In each blog, I often reference many different topics that I've already covered (or will soon cover), and maybe you've missed. Please review my blogs to read more...
CLICK HERE! for an index to previous blogs.
___________________________________________
Part of the problem with understanding Scripture can be found in not understanding His perfect timeline.
I'm going to get to that timeline shortly.
I'll try to be brief with this blog and only set forth a basic timeline as I see it...
I'll save the details of Daniel, Isaiah, Ezekial, Revelation, etc. for more detailed blogs later.
_________________________________
The point of this blog is to get you to consider a couple of different things.
First... concerning our future, either ALL of Scripture is Truth, or NONE of it is.
Psa 119:160 The sum of Thy word is Truth [His Truth can only be found in the sum of it ALL], and to the age is every judgment of Thy righteousness!
That's a very basic statement that any reasonable person should be able to agree with.
You don't have to be a Theological genius (stuffy guy) to come to that conclusion.
If we can't believe one part of Scripture, then why do we bother with the rest of it?
You can't pick and choose what you want to believe and expect the rest of it to fit neatly together into one UNIFIED Theological box.
Scripture is our main (not only though!) highway to God, our Heavenly Father.
We don't have photos of Jesus hanging on the Cross, we don't have newspaper clippings with snapshots of His resurrection, you can't find an eyewitness account on the internet...
We have the accounts, as written in Scripture by eye-witnesses at that time... (the reason for our hope).
Faith without hope is as worthless as hope without faith.
That's our main source of information...
I'm not going to go into why I believe Scripture to be Truth in this blog... I'll save that for later.
______________________________________
Read on... one of my parent's favorite passages:
2 Tim 3:16-17 All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works.
Allow me to break this down (emphasis mine)...
2 Tim 3:16-17 ALL Scripture [is it really ALL, or just some? Is it only the things we agree with, or is it ALL?] is given [this is His GIFT to us] by inspiration of God [Divinely breathed for OUR benefit to guide us!], and is profitable [G5624 - advantageous - take advantage of it!] for doctrine [TRUE doctrine... not man-made doctrine, and definitely not stuffy guy's doctrine], for reproof [G1651 - conviction, evidence], for correction [G1882 - a straightening up again], for instruction [G3809 - training] in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect [in UNISON, if you will], throughly furnished [G1822 - fully equipped] unto ALL [ALL means ALL] good works.
It really doesn't get any plainer than that.
You cannot pick and choose which parts of Scripture you believe in, and which parts you can toss to the side because "you just weren't taught that way from stuffy guy!".
Sometimes, I think we forget that some people in our history were not even afforded the luxury of their own private Bible! Can you imagine?!
I cannot... what would I have done without a Bible these last 30+ years?! One of my favorite things in this life is to study His Word... I'd be lost without being able to do this!
These days... most of us have at least one copy, no matter where you live or what language! Now, I've got at least a dozen different versions on my phone - that fit neatly inside my pocket! Wow!
___________________
When's the last time you thought about that?!
Historically, some people didn't even have a copy of the Bible!
What did their faith depend on without a Bible?
How did they grow in their faith without a Bible?
How did they learn without a Bible?
I'll tell you how... "stuffy guy" (modern day Pharisees and Sadducees).
2 Tim 4:3 For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears;
How could they have possibly come to know Jesus... ?
In my best, self-important, stuffy guy impersonation...
"How could they possibly know Jesus, without MY doctrinally sound, and MY proper interpretation of His Holy Words, and without MY God-given instruction - without MY grand and perfect, intellectual wisdom?!"
Guess what?
They did... and they were probably BETTER OFF than a lot of us these days - WITHOUT "stuffy guy"!
These are the guys who are responsible for such deep programming (INDOCTRINATION) into some people, that these people are so stubborn to believe what I'm presenting in these blogs... it's like they completely ignore every Scripture verse that I post in these blogs because they're afraid their personal program will crash!
Believe me... I know the feeling. I was once in that exact same spot!
Thank God that my old programming has been overwritten with new code!
__________________________
We'll never understand ANY of Scripture unless ALL of it fits together in UNISON.
Guess what?
It DOES fit together in UNISON!
Maybe not to your understanding yet, but it will, if you stick with these blogs (blogs containing my understanding, which is obviously NOT absolutely perfect either)!
What does Jesus tell us? How are we to approach Him?
Mat 18:3-4 And said, Verily I say unto you, Except you be converted, and become as little children , you shall NOT enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is GREATEST in the Kingdom of Heaven.
Do little children read "between the lines" and feel the need to create grandiose expositions that stuffy guy feels the need to create on the basis of an argument from silence?
NO!
Do little children "understand the theory that is embodied in the terminology"?
NO!
You might be saying,
"that's ridiculous! A child couldn't possibly understand Scripture without my perfect wealth of knowledge!" (<--- stuffy guy).
COME ON!
Open your EYES! The eyes of your heart!
I'm absolutely certain that "stuffy guy" once dictated...
"you're not allowed to think for yourself, or allowed to interpret Scripture without MY god-given instruction!"
Oh really?!
I believe our society has been so overrun, so saturated, and so corrupted with self-important stuffy guys that it's no wonder Jesus said:
Rev 18:4 And I heard another voice from heaven [Jesus], saying, Come out of her [who is the "her"... I'll tell you - it's our modern day religious system!], my people [not unbelievers, but HIS people - Christians!], that ye BE NOT partakers of her [who's "her"?] sins, and that ye RECEIVE NOT of her [who's "her"?] plagues.
______________________
Back to what a child understands versus stuffy guy for a second...
If you were to forget ALL Theology...
ALL doctrine...
ALL Sunday school lessons...
ALL sermons from your favorite commentator...
ALL of IT ...
... that we've been indoctrinated with and just simply read this passage AS A YOUNG CHILD... through the eyes of a child!
Simply read God's Words...
1 Tim 2:3-6 For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior; Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth.
For there is one God, and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus; Who gave Himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time.
Once again, emphasis mine...
1 Tim 2:3-6 For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God [in the eyes of God, this is perfectly GOOD and ACCEPTABLE!] our Savior [Is He the Saviour of ALL, or only some?]; Who WILL HAVE [not, "Who desires", not "Who will try", but He WILL have] ALL [wait, what? Is that some or ALL?] men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the Truth [sound similar to EVERY knee and EVERY tongue that WILL learn righteousness?]. For there is One God, and One Mediator [Jesus] between God and men, The Man Christ Jesus; Who gave Himself a ransom for ALL [there's that stubborn word "ALL" again...], to be testified IN DUE TIME.
(Don't forget that phrase "in due time"... I'm going to touch on that below.)
What would your book report look like?
How would an UN-indoctrinated child explain that passage?
How would "the eyes of a child" explain that to stuffy guy?
I've seen how stuffy guy explains it... I've wrestled with it for a long time myself. Good grief!
Stuffy guy will write a 5,000 page novel on this one passage, just trying to explain it away so that it fits neatly inside his puffed up Theological box!
How about this one?
1 Tim 4:10 For therefore we both labor and suffer reproach, because we trust in the Living God, Who is the Savior of all men, specially of those that believe.
Once more with my emphasis...
1 Tim 4:10 For therefore we both labor and suffer reproach, because we TRUST in the Living God [do you really trust in Him to do what's right?], WHO IS [not might be, not could be upon certain conditions, not wishes He were, etc. BUT IS!] the Savior of ALL [there's that sticky word "ALL" again...] men, [wait for it...] especially of those that believe [wait, what? Especially of those that believe?! WHAT?!! - that must be a mistake?!).
You can't escape this verse no matter how hard you try.
You know why?
It's TRUTH.
It's SCRIPTURE.
It's in UNISON with the entirety of Scripture.
Oops! Stuffy guy just dropped another 5,000 page novel... it doesn't fit into his box.
_____________________________________
God has a timeline for ALL of mankind - ALL of creation!
Let me ask you another question...
If Christians are raptured before the Millennial Reign of Jesus, and are made pure (with white robes), before this point on the timeline...
Who are those at the Great White Throne Judgment at the END of the Millennial Reign that are YET TO BE MADE PURE?
Look this passage up in your Bible, and read along per below:
1 Cor 15:23-28 But EVERY [ALL men] man in his own order [timeline!]:
[1] Christ the Firstfruits; [Jesus First Created through Whom all things are created, His First Advent (Coming), life, death, burial, and resurrection]
[2] afterward they that are Christ's at His coming. [Christians at His appearing in the air - harpazo]
[3] Then comes the end, [the third group - unbelievers]
when He [Jesus] shall have delivered up the Kingdom to God [The Father, yes, even...], even the Father; when He [Jesus] shall have put down all rule and all authority and power [because EVERYTHING was created through Jesus, The Firstfruit]. For He [Jesus] MUST reign [Millennial Kingdom - New Heaven & New Earth], until He [Jesus] has put ALL enemies [including unbelievers] under His feet. The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death. For He has put ALL things under His feet. But when He [Jesus] says ALL things are put under Him, it is manifest that He [The Father] is excepted, which did put all things under Him [Jesus]. And when all things shall be subdued unto Him, then shall the Son also Himself [did you catch that? Even Jesus, Himself, shall be...] be subject unto Him [The Father] that put all things under Him [Jesus], that God [The Father] may be ALL in ALL [ALL of His creation cries out for HIM!].
WOW!!!
Read it again!
You won't hear any of this from a single pulpit in America... seriously - have you ever heard this?! I hadn't!
I realize this is heavy stuff...
You can't understand the Lake of Fire and Brimstone, unless you understand it's purpose and duration... it won't fit in your box.
You can't accept "hell" as being the same as "The Lake of Fire"... how can "hell" be cast into itself?
You can't explain True Forgiveness unless you understand His TOTAL, PERFECT, and complete LOVE and MERCY - the complete understanding of a LOVING GOD that created ALL that we see for HIS PURPOSE!
Including those unrepentant, stubborn, hard-hearted sinners that stuffy guy is so EAGER to condemn to a place that DOES NOT EXIST IN ALL OF SCRIPTURE!
Either ALL of Scripture is Truth - or NONE of it is... no apologies...
________________________
Either your Theological box is in UNISON - or it's NOT a Theological box.
Is the God that we worship really that small?
Either ALL Scripture fits together perfectly on ALL fronts, or NONE of it does.
If NONE of Scripture works, then... What's the point?!
Have you no faith in your Heavenly Father?
Or, did He know the beginning from the end?
Did He provide for His perfect plan?
Does it ALL fit together or are you still clinging to that one little thing that doesn't quite fit in your Theological box?
It ALL fits together when you see it through the UN-indoctrinated eyes of a child.
"Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is GREATEST in the Kingdom of Heaven."
These things are not the way we've been taught by stuffy guy, but upon more careful examination... IT FITS!
Open the eyes of your heart... disregard "stuffy guy"... disregard your programming (indoctrination) and see the absolute beauty and simplicity of His Words through the eyes of a child.
________________________________
Some of these excerpts are from my personal notes copied from 30+ years of studying... some of these notes are direct copies of various sources - I do not claim to have authored every word of this... it's just a mass collection I've tucked away over the years for my own personal studies... I didn't consider a bibliography at the time I directly copied small excerpts from various authors. Also, any emphasis (underlines, bold text, all CAPS, etc.) noted above was only meant to capture my personal attention as I studied...
CLICK HERE! for an index to previous blogs.
___________________________________________
Part of the problem with understanding Scripture can be found in not understanding His perfect timeline.
I'm going to get to that timeline shortly.
I'll try to be brief with this blog and only set forth a basic timeline as I see it...
I'll save the details of Daniel, Isaiah, Ezekial, Revelation, etc. for more detailed blogs later.
_________________________________
The point of this blog is to get you to consider a couple of different things.
First... concerning our future, either ALL of Scripture is Truth, or NONE of it is.
Psa 119:160 The sum of Thy word is Truth [His Truth can only be found in the sum of it ALL], and to the age is every judgment of Thy righteousness!
That's a very basic statement that any reasonable person should be able to agree with.
You don't have to be a Theological genius (stuffy guy) to come to that conclusion.
If we can't believe one part of Scripture, then why do we bother with the rest of it?
You can't pick and choose what you want to believe and expect the rest of it to fit neatly together into one UNIFIED Theological box.
Scripture is our main (not only though!) highway to God, our Heavenly Father.
We don't have photos of Jesus hanging on the Cross, we don't have newspaper clippings with snapshots of His resurrection, you can't find an eyewitness account on the internet...
We have the accounts, as written in Scripture by eye-witnesses at that time... (the reason for our hope).
Faith without hope is as worthless as hope without faith.
That's our main source of information...
I'm not going to go into why I believe Scripture to be Truth in this blog... I'll save that for later.
______________________________________
Read on... one of my parent's favorite passages:
2 Tim 3:16-17 All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works.
Allow me to break this down (emphasis mine)...
2 Tim 3:16-17 ALL Scripture [is it really ALL, or just some? Is it only the things we agree with, or is it ALL?] is given [this is His GIFT to us] by inspiration of God [Divinely breathed for OUR benefit to guide us!], and is profitable [G5624 - advantageous - take advantage of it!] for doctrine [TRUE doctrine... not man-made doctrine, and definitely not stuffy guy's doctrine], for reproof [G1651 - conviction, evidence], for correction [G1882 - a straightening up again], for instruction [G3809 - training] in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect [in UNISON, if you will], throughly furnished [G1822 - fully equipped] unto ALL [ALL means ALL] good works.
You cannot pick and choose which parts of Scripture you believe in, and which parts you can toss to the side because "you just weren't taught that way from stuffy guy!".
Sometimes, I think we forget that some people in our history were not even afforded the luxury of their own private Bible! Can you imagine?!
I cannot... what would I have done without a Bible these last 30+ years?! One of my favorite things in this life is to study His Word... I'd be lost without being able to do this!
These days... most of us have at least one copy, no matter where you live or what language! Now, I've got at least a dozen different versions on my phone - that fit neatly inside my pocket! Wow!
___________________
When's the last time you thought about that?!
Historically, some people didn't even have a copy of the Bible!
What did their faith depend on without a Bible?
How did they grow in their faith without a Bible?
How did they learn without a Bible?
I'll tell you how... "stuffy guy" (modern day Pharisees and Sadducees).
2 Tim 4:3 For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears;
How could they have possibly come to know Jesus... ?
In my best, self-important, stuffy guy impersonation...
"How could they possibly know Jesus, without MY doctrinally sound, and MY proper interpretation of His Holy Words, and without MY God-given instruction - without MY grand and perfect, intellectual wisdom?!"
Guess what?
They did... and they were probably BETTER OFF than a lot of us these days - WITHOUT "stuffy guy"!
These are the guys who are responsible for such deep programming (INDOCTRINATION) into some people, that these people are so stubborn to believe what I'm presenting in these blogs... it's like they completely ignore every Scripture verse that I post in these blogs because they're afraid their personal program will crash!
Believe me... I know the feeling. I was once in that exact same spot!
Thank God that my old programming has been overwritten with new code!
__________________________
We'll never understand ANY of Scripture unless ALL of it fits together in UNISON.
Guess what?
It DOES fit together in UNISON!
Maybe not to your understanding yet, but it will, if you stick with these blogs (blogs containing my understanding, which is obviously NOT absolutely perfect either)!
What does Jesus tell us? How are we to approach Him?
Mat 18:3-4 And said, Verily I say unto you, Except you be converted, and become as little children , you shall NOT enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is GREATEST in the Kingdom of Heaven.
Do little children read "between the lines" and feel the need to create grandiose expositions that stuffy guy feels the need to create on the basis of an argument from silence?
NO!
Do little children "understand the theory that is embodied in the terminology"?
NO!
You might be saying,
"that's ridiculous! A child couldn't possibly understand Scripture without my perfect wealth of knowledge!" (<--- stuffy guy).
COME ON!
Open your EYES! The eyes of your heart!
I'm absolutely certain that "stuffy guy" once dictated...
"you're not allowed to think for yourself, or allowed to interpret Scripture without MY god-given instruction!"
Oh really?!
I believe our society has been so overrun, so saturated, and so corrupted with self-important stuffy guys that it's no wonder Jesus said:
Rev 18:4 And I heard another voice from heaven [Jesus], saying, Come out of her [who is the "her"... I'll tell you - it's our modern day religious system!], my people [not unbelievers, but HIS people - Christians!], that ye BE NOT partakers of her [who's "her"?] sins, and that ye RECEIVE NOT of her [who's "her"?] plagues.
______________________
Back to what a child understands versus stuffy guy for a second...
If you were to forget ALL Theology...
ALL doctrine...
ALL Sunday school lessons...
ALL sermons from your favorite commentator...
ALL of IT ...
... that we've been indoctrinated with and just simply read this passage AS A YOUNG CHILD... through the eyes of a child!
Simply read God's Words...
1 Tim 2:3-6 For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior; Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth.
For there is one God, and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus; Who gave Himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time.
Once again, emphasis mine...
1 Tim 2:3-6 For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God [in the eyes of God, this is perfectly GOOD and ACCEPTABLE!] our Savior [Is He the Saviour of ALL, or only some?]; Who WILL HAVE [not, "Who desires", not "Who will try", but He WILL have] ALL [wait, what? Is that some or ALL?] men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the Truth [sound similar to EVERY knee and EVERY tongue that WILL learn righteousness?]. For there is One God, and One Mediator [Jesus] between God and men, The Man Christ Jesus; Who gave Himself a ransom for ALL [there's that stubborn word "ALL" again...], to be testified IN DUE TIME.
(Don't forget that phrase "in due time"... I'm going to touch on that below.)
What would your book report look like?
How would an UN-indoctrinated child explain that passage?
How would "the eyes of a child" explain that to stuffy guy?
I've seen how stuffy guy explains it... I've wrestled with it for a long time myself. Good grief!
Stuffy guy will write a 5,000 page novel on this one passage, just trying to explain it away so that it fits neatly inside his puffed up Theological box!
How about this one?
1 Tim 4:10 For therefore we both labor and suffer reproach, because we trust in the Living God, Who is the Savior of all men, specially of those that believe.
Once more with my emphasis...
1 Tim 4:10 For therefore we both labor and suffer reproach, because we TRUST in the Living God [do you really trust in Him to do what's right?], WHO IS [not might be, not could be upon certain conditions, not wishes He were, etc. BUT IS!] the Savior of ALL [there's that sticky word "ALL" again...] men, [wait for it...] especially of those that believe [wait, what? Especially of those that believe?! WHAT?!! - that must be a mistake?!).
You can't escape this verse no matter how hard you try.
You know why?
It's TRUTH.
It's SCRIPTURE.
It's in UNISON with the entirety of Scripture.
Oops! Stuffy guy just dropped another 5,000 page novel... it doesn't fit into his box.
_____________________________________
God has a timeline for ALL of mankind - ALL of creation!
Let me ask you another question...
If Christians are raptured before the Millennial Reign of Jesus, and are made pure (with white robes), before this point on the timeline...
Who are those at the Great White Throne Judgment at the END of the Millennial Reign that are YET TO BE MADE PURE?
Look this passage up in your Bible, and read along per below:
1 Cor 15:23-28 But EVERY [ALL men] man in his own order [timeline!]:
[1] Christ the Firstfruits; [Jesus First Created through Whom all things are created, His First Advent (Coming), life, death, burial, and resurrection]
[2] afterward they that are Christ's at His coming. [Christians at His appearing in the air - harpazo]
[3] Then comes the end, [the third group - unbelievers]
when He [Jesus] shall have delivered up the Kingdom to God [The Father, yes, even...], even the Father; when He [Jesus] shall have put down all rule and all authority and power [because EVERYTHING was created through Jesus, The Firstfruit]. For He [Jesus] MUST reign [Millennial Kingdom - New Heaven & New Earth], until He [Jesus] has put ALL enemies [including unbelievers] under His feet. The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death. For He has put ALL things under His feet. But when He [Jesus] says ALL things are put under Him, it is manifest that He [The Father] is excepted, which did put all things under Him [Jesus]. And when all things shall be subdued unto Him, then shall the Son also Himself [did you catch that? Even Jesus, Himself, shall be...] be subject unto Him [The Father] that put all things under Him [Jesus], that God [The Father] may be ALL in ALL [ALL of His creation cries out for HIM!].
WOW!!!
Read it again!
You won't hear any of this from a single pulpit in America... seriously - have you ever heard this?! I hadn't!
I realize this is heavy stuff...
You can't understand the Lake of Fire and Brimstone, unless you understand it's purpose and duration... it won't fit in your box.
You can't accept "hell" as being the same as "The Lake of Fire"... how can "hell" be cast into itself?
You can't explain True Forgiveness unless you understand His TOTAL, PERFECT, and complete LOVE and MERCY - the complete understanding of a LOVING GOD that created ALL that we see for HIS PURPOSE!
Including those unrepentant, stubborn, hard-hearted sinners that stuffy guy is so EAGER to condemn to a place that DOES NOT EXIST IN ALL OF SCRIPTURE!
Either ALL of Scripture is Truth - or NONE of it is... no apologies...
________________________
Either your Theological box is in UNISON - or it's NOT a Theological box.
Is the God that we worship really that small?
Either ALL Scripture fits together perfectly on ALL fronts, or NONE of it does.
If NONE of Scripture works, then... What's the point?!
Have you no faith in your Heavenly Father?
Or, did He know the beginning from the end?
Did He provide for His perfect plan?
Does it ALL fit together or are you still clinging to that one little thing that doesn't quite fit in your Theological box?
It ALL fits together when you see it through the UN-indoctrinated eyes of a child.
"Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is GREATEST in the Kingdom of Heaven."
These things are not the way we've been taught by stuffy guy, but upon more careful examination... IT FITS!
Open the eyes of your heart... disregard "stuffy guy"... disregard your programming (indoctrination) and see the absolute beauty and simplicity of His Words through the eyes of a child.
________________________________
Some of these excerpts are from my personal notes copied from 30+ years of studying... some of these notes are direct copies of various sources - I do not claim to have authored every word of this... it's just a mass collection I've tucked away over the years for my own personal studies... I didn't consider a bibliography at the time I directly copied small excerpts from various authors. Also, any emphasis (underlines, bold text, all CAPS, etc.) noted above was only meant to capture my personal attention as I studied...
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