Rubel
Shelly: Plato Versus The Bible
Dr. Rubel Shelly who practices Narrative Theology believes that the sifter of time has left only seven historical facts ABOUT Jesus Christ in the Bible. On the other hand, John is used as an example of one who took fragments of the Bible and used the sifter of time and theology and phylosophy and his own theological agenda to explain that which has been lost to us. Time, he believes, is the sifter of all but the CORE GOSPEL while the rest is up for constructing our own story which better fits our times. If true then one wonders whether the seven facts about Jesus are not also just temporary sifted fragments. In the next article, we will see that Rubel Shelly takes the false accusation that Jesus was a winebibber and "reincarnates" it is the absolute truth.
Without exception, those who claim that God cannot communicate through human words on paper always say: "But, I can if the price is right."
A merchant can hardly keep from wrongdoing, and a tradesman will not be declared innocent of sin. Ecclest 26:29.
Many have committed sin for a trifle, and whoever seeks to get rich will avert his eyes. Ecclest 27: 1.As a stake is driven firmly into a fissure between stones,so sin is wedged in between selling and buying. Ecclest 27:2.The kiln tests the potter's vessels; so the test of a man is in his reasoning. Ecclest 27:5.
If a man is not steadfast and zealous in the fear of the Lord, his house will be quickly overthrown. Ecclest 27:3.
........ When a sieve is shaken, the refuse remains; so a man's filth remains in his thoughts. Ecclest 27:4.By definition of a sieve, what comes out the bottom is pure. However, what remains is filth, garbage, chaff. Therefore, the notion that the "Bible has been sifted to leave just seven facts about Jesus means that all of the remainder is just garbage."
The fruit discloses the cultivation of a tree; so the expression of a thought discloses the cultivation of a man's mind. Ecclest 27:6.
........Do not praise a man before you hear him reason, for this is the test of men. Ecclest 27:7. If you pursue justice, you will attain it and wear it as a glorious robe. Ecclest 27:8.
........Birds flock with their kind; so truth returns to those who practice it. Ecclest 27:9.
Anyone who takes a SIFTER to the Word of God will let all of the good stuff flow trhough and what he has left is what someone else SIFTED IN.
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Lactantius:
True Worship Chapter
XXI.-Of
the Pleasures of the Ears,
and of Sacred
Literature.
Pleasure of the ears is received from the sweetness of voices and strains, which indeed is as productive of vice as that delight of the eyes of which we have spoken. But we have already spoken of spectacles: there remains one thing which is to be overcome by us, that we be not captivated by those things which penetrate to the innermost perception. "But a well-composed poem, and a speech be-guiling with its sweetness, captivate the minds of men, and impel them in what direction they please.For they seek that which may soothe the senses. But whatever is pleasant to the ear effects persuasion, and while it delights fixes itself deeply within the breast. Is God, therefore, the contriver both of the mind, and of the voice, and of the tongue, unable to speak eloquently? Yea, rather, with the greatest foresight, He wished those things which are divine to be without adornment, Therefore he who is anxious for the truth,
Let nothing be pleasing to the sight but that which you see to be done with piety and justice; let nothing be agreeable to the hearing but that which nourishes the soul and makes you
a better man. And especially this sense
ought not to be distorted to
vice, since it is given to us for this
purpose, Therefore, if it be a pleasure to hear melodies and songs, let it be pleasant to sing and hear the praises of God. This is true pleasure, which is the attendant and companion of virtue. This is not frail and brief, as those which they desire, who, like cattle, are slaves to the body; but lasting, and affording delight without any intermission. |
Dr. Shelly has given the Exodus a second incarnation: he sees the musical idolatry for which God turned Israel over to worship the starry host as a pattern for Christian worship and community. Amos 5 and 6 as well as Isaiah 5 defines the worship of the S.U.N. or other "wandering stars" as the TERMINAL stage of people going into captivity and death because their leaders had STARVED THEM TO DEATH BY TAKING AWAY THE WORD AS GOD'S "FOOD AND DRINK."
Totally consistent, he has "baptized" Santa and any of the "nation's" beliefs and practices which can be COLORED CHRISTIAN. That was the fallacy of the Catholic church which adopted pagan lights, music and ceremony from those "held by all cults." (See Catholic Encyclopedia under Candles).
You may read the entire sermon here:
"When Jesus Is Your Guest (John 2:1-12) Preached October 14, 2001, at Woodmont Hills Family of God, Reviewed October 14, 2001
First: How the World Generally Respects the Bible over Philosophy.
Speaking of the Bible
"Take (the Bible) as to its age--where else can authentic writings of such age be found? Its newest portions are near 2000 years old; its oldest part 3500 years. "Time," said a wise man "is a terrible sifter of books. Most books die in the year in which they are born. If a volume survives five or ten years it is above the ordinary. If it continues to hold interest for 50 or 100 years it has some special worth. If it is preserved even longer there must be some sort of pure gold in it."
"Judged by that standard, the Bible stands pre-eminent and commends its worth and value by the mere fact of its great age and its power to hold its own in the test of time.
Versus Plato:
"Again the sage of this world who told us how time so terribly sifts the books of men, spoke of the writings of Plato--how that, in his judgment, there were never more than a dozen people living at any one time who could fully understand and appreciate Plato; and for the sake of that dozen persons (he said) those writings have been tenderly handed down through the centuries. "Tenderly handed down"! That is said of ancient Plato's writing.
"But with the Bible it was far otherwise. No other book has ever outweathered such storms of opposition, malice, and hatred. Through long periods, kings and rulers, civil and
ecclesiastical authorities joined their efforts to destroy this book from the earth;
and even unto this day in some parts of the world has the ruthless power of despotism sought to extirpate this Book."Fifth-columnists" also boring from within, have all along tried to undermine the divine authority and message, have denied it, reviled it, ridiculed it.
Critics have "unmasked" it, and shot it full of holes. For all that the old Book is marching on triumphantly, sublimely indifferent to all hostility, and in greater force than ever before. The very hatred and opposition it has stirred up testifies to its greatness and importance. Was there ever any other book like that? Robert Boll
How Rubel Shelly Treats Inspiration.
Speaking of the writers of the New Testament Dr. Rubel Shelly says that:
Rubel Shelly: They weren't journalists in the sense that we use that term today, but Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John were faced with the question I've just posed to you.
They certainly had no equivalent to the Chicago Tribune, CBS Radio, or The (London) Times. But they did have a sense of history and the significance of its key events. They had been expecting God to act in history on behalf of the kingdom of God through a figure they called Messiah.
They believed that they had been witnesses to people and events surrounding the fulfillment of those expectations --and had a sense of obligation to "report" that story to others because of its profound significance. So they wrote our Four Gospels.But Paul wrote:
But she is happier if she so abide, after my judgment: and I think also that I have the Spirit of God. 1 Co.7:40
FOR this cause I Paul, the prisoner of Jesus Christ for you Gentiles, Ephesians 3:1If ye have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God which is given me to youward: Ephesians 3:2
How that by revelation he made known unto me the mystery; (as I wrote afore in few words; Ephesians 3:3Whereby, when ye read, ye may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ) Ephesians 3:4Which in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men,
as it is now revealed unto his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit; Ephesians 3:5If Rubel Shelly is right then God is the author of confusion:
For God is not the author of confusion, but of peace,
as in all churches of the saints. 1 Cor 14:33
Let your women keep silence in the churches: for it is not permitted unto them to speak; but they are commanded to be under obedience, as also saith the law. 1 Cor 14:34And if they will learn any thing, let them ask their husbands at home: for it is a shame for women to speak in the church. 1 Cor 14:35
Speaking or singing their own songs is speaking in tongues. The 'uncovered prophesiers' of 1 Cor 11:5 had come out of paganism where usually women sang, danced, played instruments and composed their own "prophecy" as the word of the gods.
The Classics know this as "speaking in tongues" where the self-composed "revelation" was to fool the fools into thinking that they were inspired. Speaking in tongues was then interpreted by the priest to "fit your needs" of the moment. That is, the "preacher" translated the song where "songs" always speak a different language.
In the same way, Jesus identified them as the "children" of Satan because they also speak on their own:
I speak that which I have seen with my Father: and ye do that which ye have seen with your father. John 8:38
Jesus then claims that they are not true Israelites because, to them, as at Pentecost, He was "speaking in tongues."
Jesus said unto them, If God were your Father, ye would love me: for I proceeded forth and came from God; neither came I of myself, but he sent me. John 8:42
Peter claimed to have received the Word in the unique mouth-to-mouth or face-to-face revelation of God and this had been proven by miracles. Therefore, he said that God had left us an example (written) as a MARK so we could identify the False Teacher who is a Liar just like his father.Why do ye not understand my speech? even because ye cannot hear my word. John 8:43
When he speaketh a lie,
........ he speaketh of his own:
........ for he is a liar, and the father of it. John 8:44
Click to see that Hermes, Rubel claims for John's word, is the "god of music, of liars and of thieves." He is the original "interpreter" or Logos of the ancient World Dr. Shelly believes informed John.Therefore, Paul warns those singing or speaking out of their "own spirit" that they WERE NOT the dispensers of new or unique revelation:
What came the word of God out from you? or came it unto you only? 1 Cor 14:36
If any man think himself to be a prophet, or spiritual, let him acknowledge that the things that I write unto you are the commandments of the Lord. 1 Cor 14:37
........
But if any man be ignorant, let him be ignorant. 1 Cor 14:38
If Jesus sent the apostles out into all the world with a message which was eternal, don't you expect that the Spirit had some input into "motivating" the writers to record their eyewitness accounts?
If Paul was wrong then Paul was a liar and a Satan. But Paul said that he didn't "speak in tongues" but always had his spirit aligned with what he knew as revealed truth "in his mind."
Rubel Shelly: Yet I'm not sure anybody thinks the Spirit of God woke up John or Matthew one morning and told him to sit down and write out an account of Jesus' life and ministry, death and resurrection.
I am quite certain that He picked ALL of the Apostles as TYPES of those who deliver truth versus Judas who was the son of perdition.
If we believe that John used the Shelly Sifter then John was a liar and a son of Satan. Furthermore, he was hallucinating and got the "revelation" out of his mad mind and not because he held long discorses with Greek Philosophers or had a copy of their latest theology. One sincerely doubts that John had a copy of Heraclitus.
THE Revelation of (2) Jesus Christ, which (1) God gave unto him, to (3) shew unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass; and he sent and signified it by his angel unto his servant John: Rev 1:1
Who bare record of the word of God, and of the testimony of Jesus Christ, and of all things that he saw. Revelation 1:2
Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein: for the time is at hand. Revelation 1:3
John was in the spirit or deep in mediation on the Lord's Day and not discoursing on Heraclitus or Philo. When he heard a voice like a trumpet behind him one might suspect that the Spirit of God woke up John" and told him to write a book:
I was in the Spirit on the Lords day, and heard behind me a great voice, as of a trumpet, Rev 1:10
Saying, I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last: and What thou seest, write in a book, and send it unto the seven churches which are in Asia; unto Ephesus, and unto Smyrna, and unto Pergamos, and unto Thyatira, and unto Sardis, and unto Philadelphia, and unto Laodicea. Re.1:11
I would not refute the writers of the New Testament such as John who wrote:
Then went this saying abroad among the brethren, that that disciple should not die: yet Jesus said not unto him, He shall not die; but, If I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee? John 21:23
This is the disciple which testifieth of these things, and wrote these things: and we know that his testimony is true. John 21:24
And there are also many other things which Jesus did, the which, if they should be written every one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that should be written. Amen. John 21:25
Witness is: Marturia (g3141) mar-too-ree'-ah; from 3144; evidence given (judicially or gen.): - record, report, testimony, witness.
Dr. Shelly's Narrative Theology is contrary to the evidence that all of the writers thought of themselves a being inspired recorders of the actual events. Even the correctives to Corinth was not out of Greek philosophy or Paul's "larger agenda." Rather, they were his futile attempt to advance them beyond the CORE GOSPEL so that they would be able to tolerate the deep doctrinal truth in his writings which are often commentaries on the prophets.
Not even Luke, the Historian, used anything but personal experiences and the collected experiences of those who were first-hand witnesses.
Nevertheless, continuing to plow up holy ground:
Rubel Shelly: I think they were responding to time and place by writing what they wrote.
In the interplay of their free wills and the direction of the Holy Spirit,
They had their own personal, theological, pastoral, and evangelistic purposes in mind
when they planned and wrote these documents that survive to us in the New Testament.
........ they came up with an answer to their version of the question to put to you a few minutes ago:
That means: Personal opinion + The Holy Spirit = Inspiration.
This would make John a son of Satan and a liar. This sounds like the old legalism ladder: we can climb up our part of the way but then God reaches down and does what we are not able to do to save ourselves. While the Spirit does not overide the person's personality, He totally overides the person's knowledge base in a spiritual sense. Again, as with all of the ceremonial approach to God and even writing our own scripture is rank legalism.
Here is what Paul thought. He did not think that he interpreted the voice of Christ the Spirit and the other apostles.
THEREFORE we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard, lest at any time we should let them slip. Hebrews 2:1
For if the word spoken by angels was stedfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just recompence of reward; Hebrews 2: 2
How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation; which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him; Hebrews 2: 3
God also bearing them witness, both with signs and wonders, and with divers miracles, and gifts of the Holy Ghost, according to his own will? Hebrews 2: 4
Paul left a historical record of that. If Paul was just sifting Greek phylosophy then no wonder he didn't know what he was saying about "women's roles" and "music."
Certainly Paul knew the Greek world and its religion. That is why Paul didn't need to "sift" but recorded his record to the churches such as Corinth deliberately confronting things like speaking in tongues and music.
Perhaps it is because Paul "sifted in" the "speaking" or teaching as opposed to any "musical" role for the church that so many are so anxious to discredit Paul's inspiration.
Jesus spoke what He heard from the Father. He commanded the apostles to speak what they heard or that which would be revealed in time. Paul practiced tht Christ-Like treatement of the Holy Word and insisted that the churches use that Word as its one and only teaching resource which needs no private interpretaion or futher expounding:
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Paul's Commission |
Colossian's Commission |
Ephesian's Commission |
| And
he is the head of the body, the church: who
is the
beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the
preeminence. Col.1:18
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And
not holding the Head, from which all the body by joints and
bands
having nourishment ministered, and knit together, increaseth with
the
increase of God. Col.2:19
When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory. Col.3:4 |
From whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love. Eph 4:16 |
Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light: Col.1:12 |
IF
ye then be risen
with Christ,
seek those things which are above, where
Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Col 3:1
Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. Col 3:2 |
for
it is light that makes everything
visible. This is why it is said:
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| Whereof I am made a minister, according to the dispensation of God which is given to me for you, to fulfil the word (Logos) of God; Col 1:25 | And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him: Col 3:10 | "Wake up, O sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you." Eph 5:14 |
Even the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generation, |
Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body (church) | Be very careful, then, how you live--not as unwise but as wise, Eph 5:15 |
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Where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, Barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free: |
Wherefore be ye not unwise, but |
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To them God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles Col 1:27 |
but Christ is all, and in all. Col 3:11 |
understanding what the will of the Lord is. Eph 5:17 |
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To present to you the word of God in its fullness Col 1:25 |
Let the word of Christ dwell |
be filled with the Spirit Eph 5:18 |
| We proclaim him, ........ admonishing and teaching ........ everyone ........ with all wisdom, |
as you ........ teach and admonish ........ one another ........ with all wisdom, and |
Speaking to yourselves |
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so that we may present everyone perfect in Christ. Col 1: 28 |
as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs |
in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, |
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Which is come unto you, as it is in all the world; and bringeth forth fruit, as it doth also in you, since the day ye heard of it, and knew the grace |
with gratitude in your hearts (proof of unity) |
singing and making melody in your heart |
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of God in truth: Col 1:6 |
to God. Col 3:16 |
to the Lord; Eph 5:19 |
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To this end I labor, struggling with all his energy, which so powerfully works in me. Col 1:29 |
giving thanks to God the Father through him. Col 3:17 |
Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ; Eph 5:20 |
If the "pattern" in the above table has been stolen from you and replaced with Brother Singers and Sister Singers singing sentimental praise songs (superstitious and erotic) then you have been persuaded to "come down from the holy mountain" of God's Word and down into the dark valley of the Cainites used by Lucifer to suck up the worship and prevent you from hearing the entire Word of God unsifted by human philosophy.
If you have been "emotionally" seduced out of the garden then it is not likely that you will ever recover.
Peter thought:
Yea, I think it meet, as long as I am in this tabernacle, to stir you up by putting you in remembrance; 2 Peter 1:13
Wherefore I will not be negligent to put you always in remembrance of these things, though ye know them, and be established in the present truth. 1 Peter 1:12
Knowing that shortly I must put off this my tabernacle, even as our Lord Jesus Christ hath shewed me. 2 Peter 1:14Moreover I will endeavour that ye may be able after my decease
to have these things alway in remembrance. 2 Peter 1:15
Peter the fisherman probably didn't understand "theological."
For we have not followed cunningly devised fables, when we made known unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of his majesty. 2 Peter 1:16
For he received from God the Father honour and glory, when there came such a voice to him from the excellent glory, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. 2 Peter 1:17
And this voice which came from heaven we heard, when we were with him in the holy mount. 2 Peter 1:18
If Peter has sifted the revealed Word of God through Greek philosophy (the source of the Shelly Logos and ZOE, the female instructing principle and the "beast") he would have been using cunningly devised fables. This would make Peter a liar and a son of Satan.
Men can teach but men cannot expound or solve further the Word of God. This means that they cannot sift in dashes of Greek fables as part of the revealed Word.
We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts: 2 Peter 1:19
Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation. 2 Peter 1:20
Epilusis (g1995) ep-il'-oo-sis; from 1956; explanation, i.e. application: - interpretation
Epiluo (g1956) ep-ee-loo'-o; from 1909 and 3089; to solve further, i.e. (fig.) to explain, decide: - determine, expound.But without a parable spake he not unto them: and when they were alone, he expounded all things to his disciples. Mk.4:34
Epi-lusis A. release from, e. phobôn [fear] didou A.Th.134 (lyr.): abs., exemption from banishment, [purgatory?]. The word dissertio also carries the idea of trying to REMOVE fear by explaining away any worry about keeping laws.
3089 luō loo'-o A primary verb; to “loosen” (literally or figuratively):—break (up), destroy, dissolve, (un-) loose, melt, put off.2. solution, sophismatôn explanation, 2 Ep.Pet.1.20, 2 Pet 3
4. spell, Magic:Sophisma A.acquired skill, method, stage-trick, claptrap, rhetorikos 2. of persons, skilled in speaking, fit to be an orator Pi.O.13.17 2. in less good sense, sly trick, artifice, dikên dounai s. kakôn E.Ba.489 , cf. Hec.258; eph' hêmas tauta paronta s. Th.6.77, cf. D.35.2; stage-trick, claptrap
Pi.O.13.17 Pindar Ode 0.13 [17] the Seasons rich in flowers have cast ancient inventiveness. But the fame for every work is due to its inventor. Whence did the graces of Dionysus first come to light, with the ox-driving dithyramb? [20] Who invented the bridle for the harness of horses, or placed the double king of birds on top of the temples of gods? And in Corinth the sweet-breathing Muse blossoms, and also Ares, with the deadly spears of young men.
g4486 rhegnum to sunder by separation of the parts, a shattering to minute fragments; but not a reduction to the constituent particles, or disrupt, lacerate; by implication to convulse (with spasms); figuratively to give vent to joyful emotions:
Magos [a^], ou, ho, Magian, one of a Median tribe 2. one of the priests and wise men in Persia who interpreted dreams, 3. enchanter, wizard, esp. in bad sense, impostor, charlatan, Heraclit.14, S.OT387, E.Or.1498 (lyr.), Pl.R.572e, Act.Ap.13.6, Vett. Val.74.17: also fem., Luc.Asin.4, AP 5.15 (Marc. Arg.). II. magos, on, as Adj., magical, magps technêi prattein tMagicus, belonging to magic, magic, magical. superstitiones, vanitates, that were invoked by incantations: linguae= skilled in incantations, cantus, magicae resonant ubi Memnone chordae, mysterious, id. 15, 5
Why has God taken careless sermonized philosophy and all "versifying of sentimental poetry" out of the process. Why? If men can "further explain" the words of God then why didn't God let men make up their own without His dying to do it?
For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. 2 Peter 1:21
> Searching what, or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify, when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow. 1 Peter 1:11
> And I fell at his feet to worship him. And he said unto me, See thou do it not: I am thy fellowservant, and of thy brethren that have the testimony of Jesus: worship God: for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy. Revelation 19:10
> Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. 2 Cor 3:17
Musical praise and dance teams claim "we are priests." "We are mediators between man and God." Since the pulpit area is typified in architecture as the "holy place" these presumptuous people are "standing in the holy place claiming 'I am God.'"
So, again listen to Jesus defining a form of "speaking in tongues."
Why do ye not understand my speech? even because ye cannot hear my word. John 8:43
Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do.He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth
because there is no truth in him.
When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own:
for he is a liar, and the father of it. John 8:44
If John or Peter or Paul taught out of their own heads based on their own present needs and the "times" then Jesus says that they are liars.
Rubel Shelly: How would you tell the most important story ever told in human history?
The decision was not to write a huge tome of abstract theory and theological principle
but to record anecdotal information about the One who ushered in the kingdom of heaven
and founded the Christian religion. Their strategy was to tell the big story through the little stories.
I would listen to Paul tell Timothy, a spiritually gifted man, what to do to tell the story without bending it to fit my times and problems:
Till I come, give attendance to (public) reading, to exhortation, to doctrine. 1 Tim 4:13
Joel wrote that the Dabar (Logos, Spirit of Christ) spoke to him long before Dr. Shelly and the Greeks wrote of their "logos" as Mercury or Hermes the "father of those who handle musical instruments, the father of liars and the father of thieves."
If we want to know about Joel's prophecy we read Joel to whom the WORD spoke. If we want to know the fulfilment of this prophecy then we listen to Peter. If we believe that on the day of Pentecost Peter, the humble fisherman, was such a theologian with a personal evangelistic agenda that he just sifted the prophecy to fit his needs then Peter was a liar and the true child of Satan.THE word of the Lord that came to Joel the son of Pethuel. Joel 1:1
Hear this, ye old men, and give ear, all ye inhabitants of the land. Hath this been in your days, or even in the days of your fathers? Joel 1:2
Tell ye your children of it, and let your children tell their children, and their children another generation. Joel 1:3
Jesus identified Peter as Satan when Peter spoke out of his own mind:
Then Peter took him, and began to rebuke him, saying, Be it far from thee, Lord: this shall not be unto thee. Matt 16:22
But he turned, and said unto Peter, Get thee behind me, Satan: thou art an offense unto me: for thou savourest (thinking) not the things that be of God, but those that be of men. Matt 16:23
Therefore, Jesus said that if any of the inspired people sifted the Word of God through their own MINDS then they are liars and the sons of Satan.
Then, since Peter says that the inspired Words of Christ needs and cannot tolerate any "further expounding" I would just "speak the Word" and let the "singing" be in the heart to perform "worship in spirit and in truth." The Spirit has said the same things many times and by searching the Scriptures they will interpret themselves. Any study of the culture and pagan practices will help us see and understand the mind of Paul but that culture must never allow us to retranslate the Word or simply abandon it.
This is why Paul did write about theology: the direct command was to TEACH one another from the revealed Word.
I would shudder if I found myself suggesting that "John took liberties" to construct his own narrative theology for his own time and circumstances:
And I fell at his feet to worship him. And he said unto me, See thou do it not: I am thy fellowservant, and of thy brethren that have the testimony of Jesus: worship God: for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy. Revelation 19:10
Rubel Shelly: This method may have been as inspired as its execution. I'm not sure that purely human effort would not have attempted to tell the story of God in the flesh by some means that would have obscured the message for all of us.
Indeed, when heretics like the Gnostics or Marcionites took the message of Jesus in hand to redefine its essential content, their project suffered for the sake of its complexity.
The Marcionites suffered from teaching that the unknowable but superior god of creation was a demonic power. The good "god" or "this his dispensation" and came to cancel the debt of the hostile god. His problem was in "proof texting" and denying the inspiration of the Old Testament.
Therefore, he disobeyed the eternal principle that the Holy Spirit needs no one to "further expound" the Word but just to teach it.
Marcion did nothing as violent with charging the Incarnate God of the Universe with dringing, manufacturing and approving intoxicants. Unless, of course, this was a parable showing that the end-time worship will not be interesting in God teaching them some spiritual value. Rather, they will want a New Winesking god to make their worship into a musical, drunk in the spirit, exhilarated "experience."
Again:
Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation. 2 Peter 1:20
Epilusis (g1995) ep-il'-oo-sis; from 1956; explanation, i.e. application: - interpretation
Epiluo (g1956) ep-ee-loo'-o; from 1909 and 3089; to solve further, i.e. (fig.) to explain, decide: - determine, expound.
"... a herald dare announce only what he is ordered to announce, no more and no less; he must also word it just so and not otherwise. The herald is only the loudspeaker of the radio... God wants heralds, he supplies the grand announcement to be made, and no herald can improve upon it... This God who sends his heralds with his announcement and the people to whom he sends his heralds are not expected to pay those heralds." (Lenski, 1 Thess., p. 250).
THE NARRATIVE THEOLOGY SIFTER
This is a sieve. You can use it to strain wine from the grape. Or, according to Lucian of Samosata defining Alexander the Oracle Monger's Seeker Center, you can set it spinning and the noise which comes out can be sold as a message from the gods. This was a bit more advanced that the old wineskin the witch of Endor used. It was less advanced than the "sounding gong" of 1 Cor 13:1 which was a brass echo chamber used to amplify the sound and terrify the enemy: we don't do that "in church" if we are under a "holy" spirit.
Of the writers of the Epistles and the Gospel accounts, Dr. Shelly notes that the Gnostics used virtually the same process as John:
Rubel Shelly: They had to strain the story of Jesus through philosophical sieves. They had to create and clarify special terms. They made entrance into their circles a matter of "enlightenment" as reflected in peculiar vocabulary and interpretations.Doctor Roger R. Chambers notes:
The soul of neo-orthodoxy is not the radical conclusions reached by open advocates of the system, but rather its epistemology, according to which the Bible is not, in its essence, the Word of God;
it is a human witness to revelatory "events." Since the Bible is not the touchstone of revelation,
the believer's faith does not depend on it. Scripture is sifted by the historical-critical method
........ to discover what the believer might choose to regard as "authoritative."Johann Salomo Semler, the father of the historical- critical method, was in revolt against the supernatural. His dictum: "The root of all evil (in theology) is the interchangeable use of the terms 'Scripture' and 'Word of God.'
"Sound familiar? Scripture, we are being taught, is the Word of God only in a secondary sense. Brotherhood teachers seek to shift the locus of faith from the Bible to Jesus, from the propositional to the Personal, from the objective to the existential, from biblical faith to mysticism.
It is a fact that all Jews who spoke or wrote to the Greeks used the vocabulary of the Greeks. However, it is possible to translate--if you have the spiritual gift or not--from Hebrew thought to Greek words. After all, the Septuagint (LXX) version had been in existance for perhaps 250 years and Jesus DID use that version.
We noted above that this is to accuse them of being Satan himself.
Click to hear about the heresy of NARRATIVE THEOLOGY.
Dr. Rubel Shelly claimed that John borrowed the concept of "Logos" from the Greek and Jewish philosophers. However, this is the result of violating the "further solving" of the incomplete work of God the Holy Spirit. We showed that the Logos as translation of Dabar appears in the first parts of Genesis. God speaks as the Dabar or Logos and John didn't have to get the Phd philosophers to help STRAIN the story of Jesus through the eyeballs of humans.
The CORE GOSPEL heresy
Rubel Shelly: In the meanwhile, the core gospel has survived two millennia now in its narrative form of telling the big story through collections of little ones about Jesus.
Here is the only thing which has survived out of all that Jesus revealed as the Antitype of the entire Old Testament. Nothing of what He taught. Nothing of what HE THOUGHT that He as Spirit was revealing to the Apostles. Nothing of "doctrine" which is the meat of the Word. Nothing has survived but the CORE of the once Apple of God's Word. None of Paul explaining the "demon" worship of Sinai which endangered Corinth. None of the "sending across the sea" of Paul to the Romans. None of it has value because it has been put through the strainer. However, while the Spirit cannot preserve His Word, we as latter-day 13th apostles have the power to strain our own version of the Bible.
This is why those who see the Bible as foundation for faith and practice are called legalists. Not that they think that they can save themselves but they are legalists for depending on the Bible like everyone did and most do prior to the hallucinators of the CORE GOSPEL. Again, Paul was insulting the Corinthians when he decided "to know only Christ and Him crucifed."
All of the rest has been sifted through the wine sifter mixing in Greek philosophy to refute The Spirit of Christ as the DABAR in the Old Testament and the LOGOS clearly defined outside of John's account. John sifted out some Greek notions about the LOGOS which we have shown to be false and more of the Mercury or Hermes character as father of instrumental muiscian and musicians, liars and thieves. The Greek logos was in may ways like Satan.
Here is the CORE GOSPEL heresy:
