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bible

No Book Like It

By | Articles

You can take every book that has ever been written, stack them all up and put them against the Bible, and the Bible would be light years away from them all. Books can change the mind of man, for his mind is unstable. Books can move the emotions of man, for he is a sensual being. Books can give correction, direction and instruction for man, for his knowledge and wisdom is limited. While books can give information and change the mind of man, there is one thing they cannot do, GIVE MAN A NEW HEART. Books cannot make a new creature out of a human being. Books can alert, convict and convince man that he is a sinner and a vile creature, but books have no power to deliver man from what he is and the course he is on.

The Bible has that kind of power because the Bible is more than a book, it is the word(s) of God. The absolute, unadulterated and infallible word of God. Yet it is even more than that. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God” (John 1:1-2). What powerful scriptures. The power of God is beyond our ability to grasp, but these two verses do show us how God created all there is. He just spoke it all into existence. It is because the word is God. To try to make this as simple to understand as possible, just know that what God says is as much God as His presence is. Take note that when Moses asked God, “Show me Thy glory,” God answered his request. “And the LORD descended in the cloud, and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of the LORD. And the LORD passed by before him, and proclaimed, The LORD, The LORD God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, Keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty; visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the children’s children, unto the third and to the fourth generation” (Exodus 34:5-7). Did you see that? God was as much talking as he was walking before Moses. With God, we get the full experience. He is a God that talks. Everything He says is absolute truth. People say God can do anything. However, there are some things He cannot do. He cannot speak lies. If He did, it would falsely represent Him and he would cease to be the WORD.

Being more specific yet, we learn that Jesus Christ is the Word. “And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth” (John 1:14). Before there ever was a Jesus, there was the Word. Jesus became the living expression of the Word. It was the Word that was made flesh and dwelt amongst man. Jesus proved to this world the validity of God’s word. Jesus came to believe it, live it and preach it. He preached what and who He was. He was a living manifestation of the word of God.

Some Christians may think Jesus always was. This is not true. The Son of God always was. There was a day when Jesus, a human being was conceived. There was a day he was born. He had a beginning. That was the beginning of the life of Jesus on earth. Though Jesus had a birth, the Word that He was, always was. Jesus was one hundred percent man and one hundred percent God. The man side of Him was born; the God side of Him always was.

Tell me if you can, what book can claim such credentials as the Bible? Take even spiritual books. Any spiritual book that has ever been written (I wrote a couple myself), may encourage and strengthen Christians. However, they only do so because they are based on the Bible. Without the Bible, they have no authority. We must be careful when we read books by men who claim their book is based on the word of God. Man is not like God. “…Let God be true, but every man a liar…” (Romans 3:4). Even in his best intention, man taints, falsifies, opinionates, exaggerates and diminishes the Word of God. Yet he believes he is right on the mark with what he writes. He believes his version of the truth is the right version. There is the King James Version, the New King James Version and many others. Then there is the “MY version,” or the “YOUR version.” The true version is what the Holy Spirit teaches. He teaches the truth.

One of my favorite all time movies is “It’s a Wonderful Life.” I have probably watched it all the way through about ten to fifteen times. I don’t have much interest in it today. I have had my fill of, “Hee Haw, Merry Christmas Bedford Falls, My lip is bleeding” and learning that every time a bell rings another angel gets his wings. The movie doesn’t do much for me anymore because I watched it too many times. It is way different with my Bible. I have read the Bible through over thirty times in my life. I am not exaggerating when I say I still get excited when I get to the part where Samson brings down the temple, and when David runs toward the giant and then topples him with a sling and stone. I know how every Old Testament story ends, but yet, I am still excited to read it. No sixty-five inch TV screen in high definition. No surround sound speakers. Just black letters on a white background. However, the words of the Bible are filled with life. They do something to those who seek for wisdom and understanding. I read over and over that Jesus was born in a manger, but when I read it again it seems Jesus is birthed anew in my heart. I read over and over of the anointing and power that the church had in the Book of Acts. Still, when I read it, it stirs in me a desire to be filled anew with the Spirit and to go forth to demonstrate Christ is alive.

What a book! What a fool any person is who rejects it, forgets it and neglects it. “For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart” (Hebrews 4:12).

If you mess with the word of God, it will mess with you. If you read it, it will read you. If you open your heart to it, it will lay your heart open.

Tell me if you can, what book other than the Bible, has so much power that it can plunge into a person’s heart with the ease of a two-edged sword and cause no bleeding? Tell me if you can, what other book has the ability to separate between your soul and spirit and leave your body feeling more whole? What other book can divide your joints and marrow and leave you even walking better? Tell me if you can, what other book could ever have such authority that it can discern, expose and then correct your heart, and then leave you feeling liberated and close to God. NO OTHER BOOK, BUT THE BIBLE.

Hell is Real

By | Eyesalve

And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.” Matthew 10:28

 

If you don’t preach that there is a hell, you cannot preach that there is a heaven. Both places are found in the teachings of the Bible. We must believe the whole book. We cannot pick and choose the things we like or dislike in the Bible. Many today only want to preach and accept that there is a heaven. Well sir, where did you learn about heaven from? The same book that tells us about hell. Denying there is a hell, will never help those who are going there, to be delivered from it. Hell is real, hell has enlarged its mouth to receive all who reject Christ. Let the people know they can be delivered from hell.

Eyesalve: Thinks He Knows it All

By | Eyesalve

“And account that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation; even as our beloved brother Paul also according to the wisdom given unto him hath written unto you; 16As also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things; in which are some things hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest, as they do also the other scriptures, unto their own destruction.” II Peter 3:15-16

 

It took humility for Peter to say that he had a hard time understanding some of the things Paul wrote. It is true for every one of us that some things written in the Bible are hard to understand. This is true even for ministers. When a minister is asked a question about a passage in the Bible, there is nothing wrong, in fact it is right, for him to admit he doesn’t know the answer when he doesn’t. It does not disqualify a man from teaching the body when he doesn’t know the answer to everything. In fact the opposite is true, he is disqualified from teaching when he thinks he knows it all.

Eyesalve: God’s the Author

By | Eyesalve

Wherefore (as the Holy Ghost saith, To day if ye will hear his voice,  (8)  Harden not your hearts, as in the provocation, in the day of temptation in the wilderness:” Hebrews 3:7-8

 

The writer of Hebrews is quoting Psalm 95:7-11. This is a Psalm that David wrote. However, we need to be reminded that the Holy Spirit is really the author. If we forget that God is the author of our whole Bible then we may start to consider God’s word as just the teachings or opinions of man.

The Heart of a Remnant Believer

By | Articles

“And they said unto me, The remnant that are left of the captivity there in the province are in great affliction and reproach: the wall of Jerusalem also is broken down, and the gates thereof are burned with fire” (Nehemiah 1:3).

 

When Nehemiah heard what condition the remnant of Israel was in, who were living in Judah, he wept and fasted. He was deeply grieved over the condition his brethren was living under. The wall of Jerusalem was broken down and the gates were burned with fire. The physical affliction the Jews in Judah were living in is a type of spiritual affliction many sincere believers live in today. I need to tell you that the burden Nehemiah had for his brethren is similar to the burden I have for the church of Jesus Christ, who are my brethren. As Nehemiah was distraught over the remnant in Judah, I too am distraught with the condition that many Christians have to live under. I am not talking about the disintegration of our society here in America, I am talking about the famine of the word of God, and the lack of the Holy Spirit that is in so many churches today.

There are many people in the church today who probably don’t care much if the church is shallow and lacking the presence of God. Some prefer it that way because the presence of God and a strong word brings conviction. However, in many of these churches there is a people, a set apart people, a remnant, who desire a deeper relationship with the Lord. I believe with all sincerity that these remnant believers are some, if not the most neglected people in the church. As we hear so many lectures on how we must accept people and come down to their level, and how we appoint people to greet new faces, the remnant are quietly being ignored. As the emphasis is to preach simple salvation messages over and over again in some churches, the remnant believers are starving for some meat. As you continue to read this article, you may start to see that you may be one of the remnant, if you don’t already realize that.

Remnant believers want more, but so often they don’t quite understand what that more is. People in church around them might seem to be rolling with the flow, but in their own heart there is a dissatisfaction. This lack of contentment in remnant believers can actually make them feel bad for feeling so dissatisfied. They know that they should be more appreciative of what God has done for them. They know they have been saved and washed by the blood of the Lamb. They know they have been given a brand new life and even life more abundant. They know that they ultimately deserve hell, yet they are given eternity in heaven. So they feel bad when they find themselves looking for something more. They sense something is not quite right. Actually, what is really going on in them is that Holy Spirit is being quenched by carnal halfhearted Christians and churches, and the seed of Christ in them wants to bust out and grow. It is hard for any Christian to grow if they are in an environment that discourages growth.

The discontentment that remnant believers have is right and good because it is just a symptom of a longing for a deeper relationship with God. They are appalled with the low life living that is so often being offered. Miller Brewing Company is located in Milwaukee. They make a beer called Miller High Life. Let me tell you friends, drinking beer and alcoholic beverages is not the high life. It is the opposite, it is the low life. It has destroyed millions upon millions of lives. Walk around Milwaukee and see all the drunks wandering around and know that there is nothing high about that life. Knowing the Lord and pursuing a deeper relationship with Him is the high life. Christians live the high life, or at least have the potential to do so.

 

“He maketh my feet like hinds’ feet, and setteth me upon my high places” (Psalm 18:33).

 

Again I want to say, remnant believers desire something more, but many don’t quite know what it is.  If they are gathered in the midst of the merely religious, the discontentment they may feel is because they desire a closer relationship with God. If they are in a dead church, they desire abundant life. If they are in the midst of doubters, they want to be where there are those of strong faith. If they are amongst those who water down and short change the word of God, they want to be where the truth of the word is elevated and proclaimed.

Today it seems if you desire to live a holy righteous life, there are many so-called Christians who will accuse you of legalism or trying to earn your salvation. If you try to believe the Bible for the simple truth it is and live it out, you have those who say that you don’t understand the Bible correctly because you don’t know the Hebrew or Greek of a word or sentence. I am not against that kind of study, but isn’t our Bible already translated from the Hebrew and Greek for us? I have no problem with looking up these words for a little deeper understanding, but I have never found any word that was translated incorrectly.

Through my experience, I have seen one thing that really stirs the heart of remnant believers. It is coming to the realization of just how true the word of God is. They come to realize the unifier that truth is. They come to realize just how much the truth sets free. Remnant believers are the one group of believers who are truly like-minded. It is because they love truth so much, the Spirit of truth constantly reveals the truth to them; therefore they don’t come up with their own interpretations of the word. They believe the word as the Spirit of truth teaches it. If they believe something in the Bible incorrectly, they have a humble teachable spirit to be corrected. They don’t spit and sputter, trying to hang onto their own interpretation of the word of God. I love when remnant believers get in a discussion on spiritual things and one of them, from a sincere heart, says something that isn’t accurate. Then another remnant believer gently corrects them with a simple application of clear scripture and the attitude of all is, “WELL, THAT SETTLES THAT!” It takes a genuine humble heart to love the truth enough to allow yourself to be openly corrected. That is what is lodged in the heart of remnant believers.

Remnant believers do not need, nor do they want all the fancies and frills, gadgets and gizmos that the church offers today. They may feel a little disconnected with their church when they depend on these things. The remnant can’t seem to quite get on board with these things and they feel they are being a little contentious. What it really is however, is they just want more of the Christ they are being deprived of. They are offered all kinds of carnal techniques to accomplish spiritual things, but all they want is the presence and the power of the Spirit. It is right for remnant believers to want to come out from amongst her. Sometimes they just don’t know how.

This is what is in the heart of remnant believers. ARE YOU OF THE REMNANT SORT?

 

 

Eyesalve: The Blood of Men

By | Eyesalve

Wherefore I take you to record this day, that I am pure from the blood of all men. 27For I have not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of God.” Acts 20:26-27

 

Paul was pure from the blood of all men. The main reason is that he preached the whole counsel of God. The ear tickling preachers of our day, who preach what the people want to hear, are not be able to say that they are pure from the blood of men. To bring this to a more personal level, do you believe and live the whole counsel of God. Do you believe the whole bible? Do you believe it is all for today? You may believe a good portion of it, but that is not sufficient, you must believe, live and preach the WHOLE counsel of God.

Eyesalve: The More I Read

By | Eyesalve

Then Shaphan the scribe told the king, saying, Hilkiah the priest hath given me a book. And Shaphan read it before the king. 19And it came to pass, when the king had heard the words of the law, that he rent his clothes. II Chron. 34:18-19

 

I am borrowing a quote that was posted on Facebook. “The more I read through the bible, the less I have in common with modern Christianity.”

Eyesalve: What’s Recorded is Sufficient

By | Eyesalve

And many other signs truly did Jesus in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book: 31But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name.” Jn. 20:30-31

 

More was heard, seen and done than was recorded. What was recorded is sufficient. If you needed more recorded, God would have had it recorded. With this you must be satisfied. After all, if there were more Gospels and Epistles in our bible it would just be more reading that wouldn’t get done, more things to believe that many would have a hard time believing and it would be more confirmation to obey those things which many refuse to obey. Thank you God for the exact length, words and details of Your word that You have had recorded for us.

Eyesalve: Christ is the Standard

By | Eyesalve

Speak not thou in thine heart, after that the LORD thy God hath cast them out from before thee, saying, For my righteousness the LORD hath brought me in to possess this land: but for the wickedness of these nations the LORD doth drive them out from before thee.” Dt. 9:4

 

One mistake Christians make is they compare themselves to others. The worse others behave the more righteous it makes others feel. But we must never compare ourselves to others, they are not our standard, Christ and the bible is our standard. We must not look down for our example we must look up. Even when you find a man or woman of God that is a great example, you must understand that they became that way by looking to Christ and His word, not others.