Not music.

Preaching.

“For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God.” 1 Cor. 1:18

But most modern day churches have it backwards. They lift up the music above the preaching.

God chose the foolishness of preaching to be pleased.

“For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe.” 1 Cor. 1:21

What does your church choose?

Take care,
-Brent

I am hard against them because they are going to love people to hell.

People need the Lord.

They don’t need a bouncy house.

They don’t need a motivational speech to live your best life now.

No. They need the Lord Jesus Christ.

To be saved, we MUST preach the word of God. People need to hear the word preached.

All these flashly antics the modern day church present are only things that will attract what people “think” they need. However, what we want and what we need are most times totally separate things.

Modern day churches, please stop having these carnivals, these circuses, these shows to attract people.

Oh, it will get them “in.” But don’t get mad when they grow in the knowledge of grace and truth like a rock because all that is being catered to is their wants.

Take care,
-Brent

Part I

Prelude

Wouldn’t you be sorely disappointed if you found out that we don’t have a perfect and preserved word of God for us today?

Wouldn’t that make you have doubts about what is really the truth?

How would you know the truth?

If the above questions causes you to doubt, then that is exactly why there is an issue over modern day bible translations. Because, that is what this movement does, causes you to doubt, seek “other” versions that “are” better.

In regards to the opening question above, rest assured, we do have the word of God, without error and preserved for us today.

The bible says His sheep hear His voice, correct? How do we hear His voice? We hear His voice through the word of God. If we followed what modern day church pastors say and say we don’t have a preserved word of God, then how do we know we hear His voice? What makes you certain when God speaks if we don’t even have a bible that is correct?

You following your heart? The same heart that God describes as “…deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?” – Jeremiah 17:9

These are thoughts and questions to ponder as you journey with me down this issue in the next part of the The Falling Away Part I Watering Down The Word of God.

This section got so big I broke it out into parts, the first part is an introduction to Watering Down The Word of God and the following post will be the lineage of the word of God. That will be in the next post.

Part of the reason there is going to be a falling away first before the day of Christ is because people build up the Christian life to be an experience to be had. We are always looking to be entertained, encouraged, what is in it for ME. And when we don’t get those things we question if it is worth serving the Lord. Then we hear great music and it peaks our interest again to serve the Lord. Then after a while when the “newness” of hearing good music wears off, we need something else to keep us going. We need to see miracles. We need to see healing. We need to hear a good preacher. The list goes on and on and on.

But what we are missing is the most important part. We just need the word of God and we need to read it everyday. The modern day church has it backwards. They place attractions first and sprinkle in the word of God. They try to attract using gimmicks hoping people will stick when in reality all those attractions are just magnifying where people’s hearts really are. And it’s not seeking after the Lord, but rather what is in it for them. What should happen is we should preach the word so that their hearts can be changed to receive. What we have are people going to church for a show…and when the pastor gets “rough” and actually preaches a message that is hard, they get offended because they attract with fluff and it doesn’t work.

The Christian life and serving the Lord should really just be something we just do on a daily basis. And most times it will “look” like there is no excitement. But in reality, a quiet peaceful life serving and honoring the Lord is what we should strive for. The peace, contentment, assurance, boldness that comes with being in the word of God is ALL we need to serve the Lord. Then once we are in the word of God, it will then be up to you to yield to His calling.

But the problem is people are too self absorbed and look for the shiny objects thinking that is the move of God. The move of God usually doesn’t happen that way. “And, behold, the LORD passed by, and a great and strong wind rent the mountains, and brake in pieces the rocks before the LORD; but the LORD was not in the wind: and after the wind an earthquake; but the LORD was not in the earthquake: 12and after the earthquake a fire; but the LORD was not in the fire: and after the fire a still small voice.” 1 Kings 19:11-12

A still small voice was where the Lord was.

It is in quietness that we are to be still and know God. Our service for the Lord should just be something we do day in day out without much of a hoopla. Sorry, but it might appear boring. But I can assure you that this boring comes with a peace that passeth all understanding. And I would take this above all the fluff that is presented from the modern day churches today.

The main reason that people in the church are dazed and confused about things and could fall away are because pastors/teachers/preachers have watered down the word of God.

These pastors have made it well-known that it doesn’t matter what version of the bible you read, it doesn’t matter they are always saying. This has lead to people, really not their fault, to not place an importance on the word of God.

They don’t view the word of God as the most important aspect in the Christian life. Why should then when their pastors tell them we don’t have a preserved word of God for us today. How do you expect your people to read the word of God when there is no authoritative bible. How do you know which is right? They think, well, the pastor says it doesn’t matter, then, it doesn’t matter, right? Pastors, you should be ashamed of yourselves. These pastors really don’t have any leg to stand on when they get upset at their people for not growing in the grace and knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ when you are part of that problem.

Proclaim the word of God is the word of God. Not that the bibles “contain the gist of the idea what God wanted us to know.” But that the word of God is PRESERVED and it is the WORD OF GOD in the KJB.

If you can’t answer that a certain bible is the preserved word of God, then WHAT IS THE WORD OF GOD? What are we to trust? How do we KNOW it is God who is speaking? How do we compare what we think with? Because according to modern day pastors, there is NO perfect bible.

Pastor, WHERE IS THE WORD OF GOD?

Pastor, is your God that small that He didn’t preserve the word He would have for us today?

And similar to what God told Moses to say to Pharaoh and that was to “…Let my people go…”

Pastors, LET YOUR PEOPLE GROW!

Tell them there IS the word of God for us today!

I hope that each person reading this message will search out why this topic is vital for our lives. It is important to know that what you’ve been taught might have been wrong. The modern day churches have done a real good job of confusing it’s members by pushing every known version of the bible they can. They proclaim that it doesn’t matter, that as long as “you read it, study it, and obey it, it really doesn’t matter.” I don’t want to accuse you of being dense, but do you REALLY think any version of the bible is OK? Have you actually read what is considered the bible in some translations? Do you really think that it doesn’t matter which one to use? That it is not at all possible we have been duped? Really?

Would you hold your bible version you read in high regard if it came from a garbage can? If you knew that what you read were translated on what was found in a trash can, would you hold that version in high regard?

Would you continue to read it?

Buckle up, because you will soon find out that you could very possibly be reading from a version of the bible that came from manuscripts that were pulled out from a LITERAL TRASH CAN to be used to translate because they thought they were the best because they were “older.” There is a video in the next post (25 minutes) that talks about the garbage can (stay tuned for that).

Or would you continue to read a version of the bible that was collated with thousands of manuscripts from a lineage that made sure it was translated and preserved correctly by actual Christians and not from a lineage that has actual known heretics changing the wording or leaving out words?

I hope you would choose the second. And I will show you with actual facts that the KJB came about in one method and ALL the modern bibles came from another lineage that has tricked masses into believing this is the correct way.

This is why the lineage of the manuscripts is VITAL. Modern day pastors deceitfully say the KJV bible is the 66th version that has had over 100,000 revisions to make it sound like it just like the new modern day bible translations with all their revisions.

At face value one would think, hmmm, the KJB has a lot of revisions it seems. But what they don’t go on to tell you is the lineage that the KJB came from. See how deceitful that is when they try to say the KJB is “just” a version, 66th version, with revisions over 100,000. Yes. It is a version. But here is the MAIN point, it is in the correct lineage and it is the word of God for us today.

This post is not about the number of revisions but about the LINEAGE that the bibles are from.

My point of emphasis in this part of the series is to show you why it’s the lineage of how it came about and why it is important that we honor this bible.

If nothing else, I ask you to ask yourself, Why does ALL modern bible versions come from one lineage and the KJB come from another? Do you think the KJB is wrong? Does all the fruit that can be attributed to KJB throughout the centuries with some of the most moving revivals this world has ever seen not count for something?

Or is that the very reason that the KJB has been pushed aside by the modern day churches because it did produce that fruit and there was power in preaching from it. How else would you explain why ALL modern bibles come from the opposite side of the lineage.

Maybe they are really against the KJB. Instead of out right saying the KJB is not to be used. The modern day churches/pastors say, “…it is a good translation…but not the best” or “…I read from the KJB but prefer [whatever] other version….” They can’t say it’s just bad out right, can they? That would be too obvious.

Modern day church pastors think that KJB people cause divisions. And they say KJB people say, that God won’t love you if you don’t read from a KJB. That someone can’t be saved from any other version. NONE of that is true. We focus on it because it is from the CORRECT lineage and it IS the word of God for us today. And it does not need to be changed or updated. As it was once said, “stop re-writing it and start re-reading it.” They say we focus too much on the KJB. My response is have you ever thought that you NOT focusing on this issue is why the modern day churches are falling away?

Are we, the church, closer to God now or are people more confused today more than they have been in years?

Why is that? Could it possibility be our further decline to not honor the word of God and how it was preserved?

If we don’t focus on defending the word of God, the word of God with the corrupted future versions continue to confuse and cause people to not grow in the grace and knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ.

It’s been said by modern day church pastor, that if ever bible was gone does His word still remain? That is strawman argument 101, because we live in this AGE and we do have the word of God for us now. This is not about hypotheticals. This is about reality. What is now. And that we do have the word of God for us today!

Through intellect and smooth talking pastors, the scholarship movement of this textual criticism has convinced multitudes that it doesn’t matter which bible to use. When in reality, it does and I’ll show you in the next post.

Just as the bible makes it a point to make known the lineage of Jesus Christ, especially in Revelation 5:5, when it specifically mentions that Jesus Christ, the Root of David. Why is that important? Because the only person worthy to not only open the book, but to look on the book had to be the proper person and from the right lineage.

That was the Lord Jesus Christ.

Amen.

Take care,
-Brent

I’d like to bring up something that is for some reason overlooked and that is at what point did the “falling away” start happening? And who is part of this falling away?

I believe we are living in a time that the attacks are more of a psychological war on the mind. And I believe 2 Thessalonians 2:2 backs that up when it reads, “That ye be not soon shaken in mind….”

Coincidentally this passage is about the day of Christ. The rapture as some like to define it.

It’s interesting that the first words spoken to guard against is to not be “shaken in mind.”

It doesn’t take much of an effort to look around and see how we are attacked through lies and how those affect our mental state. It’s a constant battle of processing information and trying to determine who is right and who is telling the truth. An ongoing battle for the mind.

However, notice what has to happen before that day of Christ comes and that is there come a “falling away first.” I don’t believe many churches focus on this part too much, probably because they assume they are not part of the falling away. What does is mean to fall away? In 2 Timothy 4:2-4 we can see what we (the church) should be doing and what is going to happen. In verse 2 we are to “Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all long suffering and doctrine.”

We are to preach the word. Not sing the word. Preach. The. Word. But we are to do so with “all long suffering” and one that is skipped a lot “doctrine.” We are to give grace when we preach. But we are to preach doctrine because it is doctrine that we do not err.

Where do we get this doctrine? From the word of God. Not some feeling. Not some experience. Not something we make up in our mind thinking it’s the Holy Spirit leading us. It is from the word of God (by which the Holy Spirit can lead you in that).

Speaking of spirits, did you know that in the “latter times” people will depart from the faith (which is another form of falling away) and give heed to “seducing spirits?” Let me ask you, where are those seducing spirits coming from? How are they getting in? Maybe most importantly, WHO is receiving these seducing spirits? I can help address this, but, forewarn, there will be a LOT of people that view me as legalistic and “stuck in the traditions of men.” When in reality, if I were a betting man, I would wager I am one of the most grace given preachers there is. I preach that we are so free in Christ, have so much liberty in Christ that the apostle Paul instructs us to not to use this as “liberty for an occasion to the flesh…” Read Galatians 5:13 and that will prove that point. But the church has let these other spirits in and we are seeing effects in the modern day churches. All fluff, no substance. Stay tuned for that part of this series of the “The Falling Away.”

Part of the falling away of the church is found in verses 3-4 when it says, “….they will not endure sound doctrine…And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables.” One of the ways the modern day churches are falling away is the methods they are using to “attract” people. Let’s set up carnivals, put on rock concerts, and if that doesn’t work, we’ll just sprinkle in the word of God or at least tell them that whatever they are reading is A-O-KAY. We wouldn’t want to offend. We want to love.

Then, as weeks go by and they realize their people are NOT growing in the grace and knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ, they become frustrated. Why? One reason is these approaches are FLUFF. There is no substance and it’s aim is to appease the flesh. Sure, they sound cool, but when is the church going to realize we can’t use worldly methods to share what God has for us in the bible. What happened to just lift up the Lord Jesus Christ. The power of God is in the PREACHING of the cross. The power of God is from His word. The power of God is the gospel of Christ.

One of the reasons there is no power of God is because the church doesn’t even understand what the gospel of Christ is today. The gospel of Christ is found in 1 Cor. 15:1-4,

“Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand;

2By which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain.

3For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures;

4And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures:”

Don’t believe me? Ask someone what is the gospel and see what response you get. The gospel of Christ is that He died for your sins, was buried, and rose again the third day.

I’ll break this series out into parts. The modern day church is to blame for causing a falling away with two main things.

1. Watering down the word of God. “It doesn’t matter what version, just as long as you read, study, and obey it. That’s all that matters.” – said by lots of modern day “pastors”

– This will be backed up with proof.

2. Introducing worldly music into the churches.

– There were people in the late 1980s and early 90s that tried to warn the modern day churches about this, but most thought they were too extreme. But after 35 years of this occurring and with people being more open to at least entertain the thought that there is something spiritual going on in this world they are more willing to give this view a consideration now. For this topic, I’ll mostly provide hours of a video series that a pastor created that proves that new ageism/occult/mysticism has entered the church realm. And it has been welcomed with open arms because it has been called in because it’s came through the music.

I’ll start with the word of God lineage in my next post, but these two main points should help anger (I mean interest) some to read what I’m about to preach.

I realize there will be some that bypass what I will say. Some will be angered. Some will consider it. But, lay aside the sin that hinders us all, which is pride, and at least think about if these two points are truth or not.

My mission is to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ. And part of me doing that is to clear the path so that you can hear that message without these doubts about the word of God and distractions that music brings with it.

Take care,
-Brent

“It’s Easier to Fool People Than It Is to Convince Them That They Have Been Fooled.”

The bible has much to say about Satan deceiving. Satan is currently the god of this world. (2 Cor. 4:4) He deceives…..and he is currently deceiving.

The thing about deception is you don’t know you are being deceived.

“The Matrix” was not a movie. It was a symbolic documentary about how things really are versus how things are perceived.

In a lot of ways, the “world” is more “spiritual” than people that claim to be Christians.

This world shows us who they are over and over, but we just brush it off and say it’s only a movie. It’s only a song. It’s only a book. All the while using things in these movies, songs, books, etc. as an agenda that the bible clearly speaks against to attack us; thus, making the world more spiritually discerned in that aspect.

Speaking of books, when was the last time you visited a book store like Books-A-Million? The last time I went there where books about witchcraft, spiritual darkness, casting spells, and loads of others. And you know where these books were positioned? About two feet from the floor throughout the store. That’s right, easily accessible to children.

Why is this happening? To raise the next generation without God. Because at the rate we are headed, there will be a generation that these types of things are “normal.” This will be how they think.

This world is pushing the envelope on what it can get away with and one of the reason’s it’s succeeding is because WE, adults, have let this stuff right in our homes.

Through TV. Through music. Through books.

There is an agenda. But Christians are too, for lack of a better word, lazy to do anything about it.

Sure, we get outraged when we hear of these things. But NOTHING happens.

Why does nothing happen?

Because Christians have become too passive.

Adult Christians, we really don’t have a leg to stand on when we say that the younger generation are entitled when we are just as bad. Adults just do it in a different method. We say, “I want my entertainment. I want my sports. I want my fishing. I want my hunting. I want my life of indulgence.”

And really, all these are are big distractions designed to keep you unfocused while the souls of children are being taken captive.

But, I will say this. Some the problem is outside our control. The foods that we eat today are NOTHING like 30 years ago. The chemicals in them are designed to make us sluggish and not active. We are at great disadvantage in this regard. Just observe how people behave these days than the days gone by.

I am afraid we have fallen asleep; thus, it is precisely why 1 Cor. 15:34 instructs us to, “Awake to righteousness, and sin not; for some have not the knowledge of God: I speak this to your shame.”

We are asleep and we are sinning.

Oh, it might not be a “big” sin. But, did you know that, “the thought of foolishness is sin….” Proverbs 24:9 (those that don’t believe in once saved always saved, explain that one. How do you justify your foolish thinking?) You don’t. You confess it and press forward. But you don’t lose your salvation (now, now those that believe you can lose your salvation, you can’t be picking and choosing which sin loses your salvation; because when you sin, you are guilty of ALL (“For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all.” James 2:10).

And sadly, the modern day church is to blame for much of our downward trajectory. All lots of people look for today in churches is what’s in it for them? How can I be entertained. Do they have music that fits my tastes? I like this version of the bible because it’s easier for ME to understand (never mind, the missing text, as long as you are comfortable and “feeling it” during “praise and worship” is all that matters).

Throw in a few bible verses that “uplift” you (which are taken out of context most times) and you are having church. At least in this modern day.

We, the church, have a problem.

So, what do we do?

We turn to the only thing that can be trusted.

There is only one thing that can be trusted. And that is Jesus Christ. But how do we know who Jesus Christ is? From His Word. It is the word of God (KJB) that we know the truth.

If God’s word is the ONLY thing that can be trusted then would it not make sense that it would be targeted the most to discount it?

Yes, of course. God’s word was questioned in Genesis and it is still questioned today. The first time it was questioned makes some sense, it was by Satan. Today it is questioned by the Church, Christians. Wow, we have come a long ways. We have come from being outright deceived to deceiving ourselves with our “higher learning.” But for some reason, many modern day Christians cannot see this.

It’s no accident that God’s word is “questioned” (mostly by Christian Colleges and their Modern Day Scholarship Movement, which is by designed to teach church leaders to question the preserved word of God).

God can do “ANYTHING, but I’m not sure He can preserve His word,” some say. Sounds to me like they don’t believe the word of God. “The words of the LORD are pure words: as silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times. Thou shalt keep them, O LORD, thou shalt preserve them from this generation for ever.” Psalms 12:6-7 – God’s word is preserved for EVER.

Ask yourself, do you believe God’s word is without error, perfect and preserved word of God in the bible you use?

If not, why do you trust it?

Take care,
-Brent