Handling Difficult Scriptures

[ PART ONE ]

And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not. -- Galatians 6: 9

God is telling us not to be weary or weak doing His Word. When you do God’s Word, the adversary will fight you tooth and nail. He will use misinterpretations and mistranslations of Scriptures to drag you down. I have decided to combine all of the difficult Scriptures that I studied into one or more comprehensive teachings. This should make it easier for you to be able to discern good from evil and truth from a counterfeit. Notice above that God uses the term ‘in due season’. That means that when the time is right and you are doing well, you will eventually reap the results. Now there is a condition at the end of this Scripture and it says ‘if we faint not’. This means that we are not to give up in our minds. Sometimes we have to wait on God and you should remember that He does things at the exact right moment in time. So don’t faint in your mind. Never give up.

As of late, I have been under great tribulation. You see I am human just like you and I am no better than you. I make mistakes – we all sin at one time or another. In fact, God goes so far as to say that every man is a liar and that every man will sin in the flesh. People confuse this because you cannot sin in the Spirit. The Spirit is perfect and is not susceptible to sin. I must make a mental note of what I just said because it is in I John. Later, we will cover this problem in detail and you will finally understand a group of Scriptures that talks about sin. In one area it says that we cannot sin, but it is talking about the Spirit.

Before we begin, I would also like to take the time to thank the people that write to me thanking me for this website. The last person who wrote to me stressed the term clarity. I tell it just like it is based on my experiences for over 40 years. I don’t speak in elaborate terms with big fancy words, because that’s the world’s way. I just tell it like it is in simple straightforward words and terms. All of the stories that you hear in these teachings are true to fact to the smallest detail. I am also proud of a person who went out and bought Figures of Speech Used in The Bible. I am on this website for about 20 years encouraging people to buy this book. One person went out and bought this major research work. That person is going to get blessed beyond what they even can imagine. I want to thank that person for his stand and his dedication to this website which is God’s Word in everyday terms - clear and easy to understand.

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Let’s begin with an easy example that may have caused you no end of confusion. It involves two Scriptures in Galatians Chapter 6 that absolutely appear contradictory. However, if you have some knowledge of Greek, you will see that they are not contradictory by any means.

Bear ye one another’s burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ. – Galatians 6: 2

This sounds very straightforward and tells us that we should help each other with any burdens and that is how we fulfill the law of Christ. The key to understanding the usage of this Scripture is to understand the Greek word for ‘burdens’. This word is the Greek word baros and it is referring to a type of burden where we can offer help to another person or persons. This explanation is very simple. That’s because we understand the Greek word for burden and that is the word baros.

This example is somewhat similar to our English language where we have two words that are spelled the same way, but yet have totally different meanings. An example would be a bank, like a financial institution, and bank, like the banks of a river. These are homonyms, but from the context in which it is used, we can almost always decide the definition of ‘bank’. Since the King James version is written in Old English, sometimes it cannot be discerned.

For every man shall bear his own burden. – Galatians 6: 5

Now here it is as clear as day. Verse 2 says that we are to bear one another’s burdens and yet verse five says that every man shall bear his own burden. It does seem like an obvious contradiction, doesn’t it? But the key to understanding verse five is to know the Greek word used here for ‘burden’ is phortion. This is referring to the type of burden that only that man can bear. Let me use a simple example that just came to my mind. If a person refuses by their own free will to get born again of God’s spirit, there isn’t a person on earth that can change that person’s free will if it is made up. So this person must bear this type of burden himself and that in Greek means phortion. It is that simple and you should be able to understand what’s going on here. There are two Greek words for burden: one is baros and the other is phortion. They have two different meanings. One allows you to help someone with a situation or opportunity that they are having. And the second one does not allow you to do such a thing. The responsibility to make the change that is necessary is up to that man completely by himself.

These two verses have given me no end of problems for many years until it was explained to me that there are two different Greek words used in the two Scriptures. Each Greek word has a separate and distinct meaning. When the translators worked on the Scriptures, they should have put a center reference in the middle of the Bible explaining the difference between those two words, but they did not.

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To help with your understanding, for the time being I am going to stay with simple examples of misunderstandings and mistranslations in the Word of God. The following is an example of what some churches teach today. By misunderstanding the context of the chapter, they teach and actually believe that they cannot sin. Now let’s take a look at I John. The subject of this epistle is fellowship with God. You should know that you can sin in the five senses even after you are born again. God made a way for us to get back in fellowship with Him by confessing our sins to Him in the name of Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is our mediator between God and man. Let’s go to the verses where God clearly shows us that we do sin in the flesh after we are born again.

But if we walk in the light (scratch “as he is in the light” - not in the text) we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin (broken fellowship). – I John 1: 7

If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. -- I John 1: 8

So it becomes obvious that we can and we do sin. For those of you who have taken an interest in figures of speech, the above term ‘the blood’ is a figure referring to Jesus Christ giving his life. Think about this for a while. Because Jesus Christ did what he did, we are able to be forgiven by God for any broken fellowship which we have committed. This is after we are born again of God’s spirit.

Now the following verse which we are about to study appears to contradict what we have just learned. But you will see in this verse that if you wrongly divide the Word of God, you will bring to yourself nothing but confusion. This seemingly contradictory verse is also in the book of I John chapter 3.

Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God. – I John 3: 9

This is a perfect example of what can happen when the Word of God is not rightly divided. The context or subject matter of the verse is talking about someone who was born of God. This means that that person has Christ in him or the spirit of God within a human body. This is the part that cannot commit sin because the spirit of God dwelling within a person is perfect – it cannot sin. Why? Because that person’s seed remains in him and he cannot sin. Where? In the spirit because he is born of God.

Do you see the difference between this example and the previous example? In our flesh and blood, we can sin, but God made a way for us to be forgiven and to get back in fellowship and harmony with God. We don’t ever have to be concerned about sin in regards to the spirit that lies within us. Again, that spirit is perfect and is not subject to the laws of the flesh. At first I thought these examples would be very simple, but I realize that they are also very important. The next time you hear someone say that the Bible says they can’t sin. Then you can show them from the Word of God where they are believing erroneous doctrine. Just go back to I John and show them that God says that every man will sin at some point in their life. But in the spirit, they cannot sin. It is not possible.

I think that we are going to wrap up this example and surge forward to a very important mistranslation pertaining to the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. This has affected most of the Christian world. For some of you, the following will absolutely blow your mind.

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And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? that is to say, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? -- Matthew 27: 46

This verse has caused no end of confusion regarding the rightly dividing of God’s Word. When we’re done, the meaning of the verse will be crystal clear. How is it possible for God to forsake Jesus Christ at such a crucial time or at any time for that matter? He did not. The way this verse has been interpreted contradicts the rest of the Bible. Let us find out what is wrong, correct it, and get the verse rightly divided.

This verse of Scripture should have arrested our attention from the beginning. Why did the translators leave in the foreign words? This should have caused us to make an inquiry as to the translators' deviation from the usual.

We understand this verse word by word except for the foreign words. Yet this verse contradicts other verses in the Word of God. It would appear that God forsook Jesus Christ because he became sin and God could not stand sin; consequently, God left Jesus Christ to die by himself.

Let us go to the Word and study John 16: 32.

Behold, the hour cometh, yea, is now come, that ye shall be scattered [Jesus is talking to his apostles], every man to his own, and shall leave me alone: and yet I am not alone, because the Father is with me. – John 16: 32

Jesus was talking about the time of His crucifixion and of His death; he said, "the Father is with me." Yet in Matthew 27: 46 it says, "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?"

I and my Father are one [unity of purpose]. -- John 10: 30

To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, .... -- II Corinthians 5: 19a

How can God have forsaken Jesus Christ when he was being crucified?

For in him [in Christ] dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily. – Colossians 2: 9

How are we going to separate the fullness of the Godhead which dwelt in Christ's presence on earth? How could Jesus say, "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?"

There are many examples in The Word which are blatantly contradicted by Matthew 27: 46. Matthew cannot do this if it is the Word of God.

Here is what Christ said at the time He was taken captive:

Thinkest thou that I cannot now pray to my Father, and he shall presently give me more than twelve legions of angels? -- Matthew 26: 53

One has to be on "talking terms" with God to get that kind of assistance. The Father would have given Jesus 72,000 angels. Jesus could have walked right out from among this group of men if He had wanted to. Why? Because "I and my Father are one," "the Father is with me," "I always do the Father's will." Jesus must have been doing God's Will when He was dying upon the cross. Yet Matthew 27: 46 says, "Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? that is to say, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" This verse contradicts the rest of the Word of God. What is the problem? First of all, the foreign words inserted in that verse are Aramaic words. Jesus spoke Aramaic. (Aramaic is called Hebrew in the King James Version. It might more accurately have been called Syro-Chaldee.) These Aramaic words are left in this particular Scripture because the translators did not know what to do with them. They let the verse set and added the English interpretation. There are a few other examples in the New Testament to this day where the translators have allowed the Aramaic words to remain in the text.

The word eli means "my God," but there is no Aramaic word like the word lama. There is a word lmna. Lmna is always a cry of victory, a declaration of "for this purpose," or "for this reason." The root of sabachthani is shbk. Shbk means "to reserve," "to leave," "to spare" or "to keep."

It was about the ninth hour, three o'clock in the afternoon, when Jesus spoke from the cross. Hanging on the cross at that crucial hour, Jesus came forth with this utterance from the depth of His soul. "My God, my God, for this purpose was I reserved, for this purpose was I spared." The last words that He uttered were "It is finished." What was finished? Your redemption and mine. Jesus Christ had given His own life. He who knew no sin had become sin so that you and I might become the righteousness of God in Him. Your redemption and mine was then finished. The next chronological verse of Scripture is John 19: 30, ... and he ... gave up the ghost." They did not take His life. It was not the nails driven through His hands that held Him to the cross, nor the rope tied around His midriff nor the nails driven through His feet. Why did He keep hanging on that cross? Because Jesus Christ loved us. He could have walked off that cross. He could have had twelve legions of angels at His command. But He kept hanging on the cross because he so loved us that he gave his own life for us. When He was dying upon the cross He did not cry, "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me," but "My God, my God, for this purpose was I reserved, for this purpose was I spared."

Translations from the Far East read of Matthew 27: 46, "... My God, my God, for this purpose was I spared." The Occidental or the Western translations wrongly read, "... My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?"

God stayed with His Son. This was not only their triumphal hour, but ours also for it was at this point that Jesus Christ, the second Adam, fulfilled all the legal requirements for our redemption and salvation. This was Christ's purpose. Now we have an accurate translation of Matthew 27: 46, one of the most difficult verses of Scripture in the King James Version. Now this verse fits with the other passages in the Word of God.

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We now know that the previous point handles a very difficult Scripture, but now you should be crystal clear as to the interpretation of that Scripture. Remember, the Bible always interprets itself. Do you remember that teaching? The Bible interprets itself in three different ways. Right into verse, in the context, and when it was used before. The next two verses that we are going to handle may seem very unusual to you. Mainly because they do not exist in any of the manuscripts. You are going to be asked to scratch out Matthew 27: 52, 53. The reason why they are written is somewhat unknown. They don’t make any sense because they talk about something happening after the resurrection of Jesus Christ. His crucifixion had just taken place, so this makes no sense at all. We might as well review those two counterfeit Scriptures and then I will do my best to explain to you why and how they originated.

And the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints which slept arose,

And came out of the graves after his resurrection, and went into the holy city, and appeared unto many. – Matthew 27: 52, 53

These two Scriptures are clearly added by the scribes. For those of you who like advanced material, you should know that Manuscript 354 in Venice, Italy, omits these verses. Although other textual documentation for this has not been found, it must be realized that the earliest manuscript including this section of Matthew 27 dates from the fourth century A. D. These verses must be an addition since they are contradictory to others Scriptures which teach us that the dead are dead and will remain so until Jesus Christ returns. Until that time, only Christ has been raised bodily from death unto everlasting life. Textual critics as well as marginal notes in other old manuscripts have recognized these verses as later interpolations. Again, the phrase “after his resurrection” in verse 53 demonstrates the passage is totally out of context and again points to a scribal addition.

It can only be concluded that the scribes were influenced by the god of this world who tries to make people believe that the dead are alive. There will only be a resurrection of the dead when Jesus Christ returns the second time. There could not be anyone who came back to life and came out of the grave and are still living. These two verses are nothing but nonsense. That’s the only way I can express it clearly from my heart to yours. Yes, there were catastrophes that took place at the death of Jesus Christ. But verses 52 and 53 clearly contradict a number of principles that is in the Word of God. Let’s take a look at verses 50, 51 and 54 which are accurate according to the Word of God.

Jesus, when he had cried again with a loud voice, yielded up the ghost. And behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom; and the earth did quake, and the rocks rent; -- Matthew 27: 50, 51

Now the rightly divided Word of God skips to verse 54 and now you have the true Word.

Now when the centurion, and they that were with him, watching Jesus, saw the earthquake, and those things that were done, they feared greatly, saying, Truly this was the Son of God. – Matthew 27: 54

You should always read verses 50 and 51 and skip over to verse 54 and the Word will be rightly divided and will make sense to you. What I have done in my King James Bible is to scratch out with pencil these two verses 52 and 53. You should always know that you should not use an ink pen to write notes in your Bible. And another thing that you should always remember is that there are no original biblical texts left on the earth today. We only have some that are the closest to the originals. If the original texts were available, you can believe that verses 52 and 53 of Matthew chapter 27 would not exist. I hope you enjoyed this small section of Handling Difficult Scriptures. I know it was quite a Revelation to me when I first learned this. Very much work and time has gone into this section of teaching. The ministry I once studied with was most accurate, paying meticulous attention to detail. Our research department traveled to different countries such as Germany where the closest to the original texts were available to learn the Word of God rightly divided.

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Pertaining to the next and final section of this teaching, I should tell you ahead of time that the subject matter is extremely major in reference to who Jesus Christ really is. I want to focus on one section of Scriptures that seem to support the Trinity as written in the King James Version. There is a lot of material on this one subject so I am going to try to condense it for you. As I said before, a teaching that is too long is not good because you will not be able to concentrate on the amount of material presented before you. I’m going to get to three Scriptures that are in I John chapter 5. First, I will present to you the way it is translated in the King James Version. I apparently have chosen this example because it is very similar to the previous example that we just went over. You will see how subtle the scribes were in adding words to the original Greek text.

After quoting the next two verses, I want you to notice some changes that we are going to make that will line up with the critical Greek text.

For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one. – I John 5: 7

And there are three that bear witness in earth, the spirit, and the water, and the blood: and these three agree in one. – I John 5: 8

It may not surprise you by now to see that a number of words were added to these three Scriptures because the scribes were now pressured to push the doctrine of the Trinity. The doctrine of the Trinity began back in the fourth century and even before then. It should be noted that even Paul had some of his followers turn their back on him concerning his teachings. Jesus Christ was and always will be the Son of God. It’s that simple. The Bible shows us about 40 different places that prove to us that Jesus Christ was the Son of God, and not God himself. There are four difficult verses which appear to illustrate that Jesus Christ was God. When worked, like we are going to work these three verses, you can then easily see that the Bible never teaches that Jesus Christ is God. This whole subject is a major part of a large controversy regarding the Christian faith and the churches who appear to teach it.

I am going to show you how tricky this can be because this is one of those four Scriptures or sections of Scripture that appear to support the doctrine of the Trinity. Now watch this closely.

According to the critical Greek text the following words were first added in verse 7 and 8 in the 16th century. I will spell them out for you so that you do not make a mistake or be distracted in any way. The words that were added by the scribes were as follows:

“ … in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one. And there are three that bear witness in earth … “

Now let us go back and read the three Scriptures without the added words.

This is he that came by water and blood, even Jesus Christ; not by water only, but by water and blood. And it is the Spirit that beareth witness [with our spirit, the inner man], because the Spirit is truth. For there are three that bear record, the spirit, and the water, and the blood: and these three agree in one. -- I John 5: 6 – 8

Now you have the rightly divided Word of God. These three verses now agree with the rest of the Bible that teaches that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. I always have to bring this point up. Even devil spirits called Jesus Christ the Son of God. That is written in the Gospels.

The water and blood part can confuse some of us so I’m going to go over that part to help you to understand and rightly divide the Word.

According to verse six, Jesus Christ came by water and blood. We know that Christ was conceived in Mary by the Holy Spirit. At the time of this birth, the amniotic sac surrounding the embryo was broken and therefore water came forth. Blood also comes forth at birth with the mother’s delivery of a child. So we now know that Jesus Christ came by water and blood just as all of us do. By natural birth, we were all born of water and blood. It was later on when we confessed Christ as Lord in our life that we received the Spirit of God within us which is eternal life.

I would like to give you some more background about the origins of the Trinity. The Trinity boys want you to believe that God, the Son of God, and the Holy Spirit are one in the same. Notice that they are using the reasoning of three. I will explain. The Trinity has its roots in pagan beliefs that went all the way back to the Babylonians. An equilateral triangle was used to represent three gods in one God as do the present Trinitarians.

The Hindu Trinity was made up of the gods Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva. The Greek triad was composed of Zeus, Athena and Apollo. One of the largest pagan temples was built by the Romans to pay tribute to their Trinity of Jupiter, Mercury and Venus. Should we go on?

For your sake of offering you more proof, I am going to quote you from a section of the New Catholic Encyclopedia which states that Trinitarianism became part of Christian doctrine in the fourth, not the first, century. Now before I begin quoting this Encyclopedia, I want you to look back again and see that it is a Catholic Encyclopedia. The Catholics believe strongly in the Trinity. So when I first read this, it almost made no sense to me whatsoever, but at least they admit the truth.

“It is difficult, in the second half of the 20^th century, to offer a clear, objective and straightforward account of the revelation, doctrinal evolution, and theological elaboration of the mystery of the Trinity . . .

There is … recognition on the part of the historians of dogma and systematic theologians that when one does speak of an unqualified trinitarianism, one has moved from the period of Christian origins to, say, the last quadrant of the fourth century. It was only then that what might be called the definitive Trinitarian dogma “one God in three persons” became thoroughly assimilated into Christian life and thought.

… The dogmatic formula “one God in three Persons” . . . was the product of three centuries of doctrinal development. **

** New Catholic Encyclopedia 1967, s.v. “Trinity, Holy.”

The old adversary was hard at work especially after all of the original apostles fell asleep. The one thing he didn’t count on was someone like me who sits here and propounds the truth every time I sit at this computer and begin a new teaching. I am trying to get someone to rise up and take a stand and not be moved no matter what the world does or says or tries to do to you. We are to love one another and that means to give expecting nothing back in return. To me, it’s a lot of fun. I hate the enemy more than you can possibly imagine. He has done everything possible to make my life miserable, but God always crushes his face at just at the right time and He’ll do the same for you. Then, like myself, you will begin to experience the more than abundant life.

I have a whole textbook on the subject above, but I think I’ve made my point enough so that you can believe what is written. Those words in I John, chapter 5 were added by the translators to propound the counterfeit doctrine of the Trinity.

As far as I remember, we have only covered four different sections or subjects of difficult Scriptures. So why don’t we do a part two on Handling Difficult Scriptures? Let’s do that. God Bless You in the powerful name of our risen Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

[ END OF PART ONE ]

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