"Now these were more noble-minded than those in Thessalonica, for they received the word with great eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see whether these things were so."

This is a spirit that is harder and harder to find these days. The churches, airwaves and Internet are inundated by self-credentialed teachers and preachers from God. They were not sent but they ran. They were not sent but they are being warmly received by many who do not know enough of the Word of God to detect counterfeit doctrine. Many of these teachers glibly say "Thus says the Lord" and they are accepted just on that account.

But many of them are more subtle though, and it is these that I wanted to write about this time. They quote the Word at length sometimes, but they do something else. They add words to the verses that they quote, putting these in brackets. Or they link passage with passage, connecting them with the three periods (...) called an ellipses, meaning something was left out of the quotation. Now I am not against these practices in principal. In the above quotation of Acts 17:11 I could just as well have written, "Now these [Bereans] were more noble-minded...". That kind of interpolation is both allowable and easy to deal with. The ones below are harder to discern because the bracketed words are actually interpretations of the text. The first blatant example actually adds to the text. All four imply that the original warrants the additions. All four support bad teaching. And ellipses can also be used in the wrong way (see example below)

Example 1.
"because by means of him all [other] things were created in the heavens and upon the earth, the things visible and the things invisible, no matter whether they are thrones or lordships or governments or authorities. All [other] things have been created through him and for him. Also, he is before all [other] things and by means of him all [other] things were made to exists." The New World Translation - Col. 1:16-17

The Jehovah's Witnesses believe, against all Scriptural evidence, that Jesus had a beginning. They believe He was created by the Father and then proceeded to be co-creator with the Father (and an impersonal Holy Spirit). This is why they have to add words to the Word. They are more loyal to their teaching than the truth. They are determined to hold onto their doctrine that Christ, exalted though he was, had a definite beginning, was not infinite God. To do so they must do great violence to texts, like Col. 1:16- 17, which testify clearly about the deity of Christ.

Example 2.
"Do not quench (suppress or subdue) the [Holy] Spirit; do not spurn the gifts and utterances of the prophets [do not depreciate prophetic revelations nor despise inspired instruction or exhortation or warning.] But test and prove all things [until you can recognize] what is good; [to that] hold fast. "- Thessalonians 5:19 - 21 AMP
quoted by John Bevere in Thus Saith the Lord?

This author, one of the modern "prophets" of the so-called latter rain movement, takes the verse that was meant in a wider context (All prophecy) and was operative in a certain time-period (the Apostolic period was in full swing still, the early 50s AD, and places undue emphasis on modern times. To make the verse validate his ministry (where the Lord talks to him and he quotes the Lord verbatim "John, I wrote this verse because..."), he takes advantage of the brackets , AMP ["do not depreciate prophetic revelations" etc.].

By the way, some of what John Deere writes is valid Christian teaching -but that is the usual pattern with false teachers - but his ministry as a whole is greatly suspect because (1) You can tell much about a man by his associations (in his case Kenneth Hagin, Rick Joyner and Bob Jones), (2) The Word teaches clearly that we cannot, Must not add to the Word, to the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints (Jude 3) and (3), the case before us, anyone who adds to the Word of God his own doctrine should be especially reprimanded -- and avoided.

Example 3.
"He who believes in the Son has eternal life; but he who does not obey [the command to believe in] the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him." (John 3:36)

This is from R.B Thieme's web site. His take on this verse is different than what the text merits. He reduces obedience to Christ here to just obeying "the command to believe in" the Son. Easy-believism chaffs at those verses that seem to lean toward works-salvation ("seems" is the operative word). Actually the obedience called for is a simple believing in Christ, walking in the Spirit. This is not works-salvation, it is outwork salvation (see Phil. 2:12), God working out in us what He has put in us, His workmanship. If there is NO walking in the Spirit and no consequent fruit of the Spirit, though ever so imperfect, that person has not as yet believed savingly. Once again, a desire to hold to a certain theology leads someone to add to Scripture what is not there.

Example 4.
"Ephesians 2:8,9 says, 'For by grace (undeserved favor) you have been saved (delivered from sin's penalty) through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, that no one should boast.'"
From the tract "Ignerant Bliss?" from Larry Moyer of EvanTell, Inc.

Here is a similar example from the same general camp of those who greatly over-value man's "contribution" to salvation ("God did His part, now we must do our part"). The author of this tract, apparently not understanding the scope and depth of God's grace, is willing to reduce it neatly to "undeserved favor". But is this the point of the verse? No. In fact, is the emphasis here on faith? Again, no. Consider especially the context, in fact, all of Ephesians up to this point. Paul had just finished saying that we are "saved by grace" (Eph. 2:5). Prior to that he had outlined how God's purpose for saving the saints had been so that His glory would be magnified. "To the praise of His glory" or "to the praise of the glory of His grace" appears three times in that first chapter; one for each of the three sections that describe, respectively, the work of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit in our salvation. In this whole section of the first chapter and a half of Ephesians faith is seen as a part of grace, not the only part of it either.

But for the one who is determined to maintain faith as the determining factor in our salvation, this passage becomes an obstruction, with its annoying insistence on the preeminence - and precedence - of the sovereign grace of God. The answer is to blunt the grace in order for our (self-generated) faith to shine more prominently.

This is why the "grace" of Eph. 2:8 is dismissed as mere "undeserved favor". And why it is disconnected from verse five - and from the entire first chapter, that majestic, awesome description of the Father's plan. The desperate need to maintain that "man's part" ("Jesus did all of this for us. Now you need to reach out in faith...") requires all of this.

Actually this quote above affords two examples, seeing that we have two unjustified interpolations here. Aside from the diluting of God's grace to mere undeserved favor, we also have salvation made equivalent with being "delivered from sin's penalty". Clearly, salvation is much more than that. It is an insult to God, His grace and His Spirit of Holiness, that salvation is a mere change in standing and not also a change in our walk in this life. We are, after all, new creatures in Christ Jesus. This is all part of salvation. Once again, this is the tired and - unfortunately, in many cases will prove to be a - damning heresy of easy-believism. Get people saved and then hope that they will live lives that will match up to their profession. This same author says that believers should live obedient lives "as a thank you letter to God". Well, no, Larry, this is not just a "Thank you letter", it is a part of salvation as well. Galatians 1 tells us, in that wonderful description of the Gospel, that Christ "gave himself for our sins, so that he would deliver us from this present evil age".

That is all part of the Gospel, victory in Jesus now, not just an assumed later assurance - real or imagined, depending on whether a real change has indeed taken place.

These are difficult and dangerous times. The greatest danger comes not from the ones outside the church, from the ones we already know to be wary of, but from within, from friends we know by face, from authors we trust and know by name.

Example 5.
"Today you can come to Him by surrendering your life and heart to Christ. The Bible says: 'As many as received Him (Jesus Christ), to them gave He power to become the sons of God, even to them which believe on His name: which were born ... of God.'" The reference is then given as "John 1:12 - 15."
From the tract "The Way back to God" from Good news Pubishers, written by Billy Graham.

There are significant problems here. First, there is the minor problem that needs to at least be mentioned: there is no reference at all to verses 14 and 15. This may have been a mere printer's typo, but it needs to be stated that all of the reference is to verse 12 and 13.

Now what about that 13th verse? Notice that reference as given in the tract, "John 1:12 - 15", implying that they had fairly given the gist of that passage. They haven't. In fact, what they leave out from verse 13 expressly contradicts Graham's assumption. Here are the two verses, with the part underlined which Graham left out:

"But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God."

A grammatical point here is very important: The verb of verse 13, "were born", happens before the actions of verse 12. Without the being born of verse 13 there will be no "receiving" and "coming" of verse 12. This can be verified by checking this with any Greek grammar.

Now, do you see the problem? God's Word here is bristling with negatives and qualifications, but the tract merely brackets the promise. But we can't do that. All of God's promises must be taken in context. This passage is cherry-picked and trimmed as if to say that, when it comes to being saved, the ball is in our court. We need only to exercise our free-will and come to Christ. But the Bible says here that free-will is exactly the thing that we do not have. Our salvation does not come from "the will of flesh, nor of man". What could be clearer? Brothers and sisters, let's not make a mistake here and think that we can bring anything to, or add anything to, our salvation. it is entirely a work of God (1 Cor. 4:7; Eph. 2;10; Jonah 2;9).

We need very much to be Bereans, carefully checking all verses and references. And all the brackets and ellipses as well. The inspired Bible writers, of course, did not use the terms "bracket" or "ellipse". But they did warn us against adding to, and taken from, the Word of God. In many cases this is exactly what these brackets and ellipses do. Take note of Gods Word, Revelation 22:18 - 20:

For I testify unto every man that hears the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book:

And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book.

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