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…
An Ode to the Lord Jesus Christ
/in Uncategorized /by Bible MemoryNow that the backstory, explanation, and vision for this blog have been noted (very fitting at the very beginning), I want this first non-foundational post to be an expression of my appreciation and love for the most amazing person in human history, who just so happens to be the second Person of the Holy Trinity. God Himself. One with the Father. Infinite co-worker with the Holy Spirit in helping us get through this life which is so perennially full of perilous and pernicious potential pitfalls.
I am of course speaking of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Humility/submission/selflessness would have to be one of the qualities which goes against human nature most fiercely. (Along with patience.) Starting at the original fall of mankind in the Garden of Eden. And ever since. So it’s not surprising that Philippians 2:5-11 is such a well-known and beloved passage of Scripture. But it actually starts with 2:1-2 in speaking of love and affection and compassion among believers and being of the same mind and united, not divided. ONE body, one mind. And then takes it a layer deeper in specifically talking about HOW such interpersonal, interrelational unity is accomplished – namely, by having EVERYONE eschew selfishness and “empty” conceit (what a perfectly descriptive word! so true! conceit is so UNfulfilling) and instead focus on the needs of others, not just our own, and introduces the world “humility” there in verse 3 so the more familiar verses 5-11 are really just elaborating and “fleshing out” (no pun intended… as in humility gets the FLESH OUT of the picture, out of one’s mind) that principle.
And surely the beloved and amazing Apostle Paul, the writer of Philippians, and absolutely, positively the Holy Spirit – the writer of Philippians (talk about a brain-twister… who wrote the book of Philippians, Paul or the Holy Spirit? Answer: YES!) – KNEW that there was no greater illustration of humility anywhere in the entire UNIVERSE than the Lord Jesus.
I don’t know about you but from time to time in my life it has been very easy and natural for a familiar passage in particular to go through my mind without my really THINKING about exactly what it’s saying, what it’s inferring, the details and color of the communicated facts. MEMORIZING Scripture certainly helps reduce that tremendously – but not totally, not completely (not in this life!) so it still happens from time to time, and this passage used to be no exception.
The point that Jesus is the very picture of humility is obvious. But have you ever stopped to really consider just what He did? And not for Himself, mind you, but for others, for us, for you and for me. Let’s take a minute to consider exactly WHAT He did and not just gloss over it like I did for years.
He was 100% God. Full deity. Omnipotent, infinite power. Omniscient, infinite knowledge. Omnipresent, not bound by time or external factors of any kind or in any way, shape, or form.
And what did He do? What did He do? He voluntarily gave up the willful use of His deity and took on all the limitations of humanity outside of sin, He wasn’t touched by that but DID go through everything else we do in this life as clearly stated in Hebrews 2:17-18 – “Therefore, He had to be made like His brethren in ALL things, that He might become a merciful [since He knows exactly what you and I are going through at any given time in our lives] and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people. For SINCE He HIMSELF was tempted [i.e., in His humanity; cf, Matthew 4; Hebrews 4:15 and James 1:13] in that which He has suffered, HE IS ABLE to come to the aid of those who are tempted. [i.e., of you and me!]” – and as set forth in 1 John 2:15-17 [which if you think about it, are the three areas to which ALL sins can be boiled down and correspond perfectly – and not coincidentally – to Matthew 4].
I’d say that’s giving up an awful lot! The pure pleasure and power of deity in exchange for all the rigors and challenges and functional limitations of humanity – oh yeah, and having to look forward to PHYSICAL DEATH? Who in the universe would ever agree to such a deal?! Would you??? I don’t think I ever would, sorry, I love you all and am happy to spend my entire life savings on this website/ministry but NO WAY would I make that trade! Deity for humanity? NO WAY! But Jesus did.
But it wasn’t just a matter of all the issues of human life and even physical death per se that he voluntarily took on, but the worst kind of physical death. Crucifixion. “Death on a cross” as verse 8 puts it (Philippians 2:8).
I have to admit that one of the specific events I’ve most thanked God for in my lifetime was Mel Gibson’s decision to fund the production of the movie The Passion of the Christ himself when the studios were unwilling, because I can’t think of another event along with the horrific and tragic 9/11 terrorist attacks which has put such a widespread focus on God, church, etc., and in the case of the former, far more specifically on the Person and work of Jesus. As an aside, I believe that both of these events were allowed and used by God for a very specific purpose: to “blare out” to the entire world the importance of settling one’s eternal destiny before it’s too late. The Bible is clear that most people are not going to Heaven. Matthew 7:13-14 says that “the gate is WIDE, and the way is BROAD that leads to destruction, and MANY are those who enter [i.e., the afterlife, eternity] by it” but that “the gate is SMALL, and the way is NARROW that leads to life [i.e., Heaven], and [comparatively, c.f., Revelation 7:9] FEW are those who find it.” So it’s very safe to assume that most of those who died in those towers or the Pentagon or on those airplanes on September 11, 2001, did not resolve of this most important matter in all of life, where one will spend all eternity. Do you think they had thought about that many times? Undoubtedly. The first line of Ecclesiastes 3:11 is very well-known: “He [God] has made everything appropriate in its time.” But its second line is less so, yet very pertinent: “He has also SET ETERNITY in their heart” – so, yeah, those people thought about it just like you and I have throughout our lives. And just as God used Noah to “blare out” the end of the ancient world (2 Peter 2:5) before at some point [when His patience stopped “waiting” – 1 Peter 3:20] shutting the ark’s door and those unbelievers OUT forever, so also I firmly believe that God is using certain events of a massive, world’s-attention-grabbing scale like 9/11 and that self-made movie about a crucifixion of all things which had “no chance” of succeeding doing just that, and succeeding so wildly that the world writ large couldn’t avoid focusing on and talking about it for many months, I believe He is using these events to “blare out” the end of the modern world. And one of the pressing motivations of my life is this question: how many people, just like in Noah’s days, will fail to resolve their eternal destination before it’s too late and thus get “shut out” of Heaven forever? In my view, nothing better captures the word “haunting” than that. I often think that if God just gave the world the slightest taste of Heaven while they’re still alive and on Earth virtually EVERYONE would give their life to Him and be saved. But I also think that just giving the world the slightest taste of Hell would probably be just as effective, given how human nature often responds even better to so-called “negative reinforcement” than the positive variety. It would quite literally scare Hell OUT OF people, scare people out of an eternity in Hell. Anyway, all of that was an aside, the long and scenic route of saying that while and for that reason the widespread release and success and discussion of that movie has been among the greatest items of thanks and praise to the Lord in my life, after hearing about how graphically His crucifixion was depicted therein I just couldn’t bring myself to see it, to sit through that, to actually go watch it, but I’m sure many of you were able to so you probably have an even better idea of exactly what Jesus voluntarily took on when He became a man.
But you know what really hits me about this passage, Philippians 2:5-11? It’s not so much what He went through as a man but rather as a fetus and baby! As a man, He knew exactly who He was, that He was “God in flesh appearing” as the world sings every Christmas season. As a man, Matthew 26:53 makes clear that He was utterly aware that He could ask and God the Father would “at once put at My disposal more than twelve legions of angels [i.e., 72,000]“. So although it’s very true that He suffered a humanly-horrific death on the cross for us, on our behalf, He did so voluntarily and with a sense of control, knowing that He could’ve nipped that entire situation in the bud (to put it mildly… just read the last-in-the-New-Testament book of Revelation to see what just ONE angel is capable of, now think of 72 THOUSAND) if He had wanted to. But when He voluntarily became a BABY and before that a FETUS growing inside the virgin Mary’s womb after being conceived by the Holy Spirit (Matthew 1:18), in my view that’s a whole other level of humility. I think just about everyone will agree that giving up control is perhaps THE most difficult single action in all of human life. I dare say – and indeed it’s proven all the time – that most would rather die with control than to live without it. That’s essentially at the heart of mass shootings, isn’t it? These shooters feel a massive lack of control in life and rather than live without a sense of control they prefer to die (usually immediately) with one, borne of the warped attempt to put themselves in the role of God by deciding who lives and who dies, by deciding whom they shoot and whom they do not. So it’s safe to say that giving up control is perhaps THE MOST DIFFICULT thing in the human experience. Yet that’s exactly what Jesus did. I mean, talk about going from one (infinite) extreme to another! He went from being totally and utterly in control of everything, of the entire universe, to being totally and utterly DEPENDENT on Mary, on Joseph to feed and protect Him in His early years, and of course on His heavenly Father the entire way. Babies are the very picture of dependence. They have ZERO inherent control. None. Nada. Zilch! I can’t even imagine on this side of adulthood how hard it would be to be a fetus and baby once again (no thanks!), much less how much infinitely greater a sacrifice it was for Jesus to go not from being a human adult to a fetus/baby but from the voluntary use of His deity including omnipotence, INFINITE control, to a fetus/baby. I dare say He’s the ONLY one who would EVER make that trade, agree to that deal, and He did that not for Himself but for you and me, because He knew that if He didn’t we’d all be doomed to an eternity in Hell.
So I’m honored and thrilled to take the opportunity of this first non-foundational post to publicly thank and praise Him for His incomprehensible humility and self-sacrifice and love, all beautifully demonstrated just in that single act of becoming not just a man but a fetus and baby. Amazing love, how can it be? Indeed.
Since, unlike God, we ARE bound by time and schedules, I should probably end this post here and discuss His many other qualities in-depth in future posts, so I’ll end this one simply by saying that He is my best friend, the best I’ve ever had by far. He’s my Savior who freed me from an otherwise-certain eternity in the unquenchable fire and unending, unimaginable torture of Hell. He’s my strength and my power. He’s my continual example and motivation in life. He IS my life, my everything, my all, and I guess in an inverse way I understand the (warped, in their case) rationale and choice of those mass shooters because I would absolutely, positively, in-a-proverbial-heartbeat rather die with Christ than to live without Him. A-n-y d-a-y of the week and twice (literally!) on Sunday. I love Him with all of my heart, for all He does, yes, but even more for who He is and all that He means to me. Thank You, Lord, for always being there for me, for being such a great shield and comfort, for being such a great friend and constant companion, such a merciful high priest, for being my Lord but one whose burden is indeed so very light, for being my Lord but never “lording it over me”, for being utterly unashamed of me – even to call me BROTHER (Hebrews 2:11) and being willing to share Your indescribably massive inheritance with me (Romans 8:17; Colossians 1:12), for helping me resolve – or be content with – my weaknesses and simultaneously being the strength of my life.
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If you sense that the Lord might be leading YOU to support the historic event unfolding in real-time here at BibleMemory.ORG and thus become my fellow worker and thus share in all of the fruit and blessings (3 John 8) and literally MAKE HISTORY together, here are the best ways to do so:
1. Become a one-time or monthly partner by making a donation via PayPal’s fully-secure Bible Memory page!
2. Encourage as many people as you can to support this historic event by having them go to BibleMemory.ORG/support (please make sure they understand that it’s .org, not .com) – doing so by word-of-mouth is great, and to do so with a single click on your social media simply click here then scroll down a few inches to the green box and select your platforms, it’s that quick and easy!
3. Add your name to my Prayer List!
4. Encourage as many of our fellow Christians as you can to pray for this historic event by having them go to BibleMemory.ORG/pray (please make sure they understand that it’s .org, not .com) – doing so by word-of-mouth is great, and to do so with a single click on your social media simply click here then scroll down a few inches and select your platforms, it’s that quick and easy!
5. Share this post on your social media by clicking on one or more of these platforms:
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The Vision
/in Uncategorized /by Bible MemoryAs a recap and summary of what BibleMemory.ORG is all about…
For years and years I have felt a strong desire to give a gift back to the Lord for Who He is and what He means to me and all He’s done, something above and beyond the norm, as important as those daily gifts of obedience and worship and fellowship and meditation are. Something in addition to those. A grand, overarching love gift and thank-You gift back to Him. And as noted on the About page and repeated in this blog’s very first post, one day IT HIT ME. Like a bolt of lightning from a stormy sky, it hit me EXACTLY what I could do. Indeed, what I MUST do. And that is, for the first time in known human history, to MEMORIZE the ENTIRE BIBLE and then recite His OWN WORD AND WORDS BACK TO HIM! [I am of course referring to non-deitic human history, since the Lord Jesus Himself not only KNEW the entire Bible by heart, not only KNEW the Word, but WAS the Word, was the very personification of the Bible. Whenever I use the term “human history” it excludes the Lord Jesus since He is in a class of His own, a class of one, since no other human before or after can even come close to comparing to Him even just on a human level, even just in his humanity.]
That’s quite the gift, to be sure. It will – and indeed already has begun to – require a full-time, day-in-and-day-out, multi-year commitment but (a) is still not even one-infinitieth of what He truly DESERVES but (b) is the closest to that I could think of, the best I can do, so I decided right then and there to dedicate the rest of my life to this and the ministries which I’m sure will flow forth from this historic endeavor, this history-making undertaking.
Even apart from the spiritual/religious aspect involving the Bible, just from a human, intellectual standpoint I already know that there’ll be a huge amount of media interest in this and that their presence will be extensive on the day or more likely week that I actually and literally RECITE the ENTIRE BIBLE back to Him [Lord-willing… and I’m sure He is! How could He NOT be? Like I mention on the home page, just think about how pleased, how flattered YOU would be if you gave a heartfelt love letter to the person you were dating and then on your next date that person RECITED IT BACK TO YOU BY HEART, FROM MEMORY! (Okay, some people might be frightened by that but you get the point. I.e., because most of us wouldn’t write a love letter in the first place if we had just started dating, if we didn’t already have a good idea of their character and suitability, I would definitely be flattered and view that as a huge positive/plus!)]. I mean, for any mere mortal (let alone such a flawed one as I) to be able to memorize much less recite at one time anything so voluminous as the ENTIRE BIBLE would have to attract a ton of attention – religious, media, academic/intellectual, and otherwise.
So what I currently envision is making a whole week (month?) of it (since the Bible could never be recited in just one day) and use that event to focus the world’s attention on the Bible – its literal, functional, actual power, regardless of the vessel – and our precious Savior. I am highly confident that such will be sustained far beyond that event/week/month via the resultant ministries (discussed here) but even if it weren’t, just being used to direct the world’s focus on the Lord of the Word and the Word of the Lord even for a minute would single-handedly make my entire life very worthwhile.
Of course, none of this will happen if the Lord doesn’t lead enough like-minded Bible-loving believers to serve as His hand and fingers by getting behind this and supporting it in whatever ways they’re able as listed in the Side Panel at the top-right of this page. Because if I can’t devote FULL-TIME to finishing that ginormous task (there’s a reason it’ll be the first time in human history) it wouldn’t happen. (I could probably finish the whole New Testament on a part-time basis but He deserves so I am dead-set on ALL of His Word, BOTH halves, so I need to start doing so full-time.) And that’s also why it’s so important that Lord-led believers also spread the word and “share” this and the other posts with everyone they know, by word-of-mouth and/or on their social media platforms, to “follow” this blog and subscribe to the Bible Memory YouTube Channel, and to sponsor this whole thing via the Donate button above or below and to check that little box on the PayPal page and become a Monthly Partner in this endeavor, even if just for ten bucks a month (just 33 cents a day).
I already KNOW that the Bible is so powerful that being ingested (memorized) even by just one person – no matter how flawed – will absolutely shake the world to its core and produce some downright amazing, jaw-dropping things and I can hardly wait to see exactly what He has in store but it’s exciting beyond description even in foresight… methinks the world is about to get a real eye-opener, and I can’t thank you enough for being a big part of that!
So that’s the vision in a few paragraphs. There’s so much more to say and share but I’ll do so via future posts. For now, I just want to end this one by testifying to the fact that the Bible has not only saved me – in every way a person could possibly be saved: spiritual, physical, emotional, relational – but has put me squarely on the proverbial “cloud nine” each and every day. Just under the umbrella of the Holy Trinity, the Bible has become my all-in-all in this life, because it’s the bridge that joins me to the Holy Trinity. Day after day, hour after hour, minute after minute. One of the taglines or mottos of this Blog is “HAPPINESS GUARANTEED.” Because, to borrow a phrase from Ephesians 3:20, I’m exceeding abundantly beyond certain that anyone who regularly ”follows” this blog and these posts – who “reads ’em and heeds ’em” – will absolutely see a tangible and wonderful and constant increase in their sense of happiness and joy and peace and love in their day-to-day life. And believe me when I say that such won’t be because of me but in spite of me. Not because of me but wholly, fully, and solely because of the BIBLE. Its power. Its work. Its utter endurance (1 Peter 1:23,25; Psalm 19:9; Matthew 5:18; John 10:35). Its “tried and true” nature (Proverbs 30:5). Its tangible effect on anyone it indwells – and the stronger the indwelling (Colossians 3:16), the stronger the effect and effects.
Which brings me to my final point. There’s no question that to MAXIMIZE those effects and benefits and rewards, a person will need to INGEST the Bible, to MEMORIZE it themselves, to literally place it INSIDE themselves – their mind and therefore body and life. But the Bible is SO powerful that just as in nature a virus spreads from person to person, so also the effect and effects of the Bible can be realized just by PROXIMITY. Not to the same EXTENT as if ingested by that person, but for those who don’t think they have the time or inclination (yet!) to memorize the Bible on a regular, systematic basis themselves, I’m thrilled to tell you that just being close (via regular exposure to these posts) to someone who DOES will still have a major effect and benefit in your life. It’s my honor to have you here and to SHOW you what I mean as the coming months and years unfold.
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About This Blog
/in Uncategorized /by Bible MemoryJust as giving you the backstory on how this whole thing came about was appropriate for the subject matter of the very first post, it seems equally fitting that the second post should share the ins and outs of this blog, of all future posts, so without further ado…
You might notice that I don’t intend to include dates on these posts. There might be exceptions, like if a post is time-sensitive (e.g., commenting and/or giving a biblical perspective on a breaking news event, etc.), but this will be the general rule of thumb. Why? Two reasons.
First, because as you’ll see more and more as this journey progresses, the Bible is absolutely and utterly TIMELESS. Like the precious Lord Jesus Christ Himself (Hebrews 13:8), His inextricable Word, the Bible, NEVER CHANGES. Proverbs 30:5 makes clear that “EVERY word of God is TESTED”, or literally, is “tried” – tried and found totally blameless and flawless and without fault or error. It’s perfect because it’s from the perfect God. It’s a flawless book because its Author is flawless (the Holy Spirit). It’s the only truly perfect tangible thing in the universe because of how infinitely-closely-tied – indeed, inextricable – it is to the perfect Lord Jesus Christ, “who committed NO SIN” (1 Peter 2:22), “who knew NO SIN” (2 Corinthians 5:21 [much more on this in a future post, one of the most life-changing for me personally, and I GUARANTEE it’ll be the same for you so please stay tuned for that. Very timely note: if you’d like to automatically be notified when future posts are published, simply click on the grey “Follow Bible Memory” button in item “3.” in the side panel to the right or at the very bottom of this page! It’s totally FREE and you can cancel anytime but I’ll go out on a limb and predict that you never will, that these Bible-centered and very practical and sometimes even personal posts will bring such benefit and reward and ongoing joy into your life that the thought of canceling will never even enter your mind but in case I’m wrong about this (UNLIKE the Bible, I myself AM flawed) it’s good you at least have that option! As I often say, HAPPINESS GUARANTEED!]). In fact, not only does the Bible, the Word of God, never change (speaking of its meaning and work and effect, not about the seemingly-endless stream of interpretative “versions” which keep popping up) but God will actually curse anyone who would even TRY to! (Proverbs 30:6 but especially Revelation 22:18-19 … GULP! YIKES!) It reminds me of and indeed epitomizes the adage “If it isn’t broke, don’t fix it.” But in this case, “Since it’s perfect, don’t even try!”
[Another aspect of this blog: as just demonstrated, green print will be used to indicate that it’s an aside, a side thought; this will often though not exclusively be used to further explain a certain word or phrase in a Bible verse so as to make clear that it’s explanatory commentary and not the literal translation.]
But the second and main reason these posts generally won’t be dated is this: while the Bible, the Word of God, never changes, my insights into such DO since the Lord and the Holy Spirit and the Bible itself (all working together) are constantly refining my thoughts and thinking and perspective on various and sundry matters, always performing its “growing” work (1 Peter 2:2 – “Like newborn babes, long for the pure milk of the word [i.e., the Bible, God’s Word], that by it you may grow in respect to salvation” … much more on this, too, in a future post), so I will reflect that in these posts, i.e., as the Lord and Word bring other verses or additional light on the subject matter to my own mind, in my view it would be downright criminal NOT to share those with you and future readers by adding them to that post.
Also, while my life and by extension this website and blog posts will remain focused on the Person and work and ongoing ministries of the Lord Jesus Christ and under that umbrella on His Word, the Bible, He in His loving sovereignty has brought about (in spite of myself) quite a life story, and has taught me so many aspects of His nature and Word through those life lessons and experiences and journey that I can tell upfront right now that it would be absolutely impossible for me NOT to also share those with you, and I look greatly forward to that, not only because I have a very strong hunch that they will be a big blessing to you as you hear about those and especially all the ways God has used them in my life and I’m sure will in YOUR life as well, but also because it will give Him the opportunity, the wide open door to multiply said usefulness and to further give me the opportunity to fulfill 1 Peter 2:9 and “proclaim the excellencies of Him”! Win/win/win. Sounds good to me!
The Lord has graciously given me a number of strengths and talents and skills but I can assure you that anything “mechanical” isn’t one of them! To put it mildly. (Those who’ve known me for a while especially in my childhood would probably say that this statement should earn me an Oscar nomination for biggest understatement in a lead role.) But an amazing thing has happened on the way to memorizing entire books of the Bible: it has, in a hard-if-not-impossible-to-fully-describe-or-explain kind of way, “activated” to a whole other level the all-sufficient, utterly-comprehensive teaching ministry of/by the Holy Spirit as clearly set forth in 1 John 2:27 – “And as for you, the anointing which you received from Him abides in you, and you have NO NEED for ANYONE to teach you; but as His anointing (i.e., the Holy Spirit) teaches YOU about ALL THINGS, and is true…” I love that phrase “no need”. While I can testify first-hand that there is massive benefit from exposing one’s life and mind to the “accurately-divided” (2 Timothy 2:15) Bible-based teaching and preaching of those whom He has given said gift (Ephesians 4:11; 1 Corinthians 12:28), this verse clearly teaches the importance of being DEPENDENT only and ultimately on the Holy Spirit for this. (After all, who better to teach us a book than its author! Makes sense.) I also love that phrase “all things”. And that’s the main point of this paragraph, because I find that His teaching and guiding isn’t limited only to the Bible (I can also testify to this first-hand, because He leads and guides me regularly about matters that aren’t specifically addressed in the Bible, several of which are of a modern-day nature which the Bible absolutely addresses and covers in general but sometimes not in specific like whether or which kind of car to drive, whether or where to go for a vacation, things like that. But thankfully, the Holy Spirit’s teaching and leading truly does cover “all things” just like that verse says. And for a very recent and pertinent example, like I said, I’m perhaps the LEAST “mechanically-inclined” person on the planet. Sports? Almost all of them. Musical instruments? A few. But mechanical things like trying to fix a car or, say, Build a website? Never! At least never before. Because the programmer who was supposed to build this one had some sort of personal/family emergency arise partway through and couldn’t finish and I couldn’t find another programmer willing to finish what a different programmer had started (fully understandable) so would you believe that I asked the Lord and specifically the Holy Spirit to help, to teach me how to do so – I who have been singularly non-mechanical since birth – and indeed I cited that very verse to Him and would you believe that what you’re seeing with your own eyes as you read this and visit this website is the result? (You’re probably thinking, “Yeah, I actually DO believe that this website was built by someone not mechanically skilled!” but trust me, it was a minor miracle for Him to do that given just how non-mechanical I’ve always been.)
As noted in the “Proof of Authenticity” section on the home page (which you can always get back to with a single click on the BibleMemory.ORG logo at the very top-left of all pages, to the left of the long red bar of different functions/sections of this website), one of the most important things about the decision to launch this whole project/ministries-to-be/website was to demonstrate that it is indeed 100% authentic, not just someone talking about memorizing the entire Bible but actually well on the way (3 of 66, 1/22 of the way there, almost 5% already… and I’m just getting started!) so that’s when I had the idea to demonstrate such by making videos of my reciting those first three books of the Bible from memory. And the only way I could think of to do so WITHOUT any chance of “cheating” was to go down to my local Walmart and buy one of those sleeping blindfolds. First, please know that recording myself has always been and shall undoubtedly forevermore be one of my LEAST favorite activities in life. Second, please know that recording myself while wearing a sleeping blindfold is THE least favorite activity and looks so strange to me BUT a very small price to pay for the perennially important purpose of leaving no doubt whatsoever as to my sincerity about this (not-so-)little project and the progress made so far (without which I never would’ve spent the large amount of time and expense to record those, build this website, etc.). So I’m going to publish those videos as a blog post after the first few foundational ones but in the future will post them here as I finish memorizing and truly knowing them “by heart” (i.e., in chronological order) but will post them at the very bottom of the home page in their biblical order so it’ll be much easier to find a specific book and to track my overall progress as I seek to become the first person in known human history to MEMORIZE the ENTIRE BIBLE – all 66 books – and then recite His own words back to Him as a (very unique and massive-but-still-not-nearly-enough) love/thank-You gift to the Lord for all He does and Who He is! Somebody should’ve done this by now, a long time ago, 2,000 years is way too long but I think the Lord Himself will agree, better late than never! And this gift will not just be from me but from and on behalf of every person who supports this in whatever ways they’re comfortably able!
Lastly (I hope that sound I just heard wasn’t a bunch of people cheering) (all kidding aside, future posts will usually be fairly brief… these first few, not so much since they’re of a foundational nature) and as you’ve probably already noticed, I intend to put specific Bible references in bold print, for the same reason just noted, to keep the Bible front and center on this website and blog and burgeoning ministry as it is in my own mind and life. If there’s one thing I’ve learned it’s that doing so will never bring about failure but failing to do so will. Besides, apart from the Lord and His indescribably powerful yet precious Word, I am NOTHING; and the more and more I grow in love with Him via the Bible, the more and more I “grow in HATE” for my self/flesh, that part of me which is anti-God and anti-everything-good but which will continue to envelop each and every one of us for the rest of our natural life. More on this, too, in a future post… another major life-changer I can hardly wait to share with you.
Looks like I have a lot of writing/sharing ahead so stay tuned!
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