Early Will I Seek Thee

Parenting is not for sissies!  I've been accused of taking it too seriously, but I really don't believe that's possible. To know that I'm responsible for setting 6 souls on their path to know the God Who created them is a bit overwhelming, and it's especially hard because I am a sinner.  I'm saved and have faith, but how can I pass along that faith to them?  I want them to know that I'm a Christian, but how can I point them directly to Christ, rather than just my pitiful example of Christianity?  I train them, make sure they're clean and fed and safe, I teach them, school them, groom them..... but ultimately, I can not choose for them to be followers of Christ.  It's up to them individually.  God doesn't have grandchildren, only children.

Rather than subject them to the schizophrenic, ever-evolving (or perhaps "eroding" would be a better word) pop psychology methods of child evangelism and youth groups and children's church, Jason and I have trusted them to the same Holy Spirit that saved both of us, and all the generations before us.  God hasn't changed, and neither has His method of salvation, so we've tried to give them a life rich in God's Word, Holy Ghost inspired preaching, and prayer.....oh, how we need prayer.  He and I aren't perfect, but God's Word is.

One evidence of salvation is a hunger for God's Word.  I can remember, as a teen, when God truly opened up His Word to me, and I began getting up early (5 am) every morning before school to devour and memorize Scripture.  I wouldn't take anything in exchange for those days.  That experience changed my life and spared me so much of the grief that my teen peers suffered.  I've prayed that He would do the same for my children.

One challenge I've discovered parenting in the technology age, is the constant distraction of media and devices.  It's overwhelming if not tamed.  In fact, I'm prepared to just say that it is numbing hearts and minds out of the ability to search their souls and let the Holy Spirit of God work on the conscience.  I can remember, as a little child, lying in bed and being convicted of things I'd done, or wondering about heaven and hell, and just pondering on the things of God.  Today's child falls asleep with an iPod or laptop in his hand, focused on worldy pursuits and pleasures with no time for God to speak to them. How sad for these kids, and how negligent of parents!

All my kids have iPods or iPhones, but we've had strict rules from the very beginning.  First of all, no iPods in bed except on weekends.  (We also have a "no spending the night away from home on Saturday night" policy.  We want our kids to be refreshed and ready for worship on Sunday, with their minds on worship and not on pleasure.)  Also, in order to try to cultivate a love for God's Word, we require that they do morning devotions before they touch any kind of device each day. The kids have shown remarkable self-discipline with this, and I consider this proof of their salvation.  Caleb and Madelyn have set their clocks every morning in time for showers and devotions before breakfast for years, but now even the boys have taken this up all on their own.  Seth gets up at 6:30 and Bub at 7:30, whether anyone else is up or not.  Here are the books they are currently using for devotions:

KK and Jason:
Morning and Evening by Charles Spurgon

Sis and I:

Seasons of the Heart by Donna Kelderman

Seth:

Their Lives and Your Lives: Children's Devotion on Bible Characters

Bub isn't quite ready for his own book, but he listens to the audio Bible (KJV), and we also do the Bible Study Guide for all Ages.  I discovered this jewel of a resource when I first started homeschooling Caleb in preschool, and we've used it with all the kids since.  As of now, Seth, Bub, and Summer are going through it.  It's wonderful!

The Bible Study Guide for All Ages

Before we read our Bible story each day and do the worksheet, we read a chapter of this little devotional:

Leading Little Ones to God by Marion Schooland 

It's an unusual devotional, in that it presents mature ideas like the Trinity and original sin in a way that children can grasp it.  All the references are King James, and the illustrations are lovely and inspiring.  It's opened up many opportunities for deep discussions with my 5, 9, and 10 year olds.

As inadequate as I am, I am thankful to serve a Capable God Who can save my kids just like He saved me.

¹⁴ For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,

¹⁵ Of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named,

¹⁶ That he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man;

¹⁷ That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love,

¹⁸ May be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height;

¹⁹ And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God.

Ephesians 3:14-19

There are only 2 Bibles

I Miss President Reagan

The following transcript is one of Ronald Reagan's famous radio addresses. In this address (which aired September 6, 1977), Ronald Reagan, the great orator, eloquently gives his thoughts on the "Good News Bible" (also called the Good News for Modern Man and Today's English Version) in comparison to the Authorized Version or the King James Bible.

"What would you say if someone decided Shakespeare's plays, Charles Dicken's novels, or the music of Beethoven could be rewritten & improved?

Writing in the journal "The Alternative", Richard Hanser, author of The Law & the Prophets and Jesus: What Manner of Man Is This?, has called attention to something that is more than a little mind boggling. It is my understanding that the Bible (both the Old & New Testaments) has been the best selling book in the entire history of printing. Now another attempt has been made to improve it. I say another because there have been several fairly recent efforts to quote "make the Bible more readable & understandable" unquote. But as Mr. Hanser so eloquently says, "For more than 3 1/2centuries, its language and its images, have penetrated more deeply into the general culture of the English speaking world, and been more dearly treasured, than anything else ever put on paper." He then quotes the irreverent H. L. Mencken, who spoke of it as purely a literary work and said it was, "probably the most beautiful piece of writing in any language." They were, of course, speaking of The Authorized Version, the one that came into being when the England of King James was scoured for translators & scholars. It was a time when the English language had reached it's peak of richness & beauty.

Now we are to have The Good News Bible which will be in, "the natural English of everyday adult conversation." I'm sure the scholars and clergymen supervised by the American Bible Society were sincerely imbued with the thought that they were taking religion to the people with their Good News Bible, but I can't help feeling we should instead be taking the people to religion and lifting them with the beauty of language that has outlived the centuries. Mr. Hanser has quoted from both the St. James Version & the Good News Bible some well known passages for us to compare.

A few thousand years ago Job said "How forcible are right words!" [Job 6:25] The new translators have him saying "Honest words are convincing." That's only for openers. There is the passage [Eccl. 1:18], "For in much wisdom is much grief: and he that increaseth knowledge increaseth sorrow". Is it really an improvement to say instead, "The wiser you are, the more worries you have; the more you know the more it hurts." In the New Testament, in Mathew, we read "The voice of the one crying in the wilderness. Prepare ye the way." [Matthew 3:3] The Good News version translates that, "Someone is shouting in the desert. Get the road ready." It sounds like a straw boss announcing lunch hour is over.

The hauntingly beautiful 23rd Psalm is the same in both versions, for a few words, "The Lord is my shepherd" but instead of continuing "I shall not want" we are supposed to say "I have everything I need." The Christmas story has undergone some modernizing but one can hardly call it improved. The wondrous words "Fear not: for; behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy" has become, "Don't be afraid! I am here with good news for you." The sponsors of the Good News version boast that their Bible is as readable as the daily paper -- and so it is. But do readers of the daily news find themselves moved to wonder, "at the gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth"? Mr. Hanser suggests that sadly the "tinkering & general horsing around with the sacred texts will no doubt continue" as pious drudges try to get it right. "It will not dawn on them that it has already been gotten right."

This is Ronald Reagan. Thanks for listening."

Source: AV1611.ORG

Happy Birthday to My Precious Old Bible!

I love my Bible. My perfect, preserved copy of God's Holy Word for the English speaking people, the Authorized 1611 King James Bible. The New Age Bible versions that have infiltrated the churches in the last 100 years have lead to the absolute chaos and crisis of doctrine we have today. It's paved the way for the heretical Emergent Church movement, led by universalists like Rob Bell and others. While this is true, the saddest thing to me on a personal level that has come from everyone owning their own personalized, preferred Bible translation, is the obvious difficulty it presents in memorizing and familiarizing ourselves with Scripture. Before, the preacher read and preached the KJB, the people read along in their KJ Bibles, the children studied from the KJB in Sunday School, greeting cards and Bible literature all quoted from the Authorized text, and even those who did not make a concerted effort to memorize Scripture had it written on their hearts just by sheer repetition. Satan would have none of this! So, he pulled out his oldest trick (literally) and began to question once again, as he did in the garden, "Hath God said....?"

And so, the heretical compromised texts that had been altered by the gnostics of Alexandria, which had made their way into the Latin Vulgate and other corrupt translations, began to weave their way into the English language, the language spoken by the most definitively Christian nation in history, the U.S.

I have never read from anything other than the King James Bible, other than when I had to purchase required texts for college (The Jerusalem Bible and the New Revised Standard Bible). However, I used to hold to the position that this was my preference, and that if one was going to read from another version, he should choose a scholarly "objective" version (like the NRSV) and not an interpretive "subjective" version like the NIV. After much study on this subject, however, I realized that the "objective vs. subjective" issue has absolutely NOTHING to do with the Bible version debate. The truth is, you could have a very scholarly, completely unbiased translation, but IF IT'S FROM THE WRONG SOURCE, it's HERESY!

The issue is not about the translation, it's about the manuscripts! The King James Bible was carefully translated from the original received texts, the Textus Receptus, or the Majority texts. These were carefully preserved and copied by the early church. Some manuscripts were taken to Alexandria and changed by the gnostics. These, through a series of events, have now become known as the Westcott-Hort Greek text, from which almost all modern Bible translations are taken. The King James Bible tells us that Satan was "subtil" in his deception, hard to recognize, and it's no wonder that many sincere Christians aren't aware of this deception.

The Lord is jealous of His Word. In closing the Holy Book, He left us a warning, "...If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book: And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life..." Rev. 22:18, 19

Here is a link to ENTIRE VERSES that are deleted from the NIV Bible. This list doesn't include deleted or changed words here and there, such as references to Christ's divinity and Hell, etc.

Here's a link to one of my favorite "watchers on the wall" for modern times, John McTernan. He is a defender of life, a defender of Israel, a defender of Biblical prophecy, a defender of family and marrige, and a defender of the King James Bible. He isn't a stuffy academic, but a very humble and knowledgeable child of God who knows how to get his point across. There are several useful links on the page below, including his personal testimony about the King James Bible.

John McTernan, 400 Years of the KJB

If you'll look on the right sidebar of my blog, you'll find a link to a position paper by my all-time favorite Bible scholar, Dr. Henry Morris, on the King James Bible.

If you aren't sure about this issue, I urge you to study up on it yourself! David Cloud from Way of Life Ministries (http://www.wayoflife.org/) is another great resource, as well as Dr. Samuel Gipp ("The Answer Book" among others).

Praise God for His kind provision for us, in giving us a Book from which we can know that we have eternal life! Happy 400 Years, King James Bible!

Hey, Oprah! You're in the Bible!

And it ain't on the page you're thinking....it's right here:

"This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come.

For men [as in "mankind", including women, as in YOU] shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy,

Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good,

Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God;

Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away."

II Timothy 3:1-5

There you are, right there! (Get a King James Bible and read verses 6-9 to see what happens next!)