I Really Do Have an Extreme View of Scripture

And I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, “Now the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ have come, for the accuser of our brothers has been thrown down, who accuses them day and night before our God. And they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, for they loved not their lives even unto death. Therefore, rejoice, O heavens and you who dwell in them! But woe to you, O earth and sea, for the devil has come down to you in great wrath, because he knows that his time is short!”-Revelation 12:10-12

I’ve been told that I take an extreme view of Scripture. In a former ministry, one preacher, in an attempt to criticize my views, told people that if they attended my congregation, I’d have their noses so far in the Bible all the time, they wouldn’t be able to see where they were going. Loved ones, I do take that as a compliment. I do take an extreme view of Scripture. I DO NOT believe that we should forcibly convert people to Christianity by fear of torture or death, as some religions do. I believe that all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, that Jesus died on the cross for our sins, and was buried and rose on the third day, all in accordance with the Scriptures, guaranteeing that our sin-debts have been paid, and that we are partakers with Jesus in eternal life. I believe God and I take Him at His word. What He says we should be, I believe we should be, and what He says we should do, I believe we should do it.

Some might look at this and have a bunch of “whataboutisms” like “what about when God commanded genocide in the Old Testament?!” or “what about the times when you eat shellfish?!” or “what about your clothing that has mixed fabric and what about the sacrifices you don’t attend?” (seriously, I’ve heard those before). To that I’d simply say this: certain laws were for certain times and places, I direct them to Galatians 2:17-21 which says that I am Justified, not through the Law, but through Christ, and if I seek to be justified through the Law, I am no longer justified by Christ (although I DO have answers for all of those questions, I’ve found people generally don’t really want an answer when they ask them). I’m not writing this to defend my viewpoint, nor to answer every naysayer (though if you wish to have an honest discussion, bring your questions, viewpoints, troubles and dissensions, and we’ll talk). I want you to know that I take God at His word. If I have a disagreement with Scripture, it is because either my flesh is at war with my Spirit, or I lack understanding of God’s commands. And, really, this is the problem we all have when we desire to argue with Scripture. I hold to such an extreme view of Scripture because where heresy or apostacy enters the church goes back to Satan’s question in Genesis 3: “did God really say…?” If we cannot take God at His word, then the Bible, even if “mostly true,” still contains falsehoods, and I can’t trust it. And make no mistake; God is our Designer, we are made in His image, and He knows where we are best. So, I will continue to take an extreme view of Scripture, continue to take God at His word, and continue to proclaim, as Jesus did, the Gospel of the Kingdom.

1 Timothy 4:1-5

I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom: preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching. For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths. As for you, always be sober-minded, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.

2 Timothy 3

But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty. For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power. Avoid such people. For among them are those who creep into households and capture weak women, burdened with sins and led astray by various passions, always learning and never able to arrive at a knowledge of the truth. Just as Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses, so these men also oppose the truth, men corrupted in mind and disqualified regarding the faith. But they will not get very far, for their folly will be plain to all, as was that of those two men.

You, however, have followed my teaching, my conduct, my aim in life, my faith, my patience, my love, my steadfastness, my persecutions and sufferings that happened to me at Antioch, at Iconium, and at Lystra—which persecutions I endured; yet from them all the Lord rescued me. Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted, while evil people and impostors will go on from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived. But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.