Sometimes the devil doesn't tempt us with evil; sometimes he allures us with good, distracts us with obligations, confuses us with compromise, or hinders us with business to keep us from that which is best- service to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ! Remember, the devil always offers his best, before Christ will offer His will for your life.

Sunday, November 3, 2024

God Knows (poem)

 Thou knowest them that trust in Thee!
What precious words, O Lord, are these!
Here let Thy suffering children flee,
When struggling mid life's mysteries!

For to our childish minds, Thy will
Looks ofttimes hard, and passing strange;
Loving, we doubt and fear Thee still,
And long Thy wondrous ways to change.

Not thus we cry, would we assail
That saintly soul with blow on blow;
Not thus should Sorrow, stern and pale,
Put forth her hand and lay him low.

What needs he, Lord, of pain and smart?
To Thee is he not consecrate?
His joy, his hope, his all, Thou art,
Ever on Thee he loves to wait.

Ah, dearest Lord, Thou knowest best!
Thou knowest them that trust in Thee!
Blessed the soul, yea, doubly blest, 
When Thou dost try its constancy.

Upon the soft and crumbling stone, 
The sculptor spends a passing hour;
He strikes immortal blows alone
When chiselled marble feels his power.

And when the ore is rich and rare
The miner strikes and strikes again;
Labor and toil he need not spare,
He never can exhaust the vein.

Thou knowest, Lord, a stone to choose-
Worthy the labor of Thy hand;
Thou fearest not the tool to use
That gives it shape at Thy command.

Thou knowest many a hidden mine
Where Thou canst enter at Thy will;
Treasures of faith therein are thine,
Worthy of e'en the Master's skill.

Ah, Lord! we will not stay Thy hand
With folly's questions, folly's fears;
Thy ways we cannot understand- 
Forgive our weakness and our tears.

Move on in Thy mysterious way,
We'll stand aside Thy work to see;
Faithful the work, and blessed they,
Who cannot trace, but trust in Thee.

-Elisabeth Payton Prentiss

Friday, November 1, 2024

Ye Have Perverted The Words Of The Living God

". . . ye have perverted the words of the living God . . ."  Jer. 23:36)

"For we are not as many, which corrupt the word of God . . ."  (II Cor. 2:17)

"Ye shall not add unto the word which I command you, neither shall ye diminish ought from it, that ye may keep the commandments of the LORD your God which I command you."  (Deu. 4:2)

"Add thou not unto his words, lest he reprove thee, and thou be found a liar."  (Pro. 30:6)

"For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book: And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book." (Rev. 22:18-19)

The attack on God's word is very real, and it has been ongoing for thousands of years.  In fact, it all started when the devil questioned God’s word at his very first appearance in the Bible in Genesis 3:1: "Yea, hath God said . . . ?"

But, being the author of confusion, he hasn’t produced just ONE bad Bible.  That would be too easy to expose.  No, he has produced hundreds!  I recently read that over 900 complete or partial English translations exist.  WHY?  Is it not just to keep everything all confusing and cumbersome so that you’ll have to TRUST SOMEONE ELSE to tell you what’s right, what the true word of God is?  NEVER!

You can do it all by yourself without taking anyone's word for anything.  I Thessalonians 5:21 says to PROVE ALL THINGS, so YOU can do that.  He didn’t say to trust someone else to do it for you.  YOU can do it for yourself.  Here’s ten ways, ten quick and easy checkpoints for you to show people exactly WHAT IS WRONG WITH THEIR BIBLE.  You can waste your time trying to explain manuscript evidence to them or you can cut to the chase and show them what the devil has done to their Bible . . .

Daniel 3:25:  The words "the Son of God" are changed to "a son of the gods," thus promoting polytheism instead of the deity of Christ.

Micah 5:2: The word "everlasting" is changed to "ancient times" or something similar, thus attacking the deity of Christ.

Matthew 1:25: The word "firstborn" is omitted, which allows for the Roman Catholic heresy of the perpetual virginity of Mary.  

Matthew 5:22: The words "without a cause" are omitted, which makes it appear that it's a sin to become angry for ANY cause, an obvious error, since "the anger of the LORD" is mentioned thirty-two times in the Bible and Ephesians 4:26 tells us to "be ye angry, and sin not."  

Luke 2:33:  The word "Joseph" is replaced with the word "father", another attack on the virgin birth of Christ.  

Romans 14:10: The word "Christ" is changed to "God', which attacks the deity of Christ (see verse 12) and allows for the teaching of a general judgment for everyone instead of a special judgment for Christians. 

Colossians 1:14: The word "blood" is omitted.

I Timothy 3:16: The word "God" is replaced with the word "he", thus attacking the deity of Christ and the incarnation.  

II Timothy 2:15: The word "study" is omitted from the Bible's only command to "study" the word of God. 

I John 5:7: The words "the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost" are omitted, and sometimes the entire verse is missing.

Most modern translations will fall short on well over half of these verses, so these are good verses to memorize and use readily.  Having this list printed out is good, but having it memorized is better and far more effective when dealing with a person, so please memorize it and use it skillfully for the glory of God.

 -James L. Melton

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