Book Review - "Believing God" Chapter 7: Open Windows of Heaven: Malachi 3:10

This chapter was much better than the last in that it was coherent and flowed in the context of the subject matter. This would have been a good spot to insert the idea of the devil's "simultaneous translation" strategy that he discusses elsewhere. He describes this as the difference between what our eyes see on the pages of the Bible, even familiar, perhaps memorized passages, and its meaning that we tell ourselves in our minds. He says that by such "translation", we reduce the Word and strip it of its power. Is this the devil at work? Perhaps.

Oswald Chambers calls it "belief in our beliefs". Call it what you will, correct attribution is rather difficult and at best a guess. Is it the devil actively at work, sitting aside the Christian, or is it the Christian's deceitful heart of flesh? It really does not matter. Sufficient to realize is the fact that both are at work and both must be guarded against at all costs.

This chapter is a good example of that necessity for it more than any other so far in the book is at the forefront of the tele-Christian and radio-Christian kingdoms. For here Dr. Sproul introduces another group of people who can be most visciously assaulted by the wiles of the devil and the profit-seekers of the flesh. He says, "It may well be that the greatest effect of the propagation of this foolishness isn’t found among those who fall for it but among those who don’t fall for it. In other words, the heresy is most effective among those who don’t believe the heresy." He sums this effect as, "Because we don’t believe in the health-and-wealth gospel, we may find it all too easy to not believe the promises of God."

Who is this latter group of Christians? They are those who have not decided such matters at all. They are waiting for someone to tell them what to believe. Or perhaps they are waiting to gather sufficient evidence (Biblical or otherwise) to the side they prefer, thus tipping the scales sufficiently to their side to cause them to believe the "overwhelming" evidence. The great danger in all this is that this group in reality fails to believe and exercise themselves in the sufficient teaching of Holy Spirit.

Do you trust the teaching of the Holy Spirit within you to such a degree that the word of any other man is inconsequential? Do you believe I John 2:27 above all else? "But the anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him."

To answer that question, examine these two others:

To whom do you go first for answers to your Bible questions?

To who do you go most often for these answers?

If you leave it to just Sunday with your pastors and teachers you are most in danger of the devil's "simultaneous translation" and believing your beliefs rather than the truth of the Word of God. Here Dr. Sproul inserts another gem of conviction. He writes, "Once more, through the diabolical ministrations of the Serpent, we come to texts like these and see them not as occasions for repentance but as an occasions for theological debate." Perhaps we get ourselves into this behavior because we read things like this about Paul:

Acts 19:8 - "And he went into the synagogue, and spake boldly for the space of three months, disputing and persuading the things concerning the kingdom of God."

Acts 28:23 - "And when they had appointed him a day, there came many to him into his lodging; to whom he expounded and testified the kingdom of God, persuading them concerning Jesus, both out of the law of Moses, and out of the prophets, from morning till evening."

But Paul was not arguing theology. He was persuading, expounding, testifying, and disputing. The centrality of his words was the Word. He spoke of the kingdom of God and things concerning Jesus out of the law of Moses and the prophets. The one thing that we must stop doing if we are to engage in such work is this:

No more discussion of our beliefs about our beliefs. No more of our words. The only Word with any effect at all is the Word of God. Our words must be few and seasoned heavily if not exclusively with His Words. When folks come to me to dispute (and I love a good discussion) I will immediately demand they argue solely from Scripture when after a few minutes I find their words void of such but instead full of themselves. We simply must not tolerate the disputation of our beliefs and our words. They are fruitless. Only God's Word bears the fruit of salvation and life.

The end of this chapter is a great and worthwhile read for here Dr. Sproul explains in detail another failing of the flesh as it does another deceitful job of planting a false belief in our minds. Spend time here meditating before God exactly what He means by "blessing" in Malachi 3:10. The blessing is not necessarily a 1:1 correspondence with the tithe (or in this case a one to many). The blessing can take on many facets and will only be recognized when we are right and One with God. Otherwise, our beliefs creep in again and we set ourselves up with false expectations of the kinds of blessings that God "owes" us. This is particularly dangerous in this age of entitlement. We really don't believe that God is sufficient. (II Corinthians 12:9, II Corinthians 3:5, Luke 14:28-33)

Private Interpretation

Last week I commented on one of R. C. Sproul's postings on www.christianity.com. His was the first of its kind I have seen on the web. You can see his original post at . There is always a battle going on in the kingdom of God regarding who has the right and authority to teach God's Word. On the one side are folks who say that only those with appropriate educational and ministry background may teach. For instance, a seminary degree plus X-number of years in the field. Without such credentials, one should not be permitted to teach, to minister, to pastor, to write or comment in on-line forums, much less to blog.

The other side are folks who say that such background is not necessary. All that's needed is the filling of the Holy Spirit according to I John 2:27, "But the anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him."

Furthermore, God says in II Peter 1:20 - 2:1a, "Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation. For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you...."

Hopefully the common link between both parties is the fact that they are indeed saved and filled with the Holy Spirit. Without this, no man can indeed learn or understand the Scriptures. They will be foolishness to him and his teaching will likewise therefore be foolish, just as God says in I Corinthians 2:14, "But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned."

So we see in these verses a few credentials necessary for the understanding and teaching of the Word of God. The Holy Spirit must be involved. Discernment must be exercised. Finally, the focus must be on the Scriptures themselves.

Here is the first stopping point for discussion. I find fairly consistently that those who opt on the side of education/ministry for qualification spend far more time quoting and discussing other learned men than they do the Bible. While I have no problem studying the writings of these men (Calvin, Sproul, Luther, Spurgeon, Chambers, Pink, MacArthur, etc.) I rely on none of them for authority regarding the interpretation and teaching of Scripture.

Likewise, I do not consider myself to be any authority. You readers will know when I have to change a position on Scripture. I will tell you plainly. Such things do happen to men because we are still fallible, still susceptible to the old man and the flesh, still liable for a deceitful heart. That is why we must give such great care to teaching. It is no small matter to present God's Word to the Kingdom. And it must be God's Word, not what we or any other man says about God's Word.

The authority to teach and understand God's Word was one of the premier points of the Reformation. After posting his 95 Theses and appearing before the church council, Luther escaped to Wartburg to translate the Bible from Latin to German. In so doing he freed the Scriptures from the shackles of private interpretation and teaching of Rome and put it in the hands of the common man.

But man is not so common when he is filled with the Holy Ghost and walking in a perfect One relationship with God. Consider that the prophets of old who wrote the Scriptures under the illumination and direction of God. Did they do it in any other way than this? Could they have accomplished this while walking in some deliberate disobedience, some willful sin? Lesser so, could they have done it when in a state of known unconfessed sin, when their state with God was not perfect? Would God take the chance that a wicked heart, a lustful flesh, a mere sinner possibly overrule His sovereign work of scribing His most holy Word?

No. God made no such mistake. But in these last days, He has left us in a slightly different state whereby there is no new Scripture, no new prophecy. The canon is complete. So we are somewhat left to ourselves if you will, without the original inspiration of God.

God says in II Timothy 3:16-17, "All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works."

Again, that work of giving Scripture to man is complete. We do not receive the inspiration of God in order to learn, understand, and teach His Word. At least not in the same way as the authors received it. Today we have the Word in order that we may be "perfect, thoroughly furnished...." The good works are those of reproof, correction, and instruction in righteousness.

This was not written to some particular group of people, the educated and experienced. It was written to the "man of God". That includes you and me. But as Paul asked rhetorically in I Corinthians 12:29, "Are all apostles? are all prophets? are all teachers? are all workers of miracles?" No, not all are teachers. They are a select group, chosen and gifted by God through the Holy Spirit. But teaching is not the exclusive purpose of having God's Word.

You and I have it in order that we may be "perfect, thoroughly furnished" Christians. We have it so we may encourage others to be this same way, in a perfect, One relationship with the Father. That is why He saved us. He saved us from our sins so that we would be One with Him again as we were in the beginning (Adam).

When we are not perfect because of sin, the flesh, or the deceitful heart, likewise the Word of God is not perfect within us. Some reproof, some correction is required. God uses many avenues to accomplish this. That's why we have so many teachers, preachers, and prophets. That's why we have these discussions. But in every avenue, God always uses His Holy Spirit to bring a child back to Himself. God says so in John 16:7-11, "Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you. And when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: Of sin, because they believe not on me; Of righteousness, because I go to my Father, and ye see me no more; Of judgment, because the prince of this world is judged."

So you see the endless quotation of men can be a problem without the primary delivery of the infallible Word of God. A proper study cannot be without the consideration of both sides of the discussion, each with equal weighting in regards to Scriptural support, the integrity of the teacher, and other such academic prequisites to presenting an acceptable thesis.

From this you can accept the fact that I support the teaching of men and the open discussion of Biblical interpretation. It is with the following requirements that I do so however:

1. The man must be saved
2. The man must acknowledge his state with God at the time of his study and documentation. (As I have told you before, I find it utterly impossible to write this blog when I know there is sin in my life. I have tried. Once or twice I have removed a blog because I should have known better. This blog and my books are written when I am:

a. Dead indeed to sin and alive unto God through Jesus Christ (Romans 6:11)
b. Fully armored (Ephesians 6:10-20)
c. Given a message to write about (Romans 11:36-12:2)

Finally, there is one last thing that I expect and discern from other writers, teachers, pastors, and prophets. The apostle Paul provided a good example in Galatians 1:11-12, "But I certify you, brethren, that the gospel which was preached of me is not after man. For I neither received it of man, neither was I taught it, but by the revelation of Jesus Christ."

Jesus personally taught Paul in the desert of Arabia for seventeen years. You can add this up in Galatians 1:18 and 2:1. Have you been taught in this way? This example is exactly what God is talking about in the verse I began this blog with in I John 2:27. How much time do you spend alone with Jesus, the Holy Spirit, and the Father, allowing them to personally teach you? No radios, TVs, books, blogs, Internet forums, nothing but the Father, Son, and Spirit and you with them as One at the Throne.

If you are not there, then you are still feeding on the milk and delivering the same to others. There's nothing wrong with that necessarily, particularly if you are just a newborn Christian. (see I Peter 2:2 - "As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby:") But if you consider yourself a more mature Christian yet have not convened with the Lord in this way, then you may be as God described in Hebrews 5:13-14, "For every one that useth milk is unskilful in the word of righteousness: for he is a babe. But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil." Likewise we are reproved in I Corinthians 3:2-3, "I have fed you with milk, and not with meat: for hitherto ye were not able to bear it, neither yet now are ye able. For ye are yet carnal: for whereas there is among you envying, and strife, and divisions, are ye not carnal, and walk as men?" Sadly, this is where most of the man-centered discussions are. Good teaching and writing must abound rather with the Word of God, for of Him and through Him and to Him are all things to the glory of God, Amen.