You're listening to KFI A six forty on demand down Welcome to the Jesus Christ
Show. Hi Jesus, thank you so much, my pleasure. And I'm
curious who chose the books to be included in the Bible and why the Book
of Enoch wasn't included, because from what I understand, the Book of Enoch
was found with the Dead Sea Scrolls and it mentions a lot about Jesus and
God. And I'm curious to what you have to say about this. Well,
there's a lot of books out there that make reference to Me, or
to the Father, or to Christianity that wouldn't necessarily be considered the canonized version
of scripture. So let's look over what the Book of Enoch is. First.
A lot of people don't know this, but the Book of Enoch doesn't
refer to one book. There's several what they call pseudipigrifual works that claim authorship
is Enoch. Enoch is the son of Jared, obviously the grand father of
Noah, and so there's a lot of different works out there that say,
okay, this was written by Enoch. But most people, when they're referring
to the Book of Enoch, tend to be referring to first Enoch. Now,
this work in its entirety exists only originally in the Ethiopia language, so
it's interesting that there's already things that set it apart from the rest of scripture.
One verse that I want you to think about is in Jude. Jude
three says that the faith that was once and for all delivered to the saints.
A lot of people look for hidden works, Yet by God's own word
it states that it's all been delivered. It is canonized before man ever recognizes
it. When you talk about ordaining somebody, one of the most beautiful ways
I've heard someone speak about being or Dan, they said, no, no,
no, I'm not being ordained by man. I was ordained by God
recognized by man. So scripture is ordained by God, it is canonized by
God. That canonization is recognized by man based on certain things. Things in
scripture that make it scripture have to do with is the authorship true? Is
the content in harmony with the rest of scripture and not some strange thing that
somehow now is promoting something else other than that which is scripture. That wouldn't
make sense if it's historical, If it dates back to the origins properly,
both in context and references that there's nothing that stands out in a way that
would show, hey, this doesn't make sense. That doesn't mean that the
book itself doesn't have value. It's just not to be put on the same
level as the Word of God. So canonization sometimes is a process. It's
a process of people recognizing it. But the majority of the works were recognized
very very early on. It's when people start adding these and thinking, oh,
there's some secret thing that wasn't told or we didn't learn about first is
when there's a problem. So some people go to one of the tools that
is used to judge the validity of a book of scripture and say, well,
you know, if it's talked about in scripture itself in other books by
different authors, than that gives it validity. And that is one of the
tools that is used for understanding the validity when it comes to the Book of
Enoch. Though, you've got a situation because Jude references Enoch and so Enoch
is referenced in scripture. However, yet it is still considered a non canonical
book. It's still considered to be outside of the canon of scripture, and
people get caught up in that saying, well, if it's referenced in scripture,
then how come it's not scripture. But that's not the case all the
time. As you might remember that Paul references Epimenides in Titus one twelve,
and that Epimenities is not Any of Epimend's writings dealing with philosophy and the like
were not considered scripture. So you take all of these different references, and
you take all of the the historical factors of the writings, and they just
don't add up to scripture. They weren't used by the early Church in that
way. They weren't seen as official documents early on, and so adding them
now would be to damage the integrity of scripture. Doesn't mean that you can't
read it, doesn't mean that you can't enjoy it or read it for what
it is, just don't put it on the level of a work of God
or the Word of God, because it's not seen that way. And this
whole attitude about adding things or things missing in scripture and that man took them
out is really silly. If you go back to the early Church church fathers
and you go back to their their writings and their teachings. Early on,
you couldn't restruct You can reconstruct almost the entirety of the New Testament just by
their teachings because it was used so much. Now that shows that it's it's
used and it's applied in the very early Church, which shows its validity and
its importance. It was believed to be the word of God prior to any
councils or any of these things, the Council of Hippo, any of these.
It's about, uh, it being seen and understood as the word of
God originally, and then all of the bibliographical tests to see that it's you
know, it's accurate and it's a historic, sensible and all of these things
will go into showing the validity of scripture and that it's canonized or canon canon
is like a measuring rate. It means that it is the the rule of
the law, so things can't be added to it or subtracted to it.
And this kind of more popular now, this attitude of you know, there's
mysteries, we have to know something new. And the silly thing is is
people aren't even reading and adapting the things that are already in front of them.
They want something new because people are looking for a loophole or a way
out. They're looking for something that will either change their accountability or somehow make
scripture not as demanding on them. And so they're looking for these ways out.
You know, people look for reincarnation. Oh well, reincarnation should be
in there. It was removed, must have been removed by the early Church,
which is silly. Incarnation never played a part in scripture. To be
absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. It is appointed
for man to die once and then the judgment. It's never been a part
of scripture. But people desire that. So they look for these hidden works
or these works that maybe ah, well maybe this will this will help,
or this was somehow hidden or you know. And I know that it's sexy
for people to think, oh wow, gosh, it's really there's there's got
to be all these hidden things, and that's that's the way it works and
works. And I'm going to come across this hidden work now I'm going to
have the knowledge that other people don't. And this gnosticism, this uh,
this kind of belief that you're going to be in a secret knowledge makes people,
you know, want to raise these books up higher than they should be
raised. And there's nothing in history that would give them that authenticity or veracity.
And just because they're found in a cave where they're found next to something
else, or any of these things, there's more to it than just that.
And I know it's interesting, and read them and have the sense of
an old cow, eat the hay and leave the sticks, and really take
from it that which is good, and leave what's garbage. But don't look
at it or read it. Certainly, do not read it as the word
of God. Annie, Welcome to the Jesus Christ Show. Yes, Jesus
Hi, I have a question regarding autistic children. I have a grandchild who's
autistic, and my son and daughter in law asked me, why would God
do this to a child because it's very difficult twenty four to seven, emotionally
and financially, very burdensome to the family, and especially difficult for healthy siblings.
What would I say to them, Well, why would they assume that
God did it to that child? Well, this is what I said,
God would never do anything like that. But then I didn't know how to
explain further any Bible passages you would recommend to read. Oh, I don't
think there's going to be a Bible passage. It's going to make somebody think
differently about the pain that goes on every single day. You could ask them
why would they ask that question only when it pertained to them? How come
they weren't asking this before they had that child, when other people had autistic
children. Now they had never been exposed to this disease. I guess you
would call it. Didn't know anyone who had a child with that syndrome,
So now their focus is basically of why did this happen to us? I
think possibly yes. And they don't know what to do about it. They're
taking him to therapy and classes and things, and there has been leaps and
bounds of understanding. And I'm glad that you called because a lot of people
don't understand autism, nor do they feel comfortable talking about it. And a
lot of parents are new to the experience and understanding, and they may not
talk about it. And it's important for people to understand. But to ask
the question about God, I don't know is a very fair one. When
we are going to go to a quick break here, but I want to
talk to you, I have some thoughts on this question of why did God
allow this to happen? In just a second, Anna you there, Thanks,
thanks for holding your grandson has autism. Family is coming to you asking
you why God would allow this to happen, and that puts you in a
position of trying to defend your faith in a way that might be awkward because
when you're dealing with a heart issue, you're dealing with people who are in
pain. They don't want an academic answer true, So it's they're they're asking
a you know, just two plus two equals four question, But really it's
a it's a it's a hard issue. You know. They they're they're in
pain right now and there's nothing that you're going to tell them that's going to
make them go Okay, that makes sense to me. But I want you
to know this is for you that I want you to know that at what
point what sickness? Do you want to remove all of them? And and
do you want to remove death and then there's no heaven or do you want
to just make a quick transition like a big escalator to heaven? Or is
should there be no pain? Well, that would imply that all pain is
is bad and that's not true. Pain can be be good and pain can
be bad, just as pleasure can be good and pleasure can be bad.
I think they just wanted to answer and and help in dealing with it.
The best part about dealing with it is understanding that this child is no more
valuable or less valuable because they have special needs blessing. Yes, exactly.
And you know what, Anny, The most beautiful thing I ever heard was
when someone with a special needs child said, God trusted me enough to put
this child in my life. Wow. And it's it's when somebody gives you
something of value that needs precious concern. If they left their their prize winning
dog with you, people would go, oh, my goodness, they really
trust me. God is saying I'm giving you a child that needs special attention
and special love, and that, to me is a statement of how God
feels about the family and the positive. Not that it's unlumping you with this
kid, No, that I trust you with this beautiful child. There is
something dealing with the concept of pain that I think rattles people or makes them
think differently. And I want to make this clear. It's something that comes
up quite a bit that pain isn't bad all the time. There are many
things that you do in life where pain shows that you're producing something. I
mean, childbirth is one of them. The pain of working out, the
pain of studying for a test. There's a lot of pain. The growth
in general causes pain. And I think when I think, when you go
through pain in life, you concern yourself on the outside with gosh, how
come this is happening to me? Really, it's more of a selfish concern
than anything else. It's more like how come has happened to me and not
someone else? Because when it's happening to someone else, you're not necessarily answering
the question. You get some people, well how come kids are starving over
here? And they ask that question, But really that's more about diverting an
answer, or they don't They don't want to hear an answer, and they
don't want it to be about them, because then you're gonna ask them,
well, how come they don't believe? Or how come they are experiencing God
in one way or the other. But pain is one of those things that
seems to stop people in their tracks when it comes to God. You may
you may think, wow, you know what if if there's a God that's
all loving and all powerful, there can't be this pain, there can't be
this ugliness, there can't be problems. And that's just not true. The
amount of things that you would have to that you even enjoy, that you
would have to remove from the equation to eradicate pain would not be a balanced
exchange the things that you would lose to try and rid yourself of pain.
Have you ever seen somebody on morphine, completely doped up on morphine, and
you ask them, how you feeling fine? Are you in pain? No?
But do you think they're aware of pleasure? Really? Either? Sometimes
when you dull the pain, it can cause more problems than you think.
The misconception about lepers is that they fall apart, like lepers are decaying,
and that's not necessarily true, although that does play a part in the illness.
But a lot of the problems that lepers have is that they're The way
they feel and sense things is different. Their nerves start to die, so
they don't know what's hot, they don't know what's heavy, they don't know
they don't experience things the same way. So leprosy starts to break down the
nervous system and the nerves and feeling, and so you'll you'll pick up something
hot, you'll pick up something too heavy that that will start to destroy the
workings of your body. That pain is a necessity, it's an important necessity
to life, to help you have balance, true balance, and understand things,
understand what's bad for you, what's good for you, and also knowing
that there's times when that pain is beneficial, and to learn that not all
pleasure is good. This attitude, this heateonistic kind of attitude that everything has
to feel good to be good is garbage, and you're being fed that day
in and day out. And it comes to the point where when in your
own home or your own family, or your own relationships, you can't even
connect anymore because the minute there's a fight, there's an argument, there's anything
slightly unpleasant, you want out. You don't want to experience that anymore.
And pain has that purpose, like the leper, if you don't have those
feelings, if you don't have those tiny senses, those nerve endings, you'll
grab the hot pan and burn right through your flesh. Pain is good,
It has a purpose. It's not always good, but it has a purpose,
and the purpose is good, the end result is good, either that
pain steers you into a path of righteousness or understanding it steers you away from
greater danger. It's this attitude, though, getting to this place where where
you don't want any of it in your life, where you almost want to
be numb to the realities of pain, put you in a position to not
be able to truly absorb the value of pleasure. The very things that you
love in life, that you cherish, nobility, courage, heroics, love,
all of these things mean nothing without adversity, hate, indifference. They
have to exist for you to find and to appreciate. That's the purpose of
this life. In a nutshell, the meaning of life is to utilize your
gifts and abilities along lines of excellence to the edification of others and to the
edification of yourself, to the glory of God. And that doesn't mean no
pain. And if that becomes your goal, if it becomes your goal solely
to rid yourself of pain, that's why people blow it up and eat so
much till they're going to pop. That is why people drown themselves in alcohol
and drugs and sex, because it's this desire to seek only pleasure, this
epicurean type attitude that you just are going to get to this place where all
all is pleasurable. It is not true. Even Heaven, which is arguably
the place where all is pleasurable, is pleasurable for those that seek and want
to know God. Which is why there's a hell, because there are people
that don't want to seek and don't want to know God. And I won't
force that, The Father won't force that. So out of God's love comes
this other place where God is not And why is it torture Because it's absent
of the true nature of the salvation power of God. So that absence is
what's felt. God is in your life through all the things you're experiencing.
And does that mean that God is causing pain in your life? No?
God allows these things. God allows them so that you can learn, so
that you have a life full of richness that is not some kind of Pollyanna
synthetic pink existence. Everything you experience in life, go through your memories today,
from weddings to you know, births, to birthdays, to any major
experience, and the thing that you will tell people about that experience is most
likely what went wrong not what went right. You're not going to believe this.
On my wedding day, my sister backed up into my mother in law's
car. They hadn't even met. That's what you'll tell people, because that's
what has meaning. The things that you love about your partner in life,
look into their eyes. The things that you find most endearing are the things
they hate about themselves. The imperfections that they don't like are the things that
to you are the uniqueness and their value because they're different. Gold diamonds,
These things aren't valuable because they're like everything else. They're valuable because they're different
goodness to granted. Granted, maybe looking over at gold goin that is ugly,
Like how different it looks coal sitting there staring at diamonds. Yeah,
apparently can't handle the heat and the pressure over here. Mm hmm. They
just go transparent. But that's the beauty. Does that mean I want you
to be in constant pain? No? But there is something there that is
beautiful and powerful. And as we've talked about many times on the air,
a lovely quote from C. S. Lewis that God whispers to you in
your pleasure. God speaks to you and your conscience, and God screams to
you in your pain. The pain is a way to wake up a morally
deaf world. And so when you're cursing God about the pain in your life
and going why me, and why now? And why this and why that?
Think about this that as those atheists or those non believers look around and
say pain and evil and trials point to the fact there is no God.
On the contrary, it points to the very existence of a God, a
God that shows you the difference between pain and pleasure, that makes you even
seek out pleasure, knowing that there's something better than just what's here. Pain
points to a loving God, not away from him. Sondra, Sondra,
Welcome to the Jesus Christia. Hi, Jesus Hi. I'd like to ask
a question that's come up many many times throughout my life, okay, and
that is the mysterious years of your youth. There's talk that you disappeared in
that there's no documentation of where you were, and I was always curious about
where you were. And please forgive me if I'm being out of line and
asking no, I was wondering where you went for what purpose? And is
it something we need to know about. It's a wonderful question. There's a
lot of so called mystery around this, and it's quite silly when you look
at it with in its context and you just go, okay, well,
what makes sense here and what is the most reasonable explanation? Have you ever
received or sent? During the holidays? Around Christmas time, people tend to
write those kind of newsletters about their family. Have you seen those? And
say such and such as graduating or so and so just got married. Do
they explain everything that took place over the year or only the mile markers,
the big things like weddings. They don't say so and so got up this
morning and he had juice with some toast, and then he went to the
restroom and then kind of laid around for a while watched a little bit of
TV. That that would be huge and voluminous as a as a note to
send to somebody, right, it would be huge. So they only take
the parts that pertain to the story in which they're telling. In this case,
it's mostly about what's going on, the big things that are going on
in their life. Well, the Bible is not different from that. The
Bible. Bible is similar in the sense that the Bible is looking at things
that pertain to your spirituality. That's why it doesn't say, you know,
if somebody's building a house, they should be using a biscuit joiner for the
joints rather than because it's not a it's not about carpentry, although there's carpentry
that's talked about in scripture. It's about your spirituality and it's about your relationship
with God. So only those things that pertain to that are important in scripture.
So you have my birth, which is important. You have up until
my age of twelve. At that age, you're looking at the first time
in public that I made the proclamation to my parents. If you remember,
they my mother and my foster father come looking for me, and they said,
where were you? And I was reading and I said, don't you
know, I'm to be about my father's business. It was the first time
that I had verbalized that in the context of dealing with my parents. That's
a big deal. So that's in scripture. Then you don't hear anything until
I'm thirty when I start my ministry. So you're looking at those things and
people say, well, what about those supposed last years in there? What
happened during those years. However, if you read scripture closely, you'll see
that it makes a statement for what takes place. It says, when I
start my ministry, what did they say? They didn't say, who is
this guy? They said, isn't that Jesus, the son of Joseph the
carpenter. If I had been gone for eighteen years, they wouldn't have recognized
me in any way, shape or form. They recognized me because I was
still in the community, still working, still working with my foster father Joseph,
and still working in the carpentry shop. I didn't go to Tibet to
learn how to levitate. I didn't go anywhere to learn reincarnation or any of
these things that people trying to espouse and say that it's somehow extracted from scripture.
None of that makes sense in context. What does make sense in context
is that I was there the whole time. I just was doing normal things.
It wasn't about my ministry. It wasn't until that first miracle at the
wedding at Cana where I turned the water into wine that they started recording that
or writing that because that was pertinent to the story. Whereas waking up up
building a table building a chair was not. But they recognized who I was.
They knew who I was. So it wasn't a matter of me being
gone and then coming back. It was that they they saw me there.
They that was actually a barrier between me being there. Christ they had a
harder time accepting that because they knew me. And so that plays into that.
Also understanding that even it said in scripture that all the things that I
did could add volumes. Now was that in ministry? So all the things
I did in three years was going to add volumes. No, everything without
throughout the entirety of my life. Thank you for joining me this Sunday.
I hope you join me every Sunday, more importantly than all the craziness.
Remember these words, I am with you always. KFI am six forty on demand