‘Thou hast magnified Thy Word above all Thy name.’ Psalm 138:2 indicates that God has staked His reputation upon the authority, the accuracy, and the infallibility of this Bible (ON THESE TRUTHS WE STAND: The Doctrinal Statement of THE VALLEY CHURCH, emphasis added).3The Word is literal:
We believe the Bible to be literally true, every word of it, every jot, every tittle. We also believe that God is immutable. He makes no promise that He will not literally fulfill (ON THESE TRUTHS WE STAND: The Doctrinal Statement of THE VALLEY CHURCH, emphasis added).4The Word is to be interpreted literally, not spiritualized or explained away:
If language means anything, we must interpret that literally. So we believe that the second coming of Christ is a literal, future, historical event. It is not to be spiritualized. It is not to be explained away. It is not a mater of His coming into your heart at salvation, although that truly is a coming of Christ into your life, but that is not what prophecy speaks of when referring to the second coming of Jesus Christ. In that same literal body with which He ascended, He will literally return again to earth (ON THESE TRUTHS WE STAND: The Doctrinal Statement of THE VALLEY CHURCH, emphasis added).5
We are not to spiritualize or toy with the prophetic Word making it say something other than exactly as He said:
We believe that the interpretation of prophecy should be a literal interpretation. We believe that when God said something, He meant just what He said. He meant it in clear and unmistakable terms; and though it has to be put into its historical setting in order to understand it fully, nevertheless, we believe that when God spoke of Israel, He meant Israel. When He spoke of the Church, He meant the Church. When He spoke of individuals, He meant individuals. When He spoke of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, He meant those characters literally. … There are some people who interpret the Scripture literally concerning everything but prophecy, which they want to spiritualize. That is because prophecy speaks of events to come. Some peopled toy with it and say it really doesn’t mean what it says; for instance, when the words earth, church, or Israel are used, they say these terms aren’t really meant to be taken literally, but are symbols of something else. That is very confusing. The only way one can really understand prophecy in its broad sweep is to believe that when God called something something He meant something exactly as He said (ON THESE TRUTHS WE STAND: The Doctrinal Statement of THE VALLEY CHURCH, emphasis added).6The Word is to be understood literally:
There are symbols in Scripture but they are explained symbols. And if they are explained then obviously, they are symbolic. But everything that the Word of God gives is to be understood literally, and when God said to Abraham that you are going to have a kingdom for ever and ever and ever and ever it will be an eternal kingdom, it will be an earthly kingdom, we believe that it’s exactly that. It will be ultimately in the new heavens and new earth that God will fulfill His covenants to the Nation of Israel and we can be certain that He will be faithful, that He will be true. … And He will fulfill in future Israel what He could not fulfill in past Israel (The Valley Church, emphasis added).7
The Word will really, literally come back again:
Christ’s first advent was a literal, historical event. His second coming is going to be just as literal. When Christ was born, angels appeared unto the shepherds and they said, “For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord” (Luke 2:11). Now, those were real shepherds, and those were real angels; they were talking about a real birth in a real city, a city which had been named earlier in the Book of Micah. It was a real geographical location. The one born was really the Savior, and it really happened. When Christ ascended into heaven, a real angel appeared to His disciples. They were real people. The angel said, “This same Jesus, (that same real Jesus who was born in Bethlehem and is now in a resurrection body) which is taken up from you into heaven, (He was really taken up) shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven” (Acts 1:11). He will really, literally come back again (ON THESE TRUTHS WE STAND: The Doctrinal Statement of THE VALLEY CHURCH, emphasis added).8God could not have given us absolute revelations of Himself in giving His thoughts; He had to give His Word:
God did not give His thoughts to men. He gave His words. That is why the Bible is not called the thoughts of God; it is called the Word of God. … Words are concrete, thoughts are more abstract; God could not have given us absolute revelations of Himself in giving His thoughts. He had to give His Word (ON THESE TRUTHS WE STAND: The Doctrinal Statement of THE VALLEY CHURCH, emphasis added).9God has given His Word, and it is final. There is no other Word:
You may not like it. You may not be willing to put your life in accord with it, but God is not going to change His mind. There is no way that we can send this Word back for a second opinion from God. God has given His Word, and it is final. There is no other Word” (ON THESE TRUTHS WE STAND: The Doctrinal Statement of THE VALLEY CHURCH, emphasis added).10Not the word of men but the very breathe of God:
It was not just the truth of God, not just the word of God, but the very breathe of God. For that reason we can say with Hebrews 4:12, ‘The Word of God is alive.’ It cannot be alive if it is the word of men (ON THESE TRUTHS WE STAND: The Doctrinal Statement of THE VALLEY CHURCH).11His Word will condemn all who trifle with its sacred contents:
God’s holy, inspired Word … reveals the mind of God. … It should fill your memory. It should rule your heart. It should guide your feet. Read it slowly, frequently, prayerfully. … It is given to you in life. It will be opened at the judgment. It will be remembered forever. It involves the highest responsibility. It will reward the greatest labor. And it will condemn all who trifle with its sacred contents (ON THESE TRUTHS WE STAND: The Doctrinal Statement of THE VALLEY CHURCH, emphasis added).12But what happens when men trifle with the sacred contents of God’s holy inspired Word? What happens when they spiritualize it to conform to the wisdom of men? And what happens when they disregard the verbal plenary inspiration of His Word, the essence of our doctrinal statement1? History provides the reverberating answer: spiritual confusion, shipwreck of the faith, hatred of His chosen nation, and an indelible trail of blood.
1Paul E. Steele, ON THESE TRUTHS WE STAND: The Doctrinal Statement of THE VALLEY CHURCH, (Published by The Valley Church, Cupertino, California, 1978).
2Op. cit., p. 7.
3Op. cit., p. 31.
4Op. cit., p. 185.
5Op. cit., p. 186.
6Op. cit., p. 185.
7The Valley Church, The Second Coming of Christ, 3/28/76, (audio tape).
8Steele Op. cit., p. 186.
9Op. cit., pp. 19-20.
10Op. cit., p. 22.
11Op. cit., p. 21.
12Op. cit., p. 24.
2 comments:
I'm not all that sure what I'm reading but it is powerful. Can you tell me what the Valley Church is? thanks, selahV
Selah,
The Valley Church is a church my wife and I dearly love. It published a book: ON THESE TRUTHS WE STAND: The Doctrinal Statement of THE VALLEY CHURCH, regarding the plain and simple truth of His Word.
The pastor, who fervently loved that church, literally meditated “day and night” on His Word. He once testified that for each of us there is an opportune moment in history, a moment in eternity, to bring glory to the Living God. I remember how he used his opportune moment. How during our frequent times together, he would forget the lectern and perched on the edge of the platform, seeming to curl his toes around it in an effort to get closer still. And in messages filled with passion and joy, he would share his most recent discoveries from the Word. In his words: “There is nothing in this world more exciting … then to know and do God’s will.”
He died during the fourteen years we were gone, and when we returned, the passion and conviction and doctrine and unity and Spirit and love and joy we had known before were not the same. Forgotten were so many of the truths for which we once stood.
I write to encourage the remembrance of those truths and to “strengthen the things which remain” (Revelation 3:2).
Christian
(originally posted 6/15/07)
Post a Comment