Posted in Eternity, Life Inspiration

God is still God

Scripture always catches my eye. But when it doesn’t sound right, it especially catches my eye and makes me want to find out why. And so it was this morning as I turned on my phone and opened the Bible app, which is often where I start reading. And this particular Bible app opens with devotion suggestions that are not always KJV, even though my bible app is. The scripture reading recommendation was from the book of Isaiah, chapter 42. The particular verse used was Isaiah 42:16

[16] And I will bring the blind by a way that they knew not; I will lead them in paths that they have not known: I will make darkness light before them, and crooked things straight. These things will I do unto them, and not forsake them. 

But their version was not KJV but rather the New Living Translation which read like this: 

I will lead blind Israel down a new path, guiding them along an unfamiliar way. I will brighten the darkness before them and smooth out the road ahead of them. Yes, I will indeed do these things; I will not forsake them.

To some folks,  the changes may seem trivial, but for me, any change in the the way God wrote the word, is not trivial, but highly dangerous. It’s not transcribing scripture when the meaning is changed in any way. I promise I’m not going to get stuck on this today, but it’s what caught my attention, so I think it’s important. The world wants us to believe that God has changed His mind about certain things in scripture, or we misunderstood what He meant. Be wary of anyone who says God changes. Scripture is clear, 

Malachi 3:6 KJVS

[6] For I am the Lord, I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed.

The scripture in context for our study today:

Isaiah 42:14-20,22-25 KJVS

[14] I have long time holden my peace; I have been still, and refrained myself: now will I cry like a travailing woman; I will destroy and devour at once. [15] I will make waste mountains and hills, and dry up all their herbs; and I will make the rivers islands, and I will dry up the pools. [16] And I will bring the blind by a way that they knew not; I will lead them in paths that they have not known: I will make darkness light before them, and crooked things straight. These things will I do unto them, and not forsake them.

A Long Time

God’s timing differs greatly than our own. Mainly because time does not exist where God is. Praise God for grace that He has waited this long and allowed many to be saved who would have otherwise gone out into eternity lost. God has held His peace… but not forever. Judgment will come and those who have put off salvation again and again will have put it off a day too late. But those who accept Christ, and His work on the cross will be as the blind, brought in a way they knew not. The unsaved are ignorant to the gospel until that light shines in their heart and then they experience salvation and never a God who will never forsake them the way this world has. 

When you read the NLT verse, (number one it doesn’t sound like God, it sounds like man) and they’ve added and removed words. They added Israel. Which Isaiah likely spoke of, but God did not impress upon him to put the name of Israel into the text. Was it just Israel, or did it also mean that the Gentiles of the future would come to the light of the glorious gospel as well? Again I know it sounds trivial, but it not. They changed who the word was for. 

They also changed making the making darkness into light, and made it “brightening the darkness.” Still the same? No, it’s really not. God got rid of the darkness. In the NLT version they only brightened it, the darkness is still there. 

This kind of change in the word of God always takes my mind back to the “Poop Brownies Video” that I share with the kids in the teen group. One of the best Skit Guys videos EVER! The premise is this: A son wants to go to a movie with his friend that has a “little language and a little nudity” in it and is surprised when his dad says yes. But before he goes his dad wants to share some brownies with him. And as the son dives in to his dad’s new recipe he tries to figure out what the new ingredient is that makes it taste a little different. Finally his dad tells him that the new ingredient is dog poop!!!! Oh the son is disgusted! But the dad reminds him that it’s just a “little” part of the ingredients and it shouldn’t have hurt anything. Just like the movie had only a “little” language and nudity. Just a little doesn’t hurt… right? Well that depends n what it changes. 

Oops, I guess I did get hung up on the translation thing today. But I said all that to say this. God cares so much about us that He preserved His book for thousands of years so we’d have His word to guide us through these hard times, which Isaiah is speaking toward. God’s not going to leave any darkness in this world. None. Nada. Nil. When all is said and done, Satan and his minions are gone forever. Not in part. But in whole. Satan would love us to believe he has a chance. Well he doesn’t. 

This world would love you to believe that God has changed His mind on what sin is. Homosexuality is still sin. Living together before marriage is still a sin. So is gossiping and slander which half the people in the baptist churches or more are guilty of. And I won’t mention gluttony because that’s my issue and well, I know God didn’t change His mind on it being sin, but I don’t want to talk about it. 

Have a blessed day! And I hope my words encourage you to remember that God is still God!!!!

Posted in Bible Journaling, Christian Service, Evangelism, Leadership, Life Inspiration

Don’t be a Crybaby, Be a CryMan or CryWoman

I’m here to confess that I have struggled the last few days since the Governor’s announcement that we were mandated to wear masks. My husband will tell you that I don’t like anything on my face. A fact he discovered when he accidentally pulled the covers up too far one night and I came out of a dead sleep and just about beat him to death, accusing him of smothering me.  We still laugh about that, but there’s nothing funny about what’s going on in America. 

I understand people’s concern and I can certainly empathize with anyone at risk. As someone with a heart issue you’d think I’d be a little more concerned. But I’m not. I’m continuing in faith and the guidance of the Holy Spirit that tells  me every time I hear the words “the studies show,” I believe that person has a hand up their back like a puppet with an agenda that wants to take this country down.  I watch as people on social media tear each other apart over the debate and think, Satan’s having a field day.  I was flagged on social media yesterday and reprimanded for my “hate speech” because I said a coon, also known as a raccoon, was trying to get my chickens. What? Yet, they’ll let them tear down and threaten anyone who goes against the liberal agenda without so much as a second glance of their posts. It’s all about controlling the narrative and it’s not a new game Satan’s playing. Satan’s warped goal and his reason for getting kicked out of Heaven, is because he wanted to be God. And he’s still controlling the narrative both in the world and the church by using those who “translate scripture”into a better understood language. 

Case in point:

Isaiah 14:12 in the King James Version says “How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! How art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations!

But in the NIV version of that text it reads “How have you fallen from heaven, O morning star, son of the dawn! You have been cast down to the earth, you who once laid low the nations!

“Morning Star” is a title given to Christ in Revelation 22:16 

I Jesus have sent mine angel to testify unto you these things in the churches. I am the root and the offspring of David, and the bright and morning star.” 

There are countless other changes in different versions of scripture that have an agenda which is why I’m a KJV girl. As far as I am concerned it is the preserved word of God that He wants His people to have. He would not put His stamp of approval on anything that changed the deity of His Son, and they do. 

But that’s not what today’s blog is about either. Although it never hurts to let people know that translation matters. Like how the world is translating, interpreting what we’re saying into hate speech and they’re using the religious to do it. 

While I’m not a fan of the Catholic Church because of their doctrinal discrepancies, I won’t say that there are not some good people in that church. Such as Rev. Theodore Rothrock a priest in a Catholic Church in Indianapolis, Indiana who was suspended for warning his parishioners with the following words describing Black Lives Matter:

“The only lives that matter are their own and the only power they seek is their own,” Rothrock wrote. “They are wolves in wolves clothing, masked thieves and bandits, seeking only to devour the life of the poor and profit from the fear of others. They are maggots and parasites at best, feeding off the isolation of addiction and broken families, and offering to replace any current frustration and anxiety with more misery and greater resentment.”

I love this guy. He was protecting his flock and it’s the truth. But that didn’t stop his spineless superiors from taking action against him for “hate speech.”  

I’m so glad that I go to a solid doctrine teaching church. Last night during our Wednesday night Bible study the Pastor brought up a fact about John the Baptist that I had never thought of: He was a Levite, the son of a priest, and by all rights should have been teaching in the Temple of Jerusalem, but instead he’s found coming out of the wilderness, preaching like a wild man. 

Why was he not in the Temple? Most like because the Priests of that day were descendants of the Bishop in Indianapolis. 

The man who God chose to point the world to Christ was called out of a thicket, not a church. That’s good stuff right there, and I praise God for Preacher Steven Carter bringing it to light last night. 

Why is it that the world considers the church a grain of sand in their shoe and wants no part of them right now? Because it’s not only the Catholic who are cozying up to the world right now and powdering their butts like a bunch of toddlers, trying to keep them from throwing a fit. And they’re very vocal about it. Another portion of the “church” and I say that collectively, is just trying to stay off the radar. They’re not anything for fear of retaliation. 

I fully believe the fields are white and ready to harvest. Because there are many, many, many in America right now who know what’s happening across our country is wrong. BLM could care less a bout the black and the liberal politicians could care less about BLM. They are a pawns in their hand and they’ll use them as scape goats some day when the crap hits the fan. But the bulk of our nation are just good people wanting to live in peace and raise their families, and they’re looking for hope, and it’s not going to come from he church because they don’t believe them anymore than they do the politicians. But it could come from “one crying in the wilderness.”

John the Baptist wasn’t wearing a robe, he’s was wearing camel hair and leather. He wasn’t eating Caviar, he was eating bugs. Neither of which I recommend. But it does say something about what the people were drawn to. They were not drawn to the big Temple they’d heard about all their lives. they were drawn to a guy yelling “Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.” (Matthew 3:3b.)

Another NIV issue. 

Proverbs 3:5-6 is a very familiar and often quoted verse:

Proverbs 3:5-6 KJV

[5] Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. [6] In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.

But in the NIV version it reads:

5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding;

6 in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.

God did not say he would make your paths straight. Right now our paths are anything but straight! They go in a thousand different directions and it is the Holy Spirit that we have to rely on to direct us. Because the world isn’t going to allow it to be clear. And it’s not going to be religion that brings hope and changes the course of America. It’s going to take God’s folks being loud. 

The NIV version of Matthew 3:3 doesn’t change the word a lot, but it changes the meaning by a mile. It reads:

3 This is he who was spoken of through the prophet Isaiah: “A voice of one calling in the wilderness,  ‘Prepare the way for the Lord make straight paths for him.’

In the KJV version it says he was “crying.” In the NIV it says “calling.”

The Strongs definition of “crying” is to Shout in a tumultuous way.

The Strongs definition of “calling” is to emit a sound (animal human or instrumental); by implication to address in words or by name also in imitation: 

When one cries there is an urgency, I might “call you” for dinner. But unless you’re literally starving to death, that’s not urgent. I know, I know… it’s just words right? It’s not just words, it’s God’s words and He sent John the Baptist out, He didn’t send him out with a monotone voice. He sent him out hollerin’ and getting the attention of the people. 

It’s our time to get loud in this wilderness we’re in. Otherwise, people are going to bust Hell wide open and join up with the idiots on the left.