Over the years I have been asked why I ( or accused of ) ..... only read, then share selected scriptures....when preaching. The inference is that I pick and choose what I wish to use. Now, as this is very often done by believers I can understand the accusation. However, it is time ( due to recent events) to explain how the Word should be studied.. What I wish to explain is embodied in this one scripture...... 2 Timothy 2:15 (AMP) 15 Study and be eager and do your utmost to present yourself to God approved (tested by trial), a workman who has no cause to be ashamed, correctly analyzing and accurately dividing [rightly handling and skillfully teaching] the Word of Truth. I have used the Amplified version of this scripture because this is exactly as it should be. Please not that verse 15 starts with the word study ....it does not say read to show yourselves approved ....but STUDY. Any one can simply read the Word.....but a teacher of it must study it.....in every respect, from every angle, with every resource....not just one Testament....but both. For example , when the Lord first revealed that a pre or mid trib rapture was impossible I knew I had to really study this from every perspective. I had to know that this revelation was indeed from God ...before I mentioned it to anyone....before I shared what I thought was a Godly revelation. In those days I was going against the grain of Christian teaching......so to even think that I was being shown the opposite...that we WILL go through the trib...was to fly in the face of what was being taught from every pentecostal pulpit. A daunting task, as you can imagine...and me being born again for all of one week. However , I was born with a boldness that, when I met with Christ, He tempered.....Jesus turned my rebellious boldness into a steadfast , firm belief that the Word of God means what it says and says what it means....right from the second I picked up the bible....and He used that boldness for His purposes. Right from the very beginning of my walk I stood in front of my pastor ( 25 years in office ) and was able to tell him, with all the authority of Christ, that what he had believed in and was preaching....was incorrect. Praise God he was open to listening to me... a babe in arms, as far as my Christian walk was concerned. He took the scriptures home that I gave him and a month later, after much study and prayer...he told the church that a pre trib rapture was impossible. Such is the way God works....when a person is OPEN to hearing something different to what they have believed, and indeed preached , for many years. The first inkling that a pre or mid trib rapture was impossible was when I read this scripture...... John 17:15 ► My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. WHAAAT ?? HOW could that be ? Either Jesus flat out lied....or the teaching I had had was incorrect...that the Word had been misinterpreted, misunderstood.......and I knew immediately what the answer was. Jesus never lies, never misleads. I KNEW then that I had to follow this up....so armed with my Strongs Hebrew and Greek concordance I set out to see exactly what God was actually telling us.. And so started my study. I looked up every scripture that dealt with the tribulation. I looked up every scripture that mentioned the words.... tribulation, trial, suffering, evil, wicked, saved, unsaved...and all the examples of those in the Word who had been through anything to do with tribulations or trials. That meant studying Noah, Job, the Jews in Egypt, Paul in prison....and of course what Jesus went through. During the course of these studies I came across two scriptures , in particular, that confirmed to me that the wicked are taken out of the world FIRST...before any believer.....and they are these: Proverbs 2: 21-22 and Matthew 13: 30. You see...we can either believe what the Word says...or not. It really is that simple. But...I didnt stop there...I then looked up every scripture to do with being taken, being left behind, weeds, wheat ........and while doing all this I consulted the Hebrew and the Greek words used......to see whether they had been mistranslated. That is a whole other story...because believe me ....there are SO many mistranslated words in the Bible that unless we learn which they are...we will remain on milk, in the dark, seeing through a glass darkly....and we will NEVER see what God is actually saying. Every day and night ( sometimes till 4 am ) I studied that Word as if my life depended on it. I made notes, cross references, from every angle possible UNTIL I KNEW that what I had been shown WAS by the Lord Himself....because NO man had certainly ever told me that it was possible to go through the trib. THAT was when I could take my ( through Jesus) findings to my pastor. I give God ALL the glory and praise because apart from Him we know NOTHING. ALL we learn is through Him....all we THINK we know is NOT through Him...but through man...from a pulpit, in a book or on a dvd. What we think we know...is not necessarily what God reveals...and there is the crux of the matter. God hides nothing in the Word but we have to know certain things before we can begin to understand what He is saying. And this requires study...not just for the teacher but for all students of the Word. We must understand when God is using poetic, prophetic, symbolic or historical language. We must know, in every instance who God was addressing, what the problem was and what the solution or outcome was. Only then will we stop attributing to the NT church what God expressly and clearly said to the Jews ONLY in the OT. ...and which OT prophesies apply to the NT church. Before I bring a teaching, let me assure you that blood, sweat and tears went into studying that teaching...from EVERY angle, perspective AND scripture possible. Not just the scripture either...but the chapter that the verse came from., then the book the chapter came from ...so as to get the proper, right context. It is always amusing to find that those who THINK I only use selected scripture...are invariably those who do NOT study anything....they just read and rely on their OWN understanding or that which has been taught....I can pick em a mile off. Yet, it would never occur to these people that THEY have been misled or that THEY have misunderstood the Word...all because they cannot be bothered to study. Some subjects can take me two, three or even 5 years to study before I can confidently say to myself....let alone anyone else....that what has been revealed IS indeed from God. It is ok to disagree with me...of course it is...but try actually studying what is given to you BEFORE you dismiss it out of hand. Just.....try. How wonderful that God can and does use the weak and foolish people of this world....to confound the wise. :)
Posted on: Thu, 09 Oct 2014 11:50:08 +0000
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