From the very beginning of the New Testament Church there was the desire on the part of some parishioners to twist God’s Words so as to make right what God, through His prophets and apostles, had declared to be wrong.  These Scripture-twisters were they who called darkness light, bitter sweet and wrong right. (Isa. 5:20,21).  For this blasphemy the Lord placed a “woe” on them.  The problem was that they did not know they were under His woe.  To the contrary, they believed that God’s woe was on those who disagreed with them. The Apostle Jude spoke about this Satanic practice that had infiltrated the church in verse 4 of his epistle.  There he warned that some men in leadership positions were turning God’s grace into a license to sin.  This spiritual phenomenon is the basis of this series in which I will bring to light a war that has been raging for over 1900 years while remaining virtually unknown by those actively involved in it.  Billions of God seekers today are being directly affected by this raging conflict while remaining oblivious to the fact that they are involved in a life and death struggle that will determine where they spend eternity.  There is an age-old saying that “Ignorance is bliss.”  Those involved in this war blissfully trod the path Satan has laid out for them as Jesus warned us about in Matthew 7:13,14.  These unwitting souls are being poisoned spiritually as they walk the devil’s well-worn path which leads to death.  My goal is to alert them–99.9% of professing Christendom–of their plight.

As a result of the Biblical ignorance infecting Catholicism/Protestantism, billions of people do not realize that they are being spiritually poisoned, and that they themselves are not only administering the deadly potion, but are enjoying its taste.  The result was,  is, and will continue to be, spiritual death.  This process is in reality spiritual suicide that is so slowly carried out and so religiously presented that only those who delve deeply into the Holy Scriptures can understand what they are doing to themselves.  Jesus said in Matthew 7:13,14 that few would dig into the depths of His Holy Scriptures deeply enough to find the ultimate treasure–His Truth–and thereby save themselves from spiritual suicide.  Such Truth (“fine print”) awaits only those who will sacrifice all to find it, and who value it so intently that they refuse to live without it.  These are the “violent” ones who are taking the kingdom of heaven “by force” (Mat. 11:12). I am one such violent digger.  I will be neither deterred, detained nor denied what God has promised me in this life and the life to come.   Hopefully, with shovel in hand, you will join me in this most important of human endeavors.  The Lord said that many would begin to dig.  Few, however, would continue digging until they found the pure gold that is His Truth.  The many, He lamented, would be satisfied with fools gold–church doctrine–which the Apostle Paul characterized as a fake gospel (Gal. 1:6-9).  Here he describes it as a perversion of God’s true gospel which is being preached by men who are accursed by God.  They and those who believe them are ignorant of His “fine print,” knowing only His “headlines.”  Ignorance can only be alleviated by violent shovel work on the part of the true seeker of His Truth.

The Lord describes such shovel work (intense study) in Isaiah 28:9-13 where He asks through the prophet whom He (God) can teach knowledge? and whom He can cause to understand wisdom?  His answer: he who studies the Scriptures “precept upon precept, precept upon precept, line upon line, line upon line, here a little, there a little.”  God later identifies through Isaiah (66:2) the one He looks to (focuses on, guides, hears).  He describes this person as the one who has an humble heart (mind) and who “trembles at My Word.”  Though Satan’s demons believe His Word and tremble (Jam: 2:19), religious man does neither.  Instead he twists God’s Words so as to give them meanings that conform to his theology.  This series will delve into the war that is going on in the church concerning God’s Word, a war that only a few violent diggers know is taking place.

The Apostle Paul, whom the Lord used to write many of the books of the New Testament, was, by all accounts a teacher of high caliber.  This truth was recognized by the Apostle Peter in his second letter to the church (3:16).  As Peter stated, Paul was of a very high intellect and, being a Pharisee of high rank, was highly educated.  This combination sometimes caused confusion in the hearts of those who read him.  The problem persists unto this day.  Admittedly, I was one of the confused.  As I wrote in a previous posting, I once became so angry while reading Paul’s epistle to the church at Rome that I tore up the Bible I was using and threw it into a waste can.  I thank God for His long-suffering, which I’m sure I have stretched to its limit on more than one occasion.  It was only when I allowed Him to remove my stony heart (mind) and replace it with the mind of Christ (1 Cor. 2:16/ Phil. 2:5) that I was able to delve/dig into His Word with the right attitude which consists of an “I know nothing; You know everything” mindset.  In Romans 7 we learn that Paul had the same problem, heard the same “voice,” humbled himself in the same way, then came to the same conclusion–“Let go and let God.”  we must let go of our own theology, let the Lord destroy it, then allow Him to speak to us through His Holy Bible.  This is difficult for mankind to do.  Man tends to be proud and of a haughty spirit.  God says that pride comes before destruction and a haughty spirit before the fall.  Religious man’s fall has resulted in the secret war that he is unwittingly waging.  Let us, by digging deeply into God’s treasure trove of Truth, put an end to that war in our personal lives.  L.J.