The Purpose Of The Bible

16 All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right.
17 God uses it to prepare and equip his people to do every good work.
2 Timothy 3:16-17(NLT)

In this article, I am going to explore the above verses on the true purpose of the Scriptures. The above verses are quite popular even among religious churches. They know how to quote them but none of them are able to understand the true meaning because they have been blinded by the lies of theology.

I have referred the Bible as an engineering book. 2 Timothy 3:16 is my proof to substantiate my claim. It is very clearly stated in the verse that all Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right. In other words, God wants us to know that the Bible is meant to be used. The Bible is a tool or a servant created by God to serve our needs, in particular to show us what is right and wrong.

The Bible is never meant to be our master. We are not to worship it. We are use it just as we use our other tools like hammers, knives, screw drivers etc. Sure, we use it as our guide but we are still its boss. There were times I looked at maps to help me to go to certain places but that does not mean the map is above me. It is still my tool even though I “obey” its guidance. Likewise, for the Bible. Therefore, we must not allow ourselves to be deceived by the theologians who tell us that we must obey the Bible as though it is our master. As Christians we use our Bibles. We do not worship it.

What do we use the Bible for? Verse 16 tells us that we use it to teach us what is right and wrong. Let me give you an example. The Bible is very clear in telling us that as believers we destiny is to prosper in every area in our lives. This means all of us believers must have a lot of money, good health, long live and be successful in everything we do. Our role is to compare our lives to the standard of the Bible. If we find any shortfall like not having enough money, not healthy enough or not successful enough then the next step is search the Bible for solutions and put them to work. This is what the last sentence in Verse 16 means.

“It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right.”

In short, the Bible is our servant who serves us by teaching us what is right and wrong in our lives. For the wrong things, this servant will teach us the solutions. If you do not have enough money, it will teach you how to make more money. If you are sick, it will teach you how to get healed. You can never find anywhere in the Bible that tells us that God is the pervert who gives people thorns in the flesh to show them his sufficient grace. Our God is not a pervert and the Bible is the proof that He is always on our side to help us to get everything we ever want.

Our God’s desire is to help us to fulfil our desires. Why would he want to do that? The first reason is he loves us and the second reason is in Verse 17.

17 God uses it to prepare and equip his people to do every good work.
2 Timothy 3:17(NLT)

Our God wants to bless us so abundantly for us to do every good work. Please note that this is not blackmail. The verse never says God demands us to do good works or he will do perverted things to us. However this does not stop heretics like theologians and doctrine worshippers from turning this verse into one.

In case someone wants to know on why would I regularly refer to the heretics, my intention to dispel the myth that theologians and doctrine worshippers represent Christianity. The truth is they don’t know anything about the Bible. The only thing they know is to pervert the contents of the Bible to support their heresy that God is a pervert. In the minds of the theologians and doctrine worshippers, God is a pervert who likes to do perverted things to people to steal kill and destroy while Satan comes that we may have life and have it more abundantly.

As true Christians, we will never accuse our God as a pervert. Our God is good and the meaning of the word “good” is still the same as what we can find in the dictionary.

2 Timothy 3:17 tells us that God blesses us to prepare and equip us to do every good work. As Christians we want to do good works because it is our nature to do so. Our God is only helping us to do what we want to do. This is definitely not blackmail.

What are the good works we want to do? Since the meaning of the word “good” does not change, it must be works that bring prosperity, health, long life, success, joy and peace to others. To summarize:
 God makes us prosperous for us to bring prosperity to others.
 God makes us healthy for us to bring health to others.
 God gives us long lives for us to bring long lives to others.
 God gives us success for us to bring success to others.
 God gives us joy for us to bring joy to others.
 God gives us peace for us to bring peace to others.

In conclusion, the Bible is an engineering book.

Thanksgiving In The Midst Of Troubles

17 I will offer you a sacrifice of thanksgiving and call on the name of the Lord.
18 I will fulfill my vows to the Lord in the presence of all his people—
19 in the house of the Lord in the heart of Jerusalem. Praise the Lord!
Psalm 116:17-19 (NLT)

We have come to the final verses of Psalm 116. In Verse 17, the writer promised to offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving to the Lord. If you have read the earlier verses, you may have noticed that this guy must have faced with some serious trouble or he would not have said things like death and calling all men as liars. Throughout the psalm we have seen how he had managed to change his mood from negative to positive just by focusing on the goodness of God. At the same time, there is no indication in the psalm that his physical conditions have changed.

Yet, the writer wanted to offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving and call on the name of the Lord. Why would he want to do that when his troubles were still around? Obviously he must be acting in faith. He believed his God would deliver him from all his troubles even when he could not see the manifestation himself. So, he gave thanks in advance.

Heretics like theologians and doctrine worshippers will twist this verse into their heresy that we should give thanks to God for our troubles. That is equivalent of accusing God to be the pervert who started those troubles in the first place. I find that to be sickening. No wonder, Satan himself is a theologian.

The truth is, we do not thank God for our troubles because he is not the pervert who started them. We thank God because we believe he will deliver us from all of them. We thank him in advance because we believe beyond any shadow of doubt that he is working behind the scenes to deliver us from all our troubles and prosper us beyond our wildest dreams.

In Verse 18 and 19, the writer promised to fulfill his vow to the Lord in the presence of all his people. As I have written in the earlier article, the vow here is not religious vow. You can never find anywhere in the Bible that says God wants his people to make perverse vows like vow of poverty and vow of sickness. The vow of God is the vow of prosperity in every area of our lives.

So, the writer had not only promised to live in God’s prosperity, he wanted to live in it openly for all to see. He wanted the whole world to see how good his God is. As I have also written in my earlier article, this is what true evangelism is all about.

All religions are the same. They can only promise things that cannot be proven. This is why religions can never be proven false. Our God is the opposite. He dares to promise us things that can be proven like health and wealth. When we live in abundant prosperity like good health and great wealth, we are effectively sending a loud signal to the world that our God is able and willing to deliver his promises. He must be the true God.

This is why we praise him. He is worthy of our praise.

The Lord Has Set Me Free

15 The Lord cares deeply when his loved ones die.
16 O Lord, I am your servant; yes, I am your servant, born into your household; you have freed me from my chains.
Psalm 116:15-16 (NLT)

This is another installment of my series in Psalm 116. You may have noticed that I have changed the Bible version from NIV in the previous installments to NLT in this article. The reason is, I cannot understand Verse 15 in NIV. In NIV, this verse sounds like the Lord loves to see his people die. This will make him sound like a pervert which is what the theologians are trying very hard to convince us. The truth is, God is not a pervert.

Somebody may want to ask me, “What if the theologians are right about God and you are wrong?” My answer is simple. If the theologians are right, then God must be a pervert. I have no respect for him. I will not want to be a Christian. I will still practice positive thinking and confession to get the results I want in my life. I will still move on with my life.

Let us start with Verse 15. It says the Lord cares deeply when his loved ones die. Please note that the verse does not name the Lord as the pervert who killed or caused the death of his loved ones. As humans, all of us care deeply if any of our loved ones die but that does not mean we are the murderers of our loved ones. Likewise, the Lord is not the murderer of his loved ones.

This tells us that the Lord wants us to live long lives. He wants us to live in good health, in safe environments, have a lot of money and have everything we desire as long as we are happy. When we are happy, he is happy. This is the heart of a parent.

My 4-year-old son has never bothered to ask me on what is my will for him. All he knows is to find ways to have fun. His latest initiative is to roll his toy cars down the slide. When he is happy, I as his father am happy. I will do whatever I can to ensure that he has good health and never be in lack so that he can live in joy for eternity. This means my will for my son is for him to be happy.

Let us get back to God. What is the will of God your Father for us? The answer is the same. He wants us to be happy. When we are happy, he is happy. He will do anything he can to ensure that. This includes giving us abundant prosperity in every area of our lives even including a lot of money and good health. Health and wealth may have become dirty words to the theologians but not to God.

We can hereby conclude that Verse 15 must be referring to the Lord not wanting his loved ones to die. He loves us so deeply that he wants us live long. How long should we live? As long as we want. All Christians are supposed to live long lives. The only right reason for us to die and go to heaven is when we get bored with life on earth. At that time we will just leave our old bodies and get into new ones in heaven. We do not need disease or accidents to help us to get there. Our God is not so pathetic that he needs Satan’s help to provide diseases and accidents to send us to heaven.

I remember once that a doctrine worshipper told me that diseases are the way to heaven. How perverted can they sink to?

In Verse 16, the writer acknowledged his past as being born as God’s servant. Yet God has set him free from his chains. He could choose whether to serve or not to serve God as he wanted. This is called free will. God has set us free from our bondage so that we can choose to live the life we want.

This is what Christian life is all about. We can choose to serve or not to serve God. When we choose to serve God, our decision is not made out of fear. God will never point a gun at our heads to force us to obey him. Neither will he blackmail us with perverted things like giving us some thorns in the flesh to show us his sufficient grace if we refuse to obey him.

We do not serve God because we are threatened. We serve God because we are smart. When we are serving God, we put ourselves in position to receive all the prosperity he has for us. So, if you want to live long life, have good health, a lot of money and prosper in every area in your life, put yourself in position to receive them. Serve God.

Heretics like the theologians and doctrine worshippers may ask, “How can you serve God for prosperity?” My answer, because I want to. The Lord has set me free from chains so that I can decide what I want. I choose to cherish my freedom and exercise it. I will never allow those heretics from robbing me of what God has given to me.

When You Are In Great Affliction

10 I believed; therefore I said, “I am greatly afflicted.”
11 And in my dismay I said, “All men are liars.”
12 How can I repay the LORD for all his goodness to me?
13 I will lift up the cup of salvation and call on the name of the LORD.
14 I will fulfill my vows to the LORD in the presence of all his people.
Psalm 116:10-14 (NIV)

This is a continuation of my series in Psalm 116. In Verse 10 and 11, the writer expressed negative thoughts and confessions. This tells us that the writer is a human being. Sometimes we may face afflictions that are so oppressive that we start to think and talk negative. If you have done that, God does not want you to feel sorry or guilty about it. He wants you to repent. To repent is to turn around and in this case means stop thinking and talking negative. Replace those negative thoughts and confessions with positive thoughts and confession. This is what true repentance is all about.

In fact, this is what the writer did in Verse 12. He suddenly changed his focus on the goodness of God. The Lord has been so good to him that he wanted to find ways to repay the Lord. Do you notice that his mood has changed since this verse? He was no longer negative.

This is how we can change our moods, from bad to good moods. Just think of the good things the Lord has done for you. All of a sudden that great affliction does not seem that great anymore. You will begin to believe God is on your side and he is currently working behind the scenes to deliver you out of all your troubles.

He is going to turn your poverty into prosperity. Not only will all your debts be clear, you will have so much money that you can start to bless others with it. He is going to heal your supposedly “incurable” disease and make you even healthier than before you were infected. You will be fit enough to climb the highest mountain. This is how God delivers us from all our troubles and he is doing it while we are still in the land of the living.

In Verse 13, the writer wanted to lift his cup of salvation and called on the name of the Lord. What does that mean? We lift cups to drink what is inside it. The writer lifted his cup of salvation. This means he wanted to drink the stuff in it, which is salvation. Salvation will get inside him and be a part of him. Salvation is just another term for deliverance. The writer wanted to be deliverance-minded.

If you are deliverance-minded, you will think of the deliverance of God each time you face trouble. You will not be depressed, disappointed, get drunk, think negative, talk negative nor will you do any idiotic things no matter how big that trouble is. Why? You are convinced beyond doubt that your God is always on your side and he who is in you is always greater than he who is in the world. There is no problem that your God cannot solve. He is able and his greatest desire is to deliver you from all your troubles and prosper you beyond your wildest dreams. As I have mentioned before, he is going to do all these while you are still in the land of the living.

All we need to do is to trust in him. Verse 12 ends with the writer calling on the name of the Lord. What is the name of the Lord? I have written on this topic before. So, I will just paste the relevant part here.

JEHOVAH-JIREH: “The Lord will Provide.”
God is our provider. He is able and willing to provide everything we desire. Once we understand this, we will never be in lack. Through him we have all the prosperity that we can ever dream of. If you are facing a financial crisis right now, trust in JEHOVAH-JIREH to provide for you, with all the money you need to overcome your situation. As long as you believe and don’t give up, you will see the provision of God in your life.

JEHOVAH-ROPHE: “The Lord Who Heals”
He is our healer. You may be very sick right now. You can feel the sickness. Your doctors may have told you that your disease has reached the terminal stage where there is no cure. According to their professional opinion, you are going to die very soon. You have to understand that the reason why the doctors said what they have said is because they do not know who JEHOVAH-ROPHE is. At the Cross, Jesus took all our sickness and disease. He is more than willing to heal us if we allow him to. All we need to do is to believe in him. In the mind of God, no disease is incurable.

JEHOVAH-NISSI: “The Lord Our Banner.”
Banners were used in ancient warfare to rally and organize the troops for battles. If you are with your banner, you know for sure that you are not alone. You are fighting along with many others who are on your team. You will not feel discouraged but you will have the courage to charge forward and crush the enemy. Therefore, whenever you feel discouraged, turn to JEHOVAH-NISSI. He will give you the strength to fight on because he who is in you is greater than he who is in this world.

JEHOVAH-SHALOM: “The Lord Our Peace”
The situation around you can be very chaotic but you can still have peace inside you. Through JEHOVAH-SHALOM, we can have great peace that enables us to analyze the situation calmly and find the solution to our problems. We will not be agitated, stressed or panic. No matter how bad and impossible the negative situation appears to be, we have the peace and confidence that our God is greater than them.

So, as you can read, God did not choose his names at random. All the names have deep meanings and they are meant for our good.

In Verse 12, the writer was wondering how he should repay the Lord for his goodness. Verse 13 is his answer. We repay the God’s goodness by living lives of faith. Living a life of faith is the only way we can say “thank you” to the Lord. This is what the Lord expects from us.

That is not all. In Verse 14, the writer wanted to fulfill his vows to the LORD in the presence of all his people. What vows did he make to the Lord? The psalm does not say but we can expect those to be true believer’s vows and not theological ones. Based on what we have read of the psalm we can be sure that the writer is a believer and not a theologian because not once did he call God a pervert.

In fact, this is how we can separate a true Christian from a theologian. A true Christian will never accuse God to be a pervert. We will never ask idiotic questions like “Why does God allow this disaster to take place?” because we know our God is not a pervert.

Since we know that the writer is not a theologian, we can then be sure that all his vows must be the vows of prosperity. This means the writer was determined to live in prosperity in every area of his life. He wanted to live in great peace, joy, good health, has a lot of money, a lot of life stocks like goats, sheep and cattle, has a big house and everything that he desires. Not only that, he wanted to enjoy his prosperity publicly. Why? He wanted to show everyone around him the goodness of his God.

This tells us that the best way to get people to be Christians is for us, the existing Christians to live in the prosperity God wants us to have. Christians who live in perfect prosperity is the greatest proof that the God of the Bible is the real God who produces real results. Do you want to the God’s living proof? I do. Count me in Lord. Let me be the living proof to show that you are the real God who produces real results.

The Lord Works In The Land Of The Living

8 For you, O LORD, have delivered my soul from death, my eyes from tears, my feet from stumbling,
9 that I may walk before the LORD in the land of the living.
Psalm 116:8-9 (NIV)

Welcome to this installment of my series is Psalm 116. In this article, we shall look into the Lord’s policy of deliverance. How does God deliver us? The verses above tell us the full story.

In Verse 8, the writer shared on what the Lord had delivered him from. There are 3 things that he was delivered from. They are:
1. Soul from death
2. Eyes from tears
3. Feet from stumbling.

Let us examine them one by one. Our souls are our minds. There are situations where our bodies can outlast our souls. In such situations, the bodies will eventually die within a short time. Our bodies cannot live without our souls. How can souls die? It always happens when a person faces something bad and lost the will to live. This is how the soul dies. When the soul dies the body will not last long no matter how healthy it was at the moment. In short, we do not want our souls to die.

It is clear that the Lord is both able and willing to save our souls from death. How is he going to do it? He saves our souls by giving us hope no matter how impossible the situation appears to be. This tells us that the Lord is always on our side to deliver us and gives us hope. God will never allow us to live in hopelessness. As believers, it is our duty to consistently remind ourselves that there is always hope no matter how bad the situation appears to be.

Next, the Lord also delivers our eyes from tears. There are various reasons for tears to form in our eyes but in this context, it refers to our sorrows. There are times where bad things happen and they make us sad. We may face with a huge financial problem, infected with a deadly disease, death of our loved ones or any other events that make us want to cry. God does not want those things to happen either. He wants us to be happy, not sad. He will do everything he can to make us happy. The question is, are we willing to trust in him.

This is another way of saying that God is not a sadist. He will not do things with the intention to make us sad. Such is the nature of perverts. God is not one of them. So, if you are to hear messages saying that sometimes God can make us poor, sick, kill our loved ones or any other perversions, you can be sure that that preacher was preaching theology, which is a lie from the pit of hell.

The third point raised by the writer tells us that God can keep our feet from stumbling. It refers to physical, mental and spiritual stumbling. As human beings, we are still imperfect but God wants us to know that he can still bless us despite our imperfections by keeping our feet from stumbling. So, do not waste time in focusing on how imperfect you are. Focus instead on God’s goodness and his willingness in blessing and delivering you despite your imperfection.

In the next verse, we find out the reason for God’s blessings in our lives, “that I may walk before the LORD in the land of the living.” I like the part on “the land of the living”. This means we do not have to die and go to heaven before we can see our deliverance and blessings. The deliverance and the blessings of God are meant to happen while we are still alive on earth.

In other words, God dares to stick his neck out by promising things that can be proven on earth. Whatever troubles you may be facing right now, you do not have to wait to die and go to heaven for your deliverance to take place. Suicide is not the solution. God has put his integrity at stake when he promised to deliver us from all our troubles while we still walk with him in the land of the living.