Looking for His glorious appearing! Titus 2:13

Ye are Come Unto Mount Sion - Hebrews 12:22
May 17th, 2020
Morning MeditationF. B. Meyer
Categories: Commentary;Inspirational;Book Study

These poor Hebrew Christians, outcast from their Temple, and soon to see their beloved city vanish from the earth, were sore at heart. What a contrast was presented by the bare room in which they celebrated the simple supper and the splendid Temple with its magnificent rites! What a tiny rill their hymns were, compared with the mighty torrent of Temple psalmody! What a handful of worshippers, compared with the multitudes that congregated from all the world! Sometimes it seemed as though the contrast were unbearable.

Then said the Holy Ghost, lift up your eyes and see. Ye are not the lonely, isolated handful ye suppose. Every time you offer your prayer and sing your hymns ye are joining with the spirits of the perfected just, with numberless holy angels, and with vast multitudes in heaven and on earth who are ever adoring Christ. You climb the temple of Worship, of which the steps are prayers and the gates praise, and as you do so, on either hand go myriads of happy and holy spirits; and those surely are specially near whom you "have loved long since and lost awhile."

What special blessing these thoughts will bring to the bedridden, who for many years have not entered the courts of God's house; to the aged, and lonely, and exiled! We never worship God alone. As soon as we begin to pray, we say, Our Father which art in heaven, forgive our sins; give us our daily bread. We need not die to pass within thy gates, O Jerusalem, city of God! Already we tread thy golden pavement, and hear the music of the waters of life, and press to our wounds the leaves of thy tree.

The Preservation and Inspiration of the Scriptures
May 17th, 2020
Weekly CommentaryArt Sadlier
Categories: Exhortation;Commentary

When the eternal, sovereign Lord of the universe decided to communicate to man He did not ask man for his input. What He did do was to breathe upon men and inspire them to write what the Holy Spirit of God directed them to write. Paul said, “All scripture is given by inspiration of God…”

“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” (2 Peter 1:21).

When we come the preservation of God’s Word the Lord Himself assumes that responsibility. Matthew 5:18, “For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.” Matthew 24:35, “Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.”

Though men may add to and take away from God’s Word in their corrupted versions, God will preserve His Word.

It seems clear, at least to me, that the beginning of all error on the part of the Christian is the loss of a sense of the authority of God’s Word and the loss of confidence in it. To be unsure in your heart and mind what God has said is to end up in the swamp of uncertainty and confusion. Such a situation leads to the loss of the fear of God and failure to trust God implicitly and obey Him totally.

Confidence in the inspired text is essential to genuine faith which leads to victorious living. We live in an hour when multitudes of professing believers have lost confidence in the Word of God and are uncertain as to the accuracy of their Bibles. That in turn leads to a loss of confidence in the authority of God. If God cannot speak to us from His Word definitively, how can I stand in awe of Him and even trust Him. We get the idea that God is not as awesome as the scriptures have claimed Him to be.

As far as the English version of the scripture is concerned, the church has in the past unanimously accepted the King James Version as the preserved Word of God. That was obviously an act of the Spirit of God, as He moved upon hearts of multiplied millions of believers to do so.

For some time now men have been attacking the promise of preservation, re-translating  and modifying the scriptures by introducing a plethora of new versions. One of those new versions is advertised with following statement, “A translation you can believe in.”

No doubt the motivation was to sell this particular version and make big bucks; that is what is involved in printing and selling of Bibles. The printers of this particular version and many other new versions are secular companies and their purpose is profit. In order to copyright Bibles and sell them for a handsome profit you must add a percentage of your own intellectual input. Modern translations are a combination of God's Word and man's intellectual input. Man's itellectual input totally corrupts God's Word.

Consider the implications of the above statement. Poor God, He tried so hard but he couldn’t come up with a Bible that could be trusted. But never mind; we now have a man who can help God get it right, now after 2000 years we have a Bible we can believe in. If God hadn’t messed it all up, those believers of the last 2000 years could have had an accurate Bible they could have believed in. I guess God is not as smart as we thought He is; He couldn’t preserve His Word as He promised. That is what this man is actually saying and promoting, all Bibles up to now have been erroneous and not to be trusted. Do we need a version from such an ignorant source? Do we need a version from a man who does not believe God’s promise to preserve His Word? Do we need a version from a man who claims he can improve upon God’s Word?

Who is it that is given over to denying and twisting God’s Word, the answer is the Devil. Who is behind this discrediting of God’s Word, the answer is the same. At the very least you must admit that the devil is behind some of the new versions, some have glaring distortions of the truth of God’s Word. That waves a red flag concerning all the new versions.

Let me burden you with a few more of these promotions of new versions which leave us with the idea that God is dunce who needs some modern day money grubbing highly educated scholar to deliver God from His failure. Poor God, if only He had an education in our modern schools of theology. If only God had studied textual criticism. If only God was a popular, modern day Bible teacher, maybe He would have a following that would trust His Word as given by His Holy Spirit.

Here are some other examples:

“… in the clear and direct style of today’s language…gives new understanding to every page of scripture…” Pity all those believers who have not had this version in the past, they have not had a full understanding of the scriptures.

“Eight million copies in print confirm the value and appeal of this popular edition…”Now it’s a numbers game.

“…translated to make clear the Laws God gave His people…” That sure is an improvement on what God has failed to make clear. This man is bragging that in his version he has improved upon God’s Word as revealed in the past.

“Well-known Bible stories…take on new dimension in this lucid paraphrase…” This new version is apparently embellished by the translator. We are clearly warned in Revelation 22:19 not to add to or take away from the scriptures.

“Regain deep meaning.” The meaning comes by the enlightening of the Holy Spirit? If we have the Holy Spirit to reveal the meaning of God’s Word the translator should not mess with the work of the Spirit. We have translators playing the role of the Holy Spirit. They take the manuscripts and change them.

“…Brings new appreciation for these dramatic stories.” Who needs the Holy Spirit when men can give new appreciation to the scriptures? Throw away your old Bible and get this one and don’t depend on the Holy Spirit to teach you.

“…Becomes as recent as today’s news…” Apparently this new version does what other versions do not do. Now you can have a more comprehensive version of the Bible. As time passes the implication is that God’s Word becomes obsolete.

“…easy to read…presented simply, with keen insight.” What a shame that previous generations did not have this version. This version evidently, has insights not in the original Bible. Man has to add to God’s Word and embellish it? Too bad these men were not born in the first century. They could have helped God out considerably. Why couldn’t the Lord have given us such a Bible in the first place? No wonder our generation has lost the fear of God and confidence in His Word.

“…made easy to read and understand.” This is evidently a great improvement on the original Bible. The fact is that unless the Lord by His Spirit enlightens us we will not understand His Word. Understanding comes from God by the Holy Spirit.

“…a splendid translation of the scriptures, newly revised to give greater clarity and make it more understandable to today’s reader.” The poor Holy Spirit needs these men to do what He was sent to do. We read about the ministry of the Holy Spirit in John 16: 13, “Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come.” Is it any wonder the Holy Spirit is not active in the lives of so many believers?

“…The understandable, new translation that explains itself! Gives today’s reader a richer, fuller understanding.” How in the world did the body of Christ survive for two thousand years with a version that lacks understanding?

“…Gives today’s reader a richer, fuller understanding.” What marvelous men these new translators must be to do what God failed to do when He gave His Word to us.

Finally: “…the ultimate in readability…”

Again we see the ministry of the Holy Spirit has been usurped. We see the ministry of Christ to His own, which is today through the Holy Spirit, “And he said unto them, These are the words which I spake unto you, while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the psalms, concerning me. Then opened he their understanding, that they might understand the scriptures” (Luke 24:44-45).

With regard to the most popular of the new versions, the N.I.V., it is a fact that the chairman of the NIV Old Testament Translation Committee and one other prominent member were admittedly homosexual? That's no doubt one big reason the word "sodomite" does not appear in the NIV.

The real issue is the manuscripts that are used in the modern translations. Some scholars claim that they are using older manuscripts which must be more accurate because they are older. The fact is that these older manuscripts are manuscripts that were not approved by the early church and consequently set aside, and were preserved as a result of the lack of use. The manuscripts approved by the church were used and consequently deteriorated and destroyed and replaced. The older manuscripts are not better manuscripts but are spurious.

The Holy Spirit has a unique monopoly on the Divine revelation of the scriptures and on the preservation of the scriptures. We do not need new versions apart from the one that has been given to us and sanctioned by the church. We all desperately need to allow the Holy Spirit to enlighten us and move upon our proud hearts through His Word.   

My dear brothers and sisters in Christ, I humbly and respectfully suggest that you revisit this issue and give serious consideration to the whole matter of modern translations. This is larger issue than you may realize.