Is the Bible All God-breathed? (I) | Eastern Lightning

Yang Jian

When I believed in the Lord Jesus in the church of Justification by Faith, I often read and recited the Bible and often heard the pastors and elders preach, “In believing in the Lord, one could not depart from the Bible. Departure from the Bible is not the faith in the Lord, for the Bible is given by inspiration of God.” Later I read 2 Timothy 3:16, “All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness.” So I thought the Bible was the holiest book, which was indeed the words of God and given by inspiration of God. I not only believed it firmly, but also exhorted brothers and sisters to treat the Bible like this. Only by holding on to the Lord’s words in the Bible can we be true believers in the Lord, and only such can be the purest belief.

On one occasion when we went to visit brothers and sisters in another place, we encountered the brothers and sisters of the Church of Almighty God luckily. They gave me a book and said the words in it are the words of God. I was then dumbfounded and thought, “Aren’t the words of God all in the Bible?

Only the Bible is given by inspiration of God and is the words of God. How come they say this book is words of God?” I said doubtfully, “All the words of God are in the Bible; how can you say the words in this book are spoken by God? This is not the Bible!” They said, “Brother, look at the name of this book.” I then noticed that the book’s name is The Word Appears in the Flesh. I shook my head, not knowing what the meaning was. Seeing I was confused, a sister fellowshiped, “The words in this book are truly the utterances expressed by God in the last days, and the work of God in the last days exactly fulfills the prophecy of the Bible ‘For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God’ (1 Peter 4:17). In the last days, the Lord has returned and done a stage of work of judgment with the word. If you want to know how the Lord Jesus does the work of judgment when He returns, you must read more words expressed by Almighty God, for Almighty God is the return of the Lord Jesus. He does the work of judgment of the last days based on the redemptive work of the Lord Jesus. Almighty God reveals all the truths and mysteries of mankind’s salvation as well as the mysteries of the Bible.” Though I didn’t understand the meaning of the words “The Word Appears in the Flesh,” what the sister fellowshiped was indeed in line with the Bible, which seemed that this book didn’t depart from the Bible. Yet, what were the contents? Can they be the same as those in the Bible? But they said that after reading this book I could understand the mysteries of the Bible and of God’s work of the last days. At that time, I was curious about it, saying, “I’ll read it.” Thus, I went home with this book.

One day, I read the words of Almighty God, “Not everything in the Bible is a record of the words personally spoken by God. The Bible simply documents the previous two stages of God’s work, of which one part is a record of the foretellings of the prophets, and one part is the experiences and knowledge written by people used by God throughout the ages. Human experiences are tainted with human opinions and knowledge, which is unavoidable. In many of the books of the Bible are human conceptions, human biases, and human absurd interpretations. Of course, most of the words are the result of the enlightenment and illumination of the Holy Spirit, and they are correct interpretations — yet it still cannot be said that they are entirely accurate expressions of the truth” (“Concerning the Bible (3)” in The Word Appears in the Flesh). At that moment, my heart skipped a beat, “Why is it said that the Bible is not entirely the expression of God and is tainted with human conceptions and human absurd interpretations? What is it about? The Bible is clearly the expression of God and inspired by God. Though written by people, the Bible is given by inspiration of God, which is recorded in the Bible. It can’t be wrong! How could it be said that there are human absurd interpretations? How could it be possible? The Bible is the purest book and not mixed with human will. It is approved by the entire religious community.” This thought made me not want to read any more. At that time, I was completely lost in thought and could not figure them out. At last, I put the book away, pacing back and forth in my room and engaging in a mental struggle, “Should I read it or not? If I read it, I really can’t accept these words. Isn’t it a denial of ‘All scripture is given by inspiration of God’? If I don’t read it, some words in this book are truly good and allow man to know how to believe in, obey and love God, which is indeed beneficial to man’s belief in God. And I also knew some mysteries from it.” Then I had a second thought, “If I put it aside and don’t read it any more, I won’t reach a conclusion about it. No, I should read on to see what on earth it says. And on what basis it says that the Bible is not entirely the expression of God, with the mixture of human absurd interpretations.” At the thought of that, I opened this book again to seek the answers purposefully. I then turned to Concerning the Bible (3), and saw Almighty God’s words, “The Gospel of Matthew of the New Testament documents Jesus’ genealogy. At the start, it says that Jesus was a descendant of Abraham, the son of David, and the son of Joseph; next it says that Jesus was conceived by the Holy Spirit, and born of a virgin — which would mean He was not the son of Joseph or the descendant of Abraham, that He was not the son of David. The genealogy, though, insists on associating Jesus with Joseph. Next, the genealogy begins to record the process by which Jesus was born. It says Jesus was conceived by the Holy Spirit, that He was born of a virgin, and not the son of Joseph. Yet in the genealogy it is clearly written that Jesus was the son of Joseph, and because the genealogy is written for Jesus, it records forty-two generations. When it goes to the generation of Joseph, it hurriedly says that Joseph was the husband of Mary, words which are in order to prove that Jesus was the descendant of Abraham. Is this not a contradiction? The genealogy clearly documents Joseph’s ancestry, it is obviously the genealogy of Joseph, but Matthew insists that it is the genealogy of Jesus. Does this not deny the fact of Jesus’ conception by the Holy Spirit? Thus, is the genealogy by Matthew not a human idea? It is ridiculous! In this way, you know that this book did not come entirely from the Holy Spirit. There are, perhaps, some people who think that God must have a genealogy on earth, as a result of which they assign Jesus as the forty-second generation of Abraham. That is really ridiculous! After arriving on earth, how could God have a genealogy? If you say that God has a genealogy, do you not rank Him among the creatures of God? For God is not of the earth, He is the Lord of creation, and although He is of flesh, He is not of the same essence as man. How could you rank God as of the same kind as a creature of God? Abraham cannot represent God; he was the object of Jehovah’s work at the time, he was merely a faithful servant approved of by Jehovah, and he was one of the people of Israel. How could he be an ancestor of Jesus?” (“Concerning the Bible (3)” in The Word Appears in the Flesh).

After reading these words, I was astonished. Oh! Such a genealogy was written by Matthew; how could he make such a big error? I have read the Gospel of Matthew for several times and even memorized it, but how did I not find such a big mistake? I immediately opened the Gospel of Matthew to see the genealogy of the Lord Jesus. Suddenly I came to my senses. I gaped at the Bible, dumbfounded. After a while, I talked to myself, “Matthew, Oh, Matthew, how could you…? Ay!” What I most feared and worried about happened: There are errors and human impurities in the Bible. I felt so restless, walking to and fro. I thought: As things are what they are now, I have no choice but to admit the facts. Matthew did say that. Are these words truly from God? If not, how can the deviation in the Bible that no one has found though reading it for thousands of years be spoken out? These words are extraordinary! It is understandable that I didn’t find it, but those pastors and elders who have read the Bible for decades also failed to find it. Today Almighty God’s words point out this deviation and flaw. Who can articulate this except God? In that case, not every scripture is given by inspiration of God. No, I need to find more definite words to verify it and make it clear. When the brothers and sisters of the Church of Almighty God come, I should fellowship with them about it.

To Be Continued …

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