By Brother R. Michel Lankford
Remember, when facing temptation, Messiah said, "IT IS WRITTEN, NOT it is tradition.
What Is Scripture Twisting?
In its simplest terms, Scripture twisting is the practice of turning, twisting, or spinning the interpretation of what Scripture says to give it a meaning or conclusion which the weight of Biblical evidence does not correctly support. This is usually done in an effort to assume permission to live differently than Scripture requires while still presuming to consider oneself to be biblically observant, righteous, and justified, even as one is living according to their own pleasure, instead of seeking and choosing what Scripture says truly pleases God.
Scripture Twisting Is Not New
Scripture twisting is a very old and human failing. The serpent did it to Eve, and Eve followed suit in the garden (Genesis 3:1-6). The children of Israel did it in the wilderness (Exodus 32:1-10). Saul, the first king of Israel twisted God's word and tried to apply it as he chose. It was still considered disobedient rebellion and sin (1 Samuel 15:1-23). The misguided teacher of the law in Christ's day tried to redefine who his neighbor was, so that he could pretend that he was obeying the Law of God, without actually having to walk in love toward anyone he didn't personally care for, but Messiah didn't buy that approach either (Luke 10:17-37). The enemy tried the same approach with the second Adam (Yeshua) during the temptation in the wilderness (Matthew 4; Luke 4). The apostles who witnessed the resurrected Messiah, also warned Christians to be on our guard against the problem of Scripture twisting. Not so coincidentally, the apostle Peter specifically warned us to be especially careful to guard against twisting the letters of the apostle Paul, because it is easy to misinterpret Paul's letters to give ourselves permission to do things which he did not intend. twisting Paul's letters in such a way would lead to our own destruction (see 2 Peter 3:10-18).
Learning From Messiah's Temptation
Scripture tells us that Yeshua the Messiah and Christ Whom God sent was tempted in every way that we are, and yet He did not sin (Hebrews 4:15). That means that He never acted outside of God's Laws Commandments and Instructions, which is the Scriptural definition of sin, (1 John 3:4; Romans 15:4; cf. Hosea 8:1; Daniel 9:11).
Scripture does not detail every single instance when either the adversary directly tempted Jesus, nor does it give us every single instance when the adversary used other people or situations to tempt Yeshua and attempted to get Him to fall. However, Scripture does give us one example of Jesus the Messiah being directly tempted by the evil one. The same key event is detailed in two gospel accounts, (Matthew 4; Luke 4), so that we could learn from Messiah's example how to defeat the temptations of the evil one. Hopefully we all understand that. In this series of blog entries, we will more closely examine how Christ overcame the adversary, and what we can learn from Messiah’s victorious example. As we progress, we will also look at the problem of Scripture twisting and how to avoid it. The first key is to become thoroughly acquainted with God's Word and practicing what it says. That's our focus for today.
Jesus said, it is written, not it is said: Jesus applied the written Scripture, and NOT religious tradition in defeating the enemy's temptations. That's a critical difference. In the first century Judaism which was most commonly practiced in Christ's day, it was common practice to use the oral teaching tradition of the elders (known as the ORAL Torah, a.k.a. the Mishnahs and the Talmuds which were rabbinical commentaries on the Scriptures, but these were NOT the written Scriptures).
In Christ's day, it was common religious practice within traditional Judaism, to treat and use the Mishnahs and the Talmuds as though it were equal to or greater than the written Scriptures. The problem is that very often, the oral tradition, the Mishnahs and the Talmuds, which were in common practice at the time and are still in use today, were in direct violation to the written Word of God. In other words, many times, the oral rabbinical teaching tradition of the elders were in direct violation of the written Scriptures.
Very often, the teaching tradition religiously taught people to do things that the written Scriptures said not to do, while in many other places it prevented them from actually obeying what the written Scriptures required them to do. So very often traditional religious Judaism actually violates the Commandments of Almighty God, because they have adopted the false doctrine that tradition is equal to or greater than the written Scriptures.
That's why Jesus Christ was constantly at odds with the religious Pharisees, because the Pharisees believed that their own oral religious teaching tradition was equal to and greater than the written Scriptures. Jesus the Messiah knew, understood, and publicly taught that practice to be false doctrine, which it is. That's why He stood against the Pharisees. That's why Messiah told them that they were worshiping God in vain (Matthew 15:9; Mark 7:1-13). Messiah was upholding the written Scriptures (Matthew 5:17-20), and at the same time Messiah was opposing the false doctrine that oral tradition supersedes the Scriptures. He was upholding the written Scriptures and refuting the false doctrines of the oral tradition because it violated God's Law, (Deuteronomy 4:2; Deuteronomy 12:29-32).
The religious traditionalists in Christ's day had grown so completely accustomed to believing the false doctrine that their own oral teaching tradition was equal to and greater than the Scriptures, that when Messiah said no, the written Scriptures take preeminence, follow them and not tradition, the traditionalists actually came to believe that Jesus Christ was in sin against God and they were driven to kill Him, even though Yeshua was completely innocent of wrongdoing.
Before you get tempted to become all anti-Hebrew or anti-Semitic on me, Don't even go there!! please remember that the JEWS DID NOT KILL JESUS! OUR SIN KILLED JESUS! Yeshua the Messiah knew He was going to die well before it happened, and He said that He willingly voluntarily laid down His life (John 10:18; 1 John 2:1-2 cf. Isaiah 53:1-12). Moreover, Messiah Himself personally requested Almighty God to forgive them, even while in the very midst of His torment. Since Messiah Himself forgave them, (and He was the One being abused), then if we claim Jesus as our Lord and Master, then we cannot rightly hold people (or their descendants) guilty after He personally forgave them (Luke 23:34).
To the anti-Semite who dresses in the disguise of Christian zeal I would like you to think about something carefully. Do you honestly delude yourself into thinking that denying one of Christ's own dying requests will somehow endear you to Jesus Christ? If you claim Him as your Lord and Savior, and yet you use His glorious sacrifice as an excuse for hatred and contempt, if you refuse to extend forgiveness to those that He already forgave, do you really expect to find mercy on the day of judgment for your many misdeeds?! If so, then you are woefully deceived, delusional and deranged, and you need to earnestly and quickly repent before you come into judgment (Matthew 6:15; Matthew 18:35; Mark 11:26)
For others of us, anti-Semitism isn't as great of a problem, but we are tempted to be puffed up with pride because they followed tradition over the Word of God and it blinded them. There is a temptation for us to think that as Christians, we are so much better than that.
The fact is that traditional and modern-day Christianity has repeated some of the exact same sins of the Pharisees.
Do not kid yourself into taking on the air of superiority. The Roman Catholic Church copied off the paper of the Pharisees and traditional rabbinical Judaism. They copied the very same sin. It is Roman Catholic doctrine to this day which erroneously teaches that Roman Catholic church tradition is equal to and greater than the Scriptures. It is in their own Roman Catholic Church canon law. They believe and still practice it today. That same false doctrine has led them to murder countless people as well. Depending on whose estimates you believe, it is estimated that between 60 and 90 million people have been killed in various Roman Catholic Inquisitions, sometimes for no other reason than for possessing a copy of the Scriptures when the Roman Catholic Church said you are not allowed to have one.
Well you say to yourself, I know that's crazy. I'm so much better than that. I'm not Roman Catholic. I'm a Bible believing Protestant. Are you really? Every time you ignore the biblical Sabbath in favor of Sunday, every time you celebrate Christmas, Easter, Valentine's Day and Halloween with its traditional practices, you are following Roman Catholic church tradition, and you are doing so in direct contradiction to what the written Scriptures actually teach and require you to do. Here's the key point.
We are all guilty.
We have all at various times violated what Scripture taught, and relied on our own traditions and desires instead of obeying God's Word. We all need to repent of that, and return quickly to following the written Scriptures.
When Jesus was fighting off the temptations of the devil, Messiah did not say, it is spoken. He did not say, Rabbi such and such or so and so says… He did not rely upon or bring to mind religious tradition teaches this or that, did He? On the contrary, Messiah did the exact opposite. What example did Messiah leave us? Messiah repeatedly said, "IT IS WRITTEN…" and then He followed that with speaking the rightly divided WRITTEN Scriptures. Everything Messiah did was for our example (See 1 Timothy 1:16). So if properly using the written Scriptures (and specifically the Torah) was good enough to overcome the enemy's temptations, then it is good enough for us to use the same thing. If the Torah is good enough to defeat the enemy's temptations, than it's certainly good enough for us to live by as Christ did (1 John 2:4-6).
When you are in the throes of temptation the opinions and traditions of men will not ultimately amount to a hill of beans. In the end, your ultimate defense will not come from what brother Michel Lankford, Pastor Timothy Brock, Pastor Keith Comp, Rick Warren, Joel Olsteen, Benny Hinn, Joyce Meyer, Michael Rood, Jim Staley or Pope Benedict XVI, or anyone else believes and teaches. I use the whole spectrum of "Christian" experience to demonstrate that no matter how good or bad you think any of us might be, what we believe and teach will not make the ultimate difference when YOU facing temptations.
While we will all stand before God to give an account for what we believe and teach, and how it has either helped or hindered you and walking with the Lord, ultimately the only defense you have is the written Word of God. When the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking to devour you or your family and to rob you of eternal blessing, the only hope you have is how well you have believed, followed and spoken the rightly divided written Word of Almighty God! Messiah said, "IT IS WRITTEN," not it is spoken, not it is commonly believed or taught, but "IT IS WRITTEN."
“There is simply no substitute for learning and practicing the rightly divided written Word of God for yourself.”
What gave Yeshua the Messiah the power and authority to overcome the enemy?
The reason I'm being so firm on this beloved is because I want you to win against temptation, and not be deceived. We must remember that God's Word is what created the heavens and the earth and everything in them (Genesis 1:1-31). So since the word of God created everything of substance, then it is certainly good enough to re-create us, to sanctify us (John 17:17), and to equip us to every good work (2 Timothy 3:1-17). Yeshua the Messiah was able to dismiss the enemy, by simply speaking the rightly divided Word of God. He was able to dismiss the devil by simply saying, IT IS WRITTEN, and speaking the rightly divided Word of God with authority.
Have you ever really wondered what gave Yeshua the authority to speak God's Word so boldly, that it was able to dismiss the enemy so readily? It was not merely because of who Jesus is, because ultimately God is no respecter of persons (Colossians 3:25). No, what gave Jesus the power and authority to speak God's Word so boldly that it dismissed the enemy, was that for approximately 30 years before He ever took on the devil, Yeshua the Messiah had become so well practiced at actively obeying the written Word of God, so that when the enemy came with a counterfeit, Messiah was able to spot it readily.
Messiah had personally seen the positive effects of actively obeying God's written Word for about 30 years. Therefore, Messiah knew the blessing He had in obeying God because He had experienced it for years, and he was not about to give that up when the enemy offered Him a shortcut. The bottom line is that Messiah had practiced obeying so much and had seen and experienced the monumental blessings of obeying God, that Messiah was able to speak the words of God with authority, because before He ever went into battle he was a well practiced DOER of God's Word, and He had witnessed the effects and knew it by His own personal experience. So when Messiah spoke, it had power and authority because He was already a well practiced obedient DOER of what He was confessing with His mouth. Beloved, that is what makes all the difference between victory and defeat. As it is written:
Hebrews 5:12-14 For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the basic elements of the oracles of God. You need milk, not solid food; 13 for everyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is unskilled in the word of righteousness. But solid food is for the mature, for those whose faculties have been trained by practice to distinguish good from evil. (Hebrews 5:12-14 NRSV)Paul the apostle taught that EVERYTHING which was written in Scripture is God breathed. All of it, not just some of it, but all of it. Paul taught that the whole entire book (and don't forget that all he had at the time was what we call the Old Testament), but all of it is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, and for instruction in righteousness, and practicing it is beneficial to equip the people of God for every good work.
Now, those are Paul's own words. The fact is, that when you dismiss the Old Testament as being out of date and you don't have to obey it anymore, you disobey Paul's own teachings, and you ripped out two thirds of your instruction manual. So traditionally, most churches don't really regard Paul either, because he said that everything which was written before and was written for OUR INSTRUCTION (Romans 15:4), and he said this to a predominantly Gentile congregation in Rome. No, the hard and inconvenient truth is that what we are often training ourselves to do is to only regard the parts of Paul's letters that SEEM to tell us to disregard God's laws and instructions, for this our lawless hearts seem eager to honor, even while we lawlessly disregard the rest of what Paul said believed and taught.
You say, well I'm not into that Old Testament jazz, I'm a New Testament believer. Really?
Matthew 28:19-20 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey EVERYTHING that I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age." (Matthew 28:19-20 NRSV- emphasis added)I've been in organized Christianity, in multiple denominations for 25 years. When was the last time you stepped into any church, a Sunday school program, a small group, or a home Bible study that actually REALLY taught people HOW to obey EVERYTHING Jesus Christ commanded disciples to do? Have you ever seen anything like it in all your born days? Have you ever seen even a list of all the Commandments that Jesus Christ gave in the New Testament. Beloved it took me weeks to find one, and I'm a devoted seeker. I've offered such a program multiple times, but even the word discipleship has been refused because it reminds people of having to be disciplined and it has a negative connotation.
If we were churches who were truly devoted to the New Testament, as we claim I would not be nearly this concerned, but on the whole, we don't even go out of our way to obey the second half of the Great Commission given to us by Jesus Christ Himself. So really, we don't follow those instructions either. I put it to you plainly is it any wonder that we are not thoroughly equipped for every good work that we desire to do for the Lord? Is it any wonder so many people are chewed up like lamb chops when they are confronted by the adversary? Think about it.
Brother Michel Lankford
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