Fear God, and give glory to Him

Messed up by translations?

Do you receive the Word of God?  I mean, do you really receive it by putting it into practice?  Or have you read somewhere that our Bibles have been really messed up by translators, and that the things that are written are not really MEANT that way?

I use an amplified New Testament, and my wife helps me out with her high school (at home) knowledge of Greek.  We know enough Greek to know that our English Bibles aren't that messed up.  And besides we have quite a few Spanish translations that we check, too. 
 
It boils down to this: God reveals His Word to babes, not to seminary students.  He has hid these things from the wise and prudent.  He hasn't been hiding from little children what His Word truly says, all these years.  I benefit a lot from what the Greek says, and how other translations word things, too.  But you can also use these tools to just erase what the Scripture says, if you feel you really need to.
 
Recently one of my brethren preached a message on "Looking for a Loophole".  If you don't really want to follow Jesus and take up that heavy cross, such as "live singly all your life, because you've separated or divorced and can't get back together with your TRUE SPOUSE", or "cover your head and dress biblically, if you're a woman", or really turn the other cheek and love your enemies, etc, etc.   Not going to war...  You WILL find a loophole.  It seems God has left loopholes there so that you can just find it and BE GONE.  If you want to divorce and remarry, you will hang onto two verses in Matthew, even though all the rest of the NT FORBIDS divorce and remarriage for Jesus-lovers.  And if you don't like the veiling, you'll hang on desperately to verse 15 or 16 of 1 Cor. 11, or the cultural argument, although the 14 verses beforehand are just as CLEAR as day.
 
Or if you want to go to war, and keep a pistol on hand, you'll hang desperately onto the verse, "Sell your garment and buy one."  Or "the father of the family would have watched, and not suffered his house to be broken through," when the rest of His teachings are just as clear as can be.  "LOVE YOUR ENEMIES", "DO GOOD TO THEM THAT HATE YOU," "VENGEANCE IS MINE". 
 
Or maybe you want to hang onto your jibber-jabber gift of tongues or healing or profecy that you received while still in disobedience to one or more of these demands of Jesus.  Or you still practice your "gift" even though it´s not a real language, or it causes some confusion in the church, or disobeys something else in 1 Cor. 14, which Paul says, "are the commandments of the Lord."  Or maybe you're a woman and you just can't keep quiet in the meeting, or you think God especially called you to teach, or to usurp authority over the man, and not quite be in subjection.  But whatever your "gift" is, you justify it by the verse, "And these signs shall follow them that believe." 
 
Now I should have mentioned this first of all -  Salvation.  Jesus teaches that if we keep His commandments, we'll be His friends, we love Him, and we are saved.  But if you want to keep believing that you can "get saved" before obedience, by some kind of neat experience, you'll hang onto a COUPLE of verses, like "If thou shalt confess with thy mouth...", or "Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord...", or the famous one-- "Not of works, lest any man should boast..."  When Jesus and the rest of the New Testament RESOUND with the message of salvation being "receiving Jesus' WORDS and obeying Him, taking up your CROSS and FOLLOWING Him."  "IF we walk in the light, as He is in the light..." we get cleansing by the blood of Jesus.  But the modern church says you can get cleansing by an emotional prayer, some tears, and something that HAPPENS to you, or maybe they say "just baptism could do it."  But of course "you need to 'go on' to obedience," they say.
 
God gives His Holy Spirit to them that OBEY Him.  (Acts 5:32)  And even though many do miracles and MANY great wonders in Jesus' name, He'll say, "Guess what - I never knew you."  You're a Christian when Jesus is your LORD.  That means that HE IS ABLE to tell you what to do.  That means that He's the one directing in your heart.
 
And your divorce, when He says, "That USED to be allowed, for the hardness of your heart," and your remarriage, just show that He's NOT your Lord.  Your earrings, bare head (if you're a woman), immodest dress, and other worldly toys, your anger at those who offend you, your lack of forgiveness, your being a policeman or soldier, your staring at television, and on and on... just show that He can't direct you, and you are judging yourself unworthy of His kingdom and glory.
 
God has no use for these "born-again Christians" who are looking for excuses not to obey Him.  He can't make His abode with those who are looking for what they can get by with, by carefully checking the Greek, Hebrew, or commentary, or some obscure Scripture.  True Christians LOOK for what they can lose for Jesus, so that they might gain Him.  They LOOK for what they can do for Him, to please Him, so that they might be accepted with Him.  And even if He would never thank or reward them, they'd do it anyway, because they count Him worthy.  To the rest I think God says, "Find your excuse, and BE GONE!  Find your loophole, and OUT OF HERE!"
 
 I invite you to join us in finding this pearl of great price, polishing it up, living it and treasuring it.  We're trying to get back to what being a Christian used to mean.  We want to get back to the true Jesus.  It has brought a cross.  We've needed to leave all.  We've needed to leave our evangelical churches that we were a part of, our families and our friends.  "Wherefore we labor, that being present or absent, we might be accepted with Him."  (2 Cor. 5)  Spanish says, "pleasing to Him."
  
                  --Marcus                                             3-5-08