National Bible Week 

Greetings from HomeWorship 101™

“I am the LORD, I do not change! 

The word of the LORD endures forever.” - Mal 3:61; Pet 1:25

“...I am GOD, and there is none like ME.
Declaring the end from the beginning.

And from ancient times 

things that are not yet done…” 
- Isaiah 46:9-10

The Bible is unique among the religious books of humankind in that it dares to predict future events in great detail – that is how YHWH validates HIS Word.  Although rarely taught, the Bible contains thousands of detailed prophecies concerning various nations, events, and individuals, covering thousands of years.  Of these many prophetic verses, through all of history, not one verse has ever been proven conclusively wrong.  In my opinion, the Bible by itself is a coded book of wisdom.  To completely understand the history and prophecies of humankind’s spiritual evolution one needs to study both the Old and New Testaments.

It may upset some folks when I say the Bible really isn’t just a religious book.  If it is then which religion does it teach?  Not Christianity, as I have said before, what is called today’s radical right is nothing but a bunch of New Testament liberals.  Today, the Bible-based men that founded our country would be considered a bunch of Bible zealots and would be run out of town. The New Testament does not teach today’s Christianity anymore then the Old Testament teaches today’s Judaism. 

The Bible is the textbook of spiritual warfare.  The Bible is a library of books: It is a history book.  It is a book of healthful living.  It is a philosophy book.  It is the Book of the Covenants. It is a Book of Prophecy.  It is the Book of YHWH, our CREATOR, and HIS plan for humanity - it is not just a religious book.  I get some strange looks when I call my book and website a “non-religious” Bible teaching website, it seems I’m the lone fish swimming against the current.  I teach at the grass roots level, using simple language, with a no-BS ethic of an engineer, more concerned with education rather than indoctrination.  That is why the religionists run into problems with teaching the Bible in public schools, instead of teaching the Bible in an unbiased manner, they use the Bible for religious indoctrination, and the result is less and less Bible teaching in public forums - woe the mishegoss of religion.

“A thorough knowledge of the Bible

is worth more then a college education.”

- Theodore Roosevelt

Bible Week is a good time to pause and consider, as a nation how are the Bible studies going.  The above quote from President Roosevelt was in the 1950’s, sadly one would be hard pressed to find that sentiment today.  The Bible is still the best selling book of all time.  Since it's first printing back in 1450, it's sold over six billion copies.  The question is are people reading it, or are they just using it as a decoration for a table or shelf?  Is it the laity does not want to learn, or is it the religionists that do not want to teach? 

“Americans revere the Bible—but by and large,

they don’t read it.

And because they don’t read it,

they have become a nation of biblical illiterates.” — George Gallup

Many thump the Bible – few read it.  A few years ago the Gallup Organization devised “The Gallup Biblical Knowledge Quiz” to test the Bible knowledge of the American public.  Here are some frightening statistics:

● 51% could not name the first book of the Bible.

● 79% could not name at least one Prophet in the Old Testement.

● 65% could not name the four gospels.

● 60% could not name even 5 of the 10 Commandments

● 50% of graduating high school seniors think Sodom and Gomorrah are husband and wife.

● A considerable number of respondents indicated that the Sermon on the mount was preached by Billy Graham.

"Increasingly, America is biblically illiterate." – George Barna

“It is my opinion however, that the greater problem rests not within the secular society but with the biblical ignorance evident within the church itself. Our pragmatic approach to ministry often places a premium on the quantity of church members rather than on the quality. In an effort to assimilate those who attend, we provide increasing opportunities for fellowship and fewer opportunities for discipleship. We must face the hard facts. Christians who lack biblical knowledge are usually the products of churches that marginalize it.”

I’ll continue to quote:

“But that’s the general population, you might think.  Surely Bible illiteracy isn’t a problem for the Christians in America.  But the survey says there is little discernable difference between the knowledge of God’s Word in the “Born Again” community and the American population at large.

One of America’s bastions of evangelical education is Wheaton College  Wheaton, IL). Still, when Dr. Gary Burge, Chairman of the New          Testament department tested incoming Freshmen to Wheaton, students from fine Evangelical homes and Christian schools, alarmingly he discovered:  one-third of freshmen could not sequence in order Abraham, the OT prophets, the death of Christ, and Pentecost.  Half could not sequence Moses in Egypt, Isaac’s birth, Saul’s death, Judah’s exile.  One third could not find Paul’s travels in Acts.  And one-half didn’t know the Christmas story was in Matthew.

Christian ministries will raise nearly $60 billion for domestic ministry in 2003,” says Barna, “and there is an estimated $3 billion of new construction work occurring on church properties to facilitate expanded ministry activities. All of these figures lend an air of security and stability to the religious condition of the country.”  But while the Church in America tears down its barns and builds bigger barns, the people in the pews become more biblically ignorant in each generation.  Bible illiteracy has reached crisis proportion in America.  

Even missions-minded Christians fail to see the importance of Bible-teaching in their missionary goals and expenditures.  Renowned British missiologist and author of the popular book Operation World, Patrick Johnstone lamented: “Christian donors need to be guided by the Lord rather than by their emotional response to physical suffering.  The famine of the Word of God is still a more serious problem than that of food in Africa today.”  (Operation World, 21^st Century Edition (Carlisle, England: Paternoster, 2001, p. 702)”

- by Dr. Woodrow Kroll, President, Back to the Bible International

Christians Losing to Humanists

Web posted July 25, 1997

Editor, The Augusta Chronicle:

Concerning the issue of boycotting Disney, if the letters to the editor are an indication, the Christians are losing. It doesn't surprise me. After 50 years of indoctrination in humanism what else can one expect?

The silent majority has sat idly by and watched while our institutions of learning have robbed generations of Americans of a love for God, country and family. Nightly, millions across our nation sit in front of our boob tubes and are programmed with every evil under the sun. We have stood by while millions of helpless babies have been aborted. Over half of our marriages fall apart and countless millions of children run wild without the benefit of fathers.

While we give lip service to God on Sunday, Monday through Saturday we live for the world. We elect people who invoke God's name on election day and the following bring shame to it. Countless compromising churches simply go along to get along. Our pulpits are filled with men who prefer to be popular rather than be leaders. We receive watered down, feel-good sermons without any conviction for right or wrong.

To top it off, we are a nation of biblical illiterates. The Bible tells us that judgment will start in the house of the Lord. I have no doubt in less than 20 years we will see our church doors nailed shut and be under persecution.

There certainly are exceptions, but let's put the blame where it is deserved. We (Christians) are called to be the salt and light to the world. We have failed and failed miserably.

 

“So the hammers of infidels have been

pecking away at this Book for ages,

but the hammers are worn out,

and the anvil still endures.

If this book had not been the book of GOD,

men would have destroyed it long ago.

Emperors and popes, kings and priests, princes and rulers,

have all tried their hand at it;

they die and the Book still lives.”

- H.L. Hastings

Unfortunately, the Bible is also a study in one of humanities’ greatest paradoxes.  In centuries past, Biblical debates have imploded ecumenical councils, confounded theologians, and touched off wars that raged on for decades sometimes centuries, over a book that basically teaches peace.

Satan and his dark minions hate YHWH’S Words.  Throughout the centuries his tactics are so similar it is a wonder why more people do not see it.  One can see it in the Sabbaths 7th day rest.  The idea of resting 1 day in 7 only comes from YHWH.  In the ancient pagan world there is no profit in such idleness.  When the Hebrews kept it and promoted the concept, the dark side wanted them dead in order to suppress the information.  In time, once the word about the Sabbath rest was out, Satan slowly began to use the day as a wedge to divide people, by promoting the idea that Sunday is a better worship day, not Saturday.  It was one of the issues that tore ancient Israel in two.  Soon after the civil divide, the Sunday keeping northern kingdom of Israel was wiped off the map, never to be heard from again.  And today after all the torture, murder, and bloodshed, to bring this information to the world, we think it is irrelevant.  In our 24/7 world, the idea of resting and not working, is inconvenient, does not seem important, and is generally ignored.  It is the same with the Bible, after all the countless controversies, torture, and murders to suppress it, today few people - really - care about the Bible and it’s message.  Mostly the words of the Bible are twisted to alter it’s message making it generally considered inconvenient, or does not seem important anymore in today’s modern society, and is generally ignored. 

Tribulation Prophecies of Spiritual Blindness

 “…many false prophets will rise up and deceive many.

And because lawlessness will abound,

the love of many will grow cold.”   - Matthew 24:11-12

Satan is the point man in promoting this blindness among those who do not follow Scripture (2Cor.4:3–4), but that doesn’t excuse the faithful who have been warned.  The Bible tell us that when YHWH’s people do not obey HIM, HE allows a spirit of blindness to come over them, "because you did not obey the voice of the Lord your God, to keep His commandments… the Lord has not given you a heart to perceive and eyes to see and ears to hear" (Deu.28:47-48; 29:4). Moses foretold that Israel’s tendency to rebel against YHWH (and the subsequent spiritual blindness this would bring) would lead to serious consequences "in the latter days" (Deu.31:24–29).

Yahshua explained that Isaiah’s prophecy (Isaiah 6:9–10) also foretold the spiritual blindness that affected the Jews of His day that neither recognized Him as the Messiah nor understood His message (Mat.13:10–15). The Apostle Paul revealed that these same prophesies foretold the spiritual blindness of modern Israelite nations (Rom.10:1–3; 11:7–8; 2Cor.3:14–15).

Satan is very cunning and patient, most of today’s Christians are blind to the various influences that have slowly over the years drawn people away from the Truth.  Most know if you throw a frog into hot water he will jump out, but if you put him in cool water and slowly warm it up you will cook it.  So it is with today’s Christianity, they do not see that it differs greatly from the early church or apostolic Christianity of the Bible.  Scripture plainly shows that Yahshua/Jesus, His Disciples and the early Church observed the seventh-day Sabbath and the Biblical Holy Days (Luke 4:16; John 7:1–10, 37; Acts 17:2; 18:21). Yet most professing Christians worship on Sunday—and observe Christmas and Easter as religious holidays, even though there is no biblical command to do so.  They even blind to the fact that technically speaking, Scripture condemns practices associated with these holidays, which historical sources reveal were appropriated from paganism

For example: Many professing Christians believe they will go to heaven, yet the Bible states, "No one has ascended up to heaven but He who came down from heaven, that is, the Son of Man [Yahshua]" (John 3:13; see also Acts 2:29, 34; 13:36).  Many consider the gospel message to be just "accept Jesus and you’ll be saved," yet Scripture reveals that "Yahshua came preaching the gospel of the Kingdom of YHWH" (Mark 1:13–14). Scripture shows that His kingdom will be set up on the earth when He returns (Revelation 11:15–18), that the saints will reign with Him on this earth (Revelation 5:10) and that YHWH’s Law will be taught to everyone (Isaiah 2:2–4; 9:6–7; 11:9).  Although the early church proclaimed these inspiring aspects of Yahshua’s’ true gospel, later theologians influenced by pagan philosophy questioned and eventually denounced these teachings as heresy (see The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Gibbon, chapter 15). Most professing Christians today are "blind" to these important historical and biblical facts, because modern clergy and theologians either do not know or do not teach about these issues.

Prophecy says the love of righteousness and Biblical education will grow cold in the end times, and the above surveys prove the point – the blindness is upon us.  No good will come from this, you know the ole’ saying, “if you don’t stand for something then you’ll fall for anything” – hello antichrist.  For those who can see, these are the birth pangs of the future coming Tribulation era. I’ll quote

“After analyzing more than 10,000 personal interviews conducted during 2003, researcher George Barna maintains that while three-fifths of Americans say they believe the Bible is totally accurate in all that it teaches, they both appear to know little of what’s in the Bible nor does what’s in the Bible appear to have little impact on their lives.  As a result, the moral foundations of the nation continue to crumble more rapidly each year.   The crisis in American morality is a crisis in Bible illiteracy.

This year saw increases in the proportions of people who believe that cohabitation (60%), adultery (42%), sexual relations between homosexuals (30%), abortion (45%), pornography (38%), the use of profanity (36%) and gambling (61%) are “morally acceptable” behaviors.

George Gallup Jr. is right:  “Biblical illiteracy presents not only a spiritual or religious problem in this nation, but a cultural one as well.”  We cannot inhibit the great American slide into a moral vacuum until someone seriously addresses the problem of Bible illiteracy both in the world and in the church.

Why is the Bible a mystery to so many people today? Why do professing Christians who read the same Bible develop so many different ideas about doctrine? Why do ministers fail to preach what the Bible plainly states? Why is modern "Christianity" so dramatically different from apostolic Christianity? The answers to these important questions are found in a series of biblical prophecies that are coming alive today.”

- by Dr. Woodrow Kroll, President, Back to the Bible International

As a nation our first course of action should be to repent.  Next, we should reaffirm our founding faith and declare to the world, ``As for me and my house, we will follow the Lord.'' (Joshua 24:15)

 “When I pray, I talk to GOD;

when I study Scriptures, GOD talks to me.”

Knowledge is power, and Divine knowledge is the most powerful - that is what political and religious leaders fear.  There are mysteries at the heart of the universe, but it’s no secret.  In our CREATOR’S Kingdom, information is available to all, and all are encouraged to research - with sophistication - and qualify the spiritual truths they accept as righteous.   

A type of homeWorship is studying the Bible.  The early Believers would trust no one, with their spirit except their CREATOR.  They would verify their teachers’ lessons, “...in that they received the word with all readiness, and searched the Scriptures daily to find out whether these things were so,” (Act.17:11); only then would they share their new found spiritual truths with others. 

Learning spiritual truths begins with critical thinking and it is done with diplomacy.  When hearing Bible teachers, first listen with your heart, when something doesn’t feel right, then politely say, “please excuse my cynical reaction, but....”   When interpretation of spiritual matters gets so confusing, then it is time to return to the original source, the Bible.  Sometimes in Biblical research we must even return to the original Hebrew source for a more precise and clearer meaning.

Owning a Bible is a responsibility to be respected,

and it is read with sophistication.

Reading with sophistication means do not interpret verses singularly (2Pet.1:20).  It has been said that: “Divine knowledge humbles great men, astonishes the common man, and puffs up the little man,“ and “a half truth is the worst kind of lie.”  Through the ages, and up to the present time, there always have been the petty, the manipulative or misguided religious troubadours, who are guided solely by their own narrow-minded prejudices to become very skillful in taking Bible verses out of context to support their limited point of view – the little men.  My purpose is the illumination of some spiritual truths that are rarely taught.  Although I quote certain verses, space does not allow me to use the complete context in which the verse is used.  I encourage all readers to refer to their own Bibles, read with sophistication, and consider the complete historical context in which the verse was quoted from.  For greater in-depth study, excellent research helps are “study Bibles” which provide more background information and help in understanding the historical circumstances in which the chapter and verse were written.

It’s a good time to be a Bible believer! 

Dig the Bible!  When discussing the Bible, many times people will tell me that you cannot trust the Bible translations, because some translators made changes to it, either from ignorance, Hebrew prejudice, honest mistake, or for the purposes of deception.  Sixty years ago it was a good argument, but today Biblical archeology has been flourishing since the nation of Israel has been reborn, and nothing has been found that contradicts the Bible.  Many archaeological discoveries such as the Dead Sea Scrolls do more to prove the general integrity of the Bible, then to disprove it, and it’s causing some nervous hand ringing around the tables of the Bible critics.  (Learn more log on: http://www.homeworship101.com/links.htm - Biblical Archaeology ) 

Computers are also being used to dig the Bible.  The Torah, or Books of Moses, had long been assumed by skeptics to be the work of multiple authors.  Scripture scholar Moshe Katz, and computer expert Menachem Wiener of the Israel Institute of Technology, analyzed the Masoretic text through sophisticated computer analysis, and discovered an intricate pattern of significant words concealed in the canon, spelled by letters separated at fixed intervals.  Such recent discoveries called codes in the Hebrew Bible contain coded messages are proving its Divine authorship.  So don’t only just read your Bible in the shadows, but log on to my website and teach your family, friends, and critics, to see it in a renewed light.  Remember the believers are the salt of the Earth, and it only takes a little bit of salt to purify.  

“…For the LORD giveth wisdom:

 out of his mouth cometh knowledge and understanding.”

- Proverbs 2:1-6

.

Closing Thoughts:

Pastors should be teaching the Bible,

 rather then preaching religion!

"Moreover, it's not just Christian scholars and pastors who need to be intellectually engaged with the issues. Christian laymen, too, need to become intellectually engaged. Our churches are filled with Christians who are idling in intellectual neutral. As Christians, their minds are going to waste. One result of this is an immature, superficial faith….The results of being in intellectual neutral extend far beyond oneself. If Christian laymen don't become intellectually engaged, then we are in serious danger of losing our children. In high school and college Christian teenagers are intellectually assaulted on every hand by a barrage of anti-Christian philosophies and attitudes."
- Reasonable Faith, William Lane Craig, Crosswalk Books, 1994.

Many people today--including Christians--simply do not want to think. They want to be entertained, cajoled, soothed, and stimulated. In our day, George Gallup reports, 'Americans revere the Bible, but they don't read it. And because they don't read it, they have become a nation of biblical illiterates.'"
- The Coming Evangelical Crisis, Michael Horton, Moody, 1996.

Log on: http://www.homeworship101.com/bb-c2_sacred_scrolls.htm

Enjoy the journey of learning…, and shine on (Mat.5:16)!

Take care.  Peace and blessings, Errol.

**********************************************

Errol Mueller, chronicler extraordinaire

  e-mail: errol@homeworship101.com

website: www.homeworship101.com

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WSC Newsletter 2007-14, posted 11/18/07.

 

Copyright © 2007 Errol Mueller.  All rights reserved.  Short quotations, page copying, or redistribution for personal or non-commercial group study is permitted and encouraged, provided they are copied in total with no alterations or deletions.  Author’s name, website address, and copyright notice must be included.  If any other use is desired, written permission is required.

For information, email or call toll free (877) 375-7878.  White Stone Communications (Rev.2:17), Dothan, AL.

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Scripture quotations are from the New King James Version of the Holy Bible.

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