Bible Pearls, Sacred Cows, and the Kingdom of God

Proverbs 25:2 says, It is the glory of God to conceal things, but the glory of kings is to search things out. When we search out God’s word, we are in good company – we have the glory of kings! Or queens! In God’s kingdom, we are royalty! God wants us to know Him better, but if He showed us everything at once, we’d be completely overwhelmed. Plus, where is the mystery and the delight in that? Yahweh is infinite, and He has infinite treasures for us, His children, and He delights in sharing them with us throughout our lives.

Early on in my growing love for the scriptures, a local man offered a class on how to study the New Testament in the original language. We learned how to use interlinears and lexicons to examine the original Greek words. These books were huge, like door stops! But that didn’t stop me. Eventually I took on Hebrew as well. And today, I am so thankful for online tools - my favorite of which is the Blue Letter Bible app right on my phone. There is really no excuse anymore, because these days it’s so easy to do a word study.

The bottom line is that I believe the scriptures are inspired by God, and that they tell His story of redemption and restoration, from Genesis to Revelation. I believe them to be true and trustworthy. I am not casting doubt on the scriptures, unlike the trend today among some progressives. Rather, I affirm the scriptures one hundred percent. If you come across something that I say in this book that you vehemently disagree with, I implore you to go to the scriptures. Open your mind to the Word of God and to the leading of the Holy Spirit. Be willing to admit that you have some things wrong. I did, and I still do. But my standard is the Bible. And the original languages, so easy to access and study today, can bring much insight and clarity.

Unfortunately, some of the things I have discovered will lump me in with progressives. Perhaps they have rightly questioned some of the doctrines that have been around for a long time. But sadly, many of them have simply discarded the scriptures and created a humanistic god that suits them just fine and fits in with the culture of today. I believe that Laodicea (found in Revelation 3) doesn’t recognize itself because it has chucked the Word of God to the proverbial curb. It is noteworthy that the very word Laodicea means ruling by the people. I’ve written more about Laodicea in chapter 10.

I am not a college-educated theologian. And for this I am thankful, because I believe it enables me to avoid and/or remove denominational filters. Removing filters can be painful, but I am not afraid to read and study and learn from various teachers, even when they disagree with each other.

Always, I come humbly back to the Word with what I’ve heard to see if what I am learning is true, just like the Berean Jews did. I encourage you to do the same. I don’t want to be wrong about my conclusions, and I don’t ever want to lead anyone astray. But we all have the capacity to be wrong. Even if we are sincere in our intentions, we can be sincerely wrong. It is with humility, fear, and trembling that I write this book.