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“The days of Harry Potter are over… These are the days of the Potter’s House.”
– A Mentor in Faith
Within the United States, we are in the process of “re-opening” the nation in the wake of COVID-19. Many throughout my nation are eager to get “back to normal”, but I for one am not. I don’t want to return to normal, I want my nation, and by extension the nations of the world to be better than “normal”. I want to see the Spirit of the Living God poured out and to see His Name made famous throughout the Earth. To that end, let me ask you a question…
Do you know more about Harry Potter, or the Bible?
Are you more knowledgeable of Star Wars or Scripture?
Do you spend more time pursuing entertainment or studying and seeking to understand the Word of the Living God?
I’ve said before that truth is, regardless of perspective or belief. The fact is that we are entering into a season where we must be discerning and, in order to do that, we absolutely have to know that we know, that we know what the Word of God says on a given matter… backwards and forwards. Let’s be honest – this is a huge issue.
We have available to us, a body of literature revealing the character, the very nature of the Creator of the Universe and yet, we choose to spend an inordinate amount of our time pursuing things which are of no intrinsic value what-so-ever. Moreover, many of these pursuits lead and encourage us to compromise our values and to put aside what God has explicitly stated on a myriad of issues. They ultimately oppose the Word of God. No joke.
The “Church” is not only not immune to this – it has participated in it.
The crux of this article is to point to a coming revival, a Great Awakening that is preparing to be released throughout the Earth. History has shown that revival almost invariably comes on the heels of great persecution and, quite frankly, this is something I believe most within Christianity are ill-prepared to deal with. Consider the words of the Prophet Hosea:
My people are destroyed for want of knowledge.
Hosea 4:6 CJB
Because you rejected knowledge, I will also reject you as cohen for me.
Because you forgot the Torah of your God, I will also forget your children.
Do you suppose vague knowledge of a few Bible stories circumvents the previous, chilling statement? Do you really believe that spending an hour per week listening to someone else discuss scripture from a pulpit constitutes being a disciple of the Messiah? If so, think again.
More pragmatically, in what manner do we stand to make disciples throughout the earth if we ourselves scarcely understand what that means or barely qualify as disciples ourselves? How can we claim to be His followers if we do not first understand His teachings ourselves? If your knowledge and understanding of scripture comes from a given preacher, you aren’t following the Messiah, you’re following that preacher. Is this getting through? Are you following the logic here?
Ladies and gentlemen, there is a world full of people out there who have very strong, often seemingly well-founded objections to the Bible – are you prepared to answer them? Should we not, as disciples of the King not only be aware of the arguments against the scriptures, but be fully prepared to answer them? Furthermore, if we know that there are false teachers – and we do know there are, and He told us there would be – should we not understand the fundamental issues which mark their teachings as false?
What are the issues with the so-called “Prosperity Gospel?” How about the “Word of Faith” movement? What delineates between the Jehovah’s Witnesses and the rest of Christianity? Is Mormonism just another branch of the Christian faith?
Can you definitively answer any of these questions and back your answers up from the text?
I’m not providing you with any answers here because, in my opinion, that’s the problem. As a whole we are far to complacent, to willing to allow other, “more knowledgeable” people to answer for us rather than taking the time to study the Word and become more knowledgeable ourselves. Incidentally, that’s not faith, it’s dogma.
I believe the Living God is calling a body of believers forward who will follow Him, who will study His word and who will teach it, unadulterated and un-apologetically to a generation of people who are currently blind and stumbling, but are hungry for real, actual truth. I believe we are to be that people and, in order to do so we must study His word, and that requires taking it seriously.
For as long as I can recall, I’ve personally felt ill-equipped to understand, let alone teach the scriptures. I’m sure I’m not alone in that. The thing is though, when you do, and discuss what you’ve gleaned with others, you stand to receive even more insight and understanding – particularly in areas where your conclusions don’t match that of others. Sometimes, you’ll be right, sometimes you’ll be wrong and, sometimes you’ll find that you’ve discovered a piece of greater truth, and another has the piece you’re looking for… and they’ve been looking for your piece. It’s elegant when this occurs, truly – but it won’t occur until we crack the book and plant our faces, minds and hearts firmly in it.
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I started this site because I was instructed to do so. When I did, I sought to discuss issues I saw (and still see) as glaring regarding the viewpoint of the modern, Western Church on the scriptures. As I have continued, I’ve realized there’s a larger issue that must be addressed first – that people don’t know the scriptures themselves. Many don’t even realize there are issues… before we can truly tackle the “right division” of the text, we first need to know the material in question, right?
The Bible is not a collection of one-off verses. The Bible is not even a singular book – it’s a collection of 66 books which spans some four thousand years of human History. Chronology matters, context matters, meaning matters… but none of this matters if we aren’t even looking at the material in the first place. There are no short-cuts. There are no Cliff’s Notes to actual faith or real understanding.
All of that to say; whether we agree on particular scriptural issues and interpretations or not is far less important to me than that we are all students of the scriptures in the first place. At some point, we as the proverbial “body” have to ween ourselves off of the “milk” and learn to digest the “meat” – and that will require some work… some discipl(e)ine.
See what I did there?
Until next time,
Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.
2 Timothy 2:15 KJV
שלום עליכם – Shalom Aleichem – Peace Be Upon You