{"id":3729,"date":"2018-11-01T22:56:31","date_gmt":"2018-11-01T22:56:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thescripturecache.com\/?p=3729"},"modified":"2022-02-24T16:40:49","modified_gmt":"2022-02-24T16:40:49","slug":"not-or-now","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thescripturecache.com\/?p=3729","title":{"rendered":"Not or Now?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Views: 1<\/p><p><span style=\"font-family: 'book antiqua', palatino, serif; font-size: 14pt;\">[<strong>Note: <\/strong>This MS is available in<strong>\u00a0<\/strong>larger font on our <strong>Brief Articles 1<\/strong>\u00a0page.]<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: 'book antiqua', palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;\">Changing a single letter of a word can create a statement that directly contradicts the writer\u2019s intended expression. To misspell <em>not\u00a0<\/em>as <em>now\u00a0<\/em>well illustrates this fact. It is bad enough to unwittingly make such an error in a word relating to the Scriptures. It is manifestly worse when one intentionally makes such substitutions, as illustrated in the following:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: 'book antiqua', palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;\"><strong>\u201cNot\u00a0<\/strong>every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father who is in heaven\u201d (Mat. 7:21). Jesus spoke these words near the end of His Sermon on the Mount. Perhaps 99% of Protestant churches change <strong><em>not <\/em><\/strong>to <em><strong>now<\/strong>\u00a0<\/em>in their <em>salvation-by-faith-only<\/em>\u00a0doctrine. Belief will not save apart from obedience to the Lord.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: 'book antiqua', palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;\">\u201cA disciple is <strong>not\u00a0<\/strong>above his teacher, nor a servant above his lord\u201d (Mat. 10:24). Jesus spoke these words to his newly appointed apostles, warning them that, as He was persecuted, so they would be, also. Many seem to believe this should read, \u201cA disciple is <strong>now\u00a0<\/strong>above his teacher,\u201d in thinking they should not have to suffer any opposition or persecution for the One who suffered ultimately for them. Many others elevate themselves above the Lord by doing things in religion that please themselves rather than Jesus. All such will be lost when they stand before Him in Judgment (2 Cor. 5:10).<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: 'book antiqua', palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;\">\u201cIt is <strong>not\u00a0<\/strong>lawful for you to have her\u201d (Mat. 14:4). John the immerser thus condemned the adulterous marriage of King Herod, for which the prophet died. Multitudes have swapped the inspired <em><strong>not<\/strong>\u00a0<\/em>for a popular and self-serving <em><strong>now<\/strong>.<\/em>\u00a0Civil courts did so in the 1960s with their \u201cno-fault\u201d divorce decrees. For years, few who stand in pulpits have dared to preach faithfully Jesus\u2019 law on divorce and remarriage, failing to warn millions of couples living in adultery\u2014and lost (1 Cor. 6:9\u201311).<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: 'book antiqua', palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;\">\u201cBut be <strong>not\u00a0<\/strong>ye called Rabbi\u201d (Mat. 23:8a). In this proscription, Jesus not only condemned the use of one particular title, but by implication, the use of religious titles altogether. From the wide assortment of titles modern religious leaders have applied to themselves (e.g., Rev., Right Rev., Bishop, Arch-bishop, Cardinal, Pope, Monsignor, Father [specifically forbidden, v. 9], Mother Superior, et al.), one would think the Lord said, \u201cBut be ye <strong>now <\/strong>called Rabbi.\u201d<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: 'book antiqua', palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;\">\u201cFor I am <strong>not\u00a0<\/strong>ashamed of the gospel\u201d (Rom. 1:16a). Paul proved the sincerity of this statement by his sufferings for the Gospel. \u201cI am <strong>now\u00a0<\/strong>ashamed of the Gospel\u201d seems now to describe most men, including many professed believers.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\"><strong style=\"font-family: 'book antiqua', palatino, serif;\">Men tamper with Holy Writ at their own eternal peril.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: 'book antiqua', palatino, serif; font-size: 10pt;\">[<strong>Note:\u00a0<\/strong>I wrote this article for and it appeared in the <em>Denton Record-Chronicle, <\/em>Denton, TX, August 31, 2012.]<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: 'book antiqua', palatino, serif; font-size: 10pt;\"><strong>Attribution:\u00a0<\/strong>From <em>TheScripturecache.com<\/em>, owned and administered by Dub McClish.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Views: 1[Note: This MS is available in\u00a0larger font on our Brief Articles 1\u00a0page.] Changing a single letter of a word can create a statement that directly contradicts the writer\u2019s intended expression. To misspell not\u00a0as now\u00a0well illustrates this fact. It is bad enough to unwittingly make&#8230;<\/p>\n<div class=\"easywp-readmore\"><a class=\"read-more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/thescripturecache.com\/?p=3729\">Continue Reading&#8230;<span class=\"easywp-sr-only\">  Not or Now?<\/span><\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[76,67,68,43,79,200,29,42,126,40,86,202,88],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3729","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-adultery","category-apostles","category-christ-authority","category-worship","category-denominational-doctrines","category-worship-of","category-mdr","category-obedience","category-persecution","category-plan-of","category-pridehumility","category-practice-of","category-roman-catholicism","wpcat-76-id","wpcat-67-id","wpcat-68-id","wpcat-43-id","wpcat-79-id","wpcat-200-id","wpcat-29-id","wpcat-42-id","wpcat-126-id","wpcat-40-id","wpcat-86-id","wpcat-202-id","wpcat-88-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thescripturecache.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3729","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thescripturecache.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thescripturecache.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thescripturecache.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thescripturecache.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3729"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/thescripturecache.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3729\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19205,"href":"https:\/\/thescripturecache.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3729\/revisions\/19205"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thescripturecache.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3729"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thescripturecache.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3729"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thescripturecache.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3729"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}