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THE
COLLEGE OF BIBLE STUDY
Est. 1971
E-mail: info@collegeofbiblestudy.com
WHAT IS THE COLLEGE OF BIBLE STUDY?
The College of Bible Study is you sitting at home over the kitchen
table or desk reading and rereading the Bible. The word “college”
comes from 2 Kings 22:14 and 2 Chronicles. The Hebrew word - mishneh
(mish-neh'); properly, a repetition, i.e. a duplicate (copy of a document).
I thought the word “repetition” was what we as Christians
are to be doing with the Bible and then again to duplicate and
produce
the truths for the world to see and heed.
The following subjects are a result of personal Bible study by the
founder from 1971 to the present. Subjects will be updated and added
to when pertinent information applies.
We study so we can become the greatest we can be, despite our human
condition.
The College of Bible Study is a personal outreach ministry. It
was started in January of 1971 with my personal desire to read
the Bible
through in one year. Each year until 1979 I read through the Bible
at least once a year. If I finished reading it before the year
ended,
I read the New Testament from one to three times in addition; or
read through Proverbs or whatever book I felt led to go through.
From 1979
to 2003 I’ve read the King James version several more times
along with at least seven other versions.
MOTTO
Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not
to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. 2 Timothy 2:15.
WHAT IS THE MISSION?
The mission is to encourage individual people of all walks of life
to sit down and make a life long study and friendship with the Bible
and to use the Bible as a road map for life.
INTRODUCTION
One of the greatest physical gifts the world has been given is the
Bible. It is a great source of blessing to those who want to follow
God and explains the judgment upon those that don't. It also explains
the other side of the (much un-flipped) coin of God's personality
- His Love/Wrath nature. See: God of Wrath. The Bible not only contains
the blessings, but the curses and judgments of God to all the sons
and daughters of disobedience. The curses are real. They start in
Genesis and end in Revelation in the future. See: Cursed.
When we Christians think of God's wrath and judgment we think of the
unsaved. We believers can readily see the unbelievers going through
life being blind-sided by God's judgments. They go through life without
thinking or considering that their actions are being monitored by
anyone. They get hit by problems and don't know where they come from,
or why.
Believers, on the other hand, that know God and His Word, not only
know where judgment comes from, but why. Then again, the Christian
that believes only in the "God of love," is another candidate
for blind-siding. Believing only in the God of love is like driving
a car into an uncontrolled intersection and only looking in one
direction.
The Bible exhorts Christians to stay on their toes (watch) as they
are traveling down the (narrow) pathway of life. Why the warning
if
there is no danger? See: Once Saved Always Saved?
Those believers that hold the unbalanced view concerning the God
of Love/Wrath could very well be, and most probably are, targets
of God's
CONSPIRACY OF JUDGMENT. He has conspired to muddy the water and
confuse those that hold the truth in unrighteousness (Romans 1:18).
Notice
the word “all” in Rom. 1:18. "The wrath of God is
revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of
men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness." The word all includes
believers and unbelievers, but it should be pointed out that not to
many unbelievers "hold the truth," in the first place.
I think that 2 Thessalonians 2:11 primarily speaks to unbelievers
(10)
but, apostate Christians, as we have seen by Romans 1:18, are susceptible
to this conspiracy also. Unbelievers are ultimately sent through
the
destruction of the spirit (eternal separation) while the believers
are sent through the destruction of the flesh for the saving of
the
spirit, if-so-be that they repent of whatever sin(s) that was dragging
them down. The Bible is written in such a way that will allow you
to take the wrong path and have scriptural justification for doing
so. The proof is the nearly 300 different Christian religions.
Another
way of putting this is, God will give us enough rope to either
extricate or hang ourselves with.
An example of the above mentioned conspiracy lies in the three
views of the rapture. Those views are Pre, Mid, and Post-tribulation.
Which
one is right? There seems to be scripture for all three views.
Why couldn't God have made it very plain and simple to understand?
There
are at least two sets of believers that will be "blind-sided"
when their view of the rapture fails to materialize. Will that shock
overthrow their faith, or will they have to endure a trip to the fiery
furnace for the removal of the "dross" that caused them
to believe the wrong view in the first place? See: Is There a Pre-tribulation
Rapture.
Another example can be found in Deut 4:19 (CEV) “When you see
the sun or moon or stars, don’t be tempted to bow down and worship
them. The Lord put them there for all other nations to worship.” (Emphasis
mine) I think the gap theory fits into this equation also. The
Lord could have created the earth to appear to be millions of
years old. If He did, it was for the same reason as He made the
heavens mentioned above. But why, what was His hurry? He and Jesus
could have
had the whole planet to themselves for the first, who knows how
many years before they created any other life forms that perished
in the
destruction that led us to Genesis 1:2. If God created the earth,
why would He create it in chaos, just to have to re-create again
right
away? See: Gap Theory.
Yet another example of what I’m saying can be backed up by John
6:1-71. If your heart is not really right; if you don’t really
follow Christ on His terms, He can and will “give you a hard
saying” that could cause you to stumble. Those that turned back
were following for what advantage they could get; in this case - food,
and when the hard saying offended them, they departed. People today
do the same thing with union or government leaders that promise “much”
for little work. When they don’t get the easy life full of
benefits, they leave, vote for someone else, riot or rebel in some
fashion or
other.
Scriptures seem to tell two different people two different things.
Some scriptures seem to support and promote Christmas, Easter,
different
views of the rapture, predestination, atonement, works vs. faith,
etc. Who is right? We are exhorted to study, to show ourselves
approved
unto God, a workman that need not be ashamed, rightly dividing
the word of truth. Not everybody can be right. We have to be led
and taught
of the Holy Spirit. I don’t think we are necessarily going
to get that leading by reading what other people say about the
Bible.
We have to be patient and study the Bible to get the answers.
The first amendment of the U.S. Constitution has been paraphrased
to say, "America, where you can worship God in the way you choose."
That, my friends, is a formula for disaster. We are to worship God
in the way He chooses. The way He chooses is outlined in the Bible,
and is there for the person "rightly dividing the Word of Truth," 2
Timothy 2:15.
There are many other instances like these in and out of the Bible.
God does, and/or allows, many things to happen to this world that
would seem to prove that there is no God at all. Why would He do that?
If there is a God in the heavens, how can He allow all the starvation
and wars that treat the young and old with such cruelty? The simple
answer is, He has not abandoned us - we have departed from or have
never come to Him in the first place.
CONSPIRACY OF JUDGMENT will be seen by many to be a negative book
because it contains subject matter based on the dark side of God's
love and highlights the don’t (of the do’s and don’ts).
If you clamp a Vice Grip Pliers on your index finger, who do you blame
for the pain, yourself or God? Let’s take that a little further.
Let us imagine that the clamp represents sin in our life based on
original sin (from Adam and Eve) and it is loosely clamped on the
finger not really causing much pain as it is a bothersome weight.
If each time we sin we turn the adjustment screw a little tighter
you will soon feel greater and greater pain. This should remind us
that we need to repent to God and whomever we wronged, for the relief
of that pain. If, we haven’t been taught by our parents or
the church that we need to repent, the pain will only keep growing
and
we may seek relief from its misery. We may seek out and use some
type of entertainment or diversion, whether it be gambling, materialism,
drugs and/or alcohol. That is exactly what is happening in the
world
right now. The pain that is upon the world is at our own hand.
We (so to speak) are in charge of our own destiny, depending on
what
we do with God.
Not long after I came back to the Lord in 1969, I wanted to be able
to prove to the world that there is a God. I read a little book called,
A Hundred And One Proofs The Bible Is True. That little book was a
catalyst that helped me start reading and studying through the Bible
each year. Those subsequent years of study further strengthened my
faith but what I was reading didn't seem to jive with what I was hearing
in church about eternal security, the rapture, the trinity, hell,
so-called Christian holidays and many other things. The first several
years of study I felt pretty unsettled about what I was thinking because;
who was I to go against the church and all those Bible school trained
pastors? The more years that I read the Bible and attended church,
the more I could see that the Christian message was failing to reach
the world. Was it the message or the messenger that was the problem?
The church has gotten bogged down in the world and the message
has been corrupted to such a degree that it has become ineffectual,
even
within its own doors. I don't think that the church can be guilty
of corrupting the Word and then be expected to have an effective
outreach.
I’m convinced there is going to be a lot more people in heaven
than most people believe, but I also believe there is going to
be
a lot less people in the kingdom (thousand year reign) than we
think.
The Bible is truly the answer to the world's problems, but if the
church is failing to adequately represent the Bible, the world
will
not benefit from it. Take for instance, abortion. I had never heard
from anyone that the Bible is anti-abortion, other than, "thou
shalt not kill." The babies that are being aborted all around
the world are known of God even before they are in their mother's
womb. The innocent blood that is being shed will not go unpunished.
Jeremiah 1:5 states, “Before I formed thee in the belly I knew
thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee,
and ordained thee a prophet unto the nations.” God only knows
how many great people have been killed in the name of “CHOICE.”
The focus of this book is dedicated to the uplifting of the believer
but I have not forgotten my desire to reach those that don't know
if there is a God or not (agnostics), which I was one. The SUMMARY
OF DISCOVERIES chapter, and CREATION VS. EVOLUTION, is aimed at
proving
the Bible is true, and will therefore enable the agnostic to believe
in God, or at least call out to Him and say, if you are there,
I want
to know you. As important as that chapter is, I found through my
studies and personal experience that the Holy Spirit can break
through to
anyone that truly wants to know God. The Holy Spirit can use any
book in the Bible to inspire anyone to accept Christ as their Savior.
It
is my hope that the words and subjects in this book will inspire
the reader to many years of personal Bible study and a higher walk
with
the Lord, all the while reaching out to those that don't know God
and His gift to the world – Jesus.
You may notice that some of the examples I use to make a point may
be somewhat dated. It is because this work has been on going for over
thirty years. New and changing issues keep coming to the forefront
of society.
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