Can I Trust My Bible's Inspiration
Taken out of the book entitled "Can I Trust my
Bible" by Evangelist Al Lacy
The Alexandrians tell us that ONLY the "original
manu-scripts" were inspired. On page 3 of letter #1 in his
"Public Forum", J.H. Melton says, "The King James
Version is the most beautiful and one of the best translations we
have - But is NOT inerrant, infallible or INSPIRED". On page
2 of letter #2, he says, "THERE NEVER HAS BEEN, THERE IS NOT
NOW, THERE NEVER WILL BE BUT ONE INERRANT, INFALLIBLE, VERBALLY
INSPIRED WRITING - THE ORIGINAL MANUSCRIPTS OF THE SIXTY-SIX
BOOKS COMPRISING THE ONE BOOK, THE BIBLE, THE WORD OF GOD!"
On page 1 of letter #1, Melton says, "To claim the KJV does
not have any errors or mistranslations is to claim for it verbal,
plenary INSPIRATION".
Let's go to the dictionary to learn what "verbal" and
"plenary" mean: verbal: of, in or by means of words
plenary: full; complete. Is not the King James Bible totally made
up of WORDS? Then it is VERBAL. We have already seen that the
TRANSLATION of the King James Bible was OVERSEEN by the Holy
Spirit. Since the King James Bible IS the very Word of God in
English, it has EVERY WORD God wants us to have (Mat. 4:4).
Therefore, it is FULL of His words and totally COMPLETE. So it is
PLENARY. Mr. Melton and his Alexandrian compadres now have TWO
strikes against them already.
What about strike THREE? What about inspiration? The dictionary
has five definitions of "inspire".
Since only ONE is linked to Scripture, we will not bother to list
the others. The third definition is as
follows: inspire: to motivate by divine influence.
Since the prophets and the apostles who wrote the Bible were
motivated by divine influence as they wrote the
"originals", they were INSPIRED. When the apostle John
was motivated by the Holy Spirit to write the last word of
Revelation, that was the end of men being divinely motivated to
write God's Word. But!
Did God stop motivating His WORD by divine influence when He
finished giving the sixty-six books of Scripture? If He DID, when
the original parchments faded, crumbled, and went back to the
dust, the LIFE went too.
The root of the English word "inspiration" has in it
the idea of LIFE. Notice the letters "S-P-I-R". These
are the same letters found in the English word
"S-P-I-R-i-t", which is the Greek word pneuma, meaning
"LIFE", "breath", "wind", or
"SPIRIT". If you do not have breath or wind in your
lungs, you are DEAD.
If you do not have life in your body, you are DEAD.
The Alexandrians make a big to-do about the word
"inspiration" meaning GOD-BREATHED. They insist that
God BREATHED the words of the ORIGINALS as He "moved"
(II Pe. 1:21) the holy men to produce the Scripture. And I
wholeheartedly agree. However, according to the Alexandrians, the
"inspiration" stopped when the ORIGINALS disintegrated.
Mr. Melton and all of those like him insist that the ONLY
inspired writing were the ORIGINALS.
But this foolish idea won't hold Scriptural water! GOD says:
"The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: but the word of our
God shall stand FOR EVER" (Isa.40:8).
What about THAT, Alexandrians? The Word of our God shall stand
FOREVER! The papyrus withereth, the parchment fadeth, but the
Word of our God standeth FOREVER!!! God did NOT inspire the
fibers of the material upon which the Scriptures were originally
written, nor did He inspire the INK! He inspired the WORDS...and
the Word (comprised of WORDS) of our God shall stand FOREVER!!!
Look what else God said about His Word:
"For the word of God is QUICK and powerful, and sharper than
any twoedged sword, PIERCING even to the dividing asunder of soul
and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a DIS-CERNER of
the thoughts and intents of the heart" (Heb.4:12).
The word "quick" has many meanings, but in this verse
it means ALIVE even as it does in I Timothy 4:1 where Paul speaks
of Christ judging the "quick and the dead". The
opposite of DEAD is "QUICK"...ALIVE. In Hebrews 4:12,
God says His Word is QUICK...ALIVE! He does not say the Word of
God WAS alive until the original parchments disintegrated... He
says the Word of God IS alive!! The Holy Spirit is STILL
breathing on it!
Notice that Hebrews 4:12 says the powerful Word of God which is
ALIVE "pierces" to the dividing asunder of soul and
spirit. To "pierce", according to the dictionary, is to
"FORCE a way into". By its own power, the Word of God
PIERCES or FORCES its way into the soul and spirit of men. Only
something that is ALIVE can do that! You will also take note that
the Word of God is a "discerner". The dictionary says
to discern is to "perceive or recognize clearly". To be
able perceive, recognize, or discern, you must be able to THINK.
Only someone who is alive can think!
The Bible speaks of itself as a LIVING PERSON. Take a good look
again at Hebrews 4:12. The subject here, is THE WORD OF GOD. Now
look at the very next verse:
"Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in HIS
sight; but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of HIM
with whom we have to do" (Heb. 4:13).
A careless glance will cause most people to say, "The 'HIS'
and 'HIM' in this verse is GOD." NO! NO!
NO! To say so is to violate proper English grammar. It is not GOD
who is the subject in the previous verse, it is the WORD of God!
The Bible is ALIVE, as a PERSON is alive who, can SEE and THINK
and PIERCE and DISCERN and DEAL with us today. But Scripture
itself says the Word of God IS quick...alive. And it will STILL
be alive when it comes time to judge Christ rejecters at the
White Throne!
"If any man hear my words, and believe not, I judge him not:
for I came not to judge the world, but to save the world. He that
rejecteth me, and receiveth not my words hath one that judgeth
him: THE WORD that I have spoken, the same shall JUDGE him in the
last day" (John 12:47-48).
In order to be able to Judge, you must be able to THINK, DISCERN,
and PERCEIVE! The Word of God did not DIE when the "original
parchments" crumbled back to the dust! It IS quick! It IS
alive! And it will STILL be alive at the White Throne Judgment
more than a thousand years from now!!! It WAS inspired and it IS
inspired! It has never stopped being inspired! It is ALIVE!
Look at this:
" Know ye therefore that they which are of faith, the same
are the children of Abraham. And the scripture, FORESEEING that
God would justify the heathen through faith, PREACHED before the
gospel unto Abraham, saying, In thee shall all nations be
blessed" (Gal. 3:7-8).
Lookee that! The Scripture FORESEES!!! In order to foresee, you
must be ALIVE...you must be able to THINK, DISCERN, and PERCEIVE.
Notice further that the Scripture PREACHES! Only a LIVING PERSON
can preach! Yessir! When the living Word of God pierces down to
the dividing asunder of my soul and spirit and deals with me, it
PREACHES to me! Don't tell me the only inspired writing were the
"originals"! My King James Bible PREACHES to me today!
If it doesn't preach to you Alexandrians, it's because YOU are
dead...not the Book!
Here's some more:
For the scripture SAITH unto Pharaoh, "Even for this same
purpose have I raised thee up, that I might shew my power in
thee, and that my name might be declared throughout all the
earth" (Rom. 9:17). See there? The Scripture SPEAKS! Ah, but
I hear some wise guy Alexandrian hiss, "Lacy, you're crazy!
It was GOD who said that to Pharaoh in Exodus 9:16! And what's
more, it was GOD who said to Abraham in Genesis 12:3. "In
thee shall all nations be blessed'!"
I'm glad you noticed that, pal. This is where INSPIRATION really
comes ALIVE! Yes, in the Old
Testament, it identifies God as speaking in those passages. Yet
in the infallible Word of God, when
quoting those passages in the New Testament, it says the
SCRIPTURE said it!
Get the picture?
Jesus Christ is the Author of the Bible. He is also God. More
than that, He is called the WORD (Jn. 1:1,14) ...the WORD OF LIFE
(I Jn. 1:1) ... and the WORD of God (Rev. 19:13)!!!!! And wonder
of wonders, the Bible is called the WORD (II Tim. 4:2) ...the
WORD OF LIFE (Phil. 2:16) ...and the WORD OF GOD (He. 4:12)!!!!!
It is the Holy Spirit who INSPIRED the written Word in the first
place (II Pe. 1:21). Being the "SPIRIT", He IS the
breath of God. And wonder of wonders, He is called the Spirit of
CHRIST (Rom. 8:9) ...the Spirit of LIFE (Rom. 8:2) ...and the
Spirit of GOD (Rom. 8:9)!!!!! It was the Holy Spirit who raised
up Jesus from the dead (Rom. 8:11), and it is the Holy Spirit who
LIVES within us and keeps us ALIVE spiritually FOREVER (Jn.
14:16-17).
QUESTION: Is Jesus STILL alive? Yes...and will NEVER die again
(Rev. 1:18)! The Holy Spirit did a good job in raising Jesus up,
didn't He (I Pe. 3:18)?
QUESTION: Can a SAVED person ever die spiritually? No...the
Spirit of LIFE keeps us spiritually alive FOREVER (Eph. 1:13-14)!
The Holy Spirit is doing His job, isn't He? And He ALWAYS will!
"The letter killeth, but THE SPIRIT GIVETH LIFE" (II
Cor. 3:6).
If the Holy Spirit is not STILL breathing on the Word, it will
KILL you! If He is not STILL inspiring the Word, it CANNOT GIVE
YOU SPIRITUAL LIFE! The Alexandrians are full of baloney. The
Word of God is as inspired TODAY as it was when it was FIRST
breathed out by the Spirit of LIFE!