Fifteen Myths about Bible Translation

I love myth debunking- especially when it comes to “the word of God,” because so many religious organizations hold people in spiritual captivity by misappropriation of the “WORD.”

Fifteen Myths about Bible Translation.

Here is a great site that gives you a comparison chart to the versions of the Bible, including when each version came out:

Translation Comparison Chart

For a deeper look into what the “WORD” really is, see the chapter in my book, “The Voice of God Within” titled: “For the Bible Tells Me So.”

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Christ is Our Only Mediator

“For there is one God and one mediator between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus”
1 Timothy 2:4

One of the most saddest and frustrating things I see in the religious world today, is religion taking advantage of the good and sensitive souls that just want to please God. The Bible is so clear- CHRIST ALONE is our mediator. We can go to HIM ALONE!!! We need not go to ANY MAN- NO MAN!!!! Yet, so many, looking for a closer walk with God, naturally turn to “church” and assume that the people there in a religious setting must understand God better than themselves and slowly their freedom in Christ is stripped from them and replaced by the dogma and fear of men’s ideas of God- which, so many times, is no more than an ugly dictatorship.

Here is a documentary that chronicles such a teaching. Cultish teachings range from mild to extreme but they all have very common signs. If you read about them and study them, you can begin to recognize their tactics. If you are being held inside the grip of one, Christ wants to set you free. The ultimate message they use against people is they will not go to heaven, they will not be “good enough” if they leave, if they don’t do whatever they are being told to do. “FEAR FACTOR”- becomes their source of CONTROL.  They represent themselves to be the “mouth piece of God.”

Did you know that the gospel means, “GOOD NEWS”? The good news is that CHRIST is right beside you this very moment, and is listening  for your prayer. He alone  is the mediator- the one who connects us with God. You need not go into any building or to any man. You simply need to turn to, and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. Go to HIM ALONE! Watch this video and be amazed…

Lifting the Veil of Polygamy

 

Also see my post:  19 Cult Characteristics

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The Ultimate Lesson

I believe that the ultimate lesson in life is what we were born knowing, something that is innate, but that we lose sight of along the way; And that is-

We are not the teachers, but the students; We are not the masters but the rather, the subjects. Life is our teacher and God is our master- he gave us life, and ultimately, he will take it back. He is the only true master. 

Very simplistic, yet profound. How many fights would end, wars would cease, religions would fold if people would just take a real hold of this one basic truth.

The Bible says, “And now abides faith, hope and love; but the greatest of these is LOVE.”

“God is love.”

Think about it!

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Who Are You Lifting Up?

Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up,  that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him. (John 3: 14_15)

Jesus is referring to an old testament story of told in Numbers 21 of a time when the Israelites grew weary on their journey out of the land of Egypt and began to complain against God and Moses. The Bible says that God sent serpents that bit the people and many died. The people asked Moses to pray for them and when he did, God told Moses to take a pole and then to make a bronze snake to put at the end of it and set it up for the people. Then when one was bit by the snake, if they looked at the bronze snake lifted up on the pole, they lived.

So here, Jesus is likening himself to the bronze snake in the old testament. He is to be lifted up and when He is lifted up and people look to Him they will live. This is so important, and really so missed by religion.

Many times the pastor or dynamic speaker is lifted up, the bands and entertainment are lifted up, the religious doctrine is lifted up, the rules or the way a certain denomination holds things are lifted up, the works of a church are lifted up, the arguments of what is right and what is wrong are lifted up, etc . . . and CHRIST is lost in the background.  God has even witnessed to me that much of what goes on by way of  “praise” today are crowds gathering together and working themselves up into a frenzy shouting and getting “high on the moment” and not even realizing that Christ is not being lifted up at all, that the reality is, they are full of  themselves.

How will you know if you are lifting up Christ or not? Christ said himself- “And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.” John 12:32  Now here He is speaking of his crucifixion, however he states the purpose of lifting the Savior up is to draw all people to HIM! Its not just about saying his name either. Its about really seeking him with all your heart, reading his words, talking to him with a prayerful heart and listening to his leading in your life. Its about desiring to be a proper representative of him in this world, because when you say you are a follower of Jesus and you misrepresent him, you dishonor his precious name.

People wonder, why they are dying spiritually? Who is being lifted up in your life? Turn your eyes fully upon Jesus, lift him up in true praise and worship and you will come alive. This “alive” will be to the things of God- the souls he loves and wants to see healed, and to reconcile to himself. God sent Christ to seek and save the lost. God sent Christ to teach people the way of righteousness. God sent Christ to show us how to love each other. God sent Christ that whoever would believe in him would be saved – saved from sin and the condemnation, and separation from God that sin brings. God sent Christ because He loved us. He loved us so much he gave us himself in his Son Jesus Christ.

God help us daily to remember that Christ suffered horribly, was lifted up on a cruel and torching cross, that we who have been bitten by the serpent might be redeemed from an otherwise certain death. We need to keep our eyes on Christ alone. He is the one we worship. Not our pastors. Not our church affiliations. Not our reputation amongst “brethren.” But we lift up the Lord Jesus Christ, and when we do, we live and souls will be drawn to him.

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Remember to Whom You Belong

This morning I attended our neighborhood church service and the minister brought the thought that when ever you attend a court of law, you have both the one who stands for you and those who stand to oppose you. And so it is in the heavenly.  But when we are saved, Christ stands for us. We now have royal blood coursing through us and the Bible tells us in Romans 8:31, “What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? [33]  Who will bring a charge against God’s elect? God is the one who justifies;” If the king of all kings, and Lord of all Lords is standing on my behalf, who can stand against me? [34]  who is the one who condemns? Christ Jesus is He who died, yes, rather who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who also intercedes for us.” 

Again the Bible says in Romans 14:4 “Who are you to judge the servant of another? To his own master he stands or falls; and he will stand, for the Lord is able to make him stand.”

The popular saying goes, “You can please all of the people some of the time, and some of the people all of the time, but you can not please all of the people all of the time.”

So I would like to encourage you this morning by reminding you who you belong to when you belong to Christ.

“[F]or through Him we both have our access in one Spirit to the Father. So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints, and are of God’s household,   having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the corner stone, in whom the whole building, being fitted together, is growing into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also are being built together into a dwelling of God in the Spirit.” Ephesians 2:18-22

• You are the temple of God (1 Cor. 3:16)
• God has your name written in the palms of his hands. (Isaiah 49:16)
• You are God’s child (John 1:12)
• You can go to God in confidence. (Ephesians 3:12)
• You do not need to go to any man, but Christ alone. (1Timothy 2:5)
• King Jesus has made you all glorious within. (Psalms 45:13)
• No man can take you out of God’s hands. (John 10:27-29)
• You are free from all condemnation (Romans 8: 1-2)
• All your circumstances are working for your good. (Romans 8:28)
• Nothing can separate you from God’s love. (Romans 8:31-39)

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Why Are Ye So Fearful?

“Then he (Jesus) arose, and rebuked the winds and the sea; and there was a great calm . . . “

Why are ye so fearful,
oh ye of little faith?
Jesus flies upon the winds
and walks upon the seas;
He lifts the broken from the shards,
brings the pompous to their knees.

Why are ye so fearful,
oh ye of little faith?
Jesus passes through the fires,
and tromps on serpents heads;
The meek he strengthens by his power;
The proud he fills with dread.

Why are ye so fearful,
Oh ye of little faith?
Jesus has all power o’er all
and for all of eternity
So do  not fear little flock of God
What man can do to thee.

Written by Elizabeth A Van Cleve

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If Any Man Sin

My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.  1 John 2:1

Advocate: one that pleads, defends, maintains, supports, promotes the interest of another;

And the scribes and Pharisees brought unto him a woman taken in adultery; and when they had set her in the midst, They say unto him, Master, this woman was taken in adultery, in the very act. . .

When Jesus had lifted up himself, and saw none but the woman, he said unto her, Woman, where are those thine accusers? hath no man condemned thee? She said, No man, Lord. And Jesus said unto her, Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more.  (John 8)

And behold, some men carried in a bed with a man which was sick with the palsy: and they looked for a way to lay him before Jesus, but they could not find a way to bring him because of the multitudes, so they went up onto the housetop and lowered him down right in front of Jesus. And when he saw their faith, he said unto him, Man, thy sins are forgiven thee.

And the scribes and the Pharisees began to reason within themselves, saying, Who is this which speaks blasphemies? Who can forgive sins but God alone? But when Jesus perceived their thoughts, he answered them saying, What is this that you are reasoning about in your hearts? Which is easier to say? Your sins are forgiven you or to say, Rise up and walk? But to the intent that you now understand that the Son of man has power upon earth to forgive sins, (and he said unto the sick of palsy,) I say unto you, arise, and pick up your bed and go your house. And immediately he rose up before them, and picked up the bed that he was laying upon and departed to his own house, glorifying God. (Luke 5)

Is any sick among you? let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord: And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him. (James 5:14-15)

And behold, a woman in the city, which was a sinner, when she knew that Jesus sat to eat in the Pharisee’s house, brought an alabastar box of perfumed ointment, and stood at Jesus feet behind him weeping, and began to wash his feet with her tears, and to wipe them with the hairs of her head, and kissed his feet, and anointed them with the ointment.

Now the Pharisee which had invited him saw it, HE said within himself, if this man were a prophet, he would have known who and what manner of woman is touching him; for she is a sinner.
And Jesus aswered him saying, “Simon, I have something to say to you.”
And he said, “Master, go ahead.”
And Jesus said to him, “There was a certain creditor which had two debtors: One owed him five hundred dollars and the other fifty. But when they had nothing to pay him he gratiously forgave them both their debt. Now you tell me, which of the two will love him the most?”
Simon answered and said, “I suppose the one whom he forgave the most.”
And he said unto him, “You have judged rightly.”
Then Jesus turned toward the woman and said unto Simon, “See this woman? I entered into your house and you gave me no water to wash my feet: but she has washed my feet with tears, and wiped them with the hairs of her head.
You gave me no kiss, but this woman since the time I came in has not ceased to kiss my feet. You did not anoint my head with oil, but this woman has anointed my feet with precious oinment.
For this cause I say unto you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven; for she loved much: But to whom little is forgiven, the same loves little.”
And he said unto her, “Your sins are forgiven…your faith has saved you. Go in peace.”

And it happened, while Jesus sat eating in the house, behold, many tax collectors and sinners came and sat with him and his disciples.
And when the Pharisees saw it, they said to his disciples, “Why does your Master eat with tax collectors and sinners?”
But when Jesus heard that, he said to them, “They that are whole have no need of a physcian, but rather they that are sick.
But you go and learn what this means, ‘I will have mercy, and not sacrifice:’ For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. (Matt 9)

And one of the evil doers which were hanged with him, railed on him saying, “if you are the Christ, save yourself and us.”

But the other one rebuked him, saying, “Do you not fear God? Seeing you are in the same comdemnation? And we indeed justly are receving our due reward for our deeds: but this man has done nothing amiss.”
And he said to Jesus, “Lord, remember me when you come into your kingdom”
And Jesus said to him, “Truly I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise.”

Come every soul by sin oppressed
There is mercy with the Lord
And He will surely give you rest
By trusting in His word

For Jesus shed His precious blood
Rich blessings to bestow;
Plunge now into the crimson flood
That washes white as snow.

~J. Stockman

There is no shame to admit when you sin. Jesus paid the price for sin. It is okay to tell him when you feel lost. For Jesus came to seek and save the lost. Christ said, “For God so LOVED the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever beleiveth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. (John 3:16-18)

The world is already under condemnation. Christ came not to condemn it but to seek and save those that would be saved. Jesus is our saviour, our friend, our advocate. We need only to go to Him.

“My little children, I write unto you that you sin not, and IF ANY MAN SIN, we have an advocate ~ JESUS CHRIST THE RIGHTEOUS!”

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Famous Quotes From Dictators

Sometimes its good to study the tactics of the enemy- his greatest weapon to bring people into bondage is FEAR! But God does not want us to be entangled with the yoke of bondage. He wants us to cast out fear. Fear has torment.  God wants us to be FREE in him. Listen to what Christ said to his disciples:

And when they were come to Capernaum, they that received tribute money came to Peter, and said, Doth not your master pay tribute? He saith, Yes. And when he was come into the house, Jesus prevented him, saying, What thinkest thou, Simon? of whom do the kings of the earth take custom or tribute? of their own children, or of strangers? Peter saith unto him, Of strangers. Jesus saith unto him, Then are the children free. Matthew17: 24-26

Nevertheless what saith the scripture? Cast out the bondwoman and her son: for the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with the son of the freewoman. So then, brethren, we are not children of the bondwoman, but of the free. Galatians 4:30-31

Famous Dictator Quotes:
I believe today that my conduct is in accordance with the will of the Almighty Creator.~Adolf Hitler

“The oppressed peoples can liberate themselves only through struggle. This is a simple and clear truth confirmed by history.” – Kim Il-Sung

“Within a system which denies the existence of basic human rights, fear tends to be the order of the day. Fear of imprisonment, fear of torture, fear of death, fear of losing friends, family, property or means of livelihood, fear of poverty, fear of isolation, fear of failure. A most insidious form of fear is that which masquerades as common sense or even wisdom, condemning as foolish, reckless, insignificant or futile the small, daily acts of courage which help to preserve man’s self-respect and inherent human dignity. It is not easy for a people conditioned by fear under the iron rule of the principle that might is right to free themselves from the enervating miasma of fear. Yet even under the most crushing state machinery courage rises up again and again, for fear is not the natural state of civilized man.”― Aung San Suu Kyi, Freedom from Fear

“Withholding information is the essence of tyranny. Control of the flow of information is the tool of the dictatorship.” ― Bruce Coville

“Time and time again does the pride of man influence his very own fall. While denying it, one gradually starts to believe that he is the authority, or that he possesses great moral dominion over others, yet it is spiritually unwarranted. By that point he loses steam; in result, he falsely begins trying to prove that unwarranted dominion by seizing the role of a condemner.” ― Criss Jami, Salomé: In Every Inch In Every Mile

“When we’re afraid, we lose all sense of analysis and reflection. Our fear paralyzes us. Besides, fear has always been the driving force behind all dictators’ repression.”
― Marjane Satrapi, Persepolis

“The true essence of a dictatorship is in fact not its regularity but its unpredictability and caprice; those who live under it must never be able to relax, must never be quite sure if they have followed the rules correctly or not.”
― Christopher Hitchens, Hitch-22: A Memoir

“The lesson we are indebted to Egypt for, our future generations learned that in the face of oppression silence is never golden.”
― Aysha Taryam,

“Dictatorship, by whatever name, is founded on the doctrine that the individual amounts to nothing; that the State is the only one that counts; and that men and women and children were put on earth solely for the purpose of serving the state.”
― Harry S. Truman

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A Place Prepared For Us

We are living in a world where the word of God is being challenged, twisted and disregarded on every hand. The disrespect shown for God is having an effect on every soul. Just as the people of Sodom and Gomorrah vexed the righteous soul of Lot everyday by their ungodly ways and blatant opposition to the principles of God, so are we vexed by the spirit that is in the world. But we must battle. We are called to be soldiers in the army of Jesus Christ. We fight a spiritual battle against spiritual wickedness in high places. (Ephesians 6:12)

To fight and win we must be on our knees before God often. Daniel openly prayed three times a day while in captivity in a heathen land. Christ prayed often before his disciples and alone. He prayed before his greatest trial- the crucifixion,  with such earnestness that great drops of blood fell like sweat from his brow. (Luke 22:44)

Shortly after this prayer, he was taken captive and led away by a band of soldiers. All of his close friends, the disciples, forsook him. Only Peter was brave enough to follow afar off. But when recognized as one of his disciples, fear took hold and faith gave way and he denied that he even knew Christ, cursing as he did.

Yet Christ warned all of his disciples afore time. In the garden before he went off to pray he told them, “Pray, that ye enter not into temptation.” (Luke 22:40)

Christ could not have endured the cross, if he had forsaken those hours of prayer. The disciples may have stood in his defense if they had listened to the commandment of Christ and prayed earnestly with him.

Immediately following his prayer in Gethsemane, Christ was led away by soldiers and taken and mocked, ridiculed and severley abused. They smote him, laughed at him, spit upon him. All of his closest friends left him alone to deal with is all. What a horrible trial to face. But as I read this morning of this account in Luke 22, I am struck by some of the first words Christ gives in answer to their mockings:

“And as soon as it was day, the elders of the people and the chief priests and the scribes came together, and led him into their council, saying, Art thou the Christ? tell us. And he said unto them, If I tell you, ye will not believe: And if I also ask you, ye will not answer me, nor let me go. Hereafter shall the Son of man sit on the right hand of the power of God.“ (Luke 22:66-69)

Christ was completely alone and multitudes were against him, even Kings and religious authorities. Yet His faith did not fail him. He knew that he had a place prepared of His Father for Him, and no matter what all the world accused Him of, He did not back down on who He was nor the authority He held. He fought the battle on His knees in Gethsemane and won! Now it was just a matter of going through.

Sometimes it is easy to just read through the scriptures and gather a little comfort from years passed. But lets bring this home- today.

How the world is mocking the people of God. Religious hypocrites abound and at times are the worse persecutors of a true Christian.

Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts, And saying, Where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation. (1Peter 3:3-4)

Is not this just how it is today? People are mocking God and disregarding Christ as just another prophet of old, and they are challenging our faith and belief in Christ on every hand. This is the majority of the world around us. When we witness that we are a child of God, we hear such things as, “Well everyone is a child of God.” When we say that we have been saved from sin and changed to a saint we are told, “You think you are the only ones going to heaven. You think you are holier than anyone else.” No desire to understand and know Christ, but, instead, a mockery, trying to breakdown our faith.  These are “swine-spirits”, trampling our testimony under their feet and then turning again to tear us apart.  (Matt. 7:6)

And like Christ, our only desire for them, is that they would be saved and make heaven their home. That they would partake with us of the beautiful Lamb of God.

In John 14 Christ has a very special message for us in these very unstable and troubling times;

“Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.” (John 14:1-3)

He wanted us to know, as He also knew, that there is a place prepared for us, beyond this world. He wanted us to know, that he is going to prepare that place for us. It took Him dying on the cross to prepare a place for us. It took the cruel mockings, beatings and horrible torcher that He suffered on the cross, to prepare that place for us. And he was telling His disciples and all who follow Him, “If I go to prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.”

Isn’t that so precious? Christ has prepared a place for us. Let us lift up our voice to Him in praise. Let us see with our spiritual eyes, that wonderful home prepared for us by the LORD JESUS CHRIST himself, and let us pray always, that we would be kept from the hour of temptation. It is so needful that we keep this vision in view. This world is not our home. We are just passing through.

The battle is won on our knees. Christ was our perfect example of that. And He stood, confident, though forsaken by all, that he had a place prepared for him. We too, though forsaken by all, can stand confident in our position before God and that we have a place prepared with our personal name on it.  If we just keep praying, today and always, “Lord, not my will, but thine be done . . . keep me this day from all evil . . . let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in thy sight . . .”

May God bless you!

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The Great I AM!

Tonight I read from the Bible that God says, “I AM . . .”

I AM THAT I AM. Ex. 3:14

I am the Almighty God. Gen. 17:1

I am thy shield, and thy exceeding great reward. Gen. 15:1

I am with thee, and will bless thee. Gen. 26:24

I am with thee, and will keep thee in all places whither thou goest. Gen 28:15

I am the LORD that healeth thee. Ex. 15:26

I am the LORD that doth sanctify you. Ex. 31:13

I am the LORD your God, which have separated you from other people. Lev. 20:24

I am holy. Lev. 11:44

I am God, even thy God. Ps. 50:7

I am the rose of Sharon, and the lily of the valleys. Song 2:1

I am the LORD: that is my name: and my glory will I not give to another. Is. 42:8

I am the first, and I am the last; and beside me there is no God.. Is. 44:6

I am the LORD that maketh all things; Is. 44:24

I am the LORD, and there is none else, there is no God beside me: Is. 45:5

I am God, and there is none like me,Is. 46:9

I am the LORD thy God which teacheth thee to profit, which leadeth thee by the way that thou shouldest go. Is. 48:17

I am he that doth speak: behold, it is I. Is. 52:6

I am with thee to deliver thee. Jeremiah 1:8

I am merciful, saith the LORD, and I will not keep anger for ever. Jeremiah 3:12

I am married unto you: Jeremiah 3:14

I am the LORD which exercise lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness, in the earth: for in these things I delight, saith the LORD. Jer. 9:24

I am with thee, saith the LORD, to save thee: Jer. 30:11

I am the LORD, the God of all flesh: is there any thing too hard for me? Jer. 32:27

I am the LORD: I will speak, and the word that I shall speak shall come to pass; Ez. 12:25

I am God, and not man; the Holy One in the midst of thee: Hosea 11:9

I am the LORD your God, and none else: and my people shall never be ashamed. Joel 2:27

For I am the LORD, I change not; Mal. 3:6

I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. Matt9:13

I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. Matt 11:29

I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Matt. 28:20

I am that bread of life. Jn. 6:48

I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life. Jn. 8:12

I am from above: . . .I am not of this world. Jn. 8:23

I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved. Jn. 10:9

I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly. Jn. 10:10

I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep. Jn. 10:11

I am the good shepherd, and know my sheep, and am known of mine. Jn. 10:14

I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: Jn. 11:25

I am the way, the truth, and the life Jn. 14:6

I am in the Father, and the Father in me. Jn 14:10

I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death. Rev. 1:18

I am he which searcheth the reins and hearts: and I will give unto every one of you according to your works. Rev. 2:23

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. Rev. 1:8

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