Living Waters from Difficult Passages

By Thomas Moore

This book is an unforgettable journey that is a must read for every believer. As the days grow darker it is essential everyone who desires to live for Jesus, understand the difference between Churchianity and Christianity. This book clears a path through the religious jungle, and clearly identifies the Way of Salvation. This necessarily involves the full extraction of the common religious practice of tithing from Christian doctrine.
What is this book about? It is about everything that pertains to Godliness, and everything that frustrates Godliness. It is about growing in Christ and blossoming in faith, as well as dying to pride and rejecting the world. We are shown the difference between the treasures of Grace and the treasures of the world as we learn a new appreciation for our Lord Jesus Christ and all He won on the cross for us. This book is a guide to spiritual maturity where we learn to say along with John the Baptist,
He must increase, but I must decrease. (John 3:30 KJV)
Something involved in these issues is dealing with questions that have plagued many believers about how Malachi 3:8-11 has been taught to them:
Am I really cursed as a robber of God for failing to pay my tithes?
Will I really open up new Heavenly windows of blessing by faithfully paying my tithes?
The answers to these questions involve all the schools of systematic theology which requires a deep thorough inspection into the contents of the Gospel of Grace, the plan of salvation, and the Priesthood of Christ

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse
• Release date: Nov 14, 2019
• ISBN: 9781728335926

Thomas Moore

Thomas Moore is the author of the bestselling Care of the Soul and twenty other books on spirituality and depth psychology that have been translated into thirty languages. He has been practicing depth psychotherapy for thirty-five years. He lectures and gives workshops in several countries on depth spirituality, soulful medicine, and psychotherapy. He has been a monk and a university professor, and is a consultant for organizations and spiritual leaders. He has often been on television and radio, most recently on Oprah Winfrey’s Super Soul Sunday.

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© 2019 Thomas Moore. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

Published by AuthorHouse 11/14/2019

ISBN: 978-1-7283-3593-3 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-7283-3591-9 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-7283-3592-6 (e)

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models,

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Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Scripture quotations marked (ESV) are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version, Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked (LEB) are from the Lexham English Bible. Copyright © 2012 Logos Bible Software. Lexham is a registered trademark of Logos Bible Software.

Scriptures in Greek marked STR refer to Scrivener’s Textus Receptus (1894) Greek Text of the New Testament from the e-sword.net © 2000-2016 Rick Meyers.

Scriptures marked BB are from the Bishop’s Bible (1568) used from the e-sword.net © 2000-2016 Rick Meyers.

Scriptures marked DB are from the Darby Bible (1889) used from the e-sword.net © 2000-2016 Rick Meyers.

Scriptures marked GB are from the Geneva Bible (1587) used from the e-sword.net © 2000-2016 Rick Meyers.

Scriptures marked KJV are from the King James Version of the Bible (authorized version) used from the e-sword.net © 2000-2016 Rick Meyers.

Scriptures marked KJVB are from the King James Version Bible (1611) used from the e-sword.net © 2000-2016 Rick Meyers.

All scripture quotations are taken from the English Standard Bible unless otherwise indicated.

The Holy Bible, English Standard Version, Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

CONTENTS

Dedication

Vincit Veritas

Preface

Abbreviations

1 Hiking to the Waters

2 Religion vs. Relationship

3 Malachi 3:8-11 Examined

4 Romans 4:6-8; & Psalms 32:2.

5 Genesis 14:20 Logistics

6 Genesis 14:20

7 Hebrews 7:2

8 Psalms 110:4 & Hebrews 5:6, 10

9 Matthew 5:17

10 Romans 2:13

11 John 1:17

12 Matthew 5:19

13 Matthew 17:24-27

14 Mark 7:6-12

15 Luke 11:38-42

16 Romans 4:17

17 Hebrews 11:6

Tools of Gold

Sources Cited

Bible Sources

About the Author

A very special thanks to my wife Gayle

for fixing me great lunches so I could keep working, as well as all the

encouragement, helpful insights and suggestions

that have helped me complete this work.

This work would not have been possible without you.

Thank you and I Love you! <3

As the days grow darker,

It is essential that everyone who desires to live for Jesus, understand the difference between

Churchianity and Christianity.

This book clears a path through the religious jungle, and clearly identifies the Way of Salvation.

This necessarily involves the full extraction of the common religious practice of tithing from Christian doctrine.

Dedicated to:

εκκλησια θεου ζωντος στυλος και εδραιωμα της αληθειας.

( 67502.png III:XV B Scrivener’s Textus Receptus)

…the church of the living God, a pillar and buttress of the truth.

(Timothy 3:15b English Standard Version)

As our Lord prayed:

αγιασον αυτους εν τη αληθεια σου ο λογος ο σος αληθεια εστιν

( 67504.png XVII:XVII Scrivener’s Textus Receptus)

Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth.

(John 17:17 English Standard Version)

VINCIT VERITAS

The day is coming,

And is almost here,

When those who see,

Will hope for total blindness,

And those who have ears,

Will find them filled only

With the screams of their own torment.

As the Blood of God’s only begotten Son,

Is found staining their hands,

Instead of their heart.

Those who traverse a fallen world

Must fill their eyes with His Word,

And fill their ears with silence.

The Spirit and the Bride say come,

Come away my beloved

And walk with me in white.

Thomas Moore, November 2019

PREFACE

This project has been a passion of mine since 1972 when I was serving in the U.S. Navy operating off the coast of Vietnam. I was severely persecuted for being a Jesus Freak, because I refused to join my division in sailor town debauchery. I was inspired by The Cost of Discipleship by Dietrich Bonhoeffer, and spent years listening to cassette tapes of Jack Van Impe. When ported in Long Beach I would visit Calvary Chapel Costa Mesa and attend the Maranatha music nights. One day while off the coast of Vietnam (after three years of constant abuse) some sailors came to me and asked how is it I am always happy since I am constantly suffering beatings and punished with hard labor for being a Christian. I advised them my personal relationship with the Lord Jesus gives a joy stronger than any amount of misery my chain of command can create. These fellow sailors wanted to know how they could have a personal relationship with Jesus like mine. I lead them in the sinners prayer. Soon afterwards many sailors came to me wanting me to lead them to Jesus. In the following three months I led exactly 10% of the crew to the Lord. I am still in touch with a couple of those men.

During my last three months in the Navy I taught Bible lessons on the bow of the ship for those I had led to the Lord. On Sunday I would give a little sermon and we would take communion. The communion consisted of crackers and a U.S. Government version of Kool-Aid (referred to as bug juice since much of the powder you put into the water would swim). Extra protein!

Once a year a U.S. Navy chaplain would board the ship for a week and provide an official Sunday worship service and provide any needed counseling. One day as I was reading my Thompson Chain Reference KJV Bible, I saw some very shiny shoes stop right in front of me with dress blue pants. I looked up, and there was a Commander standing there who was not a member of the crew. I noticed the big gold cross on his sleeve above the three gold bars and knew he was a visiting chaplain. He was very angry because he had heard I was performing sacraments on the bow of the ship without the presence of a priest. I knew right then, this chaplain must be Roman Catholic. I advised him there was indeed a priest there with authority to validate our communion service, because Jesus is the Chief Priest and He said that wherever two or more are gathered in His Name, He is there. Since Jesus was there and He is the Chief High Priest of God, we did so under His watchful authority and permission. The chaplain was furious and he yelled at me I had no right to perform sacraments. After a few loud rebukes to me about flippant disrespect, he left all red faced and in a huff.

I wondered why he wasn’t happy and rejoicing men had been led to faith in Christ who were previously unsaved. Young men have come into the Kingdom of God and all of Heaven is rejoicing. In fact the angels of God behold the joy of the Lord over one sinner who repents (Luke 15:10). If the angels behold God rejoicing, then why isn’t this chaplain rejoicing that salvation has come to 10% of the crew? That is when I began to see the gigantic divergence between church religion and a personal relationship with God through Christ Jesus our Lord.

When I got out of the Navy I dedicated every Friday night to street witnessing and would lead an average of 5 people per night in the sinners prayer. Sometimes 20-30 would pray with me in one evening of witnessing. I would collect names and phone numbers on 3x5 cards and follow up with them. I was successful in bringing some of them to church and the youth group, yet I was extremely disappointed with the ministry the church provided these new converts.

My street witnessing took place in several different cities at different churches, but in each case the church never fed these new believers with truth. They were only becoming familiar with church traditions that involved a large chunk of their spendable income. I had brought them into the local church with the intention of them being taught the Word of God, not being used as an additional source of income for the church. The church hadn’t developed these new converts personal relationship with Jesus, instead they developed a strong dependence upon a personal relationship with the pastor. Their Bible became a devotional while the pastor became their primary source for Bible truth. My purpose for witnessing was to make disciples of the Lord Jesus, and I never meant for this new faith to become a financial burden to them. It is not supposed to be any kind of a burden since serving Jesus is being set free from legalistic minutia.

It became obvious to me the purpose of the Gospel was not in agreement with the purpose of the established church. The new converts and many other believers were not aware of the contrariety that exists between biblical obligations and religious church obligations. The new believers were not being instructed on how to study the Bible or obtaining any education on the main doctrines of Christianity. My new converts were just becoming trained money mules that were being entertained, but not growing in the knowledge or deeper walk with God.

I met with the pastor and told him he must stop teaching the Malachi 3:8-11 passage, and telling them they will be cursed if they do not tithe, because that is not true. The pastor said, you are only 22 years old and I have been in the ministry for 25 years, so what gives you the right to teach me anything? Besides, if Christians knew that they did not have to tithe, they wouldn’t put anything in the offering plate and we would have to close the doors to this church. How would that help God? I told him it would help God because there would be one less false church in the world.

I wanted to explain to my new converts how the tithing doctrine contradicts the primary doctrines of the Bible, but I did not know the doctrines well enough to develop that argument. I put myself to the task to learn everything about the primary doctrines of the Bible so I could explain the difference. In 1975 I began building a theology library which has become quite massive.

Now it is the end of 2019 and I have finished my task of identifying the contrariety between the church practice of tithing and the Gospel. I have studied all the doctrines in great depth and I know exactly how the tithing doctrine from Malachi 3:8-11 stands in hostility to the Gospel of Christ and can explain it in great detail. I have precisely defined where church traditions depart from the truth and exactly what classic doctrines of Christianity are violated. I have also arrived at the reason why a Navy chaplain along with various pastors and elders are irritated when the unsaved give their lives to Jesus through a street witnessing ministry that did not require their assistance.

I have been highly motivated for the past 44 years to produce this work to warn my fellow brothers and sisters that seek to live for the Lord, to beware of church traditions that lead away from the Lord (In fact, believer’s should beware of all church traditions).

Many things that the church proudly claims as church traditions are nothing of the kind. For example, baptisms and sharing in the Lord’s Supper are not Church traditions, those are commands from our Lord Jesus. Jesus is a person, not a tradition or a religion. Obeying Jesus involves faithfulness to Jesus, not to a church tradition. In referring to commands from our Lord as church traditions the established church attempts to steal the devotion that belongs only to Jesus as they try to disenfranchise Jesus while they expand their role in the believer’s life.

Ever since the 3rd century when religion mingled worldly superstitions with Christianity, holiness and grace have progressively become the products of sacraments rather than Blood bought expiation. The depersonalization of Christ into an orthodoxy rather than a living dynamic is one of the many equivocations promoted by the religious church to subtly divert the believer from a path of following Christ to a path that follows religious leaders. Following religious leaders that require your financial support creates a conflict of interest that ends with salvation being for sale.

Alerting the family of God to the evil influences of church religion and church traditions is the motivation behind this book. It is my hope that many who are hungry for more of God will find themselves swimming in an ocean of God’s presence when they abandon religion for a real personal love relationship with God through the Living Savior who is Christ the Lord.

Thomas Moore 2019

ABBREVIATIONS

CHAPTER 1

Hiking to the Waters

Hiking through a pine forest to a waterfall of rushing snowmelt is such a rewarding and uplifting experience you never forget it. The most enjoyable part of any journey is the unexpected treasures you find along the way. We now embark on an adventure through the Scriptures where we do not simply focus on a destination, we enter the word to notice the artistic design that colors every flower, and value every inhabitant that rises to greet us. We will depart the paved trails to hike the rugged terrain into wondrous places we have never seen before.

Hikers many times follow a guide up a steep winding path. They focus on the path to watch where they are walking, and yet it takes the guide to tell everyone to stop and look to their left. When they stop, lift their eyes from the path beneath their feet and look to the left, they are amazed that a break in the dense forest allows an amazing view of a crystal lake beneath them. The still, cool waters reflect the snowcapped mountains like a mirror. They are awestruck with the beauty. They take a deep breath and smell the towering pines around them …Aaaaah! If the guide had not told them to stop and look, they would have missed the most beautiful view they had ever seen.

I challenge the reader then, to put on some hiking boots, grab a strong walking stick and traverse some difficult trails with me that will lead us to the waterfall of cascading Grace. These are not normal waters that clean up the outside of a person, or quench the thirst of their throat. These are the Living Waters that cleanse the soul and quench the soul’s thirst for God.

Instead of just passing through the most amazing truths of Scripture as we proceed to another Scripture, we are going to stop and study our surroundings. I invite the reader on an adventure into the Word of God where we will find access to beauty beyond the imagination. So grab your hat, your walking stick, and prepare yourself for an unforgettable journey.

There are teachings that have wrapped certain passages of Scripture with such confusing rhetoric for so many hundreds of years, that we will need sharp machetes to chop away the overgrown jungle to find the true path again. To untangle the snarl of circumlocution found in the traditionally accepted interpretation of many verses, we will need a compass that points us only toward Jesus. To discover paths to Jesus you never knew were there, come on along with me and prepare to be surprised. We have a long bumpy path full of pitfalls and quick sand, so the reader will have to watch closely as we navigate the challenging path that requires strength and determination. We will eventually arrive at the truth of some interesting Scriptures and be refreshed in a downpour of the abundant Living Waters.

Deep calls to deep at the roar of your waterfalls…

(Psalms 42:7) English Standard Version¹

The reader must be alerted to the fact God is calling to you from the depths of His effulgent splendor and radiant Grace; into a deeply personal love relationship. This call has nothing to do with meritorious religion or legalistic works. God’s depths are calling to the depths of who you are, not just to your mind or intellect. He is calling to your soul. Deep is calling unto deep, and the waterfalls of Living Water that flow from the Word of God will sweep you into His presence if you will come on a journey, out of religion, and into a personal love relationship with your loving and kind father God.

As we depart on our adventurous journey towards the Living Waters we will first have to collect our hiking equipment: some essential theological tools and training. It may make the beginning of our journey a bit dry, but it is just preparation. Do not be disheartened. Your thirst for truth is precious and when you are fully equipped, you will suddenly find yourself in the midst of towering Grace, and a path laced with the flowers of God’s favor.

When you finish the last page of this book, you will have become a theologian in your own right. The first theological tool we need is biblical hermeneutics, and the training to know the difference between eisegesis and exegesis. And so we begin!

Hermeneutics is the science of interpreting Scripture, which provides guidelines that keep the student of the Word within the author’s intended meaning and purpose. Hermeneutics encompasses rules of grammar, common sense, and logic to direct the reader to honest interpretation of Scripture, and offers the tools to expose fallacious interpretations. These rules of hermeneutics relate to any written communication.

A counterfeit dollar bill is hard to recognize unless you are thoroughly acquainted with the real dollar bill. Hermeneutics provides the student of Scriptures the tools to recognize truth when they see it, as only the Bible is authorized to interpret the Bible. An interpretation to a verse cannot be inserted out of a man’s imagination; it must have scriptural support from several other Scriptures.

I recommend the Principles of Biblical Hermeneutics by Edwin J. Hartill, published by Zondervan which is the best book on hermeneutics I have ever found. Hartill maintains the most basic rule of hermeneutics is to read every verse in its context, which involves reading a generous portion of the verses before and after the verses in question. A portion of Scripture must never be referred to as removed from its surrounding verses; that would lead to a false narrative.²

It is essential to every believer who loves God’s Word to become competent in the science of hermeneutics and in the rules of proper exegesis. Jesus warned us in the last days there would be a flood of false teachers who would deceive even the elect if possible (Matthew 24:24). You can detect false teaching only if you have educated yourself in the proper rules of interpretation. You may need to order a book online that teaches you hermeneutics, as local Christian bookstores usually do not carry any books on hermeneutics and you probably won’t find any in the church library.

Bernard Ramm has a fine work on hermeneutics and in his Protestant Biblical Interpretation he writes that no subject of biblical theology has seen such a deplorable lack of literature than biblical hermeneutics. There is no subject as important as the handling of God’s sacred word, and nothing more vital to Christian life than proper interpretation of Scripture, and yet not only are scholarly works on hermeneutics rare, but those available are horribly written and fragmentary nonsense lack any true scholarship.³

You could invite some friends over who also love God’s Word and have some coffee and cookies. Each of you could purchase one or both of the books on hermeneutics that I’ve mentioned and meet one night a week as you gently progress through the book. You can discuss and research every point in your Bible with delightful conversations to which everyone contributes various helpful insights. When you become competent in handling the Word of God yourself, you become aware of teachings that deny the truth of Scripture. You are alerted to tricks false doctrines employ to mislead others, and you become an ambassador of God’s truth. Believe me, there are some bad teachings out there and more ambassadors of truth are desperately needed.

You and your friends will have become rare treasures within the Body of Christ, available to direct others to the truth and to warn them of heresies that subtly lead people away from God. When you meet together, be careful to use an accurate translation of the Scriptures. I recommend one of the following: English Standard Version, New American Standard Bible, The Amplified Bible, Lexham English Bible, New King James Version, King James Version, Christian Standard Bible (Holman Christian Standard Bible, (updated). If you already own a New International Version, or New Revised Standard Version, those are still useful.

Please stay clear of paraphrased and dynamic equivalent Bibles like the Message or the Living Bible, or the Living Translation which in my opinion are not valid representations of the Scriptures. If you google English Bible translations you will find charts that outline three different approaches to the Scriptures: word for word, thought for thought, and paraphrase. Paraphrased Bibles by their very definition admit that they are not the Word of God since paraphrase means to re-phrase something by departing from the original wording, only to re-state it in different words. How can that be an improvement when it rejects an accurate translation, only to reflect the paraphraser’s opinion of a verse. How can they clarify the Word of God by departing from the words God inspired? The only tie we have to divine inspiration is how close the English can represent the Hebrew and the Greek. The premise is absurd.

To paraphrase something, you read something then intellectually digest it, and then re-write the verse in your own words as to what it meant to you. Paraphrased Bibles typically begin with an English version of the Bible to produce an English version of the Bible. What changed? Paraphrased Bibles claim to modernize the English into even more colloquial English. Yet there are modern English word-for-word translations like the ESV that show respect for the text through a word-for-word approach. The paraphrase process involves a man discarding the translation to put the Scriptures into his opinion in which he becomes the judge of Scripture. When the paraphraser is finished you now have the word of the paraphraser instead of the Word of God. The New Testament was written in Greek so what is important to those who love God’s Word, is the Greek to be translated into our modern English as accurate as possible, because our English version is not divinely inspired. The divine inspiration (theopneustos) of Scripture took place when the Old Testament was written in Hebrew (of which the Greek LXX is a valid copy) and the New Testament was written in Greek. That is where God’s actual Words are found, so we need an English translation to represent those words with the most equivalent words possible.

We need to know what the original Greek says, yet in some cases, the man writing a paraphrased Bible cannot even read Greek. We seek a translation that takes the word-for-word approach, in order to provide us a clear understanding of exactly what the apostles in the New Testament wrote and what the scribes and prophets of the Old Testament wrote. Since we love God’s Word, then we consider each word of God is pure, and each word must be shown respect. What is important is what God actually said and not what some man thinks about what God said. There are commentaries and word studies that offer men’s opinion of what God said, but the Bible must be the Word itself and that requires nothing but the word-for-word approach in translating the Scriptures into English. No commentator would be comfortable publishing his commentary that says, Holy Bible on the cover, since it is his opinion of Scripture and not Scripture itself. The only reason a man would rephrase something is because he doesn’t think that it was originally phrased correctly. A paraphraser thinks that he can transmit the message the Holy Spirit gave to Paul, better than Paul, when he has no idea what the Holy Spirit told Paul. The paraphraser approaches the Scripture not to illuminate the Greek, but to clarify what God wanted to say, but obviously does not possess the great intellect or intelligence of the paraphraser. The original authors of the Bible were born along by the Holy Spirit who guided their writing of Scripture, but the paraphraser is confident that even without the divine inspiration Paul, Luke, John, and Peter had, he is more aware of what the Holy Spirit revealed to them and can explain it better for today’s modern reader. The paraphraser thinks he provides a very important service because his opinion of Scripture is very important, and he must feel that God did not show the foresight to make his Word timeless. The paraphraser might feel like only the concepts in the Scriptures are important instead of the words. Yet, the only way to clarify a concept is with precise words (emphasis added).

If someone in the military married an Italian girl who did not speak English and then found himself suddenly deployed to the Middle East, he would be receiving letters from her written in Italian that he couldn’t understand. If he asks an Italian buddy to translate her letters to him, does he want his buddy to paraphrase what she wrote and change her words into his? Does he want his buddy’s opinion of what she wrote? No! The soldier would want his buddy to translate it word for word because he doesn’t want his buddy’s idea of what she said, he wants to know exactly what she said. Every word of his new wife is precious. This should be our attitude towards the Bible, we want to know (as close as humanly possible) exactly what God’s Word says.

Many dangerous practices have infiltrated the teaching styles of modern churches and a person will not know they are being deceived unless they take it upon themselves (like the Bereans) to check the Scriptures carefully and daily verify whether they are being taught the truth or not. It is important you learn the actual truth of the Bible, right? Your knowledge of the truth is the deciding factor of where you spend eternity.

Every power tool and kitchen appliance comes with directions on how to use it. The Bible comes with directions on how to use it too, which is hermeneutics. No person should possess a Bible without the instructions on the rules of interpretation and how to use the Scriptures. The reason we need these tools is because the place where false doctrines hide, is in the web of interpretation, so we need to gain expertise in the interpretation of Scripture.

When examining a passage in the Bible the best idea is to read the entire book in which the passage is located, or at least start a couple chapters ahead of that passage and read a couple chapters after that passage you are examining. As you pass by the passage you are interested in you note the author’s intended meaning of those verses. You ask yourself: what was the author’s intention in writing this and to whom was he addressing these words? We will refer to the author’s intended meaning simply as the AIM.

When we employ a proper hermeneutic we protect the Scriptures from us accidentally interjecting our own bias and opinions into our interpretations of Scripture. When we properly derive the AIM from Scripture, it is referred to as the process of exegesis. To exegete a verse is to draw the honest meaning out of the verse with supporting Scriptures that deal with the same subject. When our goal is not to support a pet doctrine we have or promote a hidden agenda, but to pull the truth out of Scripture (allowing the Scriptures to teach us) that is how we properly exegete a passage.

If we approach a Scripture with our mind already made up as to what it says or have someone over our shoulder constantly telling us what the Scripture means, we then interject our bias into the interpretation of the verse(s) and that is referred to as eisegesis. The cults are famous for their flagrant use of eisegesis in their abuse of the Scriptures. They artificially insert an interpretation into Scripture that does not belong. The purpose of Bible reading and Bible study is to learn the truth of the Bible, not to force a reading into the Scriptures that is not true. This we shall proceed to do, with God’s assistance and Grace.

Hermeneutics and Exegesis vs. Eisegesis:

As already mentioned there is no way to understand the Bible (or anything you read) if you do not read statements in their context. Hallmark movies show the tragedy and comedy that results when statements are taken out of context. A woman hears her fiancé talking to another woman saying, she is very needy and high maintenance, I think we will be parting ways very soon. The woman is cut to the heart, hails a cab to the airport and flies back home to New Jersey. Later on she finds out the conversation she overheard was her fiancé talking to his sister about his pet husky he has to get rid of, because the condo he bought for him and his future bride to share, does not allow pets. She apologizes for assuming the worst and then they have a wonderful marriage ceremony.

Taking a verse out of its natural context guarantees misunderstanding. Whenever God is speaking through a prophet it is especially imperative we understand who God is addressing, and through cultural and historical analysis we can obtain God’s intended purpose in those words. There is of course the Biblical interpretation principal known as circular hermeneutics, which prescribes that only Holy Scripture has the authority to interpret Holy Scripture. This means whenever you seek to find a meaning or interpretation of Scripture, you must find another Scripture(s) that speaks to the same subject and balance those Scriptures into a harmonious interpretation. You cannot just arbitrarily insert an interpretation into Scripture because it promotes your agenda or ideology.

A primary rule of hermeneutics is to take every verse in Scripture as literal unless the verse directs the reader otherwise. Respecting passages of the Old Testament as literal is required when we read about Israel because we must understand the people of Israel (being addressed) were real people and not a metaphor of any kind. The Bible uses metaphors and they are literally treated as metaphors to be understood as metaphors. The default assumption that all statements in Scripture are literal is also known as the Direct Statement Principal.⁴ This means simply God means what He says and He says exactly what He means. We cannot arbitrarily spiritualize a verse as being a metaphor or poetic symbolism. We must accept a direct statement as a direct literal statement, unless it is literally presented as a type, symbol, metaphor, or parable.

Eisegesis is the tool of false prophets and deceivers. For example, a new age preacher taught according to I Corinthians 5:3 and Colossians 2:5, Paul used a Channeler when he said he was absent in body but present with them in spirit supposedly referring to a medium who would channel the spirit of the apostle Paul. That is eisegesis, because someone inserts a reading into the verse without any scriptural support for that interpretation.

When someone teaches us that a certain Scripture is not literal it actually means… we need red flags to fly up and hold the teaching suspect until we can find scriptural validation for such a teaching. If there are no supporting Scriptures, or the supporting Scriptures are being treated with the same allegorical principles, we must reject that teaching and no longer trust anything that teacher says. Those who honor the word of God skillfully stay within the rules of classic Christian hermeneutics when they exegete Scripture.

Hermeneutics is essential knowledge for every person who takes the Bible seriously. We must become educated in this science to preserve ourselves and Bible truth from the parade of errors that follow the flippant modern attitudes toward the Scriptures we find today.

Shakespeare was well aware of the need for hermeneutics and how religious leaders can bend and twist the Scriptures to say whatever they want. Shakespeare put the words in Bassanio’s mouth, In religion, what damned error but some sober brow will bless it, and approve it with text, hiding the grossness with fair ornament. There is no vice so simple but assumes some mark of virtue on his outward parts (The Merchant of Venice, Act III, scene 2).

My grandkids love to play games. Each board game comes with a set of rules. If a game had no set rules the game would be worthless! Hence, there is no way to intelligently pursue an ancient and foreign text that is co-authored by people we do not know, to people we do not know, translated from a language we do not speak, and using cultural idioms we do not understand unless we have a set of rules to guide us. That is what hermeneutics provides and what makes the knowledge of hermeneutics essential for every believer.

Philo was a devout Jewish scholar and philosopher who lived in Alexandria (~20 B.C. - ~50 A.D.) and became enamored with the teachings of Plato. He saw direct connection between the Greek wisdom literature of the Greek philosophers and the Old Testament. He misunderstood Plato and began to interpret the Old Testament as allegories of some higher reality. His Allegoristic method confirmed the practice of the ancient Cabbalists (Kabbalists) who allegorized the Old Testament Scriptures into Magick chants and charms, while the Karaites held to a literal interpretation of the Scriptures. I spell occult magick the way Aleister Crowley authorized in order to distinguish stage magic (prestidigitation) from occult magick.⁵

The Cabbalists are responsible for the current day Cabbalistic (Kabbalistic) Occult religion that considers the Bible a book of magick and uses the Bible in the occult art of Bibliomancy. False Christians of Alexandria were impressed with Philo and the same misunderstanding of Plato began to approach the teachings of Jesus and the Apostles. As Plato considered our world only a reflection or shadow of the real world in Heaven, so it became popular to make the Scriptures allegories and metaphors of something deeper. Philo promoted a philosophy and theology that the tabernacle contained sketches or shadows of a divine idea.⁶ Philo misunderstood Plato, as Plato never intended his work to create an allegorical method that attacks literacy.

The Allegorical hermeneutic was taking over Judaism and eventually false teachers embraced it in teaching the Gospel of Christ. Even though Philo stated that allegorizing the Scriptures was only appropriate where literal interpretations were difficult, the door to allegorizing had been flung wide open and false teachers exploited the idea. Some early Christian fathers like Origen began to allegorize and spiritualize the teachings of the New Testament creating outlandish doctrines that boarded on the ludicrous. The allegorical principal approaches the word of God with the presumption everything is an allegory that represents something else. When everything in the Bible is approached as an allegory or metaphor for something else, then you can use the Bible to teach anything you want.

Bernard Ramm mentions in his PBI the church of Antioch Syria (where the disciples were first called Christians and from which Saul and Barnabas were sent out) realized there must be rules of interpretation in order to respect the text and protect the truth of Scripture. They formed the literal school of Antioch to defend the Truth of the Gospel from allegorical corruption. The Christians of Antioch Syria developed a literal and historical hermeneutic that defeated Origen’s corrupt allegorical hermeneutic of the Scriptures, by demonstrating Literalism is not the same as Letterism.⁷

Ramm continues, the Antioch school developed one especially brilliant rule: the Old and New Testaments are Christocentric and Christological. In other words the proper interpretation of the Old and New Testaments begin by recognizing all the truth of the entire Bible is pointing to Jesus. All Scripture is Christ-centered and only properly understood correctly when it serves and supports the Gospel of Christ.⁸

Using the Old Testament to create an alternate route to God that competes with Christ as the only way, marks a disgraceful abuse of God’s Word. Such abuse only exists where hermeneutics is never taught and the allegorical treatment of Scripture is free to create new Scripture.

Establishing a rule of hermeneutics that Christ is the central theme of the Old and New Testaments, was successful in combating the allegorical principal of hermeneutics that was destroying the faith and enslaving many into false cults. It is an essential rule as it brings the entire Bible into harmony when you recognize the primary theme of the entire Bible is to reveal Christ and bear witness of the Gospel.

The allegorical hermeneutic developed by Origen made the Word of God putty in the hands of the religious leaders who made the Bible say anything they wanted. The result from the allegorical hermeneutic was the Bible really says nothing since it can say whatever a teacher wants it to say. The great work of the ancient Antioch Syrian Christians was lost for a thousand years thanks to the Roman Catholic Church, which buried the literal/historical hermeneutic as a deep dark secret, while the allegorical hermeneutic ruled biblical interpretation. Only Roman Catholic Church scholars were allowed to interpret the Bible or even read the Bible.

The Bible was kept in the dead language of Latin (which nobody could read) so the Bible was not even available for the common person. Any interpretation of the Scriptures was done only by the professionals they called father and priest. The only hermeneutic the Roman scholars used was whatever served the purpose of the Roman Catholic church and made them money. The common people were commanded to keep their hands off the Bible and leave the interpretation of Scripture to the professionals. This perpetuated and popularized heresies and blasphemies with nobody to check the veracity of the scholar’s teachings. During that time Roman Catholic scholars created many anti-Christian church traditions that were forced upon the people. The Church’s doctrine of tithing was born in this cesspool of carnal reasoning, crowd control, and money love.

Reinhold Seeberg in his work The Textbook of the History of Doctrines, mentions the first time congregations were required to provide monetary support for their preachers was in 172 A.D. by the cult leader Montanus. Montanus along with his women Maximilla and Prisca, appeared in Phrygia and announced themselves as prophets. As their following grew Montanus declared the arrival of the New Jerusalem was eminent and would appear near Pepuza and Tymios. In view of this he gave strict orders all Christians must dissolve all bonds of wedlock and fast, as they await the New Jerusalem in Pepuza. Money was gathered for the support of the preachers.⁹

A thousand years after the treasured scholastics of Antioch were lost, we find a Monk in the 13th Century named Occam who possessed a brilliant mind. Occam declared the Bible to be the supreme authority; not the pope. Occam also declared it is the Bible that is infallible; not the pope. He was arrested and sent to prison for those statements. Occam (aka William Ockham) was very taken with the teachings of Plato and developed one of the most basic problem solving laws of logic.

The law of logic that Occam invented is referred to as "Occam’s Razor" because of its razor like ability to cut through all the convoluted arguments of theologians, to find the truth of what they are actually saying. Occam’s Razor states usually the most simple explanation is the truth. The more complicated the explanation, the farther it departs from truth. Occam’s Razor is also known in the field of logic as the Law of Parsimony. Science makes use of Occam’s Razor not because it is irrefutable but because simpler scientific theories are more testable. This made Occam’s Razor very useful as an abductive heuristic to many great pioneers of logic and mathematics like Sir Isaac Newton and Bertrand Russel. As a philosophical and theological problem solving principal it was very influential to another monk named Martin Luther.¹⁰

Occam’s Razor helped Martin Luther cut through all the convoluted interpretations of Holy Scripture and double talk from the Roman Catholic Church scholars and finally realize salvation is not by works, but THE JUST SHALL LIVE BY FAITH! (Romans 1:17; Galatians 3:11; Hebrews 10:38). Martin Luther produced the reformation that put the Bible back into the hands of the common man and brought forth the great truth that salvation is not by works but by faith. He threw away the Allegorical Principal of Hermeneutics and reinstated the ancient Antioch Syria Principal of Hermeneutics embraced by classic Christianity today. It is the literal/historical method that assumes the position Christ is the central theme of the entire Bible, because the New Testament clearly explains it and the Old Testament clearly contains it.

Occam’s Razor concurs, the Christocentric hermeneutic means a Scripture has not been properly interpreted if it does not serve the Gospel of Christ! This is arrived at when we acknowledge Christ is the LOGOS (the Word of God in person) which means all the words of Scripture are His Words. Occam’s Razor stipulates since all the Words of Scripture belong to Christ, Christ must be the central theme. If an interpretation creates a competition with Christ or contradicts the teachings of Christ then the interpretation is certainly false. All of Scripture serves Christ and only Christ because He IS the WORD (Logos).

The greatest hermeneutical principal Martin Luther developed was the law, only Scripture can interpret Scripture. That is a brilliant insight and is referred to today as circular hermeneutics. Whenever there is a verse of the Bible you seek to interpret, you must find verses of Scripture that are directly related to that Scripture and examine what they teach about the subject. The Bible will shed light on itself and only the Bible is allowed to interpret the Bible. The student of Scriptures needs to do the hard work of searching and studying the Scriptures if he desires an honest interpretation of the Word. This means no valid interpretation of Scripture can exist which is not literally supported by other Scriptures.

Now this isn’t Hyper Literalism, Wooden Literalism, or the Letterism of the Pharisees which cannot negotiate their way through idioms, cultural jargon, or ironic metaphors. The literal approach to the Scriptures will recognize types, metaphors and parables as literally being types, metaphors, and parables. Hyper Literalism will approach a type or metaphor as merely the sum of its words. So Wooden and Hyper Literalism will accuse the Bible of being a stupid work of fiction because of verses of Scripture like: Judges 9:33; Job 9:7; Matt. 4:2; 5:45, that mention a sun rise in the morning.

The critics of the Bible that utilize Hyper and Wooden Literalism as their hermeneutic will state these verses show the Bible to be a collection of fables, because everyone knows the sun does not rise in the morning since the earth simply rotates. It is a ridiculous interpretation because today we talk about the sun rise and the sun set even though we know the sun does not actually rise. The Bible is allowed to employ idioms and common vernacular since the Bible was co-written by common men, for common men with common language.

Luther and Calvin were gifted men who could see into the future and did not want this new Protestantism to devolve into another divinely inspired Priestcraft, so they wrote their thesis in the common language instead of Latin. For a thousand years theological works were only written in Latin. Almost no one understood Latin and since only Latin versions of the Bible were allowed and all Roman scholars only wrote in the dead language of Latin, the common man was purposely kept in ignorance of the Scriptures. Why? Because when the religious leaders control the narrative they can make money an important expression of a man’s religion. Since the Bible is off limits to the common man he will never know the narrative to be false.

Luther broke that clergical elitism by publishing his theology in the common German. "Das ist der beste Lehrer, der seine Meinung nicht in die sondern aus der Schrift bringt:" the best Teacher is who does not bring his opinion in but out of Scripture.¹¹ Calvin wrote much theology in Latin but he made a point of writing a masterful copy in common French.

Today the established church will loudly proclaim they believe in the literal and historical interpretation and the verbal plenary inspiration of Scripture but their teachings contradict their professed beliefs. Their sermons will utilize the allegorical principle which mocks their own printed Statement of Faith and nobody even notices. Nobody notices because hermeneutics is never taught. The Word of God must be treated seriously and with respect, not like clay in their hands that can be easily molded to say anything.

Ramm in his PBI mentions enormous errors of Biblical teaching heralded by the Rabbis was the product of giving enormous authority to traditions.¹²

Today church traditions are emphasized that betray the Gospel of Christ and every believer’s call to become a disciple. To believe in Christ is to voluntarily become a disciple of Christ. Disciples in ancient times worked tirelessly to understand and be fully conversant in all their master’s teachings. It is imperative every believer take ownership of their role as a disciple by working hard to become experts in Bible Truth and proficient in the science of hermeneutics.

Many heresies build upon the fallacious reasoning, if it was true for the Jews then it must be true for everyone. Since our Bibles have an Old Testament and a New Testament they both must contain rules of life we are to live by. A simple reading of the Old Testament and the New Testament will reveal they are completely separate entities that present rules of life that are hostile to each other making it impossible to combine them. The operation of Law makes the operation of Grace illegal and the operation of Grace makes legalism obsolete. A simple reading of the New Testament clearly describes the nullification of the Old Testament.

Church doctrine that reaches into the Old Testament to pull out a rule of life and artificially insert it into Christianity employs the same erroneous reasoning the Puritans used at the Salem witch trials. The Puritans assumed since the Old Testament states you shall not allow a witch to live (Exodus 22:18) they must kill witches to be obedient to God’s Word. None of them recognized the Old Testament was replaced by the New Testament, which made the mandates of the Old Testament null and void. Yet their emphasis on the Old Testament actually made the Lord’s mandates in the New Testament null and void to them. When the established church gets people involved in the Old Testament, the teachings of the New Testament are ignored. The puritans were convinced they were good Christian people as they committed torture and murder of innocent people.

The fallacious reasoning is: The Old Testament is the Word of God and we are always to obey the Word of God, so we will always obey the Old Testament. What is wrong with that? The problem with that reasoning is it does not consider the New Testament to be the Word of God. The New Testament replaced the Old Testament and the Old Testament was only for the nation of Israel. The New Testament contains the Law of Christ for followers of Christ. Yet religious leaders that promote the Old Testament as having more authority than the New Testament, show no concern for following Jesus. I don’t think Jesus will be impressed when they met Him face to face and they brag, But Lord, we burned witches in your Name.

Concerning Exodus 22:18 demanding witches be killed, how is that different from Malachi demanding a 10% tithe? How can one Mosaic Law be invalid today and another Mosaic Law be valid today? They are both part of the same Mosaic Law code so if one law in Malachi is valid, then the entire Mosaic Law is still valid. Yet the Old Testament was replaced by the New Testament, so God’s demand to kill witches is no longer valid and God’s demand for a 10% tithe is also no longer valid. That makes it a bald faced lie for preachers today to emphasize one Old Testament Law, while ignoring all the others as if they do not exist, and ignoring the New Testament as if it does not exist. Such a teaching treats Jesus and His Gospel as if they do not exist and totally erases Christ’s work upon the cross. It is a lie for those preachers to refer to themselves as Christians no matter what some ordination paper says.

It is similar to a Last Will and Testament where a former Will is made null and void by a new Will. The billionaire’s 2nd wife is angry because his new Last Will and Testament leaves all his money to his 3rd wife and nothing to his second or first wife. The first wife has a Last Will and Testament leaving everything to her, the 2nd wife has a Last Will and Testament leaving everything to her, but both of those Wills are invalid because they were replaced by a New Last Will and Testament specifically omitting them from any inheritance and leaving everything to the third wife.

The New Testament replaces the Old Testament which makes every law and rule of life in the Old Testament null and void. You can quote laws from the Old Testament all day long but that does not make them valid. They were specifically made invalid by declaration of God Almighty and through the inauguration of the New Testament. In the New Testament you follow the teachings of Jesus which are diametrically opposed to Old Testament law. Jesus was always in trouble with the religious leaders of the Old Testament because He was always breaking their laws. Not because He was lawless but because He came with a new set of laws and a New Covenant. Being very God Himself He has that authority. Those who do not respect His authority, His New Testament, or His new Law demonstrate they are not His followers.

Followers of Jesus neither kill witches nor pay tithes since those are both Old Testament practices made defunct, null, and void by the New Testament. Instead of burning witches, you bless them that curse you and love those who persecute you. Instead of paying tithes, you help the poor and needy any way that you can. It may be by inviting them over for dinner, fixing their broken plumbing, or buying their kids some shoes. It may or may not involve money at all, but caring for the poor was very important to Jesus, unlike support for the temple.

When you practice the Golden Rule you do not burn anyone at the stake because you would not want anyone to burn you at the stake. The duty of a follower of Jesus who encounters a witch is to show them love and grace as you pray for them, and explain to them the Gospel of salvation. I have personally led a few witches to the Lord and in both cases they were surprised to find the true Jesus of the Scriptures is nothing like the religious Jesus of the established church. They fell in love with the real Jesus immediately.

As Luther and so many have stated: the truth of God’s Word is the great treasure we leave for our children and grandchildren. This is the treasure we must protect with all our strength. We cannot stand idle while the established church distorts and perverts scriptural truth into a soup of sentimental treacle. The established church is never going to offer classes in biblical hermeneutics, so the person who loves God’s Word will have to study for themselves. It is now up to every believer to become an expert in the truth, so the truth can be protected and preserved for our great grandchildren and their great grandchildren.

Exegete the Scriptures.

After we establish a hermeneutic in which to approach the Scriptures, then we need to exegete the Scripture. As we arm ourselves with the classic Literal/Historical hermeneutic and the common agreement that Christ is the central theme of the Bible, we then proceed to exegete a passage of Scripture to derive the author’s intended meaning.

One of the basic and ancient rules of hermeneutics is the rule of usus loquendi (manner of speech). It is a Latin phrase stating the common reading of a passage is also the common meaning of the passage, unless there are some specific directives in the text to do otherwise. Utilizing the rule of usus loquendi we have no problem literally reading the Scriptures that refer to a sun rise!

When we accept manners of speech in the Scriptures then statements are clarified and the recipient of those statements are precisely identified. If we abandon most of the rules of hermeneutics and embrace the allegorical hermeneutic, suddenly we find the Old Testament replacing and subverting the New Testament to the point the Old Testament becomes more relevant to Christians than the Gospel, and marking the exit from Christianity.

People love the security of written laws to abide by, which is why so many cults prosper that emphasize the Old Testament Law. However, the literal/historical hermeneutic clearly points out the Old Testament was a document addressed only to the nation of Israel. It is not addressed to anyone else in the world except Jews.

Edersheim points out in his Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah, Old Testament Israel considered the Gentiles (which is anyone not of Hebrew decent) to be less than dogs and none of the laws or promises of God in anyway are ever addressed to any Gentile.¹³

The very renowned professor Ryrie explains the laws and regulations that God placed upon the