Category: Spiritual Discernment

God’s Truth versus Men’s Traditions [1, 2]

“Well hath Esaias prophesied of you hypocrites, as it is written, This people honoureth me with their lips, but their heart is far from me. Howbeit in vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men. For laying aside the commandment of God, ye hold the tradition of men . . .”  Emphasis added, Jesus, quoting Isaiah 29:13 in Mark 7:6-8, KJV

The Jews and “the Oracles of God”
Amidst all the spiritual chaos in the world, ancient and modern, arising from mystics claiming that God has revealed “this or that” to them, the Lord committed His “oracles” to the Jews. After indicting the Jews for having lived hypocritically under the Law, the Apostle Paul rhetorically asked, “What advantage has the Jew?” He then answered, “Great in every respect” because “they were entrusted with the oracles [Greek, ta logia] of God” (Romans 3:1-2, NASB). Click here to continue reading

Do people really see Jesus today?
“Jesus said to him, ‘Thomas, because you have seen Me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed’.” John 20:29

Now and then, people claim to have physical sightings of, close encounters with, and mystical visions of Jesus. Once upon a time, evangelist Oral Roberts saw Him.

I felt an overwhelming holy presence all around me. When I opened my eyes, there he stood-some 900 feet tall, looking at me. . . . He stood a full 300 feet taller than the 600-foot-tall City of Faith. There I was face to face with Jesus Christ, the Son of the living God.[1]

Once upon a time, Jesus visited a Texas man in an Oklahoma motel room. “He looked like his picture,” said George Wood, “but when you’re talking to the man for three hours, you forget the details.”[2]

Another person reports her visionary experience. Click here to continue reading

A study of 1 Thessalonians 5:19.

“Do not quench the Spirit; do not despise prophetic utterances.” 1 Thessalonians 5:19-20, NASB

In The Bible the work of the Holy Spirit is sometimes likened to fire (See Isaiah 4:4; Revelation 4:5.). On the Day of Pentecost when the Spirit came in His fullness upon the believers who waited, “there came a noise like a violent rushing wind, and it filled the whole house . . . And there appeared to them tongues as of fire . . .” (Acts 2:2-3).

Fire has many uses in life. It provides warmth in the winter. It allows for the preparation of food, or driving an automobile. In fact, fire is essential to life. Without the continual burning of the sun, earth, as we know it, would die a cold death. So when the “tongues as of fire” appeared on the believers that first Pentecost, that event indicated that the sovereign God was infusing into the church new life from above. Click here to continue reading

A Grammatical Analysis of Genesis 6:4 over the Question,
Were the Daughters of Adam Impregnated with Nephilim by the  Sons of God?

The Nephilim were on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when [or because] the sons of God came in to the daughters of men, and they bore children to them. Those were the mighty men who were of old, men of renown.
Emphasis added, Genesis 6:4, NASB

The Scenario
Before presenting a grammatical study of Genesis 6 verse 4, allow the explanation of some background as to why this study is being presented now. As readers of the Herescope blog may be aware, those espousing a new prophetic paradigm assert that at present, the human gene pool is being corrupted for reason of the invasion of extraterrestrial beings that are cohabitating with human women, resulting in the birthing of a mutant species of creature, part human and part supernatural. Click here to continue reading

An interaction with issues raised by a Roman Catholic film.

For truly I say to you, if you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, “Move from here to there,” and it will move; and nothing will be impossible to you’.
—Jesus, Matthew 17:20b

Little Boy: Believe the Impossible, produced by Metanoia films (the biblical word metanoia means to change one’s mind or repentance, or perhaps in this instance, beyond the mind), tells the story of a young boy, Pepper Flynt Busbee, upon whom psychokinetic power was bestowed to work miracles of faith, even shake mountains. Despite being bullied by other kids, the “little boy” believed the impossible. By believing in the power of faith without doubting he was not only able to perform supernatural feats that astonished the townspeople, but also bring his father and best friend, James Busbee, back from the battlefields and perils of World War II. Click here to continue reading

A Biblical & Theological Rejection of Wm. Paul Young’s
book, “Lies We Believe About God” (First in a series.)

But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction.
—The Apostle Peter, 2 Peter 2:1, KJV

Introduction
As promoted by the best-selling religious allegory The Shack, a non-Christian worldview is playing around with the mind and soul of evangelicalism even to questioning of salvation’s meaning. With the release of the movie by the same name, The Shack’s verbal images are now being visualized. Contemporaneously and capitalizing upon the publicity generated by the movie, yet another book by Wm. Paul Young has hit the market, Lies We Believe About God. [1] What Young covertly taught by allegory and metaphor in The Shack he now overtly teaches in Lies—teachings among others, regarding God, humanity, love, and salvation. Though Click here to continue reading

A Biblical & Theological Rejection of Wm. Paul Young’s
 book, “Lies We Believe About God” (Second in a series.)

Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation [“a matter of one’s own interpretation,” NASB]. For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.
—The Apostle Peter, 2 Peter 1:20-21

The Book’s Audience

Note the book’s title, Lies we believe about God. Though he may previously have believed “truths” he now labels “lies,” the book’s contents indicate Young no longer believes the lies he claims to expose. The use of the personal pronoun “we” in the title is therefore disingenuous, but designed to get readers to identify with his faith-struggle and reject what he believes are lies about God (Twenty-eight of them!). In other words, he might not be as “one” with all his readers as the use of “we” in the title implies, unless they too believe the lies. Click here to continue reading

A Biblical & Theological Rejection of Wm. Paul Young’s
 book, “Lies We Believe About God” (Third in a series.)

“Thus saith the Lord of hosts, Hearken not unto the words of the prophets that prophesy unto you: they make you vain: they speak a vision of their own heart, and not out of the mouth of the Lord. They say still unto them that despise me, The Lord hath said, Ye shall have peace; and they say unto every one that walketh after the imagination of his own heart, No evil shall come upon you.”
—Emphasis added, Jeremiah 23:16-17

A Review of the Book’s Chapters

The Book’s Foreword, Introduction and Chapters 1-14

We turn now to review each chapter of Lies We Believe About God. The reviews will include a summary of Young’s belief, citation(s) of Scripture which contradict or confirm the author’s beliefs, and my personal comments for purpose of clarification. Click here to continue reading