The Word of the Lord is my strong tower, my defense, my hope. It is good that I have been afflicted. There is a lot to learn. A lot to learn. But praise God for what He has taught me in His Word. I try to read His Word every day several times a day. I like to glance at it and reflect upon it to keep my mind on track. I don’t want to become a scribe or Pharisee. But I do love the Word. You have no idea how many times it has saved my life. It is like a compass that you sail by. Or a garmin helping you drive to your destination. Like a map by which you find your way. The Word of the Lord is good. Thank you Lord for your Word.
The Word became flesh and dwelt among us. His name is Jesus Christ, the Word made flesh. He was crucified for our sins. I recently saw something new about that. I was praying with some preachers and they began to quote the Word and pray for what they wanted. I saw Jesus on the cross, the Word made flesh. As they quoted verses I saw Jesus being whipped and cut. Every cut was a piece of the Word taken out of context. When they would jerk a verse from the bible and use it out of context, it was like they were jerking a piece of flesh from Jesus skin. I saw Him there on calvary and realized, Jesus is the Word made flesh.
And His horrible crucifixion is what the scribes and pharisees did to him. We marr the Word when we take it out of context. We tear out a verse here. We pick out the good parts we like and leave the scary or harsh parts. We take what we need to make witchcraft prayers that are not about pleasing God but about our manipulative prayers and desires. Instead of preaching a full gospel we preach a partial gospel and think it is no big deal. Well, it is a big deal. That is shredding my Jesus anew! You are crucifying the Lord anew when you take the Word of God and just pick and pull verses that please the people out of the bible.
I saw a bible shredded upon the cross. That is what Jesus is, the bible, the Word of God made flesh. Can you see it? Picture a bible being whipped to shreds, nailed, pierced, mocked, abused. Do you see it? That’s what Jesus is on that cross, a shredded and abused bible on the cross. “In the beginning was the Word…and the Word became flesh and dwelt among us.”
It’s a pretty big deal when you make the word a pretty big deal. When you use the Word to promote your circus sideshow of a church service, you have just crucified Jesus anew. Then you are subject to the vengeance of God from Hebrews chapter 10. I have seen people preach Hebrews chapter 10 and it was as harmless and bland as a hallmark greeting card. How did they mar the Word like that? That is the same chapter that made “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” but we preach it to people pleasing, ear tickling, congregations that are snoring, and nobody wakes up. How did we get to be just like the scribes and Pharisees? We are ripping the flesh from the bone.
The blood of the Word of God was poured out for us. The scribes and Pharisees made this happen. “They meant it for evil but God meant it for good.” Do you know what you are doing to the Lord with your prayers? Are you praying witchcraft prayers? Are you manipulating the Word for your own desires? Or are you praying God’s will and flowing with the Holy Spirit. If you are praying in another spirit, a demonic spirit, of course it will love shredding the Word of God to pieces. How is it that cults and clicks and factions splinter off and preach heresies? They are shredding the Word. They are crucifying the Lord Jesus Christ anew. Pray that you will preach the full gospel, not a half gospel. Are you pulling those verses out of the bible? Are you removing parts of the Word of God because it is uncomfortable? It would be better for you to change than for you to change the Word of God. You are crucifying the Lord all over again! Stop it! He only had to die once for our sins and then it was finished.
There is no longer anything between you and God’s terrible wrath if you choose to preach a half Word., a shredded Word. Pulling out what you don’t like and discarding it, He bleeds upon the cross. Whipping the body of Jesus with every verse you use out of context, crying “Peace, peace, when there is no peace.” and preaching “ear tickling” sermons to please yourself or the congregation. Then running off to play golf and forgetting all about it.
I heard a friend reading from a secular book on self improvement. As he read all these self help topics and chapters in the book, I said, “Wow. Every one of those chapters sounds like a Joel Osteen sermon.” Where is the cross and repentance? Why do we remove the blood and its power? Who wants these rewritten bible translations that just remove so much of the original Word of God? Would you like it if someone removed parts of your body to please people? Well, how do you think Jesus feels about it? Preach the whole story, the complete Word, the original message and meaning.
How many times have I heard folks preach Jeremiah’s verse “He has thoughts and plans for you for good and not evil.” Always they say that. Never do they say Jeremiah’s other verses about false prophets and false preachers. No. Its always a land of gumdrops and candycanes at the church service. Evil. That is pure evil. Just as evil as the preachers who crucified the Lord Jesus on calvary long ago. Don’t do it.
If you want to give a pep talk do it. If you want to encourage folks do it. If you want to cheer up people do it. Yes. Bring joy to people. But don’t ever shred the bible to do it. You can preach a full gospel, a complete Word and get the job done. If you find yourself manipulating the Word and picking the verses like a buffet, check yourself. Don’t crucify the Lord again. That only brings His wrath….and you want His blessings right? Well, read the bible, the whole story, don’t remove parts because you disagree. No, you line up with the Word. The Word is not meant to line up with you, you are meant to line up with the Word. That is what repentance is, lining back up with the Word, doing things right. If you can’t do that, you shouldn’t be preaching to anybody. Let them itch their own ears, don’t go scratching them for them. Seek the Lord, Jesus is on the throne at the right hand of God. He is holy. He is awesome. And He is lacking nothing. Don’t shred His body again! Amen.