Bible

[YAQUBOS]

Peace be with you!

We continue by His Grace.

* As for the salvation by works, we read it in Tobit 12:9 ( and many other passages of those wrong human writings )!*

Psalm45:9:

No one can ever earn his or her way to Heaven by good works this is blasphemous. It is what I told you before; we are saved by God’s grace, which continues through faith with good works. This is what the St. Raphael the Archangel was saying, faith with good works.

So those human writings are saying something Christians do NOT believe. For Christians believe the Word of God.

* They say you can have salvation by your money!!!"*

Psalm45:9:

I don’t know where the Deuterocanonicals say that. It is blasphemous, no one can buy their way to Heaven.

Just as you say: “It is blasphemous”. That’s why I am telling you that they seriously contradict the Word of God!

Read ONE of those human passages that tell you clearly that you can earn Salvation by money:

---

"almsgiving delivers from death, and it will purge away every sin. Those who perform deeds of charity and of righteousness will have fulness of life"

---

* Esther meets those standards. Esther doesn’t have to tell you that it is inspired, because it is written in a prophetic era, and it doesn’t deny being written by a prophet or man of God! While Maccabees clearly denies being written by a man of God who has prophetic inspiration! For the inspiration of the Spirit ceased in Israel from the last prophet until the Son of God came!*

Psalm45:9:

I don’t see where the Bible says, “In order for a book to be Divine Inspired, it must be written while there is a prophet.”

The five points of the DIVINE CANON tell you this! IN THE TIME OF ESTHER, the People of God would not accept Esther as DIVINE Book if it didn’t meet the DIVINE CANON. And there were INSPIRED prophets in the days of Esther who could recognize what is inspired and what is not! As they didn’t make opposition to the Book of Esther as you are doing now, and as they have more authority than you have ( because they are INSPIRED ), so Esther is clearly WORD OF GOD. And Jesus Christ, our LORD, didn’t tell his disciples: “Why are you accepting Esther as Word of God? You shouldn’t!”

To be continued in the next reply, if the Lord wills.

In Love,
Yaqubos†

 

[YAQUBOS]

Peace be with you!

Continuing by the Lord’s Grace.
Psalm45:9:

Just because God the Father is not speaking to men, does not mean the God the Holy Spirit is speaking to men.

O yes: “My son, take your sons; behold, I have grown old and am about to depart this life. Go to Media, my son, for I fully believe what Jonah the prophet said about Nineveh, that it will be overthrown.” (Tobit 14:4)

The Holy Spirit uses inspired men to write Scripture.

There were no inspired men in the times of those human writings.

O yes, Jonah didn’t live in the days of those human writings… So this is a clear contradiction.
Psalm45:9:

The book of Tobit was written while Jonah was preaching the destruction of Nineveh.

Well, this shows that:

1. You don’t know when the book of Tobit was written.
2. You don’t know when Jonah lived.
3. You don’t understand that the book of Tobit is clearly contradicting itself, because the destruction of Nineveh didn’t take place, because its people REPENTED, as the WORD OF GOD says.

Psalm45:9:

(The Author of 1 & 2 Chronicles is a prophet?)

Prophet means AN INSPIRED MAN OF GOD. Yes, the author of 1 & 2 Chronicles is an inspired man of God, as Paul writes by the Spirit:

“All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness” ( 2 Timothy 3:16 )

ALL means ALL, my friend.
Psalm45:9:

“The Church decides what is Scripture, not any individual, nor any denomination or other religion – not even Judaism.’ (St. Anthony’s Orthodox Christian Church)”

The Church doesn’t DECIDE, but She just DECLARES what is Scripture. So St. Anthony’s Orthodox Christian Church is clearly CONTRADICTING the DIVINE CANON.

To be continued in the next reply, if the Lord wills.

In Love,
Yaqubos†

 

[YAQUBOS]

Peace be with you!

Continuing by His Grace.

* ONLY a prophet of God ( an inspired man of God ) can speak the Word of God! SCRIPTURAL inspiration ceased in Israel ( as Maccabees also testifies )*

Psalm45:9:

No it does not, it states that God the Father was not speaking directly to anyone.

So you were not honest when you said AMEN to the following:

* 1. Was it written by a prophet or a directly inspired man of God?*
Why this question? Because God says that ONLY a prophet of God will speak the Word of God:

“'I will raise up a prophet from among their countrymen like you, and I will put My words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I command him.” ( Deuteronomy 18:18 )

“God, after He spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways” ( Hebrews 1:1 )

“no prophecy was ever made by an act of human will, but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God.” ( 2 Peter 1:21* )*

Don’t you believe Maccabees when it says that the prophets CEASED in Israel?
Psalm45:9:

It does not say that God the Holy Spirit was not working. There is the miracle of the oil that the Jews commemorate at Hanukah, as did our Lord. There is the Divine intervention of the Angels at the Temple and the entire Maccabean revolt would not have been successful if God was not working in Israel.

Who said that the Holy Spirit was not working. I just said that He was not writing Scripture, for there were no inspired man ( prophets ). The Holy Spirit is working today, but you don’t have inspired men to write Scripture!

YAQUBOS:

Didn’t I ask you why we can’t add our hymns to the Scripture? What did you answer? You said :

Psalm45:9:

My answer is correct.

Ok. So let’s read that correct answer again:
Psalm45:9:

In one case the author was inspiried by the Holy Spirit to reveal divine truth, in the author instance the author is inspired by the Holy Spirit to write about revealed divine truth, just like the writings of the Church Fathers.

So those who wrote Maccabees couldn’t write the divine truth. They could only write ABOUT the divine truth!!! Because, in the times of Maccabees, there were no such inspired men as you describe as being inspired by the Holy Spirit to reveal divine truth, but there were men inspired by the Holy Spirit to write ABOUT revealed divine truth.

To be continued in the next reply, if the Lord wills.

In Love,
Yaqubos†

 

[YAQUBOS]

Peace be with you!

Continuing by His Grace.

* So those who wrote Maccabees couldn’t write the divine truth. They could only write ABOUT the divine truth!!!*

Psalm45:9:

That implies that Divine Revelation ceased before Christ came, meaning Jesus is not the Christ!!! HERESY!!!

Easy, my friend. Who said that the Divine Revelation ceased for ever? It ceased until Jesus Christ’s days. For God had promised to visit them again!
Psalm45:9:

The Holy Spirit can’t determine what is the Old Testament?

He determined it in the DIVINE CANON.
Psalm45:9:

Not at all, it just shows that the Holy Spirit can reveal truths that are not explicitly mentioned in the Bible.

Hehe… You are talking about the Chair of Moses, and you are saying that the Lord talked about this, and you say it is written in the New Testament, and then you say it is not in the Bible! Don’t you believe the New Testament is Bible???
Psalm45:9:

The deuterocanonicals tell the truth, the resurrection is a reality!

The Qur’an is also talking about Resurrection, but it is not Scripture.

* He is a man of God inspired to write SCRIPTURE. Well, in the days of Esther there were inspired man of God ( prophets ).*

Psalm45:9:

Just like in the days of Tobit!

You are clearly contradicting Maccabees that says that there were no prophets in those days.

* A confirming act of God is demanded for a prophet.*

Psalm45:9:

Can you elaborate?

If someone claims to be a prophet, you must see if God is confirming that. But if someone is clearly telling you that he is not a prophet, then you don’t need to search for a confirmation! He already told you that he is NOT a prophet!, as in the case of Maccabees.

In Love,

Yaqubos†

 

[YAQUBOS]

Peace be with you!
Church Militant:

YAQUBOS:

SCRIPTURAL inspiration ceased

since the last prophet of the Old Testament until Jesus Christ. And then it ceased after the last Apostle.

Hmmm so that would disqualify John the Baptist? In SPITE of Jesus’ plain statement to the contrary? You seem confused…

Hmmm… It seems that you don’t know that John the Baptist lived in the days of Jesus Christ, in those days when God visited His people again, as Zacharias said by the Spirit:

“Blessed be the Lord God of Israel,
For He has visited us and accomplished redemption for His people” ( Luke 1:68 )

“As He spoke by the mouth of His holy prophets from of old–” ( Luke 1:70 )

“To show mercy toward our fathers,
And to remember His holy covenant” ( Luke 1:72 )

Yes, God has remembered His Covenant, and He sent the Prophet who was to prepare the way before Him, as the last prophets of the Old Testament promised.
Church Militant:

You also make the mistake of assuming that a prophet is the only one that writes in the Bible, yet this is fallacious logic because there is nothing prophetic in Numbers…it’s mostly just census figures. That’s not prophecy…it’s history. So then there is absolutely nothing wrong with the books of Maccabees not being “written by a prophet”.
You seem to have a hang up about prophets…yet the apostles were not all prophets and St. Luke was a historian. In fact the NT clearly says that some are prophets and some are apostles, but not all have the same charism. (gift) We KNOW that the apostles were apostles, and that some of them prophesied, but not all. In fact…now that I think of it; of all four of the writers of the Gospel, only St. John seems to have left us any prophetic writings in Revelation. So it seems pretty clear that your so called test for canonicity falls flat due to the evidence of the New Testament itself.

It’s clear that not all scripture is prophetic, right? So obviuosly one would not have to BE a “prophet” in order to pen something that qualifies as scriptural canon. Hence the case for the simple histories and parables in the OT is made…And the Deuterocanonicals as well.

It’s clear that you didn’t read what I was saying to Psalm45:9. A prophet is not always someone who tells the future. Those who are inspired to write Scripture are also called prophets. And the Scripture says clearly that only a prophet ( inspired man of God ) can write the Word of God. Read the DIVINE CANON again in the posts # 242 – 247 in this thread.

In Love,

Yaqubos†

 

[Psalm45_9]

YAQUBOS:

Peace be with you!

The Lord says about humility:

“GOD IS OPPOSED TO THE PROUD, BUT GIVES GRACE TO THE HUMBLE.” ( James 4:6 )

“So I too will here end my story.
If it is well told and to the point, that is what I myself desired; if it is poorly done and mediocre, that was the best I could do.”
The Author of 2nd Maccabees was very humble.

YAQUBOS:

So if you want to get any grace, you have first to be humble and to accept the Word of God as It is, and not as you or your religious background want it to be…

I do accept the word of God as it is.

YAQUBOS:

Although I wrote by His Grace so many things, but there are still opposition about things that were already explained. As I told Psalm45:9, after he has made opposition to the DIVINE CANON, he will also make opposition to the explanation. And this is what he did, him and Church Militant…

No, I did not.

 

[Psalm45_9]

Pax Vobis Cvm!

YAQUBOS:

I never said that we should rely on the Pharisees to determine the Canon. Are you reading what I am writing with a so great Love for you?

I wrote to you by His Grace about this, but it seems that you didn’t read carefully. Read it again here:

I’m sorry, your words weren’t so clear, if they were written by grace, they should have been.

YAQUBOS:

Hope you read it carefully this time…

The Church is the real people of God.

 

[Psalm45_9]

Pax Vobis Cvm!

YAQUBOS:

Again, you prove to me that you are not reading carefully, or maybe you don’t want to believe God. Didn’t we say AMEN to the fact that GOD has determined the CANON with those five points that I mentioned by His Grace? Didn’t we say that it is not the unbelievers who determined the Canon?

The first two points are irrelevant. I do believe in God, who guided the faithful Bishops to determine the canon.

YAQUBOS:

Those Jews who didn’t want to accept the DIVINE CANON even after the coming of our Lord are called UNBELIEVERS, and they can doubt about the CANON as much as they want!

Yup, because the church has the real authority. But there was no official canon at the time of Christ, the Church determined that.

YAQUBOS:

Don’t you know that the Christians do not judge anyone?

I’d say telling us that we conjure up the dead is being judgmental.

YAQUBOS:

Whatever… The Lord was saying that to the unbelieving Jews… It’s strange to think that those unbelieving Jews were Christians…

The faithful Christians determined the canon.

YAQUBOS:

As we saw, those human writings that you call “Deuterocanonical” are NOT written by an inspired man of God, they are telling us things that CONTRADICT the Truth of the Word of God, they do NOT have the power of God, and they are not accepted by the REAL people of God according to the Old Testament!

They were written by the Holy Spirit.

They do not contradict the truth, they tell the truth.

They have the power of God.

And they were accepted by the real people of God, the Church.

YAQUBOS:

By the way, do you think we can pray for dead pagans so that they may have eternal life, as Maccabees teaches?

They were not dead pagans.

YAQUBOS:

And by the way: Jesus is the Lord of all, even if they do not accept it!

AMEN! He gave his authority to his church.

 

[Psalm45_9]

Pax Vobis Cvm!

YAQUBOS:

You are contradicting yourself without knowing…

I am not.

YAQUBOS:

So tell me: do you accept all what the Jewish Tradition says?

You asked me:

YAQUBOS:

Why not the Jewish Tradition also? Did Moses and the prophets write everything??? So is there not a Jewish Tradition?

The infalliable Church decided to keep some Jewish traditions. But many Jewish traditions were fulfilled by Christ and so the church no longer practices them. ex. Kosher foods and circumcisions.

YAQUBOS:

For instance, do you believe all what the Talmuds say?

I believe what Jesus says.

YAQUBOS:

According to what did that council determine the Books? According to something other than the DIVINE CANON?

The Holy Spirit.

YAQUBOS:

Were those Books that the council determined ALREADY accepted by the People of God ( as ONE of those five points of the DIVINE CANON says )?

Well, if they’re determining which writings belong in the canon, then that means there was no official canon before hand to determine those “five points”:

(Encyclopedic Dictionary of the Bible 1963 ) “Even in the second century of the Christian era the Jewish rabbis were not fully agreed on the Canonicity of certain books (e.g. Cant, Eccl; cfr. Also 4, Esd 14,44ff).”

(The Encyclopedia of Judaism, vol 15 page 117)" says that the limit of the third part (Writings) was not finalized until mid of second century. In addition, the Hebrew Canon was also not accepted by Ethiopian Jews who accept Septuagint to this day "

(Dictionary of Biblical Literacy 1986. p.321)“Precisely when Jewish leadership officially adopted the traditional 39 books of the so-called “Hebrew Canon” is not known; nor is there agreement as to exactly what criteria were used in determining the Canon.”

 

[Psalm45_9]

Continuing solely by his grace!

YAQUBOS:

Aha! So you think the People of God didn’t know which books were part of the Word of God, thus contradicting one of the essential points of the DIVINE CANON to which you said AMEN.

The Divine Canon at that time had yet to be determined, as secular and Jewish sources show. So there was no way to determine the “five points.” The Holy Spirit is what made the decision.

‘Looking back over history, there were various “lists” of the canonical “books” comprising the Bible:

• The Muratorian Canon (130 AD) cities all the books we considered as parts of the Bible today, except for Hebrews, Jude, 2 Peter, 2 John, 3 John, and Revelation/Apocalypse
• Canon 60 of the local Council of Laodicea (364 AD) cited Revelation/Apocalypse
• A festal Epistle by Saint Athanasius (369 AD) lists all of them.’

serfes.org/orthodox/scripturesinthechurch.htm

The People did not right away know which writings were scripture. The Holy Spirit working at various councils determined that.

YAQUBOS:

The things that you have to notice are in BOLD!

History shows that they did not readily know which writings were scripture.

YAQUBOS:

Those human writings that you call “Deuterocanonical” are part of the OLD TESTAMENT. The REAL People of God according to the Old Testament are the BELIEVER Jews. Those BELIEVER Jews ( like the Virgin Mary and Joseph etc ) didn’t accept those human writings as Scripture! And our Lord didn’t blame them for doing that!

Where does the Bible say that they did not accept them as scripture? They also celebrated Hanukah.

YAQUBOS:

I was talking about the fact that the Lord didn’t blame the Jews OF ISRAEL that they didn’t accept those human writings. What does this have to do with the baptism of the Eunuch?

The Holy Spirit came to Ethiopia, which both the Jewish and Christian communities accept the Deuterocanonicals.

YAQUBOS:

When the Lord talked about the Books, He was talking about the Books accepted ACCORDING TO THE DIVINE CANON.

The Sadducee’s, The Pharisee’s, The Samaritan’s, or The Alexandrian?

 

[Psalm45_9]

Pax Vobis Cvm!

YAQUBOS:

The OFFICIAL CANON is the DIVINE CANON, can’t you get this?

There was no official canon at the time of Christ, the church determined the Divine Canon at various councils.

YAQUBOS:

In the time of the Lord, there were Books IN ISRAEL that were used as Scripture.

But there was no official canon and the Pharisees and Sadducees could not agree on it. The Church determined the canon. The Deuterocanonicals were in Israel at the time of Christ.

YAQUBOS:

The Lord didn’t add any book and He didn’t blame them for adding any book. Jesus Christ has the authority! Not those Jews who wanted to doubt even after Jesus Christ came!!

Which verse are you talking about? Jesus gave his authority to the church.

YAQUBOS:

So don’t quote me refusing human authority! I am talking here about ONE point of those five points of the DIVINE CANON, and I am talking about the REAL People of God, and not the unbelieving Jews who still doubted what the Canon is even after the Lord came! And the bad thing is that you are quoting me saying the same thing that I said here right now: "And many Jews deny that Jesus is the Christ! Must we believe that also? ( I say this SUPPOSING that what you say about the Jews is true )

I’m talking about the real people of God too, the church.

YAQUBOS:

Yes! I am talking about the REAL People of God, the REAL Israel, and not those who denied the Lord! And remember that we are talking here about ONE point of that DIVINE CANON! Talking about ONE point doesn’t mean insisting on human authority!

The Divine canon that was yet to be determined by the real people of God.

 

[Psalm45_9]

Pax Vobis Cvm!

YAQUBOS:

Again, the OFFICIAL CANON is not what humans determine, but it is the DIVINE CANON! And this DIVINE CANON was determined by God.

The Old Testament determined the New Testament? The Gospel of Thomas claims to be authentic, the words of Thomas the Apostle who preached the Gospel. The Holy Spirit determined the Canon.

YAQUBOS:

As for the true people of God, you say it is the Church. Well, do you think the King David was part of that true People of God? Can’t the true people of God in the Old Testament accept what God reveals to them even BEFORE the Christ came ( i.e. even before the Christian Church )???

That goes for the Wisdom of Solomon’s prophecy as well.

YAQUBOS:

Hey! You are contradicting yourself again. Are you saying here that the Church didn’t ALREADY know what Books are in Scripture? Didn’t you say a big AMEN to the following:

The Holy Spirit in the Church already knew which writings were the Word of God. At the council, the Church determined the canon from writings that were already considered authentic here and there throughout the Church. I already cited a source showing how the New Testament looked at different times. The council stated which existing writings were scripture.

YAQUBOS:

Pay attention to what you are saying AMEN!

YAQUBOS:

They were accepted by the real people of God.

I am talking about the REAL Israel, can’t you get this? I am talking about the Virgin Mary, John the Baptist, Peter, John, James, Joseph… All these lived in ISRAEL in the time of the Lord. They were among those Jews who didn’t accept those human writings as Scripture. And they accepted what the DIVINE CANON says. And Jesus didn’t blame anyone of them for not accepting those human writings.

And the Bible does not state how their feelings about the Deuterocanonicals. St. Paul made an allusion to 2nd Maccabees in the epistle to the Hebrews. St. James referenced the Assumption of Moses and the Book of Enoch in his Epistle? This shows that the canon was no yet determined. The Church determined that later, 2nd Maccabees is scripture, whereas the Assumption of Moses and the Book of Enoch are not.

 

[Psalm45_9]

Pax Vobis Cvm!

YAQUBOS:

And thanks to your philosophy, we will begin to think that the Apostles didn’t tell the Eunuch what they believed is Scripture according to the DIVINE CANON… Would the Apostles teach anything other than the Word of God? Would they teach anything other than what Jesus taught them??? Well, those Apostles lived in ISRAEL. The Jews of Israel didn’t accept those human writings as Scripture.

The Deuterocanonicals were in Israel at the time of Christ. The Bible is silent on how the New Testament Saints felt about these books.

YAQUBOS:

So the Apostles didn’t use to believe those human writings are Scripture! Jesus Christ didn’t tell His Disciples: “Why don’t you accept those human writings?”

And the New Testament authors never said, “The Deuterocanonicals are not scripture.” Neither did Jesus. He never even said what he considered to be the complete canon.

YAQUBOS:

Thus you prove that you don’t know what is a real Jew. The real Jew is a Jew IN HEART, as the Scripture says.

Are you God, can you read people’s hearts at the final moment of their life? Did not the Lord give absolution to the criminal dieing on the Cross beside him?
YAQUOBS:

Judas didn’t know where their hearts were at the moment of their death? Where is supposed to be the heart of someone who is stealing idols to sell them or to worship them???

Because Judas did not know where their hears were, he made a sin offering on their behalf with the hope that they repented at their final moment.

YAQUBOS:

By the way: do you think stealing is a “mortal” sin? Do you think worshiping money ( and idols ) is a “mortal” sin?

Well, they were given a direct order to melt the idols, they disobeyed, just like Saul did.

YAQUBOS:

Do you pray for people who died in “MORTAL” SIN?

We pray for the dead regardless of their sins, because we are not God, we do not know if these people repented at the last moment. As did Judas Maccabeus.

YAQUBOS:

I mean, do you pray for people who died without being in state of GRACE?

I answered this above.

YAQUBOS:

Do you believe that someone can be saved WITHOUT Faith?

That depends on the situation. If a Christian were to fall away into sin and leave the faith and die unrepentent in a state of mortal sin, then salvation is not possible. Since we are not God, we can not tell if a person repents or not at the final moment.

Now say there was a man living in the heart of Africa, he lived as good of a life as he could. He never heard the Gospel, so he could not tell if his lifestyle was right or wrong. If this man was really good at heart, then he can enter heaven, it is not his fault that the Gospel did not reach him.

 

[Psalm45_9]

Pax Vobis Cvm!

YAQUBOS:

So those human writings are saying something Christians do NOT believe. For Christians believe the Word of God.

No, you’re just taking it out of context. I already explained it to you.

YAQUBOS:

Just as you say: “It is blasphemous”. That’s why I am telling you that they seriously contradict the Word of God!

It does not.

YAQUBOS:

Read ONE of those human passages that tell you clearly that you can earn Salvation by money:

“almsgiving delivers from death, and it will purge away every sin. Those who perform deeds of charity and of righteousness will have fulness of life”

Giving money to the poor is not buying your way to heaven. Good works with faith keep grace within the soul. The book of Revelation said we are judged according to how we live our lives, not contradictions here.

YAQUBOS:

The five points of the DIVINE CANON tell you this! IN THE TIME OF ESTHER, the People of God would not accept Esther as DIVINE Book if it didn’t meet the DIVINE CANON. And there were INSPIRED prophets in the days of Esther who could recognize what is inspired and what is not! As they didn’t make opposition to the Book of Esther as you are doing now, and as they have more authority than you have ( because they are INSPIRED ), so Esther is clearly WORD OF GOD. And Jesus Christ, our LORD, didn’t tell his disciples: “Why are you accepting Esther as Word of God? You shouldn’t!”

There was no official canon at the time of Christ. It does not say anywhere in the Book of Esther that it was written by a prophet. Jesus never quoted from it, nor did the New Testament authors.

 

[Psalm45_9]

Pax Vobis Cvm!

YAQUBOS:

The Holy Spirit uses inspired men to write Scripture.

Very true.

YAQUBOS:

There were no inspired men in the times of those human writings.

It does not, it said that God the Father was not speaking through people. It does not say anything about Divine Inspiration ceasing.

YAQUBOS:

O yes, Jonah didn’t live in the days of those human writings… So this is a clear contradiction.

Tobit lived in the Nineveh at the time of Jonah. He related the story himself.

YAQUBOS:

Well, this shows that:

1. You don’t know when the book of Tobit was written.

Tradition said he wrote it himself. Whether he did or not, the story takes place during the time of the Prophet.

YAQUBOS:

1. You don’t know when Jonah lived.
2. You don’t understand that the book of Tobit is clearly contradicting itself, because the destruction of Nineveh didn’t take place, because its people REPENTED, as the WORD OF GOD says.

If someone who speaks for God told you your city was going to be destroyed, wouldn’t you leave, just like Lod?

YAQUBOS:

Prophet means AN INSPIRED MAN OF GOD. Yes, the author of 1 & 2 Chronicles is an inspired man of God, as Paul writes by the Spirit:

“All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness” ( 2 Timothy 3:16 )

ALL means ALL, my friend.

Yes and the Deuterocanonicals were written by the Holy Spirit. It does not say anywhere that a man that God the Father is speaking through is the only source of Divine Inspiration.

YAQUBOS:

The Church doesn’t DECIDE, but She just DECLARES what is Scripture. So St. Anthony’s Orthodox Christian Church is clearly CONTRADICTING the DIVINE CANON.

You love to take things out context. Declaration involves decision. The decision of the Holy Spirit, it is not contradicting itself.

 

[Psalm45_9]

Pax Vobis Cvm!

YAQUBOS:

Don’t you believe Maccabees when it says that the prophets CEASED in Israel?

Yes. I also believe it does not say anything about Divine Inspiration ceasing.

YAQUBOS:

Who said that the Holy Spirit was not working. I just said that He was not writing Scripture, for there were no inspired man ( prophets ).

It said nothing of the sort. It states that God the Father was not speaking through men. It does not say anything about Divine Inspiration ceasing.

YAQUBOS:

The Holy Spirit is working today, but you don’t have inspired men to write Scripture!

Divine Revelation ceased with the death of the Last Apostle. At the time of the Maccabean revolt the Apostles had yet to be born.

YAQUBOS:

So those who wrote Maccabees couldn’t write the divine truth. They could only write ABOUT the divine truth!!! Because, in the times of Maccabees, there were no such inspired men as you describe as being inspired by the Holy Spirit to reveal divine truth, but there were men inspired by the Holy Spirit to write ABOUT revealed divine truth.

It says nothing of the sort. Just because there were no prophets does not mean Divine Inspiration ceased.

 

[Psalm45_9]

Pax Vobis Cvm!

YAQUBOS:

Easy, my friend. Who said that the Divine Revelation ceased for ever?

Where does 1 Maccabees say that Divine Revelation ceased during that period? It only said that God the Father was not speaking through men.

YAQUBOS:

It ceased until Jesus Christ’s days.

It said nothing of the sort.

YAQUBOS:

He determined it in the DIVINE CANON.

The Divine Canon that was yet to be declared at the time of Christ.

YAQUBOS:

Hehe… You are talking about the Chair of Moses, and you are saying that the Lord talked about this, and you say it is written in the New Testament, and then you say it is not in the Bible! Don’t you believe the New Testament is Bible???

“So then, brethren, stand firm and hold to the traditions which you were taught by us, either by word of mouth or by letter.” (2 Thessalonians 2:15)

“If I am delayed, you may know how one ought to behave in the household of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and bulwark of the truth.” (1 Timothy 3:15)

I believe in the New Testament, determined by the Church.

YAQUBOS:

The Qur’an is also talking about Resurrection, but it is not Scripture.

The Church said it’s not scripture.

YAQUBOS:

You are clearly contradicting Maccabees that says that there were no prophets in those days.

Maccabees and Tobit took place during different periods of history. Just because God the Father was not speaking through men does not mean that Divine Inspiration ceased.

YAQUBOS:

If someone claims to be a prophet, you must see if God is confirming that.

Which is what the Church does.

YAQUBOS:

But if someone is clearly telling you that he is not a prophet, then you don’t need to search for a confirmation! He already told you that he is NOT a prophet!, as in the case of Maccabees.

Just because God the Father was not speaking through men does not mean that Divine Inspiration ceased.

 

[YAQUBOS]

Peace be with you!

Dear Psalm45:9, you are wasting your time with your unbelief. You are repeating the same things again and again. Don’t you see that I am not convinced by those vanities? So if you want to explain to me, you would not repeat the same things again and again like a child…

Read again what I wrote to you by His Grace about the DIVINE CANON in the posts # 242 - 247, and to which you said great AMENs:

YAQUBOS:

Peace be with you!

Dear Psalm45:9, I asked what is the Word of God, and you didn’t stop giving me circular answers. Do you know why? Because you don’t want to believe God, but humans!

So I will stop waiting for a good answer from people who don’t know what the Word of God is…

Many people have a wrong understanding about the Word of God. Some think it is a book, and others think it is words of humans approved by God. And thus you find them defending their ideas about what THEY think is the Word of God with a great enthusiasm which is in fact without knowledge.

Those who have a wrong understanding about the Word, will not have any problem to add human writings to the Word of God, because their understanding of what the Word of God is was wrong in the first place.

Here we find questions like:

• If the Christian poets today are inspired by God, then why don’t we add our hymns to the Scripture? How are they different from the Psalms?
• What is the difference between the inspiration of a biblical author, and the inspiration of a Christian poet today?
• Why don’t we add the writings of Christian bishops to the Scripture?
• How do we know if a writing is the Word of God or not?

In one question:

What is the Word of God?

This is the question we must answer before we discuss any other matter about the Scripture. This is what we must understand before we discuss about any book added to the Scripture by some Christians. When we talk about all those matters, we must first talk the same language, i.e. we must be talking about the same definition of the Word of God. Some people may talk about words of man although they call them “Word of God”…

I tried to open a new thread about this, but it seems that there was a problem, and I didn’t find my thread posted. So I decided to write here and study with you what GOD SAYS is the WORD OF GOD.

To be continued, if He permits.

In Love,
Yaqubos†

 

[YAQUBOS]

YAQUBOS:

Peace be with you!

Continuing by His Grace.

There is a big misunderstanding among many Christians about the Canon of the Scripture. They think some humans ( the Jews for the Old Testament, and the Church for the New Testament ) DECIDED what is Word of God and what is not. And this is totally wrong. The faithful people of God just **DECLARED **what God has **REVEALED **as Word of God. For instance, the Church never doubted any Book of the Scripture as not being part of the Word of God. SOME believers ( even “Fathers” of the Church ) doubted SOME of the New Testament Books. But these SOME don’t make the WHOLEChurch of Christ. And when the Church declared which Books are Word of God, they had not a choice between thousands of books among which they had to pick out those that are the Word of God. They ALREADY knew what God had revealed as Word of God, and they studied those inspired Books to find the rules ( Canon ) by which they could clearly show that all heretical and wrong books didn’t meet those rules or standards.

In one word: the Canon is taken from the Word of God, and not the opposite.

Now, every book or word that doesn’t meet those BIBLICAL Standards, is NOT THE WORD OF GOD.

In the following, we will study by His Grace what God says is the Word of God. And in the same time, we will see how human and satanic books cannot meet the standards taken from the Word of God. True and faithful Christians ( the Church ) declare what is Word of God according to those BIBLICAL Standards.

To be continued, if the Lord wills.

In Love,

Yaqubos†

 

[YAQUBOS]

YAQUBOS:

Peace be with you!

What are the standards according to which the faithful children of God ( the Church ) accept and reject books as canonical?

In brief: According to God, what is the Word of God?

Answering this simple question will help us see how all human and satanic writings are NOT canonical.

“Canon” comes from Greek and Hebrew words meaning “measuring rod”, so it is a standard that all Scriptural Books must meet. And that standard is not made by humans, but it is revealed by God Himself.

So let’s see what are the five questions that are asked by the faithful children of God in accepting and rejecting books as canonical:

1. Was it written by a prophet or a directly inspired man of God?
   Why this question? Because God says that ONLY a prophet of God will speak the Word of God:

“'I will raise up a prophet from among their countrymen like you, and I will put My words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I command him.” ( Deuteronomy 18:18 )

“God, after He spoke long ago to the fathers** in the prophets** in many portions and in many ways” ( Hebrews 1:1 )

“no prophecy was ever made by an act of human will, but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God.” ( 2 Peter 1:21 )

1. Was he ( the prophet or the man of God ) confirmed by an act of God?
   Why this question? Because God says:

“how will we escape if we neglect so great a salvation? After it was at the first spoken through the Lord, it was confirmed to us by those who heard,
God also testifying with them, both by signs and wonders and by various miracles and by gifts of the Holy Spirit according to His own will.” ( Hebrews 2:3-4 )

This means that we should expect some miraculous confirmation of those who speak the Word of God. Moses had his rod that turned into a serpent, Jesus had principally the Resurrection, and the Apostles continued Jesus’ miracles…

1. Does it tell the truth about God?
   Why this question? Because:

“But even if we, or an angel from heaven, should preach to you a gospel contrary to what we have preached to you, he is to be accursed!” ( Galatians 1:8 ).

So agreement with all earlier revelation is essential. This also helps us recognize false prophecies made in the Name of God, like the Qur’an!

And remember the following:

“When a prophet speaks in the name of the LORD, if the thing does not come about or come true, that is the thing which the LORD has not spoken. The prophet has spoken it presumptuously; you shall not be afraid of him.” ( Deuteronomy 18:22 )

We see the 4th question and the rest in the next reply, if the Lord permits.

In Love,

Yaqubos†