Read the Bible

Read the Bible!

Here is a tragic example of trusting in things, or people, that are not in harmony with Gods word. And the foolishness of NOT knowing God’s word!

Just imagine, leaving this world at the point of death, and go to the throne of God, expecting to have a victorious entrance into the kingdom! And then, in that hour that can never be reversed, find yourself being rejected!

 While the angles drag you to the pit: You will surely say: “What happened?”

 Many people fail to see, that Satans stronghold of ownership on their soul, is the ideas and concepts he has planted in their minds!  They thought and believed one thing while on earth, but discovered quite another in eternity! God’s ideas are not the same as mans ideas. And the results were eternal loss!

It did not have to be that way, but they failed to read the word of God for themselves! Or they refused to take off their personal-colored glasses of opinion and pre-conceived ideas! They let others lead them and they followed. They accepted the words and teachings of others, based upon the acceptance of the one who told them! but that is a detour of satan, to by-pass the word of God! It is not the character or integrity of the speaker that counts! It is the entire word of God that we must give heed to!

 The speaker’s integrity and character are important, but it is not the final question! the final question is what about God!

Unfortunately, they discovered too late: the difference between: religious concepts and jargon, as opposed to biblical truths.

       Satan planted a deceived concept in the mind of EVE, way back there in the beginning, and she believed it! We all know the results! They lost paradise and all hope of going back! They were Rejected! Adam and Eve will spend eternity, Realizing their error and the power of deception!  And Satan is still doing it today! Deception, has served him very well!

READ THE BIBLE FOR YOUR SELF!

We must consider the foundation of our faith.  Jesus is the corner stone of our faith! He is not a rolling, shifting, changing, moving, or crumbling foundation! Jesus does not change, depending on which church you go to, or which preacher you listen to.

                We cannot put our trust in man’s intellectual opinions or” think tank” theologies.  Neither can we place our faith in the religious relics of some denomination! These are all out there, but in the end, it is only the word of God that really counts! And Jesus is that word! The word was made flesh and dwelt among us!

 But there is a danger! Our understanding of Gods word is intended to be a fortress of unshakable faith! But, what if our understanding of that word is misconstrued? NOW, that same misconstrued understanding, has become a fortress of deception!

Jesus put it this way: the light of the body is the eye! The hillbilly version of that is: how you see things to be, is what’s gonna govern your whole life!

So where do we draw the line? How do we really know what is truth? It’s even harder when everyone has their own ideas of what truth really is!

Even Pilot, who stood in the presence of Jesus himself, didn’t recognize truth when he him! Pilot was looking Jesus right in the face! And he asked Jesus: what is truth?

I’m glad we are not living in the same darkness as Pilot! We have the Bible as our eternal road map! Something pilot didn’t have! This brings us back to our question: how can we really know God’s eternal values?

the answer is a lot easier and closer than you think! God gives every man a conscience, a spirit and a soul.

our conscience troubles us when we engage or participate in things we know are wrong. Who gave you that conscience? God did.

your spirit warns and nudges you of things invisible to the eye, or unknown to our senses. Where does such knowledge or information come from? Your spirit! Who gave you that spirit? God did

your soul trembles at the fear of death, hell, judgement or eternal punishments. It sets off the alarms in an unknown spiritual domain! Who gave you that soul? God did.

so here we have three witnesses, to guide, correct and warn us of God’s eternal truths and values!

this brings us to a dead end! All of these and more: can only lead you so far. They will awaken your understanding to a reality check, there is more to this life than the here and now, and what’s up ahead in the spiritual realm, is as scary as the torments of hell!

WHERE DO WE TURN FROM HERE?

We need a Savour! Guide, teacher, and protector! Who is armed with a truth that is eternal and all powerful as God himself! Someone who really knows! Who understands! And wants to help us! Who is as trustworthy as God himself! That person is Jesus Christ! There is no other!

but He cannot be found by way of knowledge. Higher education, church office, religion, denomination, voodoo, mysteries of the past, drugs, ancient origin or intellectual theologies.

there is only one way to contact him and get an answer. We must humble ourselves and pray, confessing our sins, asking him to forgive us of all our sins, ask him to teach us and lead us, through the uncharted waters of this life! the answer he will ALWAYS say is: read the Bible, I will meet you there, and be found of you, forever!

the very God that gave you, your conscience, spirit and soul, will use these same areas, to walk you through his word! You won’t need some religious denomination or “teacher”, to “fill-in” for God or his spirit!

i know God uses people. But God uses people to lead you to himself.

God doesn’t use people to lead you to their denomination. There are NO denominations in heaven. The saints who walked with God and were found faithful, will be there. Those who traded their Christainity, for church-ainity, or some other dead religion, will never be allowed into the kingdom of God!

However, in reading God’s word: the Bible, We cannot be selective of what scriptures we accept, because they fit our viewpoints. And ignore other verses.  Saying we do not understand them. When we probably DO understand them, we just do not like what they say! Ask Jesus to open your understanding on things you do not know.

 We cannot wear somebody’s glasses, tinted with somebody else’s opinion.   That is shaping the word of God, to fit our ideas.  God gave us his word, but he never gave any of it so we should ignore it! Or re-define it.

  The word of God like unto a puzzle. Each verse or thought is a single piece of the big pitcher! the more pieces we have rightly put together, the more we see of the big pitcher as God sees it! It would be silly to use two or three pieces of a large puzzle and build an empire on what we think the real picture is. And yet many today are doing just that! 

               I have met some very “interesting” people, who have done that! And it’s sad to say, some had made a total shipwreck of their lives, because of it!

 A balanced, and right understanding, of Gods holy word can only be realized when we accept ALL of Gods word, and not be selective, or translative, or have some denominational twist.

Every cult out there, would disappear, if its followers threw away their self-written religious books, and read the bible for themselves. In its entirety, without wrestling with the scripture!

The “Heaven’s gate” crowd, all committed suicide, to catch a free ride in a comet, supposing it would take them to heaven. Instead, they went to hell! If only they had read the word of God for themselves.

The Jim Jones crowd. 800 people, went to south America, and committed suicide. To get to heaven. Sad to say, none of them made it.  If only they had read the bible for themselves!

That California church, in San Diego, where all the members sold everything, they had, gave the money to the Church. And took busses to get them all to a hill top, where they were told Jesus was coming back.

Jesus did not come and get them, but the law did! Child Protection Service said they were destitute, homeless and negligent to their children. CPS took every child there. And arrested several of the leading adults. When they looked for the preacher, he was gone. And the church account left with him. A man who was there and went through that. Said he lost his home and everything to the church, his kids to the cps, and his wife left him.  He had no use for religion of any type. He hated churches.

I was in the navy, on a navel destroyer, having bible studies, praying with them, encouraging them. I was not the ships chaplain, because we didn’t have a chaplain. But the love of Christ compelled me to reach out. I was considered the un-official chaplain. They called me “Father Bryan”.  But This man hated churches and religion. And He hated Father Bryan. I saw him hanging around in the background. Always watching and listening. I wondered why he did not respond.  He just stayed on the outside. Then one day, he approached me and ask if I could talk with him few a minuet. He told me his story.  It took a lot of Gods grace for him to heal and recover. It took a lot of time and patience. But the great day came, when the nudging on his heart was satisfied, when he asked Christ to come into his heart!  The hardest light he fought to receive, was the whole story was his fault! If he had read the word of God for himself, he would have seen right through that scam! But he blamed God for what he himself had done. He neglected the word of God and listened to others.

 But I tell you, the day came when he accepted it, and quit blaming God. Started reading the bible for himself. And found God!

The solid rock of Jesus Christ is the very foundation upon which all the kingdom of God stands on!

If our understanding of the word of God is shallow, our faith will suffer because of it!

 But we must be willing to consider:

• Is the bible really what it says it is?
• Can I take off my preconceived ideas, and colored glasses?
• Will I reject what I have been formally taught by Hollywood and read the bible for myself.. To see what really happened?
• Am I willing to trust in the Character and integrity of God?
• Can I read the bible for myself? And accept it as such!

There are people whose lives have been so easy, they shaped their theology on their success. I call this:  magic carpet thinking.

Magic carpet thinking leads to magic carpet theolog! Shallow, lifeless, foolish, and dead.  They push their magic carpet ideas on others. But in the end of their lives, they will meet a suffering savior. Who will judge them for undermining the faith of others, and attacking the saint who tried to help them.

 Take note: these magic carpet people, read their bibles thru and thru, but allowed their perspective to shape their idea’s and theologies.  It would be very helpful, if pride wasn’t driving their motives!  Take off the colored glasses, don’t compare yourself to scripture, to see if the scripture is right! If there is a discrepancy, don’t change the scripture by interpreting it!  That’s foolishness in its finest.

Instead:  Compare the scripture to you! And see if you are right! If there is discrepancy, change your life! Not the scripture!

The right attitude about God and his word, will lead you straight into God’s eternal kingdom.

the wrong attitude about God and his word, will lead you into some dead religion, and eternally, hopelessly lost!

The light of the body is the eye!