Meditate in the Scriptures Continually

But his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night. (Psalms 1:2—NIV)

Sometimes American believers state they cannot understand the Bible. My suggestion is, get one of the newer translations. They are much easier to read than the King James, although the King James is a fine translation and faithful to the Greek text.

In any case, it is not going to be possible for you or me to stand during the age of moral horrors unless we do as the Bible exhorts: meditate on the law of God day and night.

Ours is an age of communication. We are transformed by what we see and hear. The Bible enables us to throw off the death that prevails in our culture and to hold fast to our faith in Jesus Christ.

When I first became a Christian I was influenced by the Navigators. They impressed on me that it was essential to read the Bible continually and adhere strictly to it.

The verse they gave me was:

Do not let this Book of the Law depart from your mouth; meditate on it day and night, so you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful. (Joshua 1:8—NIV)

I was handed a Scofield Bible (not by the Navigators) and taught about the state of grace that supposedly shields us Gentiles from God’s scrutiny; about the pre-tribulation rapture; about the coming of the Lord Jesus to catch away His waiting Bride to Heaven.

In obedience to the Lord, who called me to minister while stationed in Sasebo, Japan, I went to Bible School. After receiving the baptism with the Holy Spirit, the Lord began to teach me the Scriptures. It was a definite spiritual experience, and I questioned the source of it for a period of time. I was not certain of the validity of what I was understanding until years later when experienced, responsible Christians received what I was declaring.

I have come to the conclusion that much Christian teaching is not scriptural. We are repeating venerable traditions Sunday after Sunday, believing them to be in the Scriptures. Some are but some are not. For example:

There is no Bible basis for the prevailing Christian belief that to be saved is to make our eternal home in Heaven. The Bible says that the goal of salvation is to be conformed to the image of Christ and to become one with other believers in Christ in God. Our objective is not a change of place but a total change in what we are so we can live and serve in the Kingdom of God wherever we are, especially on the earth after the resurrection from the dead.

Our tradition speaks much of going to Heaven. The Bible does not. Rather it emphasizes the coming of the Kingdom of God to the earth.

There is no Bible basis, as far as I can tell, for the belief that the new covenant is a state of grace that primarily affects Gentiles. Rather the new covenant is the power of God in operation through Christ that produces a new creation of righteous behavior. The new covenant is not a state of grace that prevents God from seeing our behavior. Rather the new covenant is the writing of the law of God in our heart and mind until old things pass away and all the elements of our personality have become new. This is what the Bible says.

The Bible does not teach we are "covered by the blood" so God does not see our behavior. The covering of the blood refers back to the first Passover and means when we are trusting in Christ the angel of destruction will pass over us when executing judgment on the gods of the world.

The blood of Christ keeps us without condemnation as we walk in the light of God’s Word and confess our sins. It does not serve as a covering that prevents God from witnessing our behavior. There is no scriptural basis for this, and many passages warn us of the consequences of our behavior.

To teach that God does not see the behavior of Christians because they are in a "state of grace" goes against several clear statements of the Apostle Paul. Yet this is the prevailing Christian belief.

There is no passage of Scripture that declares Christ is coming to take His Church to Heaven. I think this idea must be derived from First Thessalonians, where Paul was comforting the living believers with the thought that when Christ comes He will bring the deceased believers with Him; and that the living believers will not enter the Kingdom before the deceased believers or have any advantage over them.

When all have been raised or changed, the entire body of believers will be caught up to meet the Lord in the air, to greet Him and be ready to descend with Him; for this is the hour of resurrection and the Day of the Lord. It signals the beginning of the Battle of Armageddon.

To then use this passage as a way of proving that living Christians will not experience suffering but will escape to Heaven is so unscriptural as to be not worthy of further discussion. The doctrine of the pre-tribulation rapture simply is totally unscriptural and is preventing the believers from preparing themselves for the trouble that is ahead.

The recent teaching that all Christians should be rich is against the writings of the Apostle Paul.

The recent teaching that by faith in faith we can command the universe is more of the Hindu religion, possibly, than of the Christian Scriptures.

The recent teaching that Christians are to take over the government of America is not scriptural. Our task at this time is to bear witness of Christ, not to govern the secular society.

The recent teaching that we are to command the Holy Spirit, or angels, has no scriptural basis whatever.

A few years ago a Christian pastor reported that Michael and Gabriel had visited him and taught him. At first I believed this, but then I realized the two angels were reinforcing the lawless-grace teaching that is prevalent. Immediately I perceived they were not of God, for they brought a gospel different from Christ and His Apostles. This "visitation" came to nothing because it was not from the Lord.

If Michael and Gabriel ever appeared to anyone at the same time, we can be sure the history of the world would be changed. It is certain the two highly placed angels would not contradict the Apostle Paul, who maintained that if a believer lives according to his sinful nature he will not inherit the Kingdom of God.

The Navigators opened a can of peas, so to speak, when they urged me to stick to the Scriptures. By so doing I have discovered that we are off base in much of our teaching. If we are to stand in the days of darkness we must know what the Bible says.

The unscriptural faith-prosperity teaching gained the ground it did among Charismatic believers because they did not go to the Scriptures but were led about by their religious feelings. They became subject to spirits that did not come from the Lord Jesus.

Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a workman who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth. (II Timothy 1:15—NIV)

The above verse is quoted frequently by us fundamentalists, but we are not adhering to it. We are not correctly handling the Word of truth.

One of the main reasons we are not cutting a straight course in the Word of truth has to do with the way we treat the many seeming inconsistencies of the Scriptures.

The Scriptures contain many seeming inconsistencies, such as Paul’s teaching that we are saved by a sovereign Divine act of God, and yet we shall be barred from the Kingdom if we live according to the sinful nature.

The proper manner in which to address the seeming inconsistencies is to accept both as the truth of God, saying Amen! to each.

Instead of doing this we seize upon the one that pleases our flesh, such as the sovereignty of God in the plan of salvation, and ignore the passages that present the other very necessary dimension of Divine truth. Because we make axioms of our favorite verses, deducing truth from them while ignoring or explaining away passages that do not agree with our deductions, we are in doctrinal chaos today.

It is obvious from the ninth chapter of Romans that salvation comes as the Potter decides to make from the same piece of clay one vessel to honor and one to dishonor. God hardens Pharaoh’s heart, whether we are willing to accept this or not.

It also is obvious from the Books of Galatians and Ephesians, and other writings of Paul, that if we continue to be the slave of sin we will die spiritually.

So we choose Romans, Nine and explain away Galatians, Ephesians, Hebrews, I John, and the other texts that insist we must keep God’s commandments if we expect to enter the Kingdom of God.

We simply are not cutting a straight course in the Word of truth no matter how many times we swear allegiance to the plenary, verbal inspiration of the Received Text.

We are not making our way prosperous because we have departed from the Scriptures. The moral light of the Christian churches in America has been all but extinguished because of our traditions.

We are obligated to keep the commandments of Christ and His Apostles. We do this by praying often for wisdom and strength that we may consecrate ourselves to the will of God.

However, this is not the new covenant. The new covenant takes place as Christ, the living Law of God, is written on our mind and heart.

The point is, Christ will never be formed in us until we begin to keep, with the help of the Holy Spirit, the commandments of Christ and His Apostles.

This is the meaning of the following verse:

And we have the word of the prophets made more certain, and you will do well to pay attention to it, as to a light shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts. (II Peter 1:19—NIV)

The "word of the prophets" is the Scriptures and the "morning star" is Christ rising in our heart.

We American have ready access to many version of the Scriptures. In some places in the world, such as China for example, some of the believers have only a page torn from a Bible, or no Bible at all. God assuredly beholds this discrepancy.

The Kingdom principle is: "To whom much has been given, of him shall much be required."

If we permit our time to be spent on the numerous opportunities and attractions of the American culture, and do not spend time each day meditating in the Scriptures, we most certainly shall be held responsible. We can expect many chastening blows in the Day of Resurrection, possibly.

Who knows what a Chinese believer might accomplish if he or she had an entire Bible?

Where we have been deceived by the ministers of today who are seeking their own advantage and are teaching traditions rather than the Bible, we shall be held accountable.

We may rage at our teachers when we are left behind, or thrust into outer darkness, at the coming of the Lord. But God will not excuse us. We had a Bible. We could have studied it. If we did not test the "apostles," that is our fault. Our teachers may be required to spend eternity with us, kept from the light of Christ’s glorious Presence; so they would do well to make friends with us.

If we are to survive in the coming days we must make a practice of praying each day at a definite time and place, as possible. When it is not possible we are to pray that God will make it possible for us to have a set place and time to pray.

If we are to survive in the coming days we must know the Scriptures. We must test each of our beliefs against what the New Testament actually says. Our traditions will not stand the fire unless they conform to the written Word of God.

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