By
Wu Siu Yan
10 Sept 2002
When LORD led the Israelites out of Egypt, LORD gave them His Laws/Commandments/Ordinances/Statutes. But on the building of an altar, LORD said,
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LORD : Thus you shall say to the people of Israel : 'You have seen for yourselves that I have talked with you from heaven. You shall not make gods of silver to be with me, nor shall you make for yourselves gods of gold. An altar of earth you shall make for me and sacrifice on it your burnt offering and your peace offerings, your sheep and your oxen; in every place where I cause my name to be remembered I will come to you and bless you. And if you make me an altar of stone, you shall not build it of hewn stones; for if you wield your tool upon it you profane it. And you shall not go up by steps to my altar, that your nakedness be not exposed on it.' |
"No steps" means the altar should not be built high, a little elevation about the ground would do.
Another example being in the event that David wanted to build a temple for LORD, LORD spoke to him, through prophet Nathan, the following :
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LORD : Go and tell my servant David, 'Thus says the LORD : Would you build me a house to dwell in ? I have not dwelt in a house since the day I brought up the people of Israel from Egypt to this day, but I have been moving about in a tent for my dwelling. In all places where I have moved with all the people of Israel, did I speak a word with any of the judges of Israel, whom I commanded to shepherd my people Israel, saying, "Why have you not built me a house of cedar?" ' .... |
All these are in accord with the words of Jesus,
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Jesus : Unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever humbles himself like this child, he is the greattest in the kingdom of heaven. Jesus : And again I say unto you, ye must repent, and become as a little child, and be baptized in my name, or ye can in nowise receive these things. And again I say unto you, ye must repent, and be baptized in my name, and become as a little child, or ye can in nowise inherit the kingdom of God. Verily, verily, I say unto you, that this is my doctrine, and whoso buildeth upon this buildeth upon my rock, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against them. And whoso shall declare more or less than this, and establish
it for my doctrine, the same cometh of evil, and is not built
upon my rock; but he buildeth upon a sandy foundation, and the
gates of hell stand open to receive such when the floods come and
the winds beat upon them. (Note : I believe that the Book of Mormon is a true history of the Mayans of America for the period 600 B.C. to 420 A.D. I am for the Book of Mormon, but not for the Mormon Church. I am against the practices of the Mormon Church. You join the Mormon Church at your own risk.) |
In a child, there is never any place for "hypocrisy, snobbery, pride, vanity, ... ", but purity and truth and genuine love for one another.
The Jewish people would not acknowledge that Jesus was LORD appearing in human form, the Messiah they have been longing for for centuries. Why is it so ? A Mayan gave the reason very accurately,
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But behold, the Jews were a stiffnecked people; and they
despised the words of plainness, and killed the prophets, and
sought for things that they could not understand. Wherefore,
because of their blindness, which blindness came by looking
beyond the mark, they must needs fall; for God hath taken away
his plainness from them, and delivered unto them many things
which they cannot understand, because they desired it. And
because they desired it God hath done it, that they may stumble.
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Look at the Jewish rabbi in Israel today, they wear long robe as in Jesus' time. They have the appearance of piousness, but they could never enter the Kingdom of Heaven, because they are never child-like, never have a pure heart like that of a child, never have a humble heart like that of a child.
Why is it so? Because they have many ancient books, and many of those ancient books were not from LORD, but from Satan/demons, and they detect not. The "deep things" in those books confuse them, therefore they cannot understand the plainness of Jesus' teachings (Sermon on the Mount, or other plain and simple teachings of Jesus in the Gospels of Matthew/Luke/John.) They are misled by "the deep things of Satan".
The ancient books cherished by the Jewish Rabbi are also found in Theology Schools. You can find lot of such books in many web sites, e.g. http://www.bible2000.org, http://wesley.nnu.edu, ...
I myself have read many of them, and except a few of them (e.g. Book of Enoch (1), Book of Enoch (2), The prayer of Manasseh, ... ), most contain "deep, mysterious things of Satan" and therefore would be "death-traps" to those inexperienced.
Why do you want to read those books ? Have you already read the Bible cover to cover several times ? Are the teachings of LORD and Jesus in the Bible insufficient to quench your "thirst" ? Then what is the motive of your reading those books ?
Then why did I read those books ? Because I am a preacher, a "watchman" for the sheep, I ought to have a little more knowledge than the sheep, not for myself, but for providing guidance to the sheep. I would not have done many things I do today if I do not have this duty.
My suggestion : never read those books unless you have already read the Bible cover to cover two or three times. When you are familiar with the Bible, with the teachings of LORD/Jesus, then you may use the Bible as a PLUMMET, to guide you in all your future readings.
If you are unfamiliar with the Bible, unfamiliar with the teachings of LORD/Jesus, then you have no PLUMMET, and you could easily be beguiled and go astray.
BEWARE, LEST YOU LEARN THINGS THAT SHOOT BEYOND THE MARK, BEYOND THE PURE AND SIMPLE TEACHINGS OF LORD/JESUS IN THE BIBLE |
Do not despise the Bible, for in it, you may learn much more than many books combined (be they books on management, on trade and commerce, on history, on military matter, on dealings with people, ....). Bible is worth your every effort, and time-and-again reading.
Beware of wisdom of man, many of such "wisdom" are abominable in the sight of LORD. If you treat everyone with a pure heart like that of a child, who will not accept you ? Then why do you need the "wisdom" of man, why do you need the "craftiness" of man ?
Are you familiar with ALL the teachings of LORD/Jesus in the Bible ? What shortcomings do you find in their teachings ? Are their teachings insufficient for you ? Then why do you need the teachings of man ?