Resources: Online Bible

We live in a day of staggering privileges. There was a time when the only copy of the Scriptures would have been chained to the pulpit in the town’s church, and there are places where the rulers still ruthlessly hunt down copies of the Bible to be destroyed. But today in the English-speaking world, we are infinitely privileged to have such free access to the word of God.

Beyond the accessibility of the Bible itself, we also have extraordinary access to powerful Bible study tools, many of which are available for free. I listed some free online Bible study tools that I personally use all the time in another post. Feel free to check it out.

Back to an online Bible. Bible Gateway is a searchable online Bible in more than 200 versions and 70 languages that you can freely read, research, and reference anywhere. With a library of audio Bibles, a mobile app, devotionals, email newsletters, and other free resources, Bible Gateway equips you not only to read the Bible but to understand it.

Here is the link:

https://www.biblegateway.com/

Another one is Bible.com where you can choose from more than 2400 Bible versions in over 1600 languages on your computer, phone, or tablet with many available as audio Bibles.

https://www.bible.com/en-GB

Resources: Online Bible Study Websites

This post is for lay preachers or anyone teaching kids at Church a Bible story.

My experience is that a 20-minute lesson is the culmination of about 10-15 hours of study. That’s right. For every 2 minutes I speak, I put in about an hour of work during the week. You might think that I am probably ridiculous but I want what I say to be both interesting and accurate so I take the time to get it right.

I believe part of being a great teacher is being a great student. That means putting in the study to get the results you want.

But I’d like to save you some work.

In particular, I’d like to share with you some websites that I look to for insight as I prepare for my teachings at church. Now I am sure that these websites are not perfect, and they probably have information that you may disagree with. My purpose here is not to tell you these sites are perfect. I’m sure they are not. What I suggest is that these websites have been helpful for me, and perhaps they will be helpful for you as well.

I would welcome suggestions from you as well. You are welcome to email it to me or put them in the comments. My email: tinie@phase-one.co.za

So, let me start with the list, in no particular order:

https://enduringword.com/

https://bible.org/

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I am looking forward to your feedback and suggestions.

Resources: To know truth from error

We are all potentially exposed to false prophets, false teachers, and false gospels in books and articles we read, podcasts we listen and church or religious gatherings we attend.  Apparently, it was a serious problem in the first century.  It’s a serious problem still today.  The Bible has a lot to say about false teachers.

Jesus tells us that we must enter the kingdom or destruction awaits. But He also tells us that we must be on guard for those who claim to be showing us the right way to the kingdom and yet are sending us the way of the broad gate and the broad way.

There is a difference between a false teacher and a false teaching.  A false teaching is simply something that’s wrong.  A false teacher, according to what we read in the New Testament, is someone who deceives; teach things they should not teach.  They cause division and confusion where unity and clarity should be. Another author describes a false teacher as someone who teaches something that contradicts what Jesus taught, or misrepresents what He actually taught.

We need to be careful. Charles Spurgeon says: “Discernment is not knowing the difference between right and wrong.  It is knowing the difference between right and almost right.”  We must stay spiritually awake and alert. Perhaps you think this is no big deal. Think again! One degree off course may seem harmless enough. But if you stay on that trajectory long enough, spiritually speaking, you will end up far from where God wants you to be and realise “an enemy has done this!”  So what is the answer?

You must know God’s Word so well that error, regardless of how convincingly it’s presented, can’t mislead you. The Bible is clear about false teachers.  Some of the strongest language in the New Testament has to do with false teachings.  Paul warned the Ephesians to be on their guard! See Acts 20:30–31:   

30 Even from your own number men will arise and distort the truth in order to draw away disciples after them. 31 So be on your guard! Remember that for three years I never stopped warning each of you night and day with tears.

Take a look at this passage from Titus 1: 10-16:

10 For there are many rebellious people, full of meaningless talk and deception, especially those of the circumcision group. 11 They must be silenced, because they are disrupting whole households by teaching things they ought not to teach—and that for the sake of dishonest gain. 12 One of Crete’s own prophets has said it: “Cretans are always liars, evil brutes, lazy gluttons.”[c]13 This saying is true. Therefore rebuke them sharply, so that they will be sound in the faith 14 and will pay no attention to Jewish myths or to the merely human commands of those who reject the truth. 15 To the pure, all things are pure, but to those who are corrupted and do not believe, nothing is pure. In fact, both their minds and consciences are corrupted. 16 They claim to know God, but by their actions they deny him. They are detestable, disobedient and unfit for doing anything good.

That’s powerful.  Paul did not pull any punches.  Neither did Peter, or John, or Jude… and neither should we.  This is important, and lives are at stake.

I hope to provide to provide enough information with this article to convince you that the truth matters, that we are to protect the message of the gospel from those who distort it, and that every person who follows Jesus should avoid false teachings.

A different gospel is no gospel at all:

Galatians 1: 6-9 tells us that the gospel that was handed down is the only true gospel:

I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you to live in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel— which is really no gospel at all. Evidently some people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to pervert the gospel of Christ. But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let them be under God’s curse! As we have already said, so now I say again: If anybody is preaching to you a gospel other than what you accepted, let them be under God’s curse!

This is not a small problem

2 Peter 2: 1-3 tells us that false teachers exist. That they are destructive, and that they will damage the reputation of Christianity:

But there were also false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the sovereign Lord who bought them—bringing swift destruction on themselves. Many will follow their depraved conduct and will bring the way of truth into disrepute. In their greed these teachers will exploit you with fabricated stories. Their condemnation has long been hanging over them, and their destruction has not been sleeping.

Acts 20: 28-31 explains that Christians should be watchful and diligent, to protect others from false teachers:

28 Keep watch over yourselves and all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers. Be shepherds of the church of God,[a] which he bought with his own blood.[b] 29 I know that after I leave, savage wolves will come in among you and will not spare the flock. 30 Even from your own number men will arise and distort the truth in order to draw away disciples after them. 31 So be on your guard! Remember that for three years I never stopped warning each of you night and day with tears.

Command people not to teach false doctrines:

1 Timothy 1: 3-4 shows Paul instructing Timothy, a local pastor, to address the issue of false doctrines directly:

As I urged you when I went into Macedonia, stay there in Ephesus so that you may command certain people not to teach false doctrines any longer or to devote themselves to myths and endless genealogies. Such things promote controversial speculations rather than advancing God’s work—which is by faith. 

Keep away from false teachers

Romans 16: 17-18 explains that naïve people can be deceived by false teachers and they should be avoided:

17 I urge you, brothers and sisters, to watch out for those who cause divisions and put obstacles in your way that are contrary to the teaching you have learned. Keep away from them. 18 For such people are not serving our Lord Christ, but their own appetites. By smooth talk and flattery they deceive the minds of naive people.

Keep the goal in mind:

It is important that we keep the goal in mind.  We should not be eager to condemn or criticize.  We should, instead, be eager to know the true gospel, to share the true gospel, to protect the reputation of Jesus and the faith, to gently correct those who are in error, and to protect the young, the innocent, and the naïve among us.

This is serious business.  It is not a contest to see who is right, where we tear down people with whom we disagree.  It is a spiritual war, where we seek to undermine the lies of the enemy, to save those who are lost, and to free those in error from the bondage of the devil.

Here are additional resources to consult:

I use these websites frequently to get another opinion on a teacher, book, or church.

http://godwords.org/

https://www.discerningtheworld.com/

Resource: Behold Israel – a non-profit organisation – Amir Tsarfati

Behold Israel is a non-profit organization led by native Israeli Amir Tsarfati. Its mission is to provide reliable and accurate reporting on developments in Israel and the region. Amir’s live updates and teachings, based on God’s Written Word, sift out the truth on current events amidst global media bias against Israel.

Here is a link to the website:

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I once read that roughly a third of the Bible is composed of prophecy, a third history, and the last third God’s saving grace through Jesus woven into the Gospel. The person concluded that Bible prophecy is a neglected topic in most churches today.

Here is a link to a YouTube by Amir Tsarfati on the topic of prophecy, entitled: “Has the Tribulation Begun?

Has the Tribulation Begun? - Amir Tsarfati

Resource on Prayer: And When You Pray: the Deeper Meaning of the Lord’s Prayer – Ray Pritchard

Some time ago I got a free copy of the book on the internet. I really enjoyed it. I am still searching for it but no luck so far, However, a Kindle Edition is available via Amazon for under $4. This is what is said on Amazon about the book:

“Ray Pritchard contends there are three central documents to the Christian faith. The Apostles’ Creed tells us what we believe. The Ten Commandments tells us how to behave. The Lord’s Prayer tells us how to pray. The Lord’s Prayer, as taught to His disciples by Jesus, stands as the central prayer of the Christian faith. Unfortunately, most believers have committed the Lord’s Prayer to memory but have never examined it closely for themselves. It has either been taken for granted as a part of church liturgy or ignored completely. But the truth of the Lord’s Prayer is that everything we need to pray about is contained in those brief five verses in Matthew chapter 6”.

This is how it is written in the New King James Version in Matthew 6 under the heading “The Model Prayer”:

“And when you pray, you shall not be like the [b]hypocrites. For they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the corners of the streets, that they may be seen by men. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward. But you, when you pray, go into your room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you [c]openly. And when you pray, do not use vain repetitions as the heathen do. For they think that they will be heard for their many words.

“Therefore do not be like them. For your Father knows the things you have need of before you ask Him. In this manner, therefore, pray:

Our Father in heaven,
Hallowed be Your name.
10 Your kingdom come.
Your will be done
On earth as it is in heaven.
11 Give us this day our daily bread.
12 And forgive us our debts,
As we forgive our debtors.
13 And do not lead us into temptation,
But deliver us from the evil one.
[d]For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.

14 “For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. 15 But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.