GOD USES MEN, ESPECIALLY HOLY MEN....BUT SO DOES SATAN!

This Chapter 11 excerpt is taken from SOLID-ROCK, SINKING SAND

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God uses men, but so does Satan

Satan uses unholy men that are complicit in his evil. Their sin nature remains in control of them. They apparently love the darkness more than the light. Their hearts and minds therefore, are not cleansed by the precious blood of the LORD Jesus Christ. They are unregenerate men; rejecters of the glorious gospel of Christ, whereby they could become born again children of God. Instead, they become useful tools in Satan’s plan.

But did you ever consider that Satan can also use holy men? Saved men! Indeed he can and does. This is where it gets really serious. When you are dealing with a saved, holy man of God, who has been deceived, it is the most difficult to face and often to fix. It happened all through the Old and New Testaments. God’s saved children; spiritual "giants" as we would measure them, were often used as tools of the devil and for his deceptive purposes. This is a hard pill to swallow. Fasten your seat belts and let’s be prepared for a rough ride at times as we face the truth.

In the case of Holy Scriptures we have the testimony of holy men of God who spoke as they were moved by the Holy Ghost to record the direct commands and utterances of the one true almighty God himself. In much of the scriptures, God himself speaks directly in the person of his Spirit or his Son. Faithful chosen witnesses have recorded these profound statements; true revelation from God, given at his direction.

The perfect example of this is found in the very words of the Holy Scriptures about the LORD Jesus Christ, who is God, "manifest in the flesh" according to I Timothy 3:16. Don’t be surprised if your contemporary modern English bible version has changed the wording of this otherwise perfectly clear text. Many of these corrupted versions have perverted the text even though the word "Theos" is in the ancient Greek texts in over 95% of the ancient extant manuscripts.

"Theos" is the Greek word for "God" and where we get the word "theology", the study of God. This is very straightforward and clear. Most believers understand this rudimentary meaning of words. The modern translators who came up with the rendering, "he who was manifest" or the wording in some "bibles" which states: "he who appeared in a body" instead of "God was manifest in the flesh" are deliberately changing the text to support their bias against the doctrine that Jesus Christ is God. They change this verse to diminish the strong undeniable evidence for this essential doctrine, the deity of Christ. In fact, this particular verse is the strongest attestation found in the entire Holy Scriptures that Jesus Christ is God. Yet not one Greek manuscript on the planet reads in such a way that you could arrive at "he who".

A scant few Greek texts from the Alexandrian stream (predominantly), have the personal pronoun "he" instead of "Theos". None have support for the grammatical construction of "he who". This kind of change raises major red flags of warning to me and it should to you as well.

"Scholars" call this type of handing of the text a dynamic equivalency (DE) to justify a less than literal rendering. The "spin" behind this man made terminology used by textual critics as a definition of their translation techniques is an integral part of their deceitful man-made "science", "falsely so called" (I Timothy 6:20). It is very apparent to anyone paying attention. It is pure propaganda. They claim that using dynamic equivalency helps establish a more accurate intended meaning of the text than does a literal word for word rendering.

In reality, these text critics are rending (not rendering) God’s words! Did you catch that? Rending it like tearing a beautiful and valuable garment!

Another biblical word is wresting. They are wresting scripture to their own destruction! To wrest means:

To distort or twist the nature or meaning of: wrested the words out of context.

To divert to an improper use; misapply.

Wrest also means:

To obtain by or as if by pulling with violent twisting movements

…Such as in the phrase… the kidnappers wrested the mother’s precious child away from her….

…As in taking away the precious real meaning of the text!

David wrote in the Psalms:

Psalm 56:5

"Every day they wrest my words: all their thoughts are against me for evil."

David was speaking for God as well as for himself when he made this observation about wicked men.

The use of this concept of DE (Dynamic Equivalency) allows men to think they can freely tamper with the text. It also allows their own imagination and biased notions to intrude into the text. The translator now takes the place of God to give us their opinion of what God "thought" and "really meant" or "intended to say".

2 Peter 3: 15 – 16

"And account that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation; even as our beloved brother Paul also according to the wisdom given unto him hath written unto you; 16 As also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things; in which are some things hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest, as they do also the other scriptures, unto their own destruction." (Emphasis mine)

This is a horrific sin that God will judge severely; that of tampering with his words!

Now, back to our discussion concerning the faithful and true witness to God’s words…

The LORD Jesus’ earthly mother Mary, the disciples, the apostle Paul, his believing friends and many others, were all eyewitnesses to his resurrection. They were also eyewitnesses to one or more of the following; his earthly life, his post resurrection appearances, his spoken words and the many miraculous fulfillments of prophecies given by God’s chosen men in earlier ancient holy writings, the Old Testament.

You might be wondering, how could these men possibly remember exactly what God said or wanted to have written down in his Holy Scriptures? Look at the following important passage for an answer from the Lord Jesus Christ himself:

John 14:26 "But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you." (Emphasis mine)

What better documentation and record keeping could you ask for? This is the ultimate in secretarial support assistance and back up of all of the facts! Our skills as men are of little importance in this matter.

This is part of the miraculous preservation of God’s words that he promised us. Remember Psalm 12: 7:

"Thou shalt keep them, O LORD, thou shalt preserve them from this generation for ever."

God is specifically speaking about his words according to the subject of the previous verse 6:

"The words of the LORD are pure words: as silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times."

He clearly is referring to his words. Now compare this to the "spin" in the NIV placed there by men wanting to deny that God said he would preserve the very words for us:

Corrupted NIV rendering of Psalm 12: 6 – 7

And the words of the LORD are flawless, like silver refined in a furnace of clay, purified seven times. 7 O LORD, you will keep us safe and protect us from such people forever.

The worst mutilation is done to verse 7 where the entire focus of the LORD keeping and preserving his words from that generation forever is completely gone!

These proud men don’t want to bow down humbly to his words that are perfect and immutable. They want to have the flexibility of running to and fro in the earth looking for the precise meaning but never being sure (until one day in heaven) thus leaving the door open to excuse why they did not stand firm on the clear meaning right in front of their eyes. Men do not tremble at his words for they think that these may not be exactly what God meant. Besides, they view God as so loving he will "overlook" their "mistakes".

This reminds me of a child that takes a parent’s directions and distorts them to suit their own will and purposes! Sometimes a parent makes it easy for them to do this by contradicting the other parent’s position. Many churches are like parents that are leading their children astray and into grave danger. Consider carefully this real life scenario to illustrate:

A Dad and Mom (in a unified agreement with no conflicts of opinion or position) say to their 5 year old son; "Do not cross the busy street without one of us present, for you are at risk of being hit by a car". An older "big brother", who the boy respects and looks up to, later modifies this instruction from Mom and Dad and says "It’s OK, you can cross the street, if you are looking both ways and have a good reason, such as getting your ball that rolled off the play ground area". Now what is the problem here?

Let’s continue the scenario a bit further. The sad day comes when the child, having listened to the older brother’s version of Mom and Dad’s instructions, now goes ahead and takes the unnecessary risk to attempt to cross the busy street, then gets hit by a car, and becomes severely injured, even crippled for life. Whose fault is it? Did the child disobey? Yes, the older brother was not their authority and should not have been heeded even though the boy looked up to his "big brother".

Let’s consider some other questions related to this circumstance that are often asked but are distractions to the central issue. Did the child look both ways? Was there a stray ball involved? Or did the child expand the older brother’s instruction to include other "justifications" to go across the busy street such as a pet dog that strayed? Or perhaps the boy had a complete lapse in judgment and did not listen to either parent and just impulsively ran across the busy street.

Let’s say, for sake of discussion, the child looked both ways, and indeed, it was his baseball that he was attempting to retrieve. He obeyed his brother’s counsel but voided Mom and Dad’s instructions. They were no longer the active authority for the boy. He accepted what big brother said and viewed him as a proper authority, or at least the one that he preferred to heed and obey at that moment. He naively or conveniently assumed his brother was acting under Mom and Dad’s authority when actually he was not. The older brother was also out from under Mom and Dad’s authority and had not sought their permission to modify their instructions. Even though the child did what the older brother said, and the boy perceived his "big brother" to be an extension of Mom and Dad’s authority, he still disobeyed and received the consequences of that disobedience. He was sincerely following the instruction from the older brother but the instruction was wrong.

Had the boy been obedient and more discerning, he could have challenged the "big brother’s" changes to Mom and Dad’s instruction and told him that he must obey Mom and Dad and not allow himself to ignore Dad and Mom by the older sibling’s modification of their wishes. Now all illustrations fall short in some way, but I suspect you are beginning to see that we have the very precise words of God that have been miraculously preserved in the King James Bible. No one should modify them in any way. But many "sibling bibles" do just that! They are impure and have no real authority but the "child of God" heeds them thinking they do have God’s blessing and authority behind them. Many false instructions and doctrines are embraced and practiced as a result.

Men have changed God’s instructions and do so at their own eternal peril or loss of rewards if saved. We need to discern whose voice we are going to listen to and follow. The modern "bibles" are riddled with errors, doctrinal corruptions, lost principles that we need to have and many other spiritually dangerous poisons.

Nearly four centuries of evidence has mounted that the AV 1611 King James Bible (1769 edition) is the book for English speaking people today. It is God’s perfect, preserved and pure words in the English language for us to keep, protect, heed, obey and honor! And prior to 1611, for centuries more, people had, for all practical purposes, the same essential text in a less polished and beautiful form. It perhaps did not have the poetic beauty, style, rhythm, cadence, literary devices to aid our understanding and memorization… and the carefully considered word choices for the best "separate from sinners" vocabulary use, but those earlier bibles were still the words of God to be completely honored, reverenced, protected and obeyed.

The Bishops Bible was the word of God at the time of the arrival of the KJB. This bible was the one that God had preserved for his English speaking people to that time in history. It agrees verse by verse with the KJB. Only the style, sentence construction and vocabulary choices are different to enhance clarity and beauty in the Authorized 1611 KJB. Some people naively think that updating for clarity and easier reading is all that the new versions have done differently from the KJB; simply improving the ability to communicate in today’s English. This is a deception from the marketing and advertising people that want to promote their version and avoid the controversy of the serious changes.

The modifications I am talking about to our "Dad’s instructions" are the grievous ones by foolish and/or unbelieving men that contradict, negate and change the meaning and clear truth of the KJB. We have just seen a few of them thus far, but they are prime examples. And there are literally thousands more of them!

Mankind’s first "Mom", did the same thing with Satan, the serpent in the Garden of Eden when he cast doubt and modifications to the words of God. "Yea hath God said?" was the first line of the first textual critic to the first wife and Mom, Eve!

Forgetting the clear words of the LORD that Adam had given to her, Eve began to consider the propositions and modifications that Satan presented as an alternative. She was deceived and then later tempted Adam and led him to disobey the LORD. The same pattern holds true today. Every time you read a marginal note that questions God’s words in the text of your King James Bible or some added commentary that can cause confusion or dangerous expansion of the thinking of what God himself is trying to say, you are heeding the voice of a textual critic, saying, "Yea hath God said?" Be on guard, for your adversary the devil is clever and subtle.

This past two hundred fifty years have seen attacks by the critics, most notably the German "scholars" in the late 18^{th and early 19th centuries that have culminated in the construction of new and different underlying Greek and Hebrew texts. These serious corruptions can be traced back to the Mystery religions and Alexandrian Theology which is Pagan thought mixed with Christian doctrine. Remember, we already referred to the Gnostics and the Neo-Platonists that mixed their pagan world view and philosophies with biblical doctrine.}

Early corruptions that were rejected by true believers way before the time of the Bishop’s Bible or KJB, have been resurrected and dusted off by Satan and his "ministers of righteousness" (II Corinthians 11:15). These men and the changes to the text have been used as tools of deception. These early corruptions have found their way into many modern bibles. The "leaven" has been sowed into the "lump". It is like poison mixed in the batter. It has been baked and served in many modern forms of English versions and other language "bibles". It is destroying the foundational doctrines of "the faith once delivered to the saints" for which we must "earnestly contend" and the local churches influenced by them are going headlong into terrible apostasy (departure from truth).

Another key evidence of the apostasy in our world is the decline of our nation spiritually, culturally and politically. There is a parallel attack being mounted on the godly aspects of our imperfect form of government, our religious values, our family traditions, the sacred institution of marriage and our cultural mores which have all been founded at the outset on the words of God. All of these treasured values and our national heritage are being severely challenged by the secularists, the humanists, the revisionist historians, the hedonists, the unbelieving heathens and the false Christians who are really pagans. They are described as "wolves in sheep’s clothing" according to the Scriptures.

The Liberal political forces in our nation are largely a composite of the aforementioned groups. Conservatives, in large part are made up of those who are believers in Jesus Christ, His deity, His divine mission of redemption and the principles He taught in their most basic biblical form.

Sadly, many church-going people that were at one time considered to be biblical conservatives are not any longer. They have let their foundation be subverted, cracked and weakened by modern "bible" versions. They have allowed their false church system to corrupt doctrine or replace it with their traditions that have no support from the pure words of the LORD and thus they are taken away from the word of God into serious error, leading to Apostasy; "even denying the LORD that bought them." (2 Peter 2: 1b)

God’s words in the book of Titus have sober warnings to all people that name the name of the Lord Jesus Christ:

Titus 1: 13 – 14

"This witness is true. Wherefore rebuke them sharply, that they may be sound in the faith; 14 Not giving heed to Jewish fables, and commandments of men, that turn from the truth. Unto the pure all things are pure: but unto them that are defiled and unbelieving is nothing pure; but even their mind and conscience is defiled. 16 They profess that they know God; but in works they deny him, being abominable, and disobedient, and unto every good work reprobate."

They profess to be Christians but in their works they deny him!

Jude 1:4 exposes these men for who they really are:

"For there are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ."

This book is a call to all believers (especially English speaking believers) to come back to the BOOK of BOOKS, the pure preserved perfect words of God as found in the King James Bible; the bible prepared for all English speaking people and also for those desiring to learn English as a second language (or even an additional language for multi lingual people) around the entire globe.

It is hard to imagine (even hypothetically) any changes to our Declaration of Independence and the Bill of Rights or our Constitution, (other than lawfully done amendments according to the methods and procedures laid down for us in the document itself). But this is equivalent to what is happening with the precious words from the living and true God!

Imagine someone trying to enforce upon you a perverted copy of the Bill of Rights which takes away or modifies in an adverse way your right to free speech, to assemble peacefully, to a trial by a jury of your peers, to due process, to a right to bear arms to protect your family and property, and (of greatest importance to bible believing people) and to worship freely without interference from the government according to the dictates of conscience. We have been free to follow our consciences as long as our religious worship or practice does not violate the laws of the land which are based on Gods moral laws – an example would be the crime of infant sacrifice as used in evil pagan religions that worship false gods and ultimately the devil himself – Satan has cleverly replaced this obviously barbaric wicked practice with a more "civilized" version for today known as abortion!

The devil always works with a given culture within the limitations and degree of their commitment to God’s truth and principles. The standard has been dropping for decades and continues to do so with each passing year. We find ourselves in the midst of moral relativism rejecting God’s absolutes of right and wrong. This is very dangerous ground indeed; in fact, "sinking sand" and we, as a nation, will be judged severely for our rebellion and sin.

We would never allow such an important document as the Bill of Rights or the principles of the Declaration of Independence to be changed. They are historic and unchanging! They are timeless and of supreme importance to our national health and future. I would like to believe that the majority of us would go down fighting rather than let any alteration occur! Why do we not have the same passion for God’s eternal words! On the other hand I wonder if most Americans have the resolve and passion to protect our precious liberties at all cost.

The falling away that the Holy Ghost warned us about through Paul would surely come as we approach the last days. It is even now in full motion. The momentum is irreversible short of God’s miraculous intervention. The "end of days" is coming soon to a defining moment with the catching away of true believers and the revealing of the "man of sin", Satan’s false Christ, the "son of perdition" at some point after this amazing occurrence. Here is the text:

2 Thessalonians 2: 3 – 4

"Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; 4 Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God."

But all praise is unto our LORD God, the true God of heaven and earth! The day of wrath and judgment on the earth is focused and limited to a precise time after our departure as believers for heaven’s events. God’s wrath poured out upon the earth in judgment is meant to be hurled against Satan and his man as well as all those that dwell in unbelief and rebellion to God on the earth during this time in history. This tribulation period yet to come in the future is recorded as though it were "history". It is decreed in advance since with God, he knows the end from the beginning.

"Remember the former things of old: for I am God, and there is none else; I am God, and there is none like me, Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure:"

Isaiah 46: 9 - 10

Its fulfillment is an absolute certainty. In the earlier chapters I referred to the worst portion of it; the last three and one half years as the Great Tribulation.

"For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be." Matthew 24: 21

We have a wonderful set of prophecies that give us great assurance of God’s plan leading up to the time of great tribulation. We also have assurance of the ultimate victory beyond this period of judgment. The following texts from Isaiah and Micah are just two scriptures written by God’s prophets as witnesses to the truth.

First, let’s be reminded of the principle of bearing witness to truth and establishing the facts. Look at Matthew 18: 16b and 2 Corinthians 13:1b. The LORD Jesus himself and the Apostle Paul both state exactly the same thing:

"…..that in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established."

Now read the great prophecies that perfectly corroborate each other given by the Holy Ghost and proclaimed to the Jews by both Isaiah and Micah:

Isaiah 2: 2 - 3

"And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the LORD’S house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it. 3 And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem."

Micah 4: 1 - 2

"But in the last days it shall come to pass, that the mountain of the house of the LORD shall be established in the top of the mountains, and it shall be exalted above the hills; and people shall flow unto it. 2 And many nations shall come, and say, Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, and to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for the law shall go forth of Zion, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem."

Those Christians that deny that God has plans for his people, the Jews, as a nation, are sadly in error and complicit with Satan’s attacks to attempt to destroy them. All through history Satan has hated the Jews and used his human pawns to persecute them; the Canaanite nations, the Assyrians, the Babylonians, the Romans, the Edomites, the Muslims, the Nazis, the former Soviet Union, the modern Arab nations surrounding Israel today, the Roman Catholic "church" and even Protestant "churches" that are anti-Semitic.

Both of these Old Testament prophets clearly support the Jewish people and their Nation-State of Israel (Zion) that dwells in the mountain of the LORD in Jerusalem.

Surely, our LORD will reign and teach us his word with an even greater depth, clarity and insight. It will be the very words we have right now in the King James Bible that we can hold in our hands and in front of our very eyes… and that we can study diligently with all of our heart – a heart that must be humble, contrite and pure from sin before our LORD!

Psalm 119:11

"Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee."