The Bible and Errors 3

Great peace have they which love thy law: and nothing shall offend them. (Psalm 119:165)

One interesting thing with God is the way He relates with man. He leaves no options outside His revelation.

We have looked at the Bible as a road map to Christ who also is the only way to the Father and heaven. No other road map exists to get us there.

Now, let me respond to those who are wondering about the road map before the Bible was written, let alone completed.

The Bible consists of REVELATION. God always revealed Himself to those who sought Him. And that revelation was His word. The compilations of all those words make up the Bible.

Look at Abraham. Of course he did not have a Bible. In fact there was no written instruction from God before Moses was ordered to write the Pentateuch (or was there?).

Get from your ‘security’ and follow Me to a land that I will show you. He was ordered

This makes clear God’s methods to His seekers. First is that He takes us from somewhere. Second is that we are required to follow His constant guidance. His revelation is such that it increases our dependence on His continued revelation as opposed to giving us a certificate of competence.

I started this by stating that there is no other method to get through to God except through His word. Our passion, anointing, experience and all other excellence is no guarantee of our being on the road unless we are following the Bible.

An example will suffice here.

Solomon had a father who valued God’s word. As the Bible records, except for two incidences, he never did anything before getting to know what God wanted.

Solomon had observed this and so at the inception of his reign he starts right.

The God appears to him and he is given an open cheque to ask what he would. Again, we all know he asked for wisdom so that he continues leading God’s people God’s way.

God likes that and gives him more that he had asked for.

But I want us to look at that wisdom. He was given wisdom and knowledge. And probably that is where he went wrong. He may have thought that he was equipped to handle everything using that wisdom and knowledge that he ignored the commandment for a king to have a copy of the scriptures to be reading every day of his life.

Of course we know he got so lost spiritually as his wisdom could not handle the spiritual challenges his excellence in political and commercial pursuits brought. He therefore lost the plot at the end.

Now if the wisest man failed because he neglected scriptural intake, what makes you think that you can succeed otherwise?

I have said that the road is narrow, apparently stringent. But that is as far as the illustration goes. Do not think of it as a road that is fenced with thorns and briars on the sides to limit our straying.

Look at it like this. There is a very narrow road in a field without visible markings. The only guide to the person is infrared glasses one wears as it is marked with material visible only in that spectrum.

The Bible is like those glasses in the spiritual realm. You remove them for the shortest time and you are lost, not just get lost.

Or you can compare it to the open sea and air. It is only with navigation aids that you can get to your destination.

Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way?  by taking heed thereto according to thy word. With my whole heart have I sought thee: O let me not wander from thy commandments. Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee. (Psalm 119: 9 – 11)

We are therefore only able to get to the destination if we constantly keep using those tracks that have been marked for our direction.

It also explains why it appears foolhardy for anyone not reading that roadmap to understand us.

Imagine someone walking so carefully so that he does not stray or lose his way in an open field without restrictions! Imagine keeping to a path that does not exist and even talking about a map in an unmarked field giving freedom to everybody else except your ‘imagination’?

Yet that is what the Bible is to us.

Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path. (Psalm 119:105)

Only that it is a choice we must make to use that road map or get lost.

Or do not you know that it is impossible to walk straight without a focal point to guide us? Sherlock Holmes wrote something I experienced one time I got lost in a desert as I have written elsewhere. All things being equal, a person will always walk in circles as his strong leg will be taking longer strides than the weak one.

Have you ever wondered why when a band is marching there is one person who never looks right when the order for the ‘eyes right’ salute is made? Haven’t you seen all those markers in those marching fields? It is impossible to walk straight without guidance.

All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. (Isaiah 53:6)

You see, when Adam chose his will against God’s word, he opened us up to wandering without direction as the only direction worth following is the one God has decreed. Even our wisdom is vain outside the bounds of that revelation as we see with Solomon.

There is a way that seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death. (Proverbs 16:25)

That is the reason we must prize God’s word as we will then be walking safely. Incidentally, not the safety of the world that sees safe as shielded from consequences of sin.

Like Solomon many ministers suffer shipwreck when they use their experience to minister and preach instead of the word of God.

Walking according to the word places me within the bounds of God’s protection. I am not looking to be free from consequences of my actions as my actions are shielded from the folly lost sheep are always stumbling through.

There really is one good choice and that is valuing God’s word as to be constantly partaking of it so as to be able to walk according to its guidance.

Otherwise like Solomon (if you are the cream) you will be open to folly of a gigantic nature.

What will your choice be?

The Bible and Errors 2

Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it. Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. (Matthew 7: 13 – 15)

Last time I mentioned the Bible as a road map for the traveler on a journey to Christ.

I also said that on that journey focus on the scenery can obstruct or distract.

Let us look at this journey differently today.

Jesus here talks of a way and a gate.

People have called it the straight and narrow, of course because strait and straight pronounce the same.

But there is a difference, a big one.

Strait is restrictive as in straitjacket. Think of a brace or plaster of Paris (though I never went to France when I had it). There are bounds in that road.

It would be easier to relate this journey to a tight rope walk or something similar.

Everything is there to be enjoyed but a distraction is destructive. You can’t afford to lose focus even for a moment. Look at these verses.

But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief. Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness. Therefore let us not sleep, as do others; but let us watch and be sober. For they that sleep sleep in the night; and they that be drunken are drunken in the night. But let us, who are of the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love; and for an helmet, the hope of salvation. (1Thessalonians 5: 4 – 8)

Sobriety is what is expected of this journey. And of course focus, on the map, that is. A distraction is disastrous.

That is why I insisted that people overly conscious of the sideshows are possibly not on the way. And it is because it is impossible to concentrate on the scenery (others) and still avoid the snares by the side of the road. I know you know that spectators are the ones most ‘informed’ of any game for obvious reasons. It is ‘sad’ that they do not get into the field to put their expertise in practice!

In our faith, they are the ones who most see our hypocrisy and lack of love. They are the ones who see through those ‘questionable’ verses and doctrines. And of course they are the ones who are loudest when we call them to account for their faith, ‘judge not’ being their most famous verse even though they may not know where it is in the Bible.

The journey is hazardous enough without having to worry about where fornication starts between a looong holding of hands and actual sex. There are enough guidelines in the scripture to haggle about how thin or wide we draw the line.

The Bible calls on us to flee fornication; not debate or understand it. We are also advised to flee any appearance of evil. Ever read this?

But fornication, and all uncleanness, or covetousness, let it not be once named among you, as becometh saints; Neither filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor jesting, which are not convenient: but rather giving of thanks. For this ye know, that no whoremonger, nor unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, hath any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God. (Ephesians 5: 3 – 5)

Debating on the boundaries and when exactly it becomes sin is the preserve of the spectator. The athlete will not waste any time arguing on the presumed dangers of not eating right. A singer has no qualms stopping any intake of sugar and does not need researchers to bring in the evidence. They just avoid anything they ‘SUSPECT’ could compromise their performance.

Look at this other verse

Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall. (1Corinthians 10:12)

This is not talking about spectators. Only those in the journey need this warning.

Even extra instruction can distract. In fact it is destructive most times. And it is because it is only useful for beautifying the map.

I have read the apocrypha. It is a good historical piece (many). But I didn’t see it helping me on my journey.

I have read Ellen G. White and Joseph Smith and William Branham and many other ‘inspired’ leaders. I need to say that until very recently I read anything I laid my hands on.

Though good writing (not all of it), it fails for the most part in pretending to be the road map instead of pointing to it.

Incidentally, your favorite preacher, teacher or writer will fall in that category if and when they do not direct you to the road map (scripture) for instruction and behave as if they are enough instruction.

I have made enemies as I interacted with keyboard warriors rooting for their conman for this reason. If everything they do points to the main guy (or girl), then I am justified to call them conmen. If they make their congregation dependent on them, I will not be scared of calling them out.

Do not even mention miracles as Pharaoh’s magicians did not produce ropes when Moses produced a snake.

Incidentally, even I can easily fall into that folly. If my writing does not direct you to Christ and His word, trash me immediately. I am not a map, just a pointer to it. Look at John

He said, I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness, Make straight the way of the Lord, as said the prophet Esaias. (John 1:23)

This incidentally the person Christ called the greatest. He called himself the pointer to Christ. Look also at this verse I so love

He must increase, but I must decrease. (John 3:30)

That is the best way to be pointers. We fade as our object appears. We do not fight to remain relevant after we have pointed at the object of our purpose. Sadly I think that may be the reason ministers will be in hell as Matthew 7: 21 – 23 says.

Our journey is tough without having to worry about our self importance and fulfillment.

Let me close by mentioning this

Ye blind guides, which strain at a gnat, and swallow a camel. (Mathew 23:24)

Jesus is here talking about teachers who specialise in trivialities and magnify trite. They double sieve and filter to get rid of a mosquito yet have no qualms swallowing a camel. They are so accurate describing small issues yet vague concerning actual sin.

Where is holiness as we speak about all these smooth doctrines? Where is charity when we are falling over ourselves to prove that an Old Testament practice (tithing) is still valid? Why then do we not manage it like the Old Testament advocates? Why do we only select the verses and passages that support our staining at gnats?

You see, the Bible is a unity with an object it is pointing to; Christ. Everything else will fall in place when we maintain that focus.

If we focus ONLY on Christ and His word, do we realize that we will then have the perfect doctrine without needing to go for all those courses? We will not be struggling with sin as we will be in complete harmony with the Object of our pursuit and worship. We will not be easily swept aside by any conniving or convincing teacher to follow him as we have the TEACHER with and in us.

Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. FOR IT IS GOD WHICH WORKETH IN YOU BOTH TO WILL AND TO DO OF HIS GOOD PLEASURE. (Philippians 2: 12, 13)

The Bible and Errors

And many other signs truly did Jesus in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book: But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name. (John 20: 30, 31)

What really is the Bible? Why was it written? What do we find when we search the Bible?

Of course we know that the Bible has its source in the divine. Even skeptics have one assignment, to prove that it has no divine source.

This means that it is of prime importance that we get to the root of what the Bible is as missing it will lead to a cosmic error.

What then is the Bible?

Many people believe that the Bible is rock solid and thus inflexible. Of course this leads to the interpretation that it is really a dead thing like the paper it is printed on.

But nothing can be farther from the truth.

All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works. (2Timothy 3: 16, 17)

Scripture is alive as it is inspired by the living God.

For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. (Hebrews 4:12)

Yet I believe the reason for so much confusion is its purpose. Why was it written?

Let me use an analogy to get us appreciate why God released the Bible to us.

There is a dictionary and there is a map. Then there is a map and there is a road map. What is the Bible most like?

The Bible is a traveler’s road map and not a map of this or the other feature.

I thought both are maps? I can hear someone asking.

Yes. But they are different because they serve different purposes.

A map has details and so requires a lot of accuracy in the placing of the same. It does not leave anything out.

A traveler’s map, on the other hand, contains the essential information to enable the traveler get to his destination. It does not saturate one with unnecessary information as it could compromise the journey.

My ministry involves looking for people. There are people who scare me in the way they give directions. They will have such flowery instruction that I will suspect from experience that it would be very hard to get to the required places. There will be so much unnecessary detail that could derail my search to the place I would be going.

The Bible is a travel map, I will repeat. It gives essential information to get us to a destination.

What is the destination? I know you are asking.

Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith. (Galatians 3:24)

Christ is the destination. Faith in Him, that is.

That is the reason God commissioned many writers to point to that position because we come from different directions.

Each person wrote the directions he was given from where he was, painting the portrait from his vantage point. Each pointed out landmarks as he saw, meaning no two people saw the same thing. Incidentally, even those seeing the same thing saw it differently as they saw it from different vantage points.

That is why you hear of people saying that the Bible has contradictions.

You see, a travel map of a distant place will be all jumbled up and many times incoherent because it is not a map. But it will be different if I got there and needed to move from one place to the next as it would then make perfect sense.

It is exactly that way with the Bible. People who read it for information get confused because it is meant to take us for a journey. People who read it for the journey get accurate directions to the destination.

Another thing we need to realize is that God commissioned several people to write those directions. That is one reason I am in complete awe of God. That He would use fallible man to write directions to the Savior when He Himself could have done the perfect job.

But that is just like God. He does not need perfection to perfect.

But I think it is for another reason. It would be easier to understand directions issued by a mortal than those written by God’s perfect hand. It would be easier to relate to them than to ones written with heaven as the reference.

Let me explain. God would show His servant something and then tell him to write it. He would therefore write from his context, I suspect thinking he is writing only for his generation. But God had meant it as directions for all generations. In fact there were directions that were for much later directions.

The vantage point from which the witness wrote determines the information he wrote.

Let me use an analogy by giving you an assignment.

Why do people who love news (or are addicted to them as I once was) read all the papers and watch many news outlets?

Take three or four newspapers of the same day. Why are the headlines different?

Next, pick one story covered by all of them. Do you realize that they are all different yet they were at the same place covering the same event?

Are some lying? Of course not. The journalist reported what he saw, which is different from what everybody else saw.

That is how the Bible is.

God knows that he has released enough information to guide creation to her Savior recorded in such a way that it is impossible for a seeking soul to get lost.

Of course you know this verse.

And there are also many other things which Jesus did, the which, if they should be written every one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that should be written. Amen. (John 21:25)

Now if this only concerns Christ’s earthly life, the bulk of which involved His three year ministry and specifically the last week, what do you think about His acts from creation?

The bulk of the information is left out. Only a minuscule is included in the Bible; just enough to lead us to Christ and His eternal life.

To appreciate what I am saying, try condensing a 200 page book into one page without losing or diluting the message. Yet that is what God has done in giving us the Bible. It condenses truths from eternity past to eternity future into a journey map into that eternity. And it is a complete map for that matter as nobody can follow it and get lost.

Ever seen a traveler from across the seas? I know I have seen quite some, especially traveling the long road from Cape to Cairo, among the most famous adventures.

The only thing they value is that map. Many have no inkling of any languages of the places they would pass through as they would not need to ask anything concerning the journey elsewhere. And I have never seen any getting lost.

Yet we can get lost in our homeland when we use our ingenuity instead of such a map. And many times it is because I decide on sightseeing instead of following the map. Or we decide to study the map to see how accurate it is instead of following it.

The map will be most useful when I am journeying and useless from my couch.

And that is the Bible for most.

People want the Bible to justify their sin and will get into debates, endless debates, because they are not on the journey.

I have never heard someone on the journey looking for verses against smoking or drinking, for instance. The journey is engaging enough without worrying about trite.

Or don’t you realize that that question about polygamy comes up because your focus on Christ and His call on your life has started fading? In other words you have decided to settle down and enjoy the scenery instead of continuing with the journey.

Is the Bible sweet to you as the psalmist said? Is it confusing?

It could point out to the fact that you either are on the journey or are just a spectator.

I have never seen a traveler arguing with or about his map.

When the Message Transforms the Messenger 2

For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. (Hebrews 4:12)

As I was sharing my last message with a minister friend, he made me remember a young man (many years my senior) who got saved from ‘down there’. Then God transformed him in ways that even the skeptics had no argument about his conversion. Though when he had cleared primary school without knowing to read and write, he was able to read when he got saved. In fact he could read the Kimeru Bible, one that few people even today can read well. Everybody knew that God had done a major thing in this young man. The evidence was indisputable.

God gave him a wife and children. God gave him favor. He became a minister. Everything was going for him.

I don’t know what happened but he backslid.

Everything fell apart from there. He went back to the world and the world responded with a vengeance.

I prayed for years to have some time with him and God granted me. When I asked him what God had done to cause him go back he just blubbered. Incidentally he died not long after our meeting.

My friend also told me of his brother. He was these people who are unashamedly cowardly, one who would rather cry than face a bully, even for my friend who was his younger brother.

Then he also got saved.

He became so bold that he would go preaching alone in the market almost daily.

Again it was evident to all that something had happened and it gave credence to the message he preached. Incidentally this is what sowed the seed of the Gospel in my friend.

Again, this young man lost it and is still wandering to date.

Reminds me of last Sunday after I taught the word. Somebody almost disrupted the rest of the service claiming I had been preaching about them and wanted it addressed immediately.

How do I preach about somebody I barely know?

God’s word is sharp. God’s word addresses some very deep stuff when it is preached aright.

Incidentally this is not the first time I have encountered this as I have preached, especially in places I know nobody. I have been asked who had told me about someone since they were sure I had never met them before I preached in their church. Several times someone has personalized a blog post or book I have written saying that it was their message at a personal level.

That is how God’s word works. It is so sharp that sometimes I have almost felt a slap as I was reading when God was addressing my issues.

That edge is the difference between standing and falling.

Being consistent in the word hurts, sometimes very deeply, as it addresses us. It touches on every part of our lives if we allow it. And that explains why many people look for excuses not to read it.

As it cuts, it also offers healing and transformation.

You will realize that the people who have remained are for the most part those who purposed to remain in the word however deeply it cut through their lives. It made them sober enough to remain steadfast in their faith.

Have you realized that the Christian groupings in school and campus have produced more pastors than churches?  What I mean is that most of the pastors we have are more products of their zeal during their studies than through the church programs.

Do you also realize that a majority of Pentecostal and charismatic pastors come from mainstream churches? And that is whether they are defectors or came for greener pastures and any other reason.

Why?

Mainstream churches may be ‘dry’. But their every event is scriptural though very few know it as such.

Just pick a hymnal and missal (not the Catholic one, I have never read it).

Do you realize that they are packed with scripture?

Like I said the other day, missionaries of yore translated hymns before translating the Bible. And since those hymns are scriptural, the new converts would receive enough dose of proper doctrine even before knowing how to read. I can say this with confidence because I have been in many unreached communities with a missionary presence. And I have such a background.

When the Pentecostal movement rejected the hymns and order of service (what I have earlier called missal), they for the most part rejected doctrinal instruction, thus choosing spiritual illiteracy.

Is it any wonder then that what they produce as Gospel music has no semblance to scripture? Do you realize that past songs from those ‘dry’ churches were simply scripture? They took scripture and added instruments and choral arrangement to make songs. Contrast that to the trash being called Gospel today! Someone gets a track as they do not even know to play an instrument and then look for exciting words to fit in.

Sadly, I am talking about the bulk of what is called Gospel music as good and wholesome music is the very rare exception. Remember I was a composer and musician too until God changed orders.

And it is not much different in preachers as they also do not spend much time in the scriptures, picking a verse here or there and making a sermon out of it.

That is why sin is a common feature in these ministers. That explains pride and entitlement thrive with them. That explains the arrogance when they ‘make’ it, whatever that means.

The Bible aligns someone with God by transferring what is of God to them.

Or have you ever heard a proud or arrogant person called godly?

God’s word aligns God’s people to Him in all ways; from resisting temptation to relating with the weak and vulnerable.

Can you be aligned through a Bible you barely read? Can you be aligned through a Bible you only browse to look for or avoid arguments? Can you be aligned by a Bible you only read to get your sermons?

How aligned are you to God? How much of His word has become part of you?