Since most of us, including our leaders, are incapable of translating what Peter and John wrote the least we can do is drop the lies in the garbage can or get to the text where there is no question about what the witnesses meant and not fall for that lie about the Spirit replacing the Bible.

The books, the people, and their lives

People in New Testament times were coming out of mass illiteracy. People spoke Aramaic and the Bible was in Hebrew. We see the same phenomenon in Ethiopia where they had Amharic and Geez and in the Roman church where they had Italian and Latin. When a matter arose that needed clarity one consulted the Bible and if there were no readers in the household one asked a scribe to read and interpret what the Bible had to say.   The scribe has largely disappeared.  He is replaced by a robot programmed to recite supposedly good commentary.

Some people have thought that all you need is a mystic or charismatic who falls into a trance and telll you what the Bible says. If the Bible (the sayings of Jesus in particular) is the sure ground on which to build our lives the danger of someone going off into a dream or vision to discover is the equivalent of a nuclear blast. Everything at ground zero dies. Do we still not have to return to the Bible to ascertain the truthfulness of everything that is being sought?

Rest and temple

Racketeering mob

How, for example, could anyone study the second coming of Jesus for over a year and not notice that the event is on an undisclosed timetable? It is virtually impossible. This is sorcery at its finest. To make a splash about an event that is so secret that God the father alone knows is clear evidence of fraud, but to have those 2nd coming rascals correct that error by building a house on the sand, based on two symbols, the temple and the weekly day of rest, is full evidence of racketeering.

Few things are nourishing as reading the Bible and when that fails to satisfy you can be sure God’s left you to your darkness. One can read a hundred books on grace but one only gets grace by God’s wish, not by forcing his hand with paganistic prayers, folk tales of feigned obedience and fake love.

I would rather read my Bible in English than hear a vision or dream. God has made available the pure untranslated message of Christ to all. One does not have to be a scholar to see that extreme confidence and healthy eating are waiting behind the confusion of paraphrases, commentaries and translations. Dreams and visions anyone?