It is written, yet we need to read it right

 

It is written that no single written word of God will be made void. Once a word of God is spoken by God, it is part of the natural law and it cannot be made void. That is why the lord affirmed the fact that it is easier for earth and heaven to pass than for his word to be void. Devils, therefore, do work hard to make the word of God void because if that happens it will prove God is not truthful and perfect. That can shake the foundation of heaven and the faith of the army of God in heaven. Yet darkness has never defeated the light and the word of God has never been made void. It will also never happen in the future, because the lord is the truth, and nobody is mightier than the heavenly father. Why? Because it is written. 

That is why Jesus said that anyone who rejects a single written word and who teaches his rejection to the sheep of the lord will be the least in the kingdom of heaven. Yet the one who teaches the commandment of the lord while practicing it will be called the highest in the kingdom of God. This law of God, unless understood with the proper mindset, however, can mean that teaching and preaching of the word is worthless business. After all who can claim to have perfect knowledge of the word of God?

 

Mistakes of theology are very common in every preacher and teacher of the word of God, so we can potentially believe that teachers and preachers are the least in heaven. Who can be without a mistake of theology? Even among people that I think are on the right track of the faith and from whom I try hard to learn, some of the theological gaps in some areas of their thinking, however, are also enormous. If such giants can make such mistakes, only lord knows how many mistakes the rest of us teach. Logically, people who will never err are people who never work and this will force God to be left with a lazy faithful, who never make a profit for the lord, only. This is why this view of the bible cannot produce the right fruit, as it does not produce Peter, Paul, and John but good-for-nothing slackers for faithful. So there is a need for some adjustment in the glass we use when we read the bible.

 

To give additional evidence, let us think about Jobs and his history in the bible. In the bible, it is written that the holy will prosper and the evil will disappear without a trace. This law of God is being used by the wise friends of Jobs to judge Jobs, yet they are wrong. The law is always truthful, yet those who state the law against Jobs are wrong. Logically the problem is that if X causes Y, it does not mean Y implies X. Sin leads to suffering is not the same as suffering is an indicator of Sin. This is so as suffering could happen for other reasons besides sin. So, it is logically wrong. Holiness leads to wealth does not mean wealth is an indicator of holiness, as wealth can be accumulated without holiness too.

 

Leaving the logical gaps that we have in reading the bible behind, because logic may not be easy to understand for all of us, the general fact is that we do need better glass in reading the bible. There are laws of the bible that we understand, there are biblical parts that we don’t understand, and still, the word of God is outside the bible and is not known by us. So, we don’t know it all, and we cannot even add all that we know into one biblical truth. That is why it is better to say X cause Y unless God said otherwise. Holiness leads to prosperity unless the lord tells the lord you have to die for the sins of people on the cross. Holiness leads to the good life unless the lord says you are an instrument of God that must suffer for his name's sake. Yes, the principle we know is truth, but we don’t know it all. So let us allow for God’s final judgment in our understanding of the word of God. Let us not depend on our wisdom but on God’s wisdom.      

 

Imagine the Pharisee who oversell himself in holiness in front of God while looking down on the sinful person next to him, while the sinful person proclaims his sins and requests for mercy from God. The holiness of the Pharisee is good but he does not know all the holiness to practice it. He may be following some laws of Moses and not necessarily all of them. Besides, he is not following all prophets and the law of the lord, as the law of the lord was not in the bible back then. Yet the sinful person just asked for mercy for all his sins. That is why it is wrong to say I belong to heaven because I did this and that because the lord knows our holiness is damnation cloth. We need to have faith while giving all final judgment to God, as we don’t know it all.    

 

If we take the issue of preachers and teachers, it is known that they will be judged the worst as it is written. They will either destroy the temple of the lord or build it. It is a risky job for sure and it is written so. Yet it does not mean if you teach one wrong word, you lose it all. This principle will push you down, yet other achievements will push you up. Jesus will be the final judge, and it is sure lazy slacker who never teaches is no better than an imperfect worker of the lord. That law intends to make us careful in teaching the word of God not to scare us from teaching the word. We need to take what is written seriously, however, whether we understand it or not. We should not edit the bible or modify it to fit our theology. The bible is our data and the data is always right. Our theology could be wrong, but the bible is always right. Sometimes we don’t know how some biblical parts can be true, but since Jesus said so it is true. We depend on the wisdom of God, not on our wisdom. We believe in Jesus not ourselves. We know against our knowledge because the lord said so.

 

To give another example it is written that those who respect and obey their parents will live a long life. Yet it does not mean those who enjoy a long life are the good kids and those who die early are bad kids. After all, it is also written that the holy is also taken (dead) so they should not see the evil years that are to come. We have to read that part of the bible like this, if you honor, respect, and obey your parents you will have a long and prosperous life unless the lord says otherwise. Make the lord the final judge of everything, not your understanding of the bible and laws of heaven. 

There are a million reasons in the bible why the good may suffer like Paul and the lord, may die young like the lord, may be stoned to death like Stephen, or ostracized by society like the old prophets of the book. There are also other million reasons why the lord may empower the evil for his judgment and glory. Besides, the rewards of the good are in both heaven and earth, while the punishments of evil are both in hell fire, and earth. The bible is there to make us good and to allow us to differentiate good from evil, but not to make us the final judge of anything. Since we know the bible and especially the lord, the perfection of heaven, we know good from bad. Jesus is good and the devil is evil. Let us run toward the lord away from the devil, that is it. For the rest, let us leave it to the judgment of God himself and his name is the Lord Jesus Christ.

 

Another important problem is that the exchange rate of heaven is not only material and biological of this earth but also spiritual of heaven. If you leave your father, mother, wife, child, wealth, and position for God, you will be paid many folds on earth and in heaven. But what was the payment of the Lord on earth? What about Paul? What about John the Baptist? Jesus is paid by us, who follow him as lord. The seed did not end alone but suffered and died to be multiplied into many. He died to rise as many. Jesus is not paid in form of car, house, many children, and so on, we are the payment. He was above everyone before and ended up being above everyone then after, nothing changed. In the middle, however, he saved us. On this earth he has millions who follow him as God and in heaven he has glory and the highest name amplified by his obedience up to death.

 

Why I am going around the jungle? It is because there is a bigger pot of heaven, which is supplying a lot of heavenly water to many; yet due to a minor balance problem, it is spilling what is heavenly on what is earthly and this is not right. This small stone, therefore, is trying to balance it, so it can hold right everything that is already good. Is there anyone who can claim to be superior to the Lord? Is the life of the lord in this earth life of prosperity or suffering, hard work, and prosecution? Yes, the good will prosper and the evil will disappear without a trace but that is unless God has a different plan. This small correction is very important. Yes having people around is the result of the grace of God, but false prophets are the most popular of all. Why? Because it is written. Actually, if everyone, devil and angel, accepts and respects you, you are more likely to be a false prophet, as it is written. Yes the principle that people are the grace of God is true, yet there is more to the bible and let us let God be the final judge of all.

 

When we teach people, we need to build them for Heaven, not Earth. We neither need to make them rich, as Jobs was, nor arrogant enough to challenge God’s judgment, as Jobs did. What we need is to build them into holy people, as Jobs was, and need to make them faithful who thank God on good and bad days, as Jobs did. They have to thank God when they are graced with good and have to say “God gave me and God took it, thank God” when they are visited by evil.

 

A person who is built for prosperity will never thank God in evil days but will cry about the onion of Egypt. Some even tell God that they will not follow him unless they have onion Egypt in the desert of the lord. A person who is built for heaven is much deeper in faith as his faith is not material-based but spiritual and heavenly. God needs people who follow him because they know him not because they are given free bread and fish. This is why we do need to decouple heaven from the earth. All wishes of God for us are good and God will give us what we need not what we want. God will give us reading time and house chores than biscuits and candies, no matter what we love. God is our Father who looks after us with his wisdom, not a house servant who serves our wishes.

 

Let us believe we have a heavenly father who watches over us 24/7, and let us leave our life in his hand, then let us mainly focus on imitating him. Let us seek the kingdom of heaven and the glory of the kingdom of heaven, and everything else will be added to us as lord sees fit. Let us fix our minds on Heaven, not on Earth. We are from heaven, and it is beneath us to mainly focus on the issue of this earth. We are what our heavenly father said we are not what anyone else said. We are not what friends and enemies say, we are not what sickness and poverty say, we are not what health and prosperity say, we are not what the devil or the world says, we are what Jesus says so. So let us stick with Jesus, and the rest is a gift that is given to us as the lord sees fit. It is not that candy is expensive for a lord or he cannot afford cake for his children but because he loved us enough to raise us right.

 

Let us build faithful who are willing to survive or die in hazardous places for the lord, rather than city slackers who dream about house, car, wealth, prosperity, and worthless earthly desires. All is not going to work in such an environment, but neither holiness nor full dedication to the heavenly cause is possible if people are earthly-oriented. If the loudest voice in the ear of the spirit is prosperity, corruption, sin, illegal business, and dishonesty will be very natural to do. It will be “get rich or die trying” logic. If a person is made to love money and prosperity, he will not be willing to give it all for the kingdom of God, and his contribution will be marginal. I am not sure if his visa to heaven is a sure thing, therefore.

 

If a person is built for heaven, however, sin is not easy to adopt, corruption is not simple to do, injustice is not easy to accept, and unbalanced weights are an abomination. Like Jobs, he will be willing to lose it all for the kingdom of heaven and his contribution to the kingdom would be decisive. Not all faithful are going to be rich, yet many will be. Not all faithful are going to be rulers, but many will be. Not all faithful are going to wise, but many will be. What should worry us is not wealth, power, and wisdom, no. What should worry us is that most is how to make the word of God the guiding principle of this earth.

 

We need to build people in different occupations, wealth status, power, and intelligence levels, who are guided by the word of God. It is not about wealthy people, it is not about powerful people, it is not about intelligent people, and soon. It is about the dominance of the word of God. That is why we should focus on building society by the word of God, not on making sure the “faithful” is powerful, rich, intelligent, and soon. A wealthy “faithful” who is sinful is a heavy burden to the name of God than a blessing. A powerful “faithful” who is a criminal is a fetter on the feet of Jesus and his kingdom rather than a glory to the kingdom. Let us focus on the word of God to build a society by the word of God rather than on the cart that will follow it. It is better to have a hidden Jew, which is circumcised in spirit, than an outwardly Jew, which is circumcised in flesh. Let us focus on the horse, the word of God, not the cart that will definitely follow it.