HYMN: WHAT A FRIEND WE HAVE IN JESUS

The Witnesses: Joseph Scriven
(1819-1886)

Joseph Medlicott Scriven was born in Dublin, Ireland, in 1819. After receiving his degree at Trinity College in Dublin, Joseph fell in love with a girl from Banbridge County, Ireland in 1842. Two years later, they were engaged. On their wedding day, as his bride-to-be crossed a bridge over the River Bann, the horse bucked, throwing her into the river. Joseph watched helplessly from the other side of the river as his beloved drowned. Unable to recover, the Irishman became a wanderer, hoping to forget his sorrow and at age 25, he finally settled in Canada.

Scriven first came to Rice Lake in Ontario, and later to Port Hope, Ontario. There, he worked as a private tutor to several local families. In 1854 he was engaged to Miss Eliza Roche, but Miss Roche caught a chill after swimming in Rice Lake and three years later, she died of severe pneumonia.

On the streets of Port Hope, Ontario, a man walked carrying a saw and a sawhorse. One day, a rich man from across the street noticed him and said to a friend, "He looks like a sober man. I think I'll hire him to cut wood for me." The friend swiftly replied, "That's Joseph Scriven. He wouldn't cut wood for you. He only cuts wood for those who don't have enough to pay." That sums up Joseph Scriven’s philosophy.

This devoted member of the Plymouth Brethren Church took the Sermon on the Mount literally. His faith led him to perform menial tasks for poor widows and the sick. He often worked for no wages and was regarded as a kind man in his community, albeit a bit odd.

In 1885, a friend visited the desperately ill Scriven and he discovered a poem that Scriven had written for his ailing mother in faraway Ireland. Scriven didn't have the money to visit her, but he sent her the poem as an encouragement. He called it, "Pray Without Ceasing."

When the friend inquired about the poem's origin, Scriven reportedly answered, "The Lord and I did it between us." This poem was eventually put to music entitled, "What a Friend We Have in Jesus."

What a friend we have in Jesus,
all our sins and griefs to bear!
What a privilege to carry
Every thing to God in prayer!

O what peace we often forfeit,
O what needless pain we bear,
all because we do not carry
every thing to God in prayer.

Have we trials and temptations?
Is there trouble anywhere?
We should never be discouraged;
take it to the Lord in prayer.

Can we find a friend so faithful
who will all our sorrows share?
Jesus knows our every weakness;
take it to the Lord in prayer.

Are we weak and heavy laden,
cumbered with a load of care?
Precious Savior, still our refuge;
take it to the Lord in prayer.

Do thy friends despise, forsake thee?
Take it to the Lord in prayer!
In his arms he'll take and shield thee;
thou wilt find a solace there.

This hymn has brought, and continues to bring, comfort and peace to thousands of people around the world.

What can we learn?
1. Prayer is a privilege. We get to converse with the Creator!
2. Pray and never give up.
3. We will all have trials and temptations but prayer unleashes the peace of God.
4. Even after tragedy, God proves Himself strong on our behalf.
5. Take what you have and give generously to the needy.

WHAT BIBLE ARE YOU USING?

If a person is to derive benefit from one's reading and studying of Scriptures,
such a person must be confident and therefore assured, that the copy of Scriptures he or she is using is God's Precious Pure Words.

The question though that one must ask is: Are all Bibles the same? That is: every one of the more than 100 plus Bible versions that are available in the market today?

Many more questions must be asked by a serious student of Holy Scriptures specially those in the preaching, teaching ministry. Many though are not willing to investigate, scrutinize and make sure for their own benefit that what they are using is truly God's Precious Pure word.

One of the things that this blogger could not understand is how is it that many so-called educated and seminary graduates (M. Div and Ph.D holders)seemingly have been blinded and deceived that every Bible is the same.

Plain lay people that this blogger have shared about this controversial topic, in such a short period of time, their spiritual eyes are opened and they clearly see, crystal clear, the deceptions of most of the so-called New Version Bibles.

Unfortunately also, many pastors of many different denominational persuasions, are indifferent or simply ignorant of this most important issue. Many are hesitant even afraid to tackle this issue headlong.

To those who read this blog, I would like for you to answer the following questions that I believe with all my heart, must be answered to the satisfaction of those that are Authentic, Genuine, True Bible Believers like me. These are the following:

What is Dynamic Equivalency?

What is the Theory of Textual Criticism? And who are the men behind this theory?

Who is Brook Foss Westcott and Fenton John Anthony Hort? Are these two men Bible Believers? Born again & saved?

What was their role in the raging controversy about Bible Translations?

Did you know that Bible Printing & Publishing is a multi-billion dollar business?

Did you know that the major publishers and printers of these new bible versions are also the publishers of books like: The Satanic Bible and many books about homosexual
and feminists books and pornographic materials?

Who is Dr. Marten H. Woudstra and Dr. Virginia Mollenkott?

What was their role in the translation of the NIV in the 1970's?

Do you believe with all your heart that the Bible you are personally using for your reading, study and preparation for your so-called preaching & teaching ministry is without a doubt God's Precious Pure Word? Therefore, you have the conviction that the God of Holy Scriptures will and must bless such? Hebrews 4:12 KJBible describes God's Precious Pure Word as: alive and powerful. Is it so in the Bible you are using?

These and many more questions begs to be answered.

I encourage and challenge serious bible students (every authentic believer in the LORD Jesus Christ is and must be a student of the Bible)to answer the above questions to their own satisfaction. More so, for those in the preaching and teaching ministry simply because not to is irresponsible to say the least. Why? because many are dependent on your declarations concerning Scriptures.

I will say the following: If there is the true, there must be the false!
Genuine or Counterfeit! It is kind of naive to believe that every Bible is the same.

B E W A R E! DO NOT BE DECEIVED! FOR YOUR OWN SAKE AND THE SAKE OF MULTITUDES OF PEOPLE WHO ARE DEPENDENT ON PREACHERS AND TEACHERS OF SCRIPTURES LIKE YOU AND I. REMEMBER WE ARE ACCOUNTABLE LIKE THE PROPHET EZEKIEL.
__________________________________________________________________________________

VATICAN LIBRARY REOPENS
(Friday Church News Notes, September 17, 2010, www.wayoflife.org, fbns@wayoflife.org,)

- The Vatican Library has reopened after a major three-year renovation costing $11.5 million. The bunker where the 150,000 ancient manuscripts are kept was made fireproof and dust-proof and the library’s 70,000 books were fitted with computer chips to prevent loss and theft, among other things.

- The Vatican Library houses the Vaticanus codex which is dated to about 325 A.D. and is the oldest extant copy of the New Testament (though large portions are missing, such as the Pastoral Epistles and all of Revelation). It represents the corrupt Egyptian text upon which the modern Bible versions are based. It omits many entire passages such as Mark 16:9-20 and in John 1:18 it changes “only begotten Son” to “only begotten God,” thus perpetuating the ancient Arian heresy that disassociates the Son of God Jesus Christ from God Himself by claiming that the Word was not the same as the Son. John’s Gospel identifies the Son directly with the Word (John 1:1, 18), but by changing “Son” to “God” in verse 18, this direct association is broken in the Vaticanus.

- Erasmus, the first editor of the printed Greek Received Text, was familiar with the Vaticanus through more than 300 readings that were sent to him by a correspondent in Rome, but he and the other editors of the Greek New Testament of that day rejected it. It was not until the end of the 19th century that its readings appeared in a standard English Bible (the English Revised Version of 1881).

- Westcott and Hort, who published the Greek New Testament upon which the ERV was founded, considered the Vaticanus to be superior to all other manuscripts. It was “their touchstone” (Kurt Aland, The Text of the New Testament, p. 14). The ERV and its U.S. counterpart, the American Standard Version, were not popular, though. It was not until the publication of the New International Version in the 1970s that the Vaticanus readings became widely accepted.

The home of the Vaticanus is unholy and is certainly not the place one would expect to find the preserved Word of God. I toured the Vatican in 1992, 2003, and 2005, and was astounded at how pagan the place is. Fitting to the home of the man who claims the titles and position of Jesus Christ and who accepts adulation, the Vatican is a monument to idolatry and blasphemy and man’s shameless rebellion to God’s Word. The columns of the Vatican Library feature paintings of pagan gods and goddesses, such as Mercury and Isis.

CH SPURGEON'S MAGNUM OPUS - PSALM 1

Psalm 1
This Psalm consists of two parts: in the first (from verse 1 to the end of the 3rd) David sets out wherein the felicity and blessedness of a godly man consisteth, what his exercises are, and what blessings he shall receive from the Lord. In the second part (from verse 4 to the end) he contrasts the state and character of the ungodly, reveals the future, and describes, in telling language, his ultimate doom.
________________________________________
EXPOSITION
Verse 1. "BLESSED"—see how this Book of Psalms opens with a benediction, even as did the famous Sermon of our Lord upon the Mount! The word translated "blessed" is a very expressive one. The original word is plural, and it is a controverted matter whether it is an adjective or a substantive. Hence we may learn the multiplicity of the blessings which shall rest upon the man whom God hath justified, and the perfection and greatness of the blessedness he shall enjoy. We might read it, "Oh, the blessednesses!" and we may well regard it (as Ainsworth does) as a joyful acclamation of the gracious man's felicity. May the like benediction rest on us!

Here the gracious man is described both negatively (verse 1) and positively (verse 2). He is a man who does not walk in the counsel of the ungodly. He takes wiser counsel, and walks in the commandments of the Lord his God. To him the ways of piety are paths of peace and pleasantness. His footsteps are ordered by the Word of God, and not by the cunning and wicked devices of carnal men. It is a rich sign of inward grace when the outward walk is changed, and when ungodliness is put far from our actions. Note next, he standeth not in the way of sinners. His company is of a choicer sort than it was. Although a sinner himself, he is now a blood-washed sinner, quickened by the Holy Spirit, and renewed in heart. Standing by the rich grace of God in the congregation of the righteous, he dares not herd with the multitude that do evil. Again it is said, "nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful." He finds no rest in the atheist's scoffings. Let others make a mock of sin, of eternity, of hell and heaven, and of the Eternal God; this man has learned better philosophy than that of the infidel, and has too much sense of God's presence to endure to hear His name blasphemed. The seat of the scorner may be very lofty, but it is very near to the gate of hell; let us flee from it, for it shall soon be empty, and destruction shall swallow up the man who sits therein.

Mark the gradation in the first verse:
He walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly,
Nor standeth in the way of sinners,
Nor SITTETH in the SEAT of SCORNFUL.

When men are living in sin they go from bad to worse. At first they merely walk in the counsel of the careless and ungodly, who forget God—the evil is rather practical than habitual—but after that, they become habituated to evil, and they stand in the way of open sinners who wilfully violate God's commandments; and if let alone, they go one step further, and become themselves pestilent teachers and tempters of others, and thus they sit in the seat of the scornful. They have taken their degree in vice, and as true Doctors of Damnation they are installed, and are looked up to by others as Masters in Belial.

But the blessed man, the man to whom all the blessings of God belong, can hold no communion with such characters as these. He keeps himself pure from these lepers; he puts away evil things from him as garments spotted by the flesh; he comes out from among the wicked, and goes without the camp, bearing the reproach of Christ. O for grace to be thus separate from sinners.

And now mark his positive character. "His delight is in the law of the Lord." He is not under the law as a curse and condemnation, but he is in it, and he delights to be in it as his rule of life; he delights, moreover, to meditate in it, to read it by day, and think upon it by night. He takes a text and carries it with him all day long; and in the night-watches, when sleep forsakes his eyelids, he museth upon the Word of God. In the day of his prosperity he sings psalms out of the Word of God, and in the night of his affliction he comforts himself with promises out of the same book.

"The law of the Lord" is the daily bread of the true believer. And yet, in David's day, how small was the volume of inspiration, for they had scarcely anything save the first five books of Moses! How much more, then, should we prize the whole written Word which it is our privilege to have in all our houses!

But, alas, what ill-treatment is given to this angel from heaven! We are not all Berean searchers of the Scriptures. How few among us can lay claim to the benediction of the text! Perhaps some of you can claim a sort of negative purity, because you do not walk in the way of the ungodly; but let me ask you—

Is your delight in the law of God? Do you study God's Word? Do you make it the man of your right hand—your best companion and hourly guide? If not, this blessing belongeth not to you.

Verse 3. "And he shall be like a tree planted"—not a wild tree, but "a tree planted," chosen, considered as property, cultivated and secured from the last terrible uprooting, for "every plant which my heavenly Father hath not planted, shall be rooted up:" Matthew 15:13.

"By the rivers of water;" so that even if one river should fail, he hath another. The rivers of pardon and the rivers of grace, the rivers of the promise and the rivers of communion with Christ, are never-failing sources of supply. He is "like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season;" not unseasonable graces, like untimely figs, which are never full-flavored. But the man who delights in God's Word, being taught by it, bringeth forth patience in the time of suffering, faith in the day of trial, and holy joy in the hour of prosperity.

Fruitfulness is an essential quality of a gracious man, and that fruitfulness should be seasonable. "His leaf also shall not wither;" his faintest word shall be everlasting; his little deeds of love shall be had in remembrance. Not simply shall his fruit be preserved, but his leaf also. He shall neither lose his beauty nor his fruitfulness. "And whatsoever he doeth shall prosper."

Blessed is the man who hath such a promise as this. But we must not always estimate the fulfillment of a promise by our own eye-sight. How often, my brethren, if we judge by feeble sense, may we come to the mournful conclusion of Jacob, "All these things are against me!" For though we know our interest in the promise, yet we are so tried and troubled, that sight sees the very reverse of what that promise foretells. But to the eye of faith this word is sure, and by it we perceive that our works are prospered, even when everything seems to go against us. It is not outward prosperity which the Christian most desires and values; it is soul prosperity which he longs for.

We often, like Jehoshaphat, make ships to go to Tarshish for gold, but they are broken at Ezion-geber; but even here there is a true prospering, for it is often for the soul's health that we would be poor, bereaved, and persecuted. Our worst things are often our best things. As there is a curse wrapped up in the wicked man's mercies, so there is a blessing concealed in the righteous man's crosses, losses, and sorrows. The trials of the saint are a divine husbandry, by which he grows and brings forth abundant fruit.

Verse 4. We have now come to the second head of the Psalm. In this verse the contrast of the ill estate of the wicked is employed to heighten the coloring of that fair and pleasant picture which precedes it. The more forcible translation of the Vulgate and of the Septuagint version is— "Not so the ungodly, not so." And we are hereby to understand that whatever good thing is said of the righteous is not true in the case of the ungodly.

Oh! how terrible is it to have a double negative put upon the promises! and yet this is just the condition of the ungodly. Mark the use of the term "ungodly," for, as we have seen in the opening of the Psalm, these are the beginners in evil, and are the least offensive of sinners. Oh! if such is the sad state of those who quietly continue in their morality, and neglect their God, what must be the condition of open sinners and shameless infidels?

The first sentence is a negative description of the ungodly, and the second is the positive picture. Here is their character — "they are like chaff," intrinsically worthless, dead, unserviceable, without substance, and easily carried away. Here, also, mark their doom, — "the wind driveth away;" death shall hurry them with its terrible blast into the fire in which they shall be utterly consumed.

Verse 5. They shall stand there to be judged, but not to be acquitted. Fear shall lay hold upon them there; they shall not stand their ground; they shall flee away; they shall not stand in their own defence; for they shall blush and be covered with eternal contempt.

Well may the saints long for heaven, for no evil men shall dwell there, "nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous." All our congregations upon earth are mixed. Every Church hath one devil in it. The tares grow in the same furrows as the wheat. There is no floor which is as yet thoroughly purged from chaff. Sinners mix with saints, as dross mingles with gold.

God's precious diamonds still lie in the same field with pebbles. Righteous Lots are this side heaven continually vexed by the men of Sodom. Let us rejoice then, that in "the general assembly and church of the firstborn" above, there shall by no means be admitted a single unrenewed soul.

Sinners cannot live in heaven. They would be out of their element. Sooner could a fish live upon a tree than the wicked in Paradise. Heaven would be an intolerable hell to an impenitent man, even if he could be allowed to enter; but such a privilege shall never be granted to the man who perseveres in his iniquities. May God grant that we may have a name and a place in his courts above!

Verse 6. Or, as the Hebrew hath it yet more fully, "The Lord is knowing the way of the righteous." He is constantly looking on their way, and though it may be often in mist and darkness, yet the Lord knoweth it. If it be in the clouds and tempest of affliction, he understandeth it.

He numbereth the hairs of our head; he will not suffer any evil to befall us. "He knoweth the way that I take: when He hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold." (Job 23:10.)

"But the way of the ungodly shall perish." Not only shall they perish themselves, but their way shall perish too. The righteous carves his name upon the rock, but the wicked writes his remembrance in the sand. The righteous man ploughs the furrows of earth, and sows a harvest here, which shall never be fully reaped till he enters the enjoyments of eternity; but as for the wicked, he ploughs the sea, and though there may seem to be a shining trail behind his keel, yet the waves shall pass over it, and the place that knew him shall know him no more for ever.

The very "way" of the ungodly shall perish. If it exist in remembrance, it shall be in the remembrance of the bad; for the Lord will cause the name of the wicked to rot, to become a stench in the nostrils of the good, and to be only known to the wicked themselves by its putridity.

May the Lord cleanse our hearts and our ways, that we may escape the doom of the ungodly, and enjoy the blessedness of the righteous!

From the “MAGNUM OPUS” by Charles Haddon Spurgeon