The Biblical Examiner
An Examination of Biblical Precepts Involved in Issues at Hand

November 1993

 

Contents

1) My People Are Destroyed

 

My People are Destroyed

     Hosea 4:6 seems to be a favorite text for many who enjoy &/or make a business of exposing the deep, hidden things of Satan (or things generally unknown). By justifying their "discovery" and revelation of conspiracies with this text, many raise vast sums of money to help bring the knowledge of the "hidden things of dishonesty" into the light of day.

     Some people, even pastors, say that the Lord's people are destroyed because they do not know enough about the depths of the enemy's conspiracy. Though v. 6 may permit this thought on a limited scale, is its primary teaching, "My people are destroyed because they do not know enough about what is going on around them"? Is this verse a legitimate command to study the deep, hidden, conspiratorial things of evil in society?

     If so, we are confronted with a conflict in the word of God: Hosea 4:6 & Matthew 28:19, 20. Whereas, Hosea appears to teach that the answer to man's ills is knowing about wicked men's secret conspiracies, the Lord, in Mat 28:19, 20, teaches that the answer to man's ills is going and teaching all nations the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, and teaching them to observe all things whatsoever Christ has commanded.

     To hear some people use Hosea 4:6, evidently they have cut our Lord's words in Matthew from their Bibles, and are basing salvation (as do the secular humanists) in knowledge about evil (besides, it raises money).

 

     Rightly divide the Word

     It seems that there are those who suppose that rightly dividing the word of truth consists of knowing which verses to pull out of what places in the total of God's word to support favorite doctrines. This practice developed as "Bible Readings" at the turn of the century, but the word of God cannot be divided up into small portions of here a little, there a little without destroying both the "divider" and his follower. [EN1] (Note Rev 22:19 [Det 4:2; 12:32; Pro 30:6], And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy... Those who remove passages from their context take away from the words of this book.)

     

A Little here - A Little There

     Here a little..., Isa 28:9-13. The ones Isaiah spoke to were babes; therefore, they had to be treated and taught as babes with a little doctrine at a time. But even small portions of doctrine were to them as a foreign tongue (Geneva Bible margin). Isaiah gives the reason that the people were unable to connect the whole of Scripture: that they might go, and fall backward, and be broken, and snared, and taken, v. 13. The implication is that the division of Scriptures into here a little, there a little (no continuity of texts, permitting about anything to be taught) is for a Divine purpose: the destruction of the sin-hardened people of God. One cannot take small portions of Scriptures, mix them all together and arrive at a proper conclusion; therefore, the context of my people are destroyed for lack of knowledge must be developed and maintained.

     Obviously, Hosea spoke to the children of Israel, those called by His name, still inhabiting the land of Palestine (Hosea 1:1-2. In Micah, the people the Lord has a controversy with are identified simply as his people, 6:3, 3). What happened to this small group of people called by His name is preserved to show us how God works in the lives of individuals and nations. The application and substance of God's message through the prophets (Hosea &c.) are for all His people of all time, 1 Cor 10:11 (cf. Jn 14:15; 15:10; 1 Jn 2:3).

 

     Who's at fault

     The children of Israel, those identified as the people of the Lord, had departed from Godliness and stubbornly refused to forsake the pleasures of sin, 4:1-2. The prophet Hosea, speaking for the Lord to His sinful people, explains why and how the Lord is going to deal with those who departed from Godliness. He calls for repentance (6:1-3. Cf. 2 Tim 2:19), and promises the renewal of the covenant, ch 14 (note Whose work the renewal is, 14:4).

     In order to properly understand v. 6, of course we must develop its context:

 

     The great controversy

     V. 1, for the Lord hath a controversy..., Hosea 4:1. [Feud, dispute-lawsuit, litigation, conflicts outside of the courtroom use this term also.] God uses two illustrations to describe His dispute with His people: Husband/wife & Landlord/tenant.

     First, the Husband/wife relationship: the Lord compares Israel's unfaithfulness in the covenant between Him and their fathers to an adulterous wife. God's people (Jehovah's wife) even paid her lovers to come to her, 8:9, &c. Jehovah God establishes His right to "divorce" His wife and turn her over to the mercy of her pagan lovers.

     Second, the Landlord/tenant relationship: under OT law, the covenant people did not own the land; they leased it from its Owner. Therefore, the land, unless it was within walled cities, could not be sold. The different tithes also established (& still does) the Lord's ownership over all the earth and the fullness thereof; therefore, He gives it to whomsoever He will. And thus God's laws concerning the land continually reminded them that they were only strangers and pilgrims upon it, Heb. 11. The conditions for their continued possession of the land was written into their "lease agreement," cf. Deut chs 28-32. Also within the agreement was what would happen for its violation.

     Throughout the prophets, the Lord told the land's inhabitants that He had a legal claim against them, 2 Chron 36:15. They were in open, deliberate and hardened violation of the agreement, and thus the Lord had the legal right to remove them from His land. He "threatened them with court action" to have them evicted by a stronger nation if they did not return to the covenant-agreement (Hosea 9:15-17), and pleaded with them to return to their agreement. Furthermore, the people's refusal to heed the word of the Lord caused the Lord to say, thou hast destroyed thyself, Hosea 13:9. (For they have sown the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind... 8:7.) Moreover, we are told that the Lord Himself is the One Who sent the enemies against His people; He sent them to destroy His people because they violated the covenant, 2 Kgs 15:37; 2 Chron 36:17, &c. Thus God's people had plenty of knowledge; the problem was that they refused to act on that knowledge. And, as they refused to act upon the knowledge they had, the knowledge was removed from them: the knowledge of the Lord and His law was lost in the House of the Lord, 2 Kgs 22; 2 Chron 34:14. ("But, Bro. Need, that is OT." So is My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. Paul very ably describes those who separate passages from their context in order to make the passage teach a pet doctrine as dishonest, crafty deceivers, 2 Cor 4:2.)

 

     Legitimate court case

     Mat 5:25-26, advises to settle conflicts quickly and out of court because in court, the judge may force the guilty party to pay everything; therefore, the tenant should make peace with the landlord. Make an agreement with him before the tenant ends up in court. In fact, kiss the Son lest he be angry, and ye perish from the way, when his wrath is kindled but a little, Ps. 2:12.

     As one reads through Hosea, he sees the details of why the Lord cast His people from the land: no truth, nor mercy, nor knowledge of God in the land, 4:1.

     "Truth: ...no truthfulness, either in speech or action, no one trusting another any more. Love: ...is not human love generally, but love to inferiors, and to those who need help or compassionate love... They both have their roots in the knowledge of God, of which they are the fruit... "Truth cannot be sustained without mercy; and mercy without truth makes men negligent; so that the one ought to be mingled with the other" (Jerome)... Such knowledge not only produces fear of God, but also love and truthfulness toward the brethren (cf. Eph iv. 32, Col iii. 12). Where this is wanting, injustice gains the upper hand." (1)

     nor knowledge of God in the land, v. 1, cf. 6:7, But they like men have transgressed the covenant... (Like sinful Adam. See 1 Jn. 2:3-4.) Knowledge about God and His word does not mean one knows God. It is said that Karl Marx could quote the NT.

     Because v. 2 goes on to properly define knowledge, we will develop its meaning as used in both v. 1 and v. 6. According to DBD:

1847 2. esp. in WisdLt = discernment, understanding, wisdom:.. b. in the highest sense, knowledge of God (incl. obedience) Ho 4:1, 6. (2)

TWOT:

Particularly distinctive is the prophetic concept of "knowledge of God" which is particularly prominent in Hosea (4:1, 6, 6:6; cf. Prov 2:5). Knowledge of God is derived from those outstanding historical events in which God has evidenced and has revealed himself to chosen individuals such as Abraham and Moses. These revelations are to be taught to others. "Knowledge of God" appears in parallel with "fear of the Lord" (Isa 11:2; cf. 58:2; Jer 22:16) as a description of true religion. The man who has a right relation with God confesses him and obeys him. To do justice and righteousness and to judge the cause of the poor and needy is to know God (Jer 22:15-16). On the other hand where there is no knowledge of God there is swearing, lying, killing, stealing, committing adultery and breaking all bonds (Hos 4:1-2). Such will bring destruction upon a people (Hos 4:6; cf. Isa 5:13). Knowledge of God is more pleasing to him than sacrifice (Hos 6:6) The prophetic view of the messianic age is of a time in which the knowledge of God covers the earth as water covers the sea (Hab 2:14; cf. Isa 11:9). [Emp added. Note that knowledge of God is equated with righteousness, or right living, Isa 45:8, &c. Ed.] (3)

Observe: Samuel, when confronting King Saul, summed up the Biblical definition of knowledge as used in Hosea 4: Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to harken than the fat of rams. For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because thou hast rejected the word of the Lord, he hath also rejected thee..., 1 Sam 15:22, 23 (Hos 6:9).

 

     Knowledge Defined

     Thus knowledge is knowing the Lord, knowing His law-word and doing His will [righteousness] as revealed in that word. A lack of knowledge is identified in Hosea as: 1) swearing, 2) lying, 3) killing, 4) stealing, 5) adultery, 6) whoredoms, 7) pride, 8) unlawful sacrifice (to the gods of the pagans, 4:12,), 9) unlawful training of children, 4:13, 10) intermarriage with pagans (unbelievers), 5:7, 10) permitting ungodly civil rulers, 8:4, 11) seeking guidance from sources other than the inspired word of God, 4:12, &c. [EN 2, 3.]

     

     Whoredom

     Furthermore, the Lord, through the prophet Hosea, identifies sin as whoredom, eg., a wife's (Israel) unfaithfulness to her husband (Jehovah God). Sin is basically God's people's refusal to recognize His sovereign authority over them, Rom 1:21.

     God's warning is always over the same issue. That issue is not really immorality as such; rather, it is over His people ignoring His authority to tell them how to act and how to do His work; it is over God's people ignoring His law, Hosea 4:6; Mal 4:4; Jer 9:14; Isa 50:1, &c. The controversy is compounded because the spiritual leaders, much to the delight of God's people, say it is okay to ignore His law (my people love to have it so, Jer 5:31; Mal 2:1, 7; Isa 30:9-10). The leaders say, peace, peace when there is no peace ("We are in the midst of a revival!"), Jer 6:14. Can one blame the Lord for His hot wrath against the shepherds, Zech. 10:3?

     Therefore, Knowledge (Hos 4:1, 6) cannot be separated from Godly action according to the law of thy God, v. 6.

     One of the results of Israel's rejection of knowledge (and thus hardness in sin) was that the Lord would give them "spiritual leaders" after their own sinful hearts, 4:9. God's people rejected His covenant-law in their hearts, so He sent teachers justifying their rejection. These "leaders" would speak smooth things and deceits to comfort His people in their rejection of knowledge (cf. Isa 30:9ff), so the Lord could reward them for their doings. (But the Lord made it very clear, they destroyed themselves, Hosea 13:9.)

     V. 3, all the land and its inhabitants pay the price for God's people's refusal to glorify Him as God.

These words affirm not only that the inanimate creation suffers in insouciance of the sins and crimes of men, but that the moral depravity of men causes the physical destruction of all other creatures. As God has given to man the dominion over all beasts, and over all the earth, that he may use it for the glory of God; so does He punish the wickedness of men by pestilences, or by the devastation of the earth. (4)

     Thus all creation, creatures included, suffers when God judges man's sin; He judges in the form of unseasonable rain, storms, droughts, earthquakes, &c. His judgment affects all of creation, not just guilty man.

     V.4, Yet let no man strive, nor reprove another... V. 3 speaks of judgment against God's sinful people; v.4 says that in the midst of judgment, one can neither blame God nor others. Rather, each must look to his own sin (they destroyed themselves). How like fallen nature to view surrounding judgment against sin with the assurance that the judgment is the fault of others. The individual needs to check his own relationship according to God's Word. (We regularly hear of people who are willing to fight and even die to see civil government return to God, but they themselves are unwilling to do what they demand of those in civil authority. Such hypocrisy has not escaped God's notice.)

     strive with the priest. "... the nation resembled those who are described in the law as rebels against the priest." (Keil.) The priests passed judgment upon sin according to the law, but the people rebelled against righteous judgment, Deut 17:12, 13. If striving against a priest is presumption worthy of death, how much more is presumptuous striving against God worthy of death, He 10:29? The people to whom Hosea was sent strove against their Maker with no more concern than if they were striving against a man of God or another person (cf. Isa 45:9).

     V. 5, false prophets, men who profited by purporting to prophecy for God (eg. 1 Kg 22:24, 25), were numerous in Israel ("Prophets for Profit"). Led by these Profiting Prophets, the people departed from the law of the Lord. The Lord promises that both the prophets and followers will fall. And thus "...the destruction of the whole nation and kingdom is announced." Keil.

 

     V.6, My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge... (...nor knowledge of God, v. 1). The people of God, encouraged by their Profiting Prophets, refused to obey the law-word of God.

The speaker is Jehovah; my nation, that is to say, the nation of Jehovah. This nation perished for lack of the knowledge of God and His salvation... This knowledge Israel might have drawn from the law, in which God had revealed His counsel and will (Deut xxx. 15), but it would not. It rejected the knowledge and forgot the law of its God, and would be rejected and forgotten by God in consequence... (5)

     God's people's lack of knowledge was exhibited by the sins previously mentioned. Their lack of knowledge: first, lacked Godliness according to the law-word of God, 8:1, 12, &c., and, second, mixed Godliness with worldliness, 8:5, &c.

     Furthermore, My people are destroyed... will not stand alone because it is followed with the reason for destruction: because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee... God wrote great things of His law to His people, but they counted it as a strange thing, 8:12. His people knew/know what was/is required of them, but they refused/refuse to act on that knowledge. God's controversy is over His people's constant refusal to do what His word says (& what they know to do); it is over their refusal to recognize and submit to His authority over their every thought and action.

     The Lord continues by explaining the results of their rejection: thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I will also forget thy children. Forget - neglect - neglect to look into His law-word to find out what pleases Him in order to do it. Forgotten implies such absorption in the things of this world that one neglects His laws. If we neglect what is dear and important to Him, He will neglect what is dear and important to us, our children. (Ps 138:2. Cf.Mat 6:33.) EN4

 

     Obedience replaced by Sacrifice

     Note Hosea 6:6 (I Sam 5:22; Isa 1:11; Jer 7:22, 23): His people ignored His Word, refused to obey Him, and then they substituted sacrifice in a vain attempt to appease Him. The Lord warned them of the results of disobedience through His prophets, but rather than turn back in obedience, they simply made sacrifices to Him in a foolish hope of appeasing His wrath and avoiding the results of their sin. Saul substituted a huge sacrifice for obedience, I Sam. 15. How many people attempt to cover their self-willed ways with giving or good works?

     (Hosea 6:6 is not separating mercy from sacrifice. Mercy speaks of our relationship to others; therefore, one cannot obey God without showing mercy toward others. On the other hand, one can show mercy toward others without a proper relationship toward God. One of the main complaints the Lord has in Hosea is His people's failure to show proper mercy to the needy. Faith cannot be separated from godly action, James 2.)

 

     Conclusion

     As we note the following, keep in mind that Hosea is addressed to God's people.

     1) V. 6 is not speaking of a lack of knowledge about:

     First, the secret, conspiratorial plans of the wicked. There are many ministries today apparently built around uncovering secret conspiracies of the wicked who desire and work for a one- world government. My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge is often misused to justify "uncovering" secret conspiracies and to influence people to give of their time and money and unite to help "uncover" hidden conspiracies. Using this verse in such a manner is totally contrary to the word of God, De 29:29; Eph 5:12.

     Certainly, there is a conspiracy behind every evil taking place. It started in the Garden of Eden as a conspiracy against the authority of the word of God ("You don't need His law to tell you how to act and think. You can determine that for yourself!"), enlarged soon after the flood to include a desire for a one-world government, and is easily traced to the present time. What we see today in conspiracies is not new, nor should it surprise us.

 

     Conspiracies of wicked men not the problem

     The root cause of conspiracy is found in those called by the name of the Lord. The conspiracy is against God and His law, Jer 11:9. The conspiracy is centered in the church, and the conspirators are led by supposed men of God who turn God's people away from His law-word (primarily by ignoring the context of passages they teach). We will add that the conspirators against God's law conspire in the name of "We are NT Christians," in spite of Paul's clear admonition in Rom 13:8-14 (the true conspiracy says, as it did in the Garden, "You are no longer accountable to the entire word of God."), Ez 22:25. Thus the salt has lost his savour, and the light is under a bushel.

     But the real conspiracy is against going into all the world, teaching the gospel to every person, baptizing the converts and teaching them all that the Word of God commands. Although this is the conspiracy that must be dealt with, we hear very little about it.

     Therefore, knowledge about the world's conspiracies will do nothing to stop them. The only thing that will stop the conspiracy is Godly knowledge, ie., Godliness according to the total of God's word by God's people (cf. Ja 3:4, &c.).

     Second, the word of God. There are many verses which command thorough, in-depth study of Scripture (eg., 2 Tim 2:15). But teaching and learning, thus knowledge, about God's word concerning every area of life is only half the answer. Biblical knowledge that pleases God must include action according to that knowledge.

     The ungodly say that "knowledge is power," when, actually, it is godly action according to godly knowledge that contains God's power. Knowing and not doing the truth is hated by God and only adds to the judgment of God, Ja 4:17.

     2) belief that knowledge will prevent destruction is anti- Christ.

     First, knowledge alone about God will not prevent destruction; rather, it leads to deception, more sin and harsher judgment, James 1:22.

     Second, knowledge about the secret things of satan (conspiracies) in the world will not prevent destruction. As previously mentioned, those conspiracies are not the problem; the problem is in the church.

     Third, knowledge about sin will not prevent destruction.

     The ungodly say that the lack of knowledge about sex leads to pregnancy, the lack of knowledge about sodomy leads to AIDS, the lack of knowledge about drugs leads to more drugs, &c. The fallacy of the foolishness of the lack of knowledge is readily apparent as pregnancy, sodomy and drug use increase as knowledge in these areas increase. The "in thing" now among young people is "bi- sexual" experiments with sodomy.

     3) when my people are destroyed for lack of knowledge is used apart from its context (knowledge is defined as godliness according to the total of God's word), we fall into the same "education is the answer" trap which has the ungodly ensnared.

     Hosea shows us that God's wrath came against His people, not be- cause they didn't have knowledge (ie., know what to do; they had an abundance of prophets from God), but because they did not put action to their knowledge.

 

     Our Problem

     We must honestly say that our major problem is not that we do not know enough about the word of God or about what "conspiracy" is currently taking place around us. Our problem is that we do not take godly action according to what we know from God's word. If all people would act upon what they know is right, society would be transformed. (Note that godly action upon godly knowledge results in more knowledge, He 5:13, 14.)

     4) the enemy well understands how anxious fallen nature is to separate knowledge from godly action, so he works to increase the separation through his false Profiting Prophets. The people gladly receive the smooth, deceitful words they love to hear: words that require no confession of sin, personal responsibility, self- sacrifice, dedication and/or work.

     5) sacrifice without obedience is unacceptable to the Lord. Far too many people feel that their "spirituality" is measured by how many notes they have in their note books or Bibles, or how many "Bible facts" they can recall. Biblical knowledge is measured by how much of His Word we have in our lives. There is no knowledge of God apart from obedience, and thus, My people are destroyed for lack of obedience to my word, Ps 37:3; Rom 6:16; Heb 3:7-14; 10:26-33.

     Today, Bible studies abound. It is popular to "take a scenic tour through the Bible," but very few want to be bound by consistency to its strict laws, statutes and precepts; very few want to know their responsibility to God. The appealing message for the masses is "this is what God owes you." This message not only draws people and money, but it draws God's vengeance, judgment and anger against the society that condones the message, Heb 8:10-13; 10:15-20.

     It is important to note that the child of God will not be judged according to how much he knows, but according to how he applies what he knows. Knowledge about a subject will do nothing toward avoiding the consequences of not doing. EN5

     6) what will stop the destruction of society? Knowledge and godliness in every area of life and thought. If just the Christians would be consistent in their stand (eg. remove their children from pagan, anti-Christian schools &c), paganism would fall. Modern Christianity is quite similar to our government's action toward Communism. Communism would have collapsed many years ago if the "West" would refuse its continual finance. Paganism would have collapsed many years ago if Christians would not support pagan programs.

     God has a controversy with His people because they refuse to acknowledge His total and complete authority and law. His people need to settle the controversy quickly or it will be too late.

     Yes, there is a conspiracy that is killing Christianity; it must be examined, revealed, dealt with and moved upon. It is the conspiracy against the Lord's words of Matthew 28:19, 28. Only when this conspiracy is conquered by God's grace will the conspiracies of wicked men in high places be nullified.

     Hosea does not leave Christians in a hopeless situation. He points us to the wonderful grace of God: I will heal their backsliding, I will love them freely..., 14:4. God, in His good time, promised to move and settle the controversy in the hearts of His people and in His favour. What a wonderful day that will be.

                                                                       
End Notes

EN1 The "Bible Reading" method of study of God's word was a new method of study which took a theme and searched for Scriptures to support or teach that theme. "Bible Reading" can be extremely disastrous to Christianity because it permits one to ignore the context of the verses used to support the preconceived idea or thought being pursued. Thus through the "Bible Reading" method of study, the Word of God can be made of none effect and used to support any theory that the teacher wishes to promote.

"Bible Reading," though, did not develop and spread unopposed. As it developed in the late 1800s, Francis L. Patton, of Princeton Seminary, said:

... I particularly object to their [the "Bible reading" school of thought of which Mr. Moody was a leader, Ed.] arbitrary and unhistorical system of interpretation. . . But few, I fear, know the English Bible as they do. I advise you to learn their secret in this regard, but do not adopt their shibboleths; and I warn you against supposing that you have given an adequate substitute for a sermon when, with the help of Cruden's Concordance, you have chased a word through the Bible, making a comment or two on the passages as you go along. (6)

[Moody] was greatly influenced in his style of preaching by the English Plymouth Brethren evangelist Harry Moorhouse, who astounded Moody by preaching for a whole week from the same text. One of Moody's biographers described the addresses, all based upon John 3:16, as "not a sermon so much as a string of related texts of passages briefly commented upon to form what came to be known, rather oddly, as a 'Bible Reading.'" About that series of sermons Fleming Revell, Moody's brother-in-law, wrote, "D.L. Moody has great power before, but nothing like what he had after dear Harry Moorhouse came into our lives and changed the character of the teaching and preaching of the chapel." That the Bible reading was popularized if not invented by the Plymouth Brethren seems quite clear. Darby, as noted previously, preferred private reading meetings to preaching and carried out his most successful work through this form of teaching, very frequently in homes rather than in churches. Every Brethren teacher and evangelist used this method; its popularity is both contemporaneous with Brethren expansion to North America and coexistent with those millenarians which the Brethren were known to have influenced. Furthermore, as in Moody's case, the American ministers' adoption of the Bible reading can often be directly traced to an encounter with a Brethren preacher. (7)

"Bible Reading" greatly corrupted the term, Rightly dividing the word of truth (it is ludicrous to think that Paul intended [2 Tim 2:15] to equip Timothy so Timothy could support any doctrine he desired to teach. "A text without a context is a pretext," and "Bible Reading" encourages "a pretext"):

The role of the interpreter, according to the same Baconian assumptions, was not to impose hypotheses or theories, but to reach conclusions on the basis of careful classification and generalization alone. [Emp added.] The disposition to divide and classify everything is one of the most striking and characteristic traits of dispensationalism. C.I. Scofield, the great systematizer of the movement, epitomized this tendency. In "Rightly Dividing the Word of Truth," an authoritative summary of his views, Scofield interpreted the phrase of his title from the King James Bible to mean that "The Word of Truth, then, has right divisions . . . so any study of that Word which ignores those divisions must be in large measure profitless and confusing." [Revell paper edition, Westwood, N.J., n.d. 1896, p. 3.] The work sketched out a series of distinctions: "The Jew, the Gentile, and the Church of God," "The seven Dispensations," "The Two Advents," "The Two Resurrections," and "Law and Grace." Regarding the last distinction to take an example that became a source of conflict with other Calvinists who insisted on the primacy of grace in all ages, Scofield said characteristically, "It is ... of vital moment to observe that Scripture never, in any dispensation, mingles these small variations in Biblical language. So, for instance, Scofield placed great weight on the distinction between "the kingdom of God" and "the kingdom of heaven" and on the differences among in, with, and upon as used with reference to the Holy Ghost.
Dispensationalist leaders regarded these methods of dividing and classifying as the only scientific ones. Scofield, for example, contrasted his work to previous "unscientific systems." Similarly, Reuben Torrey regarded ideas basically as things to be sorted out and arranged. One of his major works, What the Bible Teaches (1898), is an incredibly dry five-hundred-page compilation of thousands of Biblical "propositions" supported by proof text. The closest analogy would be to an encyclopedia or dictionary. Torrey explicitly defended this utter lack of style or elegance. "Beauty and impressiveness," he said in the preface, "must always yield to precision and clearness." As usual, his model was the scientist. Torrey depicted his work as "simply an attempt at a careful unbiased, systematic, thorough-going, inductive study and statement of Bible truth. . . . The methods of modern science are applied to Bible study - thorough analysis followed by careful synthesis." (8)

Thus "Scientific Bible study" - "Bible Reading" is a matter of finding proper verses to prove particular theories as a scientist in a laboratory.

EN2

[OT] Moloch worship was thus a political religion... Moloch worship was thus state worship. The state was the true ultimate order, and religion was a department of state. The state claimed total jurisdiction over man; it was therefore entitled to total sacrifice... The Moloch state is the product of apostasy. When a people reject God as their King, and make a man or state their king (I Sam 8:7-9), God declares the consequences... The Molech state simply represents the supreme effort of man to command the future, to predestine the world, and to be as God... Molech worship seeks a no-theistic, a non-Biblical way to

Pastor Need.


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