Is the Bible the Word of God and Does it Have Authority?

by Mike Ratliff

12 There is a way which seems right to a man,
But its end is the way of death. Proverbs 14:12 (LSB) 

Several yeas ago  I posted “Is there a war going on between God and His forces on one side and Satan and his forces on the other?” In that post I mentioned a link sent to me by a friend to a post on another blog called The Emergent Village. On that blog I could not help noticing a link to another post by another writer there titled “The Bible is NOT the WORD OF GOD: a polemic against Christendom“. What that fellow had to say is the centerpiece of “Christian Liberalism.” Denying The Bible as the Word of God, a gift from God to His people is the first step into apostasy. Once that step is taken all other truths are no longer held as absolute.

Without that God-given anchor into His absolute truth all else is up for grabs. Those like the fellow who wrote that article and those who agree with him are those who also have a problem with what Orthodox Christianity holds as the gospel, the sovereignty of God, election, the exclusivity of genuine discipleship, et cetera. Because of this “liberalism” they also force a man-centered perspective on God’s Word in one form or another. These same people lean towards a form of Christianity that is almost all experiential. Since their view of how the gospel works and how God works with Man is wrongly focused and the Word of God contains clear teachings about the sovereignty of God, these people conceive of their entire “Christian” paradigm from a philosophical and existential base rather than on the authority of Sacred Scripture. They have to do this since they deny that what we call Sacred Scripture has any authority.

Our Lord’s 4 witnesses to His deity

by Mike Ratliff

30 Οὐ δύναμαι ἐγὼ ποιεῖν ἀπʼ ἐμαυτοῦ οὐδέν· καθὼς ἀκούω κρίνω, καὶ ἡ κρίσις ἡ ἐμὴ δικαία ἐστίν, * ὅτι οὐ ζητῶ τὸ θέλημα τὸ ἐμὸν ἀλλὰ τὸ θέλημα τοῦ πέμψαντός με. John 5:30 (NA28)

30 “I am not able to do from myself. As I hear I judge and my judgment is just because I do not seek my will but the will of the one who sent me.” John 5:30 (translated from the NA28 Greek text)

Our Lord Jesus Christ, as the Apostle John said in John 1:1-5, “Ἐν ἀρχῇ ἦν ὁ λόγος, καὶ ὁ λόγος ἦν πρὸς τὸν θεόν, καὶ θεὸς ἦν ὁ λόγος. οὗτος ἦν ἐν ἀρχῇ πρὸς τὸν θεόν.  πάντα δι᾽ αὐτοῦ ἐγένετο, καὶ χωρὶς αὐτοῦ ἐγένετο οὐδὲ ἕν. ὃ γέγονεν ἐν αὐτῷ ζωὴ ἦν, καὶ ἡ ζωὴ ἦν τὸ φῶς τῶν ἀνθρώπων·  καὶ τὸ φῶς ἐν τῇ σκοτίᾳ φαίνει, καὶ ἡ σκοτία αὐτὸ οὐ κατέλαβεν.”, and in v14, “Καὶ ὁ λόγος σὰρξ ἐγένετο καὶ ἐσκήνωσεν ἐν ἡμῖν, καὶ ἐθεασάμεθα τὴν δόξαν αὐτοῦ, δόξαν ὡς μονογενοῦς παρὰ πατρός, πλήρης χάριτος καὶ ἀληθείας.”, translated as, “In the Beginning was the word and the Word was with God and God was the Word. This one was with God in the Beginning. All things came to be through him and without him not one thing came to be which came into being. In him was life and the life was the light of men and the light shines in the darkness and the darkness did not grasp it.” and in v14, “And the Word became flesh and tabernacled among us and we gazed upon his glory, glory as of the only one from the Father, full of grace and truth.” Our Lord Jesus Christ, being God the Son, the second person in the Holy Trinity became flesh and “tabernacled” among us. The Gospel of John was written by the Apostle as a “witness” of our Lord’s incarnation and is without a doubt the most profound exposition of Jesus as both God and man. 

The Authority of Scripture

by Mike Ratliff

12 There is a way which seems right to a man,
But its end is the way of death. Proverbs 14:12 (NASB) 

I have yet to encounter a person who has a problem with the gospel, the sovereignty of God, election, the exclusivity of genuine discipleship, et cetera who does not also force a man-centered perspective on God’s Word in one form or another. These same people lean towards a form of Christianity that is almost all experiential. Since their view of how the gospel works and how God works with Man is wrongly focused and the Word of God contains clear teachings about the sovereignty of God, these people conceive of their entire “Christian” paradigm from a philosophical and existential base rather than on the authority of Sacred Scripture.

There is a way which seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death

by Mike Ratliff

12 There is a way which seems right to a man,
But its end is the way of death. Proverbs 14:12 (NASB) 

I have yet to encounter a person who has a problem with the gospel, the sovereignty of God, election, the exclusivity of genuine discipleship, et cetera who does not also force a man-centered perspective on God’s Word in one form or another. These same people lean towards a form of Christianity that is almost all experiential. Since their view of how the gospel works and how God works with Man is wrongly focused and the Word of God contains clear teachings about the sovereignty of God, these people conceive of their entire “Christian” paradigm from a philosophical and existential base rather than on the authority of Sacred Scripture.

The Authority of Sacred Scripture

by Mike Ratliff

12 There is a way which seems right to a man, But its end is the way of death.  (Proverbs 14:12 NASB) 

I have yet to encounter a person who has a problem with the genuine, biblical gospel, or the sovereignty of God, or election, or the exclusivity of genuine discipleship, et cetera who does not also force a man-centered perspective on God’s Word in one form or another. These same people lean towards a form of Christianity that is almost all experiential. Since their view of how the gospel works and how God works with Man is wrongly focused and the Word of God contains clear teachings about the sovereignty of God, these people conceive of their entire “Christian” paradigm from a philosophical and existential base rather than on the authority of Sacred Scripture.

The Fruit of Compromise

My friend Chris Rosebrough sent a link to the video below to our CRN discussion group today. I have long ago ceased being surprised by these examples of apostasy. The person doing most of the talking in the video is Andy Stanley and, as we have discussed in other posts, he has shown over and over again that he is a leader in what has come to known as the “New Evangelism.” Listen very carefully to what he says about the Word of God in this video and the “reason” he uses to discount it as having any authority in the Church. I have downloaded the video from Youtube so if it is removed from there I still have it. The comments there were pretty much what I expected. Those who support Stanley as their “teacher” whom they have gathered to tickle their itching ears come up with all sorts of arguments to try to explain away what he says, but there are plenty of others who are “aghast” and “disappointed,” et cetera. As I said, this in no way surprised me except that he actually said this publicly. Please watch the video with all discernment.

The Youtube video previously here was pulled. However I did save it so here is the link.

Update: The Rocket Company, which owns the rights to that video, which also had it pulled from Youtube, has asked me to pull the video from this post citing CopyRight laws. I have pulled the link to the video from this post.

Soli Deo Gloria!

Witnesses to the Deity of Jesus Christ

by Mike Ratliff

30 Οὐ δύναμαι ἐγὼ ποιεῖν ἀπ᾽ ἐμαυτοῦ οὐδέν· καθὼς ἀκούω κρίνω, καὶ ἡ κρίσις ἡ ἐμὴ δικαία ἐστίν, ὅτι οὐ ζητῶ τὸ θέλημα τὸ ἐμὸν ἀλλὰ τὸ θέλημα τοῦ πέμψαντός με. (John 5:30 NA27)

³⁰ “I am not able to do from myself. As I hear I judge and my judgment is just because I do not seek my will but the will of the one who sent me.” (John 5:30 a personal translation from the NA27 Greek text)

Our Lord Jesus Christ, as the Apostle John said in John 1:1-5, “Ἐν ἀρχῇ ἦν ὁ λόγος, καὶ ὁ λόγος ἦν πρὸς τὸν θεόν, καὶ θεὸς ἦν ὁ λόγος. οὗτος ἦν ἐν ἀρχῇ πρὸς τὸν θεόν.  πάντα δι᾽ αὐτοῦ ἐγένετο, καὶ χωρὶς αὐτοῦ ἐγένετο οὐδὲ ἕν. ὃ γέγονεν ἐν αὐτῷ ζωὴ ἦν, καὶ ἡ ζωὴ ἦν τὸ φῶς τῶν ἀνθρώπων·  καὶ τὸ φῶς ἐν τῇ σκοτίᾳ φαίνει, καὶ ἡ σκοτία αὐτὸ οὐ κατέλαβεν.”, and in v14, “Καὶ ὁ λόγος σὰρξ ἐγένετο καὶ ἐσκήνωσεν ἐν ἡμῖν, καὶ ἐθεασάμεθα τὴν δόξαν αὐτοῦ, δόξαν ὡς μονογενοῦς παρὰ πατρός, πλήρης χάριτος καὶ ἀληθείας.”, translated as, “In the Beginning was the word and the Word was with God and God was the Word. This one was with God in the Beginning. All things came to be through him and without him not one thing came to be which came into being. In him was life and the life was the light of men and the light shines in the darkness and the darkness did not grasp it.” and in v14, “And the Word became flesh and tabernacled among us and we gazed upon his glory, glory as of the only one from the Father, full of grace and truth.” Our Lord Jesus Christ, being God the Son, the second person in the Holy Trinity became flesh and “tabernacled” among us. The Gospel of John was written by the Apostle as a “witness” of our Lord’s incarnation and is without a doubt the most profound exposition of Jesus as both God and man. 

Unquestionable Authority

I have spent much of my time this afternoon participating in a “discussion” on another forum replying to and questioning Richard Abanes about his defense of Rick Warren and the Purpose Driven Church model, et cetera. Well guess what? Nothing has changed. The defense has not changed its focus one iota. No matter how many times we point out the unbiblical aspects of the Purpose Driven Church model or the missing pieces of the Purpose Driven version of the gospel, the answer is always the same, “So What? That is just your opinion! You are trying to define the gospel differently than Rick understands it. So what if Rick leaves out the details of the gospel, it is still the gospel.” I could go on.

The Divine Foundation of Authority

Because of the content of our last couple of posts, which I wrote in response to some allegations by Chris Lyons that Ken Silva, Ingrid Schlueter, and all contributors to Christian Research Network and Slice of Laodicia were the “Synagogue of Satan,” we received responses from Mr. Lyons and his friends, which revealed much about a common problem in the Church today. That problem is one of authority. We all naturally function as if we are the summation of authority. We are right and they are wrong. My understanding of this is correct, yours is wrong. I accuse you based upon this understanding and you can very easily turn that around and accuse me on the inverse of the basis of my accusation. The issue is authority. You see, none of us are the source of ultimate truth. That resides only with God and we have His truth given to us in His Word. Therefore, it is futile to have these “discussions” based upon our own authority. As Martin Luther said, “Unless I am convinced by sacred Scripture or by evident reason, I cannot recant because my conscience is held captive by the Word of God, and to act against conscience is neither right nor safe…” The authority that defines our faith is not contained in our own conceptualization, but in God alone.