Logos Word of God – BT1:  Logos “Word of God” is NOT directly-spoken/heard Rhema “Word”

 

 

 

Please follow the BLOG Etiquette to stay on topic and pass the moderator’s check.  Bold, underlined text below = future links to the BLOG pages.

 

Unfortunately many English bibles translate 2 completely–different-in-kind Greek words rhema and logos both simply as “word” – for example, “Word of God” – grossly misleading Christians, who are under the completely-different-in-kind chadash/kainos New Covenant, into believing that their entire bible is STILL for them the same “Word of God” as it was for Jews under the old covenant.

 

What’s worse is that although the Old Testament (OT) WAS ONCE the logos message of God for Jews but only “UNTIL John” the Baptist (a) and that some of the New Testament (NT) SINCE THEN contains written records of the completely-different-in-kind preached logos message of God that is NOW for the entire world (b), by definition NONE of the bible contains the direct-spoken/heard rhema “Words of God,” because unless you are directly hearing God thru prophecy it simply isn’t the Rhema “Word of God!”  The sad thing is that most English bible readers would never know that radical difference between the two words for “word” – see Bible Info for other translations problems! <Notes> a) Matthew 11:13; Luke 16:16, b) Luke 16:16.

 

Many Christians are simply unaware of the RADICAL SHIFT from the OT to the NT in what was defined as the logos “Word of God.”  They are ignorant that God’s logos message has so radically shifted in meaning that NOW the logos “Word of God” isn’t even close to being the same in the NT.  Therefore, it is entirely incorrect to hold up a big fat bible high in the air and boldly declare: “This is the ‘Word of God’ for Today.  Everything you need to know to be a victorious Christian is in this book.”  Nothing in the book every said that!

 

There is also a lot of confusion about what graphe “scripture” is causing a lot of people to erroneously think it’s their entire bible, when ALL Jews – even Jesus and the NT writers – and no Church Fathers before 208 AD ever dared use that term regarding NT writings!  That’s when a Catholic theologian Tertullian first applied the term graphe “scripture” to the very loosely collected, non-canonized, NT writings in his apologetic arguments against Jews and so-called ‘heretics’ Monarchian Praxeas and “New Prophecy” Bishop Marcion of Sinope.  He got desperate to win his arguments and slipped down the slippery slope of error!

 

Also, there’s more misunderstanding as to the “pas ‘every/each of a kind/class/category’ of OT graphe scripture that is profitable for teaching” per 2 Timothy 3:16, which is the dominant way to translate the Greek pas instead of “the whole/entirety of graphe Scripture” as many scholars have noted – see Logos Word of God – BT7.  Many Christians don’t know that the early Church didn’t find “profitable to teach” any of the ‘kind/class/category’ that is 97.4% of the OT that is based on the Law but only 2.6% that were the ‘kind/class/category’ of “prophetic oracles/utterances” (a) concerning the Messiah and the coming New Covenant, and only to convert Jews to Christ – see Salvation – BT4 and an online article about this, which faded away shortly after 150 AD when the Church was almost entirely Gentile.  I will endeavor in the BLOG Topics on the main page to clear up some of this confusion.  <Notes> a) cf. Acts 7:38; Romans 3:2; Hebrews 5:12; 1 Peter 4:11.

 

There is even more misunderstanding in many Christian’s minds about what eventually ended up as their bible, i.e., the canonization or inclusions and exclusions of gramma writings to make up the graphe scripture of the OT but also the collection of NT writings that were even more hotly contested!  However, absolutely NONE of the bible came together through nice, neat, smooth, orderly, or unanimous consensus.  Wars were fought over it!  Many manuscript experts, historians, theologians, and segments of Judaism and the Christian Church still disagree as to exactly what belongs in their bible.  If you have any questions about this, start with Wikipedia’s article on the “Biblical Canon.”

 

Read Bible Info to get a broad overview of the many problems I’ve run into with our 900 English bibles!  I also recommend reading from a multitude of resources – many good ones are at Bible Info – BT1, because there is a lot of propaganda out there, smoothing over or even denying the intense controversy, poor attempts to justify predetermined positions that is the problem with eisegesis translation, instead of objectively looking at original source material that exegesis translation strives for.

 

The early Church simply wasn’t interested in the quest for “authoritative writings,” but viewed so many prophetic writings of the Holy Spirit as “devotional and beneficial,” as you will see at www.earlychristianwritings.com.

 

Many English translations confuse matters more by stamping “Holy Bible” on the front cover, a term invented by King James in 1611 for his Protestant translation, but borrowed from a Catholic theologian in the Middle Ages (465-1500 AD) who coined the Latin term biblia sacra or “Holy Books” for the combined OT and NT.  More “Traditions of Men!”

 

Also, anyone who thinks that all the manuscripts of the NT are mostly in agreement and any differences are ‘insignificant’ should start with Wikipedia’s “Textual Variants of the New Testament.“  Tim Barnett writes in 5/24/2016 that “around 400,000 textual variants of the NT exist, a staggering number when coupled with the fact that there are only 138,000 words in the Greek NT, meaning there are almost 3 variants per word.  However, less than 4000 (2.8% of the NT) have a good chance of being authentic and changing the meaning of the text.”  The subject of OT textual variation is even broader, so just internet search for it.  Due to the extensiveness of these subjects, the BLOG Topics on the main page won’t be able to explore these adequately, so it’s best to do your own homework.  I certainly have, as you can see from Bible Info.

 

What you will find in all this ‘digging past the propaganda’ is such complexity of detail that it really does take the scholarly “wise and learned” to come close to sunesis ‘connecting-the-dots’ to rationally understand/know it, and this may seem more than a little frustrating!  I’ve got straight-A’s from 5 bible colleges, know how to use all the tools mentioned at Bible Info – BT1, but I still find it time-consuming and difficult!  But I show you a much better way in Bible Info – BT2 than this difficult scholarly approach!

 

Don’t fret, but remember what the Lord Jesus said, “I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have kept-hidden these things from the [so-called] ‘wise and understanding ones’ and revealed/un-hidden them to little children; yes, Father, for such was your gracious/unmerited/unconditional will” (a), and “the little children . . . for to such belongs the kingdom of heaven” (b), and “Truly, I say to you, unless you turn (repent) and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven” (c).  <Notes> a) Matthew 11:25-26, Luke 10:21, b) Matthew 19:14, c) Matthew 18:3, Mark 10:15, Luke 18:17.

 

Since the completely-different-in-kind kainos New Covenant created a completely-different-in-kind kainotes “New Way of the Spirit” (a) to “experientially, relationally yada/ginosko know the Lord” because it’s NOW thru “eido mentally ‘seeing’ to perceive/know,‘ and “absolutely-in-fact-NOT and in-possibility-NOT shall each [man] need to teach their neighbor (fellow Jews) and/coupled each [man] teach their relative to definitively/wholly experientially, relationally yada/ginosko know the Lord,” and certainly NO longer from “the greatest to the least” thru a top-down hierarchy of teachers from Moses all the way down to the mothers teaching their kids” but NOW directly from God and also from “the least to the greatest” (b) so that God can NOW show no partiality in how He reveals Himself or His will (c).  Therefore we shouldn’t either in the ways we teach one another (d), or in ministry (e), or in any action (f) – see the Least Among You page.  <Notes> a) Romans 7:6, b) Jeremiah 31:3; Hebrews 8:11; Matthew 11:11, 25:40, 45; Luke 7:28, 9:48, c) Acts 10:34; Romans 2:11; Galatians 2:6; Ephesians 6:9, d) Luke 20:21, e) James 2:1, f) 1 Timothy 5:21.

 

The BLOG Topics on the main page will start to show you God’s much simpler New Covenant WAY – the WAY of the non-partial, fully accessible Holy Spirit as the “One Teacher” and “Parakletos Helper-Counselor” for ALL of us to NOW “experientially, relationally yada/ginosko know the Lord” and His will thru “eido mentally ‘seeing’ to perceive/know‘, regardless of the limitations of our Zechariah 4:6 “might and power” external resources or internal abilities!  They are irrelevant!  For the HOW-TO of this, see also the Conversational-Prayer page.

 

You can also read how this New Covenant theology impacts the bible’s understanding of man’s “might and power” on the “Might and Power” and Skill pages.

 

You can see how all this is useful to music ministry on the Spirit-Practice and Spirit-Perform pages.

 

If you have any questions about my biblical language and interpretation credentials, or resources you can use to do your own detailed research, please go to the Bible Info page.

 

 

 

Directly-spoken/heard prophetic rhema words  are “freshly spoken words from one’s mouth directly to someone else,” as God’s spoken words were to ALL of the prophets of the OT and NT, thus the term “prophecy.”  Rhema is only used in the NT about 70 times, but the promises associated with it are night and day over logos messages.  If you want to read more about prophetic rhema, then go to the Conversational-Prayer and Prophetic Rhema pages.

 

However, once directly-spoken/heard prophetic rhema words are written down, these become a  logos message, which is the Greek word for a broad range of communication from thought to written form, but that focuses more on the content of the message rather than on its delivery, as rhema focuses on, thus the common translation of logos as “message.”  It is very unfortunate that so many bibles obscure the vast difference in meaning between rhema and logos by translating both simply as “word.”  In Hebrews 12:18-21, 25, it recounts God in Exodus 20:18-21 attempting to directly speak personally to all the Jews on Mt. Sinai by His “Voice whose directly-spoken/heard rhema words made the hearers beg that no further logos message be spoken to them.”  This was God’s Perfect-Will ‘Plan A,’ but because of their disobedience they ended up with God’s Permissible-Will ‘Plan B’ that resulted in gramma writings of “the [OT] graphe scripture that imprisoned ALL under sin” (a) and “kills” us all (b).  Jesus came to restore, the essential meaning of soteria salvation, God’s ‘Plan A.”  <Notes> a) Galatians 3:22, b) 2 Corinthians 3:6.

 

When you a read logos message, whether you later speak it with directly-spoken/heard rhema words or not, or write it down as more logos messages, your reading requires the left-brain, logical, rational mind’s cognitive sunesis ‘connect-the-dots’ rational, inductive understanding-knowledge of the logos message content.  This largely relies on your reading and study skills, vocabulary comprehension, and mental prowess, which favors the “wise and learned,” but “where is the one who is wise?  Where is the scribe (bible-expert)?  Where is the debater of this age?” (a) and “not many of you were wise . . . no many were powerful” (b), because any of this would exclude the little children, the blind, the mentally impaired, and the poor who often can’t afford to be educated to read.  However, God “shows no favoritism or partiality” (c), so wouldn’t God rather use directly-spoken/heard prophetic rhema words directly into a person’s mind & heart so they can understand them perfectly, and do this for EVERYONE?  That’s God’s Perfect-Will ‘Plan A’ restored for the completely-different-in-kind New Covenant – see Least Among You page.  <Notes> a) 1 Corinthians 1:20, b) 1 Corinthians 1:26, c) Acts 10:34, Romans 2:11, Galatians 2:6, Ephesians 6:9.

 

Reflections:

 

As Christian musicians, do we want to remain ‘in the dark’ about the radical difference between logos and rhema “Word of God” and perpetuate the error of early Catholic theologians?  Are we going to remain ignorant of what the NT says about OT “scripture” being “fulfilled by Christ” so that its “old covenant is ended, vanished away, and been replaced” so that having “died in water-baptism with Christ to what once enslaved us, we are now free to obey another – Jesus Christ who we were resurrected with also in water-baptism?”

 

Are we aware that most honest scholars are NOT totally confident what actually is the text and canon of the bible, but instead believing those who are afraid to be honest, afraid that others will lose their faith in the Lord, so they perpetuate the propaganda.  Their faith is built on confidence in the written records of the logos “Word of God” and so they look the other way at the mounds of evidence that make this a “faulty foundation of shifting sands.”  I know because for 28 years I was one of these Sola Scriptura folks that would argue for 100% confidence in the bible ALONE until I was blue in the face!

 

I worked in a Christian bookstore for 2 years and 80% of the books on the shelves are based on eisegesis – starting out with a thesis and taking most verses out of context to fit it.  Even this week I had to discount half the book of a well-known teacher I was reading, because they “twisted to their own destruction” many verses just to build their argument.  We had to pull so many books off the shelves because they were worldly and heretical to the core beliefs of the Christian Faith!  In 1987 I went to the first of 5 bible colleges towards a Masters in Divinity in Biblical Exegesis, because I watched so many naïve Christians and pastors not know much at all about biblical hermeneutics/interpretation, especially from the original languages or even simply reading verses in context!

 

However, what really got me back on the path of The Truth kicked in around 2008 when I began being flooded with supernatural experiences and was downloaded from that point on with hundreds of revelations, visions, dreams, and messages of knowledge, only some which are on the Mike’s God Messages page.  This happened to me when I learned that all you had to become, within the completely-different-in-kind New Covenant, to receive all of this is a simple, trusting, humble little child who learns best by listening to and watching their parents!  After all, God shows no partiality but NOW “reveals/un-hides the secrets of the kingdom to little children” but “keeps it hidden from the wise and learned ones.”  The fastest way to learn is to “be taught by God” by surrendering control of your “might and power” external resources and internal abilities to those of the “By My Spirit,” so that Zechariah 4:6 can also be true in your own life!

 

Prayer:

 

Lord, please keep me “in the Light” of Your fellowship and the truth that “YOU are The Truth,” not bible writings ABOUT YOU that simply “testify/bear-witness all-about/concerning YOU,” that only YOU as “The Truth sets men free from the practice of sin.”  YOU are the firm foundation to build my ‘house’ on, not the illusion that “in the bible I may take hold of genuine-life everlasting.  It simply testifies of You so that by coming to You I will find genuine-life.”  Lord, keep me from ‘getting caught up’ in second-hand gnosis informational-knowledge about You that makes up the entire bible, erroneously closing my eyes of its many textual and canonical problems, and instead ‘getting caught up’ in YOU through first-hand, genuine, full, experiential, relational epignosis knowledge of YOU under the completely different-in-kind New Covenant by the means of “The One Teacher” Holy Spirit.

 

YOUR “rhema words are Spirit and genuine-life,” not a logos message testimony/witness or any OT “shadows” ABOUT YOU, for in context of John 6:63 this is “the flesh that absolutely profits nothing.”  Now I understand I must boldly and relentlessly come before You as a little child, listening and watching You to teach Me directly, even by visions and dreams.  To such is the kingdom and the secrets of the kingdom.  I want to be one of them Lord!  Amen.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Spiritual Education, Logos Word of God is NOT Rhema Word of God, Unless you hear from God directly via prophecy you aren’t getting Rhema, The OLD testament WAS once God’s logos message but ONLY to Jews, Jesus and His preached gospel is NOW God’s Logos message to the world, Scripture always was Old Testament writings, Only 365 Messianic Oracles or 2.6% of Scripture was useful – ONLY to convert Jews, 97.4% of Scripture never used by early Church, Still no universal consensus on the best Hebrew & Greek manuscript text NOR on the canon of books, Many bible translation problems, Early Church didn’t have a quest for a bible – ONLY a fallen-away Catholic Church 210 years later, Term HOLY Bible created in 1611 by King James, Jesus reveals The Truth to the uneducated but hides from the bible-students, Knowing God & His will by the Spirit thru discernment NOT writings, Rhema directly-spoke from God’s mouth into US never by writings, NO more ministry of writings but Spirit teaching us directly on our hearts, God’s Perfect ‘Plan A’ in Exodus 20:18-21 restored in New Covenant to be impartial to ALL of us, Knowledge of ancient writings requires favoritism show to wise & understanding scholars, God’s in impartial, God opts for an impartial ‘Plan A,’ Secrets of kingdom kept hidden from bible-students & experts