Ansa Kloppers on what u have posted i feel the need to share Lincoln Smit writing which from a part of what u r saying::Hosea 4:6 My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. People today have varying degrees of knowledge of the Bible. Also, what they know is usually based on what they have been taught by their local church. Not that this is wrong but it is a fact that different churches teach different things concerning the word of God. The reason for this is that the Bible does not read like any other book. It is written in such a way that it is open to interpretation. In other words, if you take a portion of Scripture and present it to a number of people to read, you will most probably find each having a different understanding of what they read. God was very specific when He had people, inspired by the Holy Spirit, write the Bible. So if the Bible is open to interpretation then I believe God designed it to be that way for a reason. When you attend a church service and listen to a sermon it might strike you as being impressive and you might even be surprised at the preacher’s knowledge of the Scriptures. But, and I say this with all due respect, you are hearing this person’s interpretation of the Scripture based on what he knows and understands and not necessarily what God intended you should understand. Is it possible to have attended church from a young age and later studied at a school of theology and be ordained as a minister, and after 30 years in ministry still have no idea what God originally intended with what is written in His word? Unfortunately yes this is a reality we are faced with today. In a typical church environment you will generally find that the members of the congregation are spiritually inferior to the preacher. This would be because they place their trust in the preacher to lead them spiritually. But it is comforting to see that there are exceptions and that some people have discovered they actually have a Father in heaven. A Father who actually speaks to His sons and daughters. Listen to how our Lord Jesus became exceedingly upset and even angry with the church leaders of that time. Mat 23:1 Then Jesus spoke to the multitudes and to His disciples, 2 saying: “The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat. 3 “Therefore whatever they tell you to observe, that observe and do, but do not do according to their works; for they say, and do not do. 4 “For they bind heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on men’s shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers. 5 “But all their works they do to be seen by men. They make their phylacteries broad and enlarge the borders of their garments. 6 “They love the best places at feasts, the best seats in the synagogues, 7 “greetings in the marketplaces, and to be called by men, ‘Rabbi, Rabbi.’ 8 “But you, do not be called ‘Rabbi’; for One is your Teacher, the Christ, and you are all brethren. 9 “Do not call anyone on earth your father; for One is your Father, He who is in heaven. 10 “And do not be called teachers; for One is your Teacher, the Christ. 11 “But he who is greatest among you shall be your servant. 12 “And whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted. 13 “But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you shut up the kingdom of heaven against men; for you neither go in yourselves, nor do you allow those who are entering to go in. 14 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you devour widows’ houses, and for a pretense make long prayers. Therefore you will receive greater condemnation. 15 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you travel land and sea to win one proselyte, and when he is won, you make him twice as much a son of hell as yourselves. 16 “Woe to you, blind guides, who say, ‘Whoever swears by the temple, it is nothing; but whoever swears by the gold of the temple, he is obliged to perform it.’ 17 “Fools and blind! For which is greater, the gold or the temple that sanctifies the gold? 18 “And, ‘Whoever swears by the altar, it is nothing; but whoever swears by the gift that is on it, he is obliged to perform it.’ 19 “Fools and blind! For which is greater, the gift or the altar that sanctifies the gift? 20 “Therefore he who swears by the altar, swears by it and by all things on it. 21 “He who swears by the temple, swears by it and by Him who dwells in it. 22 “And he who swears by heaven, swears by the throne of God and by Him who sits on it. 23 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faith. These you ought to have done, without leaving the others undone. 24 “Blind guides, who strain out a gnat and swallow a camel! 25 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you cleanse the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of extortion and self-indulgence. 26 “Blind Pharisee, first cleanse the inside of the cup and dish, that the outside of them may be clean also. 27 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs which indeed appear beautiful outwardly, but inside are full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness. 28 “Even so you also outwardly appear righteous to men, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness. 29 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! Because you build the tombs of the prophets and adorn the monuments of the righteous, 30 “and say, ‘If we had lived in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets.’ 31 “Therefore you are witnesses against yourselves that you are sons of those who murdered the prophets. 32 “Fill up, then, the measure of your fathers’ guilt. 33 “Serpents, brood of vipers! How can you escape the condemnation of hell? This is a long portion but I specifically added it so that you could hear His tone of voice towards the scribes and Pharisees. It is no wonder they made various attempt to stone Him. Jesus offended them with these sayings and yet He was absolutely correct. They practiced religion and tradition but understood very little if anything about Father - son relationship. What I am going to tell you now is my interpretation of this portion of Scripture and it is based on what I know and understand. But, one must consider the source of this which I know and understand because it speaks out against the church of today and offends them, so obviously I did not learn of this in any church. Who are the scribes and Pharisees? They were the church leaders of that time. The ones who had studied the Bible, which at that time did not include the New Testament but was the first five books of the Bible and also included the Prophets and the Psalms (Known as the “Tora”). It has been said that they knew the Bible so well that they were able to recite it literally word for word. Yet it was prophesied in this Bible that Jesus would come as the Messiah who would be the Saviour to mankind. Jesus, in this portion of Scripture was literally saying to them, “here I am standing before you, the Son of God”, as was predicted by the Prophet (Isaiah 9:6). “Yet you do not recognize me but rather you accuse me of being a blasphemer and you plan to kill me because I offend you”. He was saying to them that even though they studied the Bible and knew it so well, they missed the point. Just as the Scriptures were inspired by the Holy Spirit while being written so too is it necessary for the Holy Spirit to be involved while reading the Scriptures. It is called divine communication between God and the person reading the Scripture. Let me show you an example of this. Mat 13:1 On the same day Jesus went out of the house and sat by the sea. 2 And great multitudes were gathered together to Him, so that He got into a boat and sat; and the whole multitude stood on the shore. 3 Then He spoke many things to them in parables, saying: “Behold, a sower went out to sow….. ….Mat 13:10 And the disciples came and said to Him, “Why do You speak to them in parables?” 11 He answered and said to them, “Because it has been given to you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given. Mat 13:34 All these things Jesus spoke to the multitude in parables; and without a parable He did not speak to them, 35 that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying: “I will open My mouth in parables; I will utter things kept secret from the foundation of the world.” (Ps 78:2) Jesus was the Word who came from heaven in human form and every time He opened His mouth to speak, out came the spoken word (Rhema). Even though He addressed the crowds they understood very little of what he actually intended, and there was good reason for this. Jesus made distinctions between the multitudes and His disciples (verse 11) when He said to them, “It has been given to you to know the mysteries (secrets or hidden truths) of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given”. There had developed a relationship between Jesus and His disciples which we do not see between Him and the multitudes that followed Him because they were more inquisitive than anything else and marveled at the signs He performed. I suppose I should not generalize but however the point I want to make is that they never had the same intimate relationship with Jesus that the disciples had. This intimacy with Jesus saw Him reveal ‘inside’ information to His disciples which he withheld from the majority of the multitudes (Verse 36). How then is this relevant today many years after Jesus walked the earth? We have the Old and New Testament but the same applies: You can read it and study it until you can literally recite it but that does not necessarily mean you understand the story behind the story. You see, what Jesus was saying to the Pharisees was, if they don’t have revelation from God then it does not matter how well they know the Bible they still have nothing. The same applies today. Many preachers today preach based on what they have been taught in their school of theology but how much of that came by revelation through the Holy Spirit. The Apostle Paul talks of a mystery kept secret since the world began and he makes mention of this mystery more than once. Rom 16:25 Now to Him who is able to establish you according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery kept secret since the world began. Also in Ephesians 6:18 Paul is telling the church in Ephesus that they should persevere in prayer for each other but then he says, Eph 6:19 …and for me, that utterance may be given to me, that I may open my mouth boldly to make known the mystery of the gospel,… What is this mystery of which he speaks? Hear what he says in, Col 1:26 the mystery which has been hidden from ages and from generations, but now has been revealed to His saints. 27 To them God willed to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles: which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. Well to go into the subject of the mystery spoken of by the Apostle Paul will take much writing and time and this is not where I am going right now. I will, the Lord willing, get back to this. For now my point is that we need revelation inspired by the Holy Spirit to fully understand the word of God. Even though we today have the New Testament the same mistake is being made as was made by the scribes and Pharisees in Jesus’ time. Preachers today spend much time studying the Bible in order to preach to their congregations, and the words of Jesus rings out once again that even though they know the Bible so well they have missed the point and are finding themselves deep in religion and tradition. But to those who have discovered Abba Father as their heavenly Father and entered into an intimate relationship with Him through Jesus Christ His Son it can also be said that unto them it has been given to know the mystery (hidden secrets or truths) of the gospel. That which concerning the word of God has been hidden from ages and from generations, but now has been made manifest to His saints. Proverbs 4:7 Wisdom is the principal thing; Therefore get wisdom. And in all your getting, get understanding. I discovered this verse many years ago and at the time had no idea what it meant. So I called out to the Lord to show me the meaning of this verse in Proverbs. It then came to me, the difference between knowledge and wisdom. From one’s birth, as you grow, you absorb information through you natural senses. Through this natural recording mechanism, what you see, smell, hear, feel and taste is recorded and stored in the brain as knowledge. This information then determines how you live, or rather, your way of life. So the moment you utilize this information, knowledge becomes wisdom and this I mean in a physical sense. When it comes to the spiritual side of life we also use this same recording mechanism to gather knowledge of the Bible and what it teaches us about God. But in this case God has given us an ability to hear and even see without using our ears and eyes. This is a communication that takes place in the spirit where the Holy Spirit communicates directly with your spirit and you become aware that God has spoken to you. Some people think that this is only possible with certain gifted people that God has chosen and with whom He wants to communicate. In the Old Testament this was true in that God mostly spoke to people through the prophets although there were exceptions. Since Jesus came to this earth we have a different situation. Today there is only one criterion which has to be filled in order for a person to hear directly from God. You have to be born again of the Spirit. Jesus explained this to a Pharisee, a Jewish ruler (John 3 verses 3 and 5). In verse 3 Jesus says if you are not born again you will not see the kingdom of heaven. The word see comes from the word aido which translates: to know, i.e. get knowledge of, understand, perceive. In other words Jesus said to Nicodemus that unless he was born again of the Spirit he will not be able to understand (perceive) the things of God. This also applies to us today. One must be careful to not assume things. Many people believe that because they have gone to church all their life and read the Bible that they automatically somewhere along the way became Christians. Well this is true if you consider that any person who has a Bible and follows the Christian lifestyle is necessarily a Christian. But Jesus was referring to being re-born into the family of God. The Bible draws the comparison between the relationship of a man and his wife, and the Lord Jesus and the church (Body of Christ). Now this is important to see and understand. For me to be able to say that I am a married man, something must have happened to me at some stage of my life. And, I recall the day when my wife and I both stood before the pulpit and exchanged vows and both said “I do”. At that very moment we entered into a covenant relationship which says “until death us do part”. Also, the first time you are born you are born physically of water (from the womb – which is filled with fluid). The second birth is of the Spirit and this happens when you accept Jesus as your Lord and Saviour. At that moment you receive the Holy Spirit who makes His dwelling in you and Christ is also birthed in you (incorruptible seed). 1 Peter 1:23 having been born again, not of corruptible seed but incorruptible, through the word of God which lives and abides forever,… This is also a covenant relationship that you enter into. A relationship that could never be broken because it is written, “I will never leave you nor forsake you” (Heb. 13:5). So, just as there is a date on which you were born and a date on which you were married so too should there be a date when you were spiritually reborn into the family of God. If this was truly a turning point in your life then you would have made a point to remember it just as you remember your birth date and marriage date. But please do not just assume that this happens automatically. I have heard it said that you could sit in a garage all your life but that won’t make you a car, and to attend a church all your life will not make you a child of the Most High God. Something has to happen to you, there is an event that you have to partake in just as you partook in the event of marriage.
Posted on: Wed, 05 Mar 2014 12:58:47 +0000
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