The Claim Of Jesus: More Than Just An Example

Without faith it is impossible to please Him.

Hebrews 11:6

Faith as a grain of mustard seed....

Matthew 17:20

     In yesterday' blog I asked the question: "Is Jesus really a Christian?" Some may object to the question and condemn me for asking such a question. A second question is: " Are we able or ought we as Christians to enter in every respect into the experience of Jesus and make Him in every respect our example?" Let us take for the moment this difficulty: The Messianic consciousness of Jesus. Think upon this: Jesus, this Person, is the One we are asked to take as our example and this Person thought that He was the heavenly Son of Man and is and was to be the final Judge of all the earth. We might overcome this difficulty by adapting in our life the kind of character that He displayed in His. That would be good but does not overcome the fact of this claim of Jesus for it was and is a lofty claim. Liberalism in Christianity has become so constrained as this to believe that this claim of Jesus was and is unjustified and places upon Jesus' character moral stain. This Jesus, this One, was so far removed from the path of humility and sanity as to believe that eternal destinies of the world were committed into His hands. Yes, they were and are as Jesus manifested in His life here on earth. This Jesus, the Son of God is more than just an example, for if all He is just merely an example, He is not a worthy example: for He claimed to be far more. 

     Okay! Here is the rub! Faith, and should we put our faith in this One who claimed to be the judge of the entire world. This blog is all about faith, changing from the inside/out so allow me to define faith in this way: Faith in antagonism to common sense is fanaticism, and common sense in antagonism to faith is rationalism. Common sense is not faith, and faith is not common sense: they are two different things for one stands in relation of the natural and the spiritual; of impulse and inspiration. Jesus never in what He said is common sense, it is revelation sense, and revelation sense reaches where common sense fails. I am not speaking about "blind" faith for this is not the type of faith that an Authentic Christian has, it is not Authentic Christian Faith. Our faith has an object and that object is Jesus Christ. Faith works on a personal line as the whole purpose of God is to make the ideal faith real in His children. 

     If we only reach a faith by common sense we have missed the fact that there is common sense in this life, but does not have the revelation of God whereby we can prove in practical experience what we believe God to be. Faith, godly faith, is an active principle which always puts Jesus Christ first: this looks on the surface to be mad, but not if we venture into the word of God: the Bible. We do not use head faith, we use heart faith and that comes by building upon a right relationship with Jesus. 

     Until we come to know Jesus God is as mere abstraction and we cannot have faith: so we must educate our faith until the nature of our faith comes to know and believe that Jesus is the object of our faith and is real in our lives. Jesus made another statement that seems to many to be so obscure, so wrong: "He that hath seen Me hath seen the Father." Jesus is simply saying that He is God, not just some mirror image of God, but the actual creator God. This claim may seem outlandish until you come to know Him and have a right relationship with Him. Our faith is to be the whole sum of man rightly related to God by the power of the Spirit of Jesus Christ. 

     God is not great because we say He is great: God is Great! Period! We only acknowledge His greatness. This we do by acknowledging the One whom He sent forth into this world to die for sin, this sin debt man owes to God. God paid this debt once for all time. Your debt is paid, that is, if you recognize that you are a debtor, a sinner, and in need of salvation from this debt of sin. You can have your debt paid for you by repenting of your sin(s) and believing upon Jesus Christ as your Savior. God will by His Mercy and Grace forgive you and adopt you into His family. God is offering: will you accept His offer?

When Thou saidst, See ye My face;

    my heart said unto Thee, Thy face

will I seek.

                  Psalm 27:8

Common sense use it in this life: Revelational sense for eternity.

Richard L. Crumb  

Looking For Joy: In All The Right Places

These things have I spoken unto you, 

that My joy might remain in you, and that your 

joy might be full. This is My commandment, 

That ye love one another, as I have loved you. 

Greater love hath no man than this, that a may

 lay down his life for his friends. Ye are My friends, 

if ye do whatsoever I command you.

John 15:11-14

     Do you want joy in your life? Where have you, or what are you doing to get that joy? Are you, as the song goes: "looking for joy (love) in all the wrong places? The culture of this world has a way for a person to find joy and that joy is most often in contradiction to what Jesus spoke to us as how to find a joy that is full. Here is where things get real hard: if you want joy, a real true joy, one that fills your life; then you must do whatever Jesus has commanded. PERIOD! The words of Jesus are harsh, at least to ears that will not hear. The words of Jesus are hard, at least to our fallen nature. Yet, the words of Jesus are loving and have only the best for anyone who will hear and obey His commands. Jesus did not tell you to come to Him and to receive the confidence of men by minimizing the load which He offered to bear. Jesus did not give you the words that is offered by those liberal Churches, no, for Jesus did not say to you: "Trust Me to give you acceptance with God, because acceptance with God is not difficult; God does not regard sin so seriously after all."

     Jesus presented to us the wrath of God in such an awful way, more than what even the apostles presented. The liberal Christian represent Jesus as a mild-mannered, even like a cuddly teddy bear, with indiscriminating: Really? No, it was Jesus who give to us of an outer place of utter darkness, a place where there is an everlasting fire, and that sin shall not be forgiven in this world or the world to come. Those words may not evoke trust in God, not to one who will not hear, not listen to those words of that bring joy. How can those words bring trust, those awful sounding words of death? Those words will lead us to despair. Well that may be true but you can find trust in God, in His words, those words of Jesus. How? Trust arises only when we attend to God's way of salvation. And what is that way? That way is found in Jesus. Jesus did not come to give you trust by minimizing the presentation of what was necessary in order that sinners might stand faultless before the awful throne of God. Awful throne? Yes! It is at the throne of God we will answer to Him for all we have said and done in this life: "And I saw a great white throne, and Him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them. And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works. And the sea gave up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works. And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire" (Revelation 20:11-15). Is this not an awful sight, and awful presentation of God? Yes! Jesus did not minimize the wrath of God in order to invite you to come to Him and find the way, the joy of God and this He did by presenting the wondrous Person: Jesus Christ. Jesus showed us not only the wrath of God, and the guilt of our sin, how large is that guilt, but showed us that He was still greater than all our sin. Jesus showed us the love of the Father; but not a Father loved the sin of the world, but those whom He Himself had brought into His Kingdom through His Son. 

    Jesus is the object of our faith, this is taught to us in the New Testament. Jesus is the unitary witness. This cannot be removed by any critical process: as this was accepted by the early Church and only has been removed in those liberal Churches: they teach a gospel that is not the Gospel. Jesus was not mere teacher of righteousness, no pioneer for a new religion, or a religious life, rather as One who was then, and should be now, regarded as He regarded Himself: the Savior whom men could trust. 

    Liberal Christianity regards Jesus in a different way? How is that? Authentic Christians stand in a religious relation to Jesus. Liberal Christians do not stand in a religious relation to Jesus. What do I mean? Liberal preachers reverences Jesus and has the name of Jesus on his lips, and speaks of Jesus as the Supreme God: and attempts to enter, or tries to enter into a religious life of Jesus. Sounds good?? Here is the problem: A liberal preacher, or person for that matter, does not stand in a religious relation to Jesus for and Jesus for Him is and example for faith, not the object of faith. A liberal Christian tries to have faith in God, like the faith of an Authentic Christian, and to have a faith in which he supposes Jesus had in God, but he does not have faith in Jesus. 

     Liberalism, therefore, say that Jesus was the Founder of Christianity because He was the first Christian, and Christianity consists in maintenance of the religious life which Jesus instituted.

     Question: Was Jesus really a Christian? Another question: are we able, or ought we, as Christians to enter in every respect into the experience of Jesus and make Him in every respect our example? Well we will find difficulties that arise to these questions and I will attempt to answer them in the next blogs.

Therefore I will look unto the LORD;

    I will wait for the God of my

salvation: for my God will hear me.

                  Micah 7:7

You can find real joy

Richard L. Crumb 

 

What Is The Basis For Your Faith? Man or God?

We give thanks to God and the Father of our 

Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you, 

since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus,

 and of the love which ye have to all the saints, 

for the hope which is laid up for you in heaven, 

whereof ye heard before in the word of the 

truth of the Gospel; which is come unto you, 

as it is in all the world; and bringeth forth fruit, 

as it doth also in you, since the day ye heard of it, 

and knew the grace of God in truth: as ye also 

learned of Epaphras our dear fellow servant,

 who is for you a faithful minister of Christ; 

who also declared unto us your love in the Spirit.

Colossians 1:3-8 

     The early Church had the witness of those who were alive when Jesus was alive and had come to know by personal living experience the Messiah promised from of old. The Church had this witness as if from "the horse' mouth," we do not have that luxury, but we have what those men wrote for the early Church and extends down to us and our progeny. Paul is telling the Colossian Church had it was so good to hear of their love, not a love like the world, no, a love that had sprung from the word of truth, the Gospel. I must point out that there are those who will object to the words of Paul that the Gospel had come to them like it had done to the world. So, allow me to give some opinion on this point: the word world is not always speaking about the whole earth, such as the islands of the Pacific, or into Russia, or China, but rather as we use the word "world" it can mean people. Furthermore, Paul did not say that this was the "whole world" as in its largest meaning, rather that the Gospel (what is the Gospel? Is it not Jesus Christ come in the flesh as promised?)? The Greek is very clear and here is a literal translation: "which ye heard of before in the word of the truth of the glad tidings, which are come to you, even as also in the all the world" (vs. 6a). Jesus is the "glad tidings," the "good news" and the promised One that came to the world for the whole world that was, and is, under the debt of sin. It was by His coming that the whole world can know of Him. Of course, here is where you and I come in: we have the command to go and make disciples, teaching them in the name of Jesus Christ. We do not go to save, rather we go to teach. God saves! 

      In the Bible we learn that Jesus did not keep His Person out of His Gospel, but presented Himself as the Savior of men. Those who would object to this about Jesus or consider Jesus to be just an "historical" Jesus cannot remove themselves from this fact: Jesus plainly presented Himself, not just as an example of faith, rather as the object of faith. Jesus did not say or invite to give confidence to men by minimizing why He had to come and that He was, and did, bear Himself; He offered Himself to the world. Jesus did not say: "Trust in Me to give you acceptance with God.  Acceptance with God is not difficult, says the liberal Christian, and by this makes the point that god does not regard sin to be so serious. When you read the Bible you will come to understand that that is not Scriptural for Jesus presented to us the wrath of God and it is that which the writers of the Bible declare to us in their letters to the Churches, to us today in our Churches. The liberal Christian teaches a "teddy bear" Christ, a mild-mannered exponent of indiscriminating love. For instance: When I speak to students at the Bethel School of the Supernatural and ask them why and what are they doing by going around attempting to pray for anyone who will allow them to do so. The answer is almost universal: they come to spread the love of Jesus. Sounds good on the surface. Jesus was and is love, for He died for us because He first loved us, but, and this is important: Jesus spoke of the outer darkness and of Gehenna, the everlasting fire, of the sin that shall not be forgiven either in this world or the world to come. Jesus is not some soft cuddly "teddy bear" but is love and gave us this warning of doom and shows us the way to avoid that doom that God has appointed for all who will not believe in Him and in His Son the Savior. 

     Think upon this but not as the liberal Christian pastor or teacher who teach that nothing in Jesus' teaching about the character of God which can evoke us trust. It cannot! Trust in God only comes when we attend to God's way of salvation. That way? Is found in Jesus. We cannot see or speak to Jesus as those disciples did, but we have His words recorded for us in the Bible. Jesus did not minimize His presentation of what is necessary so that sinners could stand before God and be faultless. No, on the contrary, Jesus invited confidence by presenting Himself, His own wonderous Person. Sin, the guilt of sin is so great, that which we cannot remove from ourselves, we cannot pay this debt owed to God, but we have that which can, that which is greater than us, we have Jesus Christ. 

      God is a loving Father, this is also what Jesus taught us, but not loving a sinful world, only to those He brought into His kingdom through His Son, Jesus Christ. The truth that we need to have, to know, to accept, to internalize is the witness of Jesus as recorded in Scripture. No one can remove this by some criticism process. No! Jesus spoken of in the New Testament did not come to just teach us righteousness only, to teach as a new religious life, but is the One who we must come to acknowledge, that is if we read the Bible and allow the Holy Spirit to guide us into the truth found in the Bible and not some man-made religion, rather Jesus regarded Himself as the Savior of whom we can trust. 

      

Also I said, It is not good that ye do;

     ought ye not to walk in the fear

of our God because of the reproach

     our enemies?

                  Nehemiah 5:9

The Grace of God: found in Scripture alone

Richard L. Crumb

Who Is This Jesus And Our Attitude Towards Him?

For there are many unruly and vain talkers 

and deceivers, specially they of the circumcision: 

whose months must be stopped, who subvert 

whole houses, teaching things which they 

ought not, for filthy lucre's sake....they profess 

that they know God; but in works they deny him, 

being abominable and disobedient, unto every

 good work reprobate.

Titus 1:10-11;16

     The point to remember is that our fight against sin, against that which is unScriptural is to be found within the Church. Outside the Church it is easy to see who is against God, against Jesus Christ, who are doing things that is contrary to God's law: this is not easy to see within the Church were people are saying things much like Authentic Christian Faith. There is a great chasm between liberalism and Christianity. 

     What is the makeup of this chasm? it is in regard to the presuppositions of the Christian message. It the view of God and the view of man: furthermore, there is a chasm difference of their estimate of the Bible that contains the message. We need to know the message of truth and not some message based upon a person' presupposition or ideology, or theology. The main message of the Bible is not just of death and resurrection for this would have no meaning if it does not have a basis. That basis is the Person of Jesus Christ. It this message that must be considered and to be the foundation of any other message. Attitude is just about everything as it colors our words, our actions, our life. It is our attitude about the Person Jesus Christ and here we find this chasm: liberalism and Christianity are sharply opposed. 

      In the last blogs I wrote and discussed the Bible and that the Bible is truth and is our guide. The Bible does even more for it shows that Jesus appears in the whole New Testament, talked about in the Old Testament. So then, we must examine the New Testament. Where do we start? Some will say with the writings of Paul and by doing so make the Gospels secondary: this is an error! Here is a fact: the Gospels and the writings of Paul can be used as primary sources: this is not to say that other writings are less important only that we need a starting point and those two things make for a good starting point. 

      Let us examine some supposed problems: 1. The date of the Gospels. Here there is no debate and the authorship. 2. Paul: It is universally admitted that the chief of the extant epistles attributed to Paul were really written by a man of the first Christian generation, who was himself a contemporary of Jesus and had come into personal contact with certain of Jesus' intimate friends. Well, what was the attitude of these writers of the first Christian generation toward Jesus of Nazareth?

     There can be no doubt for Paul clearly showed how he stood toward Jesus and showed that he had a true religious relationship with Jesus. As to the writers of the Gospels there can be no doubt as to their attitude of Jesus. Paul, not being one of the twelve that Jesus selected as His disciples in the beginning after His encounter with Jesus on the road to Damascus became an example for faith. Paul had a faith, even though not the same faith as Jesus had for God, still, Paul's faith consisted in having faith in Jesus. Yes, Paul had faith in God, not just the same as it was with Jesus, the relationship is and was different. This relationship Paul had with Jesus is not absent from his epistles and certainly not from his life. This is an important point: Paul's faith was not merely in the acts of the incarnation and atonement but even about the daily life of Jesus in Palestine. Do not exaggerate about these matters for there is more about Jesus and His life and Paul knew that he could not write all that could be written about Jesus in his letters. Paul certainly spoke more instructions than what was written, remember he spent time each day with those early Christians while in their presence. Paul wrote to them how to commence in their Christian lives. Yes, Paul spoke and wrote about such things but there was and is still more important something and that something was the redeeming work of Jesus and this was the primary thing for Paul. To have faith in God, like Jesus' faith; it was faith in Jesus. Paul was committed, and this without reserve, the eternal destines of his soul, and the soul of those claiming to be Christian. Now, the early Church had already made a decision as to their attitude toward Jesus. Paul was not led to assume their attitude, no for Paul was persuaded by His conversion when having met Jesus on that road to Damascus. This led him to the faith of those early Christians. Paul had this account of the redeeming work of Jesus as something he had "received", and that account had evidently been accompanied already in the early Church. So Paul was not the first to make Jesus the object of faith. 

     Well, the Authentic Church of God (this is those of Authentic Christian Faith) already have shown us their attitude towards Jesus and their faith in Him: so have you, like Paul, had an experience, an experience that has led you to convert to Jesus, to have this Authentic Christian Faith? Here is an important point: Our faith is not built upon a man's teaching, no, rather upon the teaching of Jesus Christ. Jesus is the object of our religious faith. Our faith in Jesus is not merely and imitation of Jesus; it is in our personal relationship with Him and we build that relationship upon the written and inspired word of God. 

     The next blogs are all about Jesus.

Woe to them that devise iniquity,

     and work evil upon their beds?

When the morning is light, they

    practice it, because it is in 

the power of their hand.

                    Micah 2:1

It is Jesus and Him alone

Richard L. Crumb

 

The Main Bible Story

But Jesus called them to Him, and saith unto them,

 Ye know that they which are accounted to 

rule over the Gentiles exercise lordship over them; 

and their great ones exercise authority 

upon them. but so shall it not be among you: 

but whosoever will be great among you, 

shall be your minister: and whosoever of you

 will be the chiefest, shall be servant of all. 

For even the son of man came not to be

  ministered unto, but to minister, and to give 

His life as a ransom for many.

Mark 10:42-45

     There are two types of Christian thought: 1. That the miracles of the early Church are to be demonstrated openly in the Church today. 2. That the miracles of the early Church are not to be manifested in today's Church. Both sides use the Bible for warrant. There is a great amount of objection and suspicion on both sides. There are stories from both sides and some of those stories do not belong to the actual story of the Bible. What is the story of the Bible? death and resurrection are what the story is about; do you have eyes to see it as it has been hinted on every page, it meet us in some disguise, at every turn, and muttered in conversations. This is the Bible! Sin brought forth death. Jesus' death and resurrection brings forth life. So many mistakes on this matter. Death and Resurrection is the main plot. So many stories making it hard to know which one(s) are correct. We are not to be committed to believing all stories. Most stories are probably false. Lies, exaggerations, misunderstandings and hearsay make up perhaps more than half of all that is said and written in the world, and this is true of Christianity. We must find a criterion to judge any particular story. (This was taken from C.S. Lewis on Miracles). This is why the Bible tells us to examine our faith, to test all things, to prepare to give a defense of our faith. You either prepare to know the truth or you just accept whatever is told or written. 

     What was the life-purpose of Jesus? Verse 45 of the opening Scripture tells us that Jesus, the Son of man came to minister, and to give His life for a ransom. Authentic Christians finds the Bible to be the very word of God. This dependence upon this Book, the Bible, is not a dead or artificial thing, it has the authority of God. Think about this: if it were not for the Bible you would be living a fatalistic life, no real hope, a dark and gloomy world and this would be even more true if you were left to your own devices. Authentic Christians do not find the Bible, God's law, to be burdensome, but to be the very crux of Christian liberty.  The Bible is an Authentic Christian' life and thinking. Is this true of you? Do you want liberty? You can have it if you follow the commands of God, they are not burdensome, yes in this world it is hard as they are against the culture of this world, but you have more: YOU HAVE THE HOLY SPIRIT RESIDING IN YOU! You either allow the Holy Spirit to lead you, or you try to do it yourself. Many of can attest that trying to do things without the guidance of the Holy Spirit has not turned out so well. 

     Build now on our relationship with Jesus Christ. Listen to His words, do not just follow what has been or is now written. All is not wrong, but all is not right. How will you know? Follow God's commands that show us how. God will not do this for you: you must do it for yourself. That is, if this is your highest priority.

And he said unto him, Went not mine

    heart with thee, when the man turned

again from his chariot to meet thee?

    Is it a time to receive money, and to receive garments, and oliveyards, and vineyards, and sheep 

    and oxen, and menservants, and maidservants?

                    2Kings 5:26

build upon Jesus: not things of this world

Richard L. Crumb

Cain, Balaam, And Korah: Among Us

Woe unto them: for they have gone in the way of Cain,

 and ran greedily after the error of Balaam 

for reward, and perished in the gainsaying 

of Core. These are spots in your feasts of charity, 

when they feast with you, feeding themselves 

without fear: clouds they are without water, 

carried about of winds; trees whose fruit 

withereth, dead, plucked up be the roots; 

raging waves of the sea, foaming out their 

own shame; wandering stars, to whom is

 reserved the blackness of darkness for ever.

Jude 11-13 

     Who is Jude speaking about? It not the unbeliever, it is those who are within the body of believers, those who claim that they believe, it is them that are disrupting Christians with their teachings: "For there are certain men crept unawares..." (Jude4a). These distort the truth by their opinions, their view of the Bible, and their view of God, of Jesus Christ and not from the Bible that is our "rule book" and our guide to the truth of God, or Jesus Christ. Our purpose is not to gain be some teaching that brings ill gotten gain, either in money or stature. Our purpose in this life is not to live a moral life, even non-Christians can live a moral life. No! We are called to have a relationship with Jesus Christ and that relationship is not something out in the ether. This relationship does not come by some "inside" revelation. We can learn what it means to have this relationship only by what was written for us to know. Out of this relationship we become moral people, we do and act differently and not according to the culture of this world. If the world cannot see something different about you, a difference not seen in the world: well....you need: "Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints" (Jude3). Go back and read about Balaam and you will find that he thought that he was speaking for God: he was not! Learn from Cain, think on this: Cain was a son of Adam and knew what Adam knew about the reason they were living creatures and yet he would not listen to what was taught to him about God and sin. The name Cora is Greek for Korah the grandson of Levi who resisted the civil authority of Moses. Korah rebelled against the priesthood claimed by Aaron and was against the Word and intruded as much as he could into the office of the priests. These are the signs of a liberal Christian, a liberal preacher and teacher. These modern liberals do not in actuality hold on to the authority of Jesus, much like Korah did against Moses. These modern liberal Christians know about God and even will speak of the authority of God and yet will kill (by their teachings) those who want to be Authentic Christians: just like Cain. These modern liberal Christians say they speak for God and yet like Balaam they are not speaking the words of God, rather that which is not of God, not Scriptural. These modern liberal Christians speak about the way of salvation even give some meaning to redemption and say and teach that the redeeming work of God could not happen before the event occurred on the cross. Jesus is God! Jesus is eternal! Jesus was the redeemer before creation! What Jesus did on the cross was to manifest for us the fact that He is the redeemer. These modern liberal Christians want people to believe that what they teach is the divine way. It is not! What is being done is to regard the teaching of the Holy Spirit given through the apostles to be inferior to the authority of the teaching of Jesus Christ. The teaching of Jesus Christ is set for us to read and know from Scripture and Scripture alone. 

     There is a major problem with liberality among those so-called Christian teachers and preachers: they do not in all actuality hold fast to the authority of Jesus. By teaching that men and women can get some revelation, some words that are in their minds and this is from God is so wrong, so unScriptural but many have and are falling prey to these words of Balaam. These modern liberal preachers and teachers are "spouting" off their presuppositions and pre-conceived ideas as to who Jesus is and what Jesus requires of those who are to be Authentic Christians, to have Authentic Christian Faith.

     When you think of God: what do you see? What does God look like in your mind? When you think of Jesus: what do you see? What does Jesus look like in your mind? Is what you see in your thinking a body, a man, a person? We have no idea as to what Jesus like like, what was His height, His weight, His body type, His daily habits? Or do you see Jesus and God as God and Jesus are outlined for us to see and know and this from Scripture and not from our minds. How can a finite see the infinite? How can a created being see the One who is not a being as we are or has a body but a different sort of being: God? STOP LOOKING! God has shown us what we need to know about Him, about Jesus in His word and nowhere else! Build your relationship according to Scripture and not some person telling you that which is not of Scripture how to live, how to worship. 

     NOW! GET DRESSED! GET READY FOR THE DAY! GO ABOUT YOUR LIFE DOING WHAT GOD HAS SHOWN TO DO IN YOUR DAILY LIVING. GO AND BRING THE GOSPEL, GO AND MANIFEST IN YOUR LIVING AS GOD'S WORD HAS SHOWN US TO LIVE. BUILD ON A RELATIONSHIP, NOT ON WHAT MAKES YOU FEEL GOOD ABOUT YOURSELF. OH, YOU WILL FEEL GOOD WHEN YOU DO WHAT IS RIGHT, BUT YOU WILL FEEL BETTER WHEN YOU ARE IN AN AUTHENTIC RELATIONSHIP WITH JESUS.

And they shall be My people,

     and I will be their God:

and I will give them one heart,

     and one way, that they may

fear Me for ever, for the good of them,

     and of their children after them.

                     Jeremiah 32:38-39

Follow God: not man

Richard L. Crumb

  

What Is This Attack Upon The Bible?

Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you,

 and persecute you, and shall say all manner 

of evil against you falsely. Rejoice, and be 

exceeding glad; for great is your reward 

in heaven: for so persecuted they the 

prophets which were before you.

Matthew 5:11-12 

     The claim that the Bible claims is so high of a claim that it is no wonder that the Bible has been and is attacked. In fact, you too, especially those who hold Authentic Christian Faith, are attacked as well. Is this attack fair? Fair is fair when all things of the same subject are attacked or treated equally. This we do not find in our world. Remember: God is not fair: He is JUST! Liberal preachers and teachers who object to plenary inspiration of the Bible due to their belief as to errors in the Bible might be right, or they might be wrong. Any discussion on this matter must be conducted on the proper ground. A problem that I have found is that many will not ask the question. It is not necessarily the question, rather it is the answer. So, those who will not ask the question and do not want to have an answer because it might not agree with what they now believe will "dance" around the question and prefer their theories of inspiration, and even their theories as to the dictation of the Bible. What is more often found in such Churches under this type of teaching and preaching is that they fall under a superstitious use of the Bible and make it more of a talisman, or something similar. Do those liberal preachers and teachers say that the Bible is divine? Yes! Do they say that the Bible is more divine because it is the more human? Is this not edifying? Maybe! Appearances are deceptive! We are told to examine our faith: "Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves. Know ye not our own selves how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates" (2Corinthians 13:5). Or: "Test all things; hold fast to that which is good" (1Thessalonians 5:21). If the Bible is full of error, as many of the liberal teachers and preachers teach, and then to say it is divine is just to say that God is a name for the course of the world with all its imperfections and all its sins. This is a "pantheizing" of the word "divine." And then to say they worship the God of truth: is this not confusing; and is this not speaking out both sides of the mouth? Yes! 

     There are many Christians that do not hold to plenary inspiration that are liberal, and also this is true of some who are Authentic Christians. Within the Church, both liberal and non-liberal people there are those who do believe that the origin of Christianity is not a mere evolution of thought about God, and that they do hold that they depend upon salvation and that salvation comes not by their own efforts, and rely on the atoning blood of Jesus Christ upon the cross. These people accept the central message of eh Bible and here comes the difference between Liberal thought and Authentic belief. There are those who only believe that the Bible is nothing more than that the message is merely on the basis of some trustworthy men who have some sort of authority and were unaided by any supernatural guidance of the Holy Spirit. There is a dichotomy of thought for there are those who hold to a belief that the Bible is right at its central core, in its account of the redeeming work of Jesus Christ, and yet believe that it contains many errors. Many of these people are not liberal, they are Authentic Christians and have accepted the true message upon which Christianity depends. There is a great chasm between them that separates them from those who reject the supernatual work of God with those which Christianity stands or falls. 

     Is the view of Authentic Christianity as to the plenary inspiration of the Bible tenable? Well, Jesus Christ certainly held a high view of the Bible, that which is being rejected. Here is a question: Is all this negative that is so emphatic as to the Bible give warrant and rise to such concessions be justified by the facts? If a person, a Christian, even an Authentic Christian makes full use of their privileges, they do have a Bible or can find one easily, he/she will find that the Bible is the seat of authority and will find and will come to the place where they regard the Bible as no ore word of man, but as the very word of God.

I will worship toward Thy holy temple,

     and praise Thy name for Thy livingkindness

and for Thy truth: for Thou hast magnified

    Thy word above all Thy name.

                         Psalm 138:2

Examine your faith; your belief by Scripture

Richard L. Crumb 

How The Bible Is Misused

By ye, beloved, building up yourselves on your 

most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost, 

keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for 

the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto 

eternal life. And of some have compassion, 

making a difference: and others save with fear,

 pulling them out of the fire; hating even 

the garment spotted by the flesh.

Jude 20-23 

     In yesterday's blog I wrote about the Bible and that it is our guide book for this life and leads us to the life God has promised all His children. To have a rule book in our hands for us to read is good but only as good as the one reading it understands the words written. If one does not fully understand the words then there is a possibility and even a greater probability that that person will not have the truth of what was written to "play" (if I can use that word) the game. Christianity is not a game but does have rules, commands, precepts for us to live our lives. We must be sure that what is being preached or taught are from a person that understands the language the book was written in and more so if the original book was written in another language. I have had some get a bit upset at me when I mention that I have studied the Greek language and have a very good understanding of that language. Why? Well, I was bitten once by those who misuse the Bible language, and this was their fault, but now I know the difference so if I fall under such teaching again it is my fault, so I studied for myself Biblical Greek. I will not sit, or continue to sit under a pastor, or teacher that does not know Greek, not just have some Greek in school but has a good knowledge of Greek grammar. 

     Here is a good example of error in teaching, especially by those of the Pentecostal, or Charismatic belief: praying in the Holy Spirit. There is a belief among such denominations that this means to "speak in tongues." They use 1Corithinans 14:14-15 to prove their doctrine. When we study the Bible we must take into account the context for it is context, context, context that determines what is being taught and led by the Holy Spirit. If a verse(s) are used as "proof" verses without the context then this is a misuse of the Bible. LET ME GIVE YOU THIS IMPORTANT NOTICE: GREEK IS NOT ENGLISH. This alone gives us a problem when translating so it is important to know Greek. The Bible, our rule book, was written in Greek so I would purpose that exegetic teaching would mean that the teacher knows Greek. 

      This blog is not to give you all about this but enough to show you what I mean. In English we have the word "if" and use it in many ways, but the Greek has two words for "if" and Paul in 1Corithians is using the Greek word "ἐὰν" not "εἰ"

for "ἐὰν" is subjuctive and means, maybe or maybe not and the next words are dative: γλώσσῃ, τὸ:  and as a dative with the article means literally: to a tongue or to mean in an unknown tongue. Here is the meaning of the word translated tongue:
1) the tongue, a member of the body, an organ of speech
2) a tongue
1a) the language or dialect used by a particular people distinct from that of other nations

We know from the context that Paul is not speaking about our little organ called "tongue." The tongue is an organ of speech so it then could refer to a sound, or and as it does, a language or a dialect used by a particular people, a language or dialect that is distinct from other nations. Liberal Christians, those who hold to "spiritual gifts" and manifested by some gibberish sound or speech is nothing more than Christianizing the word "tongue" to fit their theology or ideology about God. This is to not use, or know, the Greek language, all for one purpose, to teach what they had determined in their minds as to how God operates and how a person should operated their lives. Furthermore, Paul goes on to teach us that "if anyone should pray in some language that is unknown, that is the adjective used here it would be hollow and not to the praise of God.

     This is just part of the problem when people do not use God's guide book, that which He had written for our good. It is a problem because people look up to leaders to teach them the truth, except, they are looking only at those eloquent speakers that sound so godly, yet are not! 

     Will you take time to ensure that the one teaching you does know and use proper Greek? It is your life, or do you want to be the one that is pulled from the fire?

The LORD was ready to save me: 

     therefore we will sing my songs

to the stringed instruments all the

    days of our life in the house of the LORD.

                     Isaiah 38:20

You must check your leadership

Richard L. Crumb

Proving That The Bible Is All We Need

Furthermore then w beseech you, brethren, 

and beseech you by the Lord Jesus,that as 

ye have received of us how ye ought to walk 

and to please God, so ye would abound 

more and more. For ye know what 

commandments we gave you 

by the Lord Jesus. 

1Thessalonians 4:1-2

     Yesterday the blog was all about the fact that we have a "rule" book, the Bible and that "rule" book reveals to us the will of God for His children. The revelation found in the Bible embraces more than just some historical record of events: it reaffirms the eternal truths and that the eternal truths have been obscured by sin, yet more than that, it gives us an affirmation about God and His act towards His creation: man. This is unique for this type of revelation is not found in any other religious book. It is this fact that the Bible contains a true revelation from God and gives a full account of error. We must before giving proof of the authority of the Bible we must add the Christian doctrine as to inspiration. This doctrine of inspiration is more than just a record of things, but that it also gives itself the account that it is true, preserved from error, even while we come to understand the writers habits, thoughts and expression, that the result of this inspiration to those men the Bible is the "infallible" rule of faith and practice. 

     People love acronyms, initials, and have given meaning to words even Christianizing certain words. A problem exist for many of those Christianized words are not understood by many of the populace in the Churches. Here is one: Plenary, or plenary inspiration. Many pastors and teachers throw that word out as though the congregation understands the meaning: for many they do not. Here is the meaning: full, complete, entire, absolute, unqualified, fully constituted (Webster's Dictionary). If you do not understand this doctrine of "plenary inspiration" then they is a great probability that there will be misrepresentation. Here is one misrepresentation: mechanical theory of the activity of the Holy Spirit. What this is theorizing is that the men who wrote the Bible were nothing more than stenographers. Is there a basis for this theory? I am surprised that those who are caricaturing the Bible this way, those "intelligent" men that they are so blinded. How? By their prejudice about this matter and have not examined for themselves what is perfectly accessible to them from the very words of the Bible where the doctrine of "plenary inspiration" is set forth. It is easy to study, read those books, works of men that agree with a person' presupposition or prejudice than it is to take time to do a thorough study. People love ridicule? Serious criticism is replaced by an attack of an opponent knocking down what they have established: a man of straw.

     Let us get this straight for the doctrine of "plenary inspiration" does not deny the individuality of the Biblical writers: it does not ignore their use of ordinary means for acquiring information. Those Biblical writers wrote in the language of the day: Greek, with their time on earth, with all the things that any man would be influenced by, and to those with whom they have given the words of Jesus. Those early Biblical writers did not ignore history or have a lack of interest in the historical situations that gave rise to the Biblical books. HERE IS WHAT "PLENARY INSPIRATION" DENIES: THE PRESENCE OF ERRORS IN THE BIBLE. What the Holy Spirit did was to inform the Biblical writers so that they were kept from error, errors that mar all other books. God was directing those records, those letters that contain what the Church at that time needed and the need is for our Churches today. Sin, error, none of this has changed and the affects of this may differ at times but still is the same old error, the same old sin affecting people who seek the truth. It is a matter of fact, the Bible is a true account and and "infallible rule of faith and practice." 

      When you read the Bible you are communicating with God for God inspired men to write that which we need to live as God intends for His people to live. So then: READ YOUR BIBLE!

And further, by these, my son,

     be admonished: of the making

many books there is no end; and

    much study is a weariness of the flesh.

Let us here the conclusion of the whole

   matter: Fear God, and keep His commandments:

for this is the whole duty of man.

                   Ecclesiastes 12:12-13

This is not speaking about Scripture: the many other books

Richard L. Crumb

True Christian Experience: The Gospel!

These things have I written unto you that

 believe on the name of the Son of God; 

that ye may know that ye have eternal life, 

and that ye may believe on the name 

of the Son of God.

1John 5:13 

     The Rule Book: the Bible, this is how we know how to live pragmatically, and spiritually. There is no other books, writings, or devotionals, anything at all that supersedes the Bible. The apostle John is clear and speaks plainly: He writes so that you may believe, not in some man, not in some doctrine, not in some denomination, no, only that you believe on the name of Jesus Christ who is the The Only Begotten Son of God. Here is the question: Do you believe the Bible to be true? Do you believe that God so inspired men to write things that not only were needed in those early Churches are also written for you today and into the future until Jesus returns? The apostle John writes: "He that believeth on Me, as the Scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water" (John 7:38). The Bible tells of something that no other religious book tells: The Bible tells us that we can have eternal live, be saved from this evil that is in all of us, that fallen nature to be restored to its intent. Furthermore: if you believe what you have read in the Bible then you should be exuding rivers of living water. That means simply that you are to do what was commanded of us, that we are to take the Gospel to the world. That world may only be in your home, your job, your city, your community, and maybe all you can do is make phone calls, write letters, or only able to provide donations to missionary word: whatever: you are to be a river that flow with living water. 

     There are those who would object about the fact that the Bible, especially the Old Testament is only a musty old record of events. The question may be: Do we really have to rely on salvation upon examination of those old musty records? Can we not find salvation independent on history, a salvation that depends only on what is with us here and now? This is a problem within the liberal Christian theology: they rely only on the present experience and do not give much weight to the history within the Bible. Well, we are not saved by history, no the evidence is found in Christian experience and that experience is to be found in the event that occurred in history and the effects of that event, that experience is with us today. What is this experience or event? It is that Jesus entered into the realm of mankind, that is God Himself came into a virgin and was born into our world. It is this birth, this history and experience of our Christian Faith, this is to be our experience as well. Jesus sacrificed Himself to do what you and I could never do: save ourselves, give to us life, life eternal, and to change our fallen nature into the nature God has intended for His only creation that was made into His image. Now this experience more than just Jesus dying on the cross, it is that after three days in the grave He was resurrected from the dead. Those present and seeing this event experience that event as we cannot but we can experience it through what we read and believe in the written word of God: the Bible. That experience those then had and led them to go and be "living water" can be ours today and we too can experience what this meant then by our applying the "rules" found in the Bible to our lives, our living. Let this be a warning: yes we can experience Christianity but this experience is not what is necessary for salvation and all that we are to experience extrinsically. Yes there is outward joy, but that joy is not by  our making ourselves joyful by attempting to have "experience" rather than having a present experience in the heart. We are to experience the presence of Jesus Christ in our souls. 

     Liberal Christianity attempts to maintain a Christian experience, a religious experience and devise many means to maintain that experience. This is not Authentic Christian experience for Authentic Christian Faith depends absolutely on the event, that historical event where Jesus was hung upon the cross to pay the debt owed to God and by this can apply eternal life, salvation to all who believe on Him. To attempt to maintain a Christian experience in any other way is only to produce within a righteousness that is self-centered, self-aggrandizement. It is the Gospel, the redeeming work of Jesus Christ that is to be our experience. This is not just some idea of its accomplishment, it is a done event that has effects today and can affect a person in no other way that is Authentic Christian Faith. Your life, my life, depends on the truth of the New Testament record.

    Do you want to believe the Bible, or do you believe the Bible? This is our guide, our rule book, but more it is the map that guides us to more than just "good' living, more than just living a "moral" life, it is showing us the way to eternal life whereby we will have true immortality and no immorality. Read it! Study it! See for yourself if this is not true. 

And the LORD said, I will destroy man

     whom I have created from the face

of the earth; both man, and beast, and

     creeping thing, and the fowls of the air; 

for it repented Me that I have made them.

     But Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD.

                             Genesis 6:7-8

You have what you need: use it!

Richard L. Crumb

The Rule Book

...and being fully persuaded that ,what He

had promised, He was able to perform. 

And therefore it was imputed to him for

 righteousness. Now it was not written for 

his sake alone, that it was imputed to him;

 but for us also to whom it shall be imputed,

 if we believe on Him that raised up Jesus our 

Lord from the dead; who was delivered 

for our offences, and was raised again 

for our justification.

Romans 4:21-25 

     Question: What makes a football game and not a baseball game, or soccer, or basketball, or any other game? Some will say, the ball, or the uniform, or the playing field, or many other things and they would be wrong. A football game or any other game is by and only by the rules. Rules determine governments, or companies, and even religion. Every religion has its rules that determine the way the religion is performed. So also is this true about Christianity. To have rules they are either in the head of someone and dispensed by that one, which may change at any moment, or there is, and is most often rules that have been written down for anyone to read and perform: the rule book! Christianity has a rule book: The Bible! Who wrote the rules? This is an important question. Was it Muhammed, or Buddha, or Luther, or Calvin, or the apostle John, who? Furthermore, who is interpreting the rules? Is the interpretation according to what has been written down or just someone's presupposition or ideology, or theology? Before agreeing that the interpretation given to you there must be time taken to know who is saying what about the rules. What kind of person, what is his/her leaning as to various rules. Some will say the Bible allow for abortion, others say you must do this or that, some liturgy, or some practice and even give support by some proof rules. Oh! This is hard! Yes! But it is important to know these things for yourself, for your children, friends, and not be mislead into things that seem Biblical but are not. 

     The Bible is the rule book for Christians and it is full of writings from some 40 men at various times in history. Again: The Bible contains an account of a revelation from God to man and this is not found anywhere else: only from the Bible. The Bible is a way man can communicate with God for God had things written down, things revealed for you to read as if He were sitting down in front of you speaking. The Bible contains a message for all men starting with the fact that He is the rule maker, the rule book is His rule book for man and how He deals with man. The Bible is candid, not hiding anything, both the good things and the bad things, but more than just that, God reveals how He is in charge and that if a person plays by His rules then He will do something for them that they cannot do for themselves: Salvation! You do not discover salvation, although you can read about what God requires of a person who desires to be saved from their errors, their sin, no, you can read it and discover what God had written but this is only discovery. Salvation is something that happened. God recorded this happening for us and is found uniquely in the Bible, no where else. God states that by this happening salvation is now possible. Here is a problem when interpretation is allowed to run rampart and now follow what is written for us due to the many ideas, this complex ideas of man; no Christianity depends upon an event and the narration for us about this event. Without this event then man is lost under an eternal guilt of sin, life would be fatalistic, dark. Some men, preachers and teachers speak about finding some "key" to the Scriptures, that they have discovered something more, something better, yet salvation does not come be any discovery. Yes you can discover the rules but that does not save you. Discovery brings to a person that this life, this truth about life only brings despair, all because of sin, and man cannot remove their sins. Yes, you can live moral lives, but this has not remove you propensity to sin. The rule book, the revelation to us from God is more than just us discovering a dark world and bringing despair for it brings hope a new face on life all because of that one event, and event spoken about from the beginning of time. That event is when God offered up His Son, His Only Begotten Son on the cross. 

     The rule book, the Bible does you no good if it is not opened and read and finding that it is hard but simple: if the Bible says "do it!" Do It! If the Bible says "Do not do it," don't do it! What is greater than what you can even imagine except through a mirror, a dark mirror is that the rule maker, God, not only gives us the rules: He will aid you to keep the rules, to work with you until those rules are part of you. That is: if you let Him. Will you?

For thus saith the Lord God;

    Behold, I, even I, will both

search My sheep, and seek them out.

                    Ezekiel 34:11

Do you have the rule book? You can!

Richard L. Crumb