Many people will (mistakenly) think that anyone who memorizes a huge amount of Scripture must be some sort of “super saint”. I have this to say about that, and that’s this: Super saint? NO I AIN’T! Not even close. (To echo the Apostle Paul in Romans 7:18, “For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh”.) In fact, just the opposite of their notion is true, because the more of the Bible I memorize, the more I realize how utterly and entirely sinful I am in and of myself, in my flesh. You see, as Psalm 19:7-8 clearly states, the Bible – and especially memorizing the Bible – “enlightens the eyes”. It breaks through the blindness which besets us from birth and opens one’s eyes. To the truth and existence and nature and will of God. To the nature and detrimental, destructive, and indeed deadly consequences of sin (Romans 6:23). And to the nature of man. Our flesh. Our fallacy. Our tendencies. Why we do what we do. Why we do what we should not and not do what we should! (Romans 7:19) So you can see why I say that the more Scripture one memorizes, the more one will see the righteousness of God and the sinfulness of oneself, of the flesh, to the extent that I can honestly say that I’m the BIGGEST SINNER I know, I’m the biggest sinner I’ve EVER known, and I’m probably the biggest sinner YOU’VE ever known, at least that’s how I see it, that’s my (believe it or not blissful) Bible-borne perspective.
But thankfully Psalm 19:7-8 doesn’t stop there! Because it’s just as clear that the Bible also “restores the soul” and “makes wise the simple” and “rejoices the heart”! It’s not just a win, not just a home run, memorizing and reciting Scripture is a GRAND SLAM! And not just spiritually, but humanly… not just in the spiritual realm, but in the human realm, not just in the life to come but also this present life (1 Timothy 4:8). And I can testify from firsthand experience that all of this is absolutely true: so long as I’m doing so on a regular basis, my spirit remains utterly joyful, rarely ever leaving the proverbial “cloud nine”. I find that I see things that many others don’t (heightened insight produced by the Word within). And I find that my heart remains filled with and focused on the things above, not on the things that are on earth (Colossians 3:2), not on the things which are seen, but unseen, not the things which are temporal but eternal (2 Corinthians 4:18) – what a wonderful way to go through life! And what’s amazing is that I’m just at the START this journey of memorizing the entire Bible, after which the Lord is leading me to turn this into a full-fledged, full-speed-ahead, full-time ministry – here’s the plan…
PHASE 1: Memorize the ENTIRE Bible as a “love/thank You” gift back to Him and also to prove, to demonstrate to the world the utter and tangible power and benefits of the ingested (memorized) Word of God! And for the first few months to highlight the need and leave room for the Lord to lead like-minded Bible-loving believers to support this in whatever ways they’re able and willing and excited to do so when learning about this historic endeavor and opportunity.
PHASE 2: After memorizing all or at least the vast majority of the New Testament, the next step will commence and entail totally changing the emphasis of this website from seeking one-time and especially Monthly Partners so as to get and keep this going to just giving back by meeting the needs of others, to “fulfill the law of Christ” by “bearing the burdens of others” (Galatians 6:2) and “serving one another” (Galatians 5:13; 1 Peter 4:10).
Specifically, I will make myself available all throughout the day virtually every day so anyone will be able to:
- Ask and receive Bible-based answers to their questions about the Bible itself, God, sin, human nature, and whatever else might be on their hearts at any given time. Literally for the rest of my or their lives, they will have a ready and waiting friend and/or listening ear and/or shoulder to cry on according to their need at the time. Without reservation, and without judgment.
- Submit prayer requests to be prayed for by someone who is brimming with the living Word within him, which I firmly believe is the biggest key to effective prayer: the Word sanctifies (John 17:17) and cleanses (Ephesians 5:26) and keeps pure (Psalm 119:9) and away from sin (Psalm 119:11); now combine all of this with the fact that “the eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous, and His ears attend to their prayer” (1 Peter 3:12) and “The effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much” (James 5:16b) and perhaps speaking most poignantly to the amazing link between memorizing Scripture and an effective prayer life, “If you abide in Me, and MY WORDS ABIDE IN YOU, ask WHATEVER you WISH, and it SHALL BE DONE for you.” (John 15:7). How will people’s lives literally change and be transformed by the supplication and intercession by one in whom such a massive amount of Scripture will be dwelling? GAME-CHANGER. Life-changer. WORLD-changer! (Literally. Just ask the people who were living in the time of Elijah.)
- Find a BIBLICAL – Bible-loving, Bible-believing, Bible-practicing – church near them, right in their local area! I am already in the process of putting together this network of churches; denomination will be irrelevant, the only criterion will be the extent to which they demonstrably adhere to the principles set forth in the Bible about “how one ought to conduct himself in the household of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and support of the truth.” (1 Timothy 3:15) With a primary focus on how supportive they are of Bible memory. I expect even just the human-interest/intellectual aspect of this project to attract countless people who aren’t even religious or are very early on in their spiritual growth who’ll need and want to find a church that will foster and maximize said growth.
- Find the businesses in YOUR area that are owned and/or managed by fellow Christians who love the Lord and His Word and realize the importance of and support Bible memory. Galatians 6:10 and 1 Timothy 6:2 make clear that it is our responsibility as Christians that our everyday choices inure to the benefit of fellow believers whenever possible, so I’m going to make that super easy and convenient by posting a nationwide (but searchable by state/county/city) LIST of Christian businesses so we can all choose THEM whenever we need a product or service; once assembled, it will appear on the “Find A Christian Biz” / Yellow Pages section here at BibleMemory.ORG so please check back for that in the coming weeks.
PHASE 3: Turn this burgeoning history-in-the-making effort into a full-speed-ahead, full-fledged, full-time ministry to Educate, Encourage, and Empower others to memorize and recite Scripture on a regular, systematic, verse-by-verse, book-by-book basis! Tall goal, but totally doable, because something very interesting happened as I memorized my very first book of the Bible, the New Testament book of James. That goal seemed not just tall but downright monumental. Undoable. Right? Wrong! Because, amazingly, the more of it I memorize, the EASIER it gets! The more of it I memorize, the more I am able to memorize. By the time I came to Chapter 5, I knew this large task was indeed going to be accomplished. BIG difference than when I was facing Chapter 1 Verse 1.
This is a fantastic real-life demonstration of Matthew 19:26 which says, “With men, this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.” Including memorizing the ENTIRE Bible! You see, in the physical realm, the more water you pour into a glass, the less capacity it will have for more water to be added. But in the spiritual realm, when it comes to God and His Word, the Bible, the exact OPPOSITE is true! The MORE you pour into your mind, the MORE capacity you’ll have for additional verses and chapters and books to be added! Not less. And this amazing power is exponential in nature: I saw a large increase in capacity from James 1 to James 5, but double or triple the capacity by the time I finished memorizing Hebrews 1-5, and then quadruple or quintuple the capacity by the time I finished memorizing Hebrews 6-10, and so on. This finding is literally historic, and indeed the closest thing to a bona fide miracle in recent history of which I’m aware: it’s verifiable, it’s tangible, and – due to the “living and active” nature of the Bible (Hebrews 4:12) – it’s even repeatable. While the specific extent of this phenomenon might vary from person to person, the essence of the Word does not. Ever. This is how I’ll be able not just to Educate and Encourage the masses to memorize and recite Scripture on a regular, systematic basis but also to EMPOWER them to do so (the Word through me). (Believe me, once a person gets a taste of this, his or her life will never be the same. Human metaphors don’t really do it justice but in terms of the Christian life, it’s like trying filet mignon for the first time after a lifetime of eating hamburger.)
This will primarily be accomplished by producing a course, a syllabus, an entire series of videos, CD’s, and even audio cassettes, which will take all of this and make it SUPER EASY and CONVENIENT for people the world over to learn and apply this at their own pace and as their individual schedules permit. I am utterly convinced that another worldwide spiritual revival will occur, but I’m even more certain that it will only occur as people start ingesting the living Word of God by memorizing and reciting it regularly – “all the day” (Psalm 119:97) and even “day AND night” (Psalm 1:2-3).
By the way, this would be a great time to let you know that as I’ve been memorizing Scripture, a very specific METHOD of doing so is coming into focus, which, as noted above, I can testify firsthand is making it MUCH EASIER for me to memorize and retain – not just the Bible but EVERYTHING: to-do lists, schedule and meetings, various events that occur, etc., a true “sponge” effect! – and I’m 99.9% sure that it will do so for virtually anyone and everyone who applies it. It’s still coming together but seems to be getting close to the point that it can be rolled out. This one aspect alone of this one phase alone could easily and literally change the world and people’s everyday lives.
PHASE 4: Set up new and/or work with established addiction centers to specifically address the huge need for healing, curing, and then preventing from recurring (relapse) the massive crisis of addiction to pain killers, opioids, and other drugs, as well as the dreadful disease of depression. I am absolutely certain that the best and probably only way to truly beat, to truly eradicate, overcome, and conquer an addiction is to turn to something even more addictive – and I am equally certain that the most addictive thing in the universe is the BIBLE, the living and active Word of God, the Word ingested. No doubt about it. The main challenge is that so relatively few ever really give regular and systematic Bible memory a try, but I – with your and the Lord’s help – intend to change that!
It won’t happen overnight but I have no doubt that change is indeed coming. And just in case you don’t think the Bible extends or has relevance to the physical realm of human existence, I humbly give you Proverbs 4:22 which, referring to the Bible, the “my words” of verse 20, clearly states that His words “are LIFE to those who find them, and HEALTH to ALL their WHOLE BODY.” Is that an amazing verse or what?! We have a super-duper health “pill” readily available to us (the Bible is the most-published and available book of all time) yet SO FEW EVER ACTUALLY SWALLOW IT! To their utter “missing out” yet few if any are even aware of this because nobody has trumpeted it from the proverbial mountaintops but with your help I intend to change this, too, and do just that!
I didn’t start memorizing entire books of the Bible as a child but did memorize a lot of single Bible verses and – totally not surprisingly in light of that verse/truth/fact – I haven’t had to see a doctor or go to the hospital my entire adult life. Not even a single time. No emergencies. No health surprises. Not one. I don’t think the two are unrelated or that this remarkable health history is mere coincidence or the result of “good genes”; no, I’m certain it’s that verse at work.
No, it won’t happen overnight but down the road I look forward to organizing some clinical/medical trials to demonstrate that this is universal and not just specific to me. I dare say that other than imparting the Gospel or giving one’s own life to save another’s, there is no greater act of love and kindness and therefore Christlikeness (since He epitomized and epitomizes both) than to free a person from the cruel slavery and bondage of addiction or depression, to provide them with the answer, the antidote, something that actually and permanently WORKS! So even just this phase of the action plan will likely be enough to revolutionize the nation and world.
CONCLUSION: If you like what you’ve heard here and found yourself nodding in agreement several times, please read on…
Inaudible… But Very Loud!
/in Uncategorized /by Bible MemoryAs we all know, the wind is intangible… but definitely not silent!
A few months ago a very rare, no, unheard-of tornado (and a DUAL tornado at that!) came within mere feet of my humble abode. At 9:00 p.m. no less. (If you want to experience something truly ethereal, have a double-tornado pass right in front of your bedroom window at night, in pitch darkness. It wasn’t scary, but was one of the most interesting moments and events of my entire life.) But it doesn’t take something even a tenth of that to know that the wind isn’t silent. Hence the common term “howling wind” we’ve all heard hundreds of times.
No, the wind definitely isn’t always silent… and neither is the Holy Spirit!
Inaudible? Yes. For He speaks through the Bible. I.e., the Bible “does His talking for Him” – the Bible is the Holy Spirit’s voice as it were.
Intangible? Yes. The Holy Spirit is a, um, s-p-i-r-i-t and therefore, by definition and nature, inherently intangible.
Yet I find that the Holy Spirit is often quite LOUD. If we truly take the time and wield the wisdom to simply listen for His gentle yet unmistakable and indeed inescapable leading and frequent proddings. Which are every bit as tangible as when we feel the wind blow on our faces or bodies.
This has probably been the number one area of life about which the Lord through the Bible has been teaching and convicting then empowering me in my daily life, in my day-to-day walk with Him.
Things like music and TV and radio and hobbies aren’t (necessarily) bad in and of themselves (and when managed properly can indeed be very positive, reap great results) – bunless they come before or interfere with the things of God including and in many ways especially the free-will capacity we give the Holy Spirit to get through to us on an ongoing basis.
Believe me, He is very, very, very, very willing and ready to do just that, but will never, ever violate a person’s free will (definitely more on that in a future post, some very powerful takeaways) so it’s up to each of us to voluntarily “make way”, to “make a clear path” for His inaudible-but-loud communications to our hearts/minds.
Yes, the Holy Spirit is like the wind. And – as you’ll see for yourself, with your own eyes, in the coming months and years via this website and related YouTube Channel – Bible memory is like a wind tunnel.
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Quick Thought: Only One
/in Uncategorized /by Bible MemoryI think it’s safe to say that virtually every believer is well aware that it’s wrong, indeed dangerous and even deadly, to judge (condemn, criticize) others.
But why? Because God says so in the Bible, quite (crystal) clearly. But why does He say so, what’s behind that truth?
Another truth, as is ever the case with God and His Word, the Bible.
It’s because HE is the Judge… the ONLY judge on the planet.
(For those who might think that jurists – the human judges in our courtrooms – are an exception, not so, since their authority is merely lent, simply delegated to them by God; see Romans 13:1).
But in comparison, I think far fewer people realize that this very same principle applies to a “control issue”. Trying to be “in control” – in most cases, all of the time, in every situation.
While I could (literally) write a book about the bevy of bad results such brings about in the human realm, the spiritual consequences are even far bigger, far worse, far-reaching.
Why? Because control belongs to God and God alone.
Ergo, it’s every bit as crucial and biblical to avoid “trying to control” others as it is to avoid judging others. And every bit as dangerous to fail in that endeavor.
The only form of “control” we can rightly possess is self-control, and of course that’s so good because it’s the fruit of, produced by, the Holy Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23).
I wrote about this in greater depth in an early post on this blog but I love the parallel of those two applications of this “only one” principle as set forth in the two verses highlighted above.
When it comes to things like judging or controlling others, it’s always best, beneficial, biblical to “render… to God the things that are God’s.” (Matthew 22:21; Mark 12:17)
With few if any real exceptions, we don’t like it when others seek to usurp or violate our “space”.
Neither does God.
Lord, may we wisely leave “judging” and “being in control” to You and You alone. For there is indeed “only one” Judge and “only one” Sovereign: You. Grow in us instead a servant’s heart of humility and sweet-spirited submissiveness and love.
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The “Big Lie”
/in Uncategorized /by Bible MemoryLike the rest of us, you’re probably hearing that phrase being thrown around seemingly nonstop these days. For the past almost-year since the 2020 U.S. presidential election.
People politically-left use it to describe the efforts and claims of former president Donald Trump and his allies that the election was “stolen”, “rigged” or a variant thereof.
People on the political right say that the “Big Lie” is the “Big Lie”.
They’re both wrong.
Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay, way, way, way off. Not even close! Because the ACTUAL “Big Lie” – the biggest and most common and most dangerous and deadly and, very unfortunately, most successful, most believed lie, is the one the devil and his minions and the sinful, fallen flesh of humankind tell virtually every lost soul: that they’re on the path to Heaven when they’re actually on the road which leads to Hell.
The devil and his minions have placed big signs every few feet along that road to hell which have four oversized words written on them: “This way to Heaven” – even though they know that nothing could be further from the truth since there’s only ONE path that truly leads to Heaven. The one which goes straight through the immaculate womb and rugged Cross and empty tomb. (I’m copyrighting that because if I ever write a book on the life of Jesus, that’ll be the title: From Immaculate Womb to Empty Tomb 🙂 )
But thankfully, God is faithful to grant clear vision of the truth to every person who accepts whatever amount of the truth about Him and His plan of salvation, the gospel (1 Corinthians 15:1-8, among many other passages… throughout the entire Bible actually but this Chapter is perhaps the clearest and easiest-to-understand of them all), that they’ve received up to that point. For example, Romans 1:20 and Psalm 19:1-6 couldn’t communicate any more crystal-clearly that nature reveals a certain amount of facts, of truth, about God; so if anyone accepts what nature, for instance, reveals about God, He will always be faithful to send them more truth, to take them to the next level of understanding about Him and human sin and salvation/redemption which is the path that leads to (drum roll, please) Heaven! For all eternity.
But, heart-breakingly, billions upon billions of people who have passed through this life – down to the present day and hour and minute – have opted to put their faith in, say, self-righteousness to get them to Heaven. Wrong way (as the common traffic sign says). Wrong path. Wrong answer. (Insert the “buzzer” sound effect from “Family Feud” here.) Because not a single one of us is good enough to “earn” our way to Heaven. “No not one.”
Some of you might be saying, “But DJ Bible, I go to church every Sunday. Twice! And mid-week, too!” To which I reply, “Good for you! That’s a very good thing… but it won’t get a person even a single inch closer to Heaven in and of itself.”
Others have opted to not have any faith at all in or about God and instead have chosen to be atheists. I pray for them as a group regularly, that they’ll see the light before it’s too late, before they find themselves – their real self, their soul – standing before a certain throne of judgment. Not of forgiveness or mercy for it would be too late. But it isn’t too late yet! Hence my regular prayers for that group and others. I genuinely love atheists. And agnostics. And even the ever-smirking self-righteous like the Pharisees of Jesus’s time. Because God loves them. Every. Single. One. Of. Them. Every bit as much as He loves His own children, for His love is infinite and immutable, continual, constant, cannot change even one iota ever toward anyone. Because it’s literally who He is.
But please don’t mistake that, as many do, to mean He therefore couldn’t and wouldn’t ever send someone to hell for all eternity.
He, in the Bible, makes it explicitly clear that He most certainly can and will… IF a person hasn’t chosen the aforementioned path that really does lead to Heaven. Or as 2 Thessalonians 2:10 puts it, who “did not receive the love of the truth so as to be saved.”
All of which brings us to perhaps the scariest portion of the Bible; just listen to what Jesus Himself said (super-scoldingly, brimming with righteous, justified anger but all in love for them, for their souls) to a group of Pharisees who were the “religious” leaders of that era:
You see, it’s not about what a person says but rather what a person “does”, what they “practice” in life, what characterizes their lives overall. (You can read more about this specific aspect in a past post.)
Furthermore, when it comes to getting into Heaven, what counts isn’t whether or not you know Christ but rather whether or not He knows you. Not whether I know Him bur whether He knows me.
Further still, note how strong, how powerful self-deception, self-deceit, self-delusion can be. It’s clear by their statement that the Pharisees were absolutely, 100% “certain” they were headed for Heaven.
Score another one for the “Big Lie”. Those men, those souls were like countless other people before and since whose human heart has definitively convinced them that they too are headed for Heaven, But as the Bible also makes crystal clear about said human heart:
I’m sorry to say that I know this to be true firsthand. Thankfully the Bible – and especially Bible memory and recitation and meditation – can and does and will transform the human heart/mind (c.f., Romans 12:1-2) so I’m very, very, very grateful for that but all of us, all of our hearts and minds and souls start out life in the very same boat as described in Jeremiah 17:9 and – still enveloped by fallen, sinful flesh until the day we physically die – that battle never goes very far away in this life, on this side of eternity (c.f., Romans 7:14-25 and Galatians 5:16-26, and note that word “practice” in verse 21 of this latter passage… like I said in that past post, it’s all about “practice”!) – even for the most spiritually mature, which I feel very safe in saying was the Apostle Paul [who physically penned those words] since he was undoubtedly the fullest imitator of Christ (1 Corinthians 11:1) the world has ever known (and, not coincidentally, probably suffered more than any other human has other than Jesus Himself, but perhaps more about that in a future post) (see also 1 Peter 4:1-2 … definitely more about that in a future post, very powerful and empowering and relieving and freeing/liberating!).
Getting back to this present post’s primary passage in Matthew 7, note that those Pharisees were putting all of their weight and dependence and faith in (admittedly very impressive but equally insufficient-to-get-to-Heaven) deeds rather than having an actual relationship with God. (Meaning a good, active, ongoing and ever-growing relationship, as technically everyone has a relationship with God… some good, some bad; some functional, some dysfunctional; some peaceful, some hostile; some effective, some ineffective; some sufficient, some insufficient.)
And the fifth and final fact from this bit of our beloved Bible I’ll note is that two-word phrase “narrow gate” here in Matthew 7:13, both of which are repeated in verse 14. The picture painted by Jesus is that of a turnstile.
Ever gone with your family to the airport or amusement park or many other places and tried to all go through the turnstile at the same time, together? To say that doesn’t work very well is an understatement. Because it doesn’t work at all.
Does. Not. Work.
And that’s EXACTLY how it is with Heaven, too! It’s entirely an individual thing. Nobody, absolutely nobody can enter as part of a group or family or couple or even denomination. Strictly “one at a time ” as the signs on turnstiles blare.
Good, spiritually-mature and doctrinally-correct families can certainly be a huge help in terms of (post-salvation) spiritual growth, but not salvation itself; no, that’s a decision which each one of us must come to, must make entirely on our own, individually, from our own heart.
The previous post on this blog was about 9/11 (20th anniversary). I’ll end this one by begging any of you who haven’t yet come to that point, who haven’t yet made that decision of salvation through faith in Christ and specifically His becoming a human (Philippians 2:5-11) via the immaculate conception by the Holy Spirit; His perfect, sinless life (how would you like to have been Mary’s other children… talk about sibling issues, yikes, always having to be compared or live up to an older brother who was perfect – truly perfect, not like some who just think they are, but I digress 😉 ); and His death, burial, and resurrection.
THAT, my dear friends, is THE path, the RIGHT path that does indeed lead to, which will indeed take you to Heaven when your time here on earth comes to an end.
And harkening back to 9/11, please don’t make the potentially eternally-dreadful mistake of “putting off the matter” for another day or until another time. Because just think about those thousands of people who woke up on September 11, 2001, and went to work at their office in the World Trade Center or Pentagon as usual, just like every other day, or hopped on an airplane as many of them had so many times before.
Very often, death doesn’t give a one-year or one-week or one-day or even one-second notice. Much better, much wiser to plan ahead in this most important matter. And for the many of you reading this who no doubt already have, how crucial it is to lovingly tell those in your inner circle or whose paths you cross about this.
I feel compelled to end this post by reiterating something I emblazoned on the BibleMemory.ORG Home page and also said in the Overview video on the Home and Videos pages: in my view, in my perspective, I’m the biggest sinner I know, I’m the biggest sinner I’ve ever known, and I’m the biggest sinner you’ve probably ever known, at least that’s the way I see it, since memorizing a lot of Bible verses and indeed entire books opens one’s eyes very widely so as to see these two things (among countless others) very clearly: how righteous and perfect God is, and how sinful and unrighteous and imperfect we are in and of ourselves, apart from Christ – “who knew no sin [became] sin on our behalf, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him” (2 Corinthians 5:21, one of my favorite verses in the entire Bible, one of my favorite statements ever made by pen or tongue). Harkening back one last time to those Pharisees in Matthew 7… it’s not about me, it’s not about you, it’s not about us, it’s all about Him!
And praise the Lord for that.
Thankfully this “Big Truth” totally trumps, utterly outweighs the real ”Big Lie”, which the devil is constantly throwing out, hoping to snag and drag as many unsuspecting people as possible with him to an eternity in hell. (Misery loves company, eh?) Let’s rededicate ourselves, right now, to thwarting those plans of his by lovingly and humbly and powerfully and confidently communicating – by our lives/deeds, then our words – to as many people as possible starting with those in our inner circles, the “Big Truth”.
In fact, now when someone so much as says that phrase “the Big Lie” you have a perfect reply! Talk about an open door!
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