We received this e-mail from Debra Lynn:
Why are you using the falsely translated…Promoted by Rick Warren and other modern church movements as the version to use…It is full of deception…has added to and taken away from the original translation of the Scripture…Eugene Peterson is a false teacher who translated it…The reason men can’t “understand” God’s Word isn’t because this man needed to translate it…It is because they are not truly converted souls… Likely Peterson preached a false gospel and then went on to “craft” this “bible”…and even says it is a paraphrase needing a better study Bible…along with the fact he has interlaced New Age within the pages…another place to go before God to see if false teaching is being followed…Read the small print in the front of your Message book…and pray for wisdom, discernment, knowledge and understanding to see the false errors this man Eugene Peterson took upon himself to do in “translating” and leaving off the original meaning many times when changing it?
http://www.despatch.cth.com.au/Articles_V/the_message_e_petersen_text.htm
What kind of message is The Message
God Bless… Love,Debra Lynn…The Childgardener
I love you because He died for me…
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. For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call. And with many other words did he testify and exhort saying, Save yourselves from this untoward generation…Acts 2:38-40 (KJV)
Victor’s reply:
Hi Debra Lynn,
I am thankful that you were willing to speak up in something you believe. I will answer your question and share several things here on this issue. I welcome any reasonable response you may wish to give.
You express disagreement with our using Peterson’s transliteration. We use many translations and transliterations. Is that right or wrong in and of itself? Many think so, both ways, but neither using many or any one is necessarily right or wrong in and of itself. Apparently, you have not red what we have had to say about translations. When done this letter, you may read Is the King James Authorized Version the Perfect Word of God? and Answer to an Apologist for Worship of the KJV.
The real issue is where one has his or her trust. Ours is not in the letter but in the Lord. No Bible or translation reflects the perfect Truth by letter. Consider that any translation, be it the KJV or any other, is not a perfect translation from Hebrew or Greek. One of the primary reasons there have been so many translations is because each one falls short of a satisfactory or perfect representation of that which is recorded in the original language. Talk to any informed translator alive and he or she will, without hesitation, declare that it is impossible to give the exact meaning or understanding of one language by using another. It was for that very purpose that God confounded the people by multiplying the languages, that men might not understand one another. Only by His Spirit can we overcome this barrier, not by perfection of language.
Not only do we have a linguistic issue, but also a spiritual one. Only by the Spirit of God can one understand spiritual matters of God.
For an example in the KJV, which many consider to be the “pure Word” preserved by God, consider the word “Easter,” which is translated from “Pesach” (look it up in your Strong’s Concordance or any other). Where does anyone get the name of “Ashtoreth” (“Easter” anglicized), the pagan, sex goddess of prosperity and sexual fertility, as a valid translation of the word in the original language that refers to the Passover? Therefore, anyone declaring the KJV to be God’s faithfulness in preserving the “infallible” Word of God, being pure in every respect, is in error, or worse, a blind and ignorant fool, contrary to God and to the true intent of the Scriptures.
Anything physical, or handled by man, is subject to automatic corruption and is therefore corrupt. The only “thing” incorrupt is God Himself. Therefore, our trust must be squarely on Him.
Another point to consider is that Peterson’s The Message is not a translation, nor does he claim that it is. However, consider that when a man stands up and preaches on any passage of Scripture, he is giving what he sees or understands it to be saying; in other words, a “translation” or “transliteration.” Is that not so? So, is he adding or subtracting from Scripture? You say, “It depends on what he is saying.” Yes, that is true. And what he is saying depends on whether what he is saying comes from the Spirit of God or from his own carnal heart and mind, being indoctrinated by men.
Do you know that your pastor speaks only what the Bible is essentially saying? How do you know? Who are you to judge? The only way you can rightly know is if you are given understanding from the Spirit of God. There is no other way. You may depend on your own understanding of Scripture as you received it from others. That does not make it a right understanding. Almost all preachers rely on their own understanding. I also had understanding different from what I have today, and with that understanding I insisted that what I was speaking was the true sense of the “Word of God.” How wrong I was! Not only was I trusting in the letter, I was trusting in my understanding of it, whether received by my own thinking or by another’s influence.
Here is another simple example of “transliteration” or interpretation. God says certain things about parents and children. You call yourself a “child gardener,” do you not? Is that a strict translation of who you are or are you guilty of playing with words or using expressions irresponsibly? Are you speaking the truth or are you giving your sense of what you are? You may well be a “child gardener,” and I do not necessarily fault you for that. The point is that we must not depend on the letter but on the Truth of any matter, Biblical or otherwise.
All is God’s. By His Word are all things upheld and sustained, the Scriptures declare, KJV or Peterson’s. The Bible is not the only expression of God and it is not the only thing that men must not pervert, as Paul declares to the Romans in the first chapter, for example. When one is an evolutionist or an abortionist, yet does not refer to the Bible, is he or she not guilty nevertheless of perverting (adding to or subtracting from) the Word of God?
For an eye opener on how many things you and your pastor may be wrong about (if you have a pastor) concerning the Lord and the Scriptures, regardless of which translation you deem acceptable, read The True Marks of a Cult. Judging by your letter, I have no doubt that you will “fail the test with flying colors.” If so, who are you to judge or question Peterson, or Warren, us, or anyone else?
What we do is receive the truth from the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the Truth; He is the Standard. Possessing the Truth (or rather, the Truth possessing us), we go to the various translations and choose the one that we judge to best express the Truth. There are cases where the KJV is right on. Sometimes, it is right off, and the BBE or the EMTV or the MKJV or the Good News is marvelously on. In other cases, these may be off. We can only trust the Lord and not the translation.
Yes, Peterson is off in several cases, seriously so, as are others, be they translations or transliterations or paraphrases. There are also times when Peterson gives a more accurate representation of the Truth of the expressed matter. God alone knows, and to whom He reveals Himself.
The site to which you referred us indicates that Peterson is a false teacher or not a Christian. You might find it very interesting to do a study on the KJV translators, their characters and histories. Did you know that among them were several unbelievers, on the record, men who even ruthlessly persecuted Christians? Did you know that the man after whom the translation was named was not a Christian himself? Those who extol the KJV translators and King James ought to responsibly brush up on their history.
God alone is righteous, Debra Lynn, and only He can give us understanding. By faith, we apprehend and comprehend.
One thing I find of legitimate value with the Peterson paraphrase is that he expresses the things of Scripture in an unreligious, informal, unsophisticated or unpretentious way. He puts it in today’s vernacular, the natural way of expression. What that does is bring in the reality, excluding the religiosity and “floweriness” of the KJV that can breed spiritual pride and dull the spiritual senses.
Jesus did not come to give us religious formality or external perfection. He came to give us life and reality, 24/7. Peterson’s manner of expression of the truth of Scripture in The Message helps to bring that about. Is he wrong in some of the things he says? Yes, but I recognize that he has been used by God, earthen vessel that he is, as were the KJV translators, to contribute in a meaningful way to our relationship with the Lord. For that, I am thankful.
Try reading the suggested topics we offer. If you have any more objections or questions, feel free to write.
Contending for the faith once delivered to the saints,
Victor Hafichuk
Paul’s reply:
Debra Lynn,
Paul Cohen here, co-worker with Victor in the preaching of the Word of God that He has given us to speak to all.
I once spoke to Peterson on the phone. He was not interested in hearing the things the Lord has given us. That, however, does not negate the value we find in using The Message where applicable. And as Victor wrote you, we do find that some verses in his transliteration are way off the mark, and we do not use those. We know the difference between truth and error by the Lord and His revelation in us, not by the doctrines taught of men. How else can you navigate amongst the huge jumble of teachings, words, doctrines, ideas and works of men, except by the Voice of the Shepherd, Who leads His sheep in the right way?
What would be helpful here is if you would share the verses in our writings or letters quoted from The Message, those which you find objectionable, and the specific error(s) you see in them. We will consider what you present and will answer you, Lord willing, according to what He has given us. How does that sound?
As for not trusting translations, something I can say more directly about this, if you did not pick up the inference from Victor’s letter, is that we would not trust in our understanding even if we could read and comprehend the Scriptures in their original languages. Consider that the religious Jews, those who persecuted the Lord Jesus, understood the original language and had far more knowledge of the Scriptures than most do today. Obviously it did not help them. They did not come to the Lord their God, Jesus Christ (John 5:39-40). Our trust is not in the letter, but in the Spirit of the Lord:
“Who also has made us able ministers of the new covenant; not of the letter, but of the spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit makes alive” (2 Corinthians 3:6 MKJV).
Regarding Rick Warren, though he is not the issue here, we have a writing about his teachings that might interest you, or at least should, if you wish to know what is wrong there according to the Lord. It is The Purpose Driven Life: Promoting Christianity Without Christ.
Debra replied with this:
Paul says, “I once spoke to Peterson on the phone. He was not interested in hearing the things the Lord has given us. That, however, does not negate the value we have found in using The Message where applicable. And as Victor wrote you, we do find that some verses in his transliteration are way off the mark, and do not use those. We know the difference between truth and error by the Lord and His revelation in us, not by the doctrines taught of men. How else can you navigate amongst the huge jumble of teachings, words, doctrines, ideas and works of men, except by the Voice of the Shepherd, Who leads His sheep in the right way?”
Because you say you find some verses in his transliteration way off the mark you should not use it…BECAUSE…you are in fact putting your stamp of approval on it by using it in the first place…and then you are going to mislead people into reading this version in its entirety…and that is not SPIRITUAL DISCERNMENT…BUT IGNORANCE…Honestly I cannot hear your voice or follow you or your teaching because you are not speaking with the voice of Christ unless you seek the Lord and repent from promoting the false version of the New Age Message Paraphrase Translation….You apparently think everyone out there is using the discernment you profess to have…You perhaps didn’t realize that you show approval to anyone who reads your site for the Message in its entirety. Deception is clever…and apparently you would eat the brownies with a little bit of poop in them??
And this:
Paul and Victor…I do not celebrate Easter or Christmas, etc…I do not worship the KJV…and you are clearly deceived if you think the Message Bible with its New Age infiltration into its paraphrase is godly or to be spiritually discerned as God’s Message to Christians…The reason Mr. Peterson(false teacher) wrote this version is because people didn’t understand the other versions…Can you imagine that all these years perhaps Mr. Peterson was in fact as a “pastor” preaching a false gospel and that his congregation did not “understand” God’s Word because it is in fact something that is only Spiritually Discerned?????…We should not be reading “paraphrases”…Read the small print on all of the beginning of the Message and it is crafted for a reason…We are not to add to or take away from the original Scripture…and I know that men have tampered in translations throughout all the ages…Do you know that my Pastor(the one you assumingly refer to)…I have fled false teaching…and live in an Ecumenical Community of 50 plus churches…My Former Pastor is a false teacher…His teaching the Purpose Driven/Emerging Way…along with some life circumstances…which had me crying out to God to show me any false teaching I might be following…You are misinformed telling me what my “Pastor teaches” by assuming I have one when you try to show this knowledge you want to convince me of by acting as though that is a way for you to contend…falsely I might add…I am taught by the Holy Spirit himself…through God’s Word, and prayer and seeking him for wisdom, discernment, knowledge and understanding…I have repented from ignorantly following all of these false teachings floating around out there believing men and not God…I now stand on what God says only…and the Message Bible(my husband who I am separated from)reads this false version all the time and there is quite a bit about Spiritual Warfare that occurred as a result of all this New Age stuff in our church and through my husband having it in our home…and my former pastor teaches at a false seminary promoting New Age, Prayer Labyrinths, etc…You can get into all the nitpicky rigamarole you want to in explaining “your ideas about Scripture” factual or not…but it does not show discernment for you to be using these paraphrases…especially the Message…I have the understanding of the Spirit of God…That is how I can see through your “explanation of all of this”…I started on an article about the Sabbath on your site…and I noticed you have indeed written about many things that are indeed false and a part of the formation of the end times church…However…I totally beg to differ with you and your defending of the false modern paraphrase translations because they are a part of a bigger movement and promoted by people you write against in these false teaching movements…Irony…I have read the topics you seem to cover numerous times in the past year and a half…You seem to be blinded to the New Age infiltration in the Message translation…I would suggest seeking God Almighty himself to show you if you are indeed following a paraphrase that promotes worship of false deitys…either that or perhaps you are a part of promoting it yourself, just trying to infiltrate the minds of people who know these other things are wrong and subtly introduce them to these false paraphrase versions…I haven’t researched you and your site enough for a background of all that you believe yet…but I will…
Contending for the faith once delivered to the saints and warning the world about false teaching including those who write about it.
God Bless… Love,Debra Lynn…The Childgardener
I love you because He died for me…
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. For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call. And with many other words did he testify and exhort saying, Save yourselves from this untoward generation…Acts 2:38-40 (KJV)
Paul’s reply:
“But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned” (1 Corinthians 2:14 MKJV).
Let me ask you a question, Debra: Is the Bible from the Spirit of God or is it from man (natural)? But you ask incredulously if “God’s Word…is in fact something that is only Spiritually Discerned?????” Have I not quoted you a Scripture that unequivocally states that the things of the Spirit of God (His Word included) can only be known by spiritual discernment? Why do you find that unbelievable? Because you worship the Bible, the letter, and not the Author, the Spirit. That is also why you foolishly and unjustly condemn us for judiciously using The Message.
You are very irresponsible in your reading and conversation. I asked you to show us the verses of The Message that we have quoted that you find wrong and harmful. You avoided answering me, perhaps thinking you are justified in ignoring my question because you have concluded and told us that any use of The Message is wrong because it sanctions everything found in it. However, we have already told you that this is not so and that every translation or transliteration has errors and wrong doctrinal influences in it.
If you were not so stubborn and bull-headed, which are telltale marks of an idolater (the Bible being one of your idols), you would read the writings we sent you on the King James Bible that highlight some of the deadly errors contained therein, making the point that we do not put our trust in any Bible version, nor can anyone else except a Bibliolater such as yourself.
Debra, your plain declaration to us and everyone else is that God does not exist, except as defined by a certain arrangement of ink on paper. Yours is a false god, one that is impotent, and you are found to be impudently blaspheming against the true and living Spirit of God while speaking of Him as if He had anything to do with your god. You are not in the least led by the Holy Spirit, or taught by Him. It is a false and independent spirit that leads you, one that is anathema to God.
Again, from your slipshod, irresponsible reading and knee-jerk reaction to what you think you are hearing, you missed this part of what Victor wrote to you (emphasis added):
“For an eye opener on how many things both you and your pastor may be wrong about (if you have a pastor) concerning the Lord and the Scriptures, regardless of which translation you deem acceptable, read The True Marks of a Cult. Judging by your letter, I have no doubt that you will “fail the test with flying colors.” If so, who are you to judge or question Peterson, or Warren, us, or anyone else?”
You accuse Victor of assuming you have a pastor, but, as you can see, he did no such thing; he qualified that statement. Furthermore, whether you have a pastor or not, the writing still applies to you regarding the critical stance you take towards others when you are clearly found to be offending the Lord by your own beliefs and ways. You still have not answered it. It does not matter whether a certain person taught you your false ideas and ways or not. The fact is that you are in falsehood, and what is worse, you are wickedly stubborn and ignorant about it.
While you accuse us of eating brownies with poop in them, your brownies are poop, because you, the maker of them, have used the waste products of others and yourself to produce them. You are serving up man’s self-righteousness and carnal understanding of Holy Scripture. You do not have the living Word of Life to accompany and interpret the letter. Therefore, you peddle poop, which, when consumed, brings death. Your breath stinks when you speak.
Though you insist you can, you cannot distinguish right from wrong, and do not allow that anyone else can either. You do not recognize that any true believer has the Chief Shepherd guiding his or her understanding by the hearing of His Voice in all things necessary to life, which we, as His ministers, teach according to His will in our writings. If anyone follows our teachings, because they are hearing and obeying the One Who has given them to us, they will learn the difference between good and evil. This would also apply to their reading of the Bible. But as I told you, your reading of either does you no good, because you follow a god that is impotent, limited to the words of your Bible that you worship, according to your wanton interpretation, in putrid self-righteousness.
“I do not celebrate Christmas or Easter,” you boast, as if that proves you are in good standing with God. Those that crucified the Christ said the same kind of things. Instead of pleasing God, your self-righteousness makes Him want to vomit. It is no wonder your husband is no longer around. Who can tolerate you, and who can you tolerate, in your wretched religiosity?
Paul
Debra’s response:
It was a Rhetorical question…You are blinded by the New Age god of this world. The Message Bible incorporates New Age terminology and deletes parts of the original translation.
True marks of a “cult” according to whom…God? or man…Read Revelation 17-18 and see what people are to do so as not to participate in the “sins of the modern church” under the teaching of false pastors.
Paul’s reply:
Debra, if you are truly saying, and it is not at all clear that you are, that one can only understand the Word of God by His Spirit, then you should be agreeing with us when we say that only one who has, or is led by, His Spirit can know the meaning of a verse and can tell whether or not there is error in translation or interpretation. So why is it you do not agree with us? Why do you find fault with what we have written? You do not show us where or how, yet you condemn us. This is not the way of God. It is the way of antiChrist.
Show us specifically where we demonstrate having been blinded by “the New Age god of this world” in what we preach or have quoted from The Message, or from any Bible for that matter. You accuse but do not prove your accusations. This is not from the Spirit of God, though you claim to be taught of Him. It is from antiChrist.
You ask, “True marks…according to whom?” Why are you so lazy and/or irresponsible so as to not read the article and answer the question after twice being asked to do so? You do not have, or exercise, godly discernment, yet you find fault with the brethren of God who do. This is not the fruit of Christ. It is the fruit of antiChrist.
We know your spirit. Satan, get behind us. You are an offense to God. By His authority we have put down your works and do proclaim so:
“Following this I saw another angel descend from Heaven. His authority was immense, his glory flooded earth with brightness, his voice thunderous: Ruined, ruined, Great Babylon, ruined! A ghost town for demons is all that’s left! A garrison of carrion spirits, garrison of loathsome, carrion birds” (Revelation 18:1-2 MSG).
Paul
Debra’s next response was to send us a webpage:
http://www.seekgod.ca/msgdoctrine2.htm
Paul’s reply:
“To the pure all things are pure. But to those who are defiled and unbelieving nothing is pure, but even their mind and conscience is defiled” (Titus 1:15 MKJV).
Debra then sent this to Victor:
Victor Hafichuk – prophet or tool of satan? Checking out what others have witnessed from your words to them.
What you fail to realize Victor and Paul is that the New Age false god terminology is in this “Message Bible”…I did not read seekgod.ca to find this out…It happens to be a site that has researched the New Age false god terminology specifically…I prayed…and read through the beginning of a “Message Bible” and compared various versions myself…You choose to ignore the New Age Terminology and the New Age Message that Peterson’s “Message Bible” is…You need to repent from quoting this “translation” as God Breathed and using it to promote your teaching when it in fact uses New Age false god terminology…which obviously makes it null and void as God’s Word…and cuts out a lot of the translation by admittance…We are not to add to or to take away from Scripture…Peterson doing this will have consequences…I will continue to advise people against reading this “version”.
God Bless… Love,Debra Lynn…The Childgardener
I love you because He died for me…
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. For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call. And with many other words did he testify and exhort saying, Save yourselves from this untoward generation…Acts 2:38-40 (KJV)
Victor’s reply:
Debra Lynn, concerning Shaparenko, if that is what you would like, there is plenty more of “what others have witnessed from our words to them” (which are the Lord’s Words), in The Issues of Life, with one significant difference, that being that we, unlike Shaparenko, include both sides of the conversation in full, something he, in all dishonesty and ill will, cannot and will not do, except perhaps where he perceives it might benefit him. In all bitterness, he has accused us of many falsehoods and has been fully unreasonable.
Furthermore, if you want the complete conversations we had with Shaparenko, in full context, we have them, and, Lord willing, would make them available to you. Some of those may even be in The Issues of Life.
“Lord willing,” I say, because it is perfectly manifest that you conduct yourself as a parrot with a brain tumor, unable to answer simple questions, whether through sheer willful and stubborn lack of reason or brutish incapability. But we will still prevail to give you all that God gives us to give, and when that is done, having refused, you are finished. We are often His “last straw” to the wicked who insist on their own way, perishing. That is not a threat; it is a spiritual law we have seen manifest many times.
Again, the simple question, which you avoid like the plague: Whether in the words quoted from Peterson in our letters or writings or anything else we have said, specifically tell us what error you find, not in terms of whose translation or transliteration was used, but in the substance itself.
You are in big-time need of repentance, Debra Lynn. Expending your energies setting up your straw man and blindly beating it will win you no brownie points with God. You are not an honest or faithful woman as you pretend to be. Rather, you are full of stubbornness and self-righteousness, and the Lord is angry with you. In short, you cannot keep your sins and presume to have Him too. He is not deceived as you presume to deceive yourself and others.
Victor
Debra sent this to Paul:
Victor Hafichuk – prophet or tool of satan? Checking out what others have witnessed from your words to them.
Matthew 7:13-29 (New American Standard Bible)
The Narrow and Wide Gates
13″Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it.
14″For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it.
A Tree and Its Fruit
15″Beware of the false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves.
16″You will know them by their fruits. Grapes are not gathered from thorn bushes nor figs from thistles, are they?
17″So every good tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears bad fruit.
18″A good tree cannot produce bad fruit, nor can a bad tree produce good fruit.
19″Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.
20″So then, you will know them by their fruits.
21″Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter.
22″Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?’
23″And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; DEPART FROM ME, YOU WHO PRACTICE LAWLESSNESS.’
The Two Foundations
24″Therefore everyone who hears these words of Mine and acts on them, may be compared to a wise man who built his house on the rock.
25″And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and yet it did not fall, for it had been founded on the rock.
26″Everyone who hears these words of Mine and does not act on them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand.
27″The rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and it fell–and great was its fall.”
28When Jesus had finished these words, the crowds were amazed at His teaching;
29for He was teaching them as one having authority, and not as their scribes.
Matthew 7:13-29 (New International Version)
The Narrow and Wide Gates
13″Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. 14But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.
A Tree and Its Fruit
15″Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. 16By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? 17Likewise every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. 18A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. 19Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 20Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them.
21″Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?’ 23Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’
The Wise and Foolish Builders
24″Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. 25The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. 26But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. 27The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.”
28When Jesus had finished saying these things, the crowds were amazed at his teaching, 29because he taught as one who had authority, and not as their teachers of the law.
Matthew 7:13-29 (New King James Version)
The Narrow Way
13 “Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. 14 Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.
You Will Know Them by Their Fruits
15 “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. 16 You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thornbushes or figs from thistles? 17 Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. 18 A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. 19 Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 20 Therefore by their fruits you will know them.
I Never Knew You
21 “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. 22 Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ 23 And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’
Build on the Rock
24 “Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock: 25 and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock. 26 “But everyone who hears these sayings of Mine, and does not do them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand: 27 and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it fell. And great was its fall.” 28 And so it was, when Jesus had ended these sayings, that the people were astonished at His teaching, 29 for He taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes.
Matthew 7:13-29 (King James Version)
13Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat:
14Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.
15 Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.
16 Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles?
17Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit.
18A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit.
19Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire.
20 Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them.
21Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.
22Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works?
23And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.
24 Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock:
25And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock.
26And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand:
27And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it.
28And it came to pass, when Jesus had ended these sayings, the people were astonished at his doctrine:
29For he taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes.
Paul’s reply:
Debra Lynn, we have asked you several times to responsibly report on what specific errors you have found in our letters and writings. We have also asked you to read and consider the content of several documents. You have yet to do the former, and there is no indication whatsoever that you have done the latter, or intend to. You just keep repeating yourself, as if we did not hear and answer you the first time you made your spurious charges. Unless you can and will reply regarding the pertinent requests we have made in response to your arguments and position, we have no alternative but to conclude that we are dealing with a brute beast incapable of godly reason, someone possessed.
This seems to be confirmed as you now bring up, as if there is any validity to it, Gene Shaparenko’s report, the words of a liar and son of Belial. Are you sure his is the company you wish to keep? If so, so be it.
The translations from which you extracted several quotes are no different than The Message inasmuch as that they also have problematic renderings and various errors (The NASB, NIV, and KJV). We have sent you writings about some specific problems with the KJV, which demonstrate that one cannot trust in the letter, as you do.
Paul
[For the sake of our readers, I did not address the incoherent assortment of Scriptures Debra quoted, but I will tell you this: Randomly stringing together the Scriptures does not make one a spiritual minister, any more than randomly throwing together items from your fridge and kitchen cabinets makes you a chef. The results are generally unedifying and inedible.]