tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-78938309725545333432024-02-07T02:44:39.415-05:00The Word of a KING"Where the word of a king is, there is power."Vince LaRuehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06959296493380954676noreply@blogger.comBlogger77125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7893830972554533343.post-4485761947964584452010-09-30T23:05:00.000-04:002010-09-30T23:05:10.304-04:00What I Believe about the Spanish Bible“What is truth?” is a famous Bible quotation. The speaker, Pontious Pilate, is probably one of the biggest fools in history: <i>The Truth </i>was standing right in front of his face! Unfortunately, modern-day Laodicean “funnymentalism” asks the same question, when their answer is no further away than Pilateʼs was!<br />
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!In an age characterized by spiritual poverty, wretchedness, blindness and nakedness (Rev. 3:17), itʼs no surprise to find books like “The King James Only Controversy” attacking the foundation of our faith: Godʼs written word. To our immense shame, weʼve largely sat back and have allowed this travesty to occur. Since Westcottʼs and Hortʼs blasphemous Greek text was published in 1881, over <i>300 </i>English versions of the Bible have been foisted on the American people and the rest of the English- speaking world. From a people whose first printed work, a history book, contained phrases like “the gross darknesse of popery” and “popish trash,” weʼve become a “Bible-of-the-Month Club” sheeple who will follow whatever spewage is printed in the “Butter knife of the Lord” (Sword of the Lord), not realizing that these are the very people who “have perverted the words of the living God,” and couldnʼt find Godʼs written words with a 1 million candlepower flashlight and a Tom-Tom GPS!<br />
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<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Moreover, however muddled the issue has become over the English Bible, the waters are even murkier over the Spanish Bible issue, with one main difference: <i>the combatants on all sides of the issue claim to believe the King James Bible!! </i>Now that close to half a dozen Spanish versions are on the table, and the rhetoric and attacks are heating up, it seems too late for a call to reason. While God hath given us the ministry of reconciliation, unless the parties are open to discussion, nothing will be reconciled, John Calvin notwithstanding. So, to save time and negate as much hostility as I can, I am simply going to state, for the record, what God has shown me in regard to His words in Spanish, and leave it at that. Godʼs opinion is the only one in which Iʼm interested, so I donʼt hesitate to “Tell it like it is” If straight talk chaps your hide, then either discontinue reading, or get some vaseline and read on at your own peril.<br />
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<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>This age ends, like all others, in apostasy. I think that it is extremely apparent that we are living in the final stage of the last days, and the Bible we all claim to believe clearly defines our era as a “great falling away.” While we all want to cling to cliché phrases like “We can be Philadelphian Christians in Laodicea,” the evidence for that, especially these days, is virtually nonexistent. I personally know that I am worse than useless, and my flesh is a greater adversary than I sometimes seem able to handle, and I know from human nature and the Book that all men are the same way in one form or another, and to expect a Christian who is by default cold, calloused, and carnal to be able to produce a faithful, God-honored Bible stretches the limits of credibility, regardless of the destination language. God has already used men - native, Spanish- speaking men, to translate His word into Spanish. Now, why Gringoes think they can correct those words, I donʼt understand, but I can certainly understand how a Latino would be upset with some <i>Nortemericano </i>telling him that his Bible “would be better translated as such or so-forth.” (Sound familiar, Gringo??) God is fluent in Spanish, just like He is fluent in Chinese, English, German, Tamil, Esperanto and any other language that exists or ever has existed, so to think that God is not capable of putting His words in any language is stupid. Or ignorant, if you prefer Bible words. Now, this is not to say that God HAS put His words into any specific language other than English (donʼt give me that “originals” nonsense!), though I believe that He has: I am simply stating that God can and thereʼs not a cotton-pickinʼ thing that Baptists, scholars, atheists or apostates (or apostate, Baptist scholars) can do about it if He decides to use another language. At the same time, God owes no one anything, least of all the Spanish-speaking world. Spain is responsible for some of the worst torture and genocide of Christians since the Roman Empire (second only to the Roman Catholic Church), so to think that God <i>has to </i>give His word in Spanish is, again, ignorant.<br />
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!The Spanish Bible has a very old and rich history. Casiodoro de Reina completed the first Protestant Spanish Bible in 1569. De Reina, like Luther, was a Catholic clergyman who faced physical persecution at the hands of the Catholic church because he insisted on translating the Scriptures into the common or “vulgar” tongue. The Office of the Inquisition in Spain had expressly forbidden, in obedience to the Papal position on the matter, that any Bible be translated into Spanish. De Reina, a Spaniard and a Philadelphian-age European, sacrificed greatly for the cause of providing the Spanish people with the Scriptures. With the completion of his Bible, the Spanish-speaking people now possessed a Bible based on the Received Text (Stephanusʼ 1550 edition).<br />
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De Reinaʼs pupil, Cipriano de Valera, another persecuted Catholic, completed his revision of de Reinaʼs Bible in 1602. This revision corrected what Catholic taint had unwittingly seeped into the 1569 Bible, ensuring that the Bible, now dubbed the “Reina Valera” would, for 400 years, be the archenemy of the Catholic church in Spanish. In fact, during de Valeraʼs revision work, he, like Tyndale before him, had to flee his home country and take up residence (ironically) in England.<br />
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In the middle 1800s, yet another Spanish, Catholic clergyman, by the name of Ángel de Mora, completed another revision of the Reina Valera 1602 Bible, correcting 99% of the omissions that were a result of incomplete manuscript evidence at the time of the original editions. This edition compared the 1602 edition to the King James and brought it solidly in line with the Received Text and the KJB. This edition came close on the eve of the Philadelphian church age, as Westcottʼs and Hortʼs villainous, perverse text was soon to arise, drowning the world in pro-Vatican, humanistic rationalism and perverted Bibles; the hinges of Godʼs “open door” (Rev. 3:8) were squealing closed.<br />
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The next major revision of the Reina Valera Bible came along in 1909. With the RSV and ESV now vying for supremacy against “The monarch of the Books,” Westcottʼs and Hortʼs “scholarly” text was permeating every corner of Bible translation and textual criticism. It should come as no surprise, then, that the 1909 revision of the Reina Valera was “leavened” with sprinkles of Alexandrian scholarship and modernist corruption. <i>Text and Translation: European Languages </i>gives direct proof that the translation committee behind the 1909 revision relied on the Critical Text.<br />
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The committee behind the most popular Spanish edition, the RV1960, was presided over by a man named Eugene Nida, known as the “Father of dynamic equivalence.” The truth of Godʼs words was so important to this man, that while translating the Bible into a south seas tongue, whose culture had no knowledge of sheep, decided to call Jesus “the pig of God.” Any Born-again Christian should be<br />
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absolutely LIVID about that, but unfortunately, men like Calvin George have accepted this edition, based completely on the Alexandrian, anti-King James Critical Text. The fact of the matter is that the 1960 is inherently a corrupt, Vatican-sympathizing, Ecumenical snow-job that has completely removed the ability to teach doctrine to the Spanish speaking people.<br />
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The question faced by Bible Believers, then, is “Which Bible?,” the same question asked and answered (in English) not so long ago. Faced with “antiquated,” “archaic” Bibles in Spanish, or modern, Rome-tainted editions, we now come full-circle to the question presented in the introduction: did God provide His words in Spanish? If one assumes that the answer is no, then more questions ensue. However, I firmly believe that God not only is able to provide a Spanish Bible, but that He already did. I also believe that it is folly for a Laodicean Christian to try to improve upon anything that God has already done, as our church age is commended for absolutely NOTHING. In fact, the standard, run-of-the-mill lethargy and nonchalance seen in <b>Bible Believing churches </b>makes God want to PUKE US OUT!! Yes, YOU, <b>Baptists!! </b>Donʼt be so haughty to think that you or I can do anything lasting or permanent here: weʼre doomed to APOSTATIZE! Take Hyles-Anderson College, for example: after switching to the King James only position in the 1970s, Dr. Hyles was one of the most outspoken defenders of the King James Bible. After his passing, however, his successor, Jack Schapp, has trod underfoot the Book that his daddy-in-law stood for for around 30 years! APOSTASY!! Ghandi said it best: “I like your Christ, but I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ.” AMEN!! To think that a lost sinner like Ghandi understood a truth that Independent, Fundamental, Hellfire and Damnation preachinʼ Baptists canʼt grasp is almost depressing! Then, those “saved, sanctified, serving” Baptists think that they can somehow produce a faithful Bible, in a language that, in many cases, isnʼt even their native tongue?! The ludicrous nature of such a concept completely boggles the mind!!<br />
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To top it all off, what seems to be the main force behind every group that has decided to do their own thing in regard to a Spanish Bible appears to have the same reason among themselves: they donʼt want to accept the available Spanish Bible because they donʼt want to be linked to <i>Ruckman. </i>Why believing God and accepting a BOOK as His WORD would make someone a “Ruckmanite,” I cannot understand, but unfortunately, people have decided that itʼs easier to strike off on their own and <i>make their own Bible instead of BELIEVING the one that God already provided, </i>because of their fear of man.<br />
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If you have legitimate reasons to make your own version, then go right ahead: but if your reason is because you think that accepting the Valera 1865 as Godʼs word in Spanish is going to link you to Ruckman, then SHAME ON YOU! First of all, why are you so stinking scared? <b>The fear of man bringeth a snare!! </b>Second of all, the only thing really linking Dr. Ruckman to the Valera 1865 project is that a few PBI graduates have signed onto it. <i>Dr. Ruckman has not endorsed ANY Spanish Bible or Spanish Bible project!! </i>Grow up!!<br />
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Suffice it to say that I believe that God put His hand on the Reina-Valera 1865 edition for the Spanish-speaking world, and anything else is but a pale imitation of Godʼs words. While my ministry in Latin America is still before me, I can say that God has shown me, without a shadow of a doubt, that the 1865 is His word in Spanish. In my opinion, anyone that insists on making their own translation simply doesnʼt believe that God would provide His words in Spanish, as a faithful, TR-based Spanish Bible is already available! Either that, or they are flat-out ignorant. When someone states that he knows that the 1865 is perfect, yet turns around and creates his own “Reina Valera” edition, <i>based on his own opinions</i>, that man very obviously is discounting Godʼs power on His book in that language. When FEELINGS overcome FAITH, you have a weak, baseless project that will NEVER have Godʼs blessing.Vince LaRuehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06959296493380954676noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7893830972554533343.post-42436683330047385702010-04-27T23:17:00.001-04:002010-04-27T23:20:15.673-04:00Basic Introduction to DispensationalismMy last post was in response to a blog that was against Dispensationalism, but since there are a lot of readers/friends that might not be entirely or accurately familiar with what Moderate Dispensationalism teaches, or at least what I believe, I decided to put together a post to help explain what Dispensationalism.<br />
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Explaining Dispensational theology in one post is about as explanatory as describing an internal combustion engine by saying that it burns gas and turns a shaft to run a car. By that, I mean that Dispensationalism is such a vast and complex topic that a cursory explanation does little more than create a thousand questions in the minds of the readers, and in this case, almost every reader is going to have a thousand <i>different</i> questions than any other reader! However, I think it is important to make an attempt, if simply to help provide a well-rounded experience when it comes to Bible doctrine, as well as to open up dialogue with people who have never seen the Bible in this light.<br />
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Buckle up: here we go!<br />
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Forewarning: I believe the King James Bible unquestioningly. I will tolerate no second-guessing of God's word, for the King James is certainly that word. No Greek, Hebrew, Aramaic or Chaldean will I appeal to against the King James, for I believe that God is able to not only magnify His word above all His name (Ps. 138:2), but He is able to preserve (Ps. 12:6-7) every word (Matt. 4:4) forever (Ps. 119:89), and He did, in the King James Bible.<br />
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<blockquote>2 Timothy 2:15 Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.</blockquote><br />
This verse is unique in that it is the only place in the Bible where we are commanded to study. (warning: all modern versions have removed this word, which explains why there is a dearth of doctrinal study in Christianity today) I explain the verse this way: "Study" is what to do, "to shew thyself approved unto God" is why to do it, "a workman that needeth not to be ashamed" is the result of <i>not</i> studying, and "rightly dividing the word of truth" is the how. That being said, we must understand that the proper study of the Scriptures requires understanding that we must "rightly divide" it, or know the correct divisions that are found in Scripture.<br />
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That being said, the actual divisions found in Scripture will have to be addressed at a different time.<br />
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<b>Some Preliminary Things to Understand</b><br />
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Time does not permit me to fully supply all the proof texts and arguments for the following, but if need be I will answer, in another post, the questions about each. But for the purpose of this post, the following will be accepted as factual:<br />
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<ul><li>There are three groups: the Jews, the Gentile, and the Church</li>
<li>There are three parts to every human: the Body, the Soul, and the Spirit</li>
<li>There are two Images: the image of God and the image of Adam</li>
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These are foundational truths that must be understood in order to proceed into the actual meat of Dispensational theology. While one might argue that God wouldn't make truth complicated (and He doesn't), theology is deep, because God Himself is incredibly deep, so studying Him is inevitably a very complex and long-lasting undertaking.<br />
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<b>The Basic Theme of the Scriptures</b><br />
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Why are all these seemingly accessory things so important, you ask? Well, we must build line upon line, and precept upon precept, here a little and there a little, and therefore we do so now.<br />
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Anyone who is familiar at all with the Bible knows that it is not laid out chronologically. Job is probably the oldest book, and falls somewhere between Genesis 10 and 12, most likely. Also, the books of Isaiah through Malachi occur within the books of Kings and Chronicles, which are actually concurrent, though each focuses on a different angle of Israel's history. (Yes yes, I have a point with all this!)<br />
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If we look at the beginning of the Scriptures, both chronologically and as it is laid out, we see that both ways, the Bible begins with a king and a kingdom. For clarification, read the words of Genesis 1:<br />
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<blockquote>Gen. 1:27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.<br />
28 And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.</blockquote><br />
The key word in this passage is "dominion." The only person that has a dominion is a king or a ruler: a king rules a domain, or his dominion. Therefore, God made Adam a king over the entire creation, from the oceans to the atmosphere and to everything in between. Chronologically, Lucifer (Isa. 14) had a throne already, and attempted to exalt it above God's throne, but was cast out. This is not the place for that discussion either; sorry.<br />
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Then, at the end of the Bible, we again find a King, yet this time He is the KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS, reigning and ruling from Jerusalem with a rod of iron (Rev. 19) Therefore we see that the Bible begins with a king, and ends with a King, and if you trace it down through the Bible, you'll see that this struggle - for dominion and control over a Kingdom - is the main theme of the Bible. While most Christians assume that the Church is the main theme of the Scriptures, an honest look will give evidence that the Church Age is but a parenthetical, almost accidental time, where God gives grace to the Gentiles to provoke the nation of Israel - God's divorced wife - to jealousy.<br />
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<b>Understanding what Dispensationalism Means</b><br />
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Now, for the good stuff!<br />
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When God created Adam, He gave him two commands: dress and keep the garden, and don't eat of that tree (paraphrasing, obviously). His existence required no faith, no redemption, and no blood, because he had no sin! God's plan for his life was simply to live in bliss in the garden and replenish the earth (again, we're <i>not</i> going there!). In fact, there was nothing BAD about the tree at all: God obviously had a plan for them to partake of it eventually, but until then, the act was disobedience, though the tree was not evil in and of itself.<br />
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However, after Adam sinned, and lost that perfect innocence and blissful existence, God provided a way for him to regain the lost image of God (made in God's image, lost the image through sin, Seth born in Adam's image, Gen. 5:3). Contrary to what most people today believe, however, that provision did NOT include faith in any way, shape or form: God provided animal skins, which were a sacrifice and a covering for sin. Adam's acceptance of God's provision is what covered his sin: Romans 10:9-10 had absolutely nothing to do with it!<br />
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Later, Noah's favor in God's eyes was not because of his faith, but because Noah was "a just man and perfect in his generations, and Noah walked with God." (Gen. 6:9) In fact, Noah's obedience is the very thing that saved him: if Noah had not obeyed God and built the ark, there is no way that he would have wound up in Heaven! Again, like in the previous section, we again see the "dominion" (kingship) issue pop up: in Genesis 9, God grants authority and power over the creation to Noah and his sons.<br />
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There are so many more to talk about, but the main person of interest, from both Dispensational and non-Dispensational points of view, is Abraham. Quickly: Paul uses Abraham as "proof" of salvation by Grace in Romans 4 and other places, while James uses Abraham as "proof" of the necessity of works for salvation. The issue here is that God dealt with Abraham differently than He does with us today, and He will deal with others differently in another time period. Specifically, Abraham was <i>sanctified</i> (was imputed God's righteousness) when he believed God about Isaac (Rom. 4:3), but he was <i>justified</i> when he offered up Isaac (James 2:21). So regardless of the arguments from both sides of the issue, the fact is that Abraham's justification and sanctification were received separately, at different times, and for different reasons, while we are justified and sanctified at the same instant when we receive the free gift of Salvation. Therefore, "Things that are different are not the same," and thus we see that God dealt with Abraham differently than He dealt with us.<br />
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<b>In Conclusion, and a Teaser…</b><br />
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I'll put my keyboard to rest here, but I do want to make mention of the underlying and yet overarching topic that I left entirely untouched: the Two Kingdoms. The Bible clearly speaks of two Kingdoms: the kingdom of Heaven and the kingdom of God. One is literal, physical, and earthly, and the other is spiritual and heavenly. This is another vastly deep topic that bears much study and dividing, but perhaps my loyal readers will come up with some thoughts of their own before I actually approach that topic.<br />
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Thanks for reading, and I hope you receive a blessing from this.Vince LaRuehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06959296493380954676noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7893830972554533343.post-47592531594809934182010-04-26T22:45:00.000-04:002010-04-26T22:45:33.469-04:00A Response to Anti-DispensationalismI know of few people that describe themselves as "anti-dispensationalists." Many I know would distance themselves from Dispensationalism, calling it "Ruckmanism," of all things, but until recently I had heard of very few people that would actually believe that Dispensational theology is unbiblical. For instance, the church I grew up in did not teach what I call Rightly Dividing, that God dealt with different people differently at different times in history: i.e. Adam was given different commands than Noah who was given different commands than Abraham, etc. Israel was unquestionably required to keep the WORKS of the Law: yes they were a picture of Christ, but they had absolutely no clue about that! Also, Jesus taught meekness and non-violence, but to Jews only, while Paul taught forbearance as much as possible and called people fools, directly contrary to Christ's command in Matthew 5:22.<br />
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</div><div>Then, even more recently, I saw a link to a blog posted by someone: the title of the blog actually stated that they were against Dispensationalism. I eventually came to find that they were post-milleniallists, which started to make sense, and I was asked by a couple of people to respond to the blog post in question. This is that response: I hope you can at least learn something of my stance, even if I'm not able to change your doctrinal stance.</div><div><br />
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</div><a name='more'></a><div>Forewarning: I believe the King James Bible unquestioningly. I will tolerate no second-guessing of God's word, for the King James is certainly that word. No Greek, Hebrew, Aramaic or Chaldean will I appeal to against the King James, for I believe that God is able to not only magnify His word above all His name (Ps. 138:2), but He is able to preserve (Ps. 12:6-7) every word (Matt. 4:4) forever (Ps. 119:89).</div><div><br />
</div><div>I shall delineate the points that were presented against Dispensationalism and address them to the best of my ability in the limited time and space that I have.<br />
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<blockquote><b>(1) Christ is presently ruling in his kingdom</b></blockquote><br />
The original poster stated that according to Ephesians 1:20-22, Christ "<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;">was already established as the king and enthroned <em>in the first century"<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: Times; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; line-height: normal;"> First, from a logical perspective, if that is true, than Jesus is the most pathetic king to ever sit on a throne! Have you seen what a mess this world is in?? Surely a king as powerful as Jesus, if He really were ruling right now, could do at least a marginally better job of it!!</span></em></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif;">From a Biblical perspective, however, one must understand that there are TWO kingdoms spoken of in the Bible: the Kingdom of God, and the Kingdom of Heaven. (Things that are different are not the same - Heaven is not God!) From the beginning of Christ's earthly ministry, which was <i>only</i> to the Jews, by the way (Matt. 10:5, 6, 15:24), Jesus was offering them the Kingdom of Heaven (Matt. 3:2, 4:17, all of Matthew 5, 7:21, ad nauseum), a literal, physical, earthly kingdom. This kingdom is described in its fulfillment in Revelation 19 and 20, with Jesus ruling with a rod of iron as an absolute dictator in a literal kingdom, ruling from the literal city of Jerusalem.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif;">That being said, Jesus' kingdom is still future, since the nation of Israel rejected and crucified their King, and even after being given the promises of the last days, written by the prophet Joel, through the preaching of the Apostle Peter, they continually rejected the Holy Spirit and Christ's imminent return, which culminated in the salvation of Paul, the Apostle to the Gentiles (Rom. 11:13, 15:16; Gal. 2:8; Eph. 3:8; Col. 1:27; 1 Tim. 2:7; 2 Tim. 1:11), and the dissemination of the Gospel (of the Grace of God, mind you) to the Gentiles. Even as late as Acts 10, Peter and the rest of the early Christians didn't believe that Salvation (or in their minds, the Holy Spirit) was available to the Gentiles. The Ethiopian Eunuch was saved in Acts 8, but that appeared to be an isolated incident, but it took the direct revelation of God to Peter to convince him that the Gentiles were now invited to the party!</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif;">Simply put, to state that Christ is currently ruling a physical kingdom is completely unsupported by Scripture. He is ruling the Spiritual Kingdom of God, which is not meat and drink, but righteousness (Rom. 14:17), but no physical kingdom, since that is yet to come, and it takes an incredible imagination, and a whole lot of twisting, spiritualizing, and ignoring of Scripture, to stuff the events of the book of Revelation into the past.</span><br />
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<blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 19px;">(2) We are presently ruling with Christ</span></blockquote><br />
The author assumes that since we are spoken of as "sit[ting] together in heavenly places" with Christ in heaven (Eph. 2:6-7), that this is (see above) speaking of a literal, physical kingdom, when in fact the only ruling happening on earth on a physical sense is by the powers of darkness (Eph. 6:12). Jesus is described in three ways: His first appearance was as a Prophet, He is now fulfilling His role as the High Priest, and when He comes in glory as is described in Revelation 20, He will be the King of Kings, and reign for 1,000 years unchallenged.<br />
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Simply put, the failure to understand the differences between the kingdoms renders this objection moot. We <i>are</i> technically ruling with Christ, as we have been made fellowheirs with Him, and are now ambassadors of Christ on earth. However, to state that we are somehow in a position of literal rulership in this world is again ludicrous.<br />
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<blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 19px;">(3) The Jew and Gentile are forever merged into one body in the final phase of God’s redemptive plan.</span></blockquote><br />
This part is correct in one aspect, in that the Jew and Gentile both lose their cultural identity in the Body of Christ, but wrong in that this is far from the final phase of God's redemptive plan. As mentioned above, there is still a Millennial period to come, preceded by a seven-year Tribulation period, when once again God's complete focus returns to the Jews and the nation of Israel. The temple will be rebuilt, and sacrifices will be offered therein, and then the "Abomination of Desolation" (Mark 13:14) will be the beginning of "Jacob's Trouble" or "The Great Tribulation," which will be the time when only a remnant of a remnant of the Jewish people will survive - these are unquestionable the people who are spoken of throughout the book of Revelation as being beheaded, tortured, and massacred for the word of God and the testimony of His name, and for refusing to worship the Image of the Beast and take his mark.<br />
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God cast out Israel as a corporate entity, and grafted in the Church, of which the Jews can become a part of. That being said, the Bible is clear that when the Rapture of the Church takes place, the Jews once again become the main focus of God, as He prepares them to take their rightful place as the rulers of the earth.<br />
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Simply put, the Church is but a parenthetical, almost accidental thing as far as Bible prophecy goes. We can see the Church in the Old Testament now, looking back, in pictures and types, but not one person believed that the Gentile would be a part of ANYTHING until the vision of the sheet from heaven came to Peter and Cornelius received the Holy Spirit. We are undoubtedly to be the Bride of Christ, but Israel is the currently-divorced wife of God the Father, and they will be dealt with differently: Christ's church purified and married purely, and God's divorced wife repentant and reunited with her Husband.<br />
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<blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 19px;">(4) Paul sees Gentiles as receiving Jewish promises.</span></blockquote><br />
The author mistakenly assumes that Paul speaks of the physical blessings promised to the Jews when he speaks of the "covenants of promise" (Eph. 2:12). What the author fails to realize is that the context is entirely about <i>spiritual things</i>, not physical blessings. Yes, we receive the blessing of God as far as communication with the Creator and so many other things, but to claim the physical promises given to Israel is illogical, and absolutely unsupported Biblically or practically.<br />
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Simply put, yes, we receive Jewish blessings, but only those that are spiritual, and were outright rejected by the Jews, as they were and are a physically-motivated/driven people. We do not get their land, their supernatural health, their protection from evildoers, or any of a thousand other promises given to them because of their bloodline, nor shall we ever have those promises. We have gifts and promises that Israel will never receive, as well, such as God's unmerited, free grace: we do not have to endeavor to keep the Law in order to receive His grace!<br />
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<blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 19px;">(5) The rebuilt temple is the Church of Jesus Christ.</span></blockquote><br />
Again, the author fails to understand the difference between the physical and spiritual Kingdoms: in the Church Age, or Age of Grace, we most certainly are the "Temple" of God: we can worship Him wherever, and we do not need to go through a priest to receive forgiveness of sins or to communicate with Him. However, in the next Age, when God is once again dealing with a people whose emphasis is ALWAYS on physical and visible things, there will be a new temple in Jerusalem.<br />
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Simply put, it goes back to part 1: two Kingdoms.<br />
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<blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #29303b; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 19px;">(6) The mystery of the Church was revealed in the Old Testament</span></blockquote><br />
Well, I sure wish you'd tell that to the Disciples, the Pharisees, the Sanhedrin, and all the rest of the educated Jews back then! We understand the Church by looking back at the Scriptures through the corrective lens of the New Testament, but to imagine that ANYONE before Paul understood what the Church was is abject heresy! Yes, Heresy, and I will prove it, from the same scriptures that were used in the original argument.<br />
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<blockquote><blockquote>Ephesians 3:</blockquote><blockquote>1 For this cause I Paul, the prisoner of Jesus Christ for you Gentiles,</blockquote><blockquote>2 If ye have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God which is given me to you-ward:</blockquote><blockquote>3 How that by revelation he made known unto me the mystery; (as I wrote afore in few words,</blockquote><blockquote>4 Whereby, when ye read, ye may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ)</blockquote><blockquote>5 Which in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men, as it is now revealed unto his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit;</blockquote><blockquote>6 That the Gentiles should be fellowheirs, and of the same body, and partakers of his promise in Christ by the gospel:</blockquote><blockquote>7 Whereof I was made a minister, according to the gift of the grace of God given unto me by the effectual working of his power.</blockquote></blockquote><br />
He specifically says in verse five that in other ages it was NOT made known unto the sons of men (why that phrase holds so much meaning for the blog's author, I cannot understand), but is now revealed. In fact, in the book of Galatians, Paul tells how this "Mystery" was revealed specifically to him in the desert of Sinai, by none other than Jesus Christ Himself. The Church is called a "mystery" so many times through the New Testament that to claim that anyone before Paul understood what it meant (in that Jews and Gentiles would be united in one spiritual Body) is not only unsupported by the Scriptures, but it's actually contrary to Scripture, since Paul said that no one before him knew anything about that "mystery."<br />
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In short, the "point" is unbiblical, unsubstantiated, and immediately refutable. The Bible stands.<br />
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Now, while responding, I came to understand how such a doctrinal lapse could occur. The first and foremost thing is that there is a strong aversion in today's Christianity to submit oneself to the authority of ONE "version" of Scripture. If you can pick and choose what you think the Bible should say, that's a lot easier than just buckling down and obeying one unappealable Bible, is it not?<br />
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Secondly, Christians fail to understand that they, the born-again, blood-bought, saved eternally Bride of Christ, are NOT the main theme of the Scriptures. In fact, like I stated above, the Church is little more than a parenthetical blip on God's eternal radar, simply a loving Father's indulgence for His beloved Son to gain a Bride. The main theme of the Scriptures is the KINGDOM: it starts with King Adam being given dominion (a kingdom), and ends with Jesus Christ on a THRONE reigning and ruling in a literal, physical kingdom, on a literal, physical throne, in glory and power for eternity to come.<br />
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Beyond that there are many issues that must be addressed, but those are the main ones. I hope my response was concise: I try to be as cordial as possible, but I must confess that civility places somewhere lower on my list of importance than does clarity. I'd rather make sure that someone knows the truth than miss that and come across as a nice guy.<br />
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God bless, and I hope this helps <i>someone.</i></div>Vince LaRuehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06959296493380954676noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7893830972554533343.post-3427045942124879752010-02-03T23:31:00.001-05:002010-02-03T23:33:22.791-05:00Paradise and HeavenOne of the more obscure topics in the Bible is the actual location of Paradise, and, by extrapolation, Heaven itself. I was recently accosted by a man who insisted that Paradise is and always has been Heaven, based on a few Scripture references. I intend to show the origin of these locales based on what the Bible says.<br /><br />Again, I make the King James Bible my sole authority: any Scripture used is King James only, and any other references will be ensured to line up with Scripture. No other Book has the power or authority of the Monarch of the Books, the Authorized Version of the Bible.<br /><br /><blockquote>Genesis 1:1 In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.</blockquote><br /><br />Again, I don't wish to get into the Gap issue here, but it must be noted that in the original creation, God only created one heaven. The atmosphere, also called the firmament, is also called "heaven" or "the firmament of heaven." So we can safely say that "heaven" doesn't immediately mean God's throne (Matt. 5:34), but has several meanings. Specifically, the Apostle Paul speaks of being caught up to the "third heaven" after being <strike>rocked to sleep</strike> stoned to death. He also uses the word "paradise" in that context, stating that the place where he went was called "paradise." Since the typical consensus is that paradise is not in the third heaven, allow me to explain what must be, according to the Scriptures.<br /><br />The first instance of the word "paradise" is found in Luke 23:43.<br /><br /><blockquote>And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, To day shalt thou be with me in paradise.</blockquote><br /><br />Very obviously, Jesus is saying to the thief on the cross that he (the thief) will be with Christ after their deaths, that same day. Therefore, wherever Jesus is to be found immediately after His death, the thief will also be present.<br /><br /><blockquote>Matthew 12:40 For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale's belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.</blockquote><br /><br />Jesus was clearly stating here that He would go to Hell during the time when He was dead.<br /><br /><blockquote>Ephesians 4:8 Wherefore he saith, When he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men.<br />9 (Now that he ascended, what is it but that he also descended first into the lower parts of the earth?<br />10 He that descended is the same also that ascended up far above all heavens, that he might fill all things.)</blockquote><br /><br /><blockquote>Revelation 1:18 I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death.</blockquote><br /><br />Also reference this:<br /><br /><blockquote>1 Peter 3:18 For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit:<br />19 By which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison;</blockquote><br /><br />Christ's suffering was the means by which He preached to the spirits in prison (2 Pet. 2:4, Jude 6) in the same Hell where the rich man went (Luke 16:19-31) and saw Abraham's Bosom.<br /><br />These places, Abraham's Bosom, and Hell, were separated by a "great gulf" which was impassable, meaning that while communication was indeed possible as this story proves, they were definitely separate places, one being a place of torment, and the other being described as comfortable. Therefore, since Jesus spent those three days in Hell, and He promised the thief that he would be with Christ in Paradise, the only logical conclusion that "Abraham's Bosom" is also called "paradise," the temporary resting place for righteous Old Testament souls whose sins had not yet been washed away under the Old Covenant of the Law. These people could no more enter heaven proper without proper atonement for their sins than could any lost person today: they had to have their sins forgiven first, which means that Christ had to die and pay their sin-debt! (Eph. 4:8)<br /><br />So, we can see how that Christ very clearly said that paradise was in the center of the earth along with Hell. However, we also see that Paul stated that paradise was in the third Heaven. The simplest way to reconcile this "contradiction" is to simply accept that when Christ "led captivity captive," the place in Heaven where they went is also called "paradise" in the Bible.<br /><br />There is much more to this study, including the Deep, the Pit, the Lake of Fire, and the whole origin and purpose of these places. However, I believe I covered the intended topic sufficiently, so we will let it rest until another time.<br /><br />Comment if you have questions or have Biblical evidence of where I am wrong on this topic: I am always open to the correction of the Book!Vince LaRuehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06959296493380954676noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7893830972554533343.post-44805502276278234012010-02-02T19:54:00.003-05:002010-02-02T20:57:07.511-05:00The Sons/sons of God<p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 16.0px Georgia">Recently, a topic came up that I thoroughly enjoy discussing, but about which there appears to be a lot of misconceptions. (This will in no way be exhaustive; many books have been written on these topics, and I hardly have the space to do a worthy study on them in a blog post!)</p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 16.0px Georgia; min-height: 19.0px"><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 16.0px Georgia">We begin our study in the usual place: at the beginning. (Note: all Scripture is from the King James Bible, and no authority other than It shall be appealed to, especially "The Greek" or "The Hebrew.")</p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 16.0px Georgia; min-height: 19.0px"><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 16.0px Georgia; min-height: 19.0px"><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 16.0px Georgia"></p><blockquote>Genesis 1:26 And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.</blockquote><p></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 16.0px Georgia; min-height: 19.0px"><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 16.0px Georgia; min-height: 19.0px"><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 16.0px Georgia">The key word here is not what one would usually pick up on or make of any importance: the word to note is "image." Obviously, this verse supports the Triune nature of God ("our image"), and dually it speaks of man's triune nature as well: body, soul, and spirit. Adam was made in God's perfect image, a triune being, and certainly in the likeness of His physical appearance also.</p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 16.0px Georgia; min-height: 19.0px"><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 16.0px Georgia">As a result of that likeness and image, check out how Adam is referred to later:</p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 16.0px Georgia; min-height: 19.0px"><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 16.0px Georgia; min-height: 19.0px"><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 16.0px Georgia"></p><blockquote>Luke 3:38: Which was the son of Enos, which was the son of Seth, which was the son of Adam, which was the son of God.</blockquote><p></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 16.0px Georgia; min-height: 19.0px"><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 16.0px Georgia; min-height: 19.0px"><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 16.0px Georgia">Do note that in this instance, "son" is lower-case, denoting that Adam was not a deity: he was simply made in the image of God, and therefore was called the "son of God." Thus, the vast importance of the precise wording of John 3:16 is made apparent: Jesus is the only "begotten" son of God, or God the Son (capital "S"), so dropping the "begotten" (meaning God's direct progeny or "genetic" offspring) makes Jesus a liar, as there are many other beings that are called the "sons of God."</p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 16.0px Georgia; min-height: 19.0px"><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 16.0px Georgia">Now, we'll sally back to the first place in the Bible where the actual phrase "son(s) of God" is mentioned. </p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 16.0px Georgia; min-height: 19.0px"><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 16.0px Georgia; min-height: 19.0px"><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 16.0px Georgia"></p><blockquote><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 16.0px Georgia">Genesis 6:1 And it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born unto them,</p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 16.0px Georgia">2 That the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them wives of all which they chose.</p></blockquote><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 16.0px Georgia"></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 16.0px Georgia; min-height: 19.0px"><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 16.0px Georgia; min-height: 19.0px"><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 16.0px Georgia">The typical argument here is that these "sons of God" are simply righteous descendants of Seth, as opposed to the unrighteous descendants of Cain. This is certainly a lousy exegesis, since Seth himself was said to have been born in Adam's image, not God's (Genesis 5:3). The fact is that when Adam sinned, he lost that perfect image of God: his spirit died. From that point on, man was unregenerate, fallen, and existed as a dichotomy: body and soul, with a dead, worthless spirit inside. Man's communion with God had been cut off, and from then on, man was born in the image of Adam (1 Cor. 15:49).</p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 16.0px Georgia; min-height: 19.0px"><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 16.0px Georgia">We'll conclude then, based on the evidence given in the book of Genesis, that the phrase "sons of God" cannot refer to human beings, since not only is there a precise distinction between God and mankind in this verse, but that indeed the image of God had been lost (and still is in unregenerate man). Therefore, these "sons of God" are something entirely different, and we'll look and see what the Bible says about them.</p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 16.0px Georgia; min-height: 19.0px"><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 16.0px Georgia; min-height: 19.0px"><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 16.0px Georgia"></p><blockquote>Job 1:6 Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan came also among them.</blockquote><p></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 16.0px Georgia; min-height: 19.0px"><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 16.0px Georgia; min-height: 19.0px"><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 16.0px Georgia">Now, without getting into the Genesis 1:1-2 issue, let us simply state here that since it is the sons of God that are presenting themselves before God, and Satan is among them, that he is indeed numbered among these sons of God, though in an obviously fallen state. Why else would he show up? These are supernatural, angelic beings (Job 38:7) who were present at the creation, though Satan, among them, obviously no longer retains his office as the LORD's light-bearer (Ezekiel 28:14). These sons of God, then, are not based on their standing with God: they are called sons of God based on their creation (Genesis 6 details sons of God that were involved in vile sexual practices!). So far, we have established two things:</p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 16.0px Georgia; min-height: 19.0px"><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 16.0px Georgia">1. These sons of God are not human</p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 16.0px Georgia; min-height: 19.0px"><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 16.0px Georgia">and </p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 16.0px Georgia; min-height: 19.0px"><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 16.0px Georgia">2. These sons of God are supernatural, angelic beings who were present at the creation.</p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 16.0px Georgia; min-height: 19.0px"><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 16.0px Georgia">Now, let us tie together the different uses of "son of God" between the Old and New Testaments.</p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 16.0px Georgia; min-height: 19.0px"><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 16.0px Georgia">A serious student of the Bible will recognize that before Christ's death, burial and resurrection, there was no "new birth," no "Body of Christ," and no forgiveness of sins. As Christ was the "last Adam," (1 Cor. 15:45), he redeemed fallen man and restored the perfect Image of God (Rom. 8:29; 1 Cor. 15:49; 2 Cor. 3:18, 4:4; Col. 3:10)</p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 16.0px Georgia; min-height: 19.0px"><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 16.0px Georgia">With Christ's propitiation for our sins, He conformed us to the image of God through His death. We now have the power to become the sons of God, or regain that fallen image! The reason that a person or being is called a "son of God" is because he is made in the image of God, just as genetic children retain the image or likeness of their parents. In our case, as David said, we have been made a little lower than the angels (Psalms 8:5), but we have been given the unspeakable free gift of Eternal Life, something that the angels obviously don't have (Gen. 6, 2 Pet. 2:4, Jude 6).</p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 16.0px Georgia; min-height: 19.0px"><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 16.0px Georgia">Questions? Leave a comment and I'll reply to the best of my ability.</p>Vince LaRuehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06959296493380954676noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7893830972554533343.post-70122722038519417422010-02-01T21:14:00.002-05:002010-02-01T21:30:44.836-05:00Preaching about Preaching??In my years in Bible Believing, Baptist churches, I've heard many good sermons. I've tried to make a habit of taking notes, especially with visiting pastors, and I've even "borrowed" some of their material to make my own sermons.<div><br /></div><div>On the other hand, I've heard a lot of bad sermons. And I mean BAD. For instance, a while back I saw a YouTube video of a young whippersnapper preaching an entire sermon against another preacher, a man FOUR TIMES HIS AGE. Not only was this young novice incredibly ignorant about the man (he called Dr. Ruckman a Brider!?!?), but he was railing against an Elder, one against whom he was not to receive an accusation (1 Tim. 5:19), and someone whom he is to entreat as a father (1 Tim. 5:1). For this young kid to behave so reprehensibly in just that one "sermon," so proudly displayed on YouTube, is an absolute disgrace, and proves that he is indeed a novice who is NOT grave, nor sober minded, nor fit for the ministry in the least.</div><div><br /></div><div>A <i>second</i> message by this loud-mouth was on "watered down preaching," a topic that while I agree with and understand the importance of sound, biblical preaching, I hardly think is a topic that deserves its own sermon!! A cursory look at the common fare of this young person's sermons shows that he is extremely heavy on sin, standards, and separation, and preaching on doctrine, spiritual topics, and FOOD for the SHEEP is severely lacking.</div><div><br /></div><div>This is the largest problem in "Independent, Fundamental, Skirt-wearin', Hellfire and damnation preachin', oh yeah and King James only Baptist" circles today: <b><i>too many people are majoring on the minors and minoring on the majors!!! </i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;">Yes, we need to preach righteousness. Yes, it is important to preach hard and straight. Yes, it is important to draw a line sometimes. BUT IT DOESN'T FEED THE SHEEP! If you have a church full of nothing but hard preaching and standards, you'll have a bunch of shallow people who will be blown away the first time a Jehovah's Witness shows them something that's "wrong" in their Bible or a "truth" that you don't teach or that contradicts what little doctrine your people get. Your people will know that speaking in tongues is wicked, but they won't know WHY. They will know that they are supposed to dress modestly, but they will dress the way YOU WANT THEM TO because THAT'S what you preach instead of what the BIBLE SAYS.</span></b></div><div><br /></div><div>A good, balanced church is comprised of three different types of discourse: Doctrinal teaching, Spiritual preaching, and Practical application to help them in their day-to-day lives. A church with too much of one kind or too little of another will be imbalanced and will lead to dry or shallow Christians who don't have what it takes to be a shining light in our communities.</div><div><br /></div><div>Pardon the rant, but doctrinally-decrepit loudmouths are getting on my nerves lately, and since this is my blog, I figured I'd take advantage and say something.</div>Vince LaRuehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06959296493380954676noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7893830972554533343.post-17126285847250074442010-01-29T19:44:00.000-05:002010-01-29T19:44:10.448-05:00Revenge of the FallenI love SciFi, and I'm usually hesitant to make a Biblical argument against a work of mainstream fiction ("The Golden Compass" and "Harry Potter" not included!). However, reading through Larkin's "The Spirit World" opened my eyes to something that I think is important for Christians to understand.<br />
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In Transformers: The Revenge of the Fallen, Megatron, the leader of the evil Decepticons, is raised from the depths of the ocean (the "Deep," anyone?) to wreak havoc once again on earth. Of course, in the end the good guys win, but the storyline is filled with hidden Masonic references (<a href="http://vigilantcitizen.com/?p=1564">Vigilant Citizen - Transformers 2</a>) and NWO undertones throughout.<br />
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From a Christian perspective, however, something completely more sinister emerges. Even if we ignore the complete over-the-top sensuality of the film, it still doesn't make muster as something that a Christian should digest! In Isaiah 14, we read the following:<br />
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<blockquote>12 How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations!</blockquote><br />
Bible Believers know that Lucifer is the name of the pre-fall Satan who was crowned the ruler (v. 13, "my throne") over Eden, the pre-Adamic earth that was populated completely with angelic beings. God here is talking about Satan, after the fall spoken of here and in Ezekiel 28, as well as hinted at in Genesis 1:2.<br />
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Other references to "fallen" beings include:<br />
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<blockquote>Revelation 12:7 And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels,</blockquote><blockquote>8 And prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in heaven.</blockquote><blockquote>9 And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.</blockquote><blockquote>2 Peter 2:4 For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment;</blockquote><blockquote> Jude 6 And the angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day.</blockquote><br />
It is generally accepted among Bible Believers that the account of the "sons of God" in Genesis 6 is speaking of angels that chose to leave their "first estate" in Heaven and cohabitate with human women. For all the talk of the "godly line of Seth," there is no evidence for anything but angelic intermingling with humankind. As it was, the offspring of these unnatural unions (Jude 7, 2 Pet. 2:5) resulted in "giants...mighty men which were of old, men of renown" who were much unlike anything seen today.<br />
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Now while I don't generally refer to the ancient languages of the Bible, sometimes they create interesting insight; the word used in Genesis 6 for "giants" is "Nephilim," which also means "<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">Fallen Ones</span>."<br />
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Now one could argue that since the "Fallen One" lost, it's a good movie, but where does one draw the line? I've even questioned movies like Lord of the Rings and Chronicles of Narnia because of their "good magic" content: it might symbolize Good or something positive and "right," but it's still subjecting yourself to (even CGI) witchcraft! There is more to these things than meets the eye, and unfortunately we as Christians fail to see it!<br />
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In conclusion, I think it important to understand that (even if unintentional, which I seriously doubt) this movie pictures Satan's return in the Tribulation as he bruises the heel of the Seed of the woman. Remember to view things in light of the Scriptures: we cannot simply explain things away or brush them off: God is serious about this stuff!!MC1171611http://www.blogger.com/profile/11982746677864193670noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7893830972554533343.post-51695086364330298382009-12-31T00:12:00.003-05:002009-12-31T00:53:31.857-05:00Glory, Glory, Hallelujah!One of the most unfortunate misconceptions to have ever struck this country, besides the idea that a Republican can fix this country, is that the "Battle Hymn" is a great patriotic song. Nothing could be farther from the truth: not only is the song rife with doctrinal heresy, its author was a God-rejecting Unitarian, and the whole concept behind the song was inaccurate! But sadly, as is our nation's typical <span style="font-style: italic;">modus operandi, </span>we're stuck with this song in our hymnals, on the 4th of July, and other patriotic occurrences.<br /><br /><blockquote><dl><dd>Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord:</dd><dd>He is trampling out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored;</dd><dd>He hath loosed the fateful lightning of His terrible swift sword:</dd><dd>His truth is marching on.</dd></dl></blockquote><br />Right from the first we see that the woman, Julia Ward Howe, who is accredited with writing this song, has absolutely no clue as to what "the coming of the Lord" actually entails: she's of the opinion that Jesus is going to come back to free all the slaves (she was a notorious abolitionist), even though Christ clearly commanded servants to subject themselves to their masters (Colossians 3:22: Servants, obey in all things your masters according to the flesh; not with eyeservice, as menpleasers; but in singleness of heart, fearing God:)! Note: I am not condoning the practice of slavery as it existed then or at any other time: God allows what He wills, and there's nothing that I can do to change the past.<br /><br />Obviously, Ms. Howe was so caught up in her unbiblical activities and was so self-serving that she thought that the Lord would empower the Union armies with "his terrible, swift sword." No matter that the South was simply repeating what Thomas Jefferson penned in the Declaration of Independence, attempting to secure liberty for their posterity (crushed mercilessly by the Constitution-defying Lincoln): she decided that the war being fought was simply to free slaves! Again, ignoring that after Lincoln issued his Emancipation Proclamation (freeing slaves ONLY in the South!), desertion rates in BOTH ARMIES <span style="font-style: italic;">skyrocketed!</span> One Confederate soldier was recorded as saying that he was disgusted at the idea of fighting for Negroes. The common soldiers on either side of the conflict cared little about the institution of slavery: there were at least two states in the Union that still allowed slaves!! The misconception about slavery's importance in the Civil War is one of the greatest coups of leftist propaganda in the history of the world!<br /><br /><br /><blockquote><dl><dd>I have read a fiery gospel writ in burnished rows of steel:</dd><dd>"As ye deal with my contemners, so with you my grace shall deal;</dd><dd>Let the Hero, born of woman, crush the serpent with his heel,</dd><dd>Since God is marching on."</dd></dl></blockquote><br />So, the gospel has to do with guns and bayonets, does it now? This sounds more like a Dark Ages dirge than an American hymn! And the salvation of the Union soldiers rested on how many Southerners they hacked, shot, stabbed and slashed on the battle field?? On top of that, the Union army is a <span style="font-style: italic;">picture of Jesus Christ crushing the Southern <span style="font-weight: bold;">SERPENT??</span></span> ARE YOU EVEN PAYING ATTENTION TO THE SLOP THIS WOMAN IS SPEWING???<br /><br /><br /><blockquote><dl><dd>He has sounded forth the trumpet that shall never call retreat;</dd><dd>He is sifting out the hearts of men before His judgment-seat:</dd><dd>Oh, be swift, my soul, to answer Him! be jubilant, my feet!</dd><dd>Our God is marching on.</dd></dl></blockquote><br />Well, she obviously wasn't paying much attention to the majority of the battles that took place in the first THREE YEARS of the war: the South was kicking butt!! I suppose that's what happens when <span style="font-style: italic;">your homeland is being invaded!</span> Again, she assumes that God's most pressing duty is judging the Southern soldiers before His Judgment Seat, not knowing, of course, that it is only the saved that are at the Judgment Seat of Christ (who she did not believe was God).<br /><br /><br /><blockquote><dl><dd>In the beauty of the lilies Christ was born across the sea,</dd><dd>With a glory in His bosom that transfigures you and me:</dd><dd>As He died to make men holy, let us die to make men free,</dd><dd>While God is marching on.</dd></dl></blockquote><br />Look out, your ignorance is showing!!<br /><br />Of course, anyone who knows ANYTHING about the Bible knows that Jesus was NOT born among beautiful lilies, and He did NOT die to make men holy: <span style="font-style: italic;">He died to save their wretched souls!!</span><br /><br />So, not only was her history wrong, her doctrine and basic intelligence was way off course, too! I think there are far, far better songs that are truly patriotic that we can sing without stooping to using smut like this.<br /><br /><blockquote></blockquote>Vince LaRuehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06959296493380954676noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7893830972554533343.post-56348568001179863852009-09-26T16:38:00.003-04:002009-09-26T22:09:51.505-04:00Yet more on evolutionSee, I just can't put the topic down. When I actually get around to posting, I have a tendency to hit the same topic over and over again until I finally get a new topic to ride for a while.<br /><br />Here are some very problematic things that evolutionists have to completely ignore in order to continue believing their Mother Goose-style fairy tale religion:<br /><br />Abiogenesis, or the rise of life from non-living material. Fransisco Redi and Louis Pasteur proved this nonsense to be exactly that: nonsense, between 100 and 200+ years ago. The question is then, how can someone who claims to be intelligent actually think that life came from non-life, when there is neither evidence nor credible theory to back it up? Even Richard Dawkins, famous atheist and evolutionist, has no intelligent answer to this question, though even just the title of his book "The God Delusion" certainly sums up his thoughts about an intelligent Creator.<br /><br />Thermodynamics, the Laws by which life, matter and energy are ruled. First, evolution cannot explain the basic existence of the things that these Laws rule; naturally-occurring spontaneous generation of the matter in the universe is directly contrary to the Laws, so even our existence is "illegal" when one believes in evolution. Secondly, the arise of "higher" creatures from "lower" ones requires an addition of genetic material that has not only never been observed, but is in fact a direct violation of the Laws as well. While and energy cannot be destroyed, they can be reduced to an unusable state, so everything tends to disorder, chaos and entropy, while the "theory" of evolution requires the exact opposite, which, once again, has never been observed in nature.<br /><br />Beneficial Mutations, or random genetic cellular mutations that produce positive, helpful results. This is the cornerstone of the "Natural Selection" tenant held so dearly by evolutionists: only by slow, beneficial mutations can a creature hope to evolve into a more adapted creature. This thought even underlies the basic racism of the evolution "theory," in that since Aboriginal and African peoples are older and less evolved than whites, they are inferior (Hitler and Mussolini loved THAT one). However, the evolutionist's faith is challenged by the fact that all genetic mutations, from warts and missing limbs to cancer, are not only NOT beneficial, but are in fact harmful! Indeed, the human immune system knows well enough to attack mutated cells to help keep the body normal and healthy, so why would anyone think that these problems could be beneficial?<br /><br /><br />In conclusion, Evolution requires life to arise from non-living matter, which has never been observed nor even supported by any scientific research, complete circumvention of the Laws of Thermodynamics, which is impossible since they are immutable, natural LAWS, and "beneficial" mutations, which have also never been observed nor supported by scientific findings. Therefore, we have, instead of a scientific theory, a religious belief unsupported by science or common sense.MC1171611http://www.blogger.com/profile/11982746677864193670noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7893830972554533343.post-2021244251663975152009-08-01T22:51:00.003-04:002009-08-01T23:06:56.064-04:00More on the "theory" of EvolutionWhile contemplating this <strike>"Global Warming"</strike> "Climate Change" issue, one has to come to the conclusion that it is unchangeably tied to the farce that is Evolution.<br /><br />For instance, both nonsensical belief systems require long periods of time with gradual changes. "Climate Change" simply insists that this parasitic creature, <i>homo sapiens</i>, is causing change to occur much faster than normal to the detriment of the rest of the ecological system.<br /><br />Unfortunately, given the lack of education in the "education system," kids are being plopped out of Public Sewers spouting the party line of Evolution, Climate Change, and Socialist Politics. Isn't it strange that modern education purports to teach individuality and free thinking, yet almost all of its denizens quote the same mantra?<br /><br />Well, this really isn't very long, as my day was long enough and my mind is rather scattered. Take it easy, and I'll try to update more regularly. Again.MC1171611http://www.blogger.com/profile/11982746677864193670noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7893830972554533343.post-44299267477280378552009-07-13T21:20:00.000-04:002009-07-13T21:21:45.569-04:00Part 2...Finally!<object width="560" height="340"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/uBZf4-vJuec&hl=en&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/uBZf4-vJuec&hl=en&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="560" height="340"></embed></object>MC1171611http://www.blogger.com/profile/11982746677864193670noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7893830972554533343.post-65472452886794127082009-06-22T12:06:00.002-04:002009-06-22T12:10:55.793-04:00Well well...So, I haven't yet taken the time to finish getting the video put up. Trust me, I have both the second and third videos ready to upload, but I've been extremely busy (not to mention out of town for a week) and haven't yet gotten around to putting them up.<br /><br />On a side note, I noticed that I had over 100 hits on this blog on June 12th. At first I was astounded and a little excited; then I noticed that the referrals were from Fundies Say The Darndest Things, and my elation vanished. Talk about a cesspool of self-important, lame-brained jacknapes! Well, I still probably got a decent amount of ad traffic from that mess, so I could care less.MC1171611http://www.blogger.com/profile/11982746677864193670noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7893830972554533343.post-25601862080446325092009-06-01T23:10:00.002-04:002009-06-01T23:13:43.927-04:00Update on Part 2 of the Signs videoI figured I should throw this out here: I've been trying to upload the second segment of this video, but unfortunately my internet provider (TWC, thank you (not) very much) has been having serious issues in providing reliable internet service lately, and every time I try to upload it, the internet cuts out and I have to start over (which I've done now at least three times).<br /><br />Rest assured that the second part and final wrap-up are indeed done and ready for upload; I simply have not been able to get them uploaded, thanks to Time stupid Warner.MC1171611http://www.blogger.com/profile/11982746677864193670noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7893830972554533343.post-58664873312048405302009-05-25T23:32:00.002-04:002009-05-25T23:34:21.823-04:00Signs, part 1<object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/AGcRQh-i1mk&hl=en&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/AGcRQh-i1mk&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>MC1171611http://www.blogger.com/profile/11982746677864193670noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7893830972554533343.post-75820183971632074112009-05-18T15:37:00.003-04:002009-05-18T16:13:20.755-04:00Theological RubbishTraditionally (I hate 99% of traditions, to be honest), there are two viewpoints as far as "Theology" goes. You have "Reformed" doctrine on one side, with the other bearing the moniker of "Armenianism," though Reformed is just a fancy name for Calvinism. Most people view these two theologies as all that exist in Christianity, but to counteract a basic lack of knowledge on this issue, I'm going to give a basic overview of what these doctrines teach and what's wrong with them, as well as what the Bible truly says about this issue.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:130%;" >Calvinism</span><br /><br />Hard-core Calvinism or Reformed Theology is summed up in the acronym "TULIP." Also known as "Five point Calvinism," TULIP theology teaches the "Total Depravity" of mankind, "Unconditional Election" of those destined or chosen to be saved, "Limited Atonement" or that Christ's sacrifice was only for the "Elect," "Irresistible Grace" or that the Elect cannot refuse the drawing power of the Spirit, and "Perseverance of the Saints," which means (in its purest form) that those that are saved will retain their salvation through holy living.<br /><br />While these doctrines seem harmless on the surface, they are dangerous and unbiblical when studied closely. For instance, while "No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him," Jesus said that He would draw all men unto Him if He were lifted up. Simply put, Total Depravity is unbiblical, in that God has placed many things in this world to draw the attention of the lost who have never even heard of God or Jesus Christ (Rom. 1:20).<br /><br />Also, Perseverance of the Saints is not Biblical Eternal Security by any stretch of the imagination; contrariwise, this doctrine teaches that while salvation <span style="font-style: italic;">can be lost</span>, the "Elect" will always regain their salvation and invariably go to Heaven when they die. This is incredibly unbiblical, and though some that hold to Reformed theology no longer believe this, instead adopting true Eternal Security, this is the doctrine that Calvin taught and is held by those that truly agree with fundamental Calvinism.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:130%;" >Armenianism</span><br /><br />Armenianism is very similar to Calvinism except that where Calvinists believe certain people are chosen to go to Heaven, Armenianists believe that God's election is conditional upon faith, and while Reformed theology teaches an invariable return to salvation, Armenianism states that salvation is dependent upon continued holy living, and that those that are saved can actually go to hell.<br /><br />Of course the biggest problem with this view according to the word of God is that the Bible clearly teaches that once someone in the age of Grace (i.e. Church Age) accepts Christ as his saviour, he is permanently and irreversibly saved. Our sanctification is not based upon our continued clean living, but on Jesus Christ's perfect life. We are perfected in the spirit through His blood, and neither obtaining nor retaining salvation has anything to do with our works.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:130%;" >Biblical Theology<br /><br /></span>The doctrines of the Bible on salvation are very clear, so it is somewhat perplexing as to how men such as Calvin came up with such ludicrous ideas. The Bible clearly teaches that God created man with a free will and the ability to choose, and that while man almost invariably makes the wrong choice, God always gives him a chance to make that choice. From Adam through Noah, Abraham, Moses, David, and the prophets, each one had a choice to make, whether to obey God or serve their own will. The concept of a free will is unarguable from any standpoint, especially a Biblical one.<br /><br />Secondly, the idea of Divine Predestination is out of line. Invariably, one will find that a Calvinist must take a verse out of context or apply it incorrectly to make his doctrinal house of cards stand. While Paul declared that we as a church are predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, speaking to Christians, a Calvinist will say that means that certain individuals were chosen before creation to go to Heaven, when it simply means that when a man gets saved, he is placed on a path to be made perfect like Christ.<br /><br />The third and final doctrine of Calvinism which I will contrast against the Biblical position is "Perseverance of the Saints." Paul states that we are "sealed unto the day of redemption" by the Holy Spirit, meaning that we have the seal of God on our souls, marking us as His purchased possession. Also, the entire book of Galatians deals with the theme "Kept by Grace," following up on Paul's in-depth salvation discourse to the Romans. He clearly states, "Are ye so foolish? having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh?" He spends the rest of the book clearly showing how that once saved by God's grace, through no effort of our own, we are kept saved the same way: by God's grace without our interference in any way.<br /><br /><br />Simply put, the "traditional" way of looking at theology is deeply flawed. I personally think that there is too much emphasis put on "theology" and not nearly enough placed on actually believing the Bible. When one interprets the Bible through the cloudy, dingy glasses of his own theological viewpoint, he becomes a private interpreter of the Scriptures, which in reality places him in no better standing than an Atheist or the Catholic Whore as far as correct doctrine is concerned.MC1171611http://www.blogger.com/profile/11982746677864193670noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7893830972554533343.post-84806637033477463112009-05-16T17:50:00.003-04:002009-05-16T18:23:37.114-04:00Love your Modern Bible Version? So does the PopeOuch. Yeah, sorry, that's kinda' hitting below the belt, I know. However, it's 100% true and historically accurate. You doubt? It's easily ascertained.<br /><br />Anyone who's very familiar at all with the Bible version debate knows that there are two main families of manuscripts (mss.), the Byzantine or Antioch, known as the "Majority Text," and the Alexandrian, known as the "Critical Text." For almost 1800 years, the only Scriptures available to the people were those of the Antioch line (where they were first called Christians, etc.). Antioch is located in Asia Minor, the location of the vast majority of Paul's missionary journeys.<br /><br />These mss. are found in dozens of different languages the world over, and have resulted in every Reformation-Era Bible besides Wycliffe's, from the Gutenberg Bible down through the Bishops, Geneva, Great and Authorized Bibles (KJB). These, while differing and varying somewhat among the 10,000 or so different scraps and portions in so many different languages, still exhibit an incredible coherence as a whole, and to any objectie observer have resulted in every major revival and awakening movement on the globe since the time of Christ.<br /><br />However, this family of mss. has been villanized by modern Christian scholarship as being newer and more modified from the "Original Autographs." They in turn offer the Critical line of mss. in their place, but even a cursory examination of these raises an immense number of red flags. For instance, the proponents of the Alexandrian family of manuscript were from Alexandria, Egypt, a place that no Apostle nor church father of character came from nor even visited. Alexandria was a hotbed of corruption and debauchery from the political sphere down through its culture and even into its band of Christians. This group included Origen, who castrated himself, and other men whose philosophy came directly from the humanistic philosophers of Greece. It's clear from their writings (Origen was a most prolific writer) that they held very few of the "orthodox" or fundamental doctrines, instead many times believing in multiple paths for salvation and other hereisies.<br /><br />To return to the title, however: in the middle 1800s, Christian scholars who had studied in humanistic German schools of philosophy began uncovering new manuscripts and codices that had never been seen before. These included Alexandrianus (A), the least-known of the three main mss., Siniaiticus (<big>א)</big>, found in a garbage heap in a monestary in the Siniai desert, and Vaticanus (B), a script that no Christian scholar, liberal or not, has ever actually studied in person. Dean Burgeon, a great defender of the Majority Text in the late 1800s, described the aforementioned codices as sloppy and lacking the care that important documents of any type merited, let alone the Scriptures themselves. It's believed that Origin and others actually modified at least two of these codices, though there are contradictions and ommissions located throughout.<br /><br />The reason that Vaticanus (B) has never been actively studied is because it is kept securely locked away in the Vatican library. While photocopies have been made available, on which the overwhelming majority of modern translations are based, the codex itself is unattainable.<br /><br />But all this doesn't necessarily answer the customary query or the reader: why would the Pope and the Catholic system look favorably upon the modern versions, while by implication frowning upon traditional translations? Simple this: thousands of people, from unknown thousands during the Dark Ages down through John Huss and William Tyndale, died for hiding, reading, posessing or memorizing the words of Scripture from the Majority Text, and their deaths were completely at the hands of the Roman Catholic Church. While the "church" used political powers to carry out the public torture and executions, they were behind it and in control of it nonetheless.<br /><br />After the Bible was out in the open and impossible for the Papists to control (thanks to men like Luther, Wycliffe, Tyndale, Coverdale and others), they decided on another tact: if you can't beat them, join them. So as a result, the Chamelion Catholic Church changed their stance on the Bible, and manipulated Christian "scholarship" to use their "older," extremely corrupt manuscripts and codices to produce new versions of the Bible. In essence, the NIV, NASB, NLT, ESV, and ASV are all based on the same source from whence came the Douay-Rheims Catholic Bible, while the King James Bible, the Bishops, Tyndale, Great Bible, Luther's German Bible, and all other Reformation-Era Bibles, are based on the manuscripts that Bible-believing men ans women died for through the centuries.<br /><br />Hard words, yes, but very true. Not only are "updates" to the Bible unnecessary, but the very foundation for those updates is the corruption that the Roman Catholic Whore has infiltrated Christianity with to undermine the Authority and Power of the Scriptures. Anyone with two brain cells to rub together wouldn't accept the doctrines of Purgatory, Infant Baptism or Transubstantiation, but those same individuals turn around and correct the words of God with the corruption that the Catholic Bible is based on. Hardly makes sense, does it?MC1171611http://www.blogger.com/profile/11982746677864193670noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7893830972554533343.post-23467366228978634682009-05-13T14:55:00.004-04:002009-05-15T20:13:26.164-04:00The Real Big BangThe stupid little sect of "educated" idiots in this country that believes in evolution will doubtlessly think the title denotes an overbearing, fantastical account of an event that can't be proven and of which there is no evidence, but that's not the case at all. In fact, I'm just going to post some Scripture and run those little scums off right now: there's no sense in having an idiot involved in an intelligent, spiritual conversation. It would be like involving a centipede or a spinach plant in a physics discussion.<br /><br /><blockquote>2Pet. 3:10 But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up. </blockquote><br />Cool, huh? This is speaking about the last days, after the Tribulation and the Millennium. In this time, Jesus has just ruled and reigned for 1,000 glorious years, but the Devil is released for a short time and hell again breaks loose. The armies of the world rise up against the LORD and are crushed into tiny, tiny pieces. At that time, God really busts this place up. Let's get a little context on this occurrence.<br /><blockquote><br />2Pet. 3:7 But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men.</blockquote><br />The "same word" that this verse is talking about refers to verse 5, where it says that by the word of God the heavens were of old. So this verse says that the word of God holds in store the heavens and the earth. It also says they're reserved unto fire and judgment. What's this judgment all about?<br /><blockquote><br />2Pet. 3:10 But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and <span style="font-weight: bold;">the elements shall melt with fervent heat</span>, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up. </blockquote><br />(emphasis mine)<br /><br />Wow. Obviously, if you believe that God wrote this Book and that it's infallible and perfect, then you have no choice but to believe that the whole universe ("heavens") is going to be destroyed at the <span style="font-style: italic;">atomic level!</span> Don't agree? Then I'm sure there's a "The Bible is so nice" or "What Version do you like" blog out there for ya; enjoy. This is about <span style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">believing</span></span> the Bible, so you aren't going to fit in too well if you don't believe it.<br /><br /><blockquote>2Pet. 3:11 Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness,</blockquote><br />"Dissolved" is a good word to describe it; isn't it awesome how flawless the Book is? Hallelujah, we serve an AWESOME GOD!!<br /><blockquote><br />2Pet. 3:12 Looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat?</blockquote><br />There's that "dissolved" phrase again. Let me address the scientific significance of this real fast.<br /><br />Many scientists agree that the particles of atoms, electrons, neutrons and protons, are in turn made up of particles called "quarks." Three quarks each, to be exact. These particles have a magnetic charge which holds them together; however, this poses a serious and almost insurmountable problem for science: having three particles that are charged magnetically means that there is an imbalance of force (one negative vs. two positive), so how does an atom stay together?<br /><br />Well, I would like to propose that the Bible holds the answer to this question. In fact, I already provided the answer, though you might not have caught it. Let me provide it again.<br /><br /><blockquote>2Pet. 3:7 But the heavens and the earth, which are now, <span style="font-weight: bold;">by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire</span> against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men.</blockquote><br />Now is that cool or what? Sure, think about the ramifications of that statement. I don't much dwell on the things that science can't measure, explain or reason away: if God says it, I believe it. It makes life so much simpler, and you wind up being right way more often.MC1171611http://www.blogger.com/profile/11982746677864193670noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7893830972554533343.post-69671137650185775012009-05-05T21:45:00.004-04:002009-05-05T22:06:02.247-04:00Catholic roots of the King James Bible?First, I must apologize for the ads in the sidebar; I use Google adsense even though I've yet to receive a penny from it, and it turns out that they put up nonsensical Catholic ads on there. Oh well, I don't mind costing some popish reprobate some extra coin in advertisement costs.<br /><br />I have been repeatedly heckled by people who claim that the King James Bible is Catholic and corrupt, and in turn offer newer "Bibles" based on codices <span style="font-style: italic;">Siniaticus</span> and <span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-style: italic;">Vaticanus</span></span>, of all things! Of course, their first angle of attack is against some men; I will try to address that as well as possible.<br /><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Erasmus</span></span><br /><br />Erasmus was the original compiler of the <span style="font-style: italic;">Textus Receptus</span> on which every faithful translation of the Bible in any language is based. He also happened to be a Catholic monk, as was any educated person in Europe during that time period (either a Catholic clergyman or a noble). Erasmus dedicated much of his life to preparing the TR from hundreds of manuscripts in dozen of languages: he was undoubtedly one of the most educated men of his time. He also never left the Catholic church, and this is the beef that "freedom readers" have with the King James Bible: it is based on a text compiled and edited by a Catholic. Never mind that <span style="font-style: italic;">their</span> text was illegitimately birthed by a couple of <a href="http://wordofaking.blogspot.com/2009/05/godly-men.html">unregenerate pope-butt kissers</a>, Erasmus and his work must be derided to undermine the authority of that Book! So yeah, Erasmus was a Catholic, but it's obvious from the way the Catholic whore ignores him and treats him in their histories that he was far from a favored son. In fact, he was all but excommunicated for his works that challenged the papal authority of Rome. Basically this attack is a total farce.<br /><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Martin Luther</span></span><br /><br />Luther is the <span style="font-style: italic;">de facto</span> father of the Protestant Reformation (if one doesn't count John Wycliffe, that is...more on him later perhaps). Again, Luther was a Catholic monk who never left the "church." His works blasted the unbiblical doctrines of the Roman whore to the point where he was excommunicated and pursued for trial as a heretic, but he never actually left Rome. Of course, his TR-based German Bible was the translation that sparked the liberation of Europe from Papal Rome, but modern authority-rejectors must strive to eradicate that Bible and those like it if they are ever going to control the laity in their Nicolaitine methods of privately interpreting the Bible.<br /><br />There are others, but must we go on? Casiodora de Reina, Valera, Mora, and the translators of the Italian, Portugese, Dutch and other Bibles were almost all unfailingly Catholic monks or priests that God used (even Tyndale was!) to translate His words into different languages. Even the most ignorant honest individual would see that every major revival or move of God in this world was begun and completed under the auspices and authority of a TR-based translation of the Bible, and 1881 and the ESV saw God's movement diminish to a near indecipherable level, but it seems that modern scholarship refuses to accept such things as God's approval, and must instead appeal to humanistic reasoning to find the Scriptures for the typical dumb parishoner.<br /><br />Ain't it great to be a dumb sheep that must be led around by the nose?Vince LaRuehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06959296493380954676noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7893830972554533343.post-16054802556841606752009-05-04T12:24:00.003-04:002009-05-04T12:41:50.329-04:00The fallacy of "Double Inspiration"Yeah yeah, of course with a title like that you're expecting a rant against Ruckman or against the fringe King James onlyists, but you'll get none of that here. I simply want to put to rest this idea of "Double Inspiration" by defining what exactly inspiration really is. Of course I'll use nothing but a King James Bible to do it, so if you can't submit to that as your authority for the definition of the words found therein, then do yourself a favor and move your bohunkus out of the way of people who are actually trying to get something accomplished.<br /><br />The word "inspiration" is used twice in the Bible, and if you're a Bible believer like I am, you'll submit the words within the Bible to Its own definition, meaning you'll put the two verses together in context and accept that meaning as factual. Can we give that a shot?<br /><blockquote><br />II Timothy 3:16: All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:</blockquote><br />Please notice, this verse most emphatically does NOT say that all scripture is inspired: it says that all scripture is GIVEN BY INSPIRATION. If you say "the Bible is inspired," you're subjecting the words of God to your own private interpretation, contrary to 2 Peter 1:20.<br /><br /><blockquote>Job 32:8: But there is a spirit in man: and the inspiration of the Almighty giveth them understanding.</blockquote><br />So here we have the other verse, and as anyone with a brain in their head can see, "inspiration" is dealing with supernatural involvement in human comprehension; i.e. the "Almighty" giving understanding through inspiration.<br /><br />Therefore, when you combine the two verses, as true Bible believers should do, you'll see that all scripture (including the Bible that you claim to believe, if you really believe it) is given by the supernatural understanding given by God to men. As a result, scripture is not inspired: the <span style="font-style: italic;">men who write it are!</span> Therefore, there's no such thing as "double inspiration," since the Bible was never inspired even once in the first place! God preserved His perfect words through the centuries and compiled them in the King James Bible in 1604-1611, but He never inspired them. He inspires the men that He uses to preserve and translate that Word.<br /><br />Got a better explanation? Biblical, of course; I don't give two farts about any other kind.Vince LaRuehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06959296493380954676noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7893830972554533343.post-47816840183611841082009-05-02T22:37:00.004-04:002009-05-02T23:02:20.841-04:00"godly men"??When dealing with the modern version issue, the names of Brook Foss Westcott and Fenton John Anthony Hort are almost synonymous with Textual Criticism, and for good reason: they basically single-handedly (with the Vatican's and Satan's help, of course) demolished the solid foundation of the King James Bible. Of course they didn't damage the Word or change anything as far as God's words go, but they're responsible for destroying the faith of millions in God's written words.<br /><br />When the average "scholar" starts talking about the Textual issue, they always eventually say something about the "godly, dedicated men" behind the "Bible-of-the-Month-Club" perversions being churned out of the Bible mills continuously. This is, of course, to try to change the focus to their character from their work, when their work should invariably be the subject of scrutiny. The same goes for Westcott and Hort.<br /><br />Both men were Anglican ministers. Well so were many of the King James translators, you might say. True. However, those men had untarnished and unassailable testimonies of salvation and stellar reputations of spirituality and humility. Even modern KJB-haters have to attack their education (still unparalleled) or available materials (they had all the modern readings available in the Latin Vulgate) instead of their character. However, good Drs. Westcott and Hort are quite another story.<br /><br />In their own personal writings, they expressed their interest in gardening, ornithology, spiritism, and animal rights, among other things. While their contemporaries, such as John Wesley, George Whitefield, George Müller, William Booth and Billy Sunday, were spending nearly every waking hour preaching the Gospel and serving God, these modern Textual Critics spoke very little of Spiritual things, even relegating the Scriptures themselves as of no more importance than any other ancient manuscript! Neither one of them believed in Salvation by grace through Faith alone, nor a literal Devil or a literal hell, but they did agree on Mariolatry, Purgatory, Universal Reconciliation and the Nicolaitine Catholic priesthood. These men revered the Papacy very deeply, and on many occasions lamented their church's (Anglican) lack of strong, Papal leadership.<br /><br />But these are the "good, godly, dedicated" men whose work is so celebrated by modern Bible-rejectors. These men (Westcott and Hort) demoted the Bible to a menial collection of ancient scribbles and completely demolished its authority in modern society with their wrangling of the Critical Text, from which virtually every modern Bible perversion has sprung. Their pro-Vatican, anti-Biblical, un-spiritual babble has infiltrated every facet of "Christianity" and perverted the church that had held true to God's words for over 1800 years. With but a few years work, these reprobates cast doubt and confusion onto the textual line that millions had died for over the centuries, including men like John Huss, William Tyndale and others of their persuasion. From the Waldenses, Petrobrusians and other such groups, to men like Wycliffe and Luther that suffered persecution, Westcott and Hort undid almost two millenia of blood, sweat, tears and prayer. Today, God's precious words are scoffed at by billions, because of the confusion brought about by their work.<br /><br />Good job, guys...Satan's really proud of ya.Vince LaRuehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06959296493380954676noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7893830972554533343.post-52711643869051426042009-04-27T15:42:00.002-04:002009-04-27T16:04:45.928-04:00The Cancer of CatholicismI'm not going to get into the Great Whore issue or the relationship between Rome and the Antichrist in the end time, but I do want to rant a little and maybe inform some readers of some largely unknown church history.<br /><br />Generally speaking, people understand the history of the church in the last 2,000 or so years to be something like this: Jesus died as per the story in the Gospels, the Gospel spread throughout most of the known world, 300 AD saw Constantine wed the then-corrupt Roman church with the state government, and then Luther threw a fit in the 1400s and sparked the Reformation, which led to the translation and printing of the Bible in European languages leading to the expansion of Biblical Christianity.<br /><br />Now there is nothing really <span style="font-style: italic;">incorrect</span> with this account; the problem is that it misses some key facts and issues that most Christians, even those that claim to believe the Bible, overlook. Among ecumenical groups today there is a push to find common ground between any and all groups of people that claim the name of Christ, but a look into the past of the numerically largest group of "Christians" reveals some truly chilling, disturbing things that most people have no clue about.<br /><br />For instance, in 1534, Ignatius de Loyola founded the <span style="font-style: italic;">Society of Jesus</span>, better known as the Jesuits. This group of fanatical papists has wreaked such havoc upon the world as to be almost inconceivable. From the infamous yet little-known St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre in which more than 10,000 French Huguenots were brutally tortured and murdered by a Jesuit plot, to the sponsoring of the attempted invasion of England by Spain via the well-known "Spanish Armada" (packing along hundreds of Jesuit priests and instruments of the Inquisition), to even more recently the Jesuit connection to the assasination of President Lincoln, the "<span style="font-style: italic;">Society of Jesus</span>" is a no-holds-barred, lawless group of individuals whose main premise is that the ends justify the means, and they believe the church of Rome so fanatically that they are said to believe that white is black if the Catholic church were to say as much.<br /><br />However, the most poignant and effective attack by the Jesuits and the Great Whore herself has been against our Authorized English Bible. From the get-go, the Catholic church banned possession or memoriztion of the Bible, though even their "scholars" and priests were accused of scareely knowing even the names of the books of the Bible! Even in England, dozens or perhaps hundreds of people were burned at the stake for simply teaching their children to memorize the Lord's Prayer in English! If at any time there was an organization more diabolical or satanic than Rome, history does not record it.<br /><br />With the truth of the English Holy Scriptures defying every decree made at the demonic Council of Trent, the Catholic heirarachy knew that they had to counteract the effects of the AV if they were to have a chance to once again subdue England under the pope ("Bloody" Mary's Catholic reign of terror ended unsuccessfully and abruptly with her execution at the hands of Protestand troops, to be Providencially replaced by His Highness, King James the First of England). So in order to fight the sway that the King James Bible held over the English-speaking people, the Jesuits commissioned the Duay Bible, still the Catholic standard. Interestingly enough, this "Bible" perversion is based on exactly the same manuscript heritage as every new translation being spewed out of Nelson, Tyndale, and any other publishing house. I've dealt with <span style="font-style: italic;">Siniaticus </span>and <span style="font-style: italic;">Vaticanus </span>before on this blog, so I shan't revisit that topic. Suffice it to say that any version besides a King James Bible is based on the same corruption that the Catholic Whore employed to keep the world under bondage for several hundred years.<br /><br />Ok, I now forget where I was going with this, primarily because I'm exhausted and about to fall asleep. Comments are great...maybe they would help motivate me to post more often.Vince LaRuehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06959296493380954676noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7893830972554533343.post-64769383897532673942009-03-08T21:16:00.003-04:002009-03-08T21:29:41.800-04:00Unity or cowardice?How good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity.<br /><br />Of course it's good. It's awesome when believers can fellowship together in harmony and mutual understanding if not always mutual agreement on every little thing.<br /><br />However, where does unity end and compromise begin?<br /><br />I don't have the desire nor the time to go into detail, but I was recently berated for my "attitude" and my "anger" because I defended the words of God against a "Ph.D candidate" who made ridiculously idiotic statements about the "archaic" nature of the King James Bible and said that there were many terrible translations in it. This is a guy who apostatized a few years back and is now proudly a "renegade" who refuses to believe in any Authority that he can hold in his hands and OBEY. It always comes down to authority.<br /><br />Basically, there was a thread to post what Bible version each person used, so I simply stated that I believed the King James Bible is the perfect, pure, preserved word of God, given by inspiration. I did not attack anyone, I did not list the errors and corruption in other "Bibles," and I did not even hint at my true belief about other translations.<br /><br />"RenegadeBrad" comes along, though, and copy/pastes this huge list of ignorant "errors" that have been refuted more times than I care to mention, as well as a list of "archaic words" in the KJB, including such hard words as "onyx" and "osprey." (this from a self-described "Ph.D candidate" that admitted that he could understand fewer than 25% of these words) When I replied in the defense of the word of God, I was reviled for saying that I could understand 50-75% of the words without having attended college, and that anyone with a decent grasp of entymology and the English language should have no problem understanding even more of the "archaic" words than I even do.<br /><br />But oh no, we can't have THAT: it turns out that the board administrator is personal friends with "Brad," and so now I'm "stuck up" because I was home schooled, and I'm a "clanging pot" and a "yapping dog" simply because I DEFENDED the WORDS OF GOD. I attacked nothing and no one: I simply defended against an attack by someone else: but I'm the one that gets castigated, not the individual who instigated the altercation with his attack.<br /><br />Heck, I'm always up for an attack, and I'm more than willing to show where modern versions are corrupt and satanic in origin, but that's not what the thread was for. In fact, that's not even what the forum as a whole is for, and I had been very careful not to cross the wishes of the admin. But simply because the other guy was friends with the admin and he was more "gracious" in his attack on God's holy word than I was in its defense, I'm causing division and breaking the rules.<br /><br />So, when does unity become compromise? When you throw truth out the window to preserve peace.<br /><br />"<span style="font-style: italic;">You mess with that Book and I'll mess with you!</span>" ~Dr. Peter S. RuckmanVince LaRuehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06959296493380954676noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7893830972554533343.post-19644392219155250512009-02-14T01:56:00.003-05:002009-02-14T01:57:40.806-05:00"It is good for a man not to touch a woman..."1Cor. 7:8 I say therefore to the unmarried and widows, It is good for them if they abide even as I.<br /><br />If pre-marital physical contact is sin, then so is getting married at all.<br /><br />Don't like it? Argue with God, I couldn't care less what you think.Vince LaRuehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06959296493380954676noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7893830972554533343.post-9903902308130521082009-02-12T11:31:00.002-05:002009-02-12T11:36:58.747-05:00Evolution? Are you nuts!?!Besides the obvious fact that institutions of "higher learning" are breeding grounds for Evolutionist infidels, an article from FOX regarding a recent Gallup poll shows that less than 40% of Americans believe in evolution, and less than 25% of high school-educated people believe in the ridiculous nonsense.<br /><br />Well, with no evidence for the "theory," no "transitional fossils" (which were a problem for Darwin and still give Evolutionists epileptic fits) and belief only in places full of educated idiots, proponents of this nonsensical pipe dream need to crawl back into their scummy little holes and suck an egg.<br /><br />http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,491345,00.htmlVince LaRuehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06959296493380954676noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7893830972554533343.post-19329082126190740092009-02-08T11:43:00.001-05:002009-02-08T11:43:46.965-05:00Can We Have Some Balance Here, Please?Lately there has been a lot of talk in blog land about marriage, and “Titus 2” women. This can be extremely beneficial, or extremely detrimental. All I am reading on the blogs of both men and women is all about the women. A friend of mine once said that all cults are always concerned with women and what they need to do and be.<br /><br />All women need to strive to be “Titus 2” women. But, wait a minute. Do you know that Titus 2 ALSO mentions the roles of MEN? That’s right, although it seems to me as if we’d hardly know that since we are so unbalanced that in conservative Christianity we tend to focus much more on the women. Even the men sit around writing to women telling us how to be “Titus 2” women. If they spent that much time worrying themselves about how to be “Titus 2” men, maybe there would be more balance.<br /><br />I have seen feminism blamed for a lot of things. I have seen blogs from men who hate women with a passion. Both man hating and woman hating is WRONG. We CANNOT fix the problems feminism has caused by the men turning around deciding not to marry women because they think that there are no virtuous women. <br /><br />Women are NOT helping other women by telling them that any problem in their marriage is due to them as women not being submissive enough. Last time I checked, marriage took two people and God has given different roles and responsibilities to BOTH those people and a lot of the problems I see are because BOTH man and woman are doing something wrong.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0