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Relating Prophecy to current news, Answering Luke 24,
& Seven steps to understanding God's Word
Fred R. Coulter—November 25, 2017
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NEWS:
I don't know if you've been overwhelmed with the news, but I've been overwhelmed with the news, and I don't know what to do with all of the things that are going on in Washington, D.C. You would think that the way they conduct themselves that they're all competing to make an entrance into a nudist camp. It's amazing!
People want to know: How did it start? How did it get this way? We've got some answers in Jeremiah and Isaiah. You don't have to go far. Jeremiah really had a very difficult ministry. Here's what God told him:
Jeremiah 2:4: "Hear the Word of the LORD, O house of Jacob, and all the families of the house of Israel." This is for everyone: America, Britain, Northwestern Europe, all the nations. With prophecy there's a first fulfillment, a second fulfillment—which are major—and then anytime in between when the same problems arise, the same circumstances come about.
Verse 5: "Thus says the LORD, 'What injustice have your fathers found in Me, that they have gone far from Me and have walked after vanity, and have become vain?'" Is that true? Yes, indeed!
Verse 6: "Nor did they say, 'Where is the LORD Who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, Who led us through the wilderness, through a land of deserts and of pits, through a land of dry places, and of deep darkness, through a land that no man passed through, and where no man lived?' And I brought you into a plentiful country…." (vs 6-7). Notice how these words apply, especially to America today.
"…to eat its fruit and its goodness; but when you entered, you defiled My land and made My inheritance an abomination" (v 7). How did they do that?
Verse 8: "The priests did not say, 'Where is the LORD?'…." They want religion their way. We'll see a little late on, with a more detailed study, that's exactly what they continue to do.
"…And they who handle the Law did not know Me…" (v 8). What about all the 'Christianity' of the world today? It's amazing—isn't it? Why don't they know the true God? Because they say that they don't need the Old Testament! When the Old Testament is the answer for them, unless, of course, they want tithes and offerings. Then they use it.
Verse 8: "The priests did not say, 'Where is the LORD?' And they who handle the Law did not know Me…" Why? Because they didn't study the Law!
If you want an interesting Bible study, go back and study Exo. 20 (the last part) thru Exo. 23, and ask yourself" What is so harsh and unjust about God's Laws there? Are they not good and right?
This last week we had something occur, which should have happened long, long ago: Charles Manson died at age 83! Look at the slaughter that he perpetrated, and God says, 'Those who take a man's life will die.' Why give them the privilege of living and the cost of housing and feeding them, for life sentences? It's all upside down!
"…the rulers also rebelled against Me…" (v 8). I don't know, I'm beginning to think that Washington, DLC (District of Liars and Corruption), that we need to put another letter in there: DLCS, for Sex: obsessed with sex! We have that series on churchathome.org
It's amazing! Some congressmen have Bible studies and they get up from that and forget about the Truth they need to have and turn around and play politics and lie!
"…and the prophets prophesied by Baal… [Sunday-worshippers] …and walked after things that do not profit" (v 8). That's surely true.
The things I've been watching out for, for the Mystery of Protestantism (sermon series) it is incredibly amazing how people are all emotionally involved in these things, and they really, in preaching some Truth, pronounce many lies! Which is worse: Outright lies? or Reading the portions of the Scriptures that you like? What did Jesus say? Live by every word of God!
If you go to court and you are a witness and you tell half the truth, you get convicted for lying. That's what it is. So, God says:
Verse 9: "Therefore, I will contend with you…"
- How important are these words?
- Why is it necessary that we read and study them?
- Wouldn't you want to have a warning from God, though it be sure, true, and right?
Isaiah 1:2: "Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth; for the LORD has spoken, 'I have reared and brought up children, but they have rebelled against Me.'" Are there a lot of people going around today like dumb animals? Yes! Why? Everyone wonders:
- How do we solve this problem?
- What do need to do?
or
- we need to enact this law or that law
- we need to forbid this or that
- we need greater laws
If you're a law-breaker, do you pay any attention to the law? No! That's what happens on the program I Almost Got Away with It. They're dedicated to evil, thinking that they can make things right, that if after they do evil they try and be good. But the truth is, unless you repent, you can never do good.
Verse 3: "The ox knows his owner, and the donkey his master's crib; but Israel does not know Me; My people do not understand." What happens when it reaches that point?
Verse 4: "Ah, sinful nation… [Would you say that we are a righteous nation? No!] …a people burdened with iniquity… [Are you loaded down with sins, problems and difficulties?] …a seed of evildoers, children who deal corruptly! They have forsaken the LORD…" When God says that 'you have forsaken Me' then you're on your own!
- Where do your own devices lead to?
- How does that turn out? In disaster!
God created us to need Him, His laws and His Spirit! If you have ministers and they say that there's 'no set standard, just be good,' what does that produce? Everyone doing what is right in their own eyes!
"…they have provoked the Holy One of Israel to anger; they have gone away backward. Why should you be stricken any more? You will revolt more and more; the whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint. From the sole of the foot even to the top of the head there is no soundness in it; only wounds and bruises and putrefying sores; they have not been closed, nor bound up, nor soothed with ointment" (vs 4-6).
Unless you stop sinning, it isn't going to go away; it's not going to disappear.
Yes, those ministers—even in the Churches of God—it's beginning to be a problem. You preach the same old things over and over again. Yes, we need to go over the things that we know, but we need to grow in grace and knowledge. How do you grow in grace and knowledge unless you study to learn more? You can't! There's a thing that happens and it's automatic. I study all the time, and I learn all the time.
God offers repentance, and He says, v 15: "And when you spread forth your hands, I will hide My eyes from you; yea, when you make many prayers, I will not hear; your hands are full of blood." Think of all the ways that human life is being taken.
Verse 16: "Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean… [in other words, stop, do what is right, repent] …put away the evil of your doings from before My eyes; cease to do evil; learn to do good…" (vs 16-17). That is God's good. Did you know that there are two kinds of good?
- God's good
- the good from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good an Evil
This is exactly how Satan works: Go to any store during this season and you hear the loveliest music, basically good music, It's uplifting. Why does Satan do that? Because he wants you happy in your sins! With Christmas it's the epitome of it. He wants you to think that you're doing good and right. Yet, people don't realize that God says, 'Don't bring in a tree; don't fasten it with nails so it stands.' So, we have Christmas trees everywhere! People think it's lovely, beautiful, and look at the lights and all that sort of thing. Little do they realize that with the goodness that comes from Satan, it's sin. They have brought into their house to celebrate the Garden of Eden and the eating of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. I just imagine that that fruit was really, really sweet and tasty!
What are they finding with all the sweets and sugar that we have today? It's killing us! Diabetes! Forty-percent of the people in America have diabetes. Sugar is good; that's how it works in the world! God says that 'since you have rejected Me, I'm going to reject you' (Hosea 4).
Comment on sugar: now they have another name for it, sucrose, fructose, and they have changed that name, too. This is becoming a real, real problem, and it's going to come into more.
So, we're just going to set that aside and watch the news and see if these things happen the way that God say or not.
News item #1: Remember when we discussed Merkel (chancellor of Germany) is going down; she is going down. Like I said, the Germans are going to end up saving Europe, because no one else is going to.
News item #2: Everyone things that yoga is a wonderful thing, 'Oh, we can meditate.' Did you know that sitting in those positions the way that you do and emptying your mind of every thought that you're inviting demons in.
Sidebar: You've seen the Buddhists blasting those big horns and chanting:
- Do you know why they do that? Trying to get rid of the evil that's in the mind!
- Do they really get rid of it? No!
- How do you get rid of evil in the mind?
- repentance
- baptism
- receiving God's Spirit
- a life of growing and overcoming
- recognizing evil by your thoughts
and with God's Word and God's Spirit
- expelling
That's called bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ!
Blowing those horns, sitting and chanting for hours to try and empty your mind is just bringing in Satan the devil. So, here's a woman who says, 'I just found out yoga is not good.
Think of all the things they have for helping people with heart problems, which comes right after diabetes. You're not to eat any fat, you're not to do this or that, and guess what they have discovered? It's all wrong!
News item #3:
Rethinking Butter and Cheese (http://criticalhealthnews.com/health-news/25-ben-fuchs-articles/159-rethinking-butter-and-cheese)
You need good fat! Just to give you a little clue: Drain all the oil out of your car and drive it. (JOKE) How long will it hold up? Not very long! Well, the heart needs oil.
Another thing that I discovered when reading an article about natural heart health, and the supplements you need for that. You need the good fish oil—make it clean fish; not krill, squid, etc.—salmon oil and cod liver oil. That's what your heart needs. It also cleans out the blood vessels. Marvelous stuff!
News item #4: You B-vitamins. He said that the B-vitamin that is missing is B-4. Where does B-4 come from? Wheat germ oil! What do they do with all the bread? Get rid of the wheat germ! And gluten free is even worse on top of that. So, you need wheat germ oil.
News item #5: The decline of Christianity in America is going down, down, down! That's why we need Church at Home (churchathome.org) even more.
News item #6: Showing that it takes more than a knee, and shows the ridiculousness and stupidity of taking a knee for all of these rich football players. They are the very cause of the problems they're saying that are being perpetrated against them. It listed the names of at least ten major football players who have had ten women and nine children, eight women and seven children, five women and six children. They run off and the father is not there. Are they not causing the problem? Yet, they're saying: discrimination and unfairness.
I say, having that many children and being irresponsible is discrimination against the whole society, because of your wanton sex. Same way with the situation that anybody, anywhere the same laws apply—the laws of God—and you do all these things to break it up.
Flesh & Bone—Luke 24:
Why are we going to Luke 24? Someone had a pretty good question! They couldn't figure it out and their minister couldn't figure it out. This is when Jesus came and appeared in their midst. Maybe you have wondered about this yourself.
Luke 24:36: "Now, as they... [the two Marys had gone to Emmaus and left] …were telling these things, Jesus Himself stood in their midst and said to them, 'Peace be to you.'" How did Jesus get there? There was no knock on the door! He just appeared!
What does John 3 tell us about spirit beings? They're like the wind; they can go wherever they want to. You can't see it. You may hear if it's wind, but in this case Jesus just appeared. So, this tells us that He had to be a spirit being. Otherwise, He wouldn't be able to do that.
Verse 37: "But they were terrified and filled with fear, thinking that they beheld a spirit apparition." Apparition is added because this is not a spirit of righteousness that they were referring to.
Verse 38: "Then He said to them, 'Why are you troubled? And why do doubts come up in your hearts? See My hands and My feet, that it is I. Touch Me and see for yourselves; for a spirit… [How do we know whether this is a clean spirit or unclean? That's the question!] …does not have flesh and bones, as you see Me having'" (vs 38-39).
What body did Jesus have? He said flesh and bones! That's very interesting—isn't it? He didn't say flesh and blood! Why? Because He lost all of His blood!
- How do we know that this spirit apparition is referring to an unclean spirit?
- What Scripture would you go to, to understand that?
It is possible to understand that!
- Do righteous angels appear to people? Yes, they do! We find in the book of Daniel that Gabriel appeared glorified.
Hebrews 13:2: "Do not forget to show hospitality; for by this some have unknowingly welcomed angels as guests."
If an angel can manifest itself as a human being, would you be able to tell if it is of flesh and blood? or flesh and bone? Why flesh and bone, but not flesh and blood? Can we see God in His glorified form?
Exodus 33:18: "And he [Moses] said, 'I beseech You, show me Your glory.' And He [God] said, 'I will make all My goodness pass before you, and I will proclaim the name of the LORD before you. And I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will have mercy on whom I will have mercy.' And He said, 'You cannot see My face, for no man can see Me and live'" (vs 18-20).
How does God appear to human beings so that He doesn't kill them?
Back in Gen. 2 & 3 God created Adam and Eve; they walked with God and talked with God. How did God appear before them? As a man! Was He still a spirit being, though manifesting Himself as a man? Yes! Would have to be! Same way with the angels. If an angel comes and is a guest unknowingly to human beings—looks like a human being, acts like a human being, talks like a human being—but as an angel can manifest himself as a human being.
We will see, in a minute, that unclean spirits do not have that power.
Genesis 18:1: "And the LORD appeared to him in the plains of Mamre, and he [Abraham] sat at the tent door in the heat of the day. And he lifted up his eyes and looked, and lo, three men… [the Lord, and two angels] …stood by him…." (vs 1-2). How did they appear to Abraham? As men!
"…And when he saw them, he ran to meet them from the tent door, and bowed himself toward the ground. And he said, 'My LORD, if now I have found favor in Your sight, do not pass away, I pray, from Your servant. Let a little water, I pray, be brought, and wash Your feet, and rest under the tree'" (vs 2-4).
Sidebar on foot-washing: The King James Version is a bad translation for John 13 on foot-washing; it says, 'when supper ended.' That's totally a false translation. The Greek there means at the beginning, not the end! Why? Stop and think about it.
- Here in Gen. 18 did they walk along the sidewalk? No!
- Was there probably a road? Yes!
On those roads there are places for people and animals to walk.
- What do you find on the road where animals walk? Dung! Dirt!
That's why when they came to someone's house they washed the feet first to get rid of the 'you know what,' because it could dry, it can become dust. Here in California, and probably some other places, too, you have these big feeding yards. They've got all the cattle there and they're feeding them. Well, they're piles of dung! It dries out and the wind blows and it fills the air and you can smell it.
Sidebar: I remember one time Delores and I wanted to stop at a ranch that was special tourist place. It was just down from the yards where they were feeding the beef and we got out and here's all this dung-laced air. You could smell it and it was awful. The prices were so high and we did order some food and it was so bad that we went once and never again.
So, foot-washing always comes first, because they did not have sanitized socks and shoes like we have today, they had sandals. Would you get some dungy dirt on your feet if you're walking along? Of course!
Verse 5: "'And I will bring a bite of bread, and will comfort your hearts. After that You shall pass on, for this is why You have come to Your servant.' And they said, 'Do so, as you have said.' And Abraham hastened into the tent to Sarah, and said, 'Make ready quickly three measures of fine meal; knead it, and make cakes.' And Abraham ran out to the herd and brought a calf, tender and good. And he gave it to a young man. And he… [the servant] …hurried to dress it. And he took butter and milk…" (vs 5-8).
Every Jew listen up! You say that you cannot even have milk products and meat products on the same dish. The God you're supposedly worshipping—which you are not—ate meat, butter and milk! So, He transgressed your law. Did He sin? No!
"…and the calf, which he had dressed, and set it before them. And he stood by them under the tree, and they ate. And they said to him, 'Where is Sarah your wife?' And he said, 'Behold, in the tent.' And He said, 'I will certainly return to you according to the time of life, and lo, Sarah your wife shall have a son.' And Sarah heard at the tent door, which was behind Him" (vs 8-10)—and she laughed (v 12).
Verse 13: And the LORD said to Abraham, 'Why did Sarah laugh…?'" [v 15]: Then Sarah denied, saying, 'I did not laugh'…"—yes, you laughed, but nevertheless you are going to have a son.
Then what happened with Abraham and the Lord. He had to appear, and the two angels had to appear as flesh and bone, not flesh and blood. Since a spirit being can manifest itself as a human being:
- What is the life of the flesh and bone? The spirit!
- What about human bodies? We are not to eat the blood!
Genesis 9:4: "But you shall not eat of flesh with the life in it—which is its blood." Human beings, though we have 'the spirit of man'—which gives the overall operation of the spiritual aspects of our living and mental process—it is the blood that gives us the physical life. It is the soul—that part of the brain—that keeps all the physical things working. A spirit being does not need blood. If it appears as a human being, because being composed of spirit, it does not need blood for life.
Notice something very important: the two angels, when they went to get Lot (Gen. 19) they appeared to everyone as men.
After an animal is dressed there may be some residual blood left in the flesh itself, but that generally is cooked out. But you are not to eat the blood.
I remember when I was about nine or ten years old, I was told to go to where they were killing hog, a big hog. I wanted to see how they kill a hog, so they killed a hog. They shot it and then pulled it up with the hind leg and then cut its throat. The three men got a cup and the blood and drank it. That's what it means: don't drink the blood!
Luke 24:39: "See My hands and My feet, that it is I. Touch Me and see for yourselves; for a spirit…" This has to be an unclean spirit, not an angel.
You can look in other places: Matt. 8; 10 and so forth, that demons must possess either an animal or a human being. They can manifest themselves as an apparition, ghost like, but they cannot appear as a human being to sit down and have a meal with another human being. So, it tells you that spirit beings eat. How everything else like that works, I don't know.
But after we're resurrected from the dead, what are we going to do? There's going to be the marriage supper of the Lamb! We're going to eat! What does it say that we have the right to eat of? The Tree of Life (Rev. 22)!
This is how you answer the questions like this. You start with what you know and you apply the rules of Bible study, which we just did.
"'…for a spirit does not have flesh and bones, as you see Me having.' And after saying this, He showed them His hands and His feet. But while they were still disbelieving and wondering for joy, He said to them, 'Do you have anything here to eat?' Then they gave Him part of a broiled fish and a piece of honeycomb." (vs 39-42).
I read that some time ago and I wondered how fish tasted with honey, so we had some honey and sardines. It was good. Try it sometime, you'll like it!
Verse 43: "And He took these and ate in their presence." This opens up a whole lot of other questions about our bodies being spirit and how all of this is going to work. I'll give you the answer: When you're resurrected you will find out!
Verse 44: "And He said to them, 'These are the words that I spoke to you when I was yet with you, that all the things which were written concerning Me in the Law of Moses and in the Prophets and in the Psalms must be fulfilled.' Then He opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, and said to them, 'According as it is written, it was necessary for the Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day. And in His name, repentance and remission of sins should be preached to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem'" (vs 44-47). To the Jew first!
Isn't it marvelous how great the Word of God is? Just even in something seemingly insignificant thing like this?
(go to the next track)
New Testament Fraud: scholars going in circles
Now we are going to look at something entirely different, yet, related. Let's understand some things about the Word of God.
First of all, Paul said that 'all Scripture is God-breathed,' meaning God spirited—the Greek word 'penuma' is the word for spirit. Can God cause someone to say what He wants them to say, even if they are against God? If He wants to? Yes! Remember Baalim! He wanted to curse God, but God made him bless, and even give a prophecy about Christ!
What did Jesus say concerning the Law and the Prophets? Heaven and earth will pass away, but My Word shall never pass away! Not even one jot or tittle!
We also know that there are those who mess with the Word of God. So, how do we tell the truth from the error? We also know that Peter wrote that 'no Scripture comes from anyone's own private interpretation. But Holy men of God were moved by the Holy Spirit to write the things that are necessary.'
- What did Jesus also say about conversion and the Word of God?
- Is God able to preserve His Word so that we will have the Truth in spite of men?
- If it is their desire to change it?
- Yes!
John 17:14: "I have given them Your words… Jesus said that the words that He spoke were spirit and life] …and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. I do not pray that You would take them out of the world… [sometimes we wish that He would, but He doesn't] …but that You would keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world" (vs 14-16).
How is it that we are not of the world, but live in the world?
Verse 17: "Sanctify them in Your Truth; Your Word is the Truth." So, God is responsible for the Truth!
- What does God give to us?
- What is the gift that He gives to us upon repentance?
- The Spirit of the Truth!
- What evidence do we have in the Bible that it is preserved so that the saints at the end-time are doing what they need to do?
Revelation 14:12: "Here is the patience… [endurance] …of the saints; here are the ones who keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus."
- If the Word of God was not preserved, how could they keep the commandments of God? They couldn't!
- If the Holy Spirit—which brings us the faith that we need—was not available, how could they have the faith of Jesus?
Those are very important things for us to understand.
They were also told to 'go into all the world and preach the Gospel everywhere, to the uttermost parts of the earth.'
- How could they do that without the Word of God?
- How do you understand and distinguish the Word of God?
Steps to understanding the Word of God:
I've got seven points on how to understand the Word of God, which becomes important for us to realize in determining the proper text. We're going to talk about the text in just a little bit. But in order to understand the Truth you need these steps:
- Obey My voice!
Whatever it is! That ties right in with man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God! That means that since that is true, we have to have every word of God rightly put together and available to us in order to do it.
- You keep the commandments of God
Psalm 111:10[transcriber's correction]: "…a good understanding have all those who do His commandments…." There are other places that tie in with that.
Also, because the Word of God is to spiritually understood, and the words that Jesus Spoke are spirit and life, obedience is necessary! What does this lead you to do?
- Love God with all your heart, mind, soul and being
If you watch the Protestants, very seldom do they say how to love God back. Yet, they claim the love of God. Then you have the subordinate of that:
- Love your neighbor, the brethren and your enemies
- Repentance
- Prayer
- Study
We just went though that with what we just did: How can you understand how Jesus appeared as flesh and bone, but no blood. What kind of body did He have? If He appears in His glorified form, where do you find a chapter that tells about His glorified form? Rev. 1! So, He can appear in His glorified form, or He can appear as a human being. We cannot do that, but He can!
- How do we know that we have the true words of God today?
- How many translations are there?
Just right here I have 4 Bibles, an Old Testament Bible, a King James Version, a Greek Version, Hebrew version.
- How do we know?
That is the conundrum, especially when many of the theologians misinterpret and set aside the Word of God. They do that today.
Malachi 2:9—says to the priests: "…just as you have not kept My ways but have been partial in the Law." That contradicts what Jesus said to do, 'Live by every word of God.'
- Did they—the scribes, Pharisees and doctors of the law—have the Word of God? Yes, they did!
- What did Jesus say of them in John 5? You have the Law of Moses, but none of you do it, and you don't have the love of God in you! For had you believed Moses, you would have believed Me!
- How many ministers have the Bible? Every one!
Most of them that preach, preach falsely! They sit there and hold the Bible, but they have their sermon notes right in the middle of the Bible and they don't even turn to the Scriptures in the Bible. Why is that? Because most of them are walking back and forth!
That's why we sit down, we have tables and we have Bibles so that we can all look at the Word of God. In the case of some people they now have the Bible in digital form on their iPad. That's fine!
Luke 11:42: "But woe to you, Pharisees! For you pay tithes of mint and rue and every herb, but you pass over the judgment and the love of God. It is obligatory for you to do these things, and not to set aside those lesser things."
Note Matt. 23—Woe to scribes and Pharisees, wonderful sanctimonious hypocrites!
Verse 43: "'Woe to you, Pharisees! For you love the chief seat in the synagogues and the salutations in the marketplaces. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are as unseen tombs, and men who walk over them do not know it.' And one of the doctors of the law answered and said to Him, 'Teacher, by saying these things You are also insulting us.' And He said, 'Woe to you also, doctors of the law! For you weigh men down with burdens heavy to bear, but you yourselves do not touch the burdens with one of your fingers'" (vs 43-46).
I just gave you the seven parts for the key to understanding knowledge, but notice what they do:
Verse 52: "Woe to you, doctors of the law! For you have taken away the key of knowledge; you yourselves did not enter, and you prevented those who were entering'"—the Kingdom of God.
Verse 53: "And as He was saying these things to them, the scribes and the Pharisees began vehemently to press and provoke Him to speak about many things, while they kept a close watch on Him, seeking to catch something out of His mouth so that they might accuse Him" (vs 53-54). With that attitude, can they understand? No!
Luke 12:35: "Let your loins be girded about and your lamps burning." That's a way of saying always stay close to God and let God's Spirit be the lamp that's burning within you, and "…your loins be girded…" means prepared for spiritual battle!(Eph. 6).
Verse 36: "And you yourselves be like men who are waiting for their lord, whenever he shall return from the wedding feast; so that when he comes and knocks, they may immediately open to him. Blessed are those servants whom the lord, when he comes, shall find watching…. [and doing] …Truly I say to you, he will gird himself, and will make them sit down, and will come and serve them" (vs 36-37).
I wonder if Christ is going to, at the marriage supper of the Lamb, be out there serving, too? It indicates here that He will.
Verse 38: "And if he comes in the second watch, or comes in the third watch, and finds them watching, blessed are those servants." How are we to watch? Not only our behavior, but how the Word of God is handled?
Verse 39: "But know this, that if the master of the house had known in what hour the thief would come, he would have watched, and would not have allowed his house to be broken into."
Apply that to the Church. Was the Church broken into by those who came to infiltrate and take down? Yes, because they weren't watching!
Verse 40: "Now you, therefore, be ready; for the Son of man is coming in an hour that you do not think."
Sidebar: There was a special report saying that the big 9.0 earthquake under the ocean just east of Japan that caused the tsunami? Nine on the Richter Scale; that's out of sight! That changed the movement of the earth by a fraction of a fraction of a second.
Guess what's going to happen when you read the book of Revelation and the Prophets of what's going to happen to the earth. It's going to be tossed to and fro, upside down, many earthquakes. That's why no one knows the day or the hour; only God!
Verse 41: "Then Peter said to Him, 'Lord, are You speaking this parable to us only, or also to all?' And the Lord said, 'Who then is the wise and faithful steward…'" (vs 41-42). Steward is a special word that means one who is in charge of another person's property to faithful to engage it to produce a profit.
- to faithfully produce it
- to protect it
- to increase it
"…whom the lord shall put in charge of his household, to give to each one the portion of food in season?…. [that's spiritual food] …Blessed is that servant whom the lord, when he comes, shall find so doing. Of a truth, I tell you, he will set him over all his possessions. But if that servant shall say in his heart, "My lord delays his coming," and shall begin to beat the menservants and maidservants, and to be gluttonous and become drunk" (vs 42-45)—spiritually drunk!
Where does that drunkenness come from? Out of the golden cup of the harlot who sits on the beast (Rev. 17)!
Verse 46: "The lord of that servant will come in a day that he does not expect, and in an hour that he does not know, and will cut him asunder, and will appoint his portion with the unbelievers. And that servant who knew the will of his lord, but did not prepare…" (vs 46-47)—a warning to the Church! There are many people who are not preparing!
"…nor did according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes; but the one who did not know, and did things worthy of stripes, shall be beaten with few…." (vs 47-48).
- Do we know?
- Do we have the Word of God?
- Yes, we do!
"…For to whomever much has been given, from him shall much be required; and to whom much has been committed, from him they will demand the more" (v 48).
How do we protect the Word of God? Some people have said of me—Fred Coulter—'Who is he to translate the New Testament?' when I did it. Then to put out the Bible. Learned a lot of things.
- Do I know everything? No!
- Do I have a certain amount of knowledge? Yes!
- Do I need to increase in knowledge? Yes!
- Should I apply myself in that knowledge? Yes!
- Should all of us want to guard the Truth of God? Yes!
- Do we have modern doctors of the law?
- who today are destroying the Law?
- claiming that they are doing something new?
- Yes!
Article: Greek New Testament Produced at Tyndale House aims to be 'world's most accurate' (November 15, 2017 by Rob—https://biblicalstudies.org.uk/blog/tyndale-greek-new-testament/)
Unless you have a reading knowledge of New Testament Greek, you wouldn't have a clue.
- Is it necessary to do that?
- Should ministers know the Greek?
- Should they be able to read the Greek?
- At least sufficiently to find errors?
I got this and wondered what this was. I called Ron Cary and told him to order me one. He also sent me the Gospel of Mark. This becomes interesting.
After ten years of scholarly work, Tyndale House…
Everybody knows that William Tyndale was the first one to translate the Old and New Testaments into English. This is the one in the UK at Cambridge. There they have 'doctors of the law.'
…is launching a new version of the New Testament in its original Greek language, which aims to be the most accurate ever published….
I will point out to you that in the first two verses of Mark, they lie. There are some honest scholars out there. When we were doing the New Testament, Gary Stazak was the one in contact and relayed the information to me, and this is the New Testament in the Original Greek Byzantine Text Form. They used all the right accurate ways of testing and proving the text. It's all in Greek except for their explanations. What is the Byzantine Text. That is the area of Asia Minor that is today Turkey, which is what is called the Byzantine Empire.
Where did the Apostolic Church end up after the destruction of Jerusalem? In Ephesus and the cities! That's why you have the seven churches in Asia. A lot of the Jews fleeing from the invading armies went up to Asia Minor. Where was the Apostle John when he received the vision of the book of Revelation? The Isle of Patmos, just off the coast of Asia Minor!
There are thousands of Greek texts, parchments and lexicons that are in the Byzantine Greek. Those are the most accurate and agree with one another a tremendous amount.
- There is a western text, which is a paraphrase that is worthless!
- There is the Cesarean text, which has some good things about it, but not much.
- There is the Alexandrian text that is a little better, but that is the one that is causing all the problems.
Classical Greek was the old Greek. They you had the Attic Greek. That became a little more modern. That came down to about the 300sB.C. When Alexander the Great conquered the whole area around there, they used what is called the Koiné Greek, which was the language of the Greek Empire and business. The New Testament was written in Koiné Greek, which is a Byzantine Text Form.
A lot of people don't realize it, but the Liddell and Scott Greek Lexicon was based upon the Septuagint and Classical Greek. They had not discovered a lot of the business papers and papyri and things like this that were in used in the first century, which were all written in Koiné Greek. They thought that the New Testament was a Godly inspired separate language, because they had nothing.
Later in the late 1800s and early 1900s they discovered thousands and thousands of documents written in Koiné Greek, which verified that the New Testament was written in Koiné Greek and accurate.
They explain all of this in this book, and we were in contact with them to checkout how the translation was done. Gary Stazak was editing at that time and he wrote all the chapters on how we got the Bible that we find in chapter 9-14 in the New Testament, and chapters 9-12 for the commentaries for the Bible.
There are other Greek manuscripts that came out of Alexandria and anything that comes out of Egypt is suspect of being monkeyed with. That is true, because what they did is take a principle in the Bible: and answering Jesus said… they looked at that because they wanted to refine it with some of the Attic Greek, so they eliminated answering and put in Jesus said… You would think that's okay, but that takes away from the inspired version.
Here we have now coming out with a New Testament
…to be the most accurate every published….
Lie!
…Taking its authority from the very oldest available manuscript…
That sounds like a wonderful thing to do. But what if it was old and never used because it was so bad? What happens to the ones that are in regular use? They were out and they're replaced! It's not the oldest one! You can carbon date and test. It's the one that has the copy of the oldest text that's important.
…the new edition reflects as clearly as possible the earliest recoverable wording of the books.
The version of the Greek New Testament that currently forms the basis of most English Bible translations was published in 1975…
That was a very bad, bad, bad Greek New Testament.
…but since then several important ancient manuscript discoveries have been made. The Greek New Testament Produced at Tyndale House includes the evidence from these manuscripts, presented in a way that mirrors the sources it is drawn from. This means that paragraph marks…
Here's a picture of Dr. Dirk Jongkind a Dutchman. I sent him an e-mail asked him some questions. Remember the sermon that I gave on Jesus' Stenographers. I asked him if he ever checked with the man who wrote the book Jesus' Stenographers by B.J.E. Van Noort. He said, 'No.'
The associate editor of The Greek New Testament Produced at Tyndale House is Dr Peter Williams, Principal of Tyndale House. Dr Williams is chairman of the International Greek New Testament Project and a member of the translation committee of the English Standard Version of the Bible.
A little insight on that. The English Standard Version: Daniel B. Wallace is the best known expert in New Testament Greek in the United States is with the Dallas Theological Seminary. He was on that. He does not believe in the trinity. He showed them. That's in one of the appendices in The Holy Bible in Its Original Order. He says, 'You cannot show personality from the Greek. It's not there!
So, this Dr. Williams was one of those who all overrode Wallace, so when you read in the appendix about it, you will see that he laments that the only basis for a trinity or personality of the Holy Spirit in theological meaning—their theological beliefs—are contrary to the Scripture.
Let's look at some of the improvements that they have. I've given you some copies of things to look at; (from handout):
Interlinear Greek-English New Testament by George Ricker Berry
Mark 1:1: "Beginning of the glad tidings of Jesus Christ , Son of God; as it has been written in the prophets… [plural] …'Behold, I send My messenger before thy face, who shall prepare thy way before thee'" (vs 1-2).
Where does that come from: Malachi 3:1! Note that the Greek there is "…the prophets…"
Verse 3: "The voice of one crying in the wilderness, 'Prepare the way of [the] Lord, straight make paths His."
This is from Isaiah 40:3.
Verse 2 shows it's from Malachi and v 3 shows it's from Isaiah. Isaiah the prophet is an alternate reading. Why is that wrong? Because the first one is from Malachi not Isaiah. That was a known alternate translation.
The Gospel of Mark from Dr. Jongkind: [he says]: Written in the book of Isaiah the Prophet.
- Is that new?
- Is that more accurate?
- No!
I'm just using this one example so that we don't get bogged down. But I found, at least on this one page, 14 errors in the Greek, compared to the Byzantine Text Form. Guess what? He's got that listed as an alternate reading, which he did not include because it's the prophets. It was known.
- Is this a new discovery?
- How can they say they're going to bring the most accurate Greek text possible? Because of recent discoveries!
- How recent was it?
This is a copy of a page from my Stephen's 1550 text. In other words, this was printed in 1550. This was Erasmus's fifth edition published 1535. They had no television to distract them, no phones to distract them and they could study, study, study and look at everything that there was. This is the first chapter of the Gospel of Mark; the Greek for Isaiah is noted on the side margin.
How can this be knew knowledge when it was known 480 years ago? How can they say that they're going to make the most accurate one when they didn't even look at this one and they admit in their report that they did not use the Textus Receptus.
I could go on and show you other things, but that would get into a lot of detailed instruction and you would get bogged down no knowing Greek. That's easy to see and understand.
When I first got the Gospel of Mark sent to me, and I was reading that, Isaiah was the first thing I noticed. But that's not it says, we read it. It says, "…the prophets…"
Why is that correct? Because there is a quote from one prophet and one from another prophet. So, prophets is correct.
These are the 'doctors of the law' who are doing exactly as Jesus said; you're cutting off the knowledge of the Truth.
This is why it's important why every minister knows some of these basic things so that they're not going to be fooled. How many of you have read about Westcott and Hort? Who were they? Two Catholic infiltrators who changed the Greek New Testament in the 1880s! They brought in many of these same things that they are bringing in what they now say is the new and the best. A lie!
(continuing from the article on the Greek N.T.):
To what manuscript family does this Greek New Testament foundationally appeal?
This Greek New Testament is a revision of a previous Greek New Testament edition produced in the 19th century by Samuel Prideaux Tregelles. This major 19th-century edition was used as a textual source in Westcott and Hort's classic edition The New Testament in the Original Greek.
What did they do? They made many of the changes and used the other spurious manuscripts!
This shows how thorough Robertson and Pierpont were. They went through every single manuscript and compared it to the Byzantine Text Form and found that all of these were not in the majority text. But it shows that they covered every single one.
The Byzantine Text Form and the Received Text agree 98.7%; and that 1.3% is just word order and spelling. Occasionally a word.
So, this is a deliberate attempt! Since Westcott and Hort were Catholic infiltrators. I wonder what these 'doctors of the law' are?
Other than through an indirect influence via Westcott and Hort's work, however, Tregelles's edition was the only major 19th-century edition that was not part of the genealogy that contributed to the 20th-century Greek New Testament editions.
And they didn't use the Received Text. When did Berry do his Interlinear, first edition? 1897! Is that not the 19th century? They didn't even use it! The average minister—even in the Church of God—would never know.
This text will be available digitally and will be free for many uses around the world, in accordance with the desire of Tyndale House to serve the global church in an open-handed way with the very best Greek text possible.
Not so!And I'm going to write them and let them know! If this is new, what are you doing with something that is known and rejected in the first three verses of the Gospel of Mark—Isaiah—480 years ago! Why do you put that back in there when it was rejected? It's not found in the Byzantine Text Form that was done by Robertson and Pierpont. There are honest scholars and these two were part of those.
They did what they needed to do to produce the Greek text the way that they should. I've compared a lot of what we have done to the Textus Receptus and it's right on.
I also went through Mark 13 and found about 20 different changes. If you figure all of the pages, they have absolutely put the Greek New Testament back in a maze of confusion rather than clarity.
Since they didn't even bother to find out how Jesus' scribes took notes and everything {note sermon is found at truthofGod.org}
How did the scribes do it? They had scribes everywhere and generally had teams of three. When the king would speak they would all write it down in shorthand. How did they write it in shorthand. Many of them had beeswax tablets; they could write on it. They would all get together and would write it out, bring it to the king and have him okay it, and then it would be folded up and with the wax seal stamped on it. But it was the scribes who did the work. The king did the pronouncing.
That's why when you read, especially Matt. 5-7, it reads exactly like it was written when Jesus was speaking, because that's when it was first written.
Acts 6:1: "Now, in those days…" This was in the first year. The most important thing that they had to get right within the first year was the New Covenant Passover Ceremony that Jesus gave to the apostles.
Of the 120 who met in the upper room after the 40 days, only those 11—because Judas fell—knew what was said at that last Passover. So, with all that were baptized, they had to have it ready for them for the Passover the next year. So, this is within the first year.
"…when the number of the disciples was multiplied, there arose a complaint by the Greeks against the Hebrews, because their widows were neglected in the daily ministration. And after calling the multitude of disciples to them, the twelve said, 'It is not proper for us to leave the Word of God in order to wait on tables. Therefore, brethren, search out from among yourselves seven men of good repute, full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom, whom we may appoint over this business; but we will give ourselves continually to prayer and the ministry of the Word'" (vs 1-4).
That means they were finalizing everything that they had written down into the form necessary to have the Word of God available. When it says that 'Holy men were moved by the Holy Spirit,' were these apostles Holy men? Yes! Were they moved by the Spirit of God? Yes! They were writing these things down for us.
For them to say that it was 'passed down by word of mouth for 300 years and we don't know what on earth it really is' a lot of these 'doctors of the law' had given up on every finding what they call the originals! Well, the originals are found in the majority of the Byzantine Text Forms.
I'm thankful that these men were able to do that. I'm sure that God was with them when they were doing it. But here, again, we have another assault on the Word of God. That's why we did the whole Bible. This is showing that they were working on getting the manuscripts ready.
Whenever they say that there's something new, what are we to do? Prove it! Prove it!So, as soon as I got that, and he sent me the Gospel of Mark, I knew they were doing that! All I had to do is read it and check it out with the Received Text.
That's why it's so important and the Church of God now has a responsibility for preserving the Word of God, not those carnal-minded men out there with a religious agenda to change it and conform it to Catholicism.
Scriptural References:
News:
- Jeremiah 2:4-9
- Isaiah 1:2-6, 15-17
Flesh & Bone
- Luke 24:36-39
- Hebrews 13:2
- Exodus 33:18-20
- Genesis 18:1-10, 13, 15
- Genesis 9:4
- Luke 24:39-47
N.T. Fraud
- John 17:14-17
- Revelation 14:12
- Psalm 111:10
- Malachi 2:9
- Luke 11:42-46, 52-54
- Luke 12:35
- Acts 6:1-4
Scriptures referenced, not quoted:
News:
- Exodus 20-23
- Hosea 4
Flesh & Bone:
- John 3
- Genesis 2; 3
- John 13
- Genesis 19
- Matthew 8; 10
- Revelation 22
- Matthew 23
N.T. Fraud:
- John 5
- Ephesians 6
- Revelation 17
- Malachi 3:1
- Isaiah 40:3
- Matthew 5-7
Also referenced:
News:
- Sermon Series:
- Obsessed with Sex (churchathome.org)
- Mystery of Protestantism
N.T. Fraud:
- Sermon: Jesus' Stenographers
- Books:
- Liddell and Scott Greek Lexicon
- Jesus' Stenographers by B.J.E. Van Noort
- Interlinear Greek-English New Testament by George Ricker Berry
FRC: bo
Transcribed: 12/4/17
Copyright 2017—All rights reserved. Except for brief excerpts for review purposes, no part of this publication may be reproduced or used in any form or by any means without the written permission of the copyright owner. This includes electronic and mechanical photocopying or recording, as well as the use of information storage and retrieval systems.
