I probably won’t keep posting these, but they’re so useful I want to make sure people get the word. Our youtube channel is wholebible if you want to bookmark it. This video is on Reintroducing Whole Bible Christianity. If you’ve been reading the book you’ll notice right away that it provides much of the text for these videos. Just another format to get the word out about the Word.
Shalom
From the book Whole Bible Christianity chapter 9 Whole Bible Instruction section titled “Do What Jesus Did”
Then the devil took him to the holy city and set him on the pinnacle of the temple and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down, for it is written, “ ‘He will command his angels concerning you,’ and “ ‘On their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone.’ ” Jesus said to him, “Again it is written, ‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.’ ” (Matthew 4:5–7, ESV)
Guideline four here might be a little more obvious if we realize that the word “put” is the same word as “test.” Literally, “test God with a test.” And testing is exactly what we think it is. We do not make God prove Himself with tests of our own making. This is what the deceiver was trying to get Jesus to do by throwing Himself off of the Temple. Testing like this includes a lack of belief and even outright disobedience. The Satan quoted parts of Scripture (he’s skilled at part-Bible doctrine) and Jesus responds with the missing sections.
16“You shall not put the Lord your God to the test, as you tested Him at Massah. 17“You should diligently keep the commandments of the Lord your God, and His testimonies and His statutes which He has commanded you. (Deuteronomy 6:16-17 NASB95)
Israel “tested” God at Massah (a word that means “test”) by moaning and complaining about the lack of water, and faulting God for failing to provide. They were questioning whether God was present, and disobedience followed. Instead, they should’ve had patience and trusted that God would not have led them to that place without providing water.
7He named the place Massah and Meribah because of the quarrel of the sons of Israel, and because they tested the Lord, saying, “Is the Lord among us, or not?” (Exodus 17:7 NASB95)
In effect, they were saying that God couldn’t or wouldn’t follow through. That implied either He was too dumb to know they needed water or was deliberately messing with them. They were saying that God did something wrong on purpose. They made up a fault in God and were using that to remove Him from the throne and put themselves in His place. Testing God in this way is nothing more than high-handed disobedience, and shows we do not trust God’s Word. When we test Him with a test of our own making, it is because we are afraid He won’t live up to His Word. Or that we want to use a perceived failure of the test for an excuse to go our own way.
A different kind of test is laid out for us in Malachi. This testing is approved by God.
10“Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, so that there may be food in My house, and test Me now in this,” says the Lord of hosts, “if I will not open for you the windows of heaven and pour out for you a blessing until it overflows. (Malachi 3:10 NASB95)
The testing mentioned here is within the bounds of obedience, as in “obey the Lord, and in so doing test Him and see that His Word is true. He will deliver as He promised.” We don’t test God by disobedience; we test Him by trusting His Word and obeying it.
When we decide on our own to switch the Sabbath to another day, this is also testing God with a test. He doesn’t immediately (or apparently) zap us, so we think we’re okay. Then we go on to break other laws. If we eat bacon and don’t drop dead we keep eating. We presume on His grace, making it cheaper. Then we compound our sin by sharing the results of the test with others. We encourage them to test Him in a sinful way also. It just keeps getting worse and worse. Either we stick with the whole of His Word, carefully and exactly, as Jesus did, or we test Him to justify our own knowledge and pride. I think I’ll pick the testing of obedience, myself.
Shalom
There are no specific obscenity laws in the Scripture. Perhaps that’s one reason modern society feels free to define it any way they choose. And the frequent choice is there is no obscenity. Everything is fine. Public nudity, sex in movies, jamming the homosexual lifestyle choice down everybody’s throat, foul language, baby killing, pornography in campaign videos and every place else they can get away with it – it seems nothing is clean anymore.
I’m no angel when it comes to some related issues. I’ve been known to cuss a blue streak when I hit my thumb with a hammer or I’m talking about the latest liberal pile of smelly stuff. I like a good action movie. And I don’t think we should necessarily go around telling people to stop watching R rated movies or give up their subscription to NFL Sunday Ticket.
I can’t tell though if it is that unclean things are getting more invasive and bold, or if I’m just getting more sensitive to it. Could be both. Maybe, in part, I’m just growing up a little more. The more I read the living Word, the more I try to put it everywhere in my life, the more worldly things bother me. I think that’s the way it’s supposed to be. That’s why we affirm whole Bible Christianity and try to reach people with it instead of preaching at them to give up their favorite things. Get the Word into them, and there’s no room for anything else.
In a little way then I suppose I have a partial responsibility for some of what is out there because I don’t preach fire and brimstone. But it has gone way too far. So in my personal life I am starting to fight back. It’s not just obscenity. It’s also the many people who are actively working against biblical values in entertainment and politics. I’m especially tired of all the profanity and perverted themes in music, TV, movies and political campaigns. Particularly music, because we play songs more often than watch particular movies or vote.
Apparently there are many who think like I do. I found it hilarious that most of this summer’s biggest bombs at the box office had liberal themes. I’m just rolling on the floor laughing now that Matt Damon is king of the box office flops. He is taking over for the second place George Cloony. Maybe Hollywierd is getting the picture that most of us are tired of them smashing liberal lies into our faces.
So to fight back I’m not buying any of the products. I won’t go to a movie if it’s got filth for filth’s sake. If I get a chance to vote on a law against it I will do so. I’ve stopped buying cable TV and use subscription services from the internet. I won’t buy the music that glorifies sex and gratuitous violence. I refuse to purchase movie tickets for the dreck that passes as entertainment. We bagged some door hangers recently for our school board election (though my kids are grown and my grandkids are home schooled), and I am helping make a database for calling conservatives to get out and vote. The candidates might not be perfect, but we can keep trying.
If you are tired of it too, fight back. Get the Word inside of you. Read it and do it. Take His diet recommendations, change your holidays, rest on Sabbath, and use those as steps for learning more mercy, justice, and compassion. Share from the Word as much as you can, mostly with actions. This is the main thing. The emphasis is on what you do, not trying to jump on others about what they do. Get involved in the Word, then let that motivate you to get involved in your local politics. Help find candidates that will stand up for the values you’ve been given from God. There are more of us than there are of them, and if we all get together we can maybe change things for the better. Probably not, because the world is going to hell in a handbasket and it won’t be dissuaded from it’s ordained goals. But I can fight back a little wherever I can. The world might insist on going down the tubes, but it won’t be because I stood by and didn’t try to stop it.
Whoops. When numbering these distractions, I got distracted. So I posted part four before this one. Sorry. Your fingers aren’t lying to you. And there’s no secret code to it either.
A Bible code is supposed to be some hidden message in the text that we find by looking at every third letter in a sentence, or the first word in a line or something like that. Put all the letters together with some involved math and allegedly they impart secret information. This information is supposed to reveal things like the plot to assassinate certain leaders or natural disasters.
It is kind of interesting that you can do this with the original languages of the Bible. It’s also interesting that you can do it with just about any writing. The system depends on looking for certain words or names to start with. For instance, if you want to search for “Reagan” you can find the name. But if you don’t start with something you want to find, you can’t find it. Hmm. Sounds like the approach non-believers use to reject the Bible message. They start with the assumption that God is a meany, and surprise surprise they find their proof when they selectively look at certain texts separated from context. Or separated from common sense for that matter.
They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart. (Ephesians 4:18, ESV)
The problem I have with the distraction of Bible codes is that while interesting they don’t mean anything. People who love these codes spend so much time on the puzzle of the letters that they don’t have time to read (or follow) the plain language. They spend more time looking for alleged codes than they do in reading the message and doing what it says. People who preach the codes also seem to avoid preaching the plain meaning of the Word. It seems that people become experts in codes and other distractions only to lose the Bible message in the chatter.
“For this commandment that I command you today is not too hard for you, neither is it far off. It is not in heaven, that you should say, ‘Who will ascend to heaven for us and bring it to us, that we may hear it and do it?’ Neither is it beyond the sea, that you should say, ‘Who will go over the sea for us and bring it to us, that we may hear it and do it?’ But the word is very near you. It is in your mouth and in your heart, so that you can do it. (Deuteronomy 30:11–14, ESV)
God caused His words to be written down in plain language easily understood by anyone. There are a number of messages from Him that He wants us to get. They are not hidden, except to a heart of stone hardened to the desire to follow them. I suggest becoming expert in those messages first. I think you’ll find they will occupy your time so well that you don’t have time for shiny baubles like Bible codes.
“For the Lord GOD does nothing without revealing his secret to his servants the prophets. (Amos 3:7, ESV)
Some might’ve freaked out a little at our last post on reading the whole Bible. Jesus lost some disciples when He spoke of this concept too. So here’s a short explanation of what we think Jesus means by “eating His body and drinking His blood.”
Jesus describes the new covenant in the gospel of John in a different way. He calls it “eating (His) flesh and drinking (His) blood.”
53Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you. 54Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day. 55For my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. 56He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me, and I in him. 57As the living Father hath sent me, and I live by the Father: so he that eateth me, even he shall live by me. 58This is that bread which came down from heaven: not as your fathers did eat manna, and are dead: he that eateth of this bread shall live for ever. (John 6:53-58 KJV)
Remember, this was said at a time when there was no New Testament. You might think Jesus is talking about a so-called sacrament here. But the Protestant crackers and grape juice ceremony hadn’t been created. Neither had the mystical wafer the Catholics favor. It isn’t the feast of Passover or Unleavened Bread (1 Corinthians 10:16), and He’s not saying we should nibble His fingers, or tap His main artery like Dracula. There is life in His flesh and blood, but He doesn’t mean the tissue and corpuscles (although we could argue that point).
63“It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing; the words that I have spoken to you are spirit and are life. (John 6:63 NASB95)
All Jesus is talking about is consuming God’s Words for our souls like we do food for our bodies. Not such an odd concept. Jeremiah (Jeremiah 15:16) Ezekiel (Ezekiel 3) and John (Revelation 10:9) did it. Our new hearts of flesh are fed by the Word and it’s pumped to our limbs for action. This ‘reading and doing’ (hear or see and obey) the whole of the Word is the basis of whole Bible Christianity. His Words – all of them – are His body and blood. It’s not just the words in red that we colored in later. The word ‘obey’ is pretty much the same as ‘abide’ or ‘remain’ and goes along with “hear and see,” and “eat and drink His blood.” Life comes with abiding in God’s Word (John 6:35).
The Law is part of His body and blood. Real communion is to hear and follow. Salvation is faith in action – to hear, obey, abide, and exchange our ways of death for God’s Way of Life. To abide in His love through His Word. Jesus isn’t talking about a picnic, or mystic wafers and wine. He is talking about obedience.
‘Whole Bible Christianity’ chapter 1 section on The Believer’s Daily Bread
The third time eating and drinking the whole of His body and blood from cover to cover will be even better. You will add depth to your realization that God is always in control, and you are His child not because of what you believe but because you love Him and can’t imagine leaving. You will know He loves you too, and will continue to guide you and bring forth fruit from within you, sometimes even when you don’t realize it. Connections between all of the previously misunderstood sections will become clearer. As His Word works its way through your heart, mind and literally your muscles and body parts, filling and changing you, you will wonder how you were making it in life before when you were so deaf, dumb, and blind.
Reading, and re-reading, doing and adding to our doing, over and over again, is all part of the salvation process. The more you read, the more you will understand. The more you act, the more you will understand. This is called being filled with the Word or “knowledge of His will” (Colossians 1:9-12). As your understanding grows, then teach it to others. Sooner or later (hopefully sooner) the Law (a.k.a. all of the Word) will be written on your heart, and you will know it and do it without having to be told. But keep reading and doing and teaching. This is love in action – love for God, and love for each other.
4“Hear, O Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord is one! 5“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. 6“These words, which I am commanding you today, shall be on your heart. 7“You shall teach them diligently to your sons and shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise up. 8“You shall bind them as a sign on your hand and they shall be as frontals on your forehead. 9“You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates. (Deuteronomy 6:4-9 NASB95. See also Deuteronomy 11:19)
‘Whole Bible Christianity’ chapter 9 The Stages of Whole Bible Reading
The second time through the Bible you will have a changed perspective. Many of the sections you struggled with before will start to become clearer. This is because the larger cubbyholes can handle more of what He’s trying to get across to you. The cubbyholes will also be arranged better, in more God-centered ways. You will remember a little better, and you will see connections between sections of the Word that you didn’t see before. This second time through the Bible might scare you a little, because you are getting better at taking God at His Word. You may doubt your salvation a little, because His standard will seem so much higher than you can reach. The fear of God at some point will become sharper and more defined. You will wince when some unbeliever uses His name in vain or an alleged believer speaks things that aren’t in the Word. Stay calm, focus on the Word, and brace yourself for the third time through.
The first time reading through the whole book, there will be sections you do not understand. They won’t seem to have a place in your daily living. Trust me (better yet, trust God) they will eventually make sense. What is happening is that as you read and do, your frame of reference, your worldview and the cubbyholes in your brain that you’ve been using to store information are getting enlarged and rearranged. The first time through (remember, with the determination to do what you read) is the toughest. You will stop and start and retrace your steps a lot. You will ask a lot of questions. Just be patient and give yourself time to absorb it.
‘Whole Bible Christianity’ chapter 9 section on The Stages of Whole Bible Reading
Some people say lots of reading is too hard. They can’t grasp it all. There is a preference for only doing a few verses at a time and “covering them in depth.” Based on tons of experience, my opinion is this attitude is smoke and mirrors. The real reason we don’t want to do a lot of reading is we don’t want to hear His voice. Then we’d have to do something about it – either move towards Him or away.
What does examining a few verses in-depth really mean? How many times have you read a section over and over, only to find out after years of “in-depth” study there was something you missed? How many centuries have been devoted to “in-depth” analysis and commentary, and we ignore Him still? If we really want to understand the Word, we have to read a lot of it. We also have to respond. Sitting like a bump on a log and listening to a pastor or rabbi drone on and on with opinions or stories about a bicycle trip through Ireland is not going to produce what God wants. It certainly doesn’t make fruit. All we’ve got to do is look at the church honestly and we can see that. Eating His body and drinking His blood is the ticket to life.
From ‘Whole Bible Christianity’ chapter 9 Read and Strive to Do
Did you read your Bible today? Do you read it everyday? If not, why not? How many hours did you put into watching TV instead? Did you think about His Word? Did you face a choice to follow His Word or ignore it? Did you even know there was a choice?
The Bible is the book of life. “Living oracles” as Stephen says. His word can impart life. It is the most important book in history. TV, radio, Facebook, Twitter, Harry Potter books, movies about vampires do not impart life. They distract us from the path of Life. A little amusement is fine, but did you read your Bible today?
Jesus was flogged with whips that had tips of bone and other sharp objects tied on them, and He was made to carry His own execution stake to a hill where He was nailed to it alive. He spent torturous hour after hour hanging there, trying to breath by pushing up against the nail in his feet and pulling up against the nails in His hands. His flayed back (likely cut to the bone) scraped against the rough wood with every breath. And He didn’t do one thing to deserve it. All He asks of us is in return is to abide in His Word of life.
So tell me, did you read your Bible today?