Knowing God
How can we, how can anyone know anything at all about God? Very simply only because God, told us about Himself in His Word. How do we know the Bible is truly God’s Word? Couldn’t it be just an intricate story that grew more and more complex as century after centuury passed by? We can invent imaginary gods and then just say they told us this or that.
One way to gain confidence is to consider the Bible’s history. The Old Testament was created and preserved by a most amazing people that lived in the time before Christ. Their original leader Moses led them out of their centuries of captivity in Egypt. They survived and maintained their independence and identity as a people and a nation until the time of Christ. One could say this was utterly miraculous in a period during which civilizations rose and fell one afer the other, never to be heard from again.
The only answer that makes any sense at all is the story the Bible gives us. God, the Creator and sustainer of all things, chose Israel as His people. He gave them Ten Commandments which, as long as they obeyed, sustained and protected them.
Today we have much more than these ancient people had. Christ, the second person of the Holy Trinity came to be born of a woman, to live as a man and to die for the sins of all that believe in Him. Sadly, none believed on their own but He gave the gift of faith to all His chosen people.
For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: (Ephesians 2:8)
We see here that even the faith to believe in God is itself a gift from God. We are so enmeshed in Satan’s power that even the faith to believe in God is not our own but is a gift from God.
The obedience of God’s ancient people, though, was only partial and very intermittent. God’s laws and even the knowledge of God was forgotten in times of prosperity and only remembered in times of hardship or captivity. Very few in Israel truly believed and really knew God.
We live today in a time when many claim to but few really know God. To know God is to obey Him with heartfelt obedience. God asks His people to spread the good news of His free salvation to as many others as we can. His true followers, His born-again people that have received the gift of eternal life do so with great joy and much energy. Those that have not truly been reborn may pretend to have joy but do not spread the gospel message with true conviction.
We live in a time when many of those that think they are God’s people do not really know God. They believe in a god that has changed his mind. They believe in the frivolous god Scofield gives us, not in the true God of Holy Scripture who never changes His mind:
For I am the Lord, I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed. (Malachi 3:6)
Yes, the Scofield, so-called bible is a work of fiction, a storybook for children of all ages. It has deceived and continues to deceive many weak Christians that don’t know their Bibles well enough to see through its many faults. [1]
[1] See “The Incredible Scofield and His Book” by Joseph M. Canfield, Ross House Books.