Today I would like to ask you to please put your pitchforks down, trust me you don’t know what I am about to say; (Pro 18:13) He that answereth a matter before he heareth it, it is folly and shame unto him.  So please put the green wood away – I thank God that the Protestants and Catholics no longer have the power to burn their enemies with green wood and all the other wicked things they have done to anyone who would have dared to stand against them in a matter of doctrine and practice. 

Even today I feel the hatred of ignorant religious men when I dare to say “The Bible is NOT the Word of God”.  This is a saying and a doctrine of Anti-Christ, it is a saying of intellectual pride which denies the power of God and the reality of what the scriptures actually teach on the issue of authority and “The Word of God”.  It’s a saying of ignorance, most folks don’t really know what they are actually saying when they say it, it sounds real spiritual, it is supposed to signal to everyone that you believe the Bible and are willing to lay your life down in obeying it’s sayings;  but it’s an inaccurate statement with many flaws, lacking understanding, lacking real truth, lacking reason for any man whose head is Christ, to lay his life down for.  Now this saying is true, “The Truth will set you free”, but NO ONE is set free by reading the Bible and believing what they have read alone – something else needs to happen – faith does not occur just because one has intellectually grasped a doctrine or a belief, because the everlasting Word of God is much much more than a letter or a book, and it certainly isn’t the King James Bible!

AUTHORITY

ALL Authority belongs to God; men who attempt to usurp this authority are Anti-Christ, in place of Christ, against Christ. (Matt 28:18)

The Catholic Church usurped the authority of God through the Papacy, they believed that the Papacy was a holy succession of authority from Peter, the disciple of Christ, who they, even today falsely claim as their founding Apostle or Pope.  The Catholic Church taught that the Pope had the authority and infallibility alone to give the Word of God to the people.  The Papacy would have killed anyone who would dared to question the authority of the Pope or question his cyclical decrees, he had all the authority of interpreting scripture, his word alone was considered the voice of God, rightly so, and even today, the Pope IS the Antichrist; and the Protestants were absolutely correct in their assertion that the Pope and his Church was Babylon the Harlot of scriptures; clearly the Roman Catholic Church could be seen as coming out of the Iron of the statue seen in Nebuchadnezzar’s dream. (Dan. ch. 2)

What came out of the Catholic Church was Protestantism; notice that almost all of the Fathers of early Protestantism were former Catholic Priests?  Isn’t it interesting how that works?  The former leaders and servants of Antichrist, the Pope, are now the leaders of Protestantism!  Protestantism gave more freedom to the people, because now the people had a copy of the scriptures and could read the bible for themselves, the term used by Protestants was “Sola Scriptura” – meaning “Scripture Only”.  But this saying was deceptive; while the Protestants claimed “Scripture Only”, they ordained Priests, Pastors, Ministers and Bishops whose job it was to interpret those scriptures.  While this system of “Sola Scriptura” gave the people far more freedom than the cyclical decrees from the Pope, yet this freedom was limited; if all of the popular ministers got together and agreed that their interpretation of scripture was right, if you disagreed with their interpretation, you very well could have been killed, and many people were murdered by the Protestants – the Anabaptists, the Quakers, just to name a few.  There is no greater example of this Antichrist spirit, than in the case of a man by the name of John Calvin; a man who was a trained lawyer, a man who was also a politician with political power, some referred to him as the “Tyrant of Geneva”; this man taught that ONLY a ordained minister – one approved by him – could preach the Word of God.  He taught – even if what the minister preached was true and scriptural, it still wasn’t the Word of God to the people, because the man who taught it was not properly approved to preach.  One might ask the Calvinites, what ever happened to “Sola Scriptura”?  Because at the end of the day you end up with the same thing, before you had the Catholic Pope, but now you have the Protestant Pope insisting upon HIS understanding of scripture as being the authority above all others.

While the Protestants gave more freedom to the people to read the scriptures for themselves, and certainly one who reads the scriptures for themselves are going to have more truth than one who doesn’t; and we know the Truth will set us free; yet there is not total freedom, because in Protestantism the authority to interpret scriptures are given to trained theologians who sport themselves as being smart and therefore wise, who rule over the people for profit, promote their buddies, demote their enemies, denounce “heretics”, lacking true accountability, a Protestant hierarchical Priesthood.  Jesus said to the religious leaders of his day –  (Joh 8:44) Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.  If you want to know who the father is of the Protestant movement, you look at their works, if they do the same works of the Catholic Church, clearly the clergy of the Protestants were former Catholic Priests, they promote a hierarchy, baptize babies, murder their enemies, promote men and seek the praise that come from men and not the praise that can come from God alone; then clearly we can see the relationship of a father and a child, the Roman Catholic Church as the Father and the Protestant Church as the Child.  So today I rightly hold to the saying “My People Come Out of Her!” (Rev. 18:4)

So the “Word of God” cannot be cyclical decrees from the Pope, and the Word of God cannot be “Sola Scriptura”, because an interpretation is needed.  A Priest is one who goes to God for the people and brings the Word of God to the people, just like in the political sphere you have Democrats and Republicans, while one may have more truth, the old Indian saying is true – “A different bird of the same feather”; the Catholics and Protestants are much the same way, just a different bird of the same feather.

The Prophet Isaiah has much to say on this subject, the 66 chapters of Isaiah, alongside the 66 books of the Bible is interesting enough.  Here are some key scriptures the Holy Spirit made alive to me many years ago:

(Isa 6:8-10) Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then said I, Here am I; send me. And he said, Go, and tell this people, Hear ye indeed, but understand not; and see ye indeed, but perceive not.  Make the heart of this people fat, and make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and convert, and be healed.

The Lord hides his truth –  he HIDES the Word of God – the bible is not hid, the Word of God is hid.  Why?  Because it’s valuable and just like money is valuable and must be sought for, so people call it a treasure, so is truth valuable, it to must be sought for.  Today EVERYONE owns a Bible – but the Word of God is hid – because the Truth will set you free.  Jesus said “Labor for that meat which endures to life everlasting – the stuff that moth and rust does not corrupt.”

(Isa 8:13-16) Sanctify the LORD of hosts himself; and let him be your fear, and let him be your dread. And he shall be for a sanctuary; but for a stone of stumbling and for a rock of offence to both the houses of Israel, for a gin and for a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem. And many among them shall stumble, and fall, and be broken, and be snared, and be taken. Bind up the testimony, seal the law among my disciples.

ONLY the disciples of the Lord have the Word of God dwelling inside of them, the Bible doesn’t dwell inside of anyone – while scripture memorization is possible, to have these things hid in your heart is much different.  As the scriptures say “the law of the Lord is perfect converting the soul, the testimony of the Lord is sure making wise the simple.” – “I hide his Word in my heart that I might not sin against God.”  – “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of Wisdom and Knowledge.”  – “The Fear of God is my great treasure.”  Jesus said “Seek to enter in by the Straight Gate, for many will seek to enter there in and will not be able to.”  It is clear that God has promised to be a stumbling stone, a rock of offense, the purpose is to break anyone who claims they know the truth outside of the very narrow door of Jesus Christ, that few people find – a great treasure.  Paul the Apostle wrote in Romans – “The gospel is the power of God unto salvation – but how shall they hear without a preacher? – And how shall they Preach except they be sent?  Clearly the Word of God does NOT come out of the mouth of any man who is not a disciple of Jesus.

(Isa 28:7-8) But they also have erred through wine, and through strong drink are out of the way; the priest and the prophet have erred through strong drink, they are swallowed up of wine, they are out of the way through strong drink; they err in vision, they stumble in judgment. For all tables are full of vomit and filthiness, so that there is no place clean.

40,000 different denominations do NOT have the Word of God, there is only ONE truth, ONE baptism, ONE faith – it’s defined by the disciples of Jesus and NO ONE else, they and they alone have the Word of God dwelling in them – but Ephraim is a drunkard – they bump into one another and stumble like drunk men.  While spiritual wine does make the heart merry, these people do NOT have the Word of God, they have the Bible, but NOT the Word of God, they stumble in judgement and drink the spiritual wine of drunkenness, it’s NOT the new wine they are drinking.

(Isa 28:13) But the word of the LORD was unto them precept upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little; that they might go, and fall backward, and be broken, and snared, and taken.

The same people who make the claim and demand we repeat – “The Bible IS the Word of God” – are the same people who would arrogantly claim – “The Word of God is line upon line, precept upon precept, here a little, and their a little.”  OPPS!  We just stumbled bigly! – as Trump would say – OPPS!  The same people who have been giving you the false saying – “The Bible is the Word of God” – these same people have bragged about being in the state of Ephraim in Isaiah 28 – Drunk – Stumbling – Vomit on every table and no place clean – OPPS!  Come on FOOL!  When will you be broken?  When will you learn that the Lord has done this because of your pride and arrogance – God has hidden his truth from you as a testimony against you!  When will you be humble, be broken and snared before the Lord?

(Isa 29:10-12) For the LORD hath poured out upon you the spirit of deep sleep, and hath closed your eyes: the prophets and your rulers, the seers hath he covered. And the vision of all is become unto you as the words of a book that is sealed, which men deliver to one that is learned, saying, Read this, I pray thee: and he saith, I cannot; for it is sealed: And the book is delivered to him that is not learned, saying, Read this, I pray thee: and he saith, I am not learned.

So if the Bible is the Word of God as you claim, then why is it not hidden?  Today we have people who say these exact things – “I can’t understand the prophecies, the Word of God because I am not a trained theologian.”  and the theologians say by their very words and disagreements among themselves – “We can’t understand is because it is sealed.”

The Bible is not sealed – but the Word of God is, because it is a great treasure that few people find, you must be a disciple of Jesus, you must be sent, you must go through the door of Jesus Christ, a narrow path that few people find;  any man who gets into the sheepfold any other way is the same as a thief and a robber, just as Jesus said.

The false teaching that makes the claim “The Bible is the Word of God”, has altogether cheapened the pursuit of righteousness and truth down to an intellectual, so called “spiritual discipline” – a powerless – theological debate – where the devil is always likely to prevail.  Those who claim that the Bible is the source of Truth, those who claim that scriptures interpret scriptures – they don’t know the scriptures themselves and especially they don’t know the power of God, nor his counsel on these matters; God hides his truth , but he doesn’t hide the Bible – as the scriptures report – thy Word is Truth.

Literally millions of people who read the bible and go about their lives hoping to live up to the standards they perceive written in the scriptures, they stumble in judgement and wonder what happened – like the young man who read – “go into all the world and preach the gospel” – after showing up on an island of head hunters, was immediately shot with an arrow through the heart and died; no doubt he thought that he had the Word of God, but he didn’t, God never sent him!  Everyman needs to make Christ his head, each man needs to work his own salvation out with fear and trembling – to know what the Word of God is for him – to live by that Faith – the Faith that can come from God alone – God knows those who fear him and put their trust in him, but God will continue to hid his truth from those who dare to get into his sheep fold some other way, they are wise in this world – they study like men and trust in their intellect, but God will laugh and choose their delusions.

Brothers – listen to me – you have been deceived, while the scriptures are given by God and that takes inspiration – it does NOT follow that the Bible IS the Word of God – because that is a great treasure that few people find – don’t listen to the false accusations which come from the Protestant Priest that people like me are undermining the authority of scripture – ALL authority belongs to Jesus Christ in heaven and in earth, so the scriptures even being inspired are NOT the eternal living Word of God – our faith should NOT rest on the perfect translation or the perfectly preserved letter, but our faith should rest in the Power of God alone!  God is able to confirm HIS Word to those who fear him, love and trust in him alone.  Let our faith not rest in letters, but in the Power of God!