From a thread on RS

Richard Wurmbrand: founder of Voice of the Martyrs (Ian’s comments in blue)

God is the Truth. The Bible is the truth about the Truth. Theology is the truth about the truth about the Truth. A good sermon is the truth about the truth about the truth, about the Truth It is not the Truth. The Truth is God alone. Around this Truth there is a scaffolding of words, of theologies, and of exposition. None of these is of any help in times of suffering. It is only the Truth Himself Who is of help, and we have to penetrate through sermons, through theological books, through everything which is ‘words’ and be bound up with the reality of God Himself.

Ok, we need to ‘penetrate through’ this article by Wurmbrand, as well, to ‘see the reality of God Himself’, for, in the line of thought presented here, this article is only, in his words, “…the truth about the truth about the truth, about the Truth It is not the Truth.”

 

Re: None of these is of any help in times of suffering.

The Holy Spirit will bring His Words/Truth to our remembrance (John 14:26). Is that not a help, to have the Holy Spirit remind you of the Truth when you’re suffering? Yes, of course, our Lord Jesus is the Truth, and, there is only Scripture Truth within which to live a life of faith pleasing to Him. Wurmbrand must have been living out the Truth of Scripture, believing the promises of God confirmed to Him thru Scripture, eh? And, if his article is not the Truth of Scripture then it’s worthless, so, this point of his, then, is not true, and, by his reasoning, his article is also not, “…of any help in times of suffering.”

Here’s a word from the Lord for those who are suffering (one which the Holy Spirit has impressed upon me many times, and it’s helped me to do what it says)

1Peter 4:19 Therefore let those who suffer according to the will of God entrust their souls to Him in doing good, as to a faithful Creator.

I have told in the West how Christians were tied to crosses for four days and four nights. The crosses were put on the floor and other prisoners were tortured and made to fulfill their bodily necessities upon the faces and the bodies of the crucified ones. I have since been asked: “Which Bible verse helped and strengthened you in those circumstances?” My answer is: “NO Bible verse was of any help.” It is sheer cant and religious hypocrisy to say, “This Bible verse strengthens me, or that Bible verse helps me.” Bible verses alone are not meant to help.

That’s silly to say that, bcos, “Bible verses” ARE God’s inspired Word, His promises. So, believing His promises is of no help? The Holy Spirit never helped him by quickening the Scripture Truth to him in his time of need?

We knew Psalm 23 – “The Lord is my Shepherd; I shall not want… though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death….” When you pass through suffering you realize that it was never meant by God that Psalm 23 should strengthen you. It is the Lord who can strengthen you, not the Psalm which speaks of Him so doing. It is not enough to have the Psalm. You must have the One about whom the Psalm speaks. We also knew the verse: “My Grace is sufficient for thee.” But the verse is not sufficient. It is the Grace which is sufficient and not the verse.

Pastors and zealous witnesses who are handling the Word as a calling from God are in danger of giving holy words more value than they really have. Holy words are only the means to arrive at the reality expressed by them.

BUT, this is their very value! .. “to arrive at the reality expressed by them” ! How can one arrive at the reality expressed by them if they don’t have and believe THEM? This is WHY God gave us His inspired words! Then, to question their value? It’s absurd!

 

If you are united with the Reality, the Lord Almighty, evil loses its power over you; it cannot break the Lord Almighty. If you only have the words of the Lord Almighty you can be very easily broke.

If you “only” have the words of the Lord, may mean that you have the scripture, but you don’t believe it. Therefore, lack of faith is the issue : there’s no fault or danger in having the Bible.

Therefore let us fear, lest while the promise remains to enter into His rest, any one of you seems to have fallen short. For indeed we have had the gospel preached to us just as those also; but the word which they heard did not profit those, not having been mixed with faith in those having heard it. Heb 4:1-2

Its by faith we overcome, and resist the works of the devil, and inherit the promises. There’s no doubt to me that articles like this are the enemy’s agenda, to deceive the elect if it were possible.

One hidden subliminal message in them is “the Bible is dangerous” – – the thought that believing the truth of scripture could somehow be a danger and hindrance to knowing Jesus ??

Another suggestion in such writings, is the suggestion that those saints who do remember the scriptures by the Holy Spirit, and often speak and quote the scriptures, do so bcos they really don’t know God personally – the “if only they knew ‘the Reality’ they wouldn’t use the Scriptures as a crutch”, type of thing.

There is an undercurrent these days of people who think that their aversion to Scripture is an indication that they are on some higher-plane of spirituality, and it’s if they consciously try to avoid quoting Scripture.

On the other hand, a lot of prophecies given these days are like this, they are given in the 1^st person as God directly speaking, and yet they’re often simply paraphrases and rewordings of Scripture, yet, with the illusion created that they are somehow more ‘current’, and more “the voice of God” than the Scriptures. If the same prophet simply just quoted those same exact Scriptures, no one, hardly, would be interested. Why? Bcos of fake spiritual experience, which operates in the flesh and in seducing spirits.

ian