Updated: Do Not Believe Every Spirit
The past several years of "Covid" disinformation spewed forth by Big Pharma's paid for "experts," and government liars, have made many of us skeptical of what big government and big untouchable corporations put out there for us to believe. The normal modus operandi for their "fact checker" attackers is to accuse those putting forth the truth and exposing their lies as being the "disinformation spreaders." Conveniently, of course, they never mention exactly what is the "disinformation" allegedly put forth. And when challenged to be specific, to bring forth evidence of their false accusations, they disappear like a vapor in the wind. Their stock and trade is to sow doubt, rather than discovering the truth, trusting that the true believers, not to be confused with truth believers, will act like sheep and follow the herd into the abbatoir. This is especially valid as more and more evidence of the truth about these "safe and effective" lethal injections has come to light, not to mention the false claims of mask wearing protecting us from viral transmission. Lies require believers. Whereas the truth exists, regardless of what people believe.
We have a parallel when it comes to the truth of the word of God. There are people who are Biblically ignorant trying to create doubt about the Biblical record's authenticity as the word of God. It's another lame attack on Christianity by anti-Christs meant to create confusion and dubiety in the minds of the casual lay person. And according to recent polls on the subject, it appears to be working. It's somewhat like a blind person attempting to cast doubt about the existence of the aurora borealis. "It could be moonlight bouncing off a weather balloon" to someone who’s never seen it, compared to you who sat there watching the aurora borealis dancing in the northern sky. Going to the source, critically thinking, proving all things, makes a big difference. [See the Sneakers article, We Don't Believe You].
A 2021 program of the television show The UnXplained, had a fellow with an alleged Ph.D., at least those were the letters the program had after his name on the screen, which made what he had to say even more ludicrous, and I would think, a bit embarrassing. He used the timeworn, human reasoned argument, the conjecture that maybe the many authors of the Biblical record over thousands of years, and the many translations got our modern day understanding wrong. Therefore, we can't be sure or know what it tells us is true. And so, should it be trusted to be the word of God? Of course, the inferred implication was, No, it shouldn’t. [See the Sneakers article, Atheistic Apps And Yellow Pencils].
His attempt was what one would assign to third grader logic rather than someone with a Ph.D. after his name. His claim was that with the many authors and translations of the Biblical record, how do we know what is written there really is the word of God, and not just a collection of man-made philosophical scribblings? [A little research perhaps? see The Psychological Arrow Of Time: Man Can't Know The Future, So How Did Daniel Know? BME, bottom p. 159ff; 1 John 2:18-23].
He posited, as his exemplar, the words now here could be nowhere in the Biblical text, displaying his gross ignorance of ancient Greek, and Hebrew. Therefore, or perhaps there fore, meaning that position in the front part of something rather than consequently, a possible mistake in translation his argument would make, and it would give us an entirely different meaning and understanding. So, who could really know? And what else possibly could get lost in translation of the Bible? How then could we take the Biblical record seriously, or with any real certainty? With these doubts in play, it would remain ... unexplained.
His weak logic was a bit like alleging that the sign down at the corner of our street that has Stop written on it really could mean Pots, a warning to watch out for potholes. After all, with so many workers, and over the years, someone, perhaps dyslexic, at the roads department surely could have mistranslated the word Pots. Not liking to stop at intersections, we'd try to pass along our evidence-less conclusion, "Yeah, that makes sense. Our street has lots of potholes."
To find out if this absurd logic has any foundation in reality, a little Biblical research was in order. About ten minutes later, we had our answer.
So, let's take a look about his unfounded conjecture that, for example, “the Lord is now here” could be mistaken for “the Lord is nowhere,” or vice versa in the Biblical record, which in turn would throw the entire Biblical record into doubt. Keep in mind, his choice of words may make superficial sense in English, but his proffered example doesn't hold up at all in German, Russian, Italian or other language translations of the Biblical record. This is why it's always a good idea to go to the source document rather than conjuring up false ideas in our heads.
The English word nowhere is found four times in the Biblical record. There are two uses in the New Testament and two in the Old Testament. The two examples in the New Testament are found in Mat. 8:20, and Luke 9:58. The verses are identical. They read, "And Jesus said to him, “Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head.” This is the New King James Version. (NKJV). The Kings James Version reads, "but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head." Here it is two words, as it is in the original Greek. The context correctly shows that the modern English translation nowhere would be correct, as "the Son of Man has now here or notw here to lay His head” would make very little or no sense, even to a third grader.
The absurdity of this argument is even more apparent in the Old Testament. The two uses of the English word translated nowhere are two entirely different words in Hebrew. The first one is in 1 Sam. 10:14. In the NKJV it reads, "Then Saul’s uncle said to him and his servant, “Where did you go?” So he said, “To look for the donkeys. When we saw that they were nowhere to be found, we went to Samuel.” The context is clear. Saul didn't find the donkeys, thus correctly translating the Hebrew ʼayin, meaning to be nothing, or to not exist, as nowhere. A translator writing this down as now here in English would find that person out looking for another job.
The other use of the English translation for nowhere is found in Job 6:18. It is the Hebrew word tôhûw meaning to lie in waste, desolation. In the NKJV it reads, "The paths of their way turn aside, they go nowhere and perish." One hardly could interpret now here to mean lying in waste or desolate. Or that somehow, the word tôhûw could be split into two separate words to mean now here. Yet, that's what this Ph.D. is suggesting. This is especially ridiculous when one considers what the fastidious, meticulous, "one jot and tittle" orthodox rabbinical scribes have delivered since the days of Ezra and Nehemiah. Go to the source. [See the Sneakers article, Our History In Context].
If we take the reverse of nowhere and search for now here in the Biblical record, it's even worse for this Ph.D. fellow. The two words now and here appear 22 times in the KJV Biblical record, one each in 11 verses. The one major issue that even a cursory look would give us that now here could be mistranslated as nowhere is the fact that they are two entirely different words, and they never, as in never, appear side by side in either the Old or New Testaments.
The NKJV does have five verses with the English words, now here side by side. But one quick example will show that now here is not nowhere in any of these verses. We'll use the first mention in the NKJV Biblical record, Num. 20:16, as our example. "When we cried out to the LORD, He heard our voice and sent the Angel and brought us up out of Egypt; now here we are in Kadesh, a city on the edge of your border." First, the words now here are not in the Hebrew text, only the word Qadesh, קָדֵשׁ, a city in Judea, just over the border from Egypt. Now here has been added to the English text for space-time clarity, which is why it is important to always go to the source text.
Also, replacing now here with nowhere in English is completely contradictory. "When we cried out to the LORD, He heard our voice and sent the Angel and brought us up out of Egypt; nowhere we are in Kadesh, a city on the edge of your border." “Nowhere, we are in Kadesh?” Being in Kadesh hardly would be considered being nowhere. Granted, there are cities in our present day world that being in them could be considered by some as being nowhere.
Nevertheless, the bogus hypothesis put forth that these words, now here and nowhere, could be combined or separated into English from the Hebrew or Greek to reportedly show a different meaning in the Biblical record is appalling for someone who is alleged to have a higher education. Either that, or it would be a deliberate attempt to sow doubt and lead astray the casual lay person as to the veracity of the word of God by someone who completely lacks understanding.
One fact should be made in context here. Many religious texts throughout history with several authors have contradictions within them. The Book of Enoch, for example, has many authors. And as is stated in the Introduction to the R.H. Charles edition, 1917, "Another thing which the reader of the Apocalyptic Literature must be prepared for is the frequent inconsistency of thought to be found there, together with variableness of teaching often involving contradiction."
One key characteristic that separates the Biblical record from all others with many authors is its consistency of thought and lack of contradiction. The Old Testament was canonized by Ezra. [See the Sneakers article, Our History In Context]. And, all the books of the New Testament were written only by those who were taught directly by our Lord, inspired by the Spirit of God, and canonized by the apostle John. No others merit inclusion.
Also, the Biblical record defines itself. While non-believers keep claiming to find contradictions within the Biblical text, it is their lack of understanding of the complete big picture that gives rise to many of these alleged discrepancies. The truth is consistent. "He is the Rock, his work is perfect [no contradictions]; for all his ways are justice, God of truth and without injustice; righteous and upright is he." [Deu. 32:4; again see the Sneakers article, Atheistic Apps And Yellow Pencils].
To paraphrase, though from an opposing view, Neil DeGrasse Tyson’s statement at the top of the Book Excerpt, Updated: Creation In Six Days, But Who’s Counting, “If you start using your secular education, your anti-God, anti-Christian texts as a source of your passing judgement on the authenticity of the Biblical record, the word of God, that’s where you run into problems.” [See Eph. 6:10-20].
There is a way for any true Christian to know the truth of the word of God as contained in the Biblical record. The apostle John makes it clear, “But the anointing [Spirit of God] which you have received from Him abides in you, and you do not need that anyone teach you; but as the same anointing teaches you concerning all things, and is true, and is not a lie, and just as it has taught you, you abide in Him.” [1 John 2:27].
Simply stated, those of the flesh cannot understand the things of the Spirit. “But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.” [1 Cor 2:14; also see 1 John 4:5, 6].
Therefore, by his actions, and that of the show's producers, it appears they have outed themselves. "Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world." [1 John 4:1, 2].
It is amazing what ten minutes or so of testing will turn up.
If you are new to this site, please understand that one of the most critical points of understanding is that Biblically, the Western indigenous Christian nations are the House of Israel, to whom Christ only was sent. [Mat. 15:24]. If we don't know and understand who we are, all other knowledge is rendered meaningless without proper context. It's the big picture on the puzzle box. If you haven't already, it is helpful to read the Feature articles, Paul Was An Apostle To The House Of Israel, Not The Gentiles and And It's Still A Mystery. The truth exists. Test the spirits.
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