JREnsey blog for September 2019

Welcome to the September 2019 blog. Don’t miss the statement about Matthew 28:19 made by Dr. Daniel Wallace!

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The Word for Today

“O Lord, our Lord, your majestic name fills the earth!
Your glory is higher than the heavens.
²You have taught children and infants to tell of your strength,
silencing your enemies and all who oppose you.

³When I look at the night sky and see the work of your fingers—
the moon and the stars you set in place—
⁴what are mere mortals that you should think about them,
human beings that you should care for them?” (Psalm 8:1-4 NLT).

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FILLED WITH THE SPIRIT:

A Brief Exposition of Luke 1:15

“For he shall be great in the sight of the Lord, and shall drink neither wine nor strong drink; and he shall be filled with the Holy Ghost, even from his mother’s womb.”

Thesis: Some confuse this reference of Holy Spirit filling with that which occurred on Pentecost. However, this verse is not to be compared with those scriptural references to the uniquely Christian experience of the “baptism/infilling of the Holy Spirit”—as mentioned in Acts 1:5;2:4: “John truly baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence…and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost , and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance” and Acts 2:38: “Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.”

What is the difference in the two “fillings”?

Exposition: Luke 1:15 is saying that from birth John would be filled with a spiritual stimulus/enduement that would be an antithesis to being drunk with wine. It was an individual and specific anointing and filling (upon and within) for special purposes. It would be manifested even before birth (Luke 1:41), but it would not be…. [To continue reading this article, go HERE…]

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The Pope and Bible Translation

Pope Francis created a small stir recently when he suggested some subtle changes in the way the Lord’s Prayer is expressed in Matthew 6:13 and Luke 11:4.

In response, Dr. Daniel Wallace, Senior Research Professor of NT Studies at Dallas Theological Seminary and the Executive Director of the Center for the Study of New Testament Manuscripts (CSNTM), has written an excellent article regarding this move and about Bible translation in general. I believe this informative article will benefit our readers immensely. Click on the link below and enjoy a refreshing and enlightening presentation of this vital topic.

https://danielbwallace.com/2017/12/12/pope-francis-the-lords-prayer-and-bible-translation/

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In his heart, he knows the truth about Matthew 28:19

Dr. Daniel Wallace, the same one mentioned in the above article, made a statement that should shake every Trinitarian out there. In a research paper on the Holy Spirit, the professor, whom I highly respect as possibly the foremost biblical Greek manuscript expert on the planet, revealed his take on the long ending of this verse.

Writing on the use of the Trinitarian baptismal formula as given in Matthew 28:19, he said, “Further, when we look at Acts we notice that water baptism is apparently never done in the “name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit”; it is done in Jesus’ name alone (cf. Acts 2:38; 8:16; 10:48; 19:5; 22:16). What is to account for this? Either the Trinitarian formula in the Great Commission (Matt 28:19) was a later accretion added either by the evangelist or, possibly, by some ancient scribe; or, more likely, there was a lack of understanding on the part of the apostles when Jesus gave the commission. That baptism was apparently not done in the Father’s name either suggests that the apostolic band was wholly consumed with Christ or that the Trinitarian formula made little sense to them. In other words, their initial understanding of the relation of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit may well have been rather fuzzy.”

I have spoken personally with Dr. Wallace on several occasions and communicated with him electronically for a number of years, mostly about Bible manuscripts. While I have not spoken with him about this specific verse, I cannot believe he thinks the apostles misunderstood Jesus’ words or that their take on the Godhead was “fuzzy” (Luke 24:45). I imagine he is merely protecting himself with his Trinitarian colleagues and friends. I know that he knows there is no extant Greek manuscript containing Matthew 28:19 dated before the Council of Nicea in A.D. 325. All the Matthean MSS dated before Nicea are defective and do not contain that portion of the Gospel at all. I rather expect he believes that the Trinitarian formula was indeed “a later accretion [addition]” to the commission. He knows it is not the common language of the New Testament. Also, Eusebius, the recording secretary at Nicea, habitually quoted Matthew 28:19 as ending with “in my name” until after Nicea. Trinitarian scribes practiced adding doxologies and endings like this to the Scriptures. They added a similar one to the Lord’s Prayer in later Greek Byz manuscripts that all critics recognize and reject as emendations.

The professor knows all that, but he cannot afford to categorically say it. It would bring him great grief from his colleagues. I pray for his courage.

Someday they might dig up a second century manuscript of Matthew with the Trinitarian formula in it. I will be surprised. If so, we will just have to continue jumping through semantical hoops [“name is singular…Father is not a name…etc., etc.] to make Matthew 28:19 say what harmonizes with the remainder of Scripture and the practice of the apostles.

Whatever, the apostles of Christ did not get it wrong, professor! It is the Trinitarians’ concept of the Godhead that is “fuzzy.”

[Dr. Wallace’s research paper was called to my attention by Brother Roger Perkins. The original paper was titled “Greek Grammar and the Personality of the Holy Spirit”; Bulletin for Biblical Research 13.1 (2003) 97-125 [© 2003 Institute for Biblical Research]

For the record, references to the Holy Spirit in the NT are not presenting a third person in a Trinity, but simply expressing God’s Spirit at work in His people and in the world. There is only one Spirit (Ephesians 4:4).

I have prepared an analysis of the long ending of Matthew 28:19, providing the testimony of many scholars and experts, along with the record of ancient writings, that point to the trinitarian-sounding phrase as a later addition. It is free…just email your request to raensey@gmail.com.

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Say it again, say it again, louder, louder!

Legislators and college professors and mayors around the country are passing laws that prevent Christian counselors from attempting to help homosexuals exit that lifestyle. I am sure the same crowd would favor counselors helping Christians to bail out and become atheists.

I found it interesting that recent marches in Washington D.C. were conducted by ex-gays who wanted to express their freedom from that practice. The liberal media virtually ignored them. Remember: A man with an argument is no match for a man with a testimony.

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WHY?

With most Americans reeling from the recent spate of mass shootings that tragically took so many lives, many diverse “solutions” are being proposed by legislators, media and the mental health industry [psychologists/psychiatrists/big pharma]. Yet virtually none address causality; namely, what could cause an individual to lose all sense of humanity in order to carry out such unimaginable acts.

While it is true that many factors can contribute to mass murder, violent crime and suicide, one well-documented fact is omitted by the press and, of course, the mental health industry “experts.” The latter is demanding millions more dollars to try to “prevent” mass shootings when it is known their psychiatric drugs they push has been a major cause. A percentage of the population taking these drugs become manic, psychotic, violent and homicidal.

With millions of Americans taking these drugs, clearly not everyone will experience violent reactions to that extent. But what drug regulatory agency warnings confirm is that a percentage of the population definitely will. And no one knows who will be next. This is the game of Russian roulette that is part and parcel of the psychiatric drug industry. – Citizens Commission on Human Rights

PS: Please note that Jim Jones killed over 900 men, women and children with Kool-Aid. Should it be withdrawn from grocery shelves? Another “mass killing” during the last month was done with knives. Should all knives be confiscated? Warped minds are to blame! And what is warping minds? Drugs, alcohol, social media input, fake news spewing hate, violent video games, and leftist college professors—to name the probable leaders on the list.

“Gun deaths” are railed against, but it is really the guns that are in view in the leftists’ minds—not deaths. Smoking killed almost a half million last year. If deaths were the concern of the leftists, they would address that problem more forcefully. Alcohol-related deaths dwarfed those killed by guns—about 88,000 every year. Why not ban alcohol? Everyone knows the answer to that question. Sighhh…where is the end of blatant hypocrisy? [JRE]

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The good, the bad, the ugly

• Uncle Joe Biden, on the stump in Iowa, was asked by a woman in the crowd as he was leaving, “How many genders are there?”

“There are at least three,” Biden, 76, can be heard saying. The woman then asks him to name them.

“Don’t play games with me, kid,” he responded, adding that he was the “first one” in the Obama administration to come out in support of marriage equality.

I checked with God about the three genders. “News to Me,” He said.

• Stop thinking that if you have a college degree it makes you smart. Lots of people have a driver’s license who can’t drive. -Anonymous submission

• Don’t complain about children in cages at the border if you won’t complain about children in garbage cans at Planned Parenthood. – Patriot Post

• “The womb of the mother is a holy of holies where God is at work (Psalm 139:13‚18). How tragic that we turn that womb into a tomb, that holy of holies into a holocaust.” – Warren Wiersbe in Be Obedient

• Definition: racist (n.) – Someone who wins an argument against a liberal. – Patriot Post

• When truth ceases to mean everything, it ceases to mean anything. – M. E. Burr

• “If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it. The lie can be maintained only for such time as the State can shield the people from the political, economic and/or military consequences of the lie. It thus becomes vitally important for the State to use all of its powers to repress dissent, for the truth is the mortal enemy of the lie, and thus by extension, the truth is the greatest enemy of the State.” – Josef Goebbels, Nazi Minister of Propaganda

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