St. Landry clarion. (Opelousas, La.) 1890-1921, 1911-06-17

@ III Spur1ouS-So recOg
A ntzed by all schol
ars, because these
4~ verses are not Il
SNSES8ESA be found in any o.
the oldest Greel
MSS. and were evidently added to the
Word of God in the Seventh Century
or later. Moreover, we gave proofs
Of the untruthfulness Of this addition
Is it true that whoever believes the
Gospel Of Christ may handle serpents
with IMMUNITY and may drink deadly
poison without harm2 Surely not. II
is nothing short Of a sin for those who
know better to acknowledge these
verses and to use them to bolster up
theories Of Divine Healing. 1t Is as
much a crime to add to the Word OF
God as to take away from 1t.
Today / invite attention to some 9TH
er dead fies," some other additions to
! Gods Word, which have had much to
do with twisting the theology once de-
livered to the saints. Take, for In
stance, the closing words of the Lords
Prayer
"Thins ls the Kingdom and Power and
Glory"
These words, If uttered by our Lord.
should be found in the old Greek MSS.
But they are not found therein.
They are. therefore, to be rejected
as additions made by people centuries
after Matthew'S Gospel was written.
These words were introduced when the
faith of the Church respecting the
Kingdom of Messiah was changed or
changing from what it was originally.
:. All through the New Testament the
second coming Of Christ In power and
glory to establish His Kingdom and to
glorify the Church, His Bride, is set
for the end of this Gospel Age. But
as the time grew long a change of lei
came popular and rich. Its bishops
were respected. Finally the theory
prevailed that God did not intend to
delay the establishment of the King
dom until the second coming of Christ,
but did intend to establish 1t in the
hands of the Church during this Age
and to use the Church for the con-
quering of the world and the fulfilling
OF all the promises Of the past.
In line with this the most prominent
bishop Of the time was recognized as
DiVinely appointed to represent Christ
in the world and to reign over the ma
tons in his stead and to bring about
the Messianic reign, etc. This was the
of Rome, who subsequently
was styled the Pope and who claimed
and was accorded the honorable title,
'~Vice-gerent of the Son of God" It is
said that the equivalent of this title
Is worn to this day by the Pope on his
tiara, or t~hree-crowned hat-VicGrtUs
Del Fill.
THY Kingdom Come on Earth"
The Lords prayer was already in the
and was known to many.
could not be eliminated. But some
Jealous person, fully believing that
Gods Kingdom had come, felt justified
n amending the prayer to correspond
% what he supposed were the facts.
the prayer which begins, '"Thy
come" is made to end by
'Thy Kingdom has come in its
glory and power"
How glad we are to see the Truth on
his subject; that the Kingdom of
aods dear Son has not yet been set up
n any sense of the word-that it is still
1t cannot be set up until this
Gospel Age ends and the ''eIect'' saint
y few Of every nation, Jew and Gen
lie, shall be changed from earthly to
heavenly nature by the First Resurrec-
ion, which will qualify them to be
lings and priests unto God and unto
Christ and to reign with Him a thou
and years (Revelation Xxx, 81.
It is well that all Bible students
hould mark this Ety. and extract it
rom the Precious Ointment and notice
low much sweeter and fresher the
4ord's prayer is to them forever.
"oh, What a Whopper!"
Who cannot sympathize with the
reat inidel. Thomas Paine, who when
eading the last verse of st. Johns
exclaimed, "Oh. what a whop-
err 1t reads, And there are also
1any other things which Jesus did, the
7hich, If they should be written every
ne. / suppose that even the world it
could not contain the books that
hould be written" John xxi, 25l.
Surely anyone of reasoning mind
hould see the absurdity of such a
tatement. Surely all Christian minis (
srs should have informed the Lords
neep under their care respecting what
and what is not the Word of God. :
le Bible, as 1t was recognized by the (
postoic Church and written down
the original Greek MSS. Why any
hristian minister should assafI me :
ecause ! endeavor to do for the PEG
e what he has neglected to do / 4
lnnot understand. ! must leave 1t to
Lord to Judge between Us. $
/ resent Higher Criticism and accept (
fe Word Of God in full. I reject moth Z
e because Of my own or other mems
Irmises, bat merely go by the facts. )
the oldest Greek MSS. do not con- {
In certain passages Of Scripture, how
uId they get into later MSS. except
spurious additions?