Is It In You?

Imagine this: A man wakes up on Sunday morning and readies himself to attend church service. The man dresses up in his exorbitant Gucci suit – he even wears a tie with a cross designed into it and he uses a cross tie clip as well! After getting dressed, the man puts his amazing Bible into his awesome Bible-carrying case. But he isn’t just bringing with him a common Bible – No! This man’s Bible is superb: it’s made of premium genuine leather, comes with three ribbon markers, has cross-references listed on the pages, thousands of translators’ notes, full color satellite maps, beautiful illustrations, 12-point type easy-to-read font, red letters to act as a Christ-compass, gold page edges, a topical index, and an extensive concordance. This man arrives to church early in order to get his favorite seat in the front row! He sings along with all of the praise and worship songs, puts money in the offering, and even says, “God bless you!” to everyone after service as he exits.

However, appearances are sometimes just a facade, a mask that covers the truth. Looks may deceive other humans, but GOD knows the truth.

“The Lord doesn’t see things the way you see them. People judge by outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”
(1Samuel 16:7) -NLT
[see also, Psalm 44:21; 94:11; 139; Jeremiah 17:10]

Consider this: How does that man earn his money? How much money did he spend on that deluxe Bible? I’ve seen Bibles like the one I described and they cost about $700.00. For most average people, that is equal to about 1-2 weeks of pay. Is it necessary to spend that much money on a Bible? Couldn’t that man find a Bible that costs about $60.00 instead? What could that man do with the extra $640.00? Does that man even read that expensive Bible or does he only use it as an accessory on Sundays? Even though the man puts money in the offering, does he give at least 10% like GOD asks of us (Malachi 3:10) or does he throw in some change and some lint because he feels pressured to give? Does he delight in giving (2Corinthians 9:7) or does he count the cost only to end up finding a loss? If he is an extravagant giver, does he only give so that the people around him will think highly of him? Is he trying to impress people or is he loving GOD? Even though he says, “God bless you!” to everyone, does he judge them in secret thoughts? Does he think to himself that other people dress like bums? Does he judge others if he sees that they didn’t bring a Bible to service? And if someone brought a Bible, does he condemn that person if it isn’t the King James Version? Religious thought can sound something like this: “Ugh! That person brought the NIV Bible – the Nearly Inspired Version – what an amateur. That person is definitely not saved.”

Does the man in the story only pretend to be a Christian on Sundays? Does he still resemble a Christian once he leaves church? Does he yell and cuss at all of the ‘horrible’ drivers on his way home? After all, that man is the best driver in the world, right? Does he intentionally drive home on the path that directs him away from a homeless man on the corner? If he sees a homeless person, does he lie or make excuses as to why he can’t feed that person? Or maybe he tells that homeless person the truth: “Well, I spent $700.00 on the greatest Bible in the world – I don’t have the money to buy you a meal.”

“Quit your worship charades. I can’t stand your trivial religious games: Monthly conferences, weekly Sabbaths, special meetings — meetings, meetings, meetings — I can’t stand one more! Meetings for this, meetings for that. I hate them! You’ve worn me out! I’m sick of your religion, religion, religion, while you go right on sinning. When you put on your next prayer-performance, I’ll be looking the other way. No matter how long or loud or often you pray, I’ll not be listening. And do you know why? Because you’ve been tearing people to pieces, and your hands are bloody. Go home and wash up. Clean up your act. Sweep your lives clean of your evil doings so I don’t have to look at them any longer. Say no to wrong. Learn to do good. Work for justice. Help the down-and-out. Stand up for the homeless. Go to bat for the defenseless.”
(Isaiah 1:13-17) -MSG

GOD sees the exorbitant suit with the Christian tie and says, “By proclaiming Me, you have become My representative — be mindful as to how you represent Me.”
(see Ephesians 5: 1-20)

GOD sees the man singing the praise and worship song, but also sees the man looking at the breasts of a woman nearby and says, “Anyone who even looks at a woman with lust has already committed adultery with her in his heart.”
(see Matthew 5:28)

GOD sees the change and lint that was placed in the offering and says, “I saw you when you lied to a lady in order to get a large commission on a sale. Not only that, but I can see the money in your wallet right now. And yet you give Me some change and lint?”
(see Jeremiah 17:10; Malachi 1:6-8; Luke 6:38; Acts 20:35; 2Corinthians 9:6-15; Galatians 6:7)

GOD sees the expensive Bible and says, “I can’t help but notice that the pages are still stuck together due to the fact that you have never opened it to read it.”
(see Psalm 139: 1-12, Jeremiah 17:10, Hebrews 4:13)

The truth is that GOD hates religion. GOD desires a relationship.
(see Deuteronomy 4:29, Proverbs 8:17, Jeremiah 29:11-14, Matthew 7: 7-8, Revelation 3:19-21)

“Religion is the most dangerous energy source known to humankind. The moment a person (or government or religion or organization) is convinced that God is either ordering or sanctioning a cause or project, anything goes. The history, worldwide, of religion-fueled hate, killing, and oppression is staggering. The biblical prophets are in the front line of those doing something about it.”
(Eugene H. Peterson)

It is said that the idiom, “You are what you eat!” has its origin from Anthelme Brillat-Savarin who wrote, in Physiologie du Gout, ou Meditations de Gastronomie Transcendante, 1826: “Dis-moi ce que tu manges, je te dirai ce que tu es.” [Tell me what you eat and I will tell you what you are].

But is it true? Are you what you eat? Is that why flamingos are pink? Because of the shrimp and algae they eat? After all, aren’t they born the color gray? So, are you what you eat? Is that why a tree planted near a stream of water is healthy and full of life? Is that why the person who has the Lord within is like that tree (Psalm 1:1-4; Jeremiah 17:7-8)? Is that why Jesus is the Living Water (John 4:10,13-14)? Is that why Jesus is not only the Living Water but also the Bread of Life (John 6:35)? Is that why man does not live on bread alone (Deuteronomy 8:3; Matthew 4:4)? Is that why both Ezekiel and John were instructed to consume the Word of GOD?

“He told me, ‘Son of man, eat what you see. Eat this book. Then go and speak to the family of Israel.’ As I opened my mouth, he gave me the scroll to eat, saying, ‘Son of man, eat this book that I am giving you. Make a full meal of it!’ So I ate it. It tasted so good – just like honey. Then he told me, ‘Son of man, go to the family of Israel and speak my Message.’ ”
(Ezekiel 3:1-4) -MSG  [see also, Revelation 10:8-11; Jeremiah 15:16]

The Word of GOD is meant to dwell within you! Ezekiel had to consume GOD’s Word before preaching to others. Ezekiel was instructed to eat it because he was meant to digest it! Not just merely look it over in detail, but to digest it! Why digest? Well, just take a look at why the digestive system is so important for our bodies: When you eat foods — such as bread, meat, and vegetables — they are not in a form that the body can use as nourishment. Food and drink must be changed into smaller molecules of nutrients before they can be absorbed into the blood and carried to cells throughout the body. Digestion is the process by which food and drink are broken down into their smallest parts so the body can use them to build and nourish cells and to provide energy. What we eat gets digested and transformed into nutrients that will be absorbed into our blood! And is blood not life (see Genesis 9:4; Leviticus 17:11)? The Word is to be in our blood; the Word is to be our life! It is the very Word within us that sustains us!

Gatorade used to have commercials (very beginning of the 21st century) in which athletes would be sweating out the colored Gatorade they were consuming. For those Gatorade commercials, they had a slogan which asked, “Is it in you?” Just as an athlete supposedly exudes Gatorade after consuming Gatorade, we need to ensure that GOD’s Word is in us so that the Word of GOD is in our blood so that everything we do exudes righteousness and leads us away from pious performances of religious rituals and into a relationship with Christ Jesus! We should be sweating holiness as we exert the energy necessary to love others!

If a father or mother wrote a letter to his/her child, the child would read it, correct? If your significant other writes you a letter, it would be an act of love to read that letter, correct? Well, the Bible is a long love letter from GOD to us. To have a relationship with GOD, we must first read the love letter to find out what GOD wants us to know.

As my uncle, Rich Carty, has said, “After you are saved, there are three things to practice daily for spiritual growth:
(1) Pray: you talk to GOD;
(2) Read your Bible: GOD talks to you;
(3) Witness: you talk for GOD.”

There are [far] too many Christians who have not read GOD’s Word for themselves. They act as if the church building is a restaurant and that the pastor is their waiter. Too many Christians only eat whatever is given to them on Sunday mornings. When you decide not to dine in a restaurant and you are at home, do you not still eat? Or do you starve because no one brings you food? To be in a relationship with GOD, reading the Bible is mandatory and of utmost importance!

Too many Christians take their Bibles for granted. Most people assume that The Bible is blasé because it is so ubiquitous; however, it wasn’t always like it is now! We have become desensitized to the demonic and have taken our rights, privileges and freedoms for granted!

As of 2017, we had over 50 different translations of the Bible just in the English language alone. In the beginning, stories were passed down from generation to generation orally. But each generation took special care to preserve sacred details and not to embellish the stories. Around B.C. 1450-1400, GOD inspired Moses to write down the first five books of the Bible. And then over the next 1,500 years, GOD inspired around 40 other righteous men from three different continents in many different languages to write books of poetry, prophecy, history, instruction, and first-hand accounts of the life of Jesus Christ.

All of that adds up to be what we know today as the 66 books of the Bible. And that wasn’t the end of that! From that point, we had to put those 66 GOD-inspired books together into one book and also ensure to exclude any books that weren’t GOD-inspired (such as the gospel of Judas). This is where the Council of Jamnia was introduced.

In 90 A.D., that group of scholars examined Scripture based on a strict set of guidelines: they had to be historically accurate, written by a great patriarch, and didn’t conflict with other accounts of Truth. With those guidelines and GOD’s guidance, 39 books were compiled to form the Old Testament.

By 250 A.D., Christianity fell under great persecution. Six different caesars of the first two centuries persecuted Christians. In 303 A.D., Rome ordered that all Christian books be burned, all churches destroyed, their property confiscated, and Christian worship forbidden. Additional measures were decreed the next day: Christians who resisted no longer had legal recourse. Christians were deprived of any honors and public office, and Christians in the royal household would be enslaved if they did not recant. Many Christians first learned of the edicts as they watched their churches go up in smoke. However, that effort was not successful thanks to the many Christians who fought and sacrificed their lives to protect the sacred Scriptures. There were five periods of persecution from the third century until Constantine in 313 A.D.. In 313, Constantine issued the Edict of Milan, giving Christians freedom of worship. By 367 A.D., there were quite a bit of letters circulating about the life of Jesus Christ and about how Christians were supposed to live. So once again, a group met to confer with each other — they were known as the Council of Carthage. The Council of Carthage, like the Council of Jamnia, went through strict standards and compiled the 27 books that we know as the New Testament.

Through the next thousand years, a period known as the “dark ages” occurred. Reading and learning were discouraged, but GOD stayed faithful to His Word and kept His Word alive and thriving through a devoted group known as Monks. The monks took their duty seriously. They worked long hours in uncomfortable conditions, and wrote out each word by hand. And when they were done writing each page, they would count every letter to ensure accuracy.

In the 1300’s, the dawn of the renaissance, there was a renewed interest in art, science, history, and theology. Unfortunately, the Bible was only available to the priesthood — in a language only they understood. A man named John Wycliffe thought that scripture should be available to all people. So, he translated the Latin Old Testament to English. By that point, people longed for copies of the Bible, but copies were rare, expensive, and took years to be written out.

By 1450 A.D., Johann Gutenberg looked for a way to mass copy books on a printing press. It took five years to position all the moveable type letters; however, he was able to successfully produce the first printed copy of the Bible in Latin. That sparked the demand for the Bible to be printed in English. And in 1535 A.D., that was accomplished thanks to William Tyndale. His Bible translations were his lasting legacy. They were so well done that they make up 90% of the wordings of the King James Version published nearly a century later and 75% of the wordings of the Revised Standard Version of 1952. Tyndale began the work, but he was unable to finish the work because he was burned at the stake.

But a man named Miles Coverdale finished the job. In 1565 A.D., a group of Bible scholars in Switzerland broke the Bible into its numbered verses. The first King James Version came along around 1615 A.D.. Biblical scholars have continued to translate the Bible into different translations from the original Hebrew and Greek. As of 2017, we had the Bible translated for about almost 3,000 different languages out of the nearly 7,000 that exist! That’s a reason to get excited and give GOD praise!

Therefore, the next time you pick up your Bible, remember the great sacrifices that were made so that you could merely hold one, let alone be able to read one! And remember: the person who won’t read has no advantage over the person who can’t read. And as of 2017, the Bible was illegal to possess in about 50 countries around the world! So, just know that many superheroes in the name of the Savior went through great lengths to ensure that GOD’s Word would be available for all those willing to live a righteous life!

I challenge you to examine your relationship with GOD. How much of a spiritual religious show are you putting on? How many of your actions are performances? Let’s start with the most important: What are you consuming? What have you allowed within? Is it in you? Get GOD’s Word inside you! Digest GOD’s Word and exude righteousness! Have you read GOD’s Word? Have you read the entire Bible? If not, I urge you to start there and to start right now. Why? Because that’s GOD’s Word. How can you possibly know about GOD and what GOD wants if you haven’t even read His Word? Once you’ve read GOD’s Word and rightly understand the Word, I guarantee you that GOD will lead you to what you’re supposed to do next. In addition, we don’t want to take the Bible for granted! History has revealed great opposition to GOD’s Word. Reality check: At any moment, evil could ignite a satanic spark in the godless community and Bibles can be banned and burned. Consume and digest GOD’s Word! Evil-hosting humans have the capability to take Bibles away from our physical grasp; however, no one can ever steal from you what is already inside of you! Therefore, get GOD’s Word inside you!

And no excuses! There are many different reading plans available to be able to finish reading the the entire Bible in a just few months or even up to two years. And there are also chronological Bibles available as well if you want to read GOD’s Word in the order in which they occurred. There are even audio Bibles available that you can listen to! Back when I was a janitor at an elementary school, I listened to an audio Bible while I cleaned the school at night for hours. So, what’s your excuse? I challenge you to find a reading or listening plan and to stick to it. You don’t need a New Year’s resolution to start reading! If you start today, you will be even closer to your goal tomorrow. Start now! Consume the Word or be consumed by the world.

Consider the 2014 Japanese animated series, My Hero Academia. In my opinion, it’s one of the greatest and lesser known creations about superheroes. The main character, Izuku Midoriya (Deku), was just an average boy who desired to be a superhero. Eventually, the greatest superhero of all time, All Might, gave Deku his ultimate power (“One For All”). But how did Deku acquire this power? Deku had to consume a strand of All Might’s hair in order for the power to be within him. Essentially, Deku accepted super-DNA within him that transformed him into someone super. Likewise, for Christians to be superheroes in the name of the Savior, we must consume GOD’s Word and allow the Holy Spirit within us in order to work power through us. We already have divine DNA, but with the Word within us and the Holy Spirit to activate the Word, we become enhanced and empowered. You can be a superhero in the name of the Savior! But you must be connected with the Source of power to receive any power. Are you connected? Is the Word of GOD within you?

If you do not understand the Bible or would like to understand the Bible better, please read the explanations I have written, beginning with My Duty: The Revealed (Introduction)