Iron hurts

Proverbs tells us that iron sharpens iron. Here's my thought for this lunch-time (this is neat, actually, it's lunch-time right now and I'm thinking, and writing it down - like the way it was originally supposed to be!). Iron hurts!

Yeah, if you want to get sharp as a Christian, you'll only get sharpened if you go up against something that hurts. We (you, with your comments and I, with my post) mentioned yesterday men that will push people. They will not allow you to follow along the status quo, but will make your life uncomfortable if you're trying to take the easy street.

As experience shows us, this method of sharpening works! It's almost like God knew what He was writing about in Proverbs! But the real question we should be thinking about is this: How come we don't want to be that iron that sharpens others? Is it because we don't want others to hate us? Because, frankly, experience also teaches us that often people don't like "Iron." Quit you like men, do all things with charity, but Iron hurts!

KJV-Only: Reason # 1

The King James Bible is the perfect, inerrant, accurate, inspired and glorifed word of God in the English language. I believe that to be true.

• Perfect = free from defect and complete in the source/texts from which it was translated
• Inerrant = there are no "mistakes," "mistranslations," "bad renderings," "careless oversights..."
• Accurate = it is a perfectly accurate translation of the word of God from the original languages
• Inspired = in that the original autographs were inspired by God, and subsequently they were preserved by God, a perfectly accurate tranlsation of the inspired word of God, makes it an Inspired word of God as well, in the English language.
• Glorified = inasmuch as we give it the glory that it is due - by reading, meditating and obeying (the text above is 2 Thessalonians 3:1, speaking of the word of the Lord being glorified)

That's my stance on the King James Version. You really have to take some kind of stance on the issue, because the King James is different than the "other translation." I call it the "other translation" because all of the rest could really be lumped into one - there are exceptions, but the generalization is strong. It is the King James Bible vs. the rest of them. (For fairness sake, you could divide the other translation into two: literal translation vs. paraphrase/dynamic equivalence translation).

I have to clarify, before continuing, the issue: The King James translation was translated from a different set of original language texts than the rest of the versions were. Therefore, the other translation will have verses and phrases that are not found in them, because the texts they translated from did not have those verses and phrases in them. Sometimes, the translation will be different just because the translators of the other translation thought it would be better that way. It is NOT an issue of: "they just updated the language..." That just simply is not the case, yet I suppose that phrase would be the understanding of the vast majority of what Christianity thinks of when they hear of this issue.

I would like to share with you reasons that I, Andy Hinds, happen to hold this position on the King James Version.

Reason #1: Because a man of God challenged me on the issue when I spued my ignorant challenges against it.

I didn't say I was going to give you the best reasons, or the most conclusive reasons first. But the number one reason that I, Andy Hinds, believe the King James Bible to be the perfect, inerrant, accurate, inspired and glorifed word of God in the English language, is because Rick (who needs no introduction) held his ground against my charges of, "oh, that's not fair that the Spanish doesn't have a KJV." and: "Oh, where was the perfect word of God before 1611," and "Oh, why can't we just update the language - the KJV is so old!" and other such things. Rick left me one night after Bible study with a piece of wisdom: "I'm not going to convince you of this, you'll have to be fully persuaded in your own mind." Rick realized my stubbornness and pride, and realized that even if he won the argument, he wasn't going to win me... Anyway, he challenged me to look into it for myself - and I did!

Those next few weeks I had spent hours upon hours studying the issue. I was self-employed at the time and could easily move around my schedule, so I was spending many, many late nights up in my office reading books and browing pages on the Internet. A few weeks later, as I was going to be presenting the results of my study to our Home Bible Study, Rick asked me how long I had spent on studying and preparing. The answer I gave him, after figuring it out in my head, was about 80 hours - and that was even without the Baptist round-up!

The study showed me my ignorance of the subject, but more importantly than that, MUCH more importantly than that, during the process of studying out different changes made between the KJV and the other translation, I started realizing that I hardly knew my Bible at all - that there are things in the Bible, important things, that I really had no clue about! Throughout those couple weeks of me diving into my Bible head first, God used that to get a hold of me. Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. I really started to fall in love with my Bible - my King James Bible!

Thanks again, Rick! (Yeah, I know he doesn't read this blog - but it's the thought that counts!)

... and a reminder: This is Missionary Prayer Meeting week

Father's Day

Happy Father's Day - almost!

Honor thy Father... The first commandment that has a promise attached to it. That's kind of exciting. I think this Father's Day (like all), we should really try to focus on honoring our fathers - pretty deep, huh?

I was thinking about 'fathers' in the Bible, and realized that we as Christians can be classified as being children of three different fathers. Hopefully everybody reading has been adopted OUT from the family of Satan to which we by nature are born. In John 8:44 Jesus clarifies that to the Pharisees that they were of their father the devil. 1 John 3 also identifies those that are the children of the devil - see vs. 10.

The first father I thought of was the father of our flesh, Adam. Adam, being the very first man, is the father of us all. Genesis 5:1 begins the story of the "generations of Adam." Adam was made in God's image, but Seth (Adam's third son) is said to be made in Adam's image (Gen 5:3). So, whereas Adam was born a son of God (see Luke 3 something), we are born sons of Adam. Now, we are told to honor our father after the flesh - our Adam. The thing is, Adam was a sinner. After the Fall in Genesis 3, just about all we know about Adam was that he had more children. And then, we only know the names of 3 of them. Yet, God still tells us to honor our fathers. The TV today makes out dads to be these bumbling idiots (which I confess, at times, I fit the mold that they make). However, regardless of the wisdom or idiocy of fathers, the commandment is to Honor them. 1 John speaks of a man that claims to love God that does not love his brethren. We can take that and apply it to our fathers as well. If I say I honor God whom I can't see, but don't honor my father who I can, I'm deceived. We can honor them by: Obeying (Eph. 6:1); Having Wisdom (Prov 10:1; 15:20); Speaking only good about him (Matthew 15:4)

The second father I thought of was the father of our faith, Abraham. Romans 4 tells us that Abraham is the father of all of us that have faith like he did. It makes me wonder about guys like Noah. If Abraham is the father of our faith, what was Noah and Enoch, etc. Anyway... how would we honor the father of our faith? Well, we could look at Romans 4:17-21 and follow his example of: Hearing the call of God (we do that in Scripture), by following God even when the call seemed ridiculous, by not considering our own flesh when listening to God, and by realizing Who it is we are to follow!

The third Father I thought of was the Father of all. (Ha! You all thought I was going to alliterate didn't you!) Again, the assumption is that you reading this have been born again, born into God's family. Not everybody is a child of God as we saw in John 8 and 1 John 3 (you know, John, the "love" apostle). We are commanded to honor our fathers as concerning the flesh, but God pleads with His people in Malachi 1:6: "A son honoureth his father, and a servant his master: if then I be a father, where is mine honour?..." We can honor God in the same ways we honor our fathers of the flesh: Obeying (if you love me, keep my commandments); being wise; speaking only good about Him! We are not to take the name of our God, calling ourselves Christian, and take it in vain. We need to represent well the God for Whom we are ambassadors. This Father's Day, I hope we don't neglect honoring our fathers of the flesh, but even more importantly, we need to honor "Our Father which art in Heaven."

"Now unto the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God, be honour
and glory for ever and ever. Amen." (1 Timothy 1:17)

Forgive me for the length of this post, but I had some free time at home yesterday!

Go back...

My apologies for all of you faithful blog readers... I went in to work this morning at 7, and after having thrown up a couple of times there, I came back home. I have been asleep since 9, and just woke up at 2:30...

Anyway, I think the best thing to do for today would be to have you all go back and read yesterday's post again - Blessed be the name of the Lord!

Perfection of God's Attributes

We all know some of the attributes of God. He is holy. He is merciful and gracious. He is love. He is sovereign. He is strong. He is true.

Some of those attributes I think we can grasp to some extent. While others are beyond our comprehension. I was thinking about Romans 3:26 a little bit and I'm sure I've heard this idea before and didn't come up with it myself (every "new" thought that I think I've had, I'm pretty sure came from somewhere else anyway - another new revelation for me). But, I was thinking about how God is not: Part holy, part merciful and gracious, part love, part sovereign, part strong, part true. He is not a part of each of His attributes, yet He is completely and perfectly all of those things.

God is perfectly, completely Holy
God is perfectly, completely Merciful
God is perfectly, completely Sovereign
God is perfectly, completely Wise...

God is not true in one place and then not true in another. He does not demonstrate wisdom in one stage and act unwisely elsewhere. He is not in control of one situation, and not all of them. But this Perfection of God's Attributes can cause contradiction in our minds.

For example: Since God is perfectly just, then all of mankind should be going to hell, for all have sinned. If God, in His mercy, just lets someone off of the hook, then He ceases to be just. That is, it is not just to let a criminal get off without consequences. He would be showing Himself merciful in that situation but not just. The opposite would also be true.

Thankfully, this particular difficulty is answered most plainly in the Bible - by Jesus Christ. That's what Romans 3:25-26 is saying. God executed justice for man in the propitiatory sacrifice of Jesus Christ. He continues to be just, while at the same time He demonstrated His graciousness in justifying those that have faith in Jesus' blood - that He might be just, and the justifier of him that believeth in Jesus! Hallelujah!

There are other difficulties that the perfection of God's attributes can cause to man:

• God is perfectly Sovereign, yet He is also perfectly Holy - which to me says that He is completely in control, but yet He will not cause sin to happen or He would violate His holiness. (This is not to say that He won't use man's sins for His purposes at times.)


• God is perfectly Strong, yet He is perfectly Longsuffering - He could right now finish this world's battle with Satan (I like to emphasize here, that God is not at war with, or in a contest against Satan - there's no contest there! The world and Christians have a contest with him.) He could end the battle against sin right now, but He is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish. His perfect longsuffering and forbearance cause Him to hold back His perfect strength so that man would come to repentance (Rom 2:4; 2 Pet 3:9)

What a God!

Deuteronomy 32:3-4: "Because I will publish the name of the LORD: ascribe ye greatness unto our God. He is the Rock, his work is perfect: for all his ways are judgment: a God of truth and without iniquity, just and right is he."

To the praise of the glory of His grace! eph.one.six

Pray for Famine

Michael Barone (missionary to Italy: www.GospelToItaly.com) preached a great message out of the book of James yesterday. He usually preaches great messages... But, it was on Elijah (Elias in the Greek) and how he prayed and the rain came back after the 3 1/2 years famine. Those of you that know the story know that I am leaving the first part of it out. Elijah first prayed that God would stop the rain - Elijah prayed for a famine... In the land he lived in... He was willing to do whatever it took to get the job done.


Last week I wrote on how God's people need to pray for healing in the land. That it is HIS people that need to humble themselves and pray. Well, I realized part of what should be prayed for - I don't say that this is all that should be prayed for, but part. Maybe we ought to be praying for a famine. It's much easier to say this than to actually mean it. But Israel was in a spiritually wicked state, and when the rain came back, the people were ready to return to the Lord - though, I have to admit that the whole calling fire down from Heaven had a big part in that!


My point: Perhaps if God would just chastize this nation some - we would be able to be spared from whatever else could come this way. Still remembering: This world is not my home, I'm just a passing through.


So, maybe we should start a new band: Pray For Famine... Or maybe: PrayForFamine.com anyone?

Long Life

I know the Bible says that it is, but is Long Life really a blessing? (Yes, I know the Bible is right, just hear me out. I don't want the facts to get in the way of a good story.)


The phrase "long life" is found 4 times in the Bible. Twice it was God praising Solomon for not having asked for it. Once it is found to be the result of not forgetting the law and keeping the commandments - Proverbs 3:2. And once it is given as a means of satisfaction for the man that calls upon the Lord - Psalm 91:16 (perhaps a prophecy referring to Christ cf. Ps. 91:11-12). Interestingly enough, they are all Old Testament references.


I'm thining about Long Life right now as today is the sad day that I turn "old." By the way, 15 years ago on this day, which is half a life ago for me, my family went to Guatemala. And in my old age, I counted in the mirror about 6 gray hairs on the right side of my head and 2 on my left. That proves conclusively that the "right" has much more wisdom than the "left."


Here's my thought - I'm told the average lifespan in America in 1900 was about 47 years old. Today it is about 30 years more than that. In Zambia, they say the average life span is about 35 year old, I think it was. Both of those peoples are/were more familiar with death than we are today. In America the average livespan is more than twice that of Zambia, and about 30 years longer than in 1900.


Here's what I think happens as we live longer:

1) I think we get more comfortable as 'pilgrims' here on earth. That is, if you go to a foreign country, like, say, Guatemala, and you visit there for a couple of weeks. You will not get to the point where you are 'comfortable' in that country - unless you have a guide that is taking care of you and leading through all the different facets of life there that you are unfamiliar with. Now, after a while (maybe a long while), you will eventually get comfortable with the way of life in Guatemala.


Well, we, as Christians, are pilgrims, strangers, seeking a city not made with hands! We are fellowcitizens with the saints and of the household of God. When we trusted in the name of Jesus, we were put into this state of foreign-citizenship. However, some of us have gotten to know some really good guides in this world. That is we have been following some of the worlds' guides around for a while, and they have made our life in this foreign civilization much more comfortable to us - and we, unfortunately, are happy about this. However, with having longer lives now, even if we stay away from some of those guides, it becomes easier to conform to this world and get comfortable with it. It does not mean that all old people become worldly, but the more time you spend here, the harder it can become to maintain faithful allegiance to your home-country.

2) Secondly, the longer we are here on this earth, we become more focused on the things in front of us. In 1900 and in Zambia, death was a much more of a reality than it is to me. For example, I have lived for 30 years now, and in my life, I have lost 2 grandpa's. I have not had any real close friends that have died, or siblings, or children (other than while still in the womb), or parents. To me and in my experiences, death is still something that happens to other people. The people that I know that have lost someone close to them all seem to have a much better focus on what really matters - they see this life as just a blimp on the whole scheme of eternity. People in a society with a shorter average lifespan, and therefore more accustomed to death around them, recognize better the brevity of life. Unrelated, I wonder though what Adam's & Eve's reactions were when they found out about Abel...


Paul, was in a straight betwixt two, having a desire to depart and be with the Lord, which is far better! But to abide in the flesh was more needful for the Philippians. Maybe because he was so close to death so often (and even died once?) that he was ready to go! Maybe he knew that the "light affliction" was but for a moment. It's true that our lives are just 'vapors' but some vapors are longer than others!

For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more
exceeding and eternal weight of glory; While we look not at the things which are
seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are
temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal. (2 Corinthians 4:17-18)

”Consume my life, my God, for it is thine. I seek not a long life, but a full one like Yours, Lord Jesus.” - Jim Elliot