The Inspired Word Part 2

Debra

The-Inspired-Word-2.mp3

by Pastor Mark Downey

Scripture Reading:  Psalms 119:169-176

Christians, like the Psalmist David, want to know more about God in Christ the Messiah, to know more about the teachings of the Word, and the duties of our faith.  When we understand that we are the true Israel, we also realize what our newfound responsibilities are.  David had a foreboding sense that he and his prayers were not worthy before such a benevolent God who bequeathed so much promise.  Likewise, we are heirs of the promise and yet every waking moment is not dedicated to the praise of God.  We should make the Word of God our rule in everyday conversation, rather than the exception.  We should look up to God as a lump of clay to be shaped in perfect form by the Potter; to help this honorable vessel glorify Him.  When we glory in the Lord, we are spreading His reputation.  It was by His design that His repute would be through His people; even the enemies of His people would stand in awe of such a fearsome and jealous God.  And it was all because we have His Word; an owner’s manual, if you will, for having communion with Him, not just for today, but for eternity. 

The earliest scribes, from 400BC to 200 AD, worked with Ezra and were regarded as the custodians of the Bible until the time of Christ.  At that point in time, they were under the employ of the Pharisees and received equal animus from Christ declaring unto them (always in the same order with the scribes first), “Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!” Mt. 23:14.  They were woefully the enemies to the gospel of Christ.  They were very much the control freaks, micro-managing the trivial matters of the Law, but aloof and negligent towards the importance of justice.  It was more like ‘just us.’  They were likened to whited sepulchers.  Christ was making the point that He could see through the superficial exterior and discern the spirit of man by what we are inwardly.  Outward motives may keep the outside clean, while the inside is filthy; but if the heart and spirit be made new, there will be newness of life; here the Christian must begin with what is inside their heart and mind. The righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees was like the ornaments of a grave, or dressing up a dead body, only for show.

The Inspired Word Part 1

Debra

The-Inspired-Word-1.mp3

by Mark Downey

Scripture Reading:  2 Timothy 3:14-17

The Bible is different than every book that has ever been written because it is through the auspices of Almighty God.  Think about that for a moment.  Most religions of the world have their own so called holy book, but our Holy Bible is the only one that claims to be the actual words of God.  More than 3000 times we read “thus saith the Lord” or “God said,” followed by a direct quotation.  No one knows exactly how many books have been published throughout history, but according to Google’s advanced algorithms, the answer is close to 130 million books.  And there is only one book that can qualify as being inspired or more succinctly, the Word of God.  In Christianity we hear the word ‘inspiration’ all the time coupled with the word ‘infallible.’  This prompts the inquiry: why would the “Author of our Faith” (Heb. 12:2) use fallible men to write Scripture?  Well, think about it; we don’t have any of the original documents or autographs from which copies were made and survived as our only resource. 

One of the Bible's most outstanding proclamations is that it plainly claims to be the inspired word of Almighty God.  This is what Paul, a highly educated Israelite proclaimed, "All Scripture is given by inspiration of God" (II Tim. 3:16).  Peter wrote that the content of Scripture "never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit" (II Peter 1:21). To early church leaders, inspiration was not an ecstatic overpowering of the writer's consciousness, as described in the occult as “automatic handwriting,” but rather a high degree of elucidation and divine awareness of God's revelation.  Scripture indicates, and the early church recognized, that God inspired the biblical writers to use their own minds and their own styles to write what God wanted them to write.  Likewise, we are all unique in the eyes of God, not just robotic disciples.

The Inspired Word

Debra

by Pastor Mark Downey

The Inspired Word booklet cover A general review of what makes the Bible inspired.

Part 1: A look at the mystery and miracle of God processing His thoughts and ways through the Holy Spirit to 40 chosen White men; granting them the unique insight to convey the Lord's revelation to the rest of our race

Part 2: Going further into the racial aspects of canonical Scriptures, which has been historically interrupted by the apocryphal writings, the Gnostic gospels and secular science.

Part 3: In this presentation, the Word of God is proven to be amazingly accurate through prophecy and validating factual persons, places and things through archaeology.

Part 4: Concludes with an important history of the Septuagint and the Masoretic text; helpful recommendations for biblical interpretation.

The Adoption of Adaption

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The-Adoption-of-Adaption.mp3

by Pastor Mark Downey

Scripture Reading:  Romans 9:3-5

Christianity today is plagued with tens of thousands of denominations, because Christians have lost the meaning of biblical adoption and have adapted to other religions of the world.  Apostasy means a ‘falling away’ and abandoning previously held beliefs.  Nothing could be more reinventing than the hyphenated “judeo-Christianity” and cause for another writ of divorcement from God.  At one time, blacks and other dark people knew their place in White society; and White Christian Americans understood their place in God’s scheme of things; His law and order for a civilized society.  They were the ‘heirs of the promise’ with a divine destiny.  Here’s the overt racism of God expressing His love for our people, “The Lord did not set His love on you nor choose you because you were more in number than any of the peoples, for you were the fewest of all peoples, but because the Lord loved you and kept the oath which He swore to your ancestors, the Lord brought you out by a mighty hand, and redeemed you from the house of slavery, from the hand of Pharaoh, king of Egypt” Deut. 7:7-8. 

This love story developed with Abraham and extended to the nation that came from him.  When God redeemed Israel from Egypt, He purchased a nation in bondage.  When God redeemed White Christians from European tyrants, He purchased a race of people under religious persecution.  They came to America with the idea of fulfilling God’s plan for the ages.  Some called it Manifest Destiny.  But, it was the hope and aspiration of our ancestors to establish a literal Beulah Land married to the God of Israel.  “Know therefore that the Lord your God, He is God, the faithful God, Who keeps covenant and mercy with them that love Him and keep His commandments to a thousand generations” Deut. 7:9.  It can be argued that a generation is anywhere between 40 and 100 years, but regardless of the calculations, we’re talking about a long, long time for a particular race of people to do what they were created for.  Praise the Lord.

Our First Love

Debra

Our-First-Love.mp3

By Pastor Mark Downey

Scripture Reading:  Revelation 2:1-4

What’s eating you?  We’ll answer that question shortly.  The exact phrase “our first love” is not found in the Bible, but it is generally recognized to be from Rev. 2:4, “Nevertheless I have somewhat against you, because you have left your first love.”  In other words, when God called His people and said I want you for My bride and at first they were ecstatic, but later became less than excited, there was a problem.  One has only to look at so many variants of re-formed churches, of splintering and denominationalism, whose original zeal had long departed and among whom so much declined, that an attempt to reinvent the warmth and excitement they once enjoyed can be typified with the church at Ephesus and for the last 2000 years can rear its ugly head anywhere and at anytime.  We constantly hear of revival, but more often than not it is nothing more than changing their reformation from the hands of the Divine Potter to the hands of spiritual paramedics with good intentions forming the clay in their own image of a revived vessel.

The Truth About Lies Part 2: The Double Mind

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The-Truth-About-Lies-Part-2.mp3
These days there is a monumental disparity between what someone believes and the truth. Just because someone believes something is true doesn’t mean it is the truth. And this is the great dilemma in awakening our people to the fact that they’ve been lied to or what they believe to be true is in fact false.

Following God's Laws

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by Debra Downey

Answering the question: "How do you know we must follow the laws of the Old Testament?"

The Bible says if you love God, you should follow His laws: "That thou mayest love the Lord thy God, and that thou mayest obey his voice, and that thou mayest cleave unto him..." (Deut. 30:20). There are many references, in both the Old and New Testament of how God's people, as a whole, have spent their whole existence in failure of obeying God and the misery that results.

The Bread of Life

Debra

The-Bread-of-Life.mp3

by Pastor Mark Downey

Most of my messages are preaching to the choir, but today I’d like to address the friends and relatives of the choir, the outsiders to the Christian Israel truth; and I’m sure you’ll find some food for thought as well.  Sometimes I write for the purpose of helping Christians find the purpose of their lives in Christ.  Jesus said, “I have come that you may have life, and that you may have it more abundantly” (John 10:10).  This has profound implications.  Bread… something used to hold the main part of a sandwich together; a side item to go along with the main meal; something children tear the crust from before eating.  Bread in our modern culture is really not a necessity.  One could function quite easily without bread.  Well, not so in biblical days.

At the very center of life during the times of Jesus and earlier, stood the stalks of grain that carried man from day to day.  Without bread, there was no life.  It is no accident that the most famous prayer in the Western world begins with, “Our Father, Who art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name.  Give us this day our daily bread.”  Daily bread – life - one day at a time.  The simplest things in the Bible often offer the deepest truths.  It is those very things which man often quickly writes off as insignificant or secondary that can open the door to the great spiritual truths of which Jesus spoke of.