Newsletter Vol.2, #6—February 5, 2006

 
 

Matthew 7 26And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. 27And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it."

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
 

Age Old Sayings of Complacency

By Bob W. Lovelace

We often speak of "age old philosophies" in the context of their being man's flimsy excuses wherein he justifies himself in ungodliness. Paul asked some questions of the church at Rome. He said, "What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? [2] God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?" (Rom.6:1-2). It appears that there were some in the church at Rome who despised the riches of God's goodness, and his patience and longsuffering which was intended to lead to repentance and obedience (Cf. Rom.2:4). Could this "saying" have been included in the flattering speech that deceived the simple in the church at Rome? (Cf. Rom.16:17-18).

Here is another question: "Is God unjust who inflicts wrath?" (Rom.3:5). Paul says, "I speak as a man." What kind of man would charge God with being unjust for judging evil? Of course we can see that Paul had been accused of being such a man when he was not.

And yet another is found in Romans 3:8, "And why not say, 'Let us do evil that good may come?'"

None of the above has any value in justifying the wicked, nor do they detract from the fact that God requires obedience (Cf. Rom.6:3, 16-18).

Solomon said there is nothing new under the sun. So, let's go back and look  through the history of the Bible for such sayings of complacency.

From Job the oldest of books in the Bible:

Job 21:14-15 Therefore they say unto God, Depart from us; for we desire not the knowledge of thy ways. [15] What is the Almighty, that we should serve him? and what profit should we have, if we pray unto him?

 

Question: What kind of man would say that? Read Job 21 and let Job tell you about the wicked rich who spend their days in wealth, and in a moment go down to the grave.

From the book of Psalms:

Psalm 10:11-13 He hath said in his heart, God hath forgotten: he hideth his face; he will never see it. [12] Arise, O Lord; O God, lift up thine hand: forget not the humble. [13] Wherefore doth the wicked contemn God? he hath said in his heart, Thou wilt not require it.

Question: What kind of person would say this? I suggest that you read verses 2 and 6 which go along with verse 13. The wicked full of pride who persecuted the poor and plotted against the righteous.

Psalm 14:1 “The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God. ..."

Question: What kind of man? The fool!

From the book of Isaiah:

Isaiah 5:19. That say, Let him make speed, and hasten his work, that we may see it: and let the counsel of the Holy One of Israel draw nigh and come, that we may know it!

Question: What kind? The ones addressed with, "Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!" (5:20). In this chapter we find those who spent many hours drinking, who justified the wicked for a bribe, and who robbed the righteous of justice. They asked for judgment and it was coming!

From the book of Jeremiah:

Here we find that "sayings of complacency" are often self contradicting. In other words they will say they are not what they said exactly that they were. Watch this!

Jeremiah 2:23 How canst thou say, I am not polluted, I have not gone after Baalim? see thy way in the valley, know what thou hast done: thou art a swift dromedary traversing her ways;

Now compare ~ Jeremiah 2:25 Withhold thy foot from being unshod, and thy throat from thirst: but thou saidst, There is no hope: no; for I have loved strangers, and after them will I go.

Question: What kind? The kind who prove they are liars and do not really care what they say. The ones that will say whatever they think they need to say to get by for that moment!               To be continued

 

Biblical Reliability

Dudley Ross Spears

How reliable is the Bible? How do we know it is truly the word of God? What evidence is there that justifies our respect for and allegiance to the Book? In this installment, we will consider the things that prove the Bible to be a reliable revelation of the mind of God to the world.

“The Word Lives and Abides Forever”

Peter wrote to Christians who had been born again “not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever” (1 Pet.1:23). He added, “But the word of the Lord endureth for ever. And this is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you” (1 Pet.1:25). Jesus said, “Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall never pass away” (Matt. 24:35). The Psalmist wrote, “Thy word is true from the begin­ning: and every one of thy righteous judgments endureth for ever” (Psalm 119:160).

The Bible is the one and only book revealing God’s word to the world. Others have made pious claims to being divine revelation but all have been abundantly shown to be fraudulent. Probably the most infamous of all is The Book of Mormon. In the first part of the Mormon document is a flat denial of the reliability of the Bible.

The Book or Mormon reads,

“Neither will the Lord God suffer that the Gentiles shall forever remain in that awful state of blindness, which thou beholdest they are in, because of the plain and most precious parts of the gospel of the Lamb which have been kept back by that abominable church, whose formation thou hast seen. Behold, saith the Lamb of God, after I have visited the remnant of the house of Israel--and this remnant of whom I speak is the seed of thy father--wherefore, after I have visited them in judgment, and smitten them by the hand of the Gentiles, and after the Gentiles do stumble exceedingly, because of the most plain and precious parts of the gospel of the Lamb which have been kept back by that abominable church, which is the mother of harlots, saith the Lamb” (1 Nephi 13:32-35).

Joseph Smith, Jr., whose work is pure plagiarism, had to put this in the Mormon book to set the stage for a “latter day revelation.” His false assumption is that the Bible has become corrupt through the efforts of Catholicism. He means the Catholic Church when he speaks of that “abominable church.”

The plain passage Smith’s book, The Book of Mormon, contradicts is as follows: “The words of the LORD are pure words: as silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times. Thou shalt keep them, O LORD, thou shalt preserve them from this generation for ever” (Psalm 12:6-7).

Jeremiah was commanded to write all of God’s denunciations against Israel. The prophet sent Baruch, who served as penman for the words, to go before Jehoiakim and read the scroll. The reaction of Jehoiakim is recorded as follows:

“Now the king sat in the winterhouse in the ninth month: and there was a fire on the hearth burning before him. And it came to pass, that when Jehudi had read three or four leaves, he cut it with the penknife, and cast it into the fire that was on the hearth, until all the roll was consumed in the fire that was on the hearth” (Jer.6:23).

In the apocryphal book of 1 Maccabees, there is a record of Antiochus IV who made it a capital offense even to possess a copy of the Old Testament records. He gathered all he could find and burned them -- but we still have the Old and New Testaments.

The Bible is the one and only book that could possibly stand the test to which it has been put. No other book could survive such efforts to destroy it. The old book is reliable and true.

One of the enemies of the Bible was Jean Jacques Rousseau. He confessed, “I must confess to you that the majesty of the scriptures astonishes me; if it had been the invention of man, the invention would have been greater than the greatest heroes.”