The Shepherd’s voice and the lamb’s ears (Part 2)

One of the exceptional gifts that God has given to each of his children, is the Holy Bible. As I say the word Bible, our brain flashes the picture of a book with black cover and white pages with tiny letters. What is the Bible? Is it a book written in animalhides? A huge book? Or is it today’s latest mobile application?

The Bible is the commandments and the teachings of God. It is not just written in stones, clay, paper or any digital technology, but the Father writes it remarkably in each of his child’s hearts through the Holy Ghost. Look at the evident promises shown below!

This is the covenant I will establish with the people of Israel after that time, declares the Lord. I will put my laws in their minds and write them on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. No longer will they teach their neighbor, or say to one another, ‘Know the Lord,’ because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest. (Hebrews 8:10-11)

As for you, the anointing you received from him remains in you, and you do not need anyone to teach you. But as his anointing teaches you about all things and as that anointing is real, not counterfeit—just as it has taught you, remain in him (1 John 2:27).

You show that you are a letter from Christ, the result of our ministry, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts. Such confidence we have through Christ before God. Not that we are competent in ourselves to claim anything for ourselves, but our competence comes from God. He has made us competent as ministers of a new covenant—not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. Now if the ministry that brought death, which was engraved in letters on stone, came with glory, so that the Israelites could not look steadily at the face of Moses because of its glory, transitory though it was, will not the ministry of the Spirit be even more glorious? (2 Corinthians 3:3-8).

Therefore, anyone can have the printed Bible in their hands. Satan is comprehensive in each verse of every languages the Bible had been printed in. But the sons of Christ are the ones in whose hearts the Bible has been written.

“If he called them ‘gods,’ to whom the word of God came,” says the Christ in John 10:35

The Old Covenant was given to the people through Moses and other servants of God in the form of stone tablets and animalhides. This is the pathetic condition of the man whose soul was not saved. He cannot get anything from God directly. He needed a middleman. But in the New Testament, the curtain is torn into two, the wall between God and man is demolished and he has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, who calls out Abba, Father. We do not need a middleman now.

But, unfortunately today’s modern Christianity has run adrift from Christ and lost its glory because it stopped listening to God. We would have learnt the mystery who God is and who we are in Christ if we have listened to him, carried his yoke and learned from him.

“This is a profound mystery—but I am talking about Christ and the church” says Paul in Ephesians 5:32.

What is this mystery?

We are the parts of his body, we are entitled to his flesh and bones. God feeds and nourishes his own body. But today’s Christianity disowned this glorious life that Christ brought us through crucifixion and runs to the printed letters again. Ecclesia is taken away blindfolded from the Mount Calvary to the Mount Zion again. What an adversity! What an injustice!

I want to ask you an important question now. Just think! We all know well about the Early Church. In the history of twenty centuries, the Early Church is the most glorious and testimonial!!

Do you know, they did not have printed Bibles unlike today? The Gospel and the other books were not compiled then. The Christians were given compiled and printed Bibles only in the second century. But do you know what the Bible says about the testimonies of the Early Church members?

They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles. All the believers were together and had everything in common. They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need. Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favour of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved (Acts 2:42-47).

I felt a blow when I realized that a group of children of Christ surmounted the whole world when they did not have access to Gospels, Epistles and printed Bibles. Why am I losing now, when I have hundreds of translations of the Bible and thousands of illustrations of the Bible with me? What kindled them? What hinders me? What was the reason behind their glorious lives? Why did it disappear as a mirage to me? Was it possible for them because the Holy Ghost wrote the Bible in their hearts? We are reading the history of listening to God, but they have lived it!!

Do you know what hinders you and I?

It is a verity that the Bible is emphasized as sword and fire. When we handle sword and fire properly, it is beneficial. But if we don’t, it can consume our lives. A humongous darkness entangled the church in the fourth century. The people became slaves of spiritual Babylon without the Bible and the Holy Spirit. What the Babylon said was considered to be the truth. To transform this circumstance, people like John Wycliffe, an army of faith fought against this darkness, staking their lives and brought the Holy Bible to the light again and translated it into English. Then the Bible was translated into many languages of the world and everyone owns it now. It is a huge gift from God and his true servants to the world that was drowned in the darkness.

After receiving this present, the darkness should have gone, the injuries of the church should have healed. But what had happened? A colossal darkness ensnared the church. The injuries became extremely intense and pussing. What is the cause behind this? Was there something wrong with the present or with the ones who gave us the present? Both the questions are wrong. The fault is with us, who obtained the gift.

“The anointing of God teaches you about all things,” says 1 John 2:27. As the saying goes, if we have learnt the Bible with the guidance of the Holy Ghost, there would be a notion behind the deaths of John Huss and William Tyndale and the Ministry of William Carey who buried his own child with his hands, after losing everything and continued his service. A generation of like-minded people would have been formed now with the guidance One Holy Ghost that taught us One Truth.

We could have enliven the history “All the believers were one in heart and mind.” (Acts 4:32) And the prayer of Jesus, “that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me.” (John 17:21) would have been answered.

But what have we done?

As we are engaged in various worldly duties and have we got no time to listen to the Holy Spirit, we have established an organization called the ‘Theological College’ and we have appointed some teachers who are compensated with our own money, and are burdened to teach us the Bible on our behalf. They should also learn from the Holy Spirit, shouldn’t they? Where will they go for the Spirit? They should complete the course within four years. How can they learn from the Holy Spirit? He does not know our haste. Therefore the only way is, implicitly learning about the Bible from the books, and discarding it into our brains. So, just like Physics, Biology and Chemistry, ‘Theology’ is just another subject. Some have combined economics and theology together and are earning their crust.

This is the tribute that we offer to William Carey who left behind his first born son for us, for translating the Bible in our dialects. As everyone has a Bible now, each one preaches doctrine for his own benefit. We do not even use our Bibles to check if what they are preaching is right, unlike the people of Berea. Because of the difference in doctrine, the churches have multiplied. One church does not agree with the other. Bitterness, hatred, jealousy and polity have become the essential parts of today’s churches. This adversity is accepted by the Christianity itself. This affliction now is greater than the time, where there was no printed Bibles. This is the carnage of ignorance. See, how the letters slaughter us brutally?

Where is the Spirit of Revival? Where is its aftercome, the unity of minds?

Nowadays, we come across a lot of believers. If one begins to talk about spiritual things, within moments, we can find out the author of the books he reads. When we speak, we only divulge the knowledge of the books we have read and its authors, and there is no hint, that we converse with the Holy Spirit each day.

In the day of Judgement, he will say, “I do not know you,” to a group of people!!

The Bible figuratively compares the relationship between the Christ and the Church as the one between the body and its parts. Each part of the body is directly connected to the head. Only the brain nerves send impulses to every part of the body. The brain does not need the help of lips to move a toe. The toe moves itself when it receives the command from the brain. This.. This is the man of God!!

I shall conclude by recollecting the previous article. A good shepherd talks to each lamb in his flock. Are we his lambs?