THE BEREAN
CHRISTIAN
Searching the Scriptures
By Gary Ray Branscome
Those at
There is nothing Satan wants more than
to keep people from listening to what the Bible says. To that end he
has, throughout
history, used made up stories, passing his religious fiction off as the
Word of
God. We see one example of that in the seventh chapter of Mark, where
Christ
rebukes the Pharisees for “Teaching for doctrine the commandments of
men” (Mark
7:6-13). Substituting man’s word for God’s Word was common among the
ancient
Jews, it was common in the middle ages, and it is common today. But it
is not
the will of God! On the contrary, God wants you to search the
Scriptures to see
if what you are being taught is what the Bible actually says (Acts
As an example, consider the so-called
“Gap Theory”. Those who hold that view claim that the words of Genesis
1:2,
“And the earth was without form, and empty,” should be translated, “And
the
earth became without form, and empty”. Now, if we were just talking
about
whether the Hebrew word hayah
should be
translated “was” or “became” we would be talking about interpretation,
because,
properly speaking, to interpret is to translate not make up
explanations (John
1:38 and 41, 2Peter 1:20). However, when gap-theorists then go on to
make up a
story about a long period of time transpiring while “the earth became
without
form,” or a story about Satan and his angels living on the earth and
even
fighting wars during that time, that story has nothing to do with the
words of
the text. It is nothing more than religious fiction! It is a story that
was
invented to get around what the Bible says about the age of the earth.
And
because it was invented by man it is just the figment
of someone’s imagination.
Furthermore, because God has forbidden us to add such made up stories
to His
Word, we know such stories are not of God. They are either of the flesh
or of
the devil or both, but they are not of God. For that reason they should
be
rejected (Mark 7:6-13, Proverbs 30:6).
Daniel Chapter 2
The second chapter of Daniel describes
a dream that Nebuchadnezzar (king of
At present there are many who claim
that the, “kingdom, that will never be destroyed,” spoken of in that
prophesy,
is a future earthly kingdom. But, is that what the Bible says? The
Bible tells us
that God set up that kingdom “at the time of those kings,” not
thousands of
years after their time (Daniel
As to the claim that the kingdom in question
is an
earthly kingdom, Jesus specifically said, “The
That should settle the matter. Nevertheless,
those who want to believe that God will set up an earthly kingdom make
up stories
aimed at getting around what the Bible says. During the cold war many
were
claiming that European Common Market countries were the toes of the
statue (in Nebuchadnezzar’s
dream), that the Common Market was a revived
Daniel Chapter 9
In the ninth chapter of Daniel, we are
told that the angel Gabriel brought Daniel this message. “Seventy weeks
are
decreed concerning your people and your holy city, to bring an end to
rebellion, and a finish to sin, and to make reconciliation for
iniquity, to
bring in everlasting righteousness, to confirm the vision of the
prophets, and
to anoint the most Holy. Know therefore and understand,
that there will be seven weeks and
sixty-two weeks from the time the command to restore and rebuild
In interpreting this statement, the
“weeks” spoken of are usually understood to be seven year periods.
There is
some support in Scripture for that interpretation, and it approximates
the length
of time from the return of the Jews to Christ. However, the claim is
also made that
the seventieth week is yet in the future, and that thousands of years
separate
it from the first sixty-nine weeks. But, is that what the Bible says?
No! There
is absolutely nothing in the text to even suggest such a period between
the
sixty-ninth week and the seventieth. In fact, if the total length of
time
involved was more than seventy weeks (of years) then the prophecy would
be false.
The idea that the desolation spoken of in verse 27 points to a future
antichrist flies in the face of the fact that it had to take place
during the
seventy weeks. Any attempt to lengthen that period of time does not
come from
the Bible, but from someone’s imagination.
[NOTE: If God departed from the
1 Thessalonians 4:16
In Paul’s first Epistle to the
Thessalonians we read, “The Lord himself will descend from heaven with
a shout,
with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the
dead in
Christ will rise first: Then we which are alive and remain will be
caught up
together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so
shall we
ever be with the Lord,” (1Thessalonians 4:16-17).
Although that passage is a clear
description of what will happen when Christ returns, many are claiming
that
this will happen long before the last
day. However, is that what the Bible says? Not at all! That claim
flies in
the face of what Christ Himself said, for He plainly told His disciples
that He
would raise up believers on the “last
Day,” not before (John 6:39, 40, 44, 54 and John 11:24).
Furthermore, if
they would just look at the context they would see that is what the
passage
itself is saying. In the very next verse we read, “Now when it comes to
the
times and the seasons, brethren, you do not need me to write to you.
For you
know perfectly well that the day of the
Lord will come like a thief in the night. For
when they
are saying, Peace and safety; destruction
will come upon them suddenly,” (1Thessalonians 5:1-3). In case
you did
not notice, the last sentence in that quote tells us that on
“the day of the Lord,” the “rapture,”
will be followed by “destruction”. Furthermore,
Peter tells us that on the “day of the
Lord… the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the
elements
shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are
therein
shall be burned up,” (2Peter
[NOTE:
Those who believe in a pre-millennial rapture often quote Matthew
24:40-41. In
those verses we read, “One shall be taken, and the other left,” and
they assume
that those who are left will continue on with life. But Luke tells us
that Christ
is comparing those left behind to the people of
Revelation 4:1
The fourth chapter of the Book of Revelation
begins
with the words, “After this I looked, and saw a door opened in heaven:
and the
voice I had first heard speaking to me like a trumpet; said, Come up
here, and
I will show you what must take place after this.” Although the sentence
just
quoted was spoken to John, many are claiming that the words “Come up
here” are
being spoken to all believers at the time of the “rapture”. But is that
what
the Bible says? Not at all! First of all, John tells us that the voice
he heard
is the same voice he “first heard speaking to” him “like a trumpet”
(Rev. 4:1);
the same voice that he heard in chapter one, verse ten. And the words
spoken by
that voice were spoken to John alone. That is important because there
is
absolutely no justification for the claim that this voice is calling
believers
from the grave, or that the rapture will take place at this time. Do
not take
my word for it, read the verse. These words are words that John heard
in a
dream or vision almost two thousand years ago, not some voice in the
future. The
claim that the rapture will take place at this time is just a made-up
story.
Because the Book of Revelation says absolutely nothing about a
pre-millennial
rapture, those who want to believe it just make up a story about it
taking
place at this time, even though there is absolutely nothing in the text
to
support such a claim. In other words, if the Bible does not say what
they want
to hear they supplement what the Bible says with religious fiction.
Revelation Chapter 7
In chapter seven, the sealing of the
Jews is followed by the sealing of a great multitude “that no man could
number,
of all nations, and kindreds, and people,
and
tongues,” (Rev. 7:9). We are also told that the “great multitude” are,
“Those
who have come out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes,
and made
them white in the blood of the Lamb” (Rev. 7:14).
Even though John saw the “Stars of
heaven” fall to earth, and the sky departing “like a scroll” in Chapter
6, those
who believe in a pre-millennial rapture ignore that fact and claim that
the
tribulation and sealing described in Chapter seven will take place
right after
the rapture, during a seven year period long before the end of the
world. But
is that what the Bible says? Not at all! There is no mention of seven
years in
this passage. The “great tribulation” that is mentioned in chapter
seven is persecution. Those “who have come out
of great tribulation,” have come to faith in Christ in the face of
great
persecution. And, that has been going on throughout history. Paul spoke
of it
when he said, “We must through much
tribulation enter
into the
The idea that this “tribulation” takes
place during the seven years following the “Rapture,” is just more
religious
fiction. They get the seven years from their interpretation of Daniel
9:27,
which I have already dealt with. They just arbitrarily stick those
seven years
into this prophesy. Worse yet, they claim that the great multitude,
“who have
come out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made
them white
in the blood of the Lamb” [Rev. 7:14], will be saved after the Holy
Spirit has
been withdrawn from the earth, even though the Bible plainly tells us
that, “No
one can say that Jesus is the Lord, but by the Holy Ghost”
(1Corinthians 12:3).
Everything that they say about this “tribulation” being limited to
seven years,
about the Holy Ghost being withdrawn from the earth, and about people
being
saved through “the blood of the Lamb” without the Holy Ghost being
involved is
nothing more than religious fiction. And, when confronted with these
facts they
often just brush them aside by saying, “Well that is what we believe,”
as if
there is nothing wrong with lying in God’s name [i.e. passing religious
fiction
off as the Word of God] (Proverbs 30:6).
Revelation Chapter 20
In verse four we read, “I saw the
souls of those who had been beheaded for their testimony of Jesus, and
for the
word of God… and they lived and reigned with Christ for a thousand
years” (Rev.
20:4). This verse is clearly talking about believers who have died, and
it says
that they will reign with Christ during this period. However, this
verse says
nothing about Christ having an earthly kingdom, or about them reigning
on
earth. On the contrary, Christ plainly told us that He would not have
an
earthly kingdom when He said, “My kingdom
is not of this world” (John
Those who claim that Christ will have
an earthly kingdom usually claim that the next verse, “The rest of the
dead did
not live again until the thousand years were finished. This is the
first
resurrection,” is teaching a physical resurrection before that last day
(Rev.
20:5). However, Christ not only told us that He would raise
up believers on the “last day” (John
One of the fundamental doctrines of
Scripture is summed up in the words “it is appointed unto men once to
die, but
after this the judgment” (Hebrews
That being understood, those who fail
to understand this doctrine deny that believers will be at the final
judgment
described in Revelation 20:11-15. But is that what the Bible says? Not
at all! The
Bible tells us that “the dead, small and great,” will “stand before
God” (verse
12), and “whoever” is “not found written in the book of life” will be
“cast
into the lake of fire” (verse 15). Therefore, the claim that believers
will not
be at the final judgment is religious fiction, not something the Bible
says.
Moreover, because those who hold this view cannot get around what the
Bible
says about believers being judged, they make up a story about several
judgments, and believers being at a different place of judgment. That
is all
religious fiction. It is nothing more a made up story invented to get
around
what the Bible actually says. Since the word translated “judgment
seat” in 2Corinthians
Conclusion
In this essay I have exposed several
made-up stories that are being passed off as the Word of God. But what
does the
Bible actually say. Well, it tells us that the kingdom God set up was
set up at
the time of the fourth king in Nebuchadnezzar’s dream (Daniel 2:34 and
44). It
also tells us that kingdom is not an earthly kingdom (John
The Bible also tells us that everyone
who has ever lived will be judged (Hebrews
Because the Holy Spirit has told us
not to add to what the Bible says, we know that all of the unbiblical
stories,
all of the religious fiction, that we have looked at is not from God.
“Whoever
attempts to shed more light on dark passages of Scripture than
Scripture itself
offers in its clear passages is adding to God’s Word.
And whoever obscures clear passages by
bringing in obscure passages is taking away from God’s Word.”
(Christian Dogmatics, by Dr. Francis
Pieper, pages 364-365). “In whatever matter Holy
Scripture has
definitely spoken the Christian theologian must suppress his own views,
opinions, and speculations and adhere unwaveringly to the divine truths
revealed
in Holy Scripture. In no case is he permitted to inject into the body
of divine
truth his own figments and fabrications, and at no time must he allow
his
reason the prerogative of doubt, criticism, or denial, but every
thought must
everywhere be brought into captivity to the obedience of Christ, 2 Cor. 10, 5.” (Christian Dogmatics by J.T.
Muller page 39).