatively new notion compared to Christianity itself, and most Christians don’t believe in it. And even believers rarely attempt to set a date for the event.

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/us/2011/05/19/rapture-movement-predicts-end-world-saturday/#ixzz1MoUZiWoZ

The current furor stems from the prediction by Mr. Harold Camping that the Rapture will take place on Saturday, May 21, 2011.

It may be that the article is correct that “most Christians don’t believe it” (speaking of most Christians not believing in the doctrine of a rapture).

Truth, however, cannot be determined by a majority vote.

Most Christians do not study their Bible enough to know the difference between truth and error.

Mr. Harold Camping is right that there will be a Rapture of believers. He is totally wrong about its timing.

Time will prove me correct in a couple of days, I’m sure.

Anyone who thinks they can predict the timing of the Rapture has failed to pay attention to what the Bible itself has to say about the subject.

I invite Mr. Harold Camping and all his followers after their day of disappointment to come here and discuss the subject using the principles I’ve spelled out clearly in earlier posts for conducting Real Bible Study.

I do believe that it is well-documented that I’ve spent more time studying the Bible than Mr. Harold Camping has. He has written more books, and spent more time on the air helping people understand the Bible than I have (and I have listened to him many years over shortwave station WYFR), but I have produced two major Bible study reference tools frequently mentioned here: The New Treasury of Scripture Knowledge and Nelson’s Cross Reference Guide to the Bible. I am currently working on an expansion of the cross references previously published, and have as of today reached Jeremiah chapter 3.

By the way, if you have not carefully studied the cross references I furnished for 1 Thessalonians 4:17 and the references they link to in the Bible, you haven’t studied the Bible carefully and fully enough to really understand what the Bible actually teaches about the Rapture.

So, if you want to know how to study the Rapture, I suggest you start at 1 Thessalonians 4:17, using either The New Treasury of Scripture Knowledge or Nelson’s Cross Reference Guide to the Bible.

For more help, read the articles and comments I’ve posted here on the subject.

I understand that the atheists are having a good time with Mr. Camping’s prediction. I even heard about that yesterday on the mainstream media over radio station WWJ in Detroit.

I really do want the atheists to have a good time while they have a chance–this is the only chance they will get.

Any atheists out there want to challenge me on whether or not the Bible is true? Whether or not the Bible teaches the doctrine of a Rapture?

Any Christians, or anybody else, are likewise invited to participate in a discussion on that subject here.

So far, the atheists have made a mighty poor showing in terms of response to my challenges and invitations here.

I read recently that a very prominent scientist, a physicist by the name of Dawkins [a kind reader in a comment below has corrected my flawed memory: I should have referenced Stephen Hawking], has declared there is no heaven, that heaven is a fairy-tale. In previous debates I’ve had with science teachers, I’ve warned them they had best stick with their field of expertise. They surely have little or no expertise in the field of Bible or Bible doctrine.

The invitation is still open: ask a question or post a relevant comment in your own words, or at most a brief quotation properly cited in rebuttal, and I’ll allow the post to appear so long as it is relevant to the topic or the Bible.

Posted in Bible Prophecy | Tagged , , , , , , , | 8 Comments