We don’t change God’s message -- His message changes us.

"Does its changelessness seem boring to you? Not to me. I love watching replays when my team scores. I can’t get enough! Show it to me from seven different angles, overhead cam, slow motion, stop action. I thrill every time the ref’s hands go up to signal a touchdown. Replay touchdowns are unstoppable! In the same way, reading the Bible for its gospel message is like picking up a newspaper where the headline is always 'Jesus Wins!'"

Jeske, Mark. God’s unchanging message, pg. 15
March 2005. Forward in Christ – Features, Vol. 92, No. 3

A man runs into the vet's office carrying his dog, screaming for help. The vet rushes him back to an examination room and has him put his dog down on the examination table. The vet examines the still, limp body and after a few moments tells the man that his dog, regrettable, is dead.

The man, clearly agitated and not willing to accept this, demands a second opinion.

The vet goes into the back room and comes out with a cat and puts the cat down next to the dog's body. The cat sniffs the body, walks from head to tail poking and sniffing the dog's body and finally looks at the vet and meows. The vet looks at the man and says,

“I’m sorry, but the cat thinks that your dog is dead too.”

The man is still unwilling to accept that his dog is dead. The vet brings in a black Labrador. The lab sniffs the body, walks from head to tail, and finally looks at the vet and barks. The vet looks at the man and says, “I'm sorry, but the lab thinks your dog is dead too.”

The man, finally resigned to the diagnosis, thanks the vet and asks how much he owes.

The vet answers, “$650.

“$650 to tell me my dog is dead?” exclaimed the man....

“Well,” the vet replies, “I would only have charged you $50 for my initial diagnosis. The additional $600 was for the cat scan and lab tests.”

found at: PlanetMike.com

Comment: Second opinions on what a pastor or teacher says is free. Just open your Bible.

Suffering from truth decay? Brush up on your Bible.

"-In successive books, (Episcopal Bishop John Shelby) Spong has denied the incarnation, the miracles as recorded in Scripture, the virgin birth of Christ, a salvific purpose for the crucifixion, the bodily resurrection, and an entire series of truths long cherished by the church. He sees the Bible as an essentially human book that is filled with foibles and faults, and thus argues that it is not to be taken seriously as God’s authoritative message to the church.

'The God I know is not concrete or specific,' Spong has written. 'This God is rather shrouded in mystery, wonder, and awe. The deeper I journey into this divine presence, the less any literalized phrases, including the phrases of the Christian creed, seem relevant. The God I know can only be pointed to; this God can never be enclosed by propositional statements.'

…I debated Bishop Spong on Lee Strobel’s program, 'Faith Under Fire,' broadcast on PAX television. In that context, Bishop Spong presented his understanding clearly. 'There is no human being that can know the reality of God. There is no inerrant Bible. There is no true Church. There is no corner on the market of salvation. There is no faith once delivered to the saints. Those are all human attempts to minister to the human security—need to believe that we possess the truth. It’s only those people who believe they possess the truth who want to have inquisitions or do heresy hunts or start religious wars or persecute people who disagree with them. I think that’s the dark and demonic side of religion, and I think we would do well to be rid of that.'"

Mohler, R. Albert Jr. Heretical bishop lectures on sexuality at Stetson University
February 10, 2005. Crosswalk.com

Comment: Once the authority of Scripture is tossed to the side, God becomes a shadow which we can interpret any way that we want... or a piece of clay that we can mold any way that pleases us. But then we cease to worship God as he is. If God is solely mystery and shadow, then Jesus failed one of his tasks: "If you really knew me, you would know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him." If God is nothing more than clay, how can we call him our Rock and our Fortress.

Bishop Spong does not like the God described in the Bible, so he claims that the Bible is a muddy description of God written by individuals who had an agenda of their own. Then he can proceed on his own agenda of creating a god, who agrees with his point of view.

I admit that God's law is harsh and condemns me for all of my failed efforts as father and husband. But it does not help me to cover my ears and pretend that God isn't really speaking through the Bible. The greatest help is what God offers, "Come to me all you who are weary and burdened and I will give you rest." God is just AND God is merciful. He's saved us from the penalties we deserve, so that one day we will really know him as he is!