The Beginning

This is the first blog for Follow The Word. I prayed about it for quite some time and realized the answer for what to write in the first blog was right in the word “First” itself. I will explain this shortly.

One of the main reasons for creating this ministry was to bring the Word of God to those who are willing to read it, to those who seek to understand it. When I say the Word of God, I do not mean the eroded away translations that we are faced with so often today, I am referring to the direct biblical Word of God. Christianity has taken a series of critical hits over the years as many sought out ways to interpret scripture in an effort to make it suit their own lives, their agendas and their own independent ways of thinking. It is not a new concept that people will pick and choose which biblical scriptures they will follow and which ones they either misinterpret, misrepresent, or ignore completely depending upon what it is that they want in their lives. This should trouble all Christians.

I often hear the term, “New Christianity”, loosely tossed around in conversations. The concept is not a new one as many individuals and churches over the years have attempted to rewrite the Word in order to make it fit into their own lives. This was not God’s will nor was it the intent of Jesus as He preached to those who listened to Him. As Christians, as believers, as Ministers, as Chaplains, as Pastors, etc., our responsibility is not to alter or amend the Word of God for ourselves or for a group of individuals, or to justify anything in our own lives. Our responsibility is to bring the Word to others as it was written. We have no authority to change scripture simply because we do not agree with it or because it does not suit us at that moment. If you are a believer, if you are a Christian, then you should be ready, willing and able to accept the Word as it is written.

Some of the blogs we will be doing will indeed explain various scripture verses in an attempt to bring you the truth behind them. One example of a very commonly misinterpreted scripture verse that we will be closely examining is Matthew 7:1-5, in which we find the often-misinterpreted words, “Judge not lest Ye be judged.” How frequently have you heard someone use this phrase, especially in the context of someone trying to berate you or berate another because you are Christians?

As stated above one of the most important goals of Follow The Word is to bring a truthful accurate understanding to you of what our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ taught us, and get passed the inaccurate translations we see today. We seek to arm you with the knowledge and ability you need so that you can discuss the Word of God with those who try and convince you as a Christian, that you are wrong in your beliefs. We want you to be able to defend God’s Words with confidence and spread the Word to all who will hear it from you. We will have so much great information coming to you!

Since this is the first blog of many to come, I decided it was best to reference the beginning. If we go back to Genesis, and specifically the story of Adam and Eve, then we see the results of not listening to the Word and what happens when someone attempts to change it to suit a particular desire or need. In Genesis

3 we read that the serpent in the garden tried to change the Word of God for his own purpose. He whispered into Eve’s ear what he knew was a deliberate misinterpretation of what God had told Adam:

“Now the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, Yea, has God said, You shall not eat of every tree of the garden?”  And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden; but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die.’ ” Then the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”                                                                                                                 

By altering the words that were carefully given by God, Satan was able to change Eve’s perspective of what Adam had been warned by God, to the point where she did indeed disobey his command and she ate from the tree of life. Eve wanted to know what God knew and the devil had convinced her that God was somehow keeping something important from her. It is often said that Eve disobeying God’s command was the first sin, but bear in mind that one can easily understand that even before that, Satan whispering a slanderous lie in her ear about God was in itself a sin, a sin committed before Eve was disobedient. Satan effectively lied to her through his incredible ability and his most powerful tool, deception.

It is interesting to note that as Eve was talking to the serpent, she said, “We may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden; but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, (Emphasis mine) lest you die.’

 However, in Genesis 2: 15-17 it is written that God did not say Adam could not touch the tree. “And the Lord God took the man, and put him in the garden of Eden to dress it and keep it. And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.

Interestingly, while the serpent was cunningly working on deceiving Eve, Eve herself misquoted what God had told Adam about the tree. God never said anything about touching the tree, He stated Adam could not eat from the tree. Just an interesting note to show how easy it is to change what is stated or written and how easy it is to believe in the change.

When people try and change the Word of God and preach lies and misinformation, believing that they know better than God, they are sadly mistaken. When I hear people say that because of Jesus’s death on the cross everything we were told to obey from the Old Testament is no longer valid, and that any and all laws of goodness, morality, honesty, legality etc. are no longer important because all our sins are forgiven, I cringe. The New Testament DID NOT eliminate the Old Testament, yet, I cannot count the amount of times that people I know tell me, “Oh yes, that is the New Christianity today! We can ignore the Old Testament because Jesus has forgiven our sins.” They speak of how Jesus, in the sermon on the mount, told everyone that the nothing in Mosaic Law was relevant anymore. There is a difference between what is an enforceable law such as the Mosaic Law was to Israel, and those that set the standard for how we should live as Christians. We may not be forced to obey certain laws and rules anymore, but that does not absolve us of the responsibility to live a holy life in the name of Jesus Christ and to follow the scripture as it is written without our own deletions.

I recently saw a post on social media that basically said that Jesus told the crowd at the sermon on the mount that his sacrifice conquered sin, and that as a result any rules and commandments from the Old Testament were nullified. Such a statement boggled my mind because I was not able to understand how one could believe such a thing, since Jesus had not been crucified yet when He gave that sermon. But that was in fact how the post was written which demonstrated a serious lack of understanding. Interestingly, there were multiple comments attached to the post supporting the writer almost in a defiant angry manner declaring New Christianity. The comments were coaching the poster to keep going and spread the truth. As I stated, it boggled my mind to think that people were believing what was being written and asking for more such posts.

As Christians, as believers, we must return to the truth and to the Word as God meant it to be, as Jesus meant it to be. The answers we seek, the truth we crave is not found in self-interpretation of God’s Word but in the very book the words appear. If you are excited to learn more about the Word, if you are looking for what the bible is really teaching, than we ask you to follow us, and check in with us regularly. We will add blogs as often as possible, and our newsletter will begin soon. If there is a specific topic or scripture verse you would like to hear about, please use the contact form to connect with us and we will definitely discuss it.

This ministry is for you. We seek to give all glory and honor to our Lord and Savior by ensuring that His word is studied as it was intended. As we say, You will always find the truth when you Follow The Word.

God Bless you and we will keep you all in our prayers each day.

Chaplain Bill.