When Jesus prayed in the garden the night before he was to be crucified, his soul was exceeding sorrowful. He knew by the scriptures the horror that lay ahead. Three different times he prayed that this cup of bitterness might pass from him, but receiving no other alternative, he yielded to the will of the Father. How can some people try to use this heartbreaking plea of Jesus to justify saying over and over, “hail Mary full of grace?” A senseless and vain repetition since Mary has never answered anyone’s prayer. She has her place in heaven along with all the other saints, but she was one of the saved, not the savior.
Jesus said the same words or prayed the same prayer. Not a chant, not a memorized phrase, but the sorrow in his heart coming forth in words. (Matthew 26:36-45)
Many speak of the body of Christ as though it includes all religions, just so they claim to be Christians. The body of Christ is a spiritual body made up of those who are born again by the word of God. All one in Jesus.
There is much to be said about the word being God. Many people in religion circumvent the written word with feel good services, thinking that high emotions and a loud noise take the place of understanding in the Holy Ghost. Feelings of elation must be in agreement with the word; if not, they come from the antichrist spirit.
Spirit worship is mostly what you see on television nowadays. No matter what God says in his word, the attitude is if it makes you feel good, it must be right. The beast of deception has this power. Unless an individual is awakened to the truth of the word, the door is open for him to enter that person and bring with him all manner of deceiving spirits. Whole congregations base their hopes on these emotional feelings and never bother to search the word to see what God’s will is.
“In the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and the word was God.” We don’t know how long ago God created the heaven and the earth but when we read the first verse in the book of Genesis, we see that it was in the beginning. The word was with God. He alone had the power to speak all creation into being. Notice, at the beginning of each new day of creation, “And God said.“
As for you and me, God and the heavens and the earth did not exist before we were born into this body of flesh. God is eternal and always will be, but we were unaware. When God said let there be light, it had a twofold purpose. Let there be light in the universe and let there be light in the soul of man, but neither one could happen unless God spoke it into being. Jesus (the word made flesh) said, I am the light of the world. Where is that light found? In our emotions? In religion? No, it’s found in the holy word of God.
I hear preachers say, “God said to me, do this or do that” as though God spoke to them apart from his word. “God is a Spirit” (John 4:24) and Jesus said, “the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit.” (John 6:63) The words of Jesus are the voice of God and he does not speak anything more or less than the words in the New Testament. The only instructions we will receive from God are by the written word as made known by the Holy Ghost.
“The word was God.” Only the word was capable of bringing forth the creation. And only the word can offer us hope in eternal life. “In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began; But hath in due times manifested his word through preaching, which is committed unto me according to the commandment of God our Saviour.” (Titus 1:2-3)
His word, his will, his purpose, made known through preaching. Jesus spoke the word of the Father and the apostles built upon it. All that we ever need to know is written in the book of God. God spoke directly to Jesus, and Jesus spoke directly to the apostles, and the apostles wrote directly to us. No spirit, no matter how good it feels, has any authority beyond the written word.
I have said to you before, if the word was God in the beginning, then the word is still God today because the “word was made flesh and dwelt among us” in Jesus. He said, “he that hath seen me hath seen the Father.” (John 14:9) The only way we can see Jesus today is by the written word. When these words take on spiritual life, we have seen God also. Spirit cannot be seen except with our eyes of understanding; therefore, without understanding, we can never see God.
Our Father in heaven holds all power and authority in his hand. The holy scriptures are his voice speaking to us. Many think they give reverence to God because they go to “church,” give money, and get that feel good spirit. But most of the time they know little or nothing about God’s will for us. His doctrine is too straight and narrow for contemporary mankind, so they twist, change, and rearrange the scripture, making their own door to heaven… they think! Flying in the face of God by resisting his word and preaching their own instead.
The word is God; not one word will fail. No promise will go unfulfilled. No one will escape the judgment of his words. Every knee shall bow, and every tongue confess that he is God because all mankind is doing exactly as he said they would. Whether in obedience or whether they follow the beast, all have done, and will do, as he said they would. Every power in heaven and earth is at his feet. Whether they are aware or not, they all yield to the written word.
If we had no written word, how would we know right from wrong? There are many spirits gone out into the world but only one of them is holy. The only way we can separate the spirits and know from whence they come is to compare them with the word. Each spirit that is not in agreement with the word is born of the beast. I can’t say it too often; religion built on emotions and imaginary doctrines is dead.
When the word begins to be revealed by the Holy Ghost, we know God is speaking to us. We know the word is God, because the spirit of truth working in us teaches us the spiritual understanding of the holy scriptures. Many religious scholars go to Bible college to learn how to preach and many of them can put forth interesting sermons but only as far as man’s understanding allows them. We can know them by their words. If they teach a future rapture, a coming antichrist, a resurrection of the flesh, or a future judgment, the word (God) has not revealed himself to them, and they are lost.
No other book could have been written over such a long period of time with so many different writers and still fit together perfectly. Each book, chapter, and verse has its proper place. The word is God; nothing in heaven or earth can overrule it.
“And the light shineth in the darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.” Remember, the word is the topic of these verses of scripture. Jesus said, “I am the light of the world,” and verse 14 says that Jesus was the word made flesh. The light that shines in the darkness is the gospel of Jesus Christ.
“And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.” (John 3:19)
The only spiritual light is the word of God. The world does not comprehend that light. “Having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart.” (Ephesians 4:18)
But to those who hear the truth and obey it, the word (God) says, “But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light.” (1 Peter 2:9)
To all that can hear the spirit he saith, “Awake thou that sleepest,” (in the darkness) “and arise from the dead,” (dead in sins and trespasses) “and Christ shall give thee light.” (When the Holy Ghost comes to you, he will teach you all things in the gospel, and bring all things to your remembrance.) (Ephesians 5:14, and John 14:26)
As with all scripture, religion teaches this to be a future resurrection of the flesh. Can you see how the darkness of man’s understanding does not comprehend the light of the gospel?
I have heard church-going people say, I don’t believe God meant for his people to do this or that. Or, I don’t believe it’s wrong to do this or that thing, when all they have to do is search the scriptures and learn exactly what the Lord expects. But they go by their feelings rather than that which is written, and doing so, they fail to glorify God and his word. They refuse the light, unable to comprehend it, and struggle in the darkness of earthly understanding. The word was God in the past, it is God today, and it will be God forevermore. God is a spirit; the written word is the voice of God.
Unclean spirits can cause us to have unclean thoughts. Deceiving spirits can cause us to believe a thing comes from God when in fact it comes from Satan. Spirits of emotional highs can pass themselves as the spirit of the Holy Ghost. But, if the true voice of the one true God is written with pen and ink, deceiving spirits are revealed. This is how the apostle John told us to try the spirits to see whether they are of God.
May God be with you and keep you.
