Just some random thoughts about current events. I notice that the media is giving a lot of attention to a man with no medical background or training about his thoughts on the Corona Virus. On the Fiddler on the Roof in the song If I were a Rich Man he sings that people would be coming to him for advice and it would not matter if he were right or wrong because if you’re rich they think you really know. So Mr. Gates, a billionaire, gets air time about universal inoculation for the virus. I suppose he may have some experience because Microsoft has been fighting viruses for years. Maybe Appears could help him.

Also every dark cloud has a silver lining. Even with gun and ammo sells up there have been no school shootings! I don’t recall any mass shootings since the lock down.

Kudos to barbers and hair stylists for their stand for liberty! It is amazing to me how a profession that earns a living specifically by pleasing people have the gumption to stand up to government over reach.

We also have seen how many children are thriving under the enforced home schooling. Many who need special attention, flexibility of schedule, and freedom from bullying and social stress are doing wonderfully at home. While home schooling isn’t for everyone neither is public or private. Let the state lay off and give more freedom to parents.

Does anyone remember a movie from the’90s where a world ruler called Dr. Wellness forbids any physical contact including kissing? He brings in a cop from the past to fight some criminals because no one knows how to deal with violence. Just kinda sounds like where we are going.

Finally I would like to give a word of thanks to Almighty God. I don’t know anyone who has contacted COVID. No one I directly know has died from it. I still am working, and lots of overtime too. My bills and mortgage are current. Many people are suffering from the current situation and my heart goes out to them. But there is a Good in Heaven that loves you and cares for you, who knows when a sparrow dies and how many hairs are on your head. I hope you got a few laughs and some encouragement. Remember: God is good-all the time.

I call this deception the Trojan Horse because it is the one that is usually used to trap people into the “Greek is better” lie. As you will remember the Greeks when they could not breech the walls of Troy decamped and left a large wooden horse which had men hiding inside. When the Trojans brought the horse inside the city walls one warned I don’t trust the Greeks even when they come bearing gifts. That night the Greeks came out of the horse and opened the gates for their buddies and destroyed the city. Even so many have had their faith in the Bible destroyed by this Greek trick, including men who claim to be King James only.

This is the trick. It is to claim that you can’t fully understand the text because unfortunately the English uses one word for love while the Greek uses two (in this text. The third Greek word porneo is not in the New Testament). Of course when the King James Bible uses the word charity they say it is unfortunate that they didn’t use the word love. You just can’t please some people.

So they take you to the Gospel of John 21:15-17. The lesson will be the difference between agape and phileo. Jesus asks Peter three times if he loves Him. Three times Peter answers that he loves Him. The first two times Jesus uses the word agape and the third time phileo. Peter answers all three times phileo. So we loose something in the translation! Well did we lose something in the translation when John translated it from Hebrew or Aramaic into Greek? Well we are told that agape is pure exalted love but phileo is just a fondness. Really? Look at John 3:19. Men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. The love here is agape love. So the lesson goes that Jesus is asking for agape love but can never get it out of Peter. How do we know that it is not the other way around? Maybe Jesus wanted phileo love all along and just wanted Peter to admit it. We know that neither of these is correct because of the context. In verse 17 it says Peter was grieved because he said unto him the third time, lovest thou me? The thing that grieved Peter was being asked the THIRD time, not  phileo instead of agape. By going to the Greek you miss the obvious that Jesus asked Peter three times if he loved Him because Peter had denied Him thrice. But this kind of teaching will put you in the mode of thinking that you must go to a Greek scholar for knowledge of the Bible. When William Tyndale did the first translation work of putting the Bible into English (after Wycliffe) he said he would make it so a plough boy would know more Bible than the priests. His vision was accomplished. He knew his work needed to be polished, and this was finished with the Authorized Version of 1611. I pray that this has been a help to you. I’m

Recently I have been reading about the anti-lockdown protests and the government response to them. In I Kings 12:1-20 the children of Israel come to meet their king with a reasonable request. The King spurns the good advice of the old men and takes the advice of the young and it ends in disaster. Some politicians applaud these protests and others condemn them. What can we learn? Now in context we are given the first amendment right to peacefully ​assemble and address the government for grievances. Some were in horror because these citizens were armed, and had no masks. Yet there was no violence not outbreak of sickness. Let us go back a few years and​ look at another protest with masks and no firearms. In Charlotte NC and several other cities citizens (who had firearms) made various protests only to be met by Antifa and other violent groups. There were no shots fired yet many (including a journalist) were injured by shields, boards, fists, and plastic bottles filled with cement. Who is the Nazi and who is the law abiding patriots? Remember that if freedom of speech is denied to any it is denied to all. If a governor or mayor is frightened by opposition then perhaps they should consider the fact that they have over reached their authority. To be clear I am against violence, but sometimes a message needs to be sent to those in office.

Recently my wife had a discussion with a relative in which he said he refused to argue about Bible translations. And while I understand that one may not wish to argue you most certainly should consider the evidence. For they do not all ” say the same thing just in a different way” as I was taught as a child. Now he had a unique argument for his position. It was ​that no matter which version he used it would defeat the Devil. Now I have never sat down with the Devil and quoted different versions to him but I would like to venture two thoughts on this.

First if I would use the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God Ephesians 6:17, or Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee,  Psalms 119:11, that word must be there! If I want to stay out of jail I would plead the Fifth but if I want to stay out of Hell I must plead the blood of Jesus Christ. What if the blood is missing from Colossians 1:14 and other places? Or whoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved Romans 10:13? What if your version leaves out the word Lord in Luke 23:42 when the repentant thief calls for salvation? What if I want to proclaim the deity of Christ and your version leaves out the word begotten in John 3:16 or completely leaves out I John 5:7 For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one. There are many words and even whole verses left out in modern translations​, like the last seven verses of Mark 16. You can not fight with something that is not there. Go to Bible Hub and you can easily check out these differences.

Secondly the Devil also knows the Bible better than you. He quoted Psalms to Jesus, who replied with Deuteronomy. But when he came to Eve he said Yea hath God said. Then proceeded to misquote the Almighty. Eve used his version and left out the word “freely”. Then the Devil told her that God would not be so severe “Ye shall not surely die” then goes on to disparage God’s character. We all know the miserable end to that first attack upon the word of God. This is just food for thought. I will leave some more in the future, God willing. I leave you with Jeremiah 26:2 Thus saith the Lord; Stand in the court of the Lord’s house, and speak unto all the cities of Judah, which come to worship in the Lord’s house, ALL the words that I command thee to speak unto them;DIMINISH NOT A WORD: (emphasis mine) I pray that this is a blessing to you

John 20:19 Then the same day at evening, being the first day of the week, when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled for fear of the Jews, came Jesus and stood in the midst, and saith unto them, Peace be unto you. Verse 24 But Thomas, one of the twelve, called Didymus, was not with them when Jesus came. It is a sad thing to see so many empty churches when we have such wonderful news “He is not here, but is risen.”!. The message is the same, and still proves that Jesus is the way, the only way, it still delivers souls from hell, lives from misery, and mankind from sin. So why are churches declining and empty and shuttered? Why do people stay home for fear of the government in a supposedly free country. Why do brethren condemn the brethren who are brave enough to defy tyranny and obey God? Remember Thomas. He missed the blessing of seeing the risen Christ at the first meeting and would have missed the second time if he was not there. But on that second time he makes the strongest statement on the deity of Christ in the Bible “My Lord and my God.” If you can’t meet in public meet in secret. Do like Paul and invoke your rights as an American citizen. And above all get back to preaching the Bible. For I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth. Where of he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead. Amen and Alleluia.

Hebrews 10:25 Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much more as ye see the day approaching. I am reminded of the great hymn We gather together to ask the Lord’s blessing. How about some of our great patriots? We have nothing to fear but fear itself. We must all hang together or we will all surely hang separately. Is life so sweet or peace so dear to be purchased at the cost of chains and bondage? My spiritual ancestors were publicly whipped for preaching on the streets. Sheriffs road horses into the meeting house and shoved a whip down the pastor’s throat while he was praying. Men met secretly in caves and were smoked out and brutally tortured and killed. In our wonderful country whole congregations joined the fight for liberty so that you and I could peacefully assemble and worship God Almighty without government interference. Now if a church has many elderly and infirmed and chooses to suspend meeting for a short period that is between them and God and is no one else’s business. If a church chooses to continue meeting it is also no one else’s business, especially not the government’s! The Communists in China require the churches to be registered and are even telling them to change the Bible. They told the home churches they could meet online (how sweet to have their permission) and then used it and the COVID-19 ruse to round them up. Are we to follow the communist policy on religion? Are we going to register our church and ask the government for permission to meet during a non-event? Control is the issue not safety. And of all times during a disaster the head of state should be asking for a day of prayer. I served in the Navy during the Cold War. I remember reading about a veteran putting up the hammer and sickle when Obama shoved his unaffordable health bill down our throats. I see a full blown socialist running for office and praising Russian and Chinese dictatorships. I do believe that if you love the Bible and love freedom you are, like me often lifting up your eyes to Heaven and praying with John even so come Lord Jesus. Who will be the head of your church, the state or the Lord?

I have seen many changes in my lifetime, this being one of the fastest paced time changes in history. Ecclesiastes 1:9 says The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun. I see many things going on that remind me of my youth. Back in the’70s they had an oil and sugar etc shortage, caused mostly by government bungling. Someone made a joke on late night T.V. about the next shortage being a paper shortage and the run for toilet paper was on! I remember the Hong Kong flu scare in the’60s. I remember that humanity was supposed to be wiped out by AIDS. Back then though quarantine was a dirty and hateful word. SARS and Ebola and swine flu were all supposed to wipe us out. Oh and don’t forget global warming. It appears that all these people so concerned about the environment will gladly chop down our forests to have paper in the bathroom! How about the animal rights people? One speculation is that Corona came from bats because they can carry that. Do you people in Austin have a program to protect your bats?

Ok, I have had a little bit of fun. I love to laugh and enjoy life. I hope that I have put a smile on your face. But remember with all these events the government that wants to appear as your hero and defender is steadily eroding our rights and freedoms. The only safe place to put your trust is in Almighty God. The only safe investment is in the Bank of Heaven and the only sure future is in salvation through the Lord Jesus Christ. I hope this has been a blessing to you.

There is much in the news about the spread of the Corona Virus. Many say it is under reported others will say that it is sensationalized, like many other so called epidemics. Of course one must remember that more Americans died of Spanish flu than battles during World War 1. But there is a plague killing much more than these in our country that is so prevalent in our nation that it is almost completely ignored, or even promoted by local, state and federal government.

Consider this. Approximately 88,000 people die of alcohol related death every year. Between 2006 to 2010 7,756 murders related to alcohol were committed. 48 per cent drink before a murder and 37 per cent are drunk while committing it. It leads to three million violent crimes a year and is the driving force behind much theft and vandalism. The push to make Canyon Texas wet told me they were saving lives by preventing drunk driving. But in the United States DWI fatalities rose from 10,479 in 2016 to 10,874 in 2017. Note that this is actually less than actual because .08 is legally drunk so if a person is at .07 or .06 it is not necessarily classed as drunk driving. Oh, by the way Texas leads the nation in DWI fatalities. In 2017 there were 1468 drunk driving deaths in our state, California coming in second with 1,120. We also had 2,169 serious injuries, 5841 injuries and 5,666 non incapacitating injuries the same year. Wonder why car insurance keeps going up? And​ liver disease is going through the roof, especially among women! Ladies add to that date rape and rape and domestic violence along with DWI increasing among women and you can see why women spearheaded prohibition.

Booze costs our society more than 249 billion dollars last year. And that doesn’t include things like unpaid bills. This is also a low estimate because often than alcohol equation is not factored or not diagnosed. Remember that the boys in blue daily face violent attack from those possessed by this spirit. Emergency crews are kept quite busy tending to these self created problems.

The legal system has gone after tobacco to subsidize the health system because of the effect which it has on sickness. Why does booze get off Scot free? Booze has historically low taxes yet causes so much devastation. The booze industry should pay for every funeral from a DWI. They should shoulder the financial burden of a family that looses it’s breadwinner. Best of all it should be boycotted and run out of our country and replaced with honest business.

II Timothy 2:19 Nevertheless the foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, The Lord knoweth them that are his. And, let everyone that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity.

One thing foremost on my mind when I go out to street preach is that we all will give account of ourselves to God. Everyone I see (or don’t see but hears my voice) and meet will be judged by God. Recently I was preaching with my sons on the Square and a young woman came near us very angry. I stopped preaching to speak with her. She asked if we were just preaching against booze. I told her no we were having a church service. She then asked why there. When people ask me why I preach where I preach that is a good indication that I am where God wants me. She felt I was targeting the place where she worked. I asked if she was saved and she said yes and baptised and went to church twice a week. I asked her what she thought of booze. She said she was a bartender. I reminded her that Habakkuk 2:15 says Woe unto him that giveth his neighbor drink. I warned her she would stand in judgement before God for it. Her answer was that she was so glad that she would answer to God and not to me. I quoted the scripture again and she had seen the verse of Proverbs 20:1 on my son’s sign Wine is a mocker, strong drink is raging: whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise. I have learned by long experience that this kind of anger comes of conviction and not to reply with anger. God’s word will do God’s work and My prayer is that she will repent and depart from this iniquity. So many today believe that as long as they go to church they can live any way they want. They have forgotten Ecclesiastes 11:9 Rejoice O young man, in thy youth, and let thy heart cheer thee in the days of thy youth, and walk in the ways of thine heart, and in the sight of thine eyes: BUT know thou, that for all these things God will bring thee into judgement. And I want everyone to have a good judgement.

John 19:19-20 And Pilate wrote a title, and put it on the cross, And the writing was, JESUS OF NAZARETH THE KING OF THE JEWS. 20 This title then read many of the Jews: for the place where Jesus was crucified was nigh to the city: and it was written in Hebrew, Greek, and Latin.

Many times people do not like what God has said. Many times people want to impress others with their knowledge. Certainly the Devil wishes for us to be confused about God’s will. God’s will is found in God’s word so the attack must be made on the Bible, specifically the King James Bible.

This is most often done by resorting to the Greek. Many think they can take a four year course in Greek and become a Bible translator. Others believe they can take Strong’s lexicon and make their own translation. But it takes more than that.

When the scholars assemled to translate the Authorized Bible all knew both Greek and Latin. Most also knew Hebrew. Some would know Syriac and other Oriental languages​. Some would know German, French, or Italian. They had the various Textus Receptus eclectic texts before them with many translations. They had the famed Irish Latin along with the writings​of the Church Father’s. They were familiar with the other ancient writings​, both pagan and Christian. Why was this necessary? Because the Greek is not as precise a language as the English which the translators wished to bring it into. The Hebrew is even more difficult, and all scholars agree that the Elizabethan English which the King James translators used is one of the best receptor languages​ for it.

So let’s say you see a word. It can have twenty or more meanings or shades of meaning in English. In endeavoring  to find the correct word to use you can go to a Latin, Syriack, Armenian or other translation of that century. You could consult Luther’s Bible or the old Italic. You could check commentary from the first and second century for insight. So it’s not as easy as it seems. It is a monumental task that no modern scholars can equal. In a future blog I will tell you why. But as I was told long ago you can be a Greek scholar or a Bible scholar but you can not be both. In getting bogged down in the Greek and Hebrew you miss the cross references that are so important to Bible understanding. I hope this has been a blessing and a help. Trust God’s word, The King James Bible of 1611, as it sets and just see the fellowship with God you can have!