Posts made in August, 2015


Exhort Each Other in the Lord!

Exhort Each Other in the Lord!


Posted By on Aug 10, 2015

“I exhort you therefore, be imitators of me.”   1 Cor. 4:16   While reading the New International Version of the Bible, I noticed a rather disturbing and disillusioning fact.  What ought to be the word “exhort” for the Greek word parakaleo, was often exchanged for a less urgent, non-imperative word that weakens the authors intent.  In many instances, “encourage” is employed, substituting exhort into many modern English translations of the Bible.  In certain passages, the word parakaleo in the original Greek language, was intended as a “calling out” or “admonishment”, to its recipient and therefore, should not be substituted with a word that removes the author’s intent.  If you use encourage for instance, you will not be conveying an admonishment to someone and the power of the passage is lost.  Therefore, all believers should be  familiar with the word exhort or exhortation, because it conveys a truer context to a specific passage of Scripture.  This is vitally important, when warning the flock of false teachers who threaten the church with pernicious doctrines.   If you juxtapose the words encourage and exhort, you will discover a significant difference in their meaning.   For instance, the definition of the word encourage according to the Random House Dictionary, is defined; “To inspire with courage, spirit, or confidence“; “to stimulate by assistance, approval, etc“; “to promote, advance, or foster.”  The word exhort, on the other hand, is defined: “to urge, advise, or caution earnestly; admonish urgently.” As used in such texts: Acts 2:40, 20:2, 1 Cor. 1:10, 4:16, 1 Thess. 4:1, 2 Thess. 3:12, 2 Tim. 4:2, Ti. 1:9, 2:15, 1 Pet. 5:1; Jude 3-KJV).  Notice the significant diversity between these words in the definitions.   Please understand, “encourage” and “exhort” are interchangeable in many verses of the Bible.  For example, the same Greek word parakaleo is used to “encourage” in the following verses: Acts 11:23, 14:22, 16:40, 20:2, 27:34, 1 Cor. 14:31, Col. 2:2, 4:8, 1 Thess. 3:2, 5:11, or Heb. 3:13.  Or, it is also used to “comfort”, as in: Matt. 2:2, 5:4, Luke 16:25, Acts 20:12, 2 Cor. 1:4, 7:6, 7:7, Eph. 6:22, 1 Thess. 3:7, 4:18, 2 Thess. 2:17.  But, when parakaleo was meant to convey solemnity, caution, warning, or urgency; the English word exhort is the more accurate and appropriate word choice.  It is extremely important to accurately represent God’s intended meaning, when translating the original language into various languages.  Many times it is extremely difficult or virtually impossible, to translate certain Hebrew of Greek words or phrases exactly; in this case, into English.  Therefore, it was essential to utilize the most fitting word or phrase to translate God’s...

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I AM to be Worshiped!

I AM to be Worshiped!


Posted By on Aug 2, 2015

Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was born, I am.” John 8:58  “And those who were in the boat worshiped Him, saying, ‘You are certainly God’s Son!'” Matt. 14:33      Much ink has been spilled on whether or not Jesus Christ is God, especially since He never proclaimed the exact words, I am God in any of the four Gospels.   It is however, understandable that the unregenerate man doubts and opposes Christ’s deity, because they know not the things of God and considers them foolishness (1 Cor. 2:14).  But, what I find extremely disconcerting, is the fact that there are many professing Christians who deny Jesus’ deity, whether out of ignorance or blatantly.  I can understand those who are ignorant of the truth and pray they soon become enlightened.  But, it is those who are exposed to the truth and still deny it.  Tragically, many of these deniers or heretics as they should be referred; teach at Christian seminaries, churches; engage in debates, make public assertions, publish literary and video works, pervert the teachings of Christ; all  under the guise of Christianity.  Such pseudo-Christians are the most pernicious  to the church, because they assume a certain amount of credibility within the evangelical realm.  This makes their erroneous assertions difficult to disprove because they have duped minds.  Such pseudo-Christians do the most destruction, because they pollute pure innocent minds with cleverly-plotted deceptions (2 Cor. 11:14-15); even some true Christians are led astray by lies regarding Jesus.  Interestingly, even Satan and his demons recognized Jesus as the “Son of God.” (Matt. 8:29, Mk. 5:7, Luke 4:3, 4:9, 4:34, 4:41, 8:28).  As the book of James states; “You believe that there is one God. You do well. Even the demons believe — and tremble” (James 2:19).  If only believers would discipline themselves to thoroughly search the Scriptures, saturate their minds with the published works of reputable theologians, and study church history; they would be virtually impervious to the trappings of false teachers. (Acts 17:11, 2 Tim. 2:15).   However, if the whole of Scripture is considered, we can easily determine by the sheer weight of evidence  pointing to Jesus Christ’s deity, it is indeed a biblical truth.   In his book, The Forgotten Trinity, Dr. James White wrote; (1) “There are literally hundreds–no thousands–of passages that testify to the deity of Christ once we understand that no creature could possibly do or say the things that the Lord Jesus did. we would not be able to catalogue them in this brief work”.  Jesus’ claim to deity was not only overt by His many proclamations, but also...

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