“Seek Yahweh while He may be found. Call upon Him while He is near. Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts and let him return to Yahweh, and He will have compassion on him. Turn to our Elohim, for He will abundantly pardon.”
Isaiah 55: 6-7
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J. Vernon McGee: Part 3
This is part 3 of a series I have written that focuses on J. Vernon McGee and his Thru the Bible ministry. Part 1 is titled “Yahweh Used J. Vernon McGee’s Thru the Bible in My Life”. In it, I explained that Yahweh used McGee in my life at a time when He was taking me out of the institutional church. To date, I have not written a comprehensive assessment of the institutional church, but over the years, I have alluded to many of its shortcomings. My book The Trilogy addresses some of the problems with the institutional church as well. If you haven’t read it, you should.
Part 2 of the series is titled “J. Vernon McGee: Part 2”. In it, I explained that during the time I was beginning to seriously question some of the fundamentally flawed traditions that are cherished by the institutional church, I was also learning about politics at the local, state, and federal levels and at the University of Virginia. All of them share many shortcomings that are prevalent in every human institution.
In the mid-1980s, Yahweh took me out of the institutional church and out of politics as a player associated with a political party. I retired from UVA in 2004. For the same reasons, I have no desire to return to academia, politics, or the institutional church. My involvement in each of those areas was important in my preparation, but that part of my journey has ended.
McGee completed his Thru the Bible project before he died in 1988. Since then, it has grown globally and has become a great tool in Yahweh’s hands. He is using it to take “The Whole Word to the Whole World”. It’s available in many formats and in more than 130 languages. It’s a 5-year program that includes 260 weeks of half-hour sermons that were originally broadcast 5 days a week. That means there are 1,300 programs that run for a total of 650 hours.
In the 1980s, I listened to Thru the Bible most mornings, but because of my schedule, I didn’t catch all of the programs. A few weeks ago, I downloaded the Thru the Bible app from the Apple App Store, and I’m listening to all of McGee’s sermons as quickly as I can. I still have a long way to go, but today, I listened to a sermon that is very informative. It’s about Joshua 23: 1-24: 33. Click here to listen to it.
I said “Click here”, because I want you to actually listen to the sermon.
Toward the end of McGee’s sermon on Joshua 23: 1-24: 33, he mentioned a large stone that Joshua set up in Shechem after he challenged the Children of Israel to remain faithful to Yahweh, the Elohim of Israel. It’s discussed in Joshua 24: 19-28. Below is that portion of Joshua:
Then Joshua said to the people, “You will not be able to serve Yahweh, for He is a holy Elohim. He is a jealous Elohim; He will not forgive your transgression or your sins. If you forsake Yahweh and serve foreign gods, then He will turn and do you harm and consume you after He has done good to you.”
The people said to Joshua, “No, but we will serve Yahweh.”
Joshua said to the people, “You are witnesses against yourselves that you have chosen for yourselves Yahweh, to serve Him.”
And they said, “We are witnesses.”
“Now therefore, put away the foreign gods which are in your midst, and incline your hearts to Yahweh, the Elohim of Israel.”
The people said to Joshua, “We will serve Yahweh our Elohim, and we will obey His voice.”
So, Joshua made a covenant with the people that day, and made for them a statute and an ordinance in Shechem. And Joshua wrote these words in the book of the law of Elohim; and he took a large stone and set it up there under the oak that was by the sanctuary of Yahweh. Joshua said to all the people, “Behold, this stone shall be for a witness against us, for it has heard all the words of Yahweh which He spoke to us; thus, it shall be for a witness against you, so that you do not deny your Elohim.” Then Joshua dismissed the people, each to his inheritance. (Joshua 24: 19-28)
Katie and I have been exploring Israel for more than 2 decades, and we have just scratched the surface. There is so much to see and do in Israel that it’s breathtaking. Each time we go there, we are full of excitement and anticipation about the things Yahweh will reveal to us, and He never lets us down.
Below is a video of Shechem. In it you will see Jacob’s well where the Messiah met a Samaritan woman. (See John 4: 4-9) Also, you will see the inside of Joseph’s Tomb and the stone that Joshua set up. All of those things are still there. To see and touch them, all you need to do is visit Israel. This is just one example. There are many others. To see all the things mentioned in the Bible that are still there today, you would need to spend a lifetime in Israel. Those things prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that the Bible is not fiction. The archeological evidence supporting the truth of the Bible is overwhelming.
Switching Gears Slightly
Katie and I now spend most of our time in Jerusalem. Shechem is only about 30 miles north of Jerusalem. Shiloh (pronounced She-low) is about 20 miles north of Jerusalem. Both of them are on Highway 60 in the West Bank. Shiloh is where Yahweh’s Tabernacle stood for 369 years before King David moved it to Jerusalem. Shiloh is an important archeological site as well.
As many of you know, I am investigating the location of Yahweh’s Temple in Jerusalem. At this point, I have written about what I have learned in 3 SnyderTalk editorials titled “Yahweh’s Temple was not on the Temple Mount”, “Yahweh’s Temple was Very Near Gihon Spring in the City of David”, and “Israeli Doctors are Fantastic”, but I have a lot more work to do.
The Messiah said that Yahweh’s Temple would be destroyed so completely that there would not be one stone left on another. (See Matthew 24: 2 and Mark 13:2.) In 70 AD, Roman soldiers did that. They razed the Temple so completely that there was no above ground evidence that it ever existed, and then they covered the City of David over completely with dirt. Serious archeological excavations could not be done in that area until 1967 following the Six Day War. The underground support structure for the Temple probably still remains, but excavating to find it is problematic.
Regrettably, according to Jewish tradition, Yahweh’s Temple was on the Temple Mount. I think the work I have done already proves that that can’t be true. Even so, the tradition is so strong that there is little interest in Israel in investing the time and money required to prove that Yahweh’s Temple was south of the Temple Mount. I need to go to Jerusalem for extended periods of time to do the work necessary to overcome that resistance. I am looking forward to getting started.
Another SnyderTalk Editorial that Might Interest You
Below is a SnyderTalk editorial that I think you will enjoy. It contains information about the City of David that is interesting and enlightening:
Back to McGee’s Sermon on Joshua 23: 1-24: 33
McGee suggests repeatedly that the institutional church today is failing Yahweh miserably, and every year, things are getting worse. He’s right. Now that I am listening to all of McGee’s sermons, I realize how strongly he felt about the fact that the church was failing to do the most important job it was given. Looking back on it from this vantage point, it’s easy for me to understand how Yahweh used McGee to move me out of the institutional church at a critical time in my life, and I’m glad He did.
When I talk about the institutional church, I’m referring to the whole apparatus: the churches themselves, seminaries that are supposed to train pastors, denomination governing bodies, publishing companies that translate and publish Bibles, literary agents who help to keep important truths from getting to Yahweh’s people by going with the flow, and a host of other groups that have latched onto Yahweh for profit. All of them share responsibility for the dismal failure of the institutional church.
As far as I am concerned, they are no better than the religious leaders in Jerusalem in the 1st century AD who condemned the Messiah to death or Judas Iscariot who betrayed Him. In Matthew 23, the Messiah called the religious leaders hypocrites 7 times, blind guides, blind men, or blind Pharisees 5 times, fools, whitewashed tombs, serpents, and a brood of vipers. He had nothing good to say about them.
This is what the Messiah said about Judas:
“The Son of Man is to go, just as it is written of Him, but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed! It would have been good for that man if he had not been born.” (Matthew 26: 24)
I think you can say the same thing about the religious leaders in Jerusalem who condemned the Messiah to death. Lots of people today who are getting rich “spreading the gospel” fall into the same category. The day is coming when Yahweh will hold all of them accountable. I think that day is not far off.
I urge you to take advantage of Thru the Bible. It’s free.
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“I am the good shepherd. I know My sheep and My sheep know Me — just as the Father knows Me and I know the Father — and I lay down My life for the sheep. I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also. They too will listen to My voice, and there shall be one flock and one Shepherd. The reason My Father loves Me is that I lay down My life — only to take it up again. No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down of My own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again. This command I received from My Father.”
John 10: 14-18
