Regardless of Bible Version: What Matters is the LIFE

What Matters is the LIFE in You

Early in my Christian life, some guys told me that the kind of bible version I read was very important. It should be the correct and accepted version, the accurate one, and "correct" and "accurate" to them was the King James Version. Some other guys, smarter ones, urged me to make sure that I know the Hebrew and Greek versions of the bible. I had to find out the original meanings of words to get what the bible authors really meant. Later, God told me it was regardless of bible version. What matters is that you hear HIS voice.

All that is good--correct bible version and Greek and Hebrew. In fact I had some basics in Greek and Hebrew and consult them now and then. I also have my King James Version (KJV). But now, after almost 30 years in ministry, I know that they're not that important. You can live victoriously in Christ without them. In fact, sometimes, God will even rescue you from them so you can be well attuned to him. What do I mean?

I know lots of good preachers and theology guys who cling to their use of KJV and are so good at their Greek and Hebrew, but their lives in Christ are so inaccurate. They wallow in bad character and sin. You wouldn't believe me if I told you that I know pastors who womanize, steal money, have abnormal sexual relations with the opposite sex, who watch pornos, who look at girls lustfully and even date pretty college students in motels whom they pick up from universities, like the one in Espanya in Manila. And then they preach good and even pray poetic prayers during worship services.

Now, what good would having the right bible version in your hand do if you live like that? Jesus said, even looking at a woman lustfully is already a sin in your heart--regardless of what bible version you read, or if you're so good with Hebrew and Greek. And anyway, lots of times, dexterity in the use of these original languages and loyalty to the KJV gradually builds up pride and arrogance in you. I've seen it, lots of times.

Regardless of bible version, what matters is the LIFE in you. What matters is that you hear God's voice, God's Word, and obey it. Without hearing and obeying, everything is garbage.

Hearing God's voice is important? Is that possible in the 21st century, modern world?

Regardless of what century or modernity, Jesus said, "The reason you do not hear God's voice is that, you do not belong to God. God's children hear his voice," [Jn.8.47]. In another breath, my Jesus said, "My sheep hear my voice and they obey me."

So what if other bible versions are not accurate, as others allege? As long as you hear God's voice and obey it, you will never go wrong. It's not reading the bible that gives you true faith, even if it's the KJV with its Greek and Hebrew interlinear supplements; it's hearing. "Faith comes by hearing, and hearing God's Word," [Rom.10]. That's being genuinely God's flesh.

If you don't have the Jesus LIFE in you and seen in you, it means you do not hear God's voice. And if you do not hear, you cannot obey accurately. You are misled and deceived big-time, even if you have the soundest doctrines of all and the best theology to back them up.

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