Saturday, October 27, 2012

It has been start and stop, for me to give out a satisfactory piece of writing which will be preserved for posterity, and for me to see again the vainglory of the mental faculties I presently take pride in. It's been a quick year, and there weren't that many records of what I did and thought on this site.
So in case I forget, I may recall more acutely how I think and feel then(now).

In my walk with the Lord, I've grown in some ways, but regressed in some, and the Lord has seen fit in His chastening to bring my thoughts and my actions/ decisions back under submission.
I need to jettison unworthy thoughts that harm my spiritual life; thoughts that are selfish, malicious, rebellious against godly authorities, and slothful thoughts, and of course indecent thoughts.

I learnt again that winning over a person, and keeping the bonds of peace in a friendship is more important than pressing someone else to win an argument.
However, this is not a principle to skimp on truth and focus only on a tolerant "love" that can broadly permit error and sin. There are outstanding issues that we must all come under the submission of the Bible and deal with, because we love God and we love His Truth.

Paul is right in saying that charity (love) is the "most excellent way".

I should not always be so eager to bruise my fellows to show that I have the access to the best truth. If we be faithful students of the Word who abide in Christ, we may have this access to Him.

A few things I wanted to lay out here, so I may be assured that I have them on record/ archive at later times.

There are multiple enemies of the Word today, and anti-Biblical philosophies that many people and even some Christians have soaked up.

These "new perspectives" on the Word are really moves that undermine the authority of the Word of God. If the Bible is neither infallible, verbally and plenarily inspired, or inerrant, then we do not have to obey the Scriptures or the Words of Christ, which He did say, that our obedience was a response of our love and faith towards Him.

John 14:15 - "If ye love me, keep my commandments."

Where we cast doubt on the scriptures, and relegate it to reader subjectivity, obedience becomes the least of concerns. And the authority is shifted from God's meaning to the reader's perusal and preferential selection.

How we see the Old Testament and the Law

There is a growing Christian group that believes that the law is no longer applicable to us, and that we are fully under grace, and that the law is neither applicable to us.

My question to this teaching is that how come the laws and requirements for Israel are not important, but you may claim to have inherited the material blessings and prosperity for Israel that came from obedience toward God with the very same laws and obedience dismissed here.

1. The Law and the Scriptures are important because they testify of God's righteousness and holiness.

God's purpose for creation, and His election of the Jewish people, and His love, longsuffering towards them, and His consecration and sanctification of those who bears His Name.
His just punishment of sin and the later atonement were made an example in the Law, to do with moral behaviour and ceremonial worship.

God's standards are not flushed away by grace, but rather, because of the Spirit that dwells in every believer, we have means to overcome the flesh and follow Him in obedience. Rather than despising the law, we keep the commandments that God hath given to us.

As students of the Word, we are able then to distinguish which laws are meant for the Old covenant, and for Israel, and also which principles and commandments are for our consideration and obedience!

2. The Law and the Scriptures point towards God's Messiah.

Moses, Isaiah, Zechariah, Daniel and so many other prophets and writers wrote of Christ, they foretold of His virgin birth (Isaiah 7:14), His place of birth (Micah 5:2), His tribal identity, His Kingship (Isaiah 9:6-7), His ministry (Isaiah 61:1), His triumphant entry into Jerusalem (Zechariah 9:9), His manner of death (Psalm 22, Isaiah 53) and His glorious resurrection (Psalm 16:10).

3. The Law and the Scriptures are the New Testament church's basis for teaching.

Jesus and His apostles used the Scriptures and Law as reference for teaching, and the New Testament had not been written yet.

When Christ had risen, He met with the disciples and explained to them about Himself with reference to the Scriptures.

Moses wrote about Jesus -


John 5

King James Version (KJV)


45 Do not think that I will accuse you to the Father: there is one that accuseth you, even Moses, in whom ye trust.
46 For had ye believed Moses, ye would have believed me; for he wrote of me.
47 But if ye believe not his writings, how shall ye believe my words?



Luke 24

King James Version (KJV)

25 Then he said unto them, O fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken:

26 Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into his glory?
27 And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself.


Peter, in his Pentecostal sermon, preached from Joel, the Psalms of David (Acts 2).
Paul in his epistles cited the Genesis account as historical, that Christ was indeed the Messiah, and the atonement for sin once and for all.


There are many factions that seek to devalue the reliability and authority of the Word, to declassify sins and to have it endorse their lifestyle and teaching.
A careful study of the Scriptures is absolutely important! Is this or that what the Bible teaches?


The Christian is never made more godly or spiritual by the accumulation of knowledge of the Word, but rather by his response to it. Does he skim over the text, or does he take it as the Word of the Lord, and thus for his serious consideration and faithful obedience?