There is nothing I know of where God emphatically states
that all inspired written communication between Himself and His people is to
stop at the last chapter of Revelations.
That would be counter intuitive to what we have discovered about our
Creator God. What’s more, like any point
in history, many people have many differing opinions about events they
witnessed. It is more likely that any
event in history would spawn writings of all kinds – those that agree and those
that disagree with any topic, speaker, or event. Unearthing scrolls that dissent with the
known Gospel then should not be unexpected.
After all, the established religion of the day (Judaism) was
dead-set-against the birth of Christianity and tried to purge it from existence
beginning with Christ, but not stopping there.
Many murders followed trying to stamp out Christianity before it could
take hold from the disciple Stephen where Paul (then Saul) was present; through
the remainder of the original 11 followers.
First the establishment (Jewish) religion persecuted the early church,
followed by Government (Roman) persecution.
Every attempt being made to stamp out scripture and faith along with
it. The fact that any text remains at
all during this turbulent time is a testament to the miraculous saving power of
God for His word.
Bu what about today, are there more contemporary inspired
writings? Various protestant churches
have claimed divine inspiration for writings from their assorted authors over
time. Even today, a great many leaders
claim divine inspiration for the writings they pen. (I do not make such claims.) Could there be any truth to it? Frankly yes.
Just because a written message is more contemporary than the older
gospels does not make it false, or uninspired.
Inspiration after all is God guiding the content, and message conveyed
through the written word, it is not His fingers writing on stone tablets each
time. The test of truth or error remains
consistent.
To test for truth, test the new material against what is
known, what is written, and what you see regarding God. If something new purports to change the
character, or edicts God has authored previously – it is false. God is nothing but good. He is nothing but love. What He has commanded for us is for our own
benefit. The evil He would have us
avoid, He would not later change His mind about. Change in the character of God is not
possible, change in His intentions therefore is not possible. His intent and His promise remain to save us
– from evil – from ourselves.
But if the new material builds upon the old, enhances, adds
another dimension too, sheds more light upon what is written and known about
God – that may be truth. I think of a
writer I admire personally, her name was Ellen G. White. She had a miraculous personal testimony of
coming to God herself. And her writings
bare testimony to her miracles. She is
an excellent author whose original complete books (not compilations by lesser
editors) do shed light on what is known and written about our God. She never contradicts scripture, only sheds a
different light on it. In so doing, I am
richly blessed by reading her works. I
do not worship her, any more than I worship Peter or Paul. Nor do I say she was perfect, lived
perfectly, or never made a mistake – just as I would say about any Biblical
character I ever read about. But what
she wrote, she wrote well, and I am blessed for the ability to read it.
It is my fondest hope that in reading these blogs I have
been writing, that you the reader may see truth in a different light. I hope never to take away from the Bible,
only to dispel the myths that have arisen where it is concerned. I long for a focus on original truth. Getting back to a primal knowledge of God,
one that is deeply personal and intensely felt by each individual – not as a
part of some corporate / group mind melt where the individual is lost for the
sake of “church”. Church was intended as
a place for individuals to meet and share their unique experiences about our
God with each other. In so doing they
would encourage each other.
Today’s Christians have turned the sharing of unique
experiences into the observing of them in someone else. A personal relationship with God has been
subtly replaced by evaluating the personal relationships other people talk, teach,
and preach about. We lost our uniqueness
and traded it away for nothing. Now
“church” is more about observation than participation. When we do participate it is about
show-man-ship. We admire the best
speaking, most articulate pastors. We
like the great sounding musical numbers.
We like the additional lighting effects, integrated videos, and surround
sound audio. True church needs none of
these things.
The Bible has been under constant attack for 2000
years. But instead of a full frontal
assault to burn copies not written in Latin, and read by an authorized member
of the Catholic priesthood, a new approach is taken. We degrade the Word by reinterpreting it, by
trying to incorporate other writings of the time as having equal weight with
existing scripture – even though the content of those texts is categorically
against the Christian faith. We water
down the Word by trying to integrate evolution science with Biblical teachings
to the exclusion of miracles – including creation, the flood, parting the Red
Sea, and possibly the divine birth of Christ.
And the “church” buys into this garbage to its own detriment. Instead of holding to our trust in the Word
and ultimately in its divine origination – we let it go piece by piece until
nothing of truth remains.
There are still voices of truth out there in the world. I find a great many of them singing anthems
with truth embedded in the lyrics. I
find it in Christian Rock, Southern Gospel, Black Gospel, Classical Aria’s, and
popular Christian songs by very young and old artists. Your young men are still dreaming dreams, and
your older men are still prophesying.
But are you listening anymore?
Have you abandoned your faith in favor of elitist
skepticism? Have you reasoned that your
wisdom in this day in age is now ready to replace the wisdom of aging and less
relevant scriptures found in the old Bible?
If so, you have bought in to the oldest of lies, the flattering of
wisdom that the talking snake sold Eve back in the Garden. But you are no smarter. Your wisdom is nothing. Real wisdom is found in those old texts. Real truth is found there, and frankly almost
nowhere else.
Rather than buy into attacks regarding the source of your
faith, let your faith be founded in the Saving Grace of our Creator God, and
trust that the truth He wishes to lead you to, you will find. Nothing will stand in the way of your
salvation save your choice to forego it.
So make your choice for God, and stand firm in that decision. He will do everything else that is required
to see you saved and reconciled with His Word, and at His side …
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