Brother - Dear Table of the Remnant,
I would like to discuss something you said in a letter to me. You said, "The Scriptures are not first, they are second." However, I want to say that the Scriptures are the word of God, and I do not believe that they are second.

Char - Let me begin by quoting something that Paul said in the Scriptures: "He (Jesus) is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by Him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by Him and for Him. He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together. ...that in all things He might have the supremacy."

Brother - I do not know how God thinks, or how He operates. His thoughts are above mine...

Char - It is a misunderstanding of what the Scriptures mean to think that we cannot understand His thoughts. The Father speaks to you and teaches you things. You often know what He thinks. You were created to know what He thinks. We are made in His image, so we can understand what He thinks. In the verses in Isaiah 55, it is not meant to be a general statement saying that we are incapable of understanding God's thoughts, but a statement saying that He is not like us in His thoughts. He is higher - more moral - more loving - than man. Right before that verse He is talking of having mercy on evil man who repented. That doesn't sound too much like man, does it? We hold grudges, and are slow to forgive. God is willing to forgive, if He can bring a man to repentance. That is higher than man. Also God's word goes out and does not return to Him void. Man cannot make this boast.

In other places the Father says, "Come, let us reason together." That demonstrates clearly that we can understand Him. And in the New Testament, it says something concerning "who can know what is prepared for us?..." And then it continues, "But the Holy Spirit reveals it to us." So we can understand, by His Spirit. And we who love Him have His Spirit. In yet another place it speaks of "putting on the mind of Christ". We can understand His mind. All we have to do is ask Him. He is alive, and as He said in the Scriptures, He is not hiding. He is willing to reveal things before they happen to His servants. While they are happening, He is willing to speak. And after things happen, He is willing to discuss and explain what happened, just as Jesus did with His disciples. Jesus was a perfect example of the Father. When did Jesus ever say to them, in the one exception of the exact day when He was returning (and He gave plenty of signs), that they could not understand something? In fact, He was disappointed when Philip did not understand that He and the Father are the same. We can understand anything He chooses to show us. Because we can understand, we can ask Him freely to show us anything, and He will do so.

Brother - ...therefore, I do not know if His communication to men, came to us before He wrote it down or if He had it recorded only after He spoke it to us. But, what I do know is that His verbal or spiritual communication with us is not in contradiction to His written communication to us - meaning, the Bible. Therefore, from this perspective I cannot be sure if the Scriptures were first or second.

Char - Jesus is first. He has the supremacy. He is a living Being, whom we know and love. The Scriptures are a written record of what God said and what He has done, but the Scriptures themselves are not God. Jesus is alive and He is our God. All things are second in light of that.

Brother - But, from this perspective I employ, it makes little difference if the Scriptures were written first or second, because there is no disagreement between those Scriptures and God's other communications to His children.

Char - it makes no difference if the written was written first or spoken first. It is like saying, "On Monday the Father said something to me, and on Tuesday He said something to me, and on Wednesday He said something to me." If you write them down, what difference does it make on which day they were written or on which day they were spoken? Each was said by the Father and each is true. Will they contradict each other? Why should they? He knows what He is saying. It matters little when the Scriptures were written. "Scriptures" means "writings". (From the root "script" which is writing.) And "Bible" means "book". (Biblio=book). The important thing is not the writings, but what is said in the writings. What is said is the part that makes the Bible the "Word of God". The binding and the language and the human writer employed mean little. What matters is what is said, because God said it.

Let me give an example from the Jews: The Sabbath is a day that was given, once a week, to be with God. Man has to work. That is a simple fact. We have to work to provide food to eat. Adam worked in the garden. In light of the fact that we all have to work, the Father thoughtfully gave us a day to stop working and be with Him. That is why Jesus said that the Sabbath is made for man. The Father told them to be sure and keep the Sabbath because He knew that if He didn't tell them to, then they would stop keeping it, and they would slowly but surely fall away from Him. But religious man (the Jews) did not understand what the Father meant and they turned it into something religious, as though the Sabbath itself was some magical thing. It was a gift from the Father. He Himself rested after working, and He knew how good it would be for us. That is why He blessed the day (for our sake) and called it "holy". Holy just means that it is for the Father, or things in the spirit. "Holy" is set aside for Him. You can see by the fact that the Christians in that day began meeting on Sunday, that it doesn't matter so much about the particular day of the week. The same principle of making things religious or mystical is true with the church today and the Bible. They make the Bible a mystical, spiritual object - not realizing that it is really just what God says that is important. What God says is the Word of God. And in the Bible we have written down what God said. There is nothing religious about it. It is a simple matter. The Bible is the Words of God, so it is called the Word of God.

Brother - Therefore, I will have to approach my understanding of what has been said here, from another angle, before I become even more obscure. And please forgive me, I am not desiring to be obscure.

In 2Ti3:16-17(KJV) it says, "All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works." When you mentioned that the Bereans did not look in the Scriptures to set a doctrine about something, it would appear that 2Ti3:16, would be saying doctrine is from the Scriptures. In other words, we are shown by this verse to search the Scriptures for our answers, we are not shown to seek our answers by revelation knowledge or words of knowledge, i.e., prophecy.

Char - I can see where you interpreted what I said about doctrine not coming from the Bible, to mean something different than I did. What I meant is - doctrine comes from God. The Bible is an inanimate object. So, in that sense, doctrine does not come from the Bible. It is written down in the Scriptures. It was given by God. God's words are of course profitable for doctrine and reproof and correction...etc, because God is so smart. God is wise and created man so He knows the best thing for man. I did not mean that doctrine comes by "revelation" although, if that is how God wanted to give it, He could certainly do so. Our doctrine is set, by knowing Him and reading the writings (the Bible) of others who knew Him. So actually our doctrine comes from God Himself.

Brother - I do believe that God still talks to us today. He talks to me. But I obtain my doctrine from the Bible. A supporting Scripture would be Eph6:17(KJV): "...the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God." This Scripture means to me that the "sword of the Spirit" is the Bible. This Scripture means to me that the "word of God" is the Bible.

Char - The "word of God" is "every word which proceeds from the mouth of God" as Jesus said, and not simply what is written down. I can freely say that the Bible is the Word of God because it is. But to say that His words to me or speaking to me is not the words of God is not true. If God said it, it is His word. He said it. That is what a word is - something said by someone. The sword of the Spirit, or the weapon of the Holy Spirit is the "word" form God concerning a particular situation. When the enemy moves against us, with what do we answer? Whatever God shows to be true. Often it may be what is written in the Scriptures, but other times it is what He said that very day to us. That is why I said to you, "What did God SAY to you about "Blessed are those who seeing not believe". I was hoping you would wait on Him until He spoke. I know that you are much more comfortable with looking into the Scriptures, but why is that? You are comfortable not knowing if Ron Wyatt's discoveries are from the Father or not, and why is that? Because you feel safer from being deceived, with the written than you do with the currently spoken. You trust the Father in the Scriptures, but not so much without them. But then where is faith in the living God? You have faith in the Scriptures, and that is good, But, He is alive. Our contention, which we boldly say is from the Holy Spirit, is that He is to be trusted whether He speaks through the Scriptures or to you personally today. It has to be Him, of course, but once we know Him, then we should trust Him. And you do know Him. He should be able to speak to you as often and as clearly as He ever did to anyone who lived on earth before, including all those mentioned in the Scriptures.

God spoke to Abraham, to Moses etc. Why would He wish to speak to us any less? He does not. He wants to be closer to us ("us" being those on earth in this day, who love Him) than He has ever been to anyone on earth, because it is so close to the time that His Son will be on the earth. I know this is so, because He told me this. Jesus is returning for His Bride. He wishes His bride to be intimate with Him. If His bride is too fearful to enter into knowing Him in such an intimate personal, trusting way, then He is not pleased, and she may find herself left with the religious. Without faith it is still impossible to please God. And if we cannot believe that He speaks to us, His own people, His intended bride, then we don't have faith no matter how much we claim we do. And the way to know that what I am speaking is true, is to go into the throne room, in trust, and wait on Him until He speaks and shows this is so. And He has promised me that He will do so. Anyone who trusts Him and comes to Him He will draw close - as close as He was to Adam. He promised to restore the relationship that He had with Adam. Do I have this relationship with Him? I do. Am I a sinner? I am. Can I make mistakes? I can. But do I know Him - really know Him. I do. And this is what He wishes from all His saints today. I am not speaking of prophecy here. You know He speaks to us in prophecy, but I am speaking to a personal relationship in which He can say anything He chooses, and we will hear Him and trust Him, because we know His voice and we know Him. He wants us as His friends, just as He wants us as His servants.

Jesus showed me something recently. He showed me the occasion of the wedding at Cana, which is recorded in John 2. You know what happened there, I am sure. They brought the six jars to Him (and the number six is indicative of man - remember that 666 is man making himself God) and He turned the water in them to wine. The wine steward came and said, "You have saved the best for last." Jesus said to me that the wine was symbolic of the Holy Spirit. Jesus told me that this gospel that I am preaching, that Jesus can be known as intimately as you know any other human on earth, is the 'best wine' which is saved for last. This relationship that the living God will have with us through His Spirit is the best that the Father has to offer. The early apostles and the early church had a relationship with Him through Jesus, whom they believed in. The remnant today has opportunity to have a relationship with Him which is like the relationship that Adam had with Him. They will hear the Father's voice regularly, and will know Him intimately. But, as it always is with the Father, this loving relationship can only be entered into by faith. You must trust Him that He will speak and He will make Himself known. He will also protect, those who trust Him, from the enemy and his deceptions. Those who come to the Father's throne room will know His voice and they will trust Him when they hear Him. Anyone who thinks that just knowing the Bible well is enough is going to miss the boat. The Bible is true and is the Word of God. That should be established in all our minds. But let us move on to greater things, which is the living God Himself. The veil was rent. We must go in. The veil was not rent between us and the Bible, but between us and the presence of God.

Brother - The Bible is the sum total of Holy Scripture. I must use it, read it, study it, consume it, and ask the Holy Spirit to quicken my understanding of it. Without it, I would be in the dark ages, during the time the Papacy forbid the vulgar masses to read the Bible for themselves. Without the Scriptures I would be without a "Lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path" (Ps119:105[KJV]).

Char - Do you mean the dark ages such as Adam, Abraham, Moses, and others were in. Was Paul in a "dark age"? The Scriptures are useful to the Holy Spirit because they were written down by people who knew Him. For our sakes the Holy Spirit had them write these things down. But the Holy Spirit is the teacher. He is alive. The writings are a tool for Him. They are the word of God written down. He (Jesus) is the living Word. If the Holy Spirit wanted to speak to us through asses, over and over and over, as He did with Balaam, He could. But why should He do that? He wrote the Scriptures so that He could use them to teach us and correct us and lead us, as He wishes. Don't make the Scriptures a mystical, religious thing. They are writings which contain the gospel - the good news - of Jesus, and much much more. They are true. They are written by God. But don't fall into the same trap that the religious Jews did. Some of them did it innocently enough. They wanted to honor God on the Sabbath. There is certainly nothing wrong with that desire. To want to study and honor the Bible is not wrong. Of course the Father is pleased. But always keep in mind that they are His Word, because He said them. I hope I am making this clear. "His Words are a lamp unto our feet and a light unto our path." Not simply a book. The Father's words.

Brother - And these verses I am quoting are referring to the written word, not to spoken prophecy. The Hebrews were admonished to bind them on their doorposts, etc. The Pslamist hid the words in his heart (Ps119:11), so that he would not sin against God.

Char - Yes, David thought about what God said and hid that in His heart so that He would always do what God wanted. "In your heart" is not talking about memorization. It is talking about the depth of you - our heart - where you really care about things. David meditated on what God said because He loved the Father and He saw how wise God is. That is why He rejoiced so thoroughly in the precepts and teachings that God had given. It was no coincidence that Solomon asked for wisdom, for David loved the Father for His wisdom. David was not being religious and saying "The writings you have written are so lovely, and gosh, such good handwriting too". He was saying "Your word (what you thought and what you said) is beautiful. There is such a great reward in living by what you say, Father, because you know what you are talking about." We are like David, because we also know that the Father is wise and loving. We trust Him too. We trust all His suggestions, all His commands, and any thoughts that the Father might have we want to hear and we rejoice in His wisdom and His love. That is because we love Him, just as David did.

Brother - And in reference to my more obscure writings a few paragraphs above, Psalm 119:89 (NIV) says, "Your word, O Lord, is eternal; it stands firm in the heavens."

Char - It is eternal because it is forever true. Forever and ever Jesus will be the Son of God. Forever and ever it will be right to love one another. Forever and ever it will be right not to kill, steal, covet etc. David is marveling at the wisdom of the Father and the eternal truth of what God was saying. He was not speaking of books. He was speaking of God's Word - which is what God said. These truths - these words - are eternal. That is what David meant, and David was right.

Brother - We are told in Dt4:2&32(KJV), "Ye shall not add unto the word which I command you, neither shall ye diminish aught from it." And in Revelation 22:18-19 similar warnings are given. And even though in may be argued that Dt 4 and Re 22 only apply to those Books of the Law and to the Book of Revelation, these verses coupled with 2 Timothy 3:16 above, make it clear that God's word carries supreme authority and is useful for doctrine, reproof, etc. And God will never speak a word of contradiction to His Bible, because He is not a man that He should lie.

Char - We would be foolish to take away from what God said. We would be foolish to add to it, because He knows more than we do. He had to warn man not to do these things, because there was a possiblily that man would pick and choose and leave behind some of what was being said. What if we kept only, "Thou shalt not kill." Then what if we never noticed the part about judgement on murderers, because it wasn't written down, or had been erased. Then we would not have a balanced and realistic picture of what God really thinks. If you take any verse and isolate it, without understanding of what God meant, then you could have a problem. The Holy Spirit knows this. That is why He warns against adding to and taking away from the Scriptures. We need to know exactly and precisely what God said and what He meant.

Brother - I must stop, even though I have many more Scripture to share. But I do not think it will be necessary. The point I am making, is that the Scriptures do not take a second seat.

Char - EVERYTHING, including the Scriptures, takes a second seat to Jesus Himself, the Son of God. In all things He has the supremacy. The Scriptures were written for the express purpose of bringing us to Jesus. "Like a school master to bring us to Jesus," Paul says. Jesus is alive forever and ever, and we are His bride.

Brother - They are the words of the Almighty God. "For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart" (He4:12[NIV]). It is not just another book, with mere written words.

Char - I have had Silvana or others, speak to me, by the Holy Spirit. What was said penetrated to my very core, and exposed all that was in me, including my motive, and my attitudes. The Holy Spirit gets to the root of the matter. When God says something about a subject, you can believe that it is true, and it goes deep. That is what is meant here. It is not "just a book". It is a book which contains God's words. Powerful, deep, wise, loving, eternal. That is the way that the Holy Spirit is. So yes, the word of God is living and active, because the Holy Spirit wrote the Bible, and all His words are living and active, and penetrate deep.

Brother - Now you may agree with all I have written. Because you know the dangers of many in the history of our world and even today, that put words of knowledge and revelation knowledge - personal communication from our Lord - above the written word. We have a Churches which claim authority above the Scriptures. In fact when the Scriptures contradict their doctrine, they quickly abandon Scripture. Jehovah Witnesses have a prophetic leadership that not only transends the Bible, they change it at their whim. The Mormons have always had a sitting prophet and whoever it may be at any given time, one thing is clear, he is so powerful and all-knowing that he can even detect when the previous all-knowing prophet was wrong.

Char - We can't take those who are mistaken or deceived, and use them to throw out the truth. Those who spoke to Job thought they knew what God thought. Many could have told Abraham that he should never, ever, ever kill his son. There were people in that day who wrongfully sacrificed their children. But Abraham had to know the voice of the Father for himself. The same is true of us. We are not a people who is searching for the truth, and making up doctrine as they go along. We are those who know the truth, because we know Jesus, and He is the truth. We don't reject the Scriptures, nor do we reject knowing Him personally. He is alive.

Brother - Many deceivers operating within the Christian community also claim revelation knowledge and give exegesis of the Bible that makes Balaam's donkey hee-haw. If I did not have the written word to contend with these belief systems, religions, and false teachers, then I would have to lay down my pen (keypad) and retire.

Char - You are not giving much credit, or trust to the Holy Spirit here. You do know Him, Brother. I am not speaking to a baby, or a non-believer, or someone filled with wrong doctrines. You do know Him. I am just taking things further than you would. But where I am taking you is the truth. It is backed by the Scriptures, and it is backed by Jesus, who is alive. He will tell you Himself. Let me tell you about something that the Father told me one time. I was speaking about knowing the Father to someone who loves his Bible. His Bible was a treasure to Him. This is what the Father said to me: "This man has a well-worn Bible. I am looking to call a people, from those who have well-worn Bibles." I understood that the Father was praising this man to me. The Father was pleased by his heart towards the Scriptures, and towards God Himself in the Scriptures. But the Father was also saying that in these final days before His Son returns, that He wants a people who love His Word (the Bible) AND who know Him and trust Him implicitly for Himself. Those who know the Scriptures, and those who know Him. These are the ones He calls "remnant". And out of all the Bible readers, it is actually only a remnant. It is one thing to have faith in what was written in the Bible, but it is another to trust the Father yourself. What I mean is, many trust the things written in the Scriptures because they are in the Bible. They accept that they are from the Holy Spirit. But do they trust the One who wrote the Bible if He speaks today? We must have faith in Jesus, who is alive today. The living, speaking Jesus, who is returning soon for a bride. The Father does not need, nor want, a new group of religious people, such as He had with the nonbelieving Jews. He is looking for those who know Him and love Him AND who know and love His written word. This is the message that we consistantly put forth, by His grace, as you know.

Brother - Yes, I have the Holy Spirit, but His written word is the sword He has given to me (and to all His children). I cannot lay it down, I cannot forsake it, and I cannot trivialize it beneath any prophecy. In fact, I hold it in higher esteem than any prophecy of today. Because this written word - the Bible - has proven itself more reliable than imaginative minds, even minds that hear clearly yet sometimes do not understand what they hear. It happens to me, I can relate.

Char - I am not speaking particularly of prophecy. Was it prophecy for Abraham to go sacrifice His Son? Or was it what the Father said to Him. Does the Father only speak to you in prophecy? Jesus simply wants to be able to speak to us, as any of us would speak to each other. We can hear Him clearly, for He will make it so. He wants us to trust Him that He will do this for us, and for us to come to Him in the throne room, and He will meet with us. There is no greater thing in all of existence, then to know Him and to be consistantly in His presence. His presence will be the new wine, which is the best which Jesus' saved for last.

Brother - Boy, I bet you're tired of reading by now.

Char - No, I am not tired of reading what you wrote. If you have any questions about anything I am saying here, please feel free to write to us.

Brother - God bless you, until next time.
In Christ Jesus,
P.S. The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our God stands forever.
Isaiah 40:8 and 1 Peter 1:25.

Char - word of God = what God said. It will stand forever. Isaiah knew it would. So did Peter. And we should all know it too.

In Jesus' love,
Char Tierney
Table of the Remnant