Isaiah 66, 1-2:

1Thus saith the LORD, The heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool: where is the house that ye build unto me? and where is the place of my rest? 2 For all those things hath mine hand made, and all those things have been, saith the LORD: but to this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and trembleth at my word.

This theme is about the importance of God’s Word and about the Bible. Over the few last years I had to rethink my approach and understanding of many things, including the Bible and by the Lord's grace, I realized something new. The apostle Paul said that while we live in the flesh we understand only in part and that is true; I do not say that now I have a full and perfect understanding of God's Word. My understanding is partial, but the moment has come when I can share it.

Of course, the Bible is a spiritual book, but not only that. It is a versatile, unique, all-encompassing book - it is necessary to us, as a textbook for our life. From the life of the person can be seen how much he or she believes in Bible. Many, including non-believers in Jesus, say that the Bible is very important book, but for most of such people the Bible is just a literary work. They look at it as at the book that lists many strange stories and maybe wise words, but having little to do with the real life. In nowadays world the Bible is identified as humanity's cultural heritage, which should be available to every educated person. Therefore, such a paradox can be seen- if you know the biblical stories - you are an educated man. But try and tell someone that you truly believe in what is written in the Bible, that you think it is all true and you immediately turn out to be an ignorant person in the eyes of the people of the world. Sectarian. Moreover, those who believe that in the Bible is written the whole truth, and try to follow it are called Christian fundamentalists. Oddly enough, in fact, as if there could be other Christians, not fundamentalists, as if you could be called a Christian - follower of Christ, ignoring His words and not believing in Him.

Christianity is not a religion, this is true and real communications of children of God with their Father, with the only living God. For the true Christians, for those who are born again from the Spirit followers of Christ, the Bible is the special book, the book through which God himself is speaking, the book, where the Word of God is written. For such Christians the Bible is not just a collection of stories and laws. We understand and know God from this book, of course, only partially, in such amount we are able to know Him while we are living here. This book tells us the story about communication between God and a man and this story is not yet finished, because we all are a part of this story. From this book we know about creation, sin, redemption and a way of salvation through Jesus Christ, we know the Evangel – Good News. This book tells us what God likes and how we should act while we are sojourning here on Earth (because the Earth is only temporally our home), how we should go the way Jesus has shown us, if we want to remain with our Father and spent the eternity with Him. If we would not have the Word of God, we would have lost and stumble in our way at the first steps. But God speaks to us through this book. He manifests Himself to us. He gives us specific answers to specific and personal questions we ask Him through this book.

It is impossible to know the true God and have true relationship with Him without this book. Can I proof this statement? No. This is my experience and experience of everyone, who wants to have this experience of communication with God. But this is the object of faith, not proof.

Of course, there are a lot of evidences, which can proof that the Bible is exclusive book. I am not going to talk about it today, about many important aspects: historical proof of Bible, archaeological facts, scientific exploration of the texts, about the great amount of manuscripts and their preservation, about the accuracy of translations. All these facts are important and we can find a lot of information about these facts. Yet all these facts are not enough to proof that the Bible is the Word of God and that He speaks to us through this book. If we could proof God, then we would not need to go the road of Christian faith. God wanted us to have a possibility to choose. Thus, those who do not want to believe, they will not. Today I am going to talk to those who believe that the Bible is the Word of God. It is important, because often even those who believe do not have full understanding about the Bible. I say this first of all thinking about myself and my journey with Christ. I think that for me as well as for many others who consider themselves Christians it is important to think again about our approach to this book.

I remember once Nerijus was reading me from the Bible, 2 Samuel, chapter 23, about the mighty men of King David.

2 Samuel 23, 8-10:

8 These be the names of the mighty men whom David had: The Tachmonite that sat in the seat, chief among the captains; the same was Adino the Eznite: he lift up his spear against eight hundred, whom he slew at one time. 9 And after him was Eleazar the son of Dodo the Ahohite, one of the three mighty men with David, when they defied the Philistines that were there gathered together to battle, and the men of Israel were gone away: 10 He arose, and smote the Philistines until his hand was weary, and his hand clave unto the sword: and the LORD wrought a great victory that day; and the people returned after him only to spoil.

2 Samuel 23, 18:

18 And Abishai, the brother of Joab, the son of Zeruiah, was chief among three. And he lifted up his spear against three hundred, and slew them, and had the name among three.

I asked my husband if he truly believes that the things were exactly in the way they are written. Nerijus said that he believes. But I was sure that this is impossible for one man to kill three hundred men and especially eight hundred men. My mind decided that it is not true and people who wrote this place in the Bible where exaggerating. But then Nerijus said if I do not believe in one place in the Bible then I cannot be sure about other places, too. And then I first time started to rethink what the Bible means to me and do I really accept the Word of God as it is. If there is written in the Bible that the mighty man of King David killed the eight hundred men, but I cannot believe this because it seems to me impossible thing, then do I really believe that Jesus raised form the dead, because this fact I can neither explain nor understand how it is possible. Do I believe that the Bible is the Word of God and that this book holds the whole truth?

Then I draw a simple conclusion: we believe that Bible is the Word of God and that it is infallible or we do not believe. If we do not believe the whole Word of God, then we doubt God. Our image of God does not coincide with the image of God we know form the Bible, then. If we do not believe that the Bible is not infallible, then we have our own image of God and we believe our created god in our created way, but then it is not Christianity.

People explain their disbelief is full biblical truth differently. One priest has told me that if I knew from what pieces the earliest biblical originals were collected I would lose my faith. I have not actually seen the pieces, but I know that it would not weaken my faith. I'm sure that the every word in that Book is written according God’s will. And I know that God preserved His Word over the years: through many years of transcription of manuscripts, through many years of persecution of the Word of God, when the Bibles were taken away and burned, and people who dared to translate and read the Bible were killed. For many years, the Bible was persecuted and burned in a Catholic organization.

This organization did not want that people read and understand the Word of God, because it was dangerous for the non-scriptural teaching of this organization. Nowadays the priests of this organisation speculate that though Bible is important book, but it only conveys some or another idea, and it was written by people who made mistakes, who did not know grammar. They say, if Bible was written under influence of Holy Spirit, the Spirit would not let them to make grammar mistakes. I do not think that the grammar is so much important, especially when we talk about spiritual things. If the spelling mistake does not prevent understanding of the meaning of the text then it is not important at all. God has used various people to write His words and not all of them where scholars, quite on the contrary. Prophet Amos was a sheep herder, apostle Peter was a fisherman and apostle Paul, though was well educated, but as we know the letters were written by other people under his dictation. And it was not so that the man would write without knowing what he is doing, like a robot. I am sure that if some spirit uses and forces the hand to write without free will and understanding of that person, then it is not the Holy Spirit. God uses people but never uses them like robots, without their will. I mean the only true God, God Creator and God Redeemer, God we know about from His Word.

Only through His Word we have the right understanding about things that were happening and are happening in the world. It is a spiritual book, but also it is historically correct. I believe that it is not mistaken. And I mean not only the New Testament, but the whole Bible, from the Genesis book is correct. In fact it is the hardest part for people nowadays to accept the Genesis book. People now are inclined to appeal to so called scientific facts and arguments and these facts that we know from the time we were schoolchildren sharply contradicts the Word of God. I am talking about evolution theory. Creation and evolution are incompatible, though people try to combine them somehow. I used to live many years trying to combine evolution and creation in my mind, consoling myself that Bible is spiritual book and it is not so important finally. Only recently, when I gave to myself very serious question do I really believe that Bible – the written Word of God - is infallible, I understood that everything in the Bible is very important.

And I gave to God some questions – about evolution, dinosaurs, about so called racial differences between people. I was curious are there answers for our minds, or we must blindly accept everything as truth? And I found out that there are clear answers. There are many people who study Bible not seeking to deny it, but to give scientific grounding. And there are many answers. Everything is quite correctly described in the Bible. We can count how much time took the events, described from the Genesis book and we see that according Bible the Earth and people were created approximately 6 thousand years ago.

What about those so called true things, which are obvious already to children in primary school? Everybody nowadays knows (is taught so) that the Earth is millions years old, everybody knows about evolution. Usually people who believe God try to combine somehow evolution theory and creation described in the Bible. They speculate (I used to do so, too) that the day in the Bible can mean maybe thousands or millions of years. But in the Genesis book we can count the days which have morning and evening. There are no millions of years before Adam or before Christ in the Bible. There are no prehistoric people, who lived before Adam and Eve. There are no prehistoric animals, evolving through millions of years before people appeared. It is hard to believe that dinosaurs lived together with people, because from the childhood we “know” otherwise. That is why when you give evidences people do not want to accept them. It seems too strange to believe.

These evidences will not be officially accepted in the world, because this would mean that there is truth written in the Bible and it would be too dangerous to the whole godless system. That is why people, who believe that Bible is true, are mocked. Try and tell someone that you believe that there was flood on Earth and that Noah built the arc and took there some dinosaurs, amongst other animals, and you will see people reaction: they will look at you as to completely ignorant person.

Yet we should talk, because big and skilful lie of Satan is hidden here. We teach our children lies, and it happens universally, in all schools, from the end of 19th century when the evolution theory appeared. Everyone has heard about Charles Darwin. But not everybody knows that so called Darwin’s evolution theory was not the original idea of Charles Darwin, at least it belongs not only to Darwin. Darwin was well recognised scientist and he was angry with God after the death of his beloved daughter. He could not understand why there is so much suffering in the world. Alfred Russel Wallace gave support to Darwin‘s ideas. Wallace was poor and not well known in scientific circle, but very “modern” man, open to every idea that is in contrary with God and His order. He rejected God and raised man; he actively denied Christianity and practised spiritualism. He sent the letter with the manuscript of his evolution theory to Darwin and Darwin sent to publish it as his own, because the ideas of both men were very similar. It is all written in Wikipedia if you are interested through what people Satan has embodied his ideas. The real author of the Darwin evolution theory is Satan, who introduced and implanted this millions of years lasting evolution theory through the minds of rebellious people. He wanted to destroy confidence in Bible and he succeeded and now we see the consequences. No one can proof neither the millions of years lasting evolution nor six days lasting creation, thus this is the question of belief. Yet there are so many people who believe that monkeys are our ancestors, though there is no proof for such thinking. Microevolution takes place of course, we can see it. For example, there are a lot of breed of dogs, from the huge ones to the smallest ones that can be carried around in the handbags and hardly resembling the real dogs. Yet they are still dogs.

There is not possible to make a cat or a pig from a dog because God has not allowed this. Read again the Genesis book; there is truth written there as everywhere else in the Bible. If you are a Christian you should choose between the rebellious human mind “scientific theories” and the Word of God. I am not against science, only the science, the real not perverted science, should examine the magnificent works of God but not try to implement ideas of Satan. And, as I mentioned before, there are a lot of scientists who study Bible and see that we can explain scientifically many things that are written there. But, because it is not according to the prince of this world, such studies will never be encouraged and acknowledged officially. Therefore most people in the world believe that they evolved form the monkeys, it is more convenient and pleasant for them than to be created by God. Because if God – our Creator does not exist so why pay attention to His will and orders then? And if the Bible is the book full of fairy tales, then there is no authority to submit to and everyone can act as he or she thinks it is right. Form the very beginning humans wanted to behave in their own way and enthrone themselves, and Satan provokes this. Therefore the world is now as it is: with lots of wars, murders, abortions, divorces, and drunkenness and even with denial of the human nature itself, when even conceptions of man and woman and father and mother are being denied.

The followers of Christ accept to be called outdated and intolerant, and say that the truth is not in the errant human mind, but in God's Word. Therefore, I urge those who consider themselves Christians, but so far believed in evolution, to find out what is true. There is lots of information. If you need some sources you can ask me. And of course the main source is your Bible, because everything is written there, only our minds contaminated with lies have some problems to accept it. And if you already decided to find out what is true, get ready for world rejection. Prepare that you can be called sectarians, fundamentalists, ignorant or whatever, if you believe in the Bible all and full.

I believe that all the events described in the Bible are true and undistorted. I believe that Adam and Eve lived; they did not obey God and therefore through sin came death in the world. I believe that at the very beginning the world was created good, that in the beginning it was different, much nicer to place to live, it flourished with the plants and animals. I believe that people's sins, their wickedness and evil thoughts of hearts made God to bring great flood of water that dramatically changed the world. I believe that people built the Tower of Babel, which God destroyed. I believe that there lived Abraham, who had a son, Isaac, and Moses spoke with the Lord face to face, and that the people of Israel crossed the sea bottom, and that the walls of Jericho fell down, and that Jephthah sacrificed his daughter and that the prophet Isaiah walked naked 3 years as God commanded him, and that the ravens fed the prophet Elijah, and Jonah stayed alive in the belly of big fish. That there took place all the wars, birth and death, sacrifice and betrayal described in the Bible. I believe that there took place those constantly held sacrifices to other gods, that stirred wrath of true God, our Creator, and there were penalties to people for these offences. I believe that, because I am sure (I know this form the Word of God) that Jesus believed that as well. What's more, he knew the things, He did not need to believe; because Jesus is God, the Son of God, who refused his divinity for us and become a man in order to save us. He taught us, suffered for us, died for us, redeemed us by his blood, was raised from the dead, ascended to the Father and He will return again at the end of times. Through faith in Him, and through faith in Him only, we have forgiveness of our sins. This was said by the prophets and it is recorded in the Bible, this was said by Jesus himself, and it is recorded in the Bible, this was taught by the apostles, and it is recorded in the Bible. I believe it because it is written in the Bible, which is God's Word.

If I did not believe the Word of God, then what my faith would be like? What it would be based on? On someone’s opinions and dreams? On my own wishes? Traditions? Emotions? But it would not be the true faith then. It would be the faith in my own or someone else created God. Maybe such God and such faith would be more pleasant and more easy to accept, but I believe in God who revealed Himself through His word and talks to those, who want to listen, to communicate and to live eternity with Him.

To be continued in the next part

2013-12-27