I asked this question within the first few weeks of our assembly to our group: Doesn’t everyone take the Bible literally already? If I were to ask most Christians the question, do you take the Bible literally? Or even does your pastor teach the Bible literally, probably all would answer “yes” and “yes”. The actual fact really is probably NO and NO. I would dare say almost every person I have ever went to church with over the years believes that they were taught a literal interpretation of scripture. But the FACT is we were NOT taught the Bible literally in many ways. I will give you a few questions to ask yourself to very quickly determine if you are being taught the Bible literally. 1. Does your pastor spend most time preaching from Matthew, Mark, Luke and John? Although this does not answer the question definitively it gives you a strong indication he is not teaching literally. 2. Does your pastor teach Matthew, Mark, Luke and John as your marching orders for today? If so, this definitively proves your pastor is spiritualizing the scripture and is NOT teaching literally. If Jesus says his earthly ministry was only to Israel, but your pastor does not teach this, you are being misled. Your pastor is following mainstream Christian doctrine based on Covenant theology and the allegorical interpretation of scripture. 3. Does your pastor grab verses from wherever he wants including the OT and the Hebrew epistles to prove his doctrine? If so, once again, this proves he IS NOT teaching his Bible literally. Please don’t misunderstand. I teach from the OT as well as the Hebrew epistles all the time. The difference is that I teach them WHERE THEY BELONG doctrinally and dispensationally. 4. Does your pastor mix kingdom doctrine and salvation doctrine? Or in other words, does he use “the kingdom” and “heaven” synonymously? If so, I can GUARANTEE he is teaching the allegorical interpretation of scripture. The kingdom is exactly what scripture teaches it is, which is the earthly kingdom promised TO ISRAEL. The body of Christ is promised a future in heavenly places and this IS NOT the same thing as the kingdom. The resultant confusion that Christianity lives in is a direct result of the misguided and allegorized teaching of preachers today that ignore the direct command of scripture to follow their Apostle Paul and to rightly divide the scriptures as instructed.
1Co 1:10 ¶ Now I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you; but that ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment. Please read the verse several times. Friend, the verse would not say what is says if this was not possible. This is possible! You will NEVER learn how if your preacher thinks the gospels contain your information about salvation and marching orders for the church today. You can understand the Bible. It will take guts. It will take you deciding you want to. It will take you deciding that you DON”T CARE what others think or say about you. The body of Christ could be fulfilling Paul’s command here if they would just follow the man Jesus himself called and sent TO THEM. YES! It is this simple. I was recently looking back through some old lessons and started reading the first lesson taught at Abundant Grace Bible Fellowship back on July 2 2017, it was called “Introduction”. Wow, that was descriptive of me. The purpose of that first lesson was to introduce people to some clear biblical principles. Sadly, most of which they would have never heard in their church lives up to that point. I am going to write a blog on each point I taught during that introduction here in the next few months. Many of the people in our church never heard that first lesson so I also plan to teach it this coming Sunday. The first point in this lesson was the question: “What are we doing” I went on to describe some principles that we would be following to get a proper understanding of scripture. The First principle was being Pauline in doctrine. This means that we will be following the Bible’s direction to follow the Apostle Jesus sent to us, Paul. All throughout scripture God EXPECTED us, as well as Israel, to follow a man. Abraham, Moses, Joshua, David, Prophets, Judges, Peter. Why is it then that Christians balk at our Biblical imperative to follow Paul today? Sadly, Christianity does not follow their Apostle today. So, we are Pauline in doctrine. In other words, we understand that scripture commands us to follow Paul’s example to Follow Jesus today. The next point was being a Bible Believer. Most Christians think they are. I can show Christians scores of verses they don’t believe. Being a Bible believer means that you believe EVERY verse AS WRITTEN. This is a very rare trait in Christians today. Next was believing the Biblical fact that the church you are a member of, if you are saved, was started with PAUL in the middle of the book of Acts. I cannot stress to you enough the importance of understanding WHEN your church (The body of Christ) was started. So much confusion over such a simple thing. The confusion is taken away when you take a literal stance with scripture. Next was the doctrine of being dispensational. This is a BIBLE word and a BIBLE doctrine. I don’t care how many YouTube videos or articles there are calling me a heretic! I will side with scripture. It is this simple. God has changed the way he has delt with mankind throughout the centuries. Being dispensational simply means that you recognize that God has not always required the same thing of mankind throughout history. If you believe there is a difference in LAW and GRACE, this is a dispensational principle. Next was rightly dividing the scripture. Right division is THE KEY to understanding the entire Bible. I can promise you that every division in Christianity today can be resolved in short order if men would choose to properly divide the scripture as it teaches us to. Sadly today when I try to teach right division to Christians, most refuse to let go of their tradition. Next is being a King James Bible Believer. It’s so sad that preachers today are the worst enemies of Bible belief in many ways. Prideful, arrogant men standing behind pulpits claiming authority because of their higher education. Telling their churches they need one more new version to better understand scripture. This is a bunch of garbage! What Christians need is to be taught how to be Bible believers! I teach this every Sunday. Your new versions based off the corrupt minority text will not help you understand. The Bible works in those that BELIEVE IT. I show Christians every Sunday that the Bible can be believed exactly as it is written. Being a Pauline, Bible believing, Mid-Acts, Dispensational, Right Divider of a King James Bible IS the answer to your Bible questions. Stay tuned to my “Introduction” blog series if you have the guts to actually believe scripture over what you have always heard. Sad but true that there is a difference.
There are hundreds and probably thousands of Bible verses that you can attend church for dozens of years and never hear read one time. On the opposite end of the spectrum there are a few dozen verses you hear quoted hundreds of times a year. Now, I’m not entirely against quoting important verses fairly often, but I am entirely against the common practice of avoiding scripture that does not support your position. It’s downright frustrating to deal with people that will not even consider the verses they don’t like. Sticking your head in the sand on hundreds and hundreds of verses that don’t support your doctrinal position is pure cowardice. When we run into these verses, we need to believe them also. If this hurts your doctrinal position, then CHANGE YOUR DOCTRINE. Yes, change your doctrine. If your doctrine does not match every verse in scripture, then change what you believe. This is what God expects. I fully understand Christians WILL NOT do this. I fully understand Christians read hundreds of verses that seam to say something different than their preacher and they believe their preacher. What a shame. I say forget your preacher and trust the Bible. Here is the dilemma. Christians do not trust their ability to understand the Bible enough to take a different course than their preacher. They think Seminary made their preacher an expert. What a shame. Seminary, in most cases, made your preacher unable to understand the Bible correctly. Bible college created a person wedded to a specific denominational position and not a person willing to change their doctrine as they learn scripture. I don say this flippantly. I say this as someone that has talked to people with schooling and seen firsthand many times the pride this education can create in some. Let’s look at an example:
Matt 16:20 Then charged he his disciples that they should tell no man that he was Jesus the Christ. How many sermons have you heard preached on this verse? How many Sunday school lessons have you heard a teacher tackle this verse? How many people claiming to follow the great commission understand that it tells them to teach “ALL THINGS” Jesus taught? At a point in Jesus’ ministry Jesus tells his disciples to STOP telling anyone he is the Christ. Can you explain this? Shouldn’t you be able to? Every verse matters. Every word matters. But every verse should fit into your view and understanding of the Bible as a whole. If there are hundreds of verses that don’t fit into your understanding of scripture, then change your doctrine till it matches scripture, not some man-made statement of faith. Prophecy shows that information was going to be hidden from Israel. Jesus himself said he was hiding information form Israel. Yet you sit in churches where the gospels are taught every Sunday? Only a right divider can believe every verse in the gospels exactly as they are written. Churches today pick and choose their way around the verses they don’t want to teach. Matt 16:20 is part of Jesus’ instructions to teach ALL THINGS he taught. Does Paul teach that you get to choose who gets the gospel and who does not? Paul teaches a gospel that includes ALL and excludes no one. Jesus gives this gospel to Paul after Israel has sealed their fate and AFTER the stoning of Stephen. How about this; start reading in Matt 1:1 and start highlighting every verse you don’t understand and feel like it does not fit into your doctrinal position, then ask your pastor about every one of them. If his answers are labored and hard to understand, then move on to asking every other Christian you know using the same approach. Then ask someone that rightly divides the Bible. Right division clears up the problems. You are expected to know much doctrinal information BEFORE getting to heaven. God is not going to just download the Bible into your head when you get to heaven. You will be given a responsibility equal to your proper Bible knowledge. Thrones, Dominions, Principalities, and Powers are different positions in heavenly places. How will your current Bible knowledge of Paul’s curriculum position you for a position in heavenly places? You should know this. There is nothing more important for a Christian to know than this. This life is a miniscule part of the big picture. This life is a blink in the unending space of eternity. Are you prepared? I’ve grown up and lived around engines my whole life. We can talk dirt bikes, lawn mowers, cars, tractors, forklifts, or anything with an engine in between and I have probably worked on it or am familiar with it. Within this world there is a statement that mechanics would find familiar. This statement is, there is no replacement for displacement. You might ask, what is the word does this mean. It means this; The size of an engine is extremely important to its power output. It means that if you have 8 cylinders, it’s very hard to overcome the power loss with a 6-cylinder engine. So, a person with the 6-cylinder engine has to add a turbo or a supercharger to make up for the loss of size as compared to the 8-cylinder engine. Are you wondering what this has to do with scripture? I’m glad you wondered. I teach bible doctrine every Sunday. I stress the importance of Bible doctrine every Sunday. I encourage our church to treat the Bible is if it’s a service manual for our lives. It is the curriculum that we are to be taught with and study for a proper understanding of our purpose and responsibility in this life and our future in heavenly places. There is NO REPLACEMENT FOR DOCTRINE. If your pastor replaces Bible doctrine with anything else, he is giving you a counterfeit. If you hear Bible doctrine taught and decide you don’t like it, you are asking to be taught a counterfeit of the one thing you MUST HAVE to deal with the trials and troubles you encounter in this life. Paul’s epistles are packed full of doctrine that we are to apply to our daily lives. By applying these doctrines to our lives, we can properly understand the trials we face day to day. There is NO replacement for a proper understanding of Bible doctrine. When your engine is too small and you start adding performance parts to try to make up for the loss of displacement, you start to put additional stress on every part of that engine. A supercharger is nice but now you need a stronger crankshaft and connecting rods. A turbo is a nice addition but now other components in the engine need to be higher quality to endure the stress they will encounter. Christians today don’t know correct Bible doctrine because preachers don’t know it either. Paul tells us to be established as a mature Christian it takes being established in proper Bible doctrine.
Rom 1:11 For I long to see you, that I may impart unto you some spiritual gift, to the end ye may be established; Scripture want’s us established. Scripture want’s us stable. We are to be built up and grown-up Christians. This cannot happen outside of a constant diet of correct Bible doctrine. I have been criticized for putting too much emphasis on doctrine. So be it. There is no replacement for a proper understanding of why things happen in our lives and how to properly deal with these things as they happen. There is nothing more practical we can learn than a proper understanding of Bible doctrine. A proper foundation will give us the strength we need in times of trouble. It will give us the comfort we need in times of pain. It gives our kids the fortitude to stand when others are falling. Right division has the answers when man’s wisdom fails. There is no right doctrine taught without following Paul's instructions to rightly divide the Bible. If you don't rightly divide your getting a counterfeit. The phrase “dull of hearing” is found three times in scripture. All three occurrences are in reference to Israel. Israel didn’t have “ears to hear” according to Jesus either. We are no better today than Israel was back then. For much of Christianity which darkens the door of a church building on Sunday mornings at best, the weightier topics of doctrinal things are way beyond reach. The milk of most Sunday morning services is quite enough for their appetite. They have no interest in listening to doctrinal teaching or the meat of the word. For the small percentage of Christians that study and attend all services their church offers, they have no interest in listening to thoughts, ideas, or doctrinal teaching outside their normal menu. Some people have a natural ability to hear notes and pitches well enough to play by ear. Some even more rare have perfect pitch and might be called a prodigy. I recently saw a 10-year-old play piano with such skill it would rival seasoned pianists. My guitar skills plateaued long ago. I can hear if someone makes a mistake while playing, but probably can’t do much better myself. In churches all across the world we have buildings full of Christians that have plateaued in their Bible study long ago. They are mostly content with what they know. When a question arises, they ask a preacher or SS teacher and are content with the answer. A true musical prodigy is very rare in real life. Most accomplished musicians got there by hard work and practice. The Bible is much the same way. You gain understanding by proper study. I have a friend whom I introduced to right division, recently tell me that people in his church think he studies 24 hours a day. They think this because he has learned to study his Bible according to the method the Bible expects. This study method is to righty divide your Bible and to follow the Apostle Jesus sent to you, the Apostle Paul. Foolish and unlearned men might call this worshipping Paul. Such is not the case. Jesus is my Savior and Paul is my Apostle. People in my friend’s church thinks he studies 24 hours a day because he can explain things in a way they have never heard from their preacher or denomination. And beyond that, they can actually understand what he us saying if they choose to. God’s ways are not our ways. God expects us to approach the bible with a ready mind, an open heart, and a willingness to let God be true regardless of what some preacher or professor says. To ignore Paul today is to be “dull of hearing” as Israel was. Sure, you can hear a good song. You might be able to strum the chords. You might even notice an occasional off-note, but you will never hear the beautiful, harmonious, symphony of perfectly blended musical perfection that is the Bible. When most Christians make it to heaven, they will be taking remedial Bible classes. Christians that have sat in Sunday School and church services their entire lives will be in need of tutors and teachers because they are not going to understand what is going on. They have been dull of hearing anything but the denomination they put their faith in. They will need led by the hand of those that have given the Bible free course in their life. The preacher of 60 years will be tutored by the 16-year-old that knows how to rightly divide. You can choose to strum a few chords, or you can choose to write a classical arrangement, and the choice if yours. I am thankful every time I open my Bible that I found the path to proper Bible understanding. I’m not special, or a Bible prodigy. There is no such thing. I learned that walking in Paul’s shoes puts me EXACTLY where Jesus wants me to be. Because Jesus sent Paul to me. Simple!
The proof of right division is so clear in scripture it’s hard to understand why Christians hold to their tradition so tightly. You as I, were indoctrinated to never challenge our doctrine. (is that an oxy-moron?) I think you should challenge every doctrine you believe. Scripture demands this. Satan is not the roaring lion now in this dispensation. Satan is corrupting doctrine. I was reading some scripture in Romans yesterday and came across Rom 11:11.
I say then, Have they stumbled that they should fall? God forbid: but rather through their fall salvation is come unto the Gentiles, for to provoke them to jealousy. Please notice the three words in bold “through their fall.” This is NOT God’s revealed plan in scripture up to this point to save the gentile world. The revealed plan from Genesis 12 through and including Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John is that Gentiles would be saved through ISRAEL’S RISE. Israel would be the channel of blessing for the world. Jesus came to initiate THIS PLAN. God’s revealed plan was that the world would be saved through Israel’s rise into their Kingdom status. Rom 11:11 states the exact opposite. So, did God’s plan fail? Did God’s revealed will come to naught? Most Christians don’t even think to ask this question. So, for centuries God reveals a plan clearly in scripture and Paul says the opposite is happening and Christianity is oblivious to it. Yes, this is exactly where we are in history. The fact is God has a concealed plan that was kept secret. This concealed plan was kept secret to make Satan look like a fool and to reveal an age where salvation is by grace apart from the works of the Law. The three words “through their fall” should come as a shock to anyone that is familiar with the Old Testament. Unfortunately, this does not come as a shock, in fact Christians today don’t miss a beat. The fact that Paul says something is happening now that is the exact OPPOSITE of what God said would happen and no one knows it is scary. We were “indoctrinated” to ignore this dilemma in scripture. If however, you would ask these questions and don’t stop asking these questions until you have answers, you would end up with a proper understanding of the entire Bible. If God said something for HUNDREDS of years and told people HUNDREDS of SPECIFIC things in numerous Old Testament books and then it DIDN”T HAPPEN, wouldn’t you want an answer? Let me answer this question for you. NO. The fact is Christians today are satisfied with what they know and don’t want to rock the boat. Christians today don’t have the desire, zeal, or interest to dig this deep. Christians today are completely unwilling to even consider they could be wrong. Christians today don’t want to challenge the foundations they stand on. Friend, you could be building on the sand as the song goes. Building on the wrong foundation in this dispensation will be detrimental at the judgment seat of Christ. Works play NO PART in a Christians salvation. But works in the life of a Christian are extremely important. God is giving us an opportunity to work for him as the love of Christ constrains us. Don’t spend your life building on the wrong doctrine. Paul’s doctrine will be the criteria for how your work as a Christian is judged. Don’t waste your opportunity because you were scared or to too complacent to find out for yourself. It’s sad I must say this but, don’t ask your preacher about this. He doesn’t know. He was not taught to rightly divide at Bible college or Seminary. Trust your Bible. It is the final authority, not someone’s degree. Some time ago I had a long conversation with a pair of highly educated people. Their background in both education, experience, and work life would be impressive to pretty much anyone. I readily admit that I felt a bit outclassed. They quickly moved the conversation to the importance and even requirement to read the Bible in the original languages to get a proper understanding. To this I gave multiple rebuttals. Standing toe to toe with this couple was super interesting but a bit frustrating at the same time. Please understand me in that I am in no way saying I am smarter or more intelligent that this couple. I however do not agree with the notion that a Christian must read Greek to understand the scriptures properly. I simply point over my shoulder to 2000 years of theologians that wrote their own Lexicons and Greek testaments along with Greek primers and dictionaries. These Greek experts from their various denominations have NOT brought Christianity as a whole any closer together on scores of foundational doctrines. The arguments continue to this day. After about an hour or so of this conversation I asked a simple question of this impressive couple. The question was this; What Bible doctrine can I not understand properly without the ability to read the Greek or Hebrew language? Crickets…… No response........ Then the response that followed was something to the effect of; We would need to just sit down and read the Bible together. They had no answer to what should have been a simple question. My point is this; Preachers every Sunday and Wednesday all throughout the world rob their congregations of the perfection found in the King James Bible. Preachers every week sow the seeds of unbelief in Christians when they look for the translation that they think says it better. Preachers every week teach UNBELIEF in the Bible as they tell people they need to interpret it because they went to seminary. Preachers bring upon themselves the disapproval from God himself for having the audacity to suggest that God gave us a book that needs fixed or corrected by every perversion that comes out claiming to be more accurate while lining the pockets of the publishing companies. I will definitively give you the key to Bible understanding right now. Even my simple mind can grasp the depth of it. It is BELIEF. The Bible requires and expects you to believe it. This is quite the task these days when your preacher reads from three different versions during one sermon because he “likes” the way one version says it. Who cares what you like? Who are you? What right do you have to decide how the Holy Spirit of God should have said it? Dispensational Bible study is the key to understanding the Bible because dispensational Bible study is the result of Believing the Bible LITERALLY. If you take a literal approach to Bible study, you can only end up being a dispensationalist. The new versions of the Bible change, pervert or remove the verses that teach you how to understand the Bible properly. Where does this leave the Christian in the pew? Wide eyed in the pew at the impressive knowledge of their pastor but clueless when they read the Bible for themselves. Crickets can be annoying. A shot of brake cleaner shuts them up quick. Don’t let anyone tell you that you can’t understand your Bible without listening to them. The Bible rightly divided and read with a believing heart shuts them up quick.
Oh boy, here we go. I just completed a lesson series on tithing and how we should be giving today in the age of grace. I don’t recall much teaching on tithing growing up in church since I was about 6 years old. Seams to me that some preachers don’t talk about it at all and some harp on it too much. Then there is the Bible position which is to stop tithing! If you are worried about giving 10 percent of your income each pay period, you have been led astray or worse. Anyone telling you that the body of Christ today is required to give 10 percent of their income is just not telling you the truth. By the way Israel did not give just 10 percent. Tithing properly studied will reveal that Israel gave MUCH more than 10%. There were MANY requirements regarding money and income that Israel had to do. Everything from the Year of Jubilee to not harvesting the corners of their fields to paying an extra fifth of their tithe if they had to convert it to cash. I could easily argue using scripture that Israel gave closer to 30% of their income and this was required. Of-course preachers today know there not going to get this much from anyone, so they tell you stories about the “storehouse tithe” and not “robbing God”. Tithing is Israel’s program to care for the Levites because they did not get a land inheritance. Tithing in Israel’s program was for the poor. So basically, some of the tithing requirements were for Israel’s welfare program. There are NO priests today in the body of Christ and although most of us have given money to help others at different points in our life, this is NOT a tithe and NOT required today as something the “church” does. If you are being taught that you are to tithe a tenth of your income, you should study the subject yourself rightly dividing your Bible. People today think building a church is about beautiful auditoriums with state of the art sound systems, lighting, and movie screens so you don’t have to hold a hymnal. We need reminded today that we are not building buildings, we are to be building the body of Christ. Success is not measured in the size of the building or even the number of your church membership. Success is measured in the doctrine being taught from the pulpit. I understand a building is a great thing to have, but if you are told everyone must tithe to get one, then you have doctrinal problems and need to find a church that teaches right doctrine. Today we are to give. Paul teaches we are all to give. Paul teaches that we give from the heart as we have purposed in our heart. So, as with almost everything in scripture, it boils down to a heart issue. Tithing is a LAW requirement that we are not under today. No, we don’t give because Abram gave 10% of the spoils of a battle. Abram was in a covenant relationship with God, and we are not. We give because we have a heart to give. The amount we give is based on that relationship we have with Christ. The love of Christ constrains us. If the car breaks down during the week, God understands. If your child needs medicine God understands. If you’re struggling to make the car payment on that 2022 Corvette, well….. If you are being told to give a tithe and even being told its on the gross and not the net of your income as I have heard, you need to learn about the liberty we have in Christ. Yes, we should give, but NO we DO NOT tithe. Giving is from the heart as you purposed in your heart, tithing is a LAW that then requires you keep the WHOLE LAW. Paul called the Galatians foolish to put themselves back under the law. Why then would you do this?
July 2, 2022, marked the 5-year anniversary of Abundant Grace Bible Fellowship. I did not start our church to count numbers, but we have seen slow but steady growth. Taking a literal belief in the Bible’s teachings will almost always result in a small number of attendees each Sunday. Our church is built on doctrine being the focus, not tithing, building programs, and scores of “ministries” to take up every night of the week. Scripture tells us that many will not endure sound doctrine. In the past 5 years our people have learned that the Bible is to be believed as is. God has clearly revealed a two-fold purpose in scripture. An earthly purpose for his earthly people Israel. Israel’s purpose is to have dominion on the earth. This will come to fruition in the future after God has purified Israel during the tribulation when Jesus himself sits on a physical throne in Jerusalem and rules the world just as the Bible teaches. This plan has been robbed from Jesus and scripture by virtually everyone today so churches can teach that Jesus is ruling in your heart. This is the allegorical interpretation of the OT prophets and what Jesus said in the gospels. Most Christians don’t even understand that they follow an allegorical interpretation of scripture. The heavenly purpose God has revealed in scripture is his plan for dominion in heavenly places. The church of this dispensation, the body of Christ will fulfill this plan of God. God will someday cast Satan and his devils out of heaven down to earth to judge them during the tribulation. The body of Christ fills these vacated places to rule the heavens for Christ. This is the literal interpretation of scripture. I understand it’s not what you have heard, but I can’t help that. The Biblical fact is that the streets of gold you sing about and are expecting to walk on in heaven are actually coming down to earth and you will be in Heaven. The Bible itself teaches the body of Christ will be in heaven when the streets of gold in new Jerusalem are on the earth. Far too many Christians get their doctrine from hymnals instead of scripture. What I show Christians is that the mixing of God’s 2 distinct and separate programs by Christianity over hundreds of years has made Bible believers a rare exception in Christianity. I show people every Sunday that you don’t need commentaries and theology professors to understand the Bible. They have had hundreds of years and Christianity is no closer to doctrinal agreement. Truth be told, the only thing bringing Christianity closer together today is the watering down of doctrine. Ever wonder why Paul’s books are verse after verse of DOCTRINE? Why do you think Paul’s books are barely utilized in today’s churches like they should be? The past 5 years have been both challenging and rewarding. The responsibility of preaching Jesus according to the revelation of the mystery (Rom 16:25) is everyone’s ministry. I can only wish more people would want to know how. I was taught a few dispensational principles years ago and instantly noticed how perfectly the Bible can be understood by letting THE BIBLE, not my tradition, tell me who is being spoken to. The Bible determines the context, not you or I. 12 Apostles were given to minister and rule the 12 tribes of Israel. The 1 Apostle of this dispensation was given to the 1 body of Christ to follow according to scripture. The program of the 12 and of the 1 do not mix. Learn Paul’s mystery about the ONE BODY the new creature and free yourself from tradition. You will never regret your willingness to trust scripture over tradition.
Many people enjoy reading. Today there is much to satisfy the taste of most any appetite for words on paper. Gone is the day when a traveling preacher might carry only his Bible and a hymnal. If you are reading this blog, I might assume you enjoy reading also? The fact is that everything we know about God and his plans were left for us in words. Pure and perfect words handed down by bloody, battered and burned hands. In the late 1800’s these pure words were mixed with the corrupt words created by men and sold as a “better” translation in “modern English”. Corrupt manuscripts were used by Wescott and Hort to create a new Greek text used in the new versions of the Bible. Bibles that removed 64000 words from your King James Bible. What you chose to read defines your beliefs in many ways. I tell people all the time that a mans doctrine plays out in the books he writes. Some years back I was given the book “In His Steps”. If you’re not familiar, this book started the “What would Jesus do” craze. It’s a quaint book but its bad doctrine. You don’t, nor should you do many of the things Jesus did during his earthly ministry today in this dispensation. I have heard many people tell new Christians to read the book of John first in their new Christian walk. This is bad advice. This Old Testament book does not lay down a good foundation for living today in the age of Grace we are in. Of course, I read and teach the book of John. The difference is I teach it in its correct context as my Bible tell me to. The context of the book is Jesus confirming the promises made to the fathers. Promises that will only be completed when ALL Israel is saved. This will happen and the end of the tribulation. Virtually all churches today are enamored with the four gospels and teach them Sunday after Sunday yet can’t properly handle the doctrine in them. Churches today spend far too much time teaching “spiritual” topics out of the Gospels when they should be feeding their members meat from Paul’s doctrine. Paul’s books lay out the foundational truth’s we are to be living by today. I take no credit for this advice. The Bible commands this all by itself. Jesus is addressing Israel in the gospels just as he says. Jesus called Paul to address the Gentiles. These simple Bible reading tips can save you from a life of religious bondage to a life of liberty in Christ. Do you really want to understand the Bible? I give you this advice: Read the first three chapters of Galatians, Ephesians, and Colossians. Ask yourself what is all this “mystery” stuff Paul is talking about? Then start studying this question by verse comparison till you have it figured out. These 9 chapters are a great starting place if you actually want to understand the Bible and not just believe things because some preacher tells you to. These chapters are a MUST READ. These chapters written by YOUR Apostle for THIS AGE can free you to a true understanding of the entire Bible free from religious prejudice. Only Paul can give you a clear understand of where we are in God’s prophetic calendar. You will never understand your place in prophecy outside of a Pauline understanding of the prophetic scriptures. You my friend are NOT IN prophecy; you are in the mystery time frame in scripture. This is the key to understanding all prophecy.
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AuthorSteve Schoenberger is a student of the Bible and the teacher at Abundant Grace Bible Fellowship, A Mid-Acts Dispensational Bible church teaching the Bible rightly divided according the revelation of the mystery delivered to the Apostle Paul Archives
March 2023
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